Soon the Daleks reached their destination, ready and with more reinforcements. Time was of the essence, and they needed to plan fast. Thankfully, the Controller was quite the smart one. Estimating how fast they’d be able to move with their injuries, he quickly formed a counter strategy against their enemies.
“Scientist Dalek, you will scan whatever technological items or contraptions lie within the lab. Strategist Dalek will memorize any uselful data present within the lab. Once they are finished three of the Drone Daleks will destroy what has been examined…” It turned its attention to the last of the Drones, examining them intently.
"You will guard the door. Our enemies are cloaked but rely on physical attacks. Once they make the first move you will reach in the direction of the assault with your arms. Crush slowly until they reveal themselves… Then bring them to me.”
"WE OBEY.” Was the resounding reply from all present Daleks around the controller. They would leave their mark yet, and they would not go out quietly…
He nodded, listening carefully to her explanation. If he had been able to use either of his hands, he simply would have latched onto her, but instead he’d have to press up against her as much as he could, hoping she could keep a firm grip so they wouldn’t break contact.
“Prubbs…” he whispered back, eyes darting around the room with worry. “What’re we gonna do? I can’t do a lot of fighting like this… and you’re really hurt.”
▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ ❝I’ll be fine…❞ Bubblegum reassured. Of course, she was still in pain, and walking was a hassle, but she didn’t want to worry Finn any more than he already was. It was better to focus on the matter at hand, anyhow. Thinking of the bad outcomes would only lower morale. ❝To our left, there’s a hole in the wall - that’s where I sent Science in before. That tiny hole is actually one of my secret passages, but it can only be opened from the inside; hence why the hole’s there.❞
She paused, using her free hand to bring Science out from her pocket once more.
❝We’ll have to send Science in to open it for us, but before that…❞ The princess turned her head to gaze at the broken Dalek, making a nodding motion at the floor before it. ❝We need to retrieve your sword and that broken eyestalk. That Dalek is blind, it won’t be able to see the objects disappear, so it won’t be able to figure out that we’re right in front of it.❞
PB spoke calmly, such a composure was needed to get them out alive, but in truth, she was scared; really scared. Her hand was trembling ever so slightly, and the ruler had to bring it to focus and force herself to stop.
“I LOCATED A DOOR. SCANS SHOW IT LEADS TO A SURVEILLANCE ROOM.”
“Then it is imperative we take control of it as quickly as possible. Inform the Supreme Dalek and we shall continue our mission.”
After a quick message to the ship, the Daleks followed the Drone to the doors it had specified. Destroying them, the Strategist was annoyed to find the system inside destroyed. Seeing as how they lacked the proper appendages (or souplike notary arm attachments) to fix them, this meant relying on their captive to do their work.
“YOU HAVE NEW ORDERS. YOU WILL REPAIR THE SECURITY SYSTEM AND THEN YOU WILL BECOME OUR PRISONER. YOU WILL COMPLY!”
As Finn darted through the castle hallways, the voices of screaming Daleks soon reached his ears. He decided to head right for the source, since even if the Princess wasn’t with them, he could at least take care of the intruders.
When he reached the the security room, he flattened himself against the wall, carefully peering around the doorway to look inside. He quickly spotted the familiar pink princess, but to his horror, she looked badly injured. Now he was pissed.
But he couldn’t just rush in there. No, he had to think of some sort of plan, and quick. Aha!
A water balloon would then hurtle towards the exposed wires of the surveillance system. The intention was to short out the electricity and fry whatever was left so it would be impossible to fix. Maybe if he was lucky, the lights would go out too.
▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ The princess could hardly stand on her own at that moment, and had been nudged quite harshly every few moments by the Daleks on the way there, so when they reached the surveillance room, she collapsed against the damaged control panel, sliding down to the floor. Her insides were severely damaged, and even the numbing of her body and overloaded sensory nerves didn’t deter the sheer amount of pain the Dalek’s beam caused. PB once again found herself clutching at her abdomen, and lifted her head to glare daggers at her captors.
❝Oh… Yeah?❞ the monarch struggled out, her voice lurching for breath with the words she spoke forming in gasps. ❝I’m too… damaged to even stand… How do you… propose I fix it… in this condition?❞
Just then, something flung over her head, smashing directly into the exposed cables above her. Something wet began to flood the panel, causing the snapped wires to spark and liquid to drip down the side, plopping down on the princess’s head. Luckily, all the power in that room ran through a single system, and the lights gave a flickered jolt, then gave out.
Don’t worry, there was a bucket underneath all that, which he was currently pulling back up with a rope.
❝Finn, that was completely out of line!❞ ▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ Princess Bubblegum declared in a scolding tone as soon as she clambered out of the bucket, her eyes glaring at him with what appeared to be pure seriousness. It was only a second, however, that a smile cracked on her face and the princess pulled the hat from her head and shuffled it messily over Finn’s.
❝Thank you, Finn.❞
The hero had a knack for making her feel better, she had to admit.
❝Well then, looks like I’ll have to keep a mega-sharp eye out.❞ ▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ And then, without warning, the princess pulled another water balloon from behind her back. She raised it to the air as if she was going to peg it at him… But then her arm relaxed and she tossed it softly enough for him to catch without the fragile balloon breaking.
“Well, long story short, there’s this huge battle goin’ on that I’m kind of helping out with and it doesn’t look so good for our side.”
❝Woah, okay.❞ ▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ The princess waved her hand in a gesture for Finn to follow, leading him over to what seemed to be a storage room near the back of her lab.
❝I’m gonna need some more info on the enemy, you can’t just throw science at junk and expect it to go kaboom. ❞
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up!” He felt sort of bad now. The Princess looked like she really needed as much rest as she could get.
“Uh… nah, I was just uh, checkin’ on you.” He actually was gonna ask her something, but maybe that could wait for now. “You know, maybe you should get to bed. You look pretty tired…”
❝No, it’s - yawn - fine, I wasn’t sleeping. ❞ ▬♦◊❤◊♦▬ PB lifted her glasses for a moment, rasing a hand to rub at her eyes before turning her bleary gaze back down to the notebook she had been writing on - nonsensical scribbles of equations were flooding the page.
❝No, it’s - yawn - fine, I wasn’t sleeping. ❞
