Her frown deepened as she glowered at the man.

"Don't say that."

He laughs. "Straight to business then, is it? I like that."

And abruptly, he's holding a knife.

Cavilo's eyes flicker to Jenny for a second, then go back to the blade.

"You really don't want to do that," Jenny warns, unconsciously falling into a defensive stance. Her hand moved down towards her waist, where a small laser gun sat on her hip.

"I don't?" the man with the knife asks mockingly, sizing up Jenny with a condescending leer. "Baby, this is going to be taking candy from a baby."

"You've got one chance to leave us alone," Cavilo says, keeping her tone sharp and defensive.

The shorter one laughs. "Now what kind of men would we be," he asks rhetorically, "if we left you all alone?"

His eyes roam speculatively from one to the other. "But we might," he adds, "if you're very nice to us first. That bracelet," pointing to the silvery one on Cavilo's wrist, "I'll have that, for starters."

Jenny braced herself, quietly undoing the safety of her gun.

"No."

Cavilo gathers both hands to her chest, one hand covering the other wrist protectively.

She darts a look at Jenny -- ready?

Jenny gives the smallest of nods, one that you'd have to be paying close attention to notice. One of the men stumbles closer, ready to lunge.

But Jenny's faster. In one fell swoop, her gun is out and pointed and a well aimed laser beam hits the lunging man in the knee. He crumples to the ground, cursing loudly. His companion, meanwhile, freezes in his path - suddenly unsure of what to do.

As the first man goes down, Cavilo's hands move smoothly from their protective clutch to a firing stance, drawing the little disruptor pistol from its bodice holster and firing.

The other man's split second of freezing is all she needs. The crackling blue nimbus flares around his head for a moment, lifting his hair in a curling halo, and then drops him to the ground.

Jenny watches wide eyed. Ignoring the man groaning in pain, she stares at Cavilo's gun.

"Where'd you get that, Lara?"

And where can I find one?

"Oh, picked it up someplace," she says cheerfully, stepping forward toward the wounded man. "Maybe we'll get you one, one of these days."

She bends forward, the disruptor still ready in her hand, to assess the surviving attacker. "Now then," she murmurs. "Let's have a look at you."

Jenny frowns slightly, stepping up behind Cavilo and looking confused. "The attack's done now. We can just go, can't we?"

"It's not smart to leave enemies alive behind you, hon."

The wounded man's staring up at her in terror.

"Especially ones you've humiliated."

Jenny scowls, looking at Cavilo in utter surprise. How could she even think that?

"No. No, Lara. They're not going to hurt anyone else."

"Is that true?" she asks the injured man, unsmiling. "We walk out of here, you'll count yourself lucky and not call the local security on us? Or come after us yourself with a few more friends?"

He nods frantically.

Jenny tugged on her arm, still looking worried. "Look, he agrees! Let's just go."

She looks closely at Jenny's face for a second, then sighs. And smiles again.

And bends down again to pat the man's shoulder. "Tell the nice girl thank you," she murmurs to him; he gabbles something that might have the word thank in there somewhere.

Still very low, still smiling: "I'll remember your face. Security comes after us, I'll know who sent them."

At last she rises to her feet, and turns to Jenny. "Shall we?"

The frown remained on Jenny's lips even after Cavilo's attention returned to her. This made her uncomfortable for some reason, very comfortable.

"Yeah," she said, uncertainty in her voice. " Yeah, let's go."

Cavilo moves up alongside her, lowering her voice again.

"Hon, you were a soldier." There's faint reproach in her tone. "How did you manage?"

Jenny's eyes narrowed in frustration. She didn't get it, did she? That life was important. That you could be more than what you were born to be - all those lessons her father had imparted to her on Messaline.

"I'm still a soldier. Just a soldier that knows better now."

Edited 2009-10-07 06:07 pm (UTC)

They've left the deserted corridor, and are heading down the concourse the way they came.

"Right now, the question is whether that one we left back there is more scared of us or more angry. I'm betting on more scared, but you need to realize that it's our lives we're betting on it."

"If he tried something, we could handle it," Jenny stated firmly. "Two against one. He's learned his lesson. Dad would disapprove if we did anything more."

A short silence.

"That's very important to you, isn't it." Quiet, and understanding.

Jenny nods. "Yeah, it is."

"Mm."

Her tone's too mild -- warm, even -- for the question to sound pointed. "Where is your dad these days?"

Not that Jenny would notice in the first place. She likes talking about her father, likes it a lot.

"Travelling, I think," she responds, faltering slightly. "He doesn't know I'm still alive. At least... it's a little complicated. I've seen him twice in Milliways, but he's from further in the future than me."