C&B: Always Backup the Nerds

[Diana]

Morning at the College went the same way each day. Students came in for class, teachers gave their lectures. On this particular day, Thor Adams was preparing for a lecture later in the afternoon. Ryan was just stepping out of Thor's office with long check list. Errands for the day. If there was one thing Ryan hated, it was doing errands like this. He was a PILOT not a go-to boy. Of course, the boss says he doesn't pay him to sit around on his ass all day chatting it up with ladies. That didn't offend Ryan. What got up in his craw, was Mr. Adams saying he never finished anything. He finished plenty of stuff when it was interesting enough.

As he stalked down the hall, he was surprised to see Cassandra Jones. The woman that kept calling him Flyboy and the partner of the ever beautiful Babs. Babs with her gorgeous eyes, and swaying hips, and gaah... if he thought any more about her he'd start drooling.

"Quit drooling, Flyboy. I'm not interested."

Aw man. Too late. Ryan scratched the back of his head as he stopped in the hall. "I wasn't thinking about YOU - I mean, not that you aren't smokin', but I figure the Boss wouldn't appreciate me havin' a threesome with his girl." Whoops. She was scowling. What did he say?

"I am NOT his girl." Cassie snarled as she stomped past him. The last he saw of her, she was slamming the door to Thor Adams office as she walked inside uninvited.

Oh well. He had a job to do!



Cassie wanted to kill the boy. But not as much as his boss. So when she stepped in to his office and slammed the door behind her, she was forgetting the REAL reason she came to the college today. Funding was getting low for the archeology expeditions. Even Thor Adams wanted their wing well funded. Thus, she needed donated artifacts to sell at auction. Right that moment though, it was all out the window. She was scowling at the one she currently considered her biggest rival.

"Do you realize an idiot works for you?"

 

[Ochalla]

"And a Good Morning to you as well Ms. Jones." Thor said with a bored expression as he looked up at her. Bored was the last thing Thor Adams was when Cassie came blazing into his life, but he was smart enough to know that reacting to her give gave her more fuel. He knew very well what she thought of him, or at least what she said she thought of him. It was all a very impressive defense she had against anyone getting to know her. He wondered more then once if even her partner really knew her.

"Was there any particular reason you came into my office? Or did you just want to make sure I knew you were still in town?" Not that he needed to be told, even without Ryan's help Thor was quite able to keep up when the woman was in town. Even when he had a lecture to prepare for.

Meanwhile on another part of the campus Babs was listening to one of the teachers aids from the Physics Department try to explain how the latest machine that the graduate students had made. It wasn't a device she had much interest in herself, but she could appreciate what it could do. What she was less then thrilled about was who they wanted to sell it too. It had nothing to do with scruples and everything to do with knowing your buyer, and she didn't!

"Okay James, I got it. Now where is this client of yours?" Babs almost hoped they would be late, but then the door opened and a pair of bully boys in suits and sunglasses walked in. This was not good!

"Gentlemen, thank you for coming. Please have a seat and we'll get right down to business."

 

[Diana]

James, the nerd in the labcoat swallowed as the bullyboys in suits entered. They were from another college, one out of state. They were promising to pay BIG bucks for their current inventions.

The boys in suits had a seat. "So where is the invention. We need to see it."

A couple other accompanying nerds wheel out a large machine on a cart. "Here it is. The mind washer. You set this cap over their heads of your patient and you're able to erase the past twenty four hours."


In Thor's office, Cassie dropped down in to a seat and crossed her legs. She was wearing a suit, the nice black tailored kind with the soft grey pinstripes. And black heels. There was a certain amount of intimidation people seemed to get with a woman in a suit and heels. Cassie loved it.

"I need artifacts. Anything you have lying around? The department is running out of funds, and unless we put your Flyboy on the streets and start whoring him out, I need to raise money for the expeditions."

 

[Ochalla]

What Cassie said to him did not surprise Thor very much. In fact there were a few items he did have lying around just for such a situation, though he had hoped he wouldn't have to donate them. Trust Cassie to come to him knowing that he couldn't say no to keeping the department going.

"You know, I heard of this small town that would auction off their singles for dates."

"We'll take it," the one bully boy said with a sadistic look of satifaction.

"As soon as we agree upon a price," Babs cooly reminded them.

"No, you don't understand. We're taking it!"

Babs hated dealing with this type. There really was only one thing to do as the two boys walked in the direction of the device and the science students scattered, well except the one that either had a spine, or was scared stiff. Babs went for the cart at a run, and kept on running with a poorly destributed weight on it. Forgetting they were not on the ground floor, she paused only a moment when she reached the stairs.

This was not going to be a fun ride down!

At least she wasn't wearing a short skirt!

 

[Diana]

"There is an idea." The slow cat-like smile that spread across Cassie's face was a wicked one indeed. She linked her fingers together, twiddling her thumbs as she gave the idea some 'thought'. "I -could- hold an auction for dates. But who would I put in the auction...? let's see, you are single aren't you?"

Now that she had it under consideration, she could auction artifacts AND men. Put Thor Adams up right at the front of the line.



Ryan was just walking past one of the buildings on the other side of campus when CRASH. BANG. THUMP.

"Uuuugh..." He was lying on his back crushed under a cart from one of the science labs. The white sheet was over his head, and he was sporting one hell of a headache. He must have been hit by a car!

 

[Ochalla]

"You're not getting rid of me that easy Cassie," That was a lovely little trap they were in that might have been best not to bring up. Oh well, it was really her own fault! The bring it up, not the trap. They were equally to blame for that little mess. Perhaps mess was not the best way of thinking of it, nor as a trap, after all there was a lot more then their own egos and feelings involved.

This was why it was so hard for him to deal with Cassie these days!

"When do you need the artifacts?"

There we go, back on track. Get her out of the office and then he can get back to work!



That was not the worse ride Babs had ever had, though she usually didn't have to pull a stunt like that in the states. Never the less, she thought she had smooth sailings as she flung herself and the cart out the double doors of the building, the bully boys still a flight above her when it all stopped too suddenly.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this," complained the pig-tailed brunette as she clung to the device from behind the cart. She got her feet on the ground and backed up, finally noticing there was someone on the ground.

"Sorry, I'm going to be late for a - RYAN!" Babs was surprised what she found under the sheet as she lifted it.

 

[Diana]

Cassie allowed the subject change. If she didn't, she was going to start screaming about how she didn't care whether or not he was single and that she wasn't trying to get rid of him. And that sounded wrong. Or encouraging. She ran her fingers through her hair both to scratch her head and fluff it out a bit.

"I need them now. If you're busy, I can pick out a few from your collection myself. I'll only need three or four." Despite being well known for trying to steal items out from under Thor, she had enough honor not to go snatching out things from his collection. He won them fair and square, whether she liked it or not.



Meanwhile, Ryan was still groaning. "I must be dead... I'm seeing angels." Usually coming from Ryan or any other man, it would sound like a really bad pickup line. But he had been clobbered so bad, everything was still bright, shining and hazy. After a second, he was sitting up and shaking his head to try and clear the cobwebs. Just in time for a couple of suited goons to come running out a building and screaming about 'device' and 'thieving bitch'.

It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on.

"Heya, babe! You runnin' errands today too? I think they're catching up to ya." He paused suddenly, fumbling around until he found the slip of paper he dropped. "Aw man, almost lost this thing!"

 

[Ochalla]

It wasn't that he wasn't busy, the fact he had a lecture was evidence of that, but getting away from the desk for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. He'd been there most of the day. Of course it had nothing to do with him wanting to spend any more time with Cassie, he might have still had unresolved feeling after the last incident, and she might have been trying to play off like nothing had happen, but this was professional! RIGHT?

"I have a few items in mind. I think they'll bring in a good price and the stories behind them are not some of my best." Thor stood up and realized he was smiling at her. Not politely either, a real smile. He couldn't help it, she looked so nice in that dress suit and when he wasn't fighting with her, he found himself smiling more often then not around her.



"Yes yes, I know, I'm your angel. Now come on." It never occurred to Babs that she should have ran off alone to get the device away from the thugs. Instead she held out her hand to help Ryan off the ground. Once he was standing, she grabbed the cart. "Come on, I need to get this away from them." It also never occurred to Babs that Ryan wouldn't help her. Of course he would, that was how Ryan was. Besides, if he did a really good job she'd reward him later.

"Cassie would want to shoot them by now," Babs muttered wondering how those two gorillas got down stairs so fast and how angry Yoshi would be with any deaths on campus. Deaths were not suppose to happen in town after all. It could make the image of the school look bad!

 

[Diana]

He smiled and Cassie's instinctual response was to smile back. But the very moment she caught herself, that smile went to a smirk instead. She rose from her seat, retaining the haughty air she always aspired to.

"So where are they? Do I get to raid your office or are we going to sift through your secret vault of valuables that I know you have hidden in the back of the wings." Cassie knew all too well about his collection. Thor liked to share his artifacts on loan for study. She, on the other hand, enjoyed keeping her favorites at home. Somewhere she could see them and admire her conquests.



Ryan dust himself off once he was on his feet. He immediately started shaking his head. "No can do, babe. I got work to do today. Take a rain check?"

He was taking the time to wait for her reply, even though she seemed to look dumbfounded. Normally she didn't look so surprised at him when he asked her out!

The next thing he knew, he was being tapped on the shoulder and turning around. Then POW a punch to the nose! Stumbling backwards he slammed himself in the face trying to reach up and nurse his now bleeding nose. Stuffing his to-do list in his pocket, Ryan decided it could wait two minutes while he beat the hell out of this guy.

"What the hell man?! C'mere!" He beckoned a hand for the guy to come at him again. He was prepared this time!

 

[Ochalla]

He saw it, he knew he saw her smile at him, but then she was back to her normal defensive attitued. It was something though.

Thor did smirk when she mentioned the less then secret area of the school he kept some of his finds. The truth was, he kept more then people thought. There were the items that were loaned out to various museums and schools, and there were the items she mentioned hidden here at the school, though he did have to tell Yoshi to let any of his more adventurous students know that sneaking in was only okay as long as nothing was broken. The moment any of the undergrads did break something he was going to take steps. This was after an inaffective attempt at burlerizing his room a few years earlier.

At least he wasn't stupid enough to leave the dangerous artifacts at the school, someone would be dead by now, and not by his hands.

"Since you already know where we're going, you can lead the way." Thor opened the door for her. He did wonder just because she knew where it was if she actually had been in there, at least lately.



"No calling me babe, remember?" Granted there were bigger problems then Ryan's mode of addressing her, but she wasn't going to just ignore the comment. When the first guy punched Ryan, Babs looked for the second. He was right behind his buddy, and was pulling out what looked like a gun. Like hell was Babs going to be shot at, she went up and kicked the gun out of the goons hands. Surprising him with the move in fact. Didn't they know who they were dealing with. When the gun came back down she caught it. She could tell right off this wasn't a normal gun.

"Damn it, give that back!" The goon tried to tackle her, but Babs was faster, more experienced, and ready for this. She easily sidestepped the guy then aimed the gun at the guy's head. "Want to tell me what this is, or should I try it out on you?"

 

[Diana]

What belonged to Thor and should have belonged to her was never kept secret for long. Cassie had a way of getting information out of people. It might have been because even now, under her jacket she had one of her guns. Tailored and well hidden, one never expects to see them until she has it pulled out and pointed at their head. Except most of the students. Or anyone that's known her longer than a few months. This was probably why several students were scurrying out of sight as she led the way to the west wings.

The door to the artifact vaults that Thor kept his precious things in was an unmarked door far in the back. This particular wing wasn't used often, except for storage or for extracurricular activities by sneaky students. A perfect place to keep things put away and out of harm's reach. Especially with Bab's science ward geeks. They were often blowing up half the school.

Of course the door was locked. Cassie stood to the side, beckoning for Thor to unlock it.




Before that goon could reply about the gun, his buddy came flying through the air crashing him to him. Both of them were now groaning on the ground and trying to get themselves untangled.

Ryan was trying to wipe the blood off his face with a handkerchief he pulled out of his back pocket. "Sorry, angel. Got other things on the mind today."

Oh yeah, his errands. "Now about that date, rain check, right? Right. I'll be talking to you later." He picked up that sheet to drape back over the uh... whateverthehell it was that she had with her. Then he was marching down the sidewalk!

 

[Ochalla]

Thor had his hands casually in his pockets as he walked with Cassie, and he caught one or two surprised glances. No one should be so unconcerned and relaxed around Cassandra Jones was the looks he got, but he didn't pay it any mind. She might have been a bit trigger happy, but that was only when in her mind there was a reason. Today Thor wasn't going to give her a reason.

Of course he never did.

There was a slight jingle as he pulled out his keys and went over to unlock the door. He opened it so that Cassie could walk in ahead of him when something occurred to him. Cassie normally didn't like people right behind her.

Well in their business maybe it was just prudent not to let anyone be where you couldn't see them.

"I don't know how it always gets so dusty in here,"



This was unexpectable! Granted the ham fisted boys were now laying on the ground, but she couldn't believe Ryan just walked off like that! Tapping the gun on her chin she pouted for a bit, looking away from the pilot and over to the two. Then she grinned.

"Let's see what this thing does,"

"Noooo!" cried out both thugs, but Babs wasn't that stupid, she aimed for a nearby tree instead.

A bubble popped out. A silly bubble that got larger and larger, and when it touched the tree it popped.

"That was uneventful. Toodles!" With a cute little turn she headed back to the science wing with the cart. She thought for sure that the thugs would realize they had just been beaten and would go home with their tails between their legs, but they were obviously not hired for their intelligence. A shame really!

 

[Diana]

"There is an ancient legend that the older something is, the more attractive it is to dust." Her younger sister enjoyed implying that's why Cassie herself always ended up so damned dirty. But Cassie knew the girl was often in far bigger messes than she ever was.

Glancing around, it wasn't hard to tell which artifacts were more likely to be Thor's compared to things that belonged to the museum or others. He always took a great deal of care with his items - and they were always very, very special. As she stopped by a tarnished statue, she was casting a slight frown. Very special. This one was supposed to be hers. She had been trying to get her hands on it for two years before Thor snatched it up.

"This one might be good for the auction." She couldn't claim it, but she could sure as hell buy it.



Ryan was well on his way to the first errand on his list. At the science building, he needed to pick up a... uh. Hell, he couldn't even pronounce what was on the paper. He figured it was probably some weird flashy device that did scientific things like seeing through walls and zapping mummies.

He jumped up the front steps and started peeking in to doors, trying to find those dorks that handled all these requests.

 

[Ochalla]

Thor looked over at the statue Cassie was looking at. That had taken a lot of blood sweat and tears to get. He was still very fond of the piece and wasn't likely to part with it anytime soon.

"I'm sure it would," he said and wondering if he was reading the look on Cassie's face right. It was too bad he was going to have to disappoint her today. "That's not one of the ones I had in mind though," he told her as he opened up a large chest. Inside were things that sparkled and shined. One or two pieces seemed to shine without the assistance of the lighting in the room. "The rare and the eye catching."



A small woman with large glasses and a white lab coat, or at least it was white under the blast marks tapped Ryan's shoulder from behind. "You work for Doctor Adams, yes?"

Without waiting for an answer she started walking away, and heading into another room.

"Who's that," another girl in a lab coat asked. Her coat seemed to be freshly pressed and clean. She was a good foot taller then her associate and almost as tall as Ryan himself. "We don't need any more test subjects."

"This is Doctor Adams' man."

"Doctor Adams?" And three more girls in the room seemed to come away from the projects and look over at Ryan. They were all studying him a little too closely, which Ryan might not have minded so much had the tallest one not kept writing things on her clip board every time she looked at him.

The first woman went over to a table and came back over with what looked like a very skinny remote control. "The gravitational magnate reverse polarity wand."

 

[Diana]

There was definitely a look of disappoint on Cassie's face. Damn you, Thor Adams. It's going to be mine sooner or late... Her disappointment was short-lived, however. Cassie's eyes immediately lit up at the shiny items in the chest. She couldn't help but tap her fingers together as she slid over to give them a much more scrutinizing examination. Even pulling a tiny notepad out of her jacket pocket to start writing down items on a list.

"Perfect. Collectors snatch these things up hotcakes. ...except those. We're not letting those out. Last thing we need is someone summoning up the Gods of Tyranny." Cassie pointed at the two or three pieces that were glowing faintly. Plenty of items were fabled to be mystical but were harmless little trinkets of antiquity. Others... they priceless and most certainly dangerous.




Ryan found himself surrounded by several very adorable college scientists. ...Almost creepily adorable scientists. He was even clearing his throat uncomfortable as they looked him over, jotted down notes, and occasionally prodded at him with a pen - or worse - pricked him with something sharp.

"Great! The Thinger. I need that and I'll bid you ladies Adieu." Ryan held out his hand expectantly.

"Here, drink this first." said one of the ladies, handing him a beaker of strangely green liquid.

Ryan eyed it suspiciously before he took it and gulped it down. Immediately he was regretting it and coughing like he had some sort of lung disease! "Eeyaargh!! What the hell was that stuff?!"

"Interesting. Here you are." said the first, handing him the Polarity Wand. "If you have any... strange side effects come see us later."

"Side effects..?"

 

[Ochalla]

"I don't believe those are the real thing," Thor said, but figured that it was likely best not to take chances and took out the glowing gems in question from the pile of others.

"Who else were you going to hit up out of curiosity?" Thor asked as he started to lead Cassie out of the room. It just wasn't prudent to let her or anyone in their specialized field to linger in there too long. Might just be something they'd really want to get. Needless to say Thor didn't realize that it was already too late.



Ryan really shouldn't have asked, because what followed sounded like the warnings on drug advertisements on TV. Once he smartly left the room and went to the elevator to get a ride up, it opened promptly and what should appear there but a smug looking Babs, who then arched an eyebrow.

"Going up?" really she was going to be irritated if he said no, especially he'd just have to wait until she got to her floor to get the elevator to go back downstairs anyways. Once she got this back to it's creators she could go do something nice and simple, like have lunch.

 

[Diana]

"You don't, do you?" Cassie responded, with a rather wicked smirk. She made a mental note to somehow wrangle those particular pieces from him later for her own collection. What Thor Adams didn't know was always beneficial for her.

Cassie wasn't quite done examining the collection, just yet. Now she was taking a great deal of interest in a large ornate trunk. ...or was it a coffin? Not an Egyptian sarcophagus, but the size was big enough to fit at least three average sized people in it. Possibly used for storage, and certainly created during the Persian empire... Cassie had it open and was checking out the back lining of it.

"A few of the other Professors. They don't quite have as interesting items, though.." There was that tone in her voice. That curious, very intent tone when she was focused on snooping.



Ryan coughed again as he stepped in to the elevator, shook his head and pressed the ground floor button. "Naw... Done here to-*cough*day." And better for it. What ever the hell he just drank was either going to give him an extra penis, green piss, or keep him awake for the next thirty-two hours. He really hoped barfing wasn't going to be involved. He could handle an second penis.

"They don't...uh... let them get away with human test subjects around here, do they?" he asked curiously, trying not to sound too worried.

 

[Ochalla]

"I'm sure they're not," Thor said while leaning over Cassie. "I'm going to go get some lunch, so I'm afraid we're going to have to leave." Hell he just need to get Cassie out of this room. The last thing he needed was for her to find anything else she wanted. He was well aware she already had seen more then one item she wanted for her own. No, he was going to have to reinventory everything now just to be sure he hadn't overlooked something that was a bit more of value then he first estimated. There were a few things in here he really had not had the time to investigate fully, and some that while he wanted to keep was not in the dangerous and must hide or decorative and must display category. At least not in his current residence. Someday when he had a larger house perhaps.

Thor put his hand on Cassie's shoulder and looked at her.



"They're suppose to have you sign a waver first," Babs told the pilot as the elevator doors closed and started going up since she had just come from the ground floor and was heading back with the device.

"You really don't look so well, we should get you a glass of water." The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. Babs already had her back to the side wall as soon as the first whiff of smoke touched her nostrils. She didn't even realize she had grabbed the sleeve of Ryan's jacket and pulled her to the wall with her. Carefully she peered out into the hall. There was gray smoke defusing the florescent lights, causing everything to have an eerie glow.

 

[Diana]

"Why don't you go ahead and leave for lunch..." Cassie suggested, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. Of course, she knew he wouldn't. That would be making life FAR too easy for her. He might have known she'd never steal from him, but he also liked to make sure she didn't start plotting to get her hands on things. Cassie got a great deal of amusement from making Dr. Adams uncomfortable.

"Where did you pick this thing up. It's a very unusual piece." She was referring to the box. The lining in it didn't seem to fit with the style or period of it. In fact, it looked like it was there to either make it pretty or to hide something. Curiosity getting the best of her, Cassie reached up in the top corner to tug at the piece of fabric that was fraying away.

THONK!

Before she knew it, everything went dark and Thor Adams was crashing in to her. She elbowed him not too roughly in the ribs, and hissed over her shoulder. "What did you do?"


"I guess I could use some guh!" Ryan didn't get the sentence out before he was being tugged to a wall. He wrinkled up his nose and coughed at the scent of smoke. Didn't smell like anything was burning, but the smoke did have a really weird scent. Man, he hated this section of the campus!

Ryan peeked around the corner, a frown prevalent on his face. He was almost tempted to just press the down button and leave. But he couldn't very well take off if the building was on fire. "HEY! Any one out there burning alive? Dead?" Silence met his query. Nothing seemed to be moving in the weird glow of the hall. Not even any airflow to get all that smoke swirling around.

"Kay, I'mma have a look around. Don't go getting shot at or nothin'." Normally a girl tended to get kidnapped, but Babs seemed to have guns shooting at her way more often.

 

[Ochalla]

Thor really started to wonder why he thought this was going to be simple. Nothing with Cassie ever was! Not that he would want to dampen her curiosity. It was one of the traits that made her amazing at not only her job, but just in general.

These were dangerous thoughts though. Cassie was too often on guard and Thor was going to have to be a lot more patient in this cat and mouse game.

Also she was correct about the box. This large item was a very recent acquisition, and not one he got in his travels. It was given to him, which of course made him very suspicious. Thor was about to tell her about it when suddenly there was a loud sound and shortly the lights went out.

Instinctively, Thor reached out and grabbed Cassie, while with the other arm reaching for a large spear that had been standing beside the box.

"Me? I didn't do anything. You were the one messing with things best left untouched." Granted he really didn't think she caused this, but you never really knew! That wasn't the even the real problem though.



Meanwhile on the other side of campus.

"Right," Babs muttered. She just knew this was due to the damn device. "Wait," suddenly she got behind the cart and pushed it out into the hall.

And no one shot at it, this was a good sign. Cautiously they both got out of the elevator. Then there was a large explosion! If it was whatever was already making the smoke, or something else, Babs wasn't sure, but now it was pitch black.