All Right, Who Let Her In?!

[doctorzero]

"I'm starting to like you, girl," Dark Pit said appreciatively. "Now let's get out of this dump before those two catch up."

He took a swift look behind the corner of the hallway, then turned back to look at Mary. "No one there. Now which way's the teleporter?"

To be honest, he would've preferred to recover his weapons before leaving, but the less time spent on this thing with Ralsis, the better off he would be. Besides, he could just get another bow.

Before Mary could respond to the question, the intercom crackled with Ralsis's voice. "As soon as I get my hands on your dirty skin, you worthless waste of feathers, I'm going to forcefeed you your own wing bones, YOU HEAR ME?!"

DP was taken aback. "The heck he's angry about all of a sudden?"

[ryocker]

"Maybe he's just filled with anger," Mary thought aloud, putting a finger to her mouth.

Upstairs, Aiman crossed her arms, turning to the side. "You know," she heaved. "yelling isn't going to do any real damage to them. Why don't we try hitting them from a distance?" As if on cue, she ripped a portal open with her magic, grinning. "We could just warp to them, buuut..."

[doctorzero]

Ralsis leaned against the wall, snarling. "That pathetic excuse for an angel is going to regret taunting me like that."

Upon hearing Aiman's suggestion, he smirked. "You are SUCH a diabolical little deviant."

---

Slam!

"No..."

Slam!

"No..."

Slam!

"No..."

Slam!

"For crying out loud, where the heck is it?!"

Dark Pit had opened nearly every single door they had come across, and most of the rooms were either empty or had nothing but useless junk in them.

The more time we waste, the odds of those two catching us increase. Shouldn't there be a map somewhere or something?! he thought.

All thoughts were cut short as the energy lance zoomed past his head.

"Dammit, I missed."

DP turned to see Ralsis--poised at what looked like a portal--conjuring up another lance.

"Oh, give me a break already!" he groaned, grabbing Mary by the hand and hightailing it as another lance flew over them.

[ryocker]

On Ralsis and Aiman's end, the portal that Ralsis was looking through had suddenly become blank, regulating its base color. "Try from this angle," Aiman grinned, the portal now showing a view of Dark Pit's front. "Little fool- no matter what you try, Pitty- you're not getting out of this unscathed!" he could hear her exclaim, letting a light chuckle as Ralsis chucked another portal.

Far ahead of Dark Pit was a very unfortunate sound- the sound of a sudden electrocution and then minor explosion. Stepping out from an air choked room was Mary- coated in soot marks. "The teleporter's boobytrapped, Dark Pit! The only way off is- HEY!" Before anyone had a chance to react, Aiman had opened a seperate portal- one located directly behind Mary, grabbing the big armed bundle and dragging her through.

"Not so tough when you're neutralized by a spell, are you?" Aiman asked, Mary's nose bleeding from an apparent attempt at electrocuting Aiman. "Alright Ralsis, I've got the little brat. Now we just have to get Pit before he jumps out of the building, plummeting to a near death experience towards the island!"

A ridiculously humourous pause would've taken place right there and then. Mary raised an eyebrow at her busty capturer. "Do you even have a brain?" she asked, Aiman's already pale skin donning a reddish hue. "Pit! Get out of here! Noo-oooaaAAAAAUGH!"

Before Aiman's actions toward Mary could be fully realized, the portals she crafted had fissled away, Dark Pit's only exit being right in front of him.

[doctorzero]

“MARY!”

The portal vanished before Dark Pit could follow. Seriously, he should've seen that coming.

DAMMIT!

---

As soon as the portal dissipated, Ralsis whacked Aiman over the head. “Congratulations, miss idiocy, you just gave our escapee an idea out of here. Maybe I should remind you that I prefer it if he was, oh, I don't know, ALIVE?!” Without letting her respond, he continued, “Knock out our little stowaway before she can cause any trouble and lock her up. At least if anything goes wrong with Pit we can use her as backup leverage. I on the other hand am going to deal with the angel.” He gave her a look that implied violence. “And before I forget—NO MORE SCREWUPS. You've seen me angry. You do NOT want to see me murderous.”

---

As much as Dark Pit wanted to save Mary, he had to know when to fold them—he was in no condition to fight ANYONE, let alone a beast like Ralsis and his lackey. Dying or getting captured again would do no good for either of them.

Not wasting any time, he took off to the exit door. I'll get help. Soon as I'm out of here, I'll contact Palutena and Pitstain—Viridi if she's feeling generous. Then I can come back and save her. She helped me. I'm not going to leave her here for long.

Just...wait a little while, okay, girl?

Of course, he had momentarily forgotten the 'plummeting to a near death experience' bit. It became self evident why she had said that.

Behind the door lied the Orbital Lab's cargo bay, where vessels from the island would be stationed. Predictably, not a single ship was present, either having been sent off before Ralsis took over or jettisoned.

And in what Dark Pit could only assume was an oversight on the evil overlord wannabe's part, the cargo bay doors were wide open.

Dark Pit made it right to the edge before a loud grinding sound prompted him to turn around and look up to see part of the ceiling fall in front of him, with Ralsis following suit as he landed on his feet.

You've gotta be kidding.

Ralsis sighed as he stood up and brushed himself off. “That's going to come out of the lab's budget, no doubt, but I didn't have the patience to have Aiman portal me here.” He pointed his sword at Dark Pit. “You, angel, have caused me a lot of trouble today, you and your little friend. Before I pummel you to hell and back, let me ask—who is she and how did she get onboard? I'm pretty sure that no one knew that I took you until after I left, and I didn't leave any clues to follow. Either she's omniscient to some degree or you had prepared for this.”

...Dark Pit just stared at him, exasperated. “Dude, you seriously think I PREPARED for any of this? I barely know her. I don't have any idea how she got on board, pal, so I've got nothin' for you.” The fact that she had said a portal brought her here probably was best left unmentioned.

Ralsis merely sighed. “Well, fine, be that way. You don't have anywhere to run, anyway, and that's a rather high fall. If the fall alone doesn't kill you the impact will certainly reduce you to tiny pieces all over the place, and I really don't want anyone to die over this. Things will be a lot more smooth if you just—”

“Yeaah, not listening. Later.”

And with that, Dark Pit took a step back and fell right off the edge.

“NO!!!” Ralsis ran forward, an arm outstretched, but Dark Pit was already far out of reach. All he could do was watch the angel fall down until he was naught but a tiny speck.

…

“Damn it all,” Ralsis muttered. “Senseless waste of life...”

With a heavy sigh he walked to the elevator, stopping at an intercom and speaking into it. “Aiman, we lost the prisoner. He's most likely dead. I'm going to assume you did something right and incarcerated our new guest. I'm going to speak with her in a few minutes, but now I want you to meet me in my office. We're going to have to deviate from the original plan a bit...”

---

Dark Pit may have been a copy of an angel, but he was still an angel. He knew (well, hoped) that a fall like this wouldn't kill him. The fall, on the other hand, was going to be unpleasant, but he really hadn't had much choice in the escape route.

He didn't want to leave her there. At least this way, if someone came across him when he landed (and assuming he was still conscious) he could tell them where she was in hope that someone would launch a rescue. Or get him some medical treatment. Either worked.

While he wouldn't know until he landed, it was a damn good thing he was right above the Crystal Room restaurant.