"Peggy, back off!" Buckaroo warned. "We don't kniw if it's really Tommy."
"It is." Knuckles assured, crouching down beside Perfect Tommy. She nodded to the dead cyborg. "Dupes don't bleed."
"And Perfect Tommy does!" Peggy snapped. "Now do something about it!"
Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers leaped to help thier wounded.
Knuckles chuckled and patted Tommy's shoulder. "Sure can tell who runs this house."
Tommy's eyes fluttered open. "Damn." he mumbled.
"What?"
"I wanted to take you dancing." he joked, despite the pain that threatened to drag him down into darkness.
The girl laughed, a joyouse sound that roped Tommy and kept him ancored in the concious world. "Another time, but now, I have to run off to see how your buddy is doing."
"Buddy?" Buckaroo asked from where he was bent over Tommy's busted up leg.
"New Jersey went to check up on your kids." Knuckles answered.
"Alone?"
Knuckles tilted her head to one side. "Until we go get him." she answered as if it was a "duh!" She patted Tommy's shoulder again. "Let's get you upright, Tom."
"Upright?" Peggy asked, astonished that she would suggest such of a crippled man.
But Perfect Tommy grabbed Knuckles offered hand and let her pull him up into a sitting position.
"Deep breath." Jessie instructed getting under his arm. "Three... two... one... up!"
Bracing his good leg under him, Tommy rose up, leaning heavily on the girl. His eyes squeezed shut and he bit his lip to keep from crying out.
Buckaroo quickly moved in to help his friend. "Easy. Don't put any weight on it.
Gasping, Tommy glanced at him. "I have a slight concussion. I'm not stupid."
"Concussion?" Buckaroo frowned, eyeing the head gash.
"Later." Knuckles waved away. "Come on, Tom. Man the PC outside. cover our backs, eh?" She started to lead him out.
"I'll do that." Peggy protested. "he can't. He's all broken up."
Tommy waved a hand over his shoulder at her, calling back "I'm perfect!"
Buckaroo glanced at his Cavaliers who, numbly, looked back.
It was Peggy Banzai who had the right words for the situation: "The duece, you say!"
New Jersey peered around the corner of the building. Sure as foretold, two black clad invaders guarded the front door. No boubt it was likewise at the back and side doors too.
The doctor pulled back before he could be seen. Leaning his head against the wall, he groaned. "Sure, Sidney, ol' buddy, ol' pal, sure you can take it all alone." he mumbled. "Sure, no problem."
A scream from around the corner brought new Jersey's attention back to the guards. Glancing around the corner again, he saw the Osprey, Draco attacking the twon men. He was n't sure which was screaming, the bird or the men she was shredding.
"Here we go." Jersey ran around the corner to join the attack. Catching the attention of the nearest invader with a "Hey!", he slammed the butt of his Thompson across his jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Out of the way, Draco!" Jersey called, trying to move on to the next invader.
But Draco snapped her beak at him. She had tasted the man's blood, and no one was going to take the kill away from her. With talons and beak, she tore at the man
"Draco! Draco, stop!" he continued to yell, swinging at the bird. No matter what had been done, no one deserved to be shredded to pieces. Not like this!
Draco fluttered her huge wings, knocking Jersey back.
"Damn it, bird!' Jersey snapped, but Draco already had the invader on the ground, her talons ripping at his throat. Swallowing back another protest, the doctor resigned that there was nothing left to be done. She had had her kill.
So he turned to the door and attempted to kick it open.
It didn't budge.
Sighing at his own stupidity, New Jersey limped up to the door and turned the knob, opening it.
Responding to the scream of thier comrads, two armed invaders came running down the hall toward him. They hesitated for only a breath when they saw the Cavalier, then brought up their own weapons.
New Jersey fired the Thompson first, the submachine gun kicking in his hands. The two invaders look at alomst as if the were dancing as the bullets hit before they dropped to the floor dead.
"Damn." Jersey breathed, startled by the power of the antique weapon.
A door opened to his left. Spinning about, jersey dropped to one knee, and brought the weapon up.
"Woe!" Billy held up his hands. "It's me!"
Jersey sighed with relief when another invader appeared behind him in the doorway he had just stepped through.
But, before either of the Cavaliers could react, Draco hit the man from behind, slamming him foreward. Blinded by talons and feathers, the invader tripped over Jersey, who was still kneeling on the floor.
Another invader stepped into the hall.
"Look out!" Billy yelled.
New Jersey rose up to his feet, taking aim, and firering.
But that invader was followed by four more. Word was getting out that there was fighting and the bad guys were coming to secure thier position.
Bullets hit the wall next to Billy's head, sending the young computer whiz leaping back into the room.
"We're coming!" someone yelled from a room beyond the invaders.
A few of the invaders turned, but interns came busting out of thier rooms on either side, one swinging a broom, another a bat, and pommeled them to the ground.
Unable to get a clean shot once the interns began swarming out of thier rooms, new jersey charged down the hall, swinging the Thompson at the enemy close enough to hit.
"Crap." Knuckles snapped, when she heard the unique sound of the Thompson. She and Buckaroo dropped to the one knee on the ground. "He wasn't supposed to go in alone." she growled. "Don't any of your boys know how to follow orders?"
Buckaroo smiled. "No. not a signal one. Each and every a true rebellion."
"Humph." Knuckles mumbled. "Funny, I didn't pick the doc as a rebel."
Rawhide, Reno, Pecos, and Big Norse moved up behind them. "Where do you want us, boss?" Pecos asked.
Buckaroo glanced at Knuckles, who shrugged, saying "Your people, your rules."
"It would be a first today." Buckaroo observed.
To no ones surprise, Knuckles wasn't around to hear. She was already half way to thier destination.
