Fortior Est Stilus

[The Ripper]

As the door slammed down with a clang that reminded the Ripper of the tolling sound of a cloister bell, all that he could do was lean against the wall, to catch his breath and start laughing. He had seen what Cai's sword could do, and if that couldn't cut through whatever the hell the door was made out of... 

"Well, it's been a good run." He managed to say, before he started laughing again, that grin never far from his face. Well, there were worse ways to go. Probably. 

No doubt less painful ones, as well.

"Well, this blows. He is the only person who can make something Furor can't cut through, but this is just excessive and oh hey, look, we're gonna die from chemical melting. Damnit!"

"Live in excess, die in excess. If that gas lets my regeneration trigger, we might still have a chance, though." 

Frustrated, Cai pulled the drone from his belt and hurled it at the wall, needing to break something. However, a section of the wall pulled open as the machine approached.

"Or not. I think I prefer that way out."

"Move it!'

"I'm moving it, I'm moving it!" Ripper was literally right on Cai's heels, as they ducked through the opening, pushing Cai forward and away from the door in order to make room for himself, as the door slammed closed once more, taking a couple of his hairs with it. 

"Better than Disney Land, any day," he quipped, shooting Cai that insanity-tinged grin of his, laughing once more, as he took in the welcome sight of Cai's TARDIS. "Shame we can't go back for round two."

Brushing dirt, and goodness knew what else off his front, Ripper looked Cai up and down. "So, now what? Check out our haul, see if there are any clues? Unless of course there's a note we missed, sticking to the door, I suppose."

Just in case, he glanced at the door, even as he began to spread out the items that he'd grabbed, on the floor.

[Cai Dorough]

"I'd wait, if I were you," Cai answered, noting the red lights flashing above the wall. "Out of the fiery gas and into the exploding asteroid. Most of the stuff in there has been zapped away, I'd say we got about thirty seconds before this whole place becomes a hot pile of dusty us. Lets check our haul on the john, shall we?"

---

Cai's TARDIS blinked away from the asteroid moments later, narrowly missing being caught in the explosion. So powerful was its blast that the readouts detected it even as he entered the vortex.

"I tell ya," Cai began, chuckling, "that dude really knows how to show a guy a good time. Only gives me sharp things, never any lip, and doesn't ask for me to call the next day. Can I tell you something, Skip? I think he may be the real thing."

Cai motioned for his friend to follow him and led Skip off the control platform to a nearby table currently lined with excess gun parts, take-out containers and porn. Unabashedly, he swept the table clean.

"So the Toymaker is gone from his hidey-hole when we show up," he began recounting, thinking out loud. "Not really available on Google Maps, so someone had to be in the know and know about the... whole... knowing of it... thing. Erghm, anyway," he continued, placing the various items he'd snatched in the escape run on the table. 

"Don't think he really got taken out so easy, so either he went willingly, which is unlikely since his house tried to kill us, or he knew he could not escape and went willingly with whoever it was came a-knockin. So the question is- oooh, shiny, look at this thingy!" He held up an odd gadget, roughly the size of pack of cigarettes, with wrist band attached to one side. He tossed it on the table with the rest and continued.

"Who could even get to that asteroid and snatch up ol' St Nick, without triggering Happy Death Land? And why would they take him instead of just ask him to make whatever it was they wanted him to make? Also, what do you think this thingy does?"

The last gadget he'd pulled from his pocket looked like a simple box, but when he opened it an intense and sudden rush of electricity shot through his body. He wheezed, "Cool," before his muscles lost control and he fell over.

[The Ripper]

As the door finally opened and Ripper saw the light at the end of the tunnel he almost punched the air, muscle memory bringing the old human gesture of celebration to the surface. As it was, he definitely took a moment to pat the cool metal wall of the ship, and thank whatever old God of Chaos was still letting him live. The sound of the door to their escape opening was a little like music to his ears. 

"Good girl," he spoke in a soft tone to her, deliberately running a hand along the wall to show respect and gratitude, as he followed Cai inside, and the door slid shut behind them, a thought swimming to mind, as he watched Cai fire up the controls, and get them well away from the gauntlet of a death-trap-asteroid, which they'd just run. 

"Do you realize how lucky we are, that your ship wasn't blown out into space, the moment that place started coming down and apart around our ears? I don't know about you, but I didn't see any space-suits equipped for retrieval missions in that hanger."

"I tell ya," Cai began, chuckling, "that dude really knows how to show a guy a good time. Only gives me sharp things, never any lip, and doesn't ask for me to call the next day. Can I tell you something, Skip? I think he may be the real thing."

"Doesn't take much to charm you, does it?" Ripper teased in a cheerful tone. "Just astronomically-sized booms." 

It didn't take long for his grin to come back, all sobering thoughts about being trapped on an exploding asteroid being pushed aside by the adrenalin that was still coursing through his veins. Oh, but Cai was right. That had been fun. 

Taking a deep breath, Ripper watched with one eye, as Cai swept the table clear with a decisive movement which Ripper imagined was used in more areas of his life than just scattering junk. You could tell a lot about a person by the way that they moved, and the old Librettist part of his mind filled it away in case a situation ever came up in which it mattered. 

Reaching into his pockets, he began to add his own small pile of toys to the table as he listened to Cai talk. It was clear to him, that for all of his friends' bluster, he knew his Toymaker friend fairly well. Well enough to make what seemed like an accurate judgment of the situation.

One small round ball, with lines and markings over it that he couldn't work out. A couple of half-modified and assembled laser guns. Several bunches of components that he couldn't figure out what they would go into, or come out of. Something which looked like an envelope, but he couldn't tear it, open it, burn it, or anything else along those lines. 

Then his attention was drawn back to Cai, as the other flipped open a box that sparked, and his entire body stiffened for a moment.

[Cai] wheezed, "Cool," before his muscles lost control and he fell over.

With the toe of his boot, Ripper nudged the box away, with a chuckle that he couldn't help. The way that Cai had dropped had been spectacular, in its' own way. 

"I bet you just saw one heck of a light-show," Ripper's voice was firm, as he reached down and slapped Cai firmly, but not harshly on the cheek. "Come one, mate. Wake up. I doubt your ship will listen to me." 

Glancing over at the sparky-box, to see if anything was inside, Ripper slapped him again. "You know, you're not half as much fun when you're like this. And you did promise me a good time."

[Cai Dorough]

Cai groaned, the taste of smoke and copper heavy on his tongue. "You..." cough "You can-" wheeze "Just gimme a minute." His right leg twitched involuntarily as he tried to push them beneath him, but he managed to use the table as a prop. "Told you he made the best toys, didn't I?"

He picked the trap box off the floor using two porn magazines as tongs and dropped it back on the table. "Can't stand when theres a mess," he explained, casually tossing the magazines back on the floor with the rest of the pile. "Grab one of those other non-shocky thingies." He eyed one of the takeout containers thoughtfully and decided on one that only had a bit of green stuff growing on it, grabbing a fork from the floor without a second thought.

Back on the central platform, Cai elbowed a few controls and headbutted another, shoveling a large bit of orange chicken into his mouth. A screen blinked several times before going back out, so he headbutted the button again. This time it stayed on.

"Ish weal simpol shtuff, shee?" Bits of food flew from his mouth and landed on the console as he spoke. He eyed the crumbs for a second before leaning down and inhaling them too. "You just gotta kinda punch stuff till stuff happens. I mean, its kind of an ass about sixty percent of the time, and definitely an ass the other fifty-five percent of the times. Usually I just kick it some more. Its only spit bathwater at me like, four times, purely flukes."

Cai pulled a lever and ducked instinctively, looking over his head. Satisfied, he stood back up and ate another bite of chicken.

"Put da fingy dere," he said, pointing at a slot with his fork, "push da boo fing." He finished chewing and swallowed with some effort, craning his neck to help the food go down. "If he's gone through time somewhere, maybe we can get a hit on his energy signature. Thats how I met James Dean. In a non-related note, more as a professional courtesy than anything, don't steal someone's underwear and tell them you're from the future when you show it to them."

[The Ripper]

Cai groaned, the taste of smoke and copper heavy on his tongue. "You..." cough "You can-" wheeze "Just gimme a minute." His right leg twitched involuntarily as he tried to push them beneath him, but he managed to use the table as a prop. "Told you he made the best toys, didn't I?"

Ripper laughed at Cai's  expression,which reminded him rather of a fish, suddenly jerked out of the ocean, and left gasping on the deck of a boat. He just couldn't help himself, it was that unexpected, after everything that they'd already been through. "Well, if that box is anything to go by, then I'm definitely going to get on well with your man, and his sense of humor."

He picked the trap box off the floor using two porn magazines as tongs and dropped it back on the table. "Can't stand when theres a mess," he explained, casually tossing the magazines back on the floor with the rest of the pile. "Grab one of those other non-shocky thingies.

"Oh, yes, a place for every piece of paper. It does add character to the place." 

Picking up a pencil, he prodded at several of the items in their pile warily, wondering exactly what was safe. After seeing what had happened to Cai, he didn't want to do a repeat performance. There was no way that a jolt like that could be good for the hearts. 

"So, how exactly am I meant to tell what's..." there was a sudden buzzing sound, from the object he'd just poked, and then he was only holding a fragment of a pencil. "Right, well, that one obviously doesn't shock. Clearly not good for the fingers, though, either."

Hmmm. "Well, there's one method that's never let me down." 

Closing his eyes, Ripper reached out and picked up the first object that his hand landed on. For a moment he tensed, then opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. The thing was small, and ball-shaped, with lines and grooves running around the edges. Almost pretty, in a way. And clearly not deadly-on-contact. 

'You'll do." Tossing it lightly from hand to hand, Ripper glanced back up towards Cai once more, eyebrows drawing slightly together as he saw the food that he picked up. 

"Oh, sweet vortex. Please tell me that's meant to be green? I think the last time I saw a meal like that, it was when I was living on the streets of London."  

Yes, you ate what you needed to, to survive, but these days he wasn't sure that his constitution could handle something like that. So, best to focus on something else. And there were certainly plenty of other things to focus on. 

"I think you must have one of the strongest constitutions I've ever encountered." 

Right, focus, Ripper.

"Put da fingy dere," [Cai] said, pointing at a slot with his fork, "push da boo fing." He finished chewing and swallowed with some effort, craning his neck to help the food go down.

"Right, I've got you."

Tucking the aptly named 'thingy' into the slot, Ripper pushed the blue thing, and then turned his attention back to the screen and pilot, wondering where this wild chase was going to lead them.

"If he's gone through time somewhere, maybe we can get a hit on his energy signature. Thats how I met James Dean. In a non-related note, more as a professional courtesy than anything, don't steal someone's underwear and tell them you're from the future when you show it to them."

Again, Ripper found himself laughing. "I'll keep that one in mind, thanks, if I'm ever in a position to use it. And that sounds like a good starting point, to me. Even if we can only get a loose fix, then there should be some clue, there. Just give me something with his scent on it, and I may even be able to sniff him out," he joked, as his fingers curled lightly over the cool metal edges of the controls. 

"Next stop - adventure!"

[Cai Dorough]

A short/long/relative time later, the TARDIS settled with a squeal and pop. Over Skippy's head, a panel opened in the console and a plastic figure of a Jigglypuff popped out to bark like a dog and spin rapidly before pulling back behind the panel.

Cai regarded the empty food container sadly, still hungry. The green stuff on the noodles had given everything a hearty taste; he would have to get some more lo-mein to leave out for a few days. For now, he would have to just deal with it and hopefully come across a Shake Shack somewhere.

"Coolio," he remarked, grabbing a bag from beneath the table and scooping an armful of gadgets into it. "So I'm thinking, we take a look around for a bit, get in some sight seeing, observe the locals, slice off a few local body parts, the yoosh." He tossed the bag to Ripper and disappeared down a hall, coming back a few moments later with a new shirt and a second sword carried over a shoulder.

"Try this on for size," he said, tossing the blade to Ripper as well. While Cai favored his katana, Furor, he had a large selection of other weapons that he'd been collecting for years. The blade he'd handed off to Skippy was a gladius style sword, shorter than Cai's own and with a wider blade and double edged. It's sheathe was simple black leather, a black grip and a silver wolf's head pommel.

Cai made his way toward the door as he continued. "Traded a kid some jelly beans for that, thought it was cool. It worked great for leveling out that chair. Its a bit bigger than your pig-sticker, but at least you'll be able to do the stabbing and the slicing and the happy-fun-times until we find the toy maker. Just don't trade it for jelly beans. I totally ripped that kid off, its worth at least a case of fruit rollups."

The mercenary kicked open the door and stepped outside, ready to begin the search.

[The Ripper]

Ripper followed Cai's every movement with fascination, from the way that he handled the Ship, to the way that he spoke, and moved. It was a picture the likes of which he'd never seen before, highlights and dark grays all twisted together on the board before him in an artwork that could only truly be called 'Madness.' 

He'd heard it said often, that a TARDIS would develop the eccentricities of her pilot, and never had he seen that clearer than here. The sense that he got from the ship was one of playfulness, that could easily turn on a dime. Dropping things on Cai, and the sounds that she made; it was all a game. But he had no doubts that she'd perform, if asked to as well, beyond her pilots wildest dreams. 

"Coolio," he remarked, grabbing a bag from beneath the table and scooping an armful of gadgets into it. "So I'm thinking, we take a look around for a bit, get in some sight seeing, observe the locals, slice off a few local body parts, the yoosh." He tossed the bag to Ripper and disappeared down a hall, coming back a few moments later with a new shirt and a second sword carried over a shoulder.

"Slicing, and sightseeing. My second favorite combination. So, we take body parts but not prisoners, that sort of thing. I can work with it."

With a slight tilt of his head, Ripper eyed the sword that Cai was carrying, and his face split into an instant grin. Oh, but that was a piece that he could feel the history soaking around.

"Does this old girl of your have any form of laser weapon, or Time Weapon fitted, by the way? Perhaps, once we've sorted this out, then I can can help you with that, if you and she like."

"Try this on for size," he said, tossing the blade to Ripper as well. While Cai favored his katana, Furor, he had a large selection of other weapons that he'd been collecting for years. The blade he'd handed off to Skippy was a gladius style sword, shorter than Cai's own and with a wider blade and double edged. It's sheathe was simple black leather, a black grip and a silver wolf's head pommel.

Ripper caught the sheath smoothly, and strapped the blade into place, before freeing it to test the edge of the blade with the side of his thumb. "Not bad at all. The handle is a little flashy for my usual taste, but it has a nice weight to it, and you've kept the edge in an excellent condition. I've no doubts this will do the trick."

Cai made his way toward the door as he continued. "Traded a kid some jelly beans for that, thought it was cool. It worked great for leveling out that chair. Its a bit bigger than your pig-sticker, but at least you'll be able to do the stabbing and the slicing and the happy-fun-times until we find the toy maker. Just don't trade it for jelly beans. I totally ripped that kid off, its worth at least a case of fruit rollups."

"No Jellybeans, check." Ripper nodded, and followed Cai to the door. 

His blood was singing, at the though of the fun that lay before them. 

One hand rested on the end of the handle of his borrowed blade, as he followed his friend out into the unknown.