Fight Scene
http://www.sofurry.com/view/388202 for details on this and upcoming story series. [Not final edit - collaboration requested] And please forgive my loopy Canadian English, it is correct in my region.
Caedmon floated warily in the centre of the room. Three men surrounded him, perched on ladders and null-gee hand holds for stability. Their leader watched from afar, his face mask open so that he could threaten Caed vocally. While the leader was lithe, with an intelligent look in his eye, the other three were perfect examples of dumb muscle. Their vacuprene suits were reinforced in vulnerable areas with stiff Kevlar pads, while the leader bore only its natural reflective coating, designed to keep out the sun's radiation and not much else. His suit would retain its natural flexibility while the others would be cumbersome but tough. The three menaced him from about five metres away, but for Caed it was much too close for such an unbalanced fight. The one on his right looked the most dangerous, a canine, bred for security perhaps. The rest were human, which he was less uncomfortable fighting. All had their masks open in the full pressure environment, but they would close automatically if the pressure dropped suddenly. Caed knew the sudden closure would startle them for a second or two, maybe give him the edge he needed. But there was little he could do so far from any surface to push off of. Null gravity was like that. Once you were adrift, you stayed that way until you ran into something. "Come quietly and we won't beat you to a pulp before we bring you in for the bounty," the leader claimed. His eyes looked too quick, too intelligent. Perhaps he had nanite enhancements. But he had to stall them, or they would attack before he had figured out a plan. No, he had to make them act quickly, before they could coordinate. The canine would probably be easiest to aggravate. "I don't know if your dog would be able to resist. He seems aching for a fight." "Shut your mouth, puny otter, or it'll be wired shut by the time we get you back to the syndicate." The canine snarled. "You do sound pent up. Haven't been off your leash with a good bitch in a while?" The leader began to speak, but too late. The canine was already leaping at Caed, arms outstretched, razor teeth bared. The otter twisted using his tail, and planted his foot into the leaping anthro's throat. The feral snarl cut short as the black furred canine spiralled through the air, hands clutching his throat. The next assailant was already in the air, to close to counter. Caedmon lifted his tail and heels sharply, arching his back as a blue-clothed fist sailed past his chin. The smell of hydraulic fluid met the otter's nose. Mechanical arm, he thought, one hit from that and I'm done. He could probably bust out a window, though. Caed used his arched position to palm the knife hidden in his ankle sheath, then brought one foot up violently, catching the blue-suited boxer in the stomach. The movement sent them in opposite directions, though the unbalanced movement by the otter sent him spinning wildly. Brown arms wrapped around him, and Caedmon knew the third man was on him, his Kevlar armour digging into the otter's back. The man squeezed, and the otter felt the wind go out of him. He gritted his teeth and drove the knife backwards, hoping for a gap in the Kevlar The grappler grunted and loosened his grip, and the otter reversed the grip, flipping around planting his feet against the man's chest. The kicked off toward the nearest window, just as the boxer was getting recovering from his flight, having caught on to a post designed for just that purpose. The man saw his trajectory and launched to meet him. Caed had planned for it, and tensed his body for a twist to dodge the incoming fist. He timed it right. The blue suited man's fist struck the exterior window, and the reinforced pane buckled under the force. The otter heard the crack and took a deep breath, grabbing for a nearby ladder. The room around exploded into mayhem as atmosphere rushed out the window, pulling everything not bolted down with it. Caedmon's nicitating membranes snapped shut over his eyes, and his nostrils and lips sealed shut. He knew the face masks of the others had just snapped shut as well. Unfortunately, he hadn't finished his breath, and he knew he would only have a few minutes of air. When the room calmed, polymer paper sheets littered the depressurized space. The boxer had his fist jammed through the window, packed tight with debris. The canine was struggling to pull his hand from his mask, where it had been clutching his throat when the mask had snapped shut. The brown suited grappler was desperately trying to get a patch to seal over the fountain of blood pouring from his side, where Caed had stabbed him. Then the leader was on him, and Caed brought his arms up to protect his exposed face from a flurry of impossibly fast punches. Definitely nano-enhanced, the attacks knocked Caed flying across the room into the canine. When he impacted against the trapped arm of the anthro, he felt it buckle and twist, and knew that the captured wrist had broken. The canine opened his mouth to scream in pain, and passed out, the water on his eyes and tongue boiling away in the vacuum. Caedmon launched sideways off the dead canine right as the leader arrived. The otter could see rage in the man's eyes, but couldn't stay away long enough to figure out a plan. He rebounded off the wall and dodged a kick, but the change in orientation sent him tumbling, and the man caught up to him on the next landing. The man landed feet first, his magnetic boots latching onto what may have been a wall or ceiling, and brought both fists wrapped together down on Caed's back. Caed would have had the wind knocked out of him, but his magnetically sealed lips prevented that. Instead he only squirmed in pain. The leader reached down and picked Caedmon up by his throat, holding him at arm's length. He glared balefully into his eyes, and Caed couldn't resist the look of terror that covered his own face. In a desperate last effort, he put one hand on the man's arm and planted a foot on the man's chest, and sent an electric current from his body's electric organ into the man. The man jolted, and then his eyes went strangely dull. The nanites had gone into reset mode, leaving his dumbfounded. His grip on Caedmon's throat loosened, and the otter twisted away. He began to kick off the man's chest, but his left arm suddenly caught in a vice, as the boxer grabbed and squeezed with robotic force on his forearm. Caedmon's eyes went wide and he tried to scream as his bones flexed inward. He planted his feet on the floor (wall? ceiling?) and charged the electromagnetic pads in his toes. Then he pushed with his right foot and drove the knife into the man's chest, piercing Kevlar and breastbone and heart. The man's eyes went wide, but his grip stayed tight. Caedmon guessed at the structure of the robotic arm beneath the man's suit and drove his knife into it, hoping to hit a hydraulic hose or valve. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Finally, on the third thrust, the arm went limp, and Caed pulled his arm free, holding the limb close to his chest. He may have reinforced bones, but that didn't make him indestructible. He launched his with force toward the exit airlock, past the grappler's unconscious body. Clearly he hadn't patched his suit in time. The patches weren't made to seal when they were wet with blood. He landed inside the airlock and pulled the emergency cycle lever. The doors snapped shut and air rushed in. Caed gasped in relief, his airways unsealing as pressure returned. He was glad his emergency supply hadn't filled his lungs with hyper-oxygenated gel. Coughing the stuff up was hell, as was replacing the supply implanted in his ribcage.