Showdown at McKenzie's

<The Store . . .>
Jay, Owen, Joe and Steeeevvv raced along the corridor towards
the promenade. Luckily for them the three STCP agents didn't know
the ship very well, so with the help of a couple of shortcuts they
arrived at the shop about five minutes before the STCP guys did.
They all ran into the shop, Zack was standing there behind the
counter.
"Good morning gentleman, how may i help you today, some light
reading material perhaps?, the new issue of Asteroid Farmers Monthly
arrived this morning." said Zack "We've also got a..." Zack trailed
off as he noticed the worried look on their faces. "What's going on?"
"Well" said Joe "There's three big blokes coming to see you, and
i don't think they want to buy anything, in fact you seem to have
pissed them off enough for them to want to kill you."
"Ahhh" said Zack.
Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out his cue-ball robot,
he hadn't yet had time to fit his secret weapon to it but the smoke
generators were working, he threw it onto the floor and it rolled
over to the door and waited.
"What the hell is that gonna do?" asked Jay.
"It's been modified and should provide us with some cover, sorry
Jay but i was actually cheating in that last game of pool" Joe
replied.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere in the corridors of Blue Dwarf.
The three STCP agents stormed down the corridor, one of them had
a big 'Kick-ass sound system' straped to his back, the song 'Time
Warp' was blaring out from the speakers.
*It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the riiiiight, put
your hands on your hips*
"Will you turn that damn thing off" Blotz bellowed.
"But it's my theme tune" said the STCP agent with the speakers
on his back.
"It gives us away though you idiot" Blotz replied
They got round the corner and saw the shop with Joe, Jay, Owen
and Steeeevvv standing infront of it, behind them, trying to hide was
Zack Richards.
"There he is, get him and destroy the others" Blotz ordered.
A cue-ball rolled up to Blotz and stoped infront of him, he
looked down at it with a puzzled look on his face, it then started
issueing smoke from a small hole on it's surface.
Blotz bought his foot down on it hard and crushed it.
"Noooooooooooooo" screamed Joe and ran straight at the big guy
who had just ruined his chances of winning the robot wars
competition. Blotz batted him away and raised his awsome looking
weapon, the other two STCP guys followed his lead and raised their
weapons too.
"Time to die Mr Richards, there will be no escape this time"
said Blotz sadistically.
All three of them fired, there were some explosions and when the
smoke cleared.........
. . . Cubie stood there, gaping at a smoldering box that she'd
materialized with. "Guess that voided the shield generator's
warranty." She turned and bolted between Steeeevvv and Jay, grabbed
Zack, and started dragging him further into the store. "Sporting
goods! Why is it ALWAYS on the far side of the store from us? Is
this some cosmic Murphy's Law of Shopping?!"
Zack looked back at the Blue Dwarf men ducking for cover and the
STCP shock troops already aiming in again. "Hold your fire!!"
Everyone stopped and stared at him in amazement. Cubie was
still tugging on his collar. "Uh, Dear? This isn't a good time for
this."
Zack waved his arms around, gesturing to the STCP
agents. "Gentlemen, you are about to fire BFG-9000's in the confines
of a department store! Do you realize the significance of your
actions?"
Blotz frowned. The other two shrugged and glanced at each
other. Blotz suspected a trick. "What're you trying to pull,
Richards?"
Zack smiled, realizing the sudden power he
possessed. "McKenzie's has a strict 'you break it, you buy it'
policy. And we ARE standing in the jewelry department."
All three agents lowered their weapons. Zack's smile
widened. "Now if we can-"
"Set your BFGs to pinpoint target. That should keep the
collateral damage to a minimum." Blotz leered at Zack. "Thanks for
the heads-up. Now let me give you a heads-OFF!"
Cubie yanked Zack to the deck just as the pencil-thin beam
sliced through the air recently displaced by his neck and punched a
tiny hole in a mannequin. Then she started dragging him backwards
between the clothing displays. "You know, sometimes I think Mom was
right about you!"
Zack was struggling to keep from choking on his tie, which Cubie
had a deathgrip on. "Yours or mine?"
Cubie didn't even bother to look back. "Both! 'Oh, Cubie.
You're such a nice program. You can do better.' But did I listen?"
Zack's eyes were bulging and his face was beet-red. "MY mother
said that??"
Cubie was in her own world by now. "'Set your sights a little
higher, Cubie. Zack's a dreamer.' 'Don't settle for someone so far
below your potential, Cubie.' 'Don't give up your career, Cubie!
You'll end up a frumpy housewife bored out of your mainframe in under
a year.'" Abruptly she stopped and glared at him. "Well, it
certainly hasn't been boring. At least they were wrong about THAT!"
Zack tried to reply, but between the stunning revelation that
his own mother had warned her not to get involved with him, the tie
wrapped securely around his windpipe, and the approaching footsteps
of the trio of STCP agents, his concentration was shot.
Cubie frowned. "Blast it! They've locked me out of the
mainframe. We're stuck here."
Zack pointed to the tie even as he turned a shade of blue that
complemented it nicely.
"Oh, Zark! I'm sorry!" Cubie released him, and he slumped to
the deck, sucking in air like a beached whale.
"Ye Gads, girl! What now?"
Cubie darted off, leaving him cowering under a display rack of
men's trousers.
Blotz had Zack on infrared. He didn't know where Cubie was,
because she didn't show up on that particular spectrum. But he
wasn't worried. Once he took out Richards, Cubie would be
functionally immobile. All he had to do was crush her control unit,
and he'd be rid of her as well.
Motion detectors blipped a projectile alarm, and he looked up
just in time to take a sixteen-pound bowling ball in the forehead.
His armor kept him from losing consciousness, but just barely.
Several other missiles weree being lobbed at him and his team with
devastating accuracy. One trooper went down with a wrecked knee
joint. Blotz and the other soldier were reduced to ducking for cover
to avoid the barrage.
"So it's a fight you want, eh Cubie? So be it!" Blotz shifted
his BFG to grenade-launcher mode and sighted in on the part of the
store where the bowling balls seemed to be coming from.
OOC: Forgive me, Stewie! I'll clean it up - Promise!!
~Zack and Cubie~