Tears of a Ranger (Taz/Up Fanfic Sequel to UBU)

Chapter 5

(SO, it's been a while. I'm thinking of making this a trilogy: Before Starship is UBU, during Starship is TOAR, and the third will be after Starship, and is to be titled. I figured that three would be plenty to fill in the whole TUp story and conclude it. And let's just say, after this, nothing will follow as you expect. It hasn't been writen, but I'm planning it out, and I've just followed this because I am keeping it as close to how things are at the end of Starship as possible, but after TOAR, I'm free to improvise however I want. Muahahahaha! :) BTW, please vote, comment, and fan? LOVE YOUSSSSS -THD)

The drop pod docked onto the Starship and Taz had never been more relieved to get off. The whole ride had been so awkward, what with Tootsie, Krayonder, and Specs pestering Bug with all sorts of questions and her being cooly polite to Up. She got off and immediately grabbed her zapper. Megagirl could be anywhere.

They ran into the command center where they had heard a small outcry. She stopped when the entered and looked around saying, "Donde esta el robota?"

"Wow," Bug said. "Look at this place!"

Up gasped and fell to a spot on the floor. "Junior!" Taz looked over to see their ambassador lying on the ground clutching his head. "What the heck happened to you, boy?"

Junior looked like he was crying. Wimp. "It was Megagirl, she snuck up on me! I was just crying because she told me all you guys were dead! But, I guess my tears must've made her mad cause she punched me!"

"Punched you?!" Up said, sounding like a worried mother. Taz wanted to scream and strangle him. "Aw, let me see the booboo."

"But, am I- Commander Up, am I gonna be the same after this?" Junior asked, still crying.

Up smiled and began to help Junior up. "Aw, I think you're gonna be just fine, my boy. Ain't nobody ever gonna hurt you again."

"Phew," Junior said, sounding a bit less enthusiastic. Of course, Taz wouldn't feel super charged either if her only protection was Up at the moment.

"Well, look what the garbage truck dragged in," came a voice from the doorway.

They all looked over to see Megagirl standing there. Up freaked out and shoved Junior towards her, who then backed away, arms held up in defense.

 "Thank dead God you're alive!" Tootsie shouted enthusiastically. He was just looking for a punch in the face, wasn't he?

Taz stepped forward, pointing her Zapper at Megagirl's stupid robot head. "Jou give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast your face plate all over the walls right now!"

"Because it won't do you any good, Taz. The only way to decommision a Megagirl unit is to slowly lower her into lava. Everybody knows that," Up said from behind her. That didn't help her anger, as she was pretty cabreado at him right now. Also, as he said that, Megagirl decided to annoyingly wag her finger at her, like she was a small child. "Just save your energy. We're all gonna need it... for our nice relaxing trip back to Earth. Krayonder, restrain Megagirl for me." Taz lowered her gun and walked back to the others. "We'll deal with her back on home planet. Ain't no way that we can colonize this here rock with that many creepy-crawlers down there."

"No, NO!" Junior yelled, startling them all. "We can't leave yet!"

They all shrank back a bit surprised. "Okay..." Taz said, drawing out the word a bit. 

Junior seemed to realize he had shouted. "Uh, I-I-I mean, while you guys were gone, I-I realized something. The-the-the ships, uh, warp crystals! The warp crystals are missing! Yeah, I'm sorry, guys. We're stuck here."

Taz groaned a bit. Stuck here? She had been hoping to get home so she could relax and think of a way to get Up back. 

"Well," Up said. "I guess this just means that we're all gonna have to keep our chins up, and a song in our hearts." He pushed up Junior's chin as he spoke. "Ranger, I want each of you to go back to your dormitories right now, and take a bubble bath! We deserve bubbles on our skin. Oh! Junior, I almost forgot! I want you to meet somebody. This beautiful young boy right here," he said, pulling Bug forward. "Why, without him, ain't none of us would be alive right now to tell the tall tale."

"Bug here saved my life!" Toosie remarked loudly.

Krayonder nodded. "Yeah, mine too, man."

"And, unquestionably, mine," Specs piped up.

Taz had to agree. "Yeah, he's one tough son of a bitch."

"Saved my skin too, Bug," Up commented.

"And mine!"

February seemed to pop up out of no where. She ran right up to Bug and grabbed his arm. "Oh, Buggy! I was so worried about you! I thought I'd never see you again, and that would really suck, 'cause I never saw you the first time."

Bug laughed. "I was worried, too, but now we get to spend all the time in the world together."

It made Taz sick, seeing this happiness between two people who had just met, while she couldn't even manage a stable friendship with the man she had known for three years.

February turned to everyone else. "You guys, Bug saved me from those alien creepy-crawlers! They were gonna plant an egg inside my chest, or something, but Bug made sure we got out of there and found the other Rangers!" 

Junior let out a small laugh. "Haha. Well thank the long dead God you made it, Bug! I could only imagine where I'd be if it weren't for you. Put her there, pal," he said, extending he hand. Bug took it, and suddenly Junior released a small, pained noise and fell to his knees. 

"That's the ticket!" Up said. "I want all y'all to take a page outta Junior's book and lie down for a nice nap. Tootsie, escort Megagirl down to the brigg for me?"

"Aye, no," Taz said, standing and pointing her Zapper at Megagirl. "Maybe I should take her. Make sure she don't try no funny business." 

Up grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. "No, no, no, no, no, I think that Tootsie can handle it." He pulled her to the side. "Actually, Taz, I was sorta wondering if maybe, uh, well, I don't know, maybe you and me could, uh, oh, I don't know, go see a movie or something!" Taz looked at him like he was nuts. Did he really expect her to just want to hang out again like nothing was wrong? But he wasn't finished. "You know, like old times? Put on one of our favorites, like, oh! The Karate Kid! You know, the good one! The Jackie Chan one!" 

She shook her head. "No. No! I'm going to go work out. Jou know, in case any other killer robots try to kill us, and I'm the only one who can kill them." 

With that she walked out. She kept herself calm, didn't do anything rash, but the second she turned a corner, she took off running. Instead of heading to the gym, like she had told Up, she bolted straight for her room, the entire time begging herself to wait just one more minute before breaking down. 

She reached the door that said "Teniente Taz." That hadn't been there earlier. She noticed a card taped to her door. She grabbed it then stepped into her room. She sat on her bed and began to read Up's messy scrawl:

Taz,

Long time, no see. If I haven't seen you already, then hi. I'm here. After two long years, I'm finally allowed to work once again. 

I'm not really good with the whole letter thing, so bear with me here. 

I'm not the same man I was in that war. I lost a few... important things. It's made me go soft. And I have to live with that every day now, along with the fact that I am what I hate. A robot. But, slowly, I'm accepting this. Hopefully, you can, too. 

Anyway, if you want to talk, or hang out, or whatever, my room is always open. 

Your Comandante,

Up

She noticed the small splotches that were suddenly appearing, blurring the ink. She rubbed her eyes, wiping away the traitorous tears that revealed her breaking heart. 

She took two deep breaths and stood up. She washed her face in her bathroom and then looked at herself in the mirror. With her puffy red eyes and pitiful expression, she almost looked like the broken, alone child Up had found three years ago being beaten to death by robots. 

She sat there for a good hour until the puffiness went down, then stepped out.