"What do we do now?" Varyna cried desperately, though she knew Quoppi couldn't hear her question. Quoppi was still pretty shaken, but he had enough sense left to point to the bar counter and motion for Varyna to follow, as if answering the question he couldn't have possibly heard.
The counter was hexagon-shaped with smooth glowing edges. Half faced the lounge and half faced the dance floor, so the bartenders could easily serve all the guests. Varyna and Quoppi approached from the lounge side, hiding their pistols and trying to look as unassuming as possible.
Only a single tender stood behind the bar, and he eyed them suspiciously. Quoppi began speaking to him, and Varyna desperately wished for their comm units. What was he saying? Was the bartender buying it? Waiting and trusting everything to her squadmate was torture.
After a short while, the bartender started shaking his head and waving them away. Varyna didn't need a comm unit to know he had refused whatever Quoppi asked of him. Ugh we don't have time for this. She raised her pistol and pointed it at the Nemarian's head. He froze and raised his hands.
Keeping her gun aimed squarely at the tender's forehead, Varyna leapt over the bar counter and crouched down on the other side. Quoppi hesitated but soon followed suit. And not a moment too soon. A quick peek over the counter revealed that at least five armed Nemarian guards had entered the lounge from the tube. Varyna ducked back down and pressed back against the bar shelves, bringing her knees to her chest.
The bartender stood motionlessly, his eyes occasionally glancing at the pistol barrel aimed at him from below. Quoppi had gotten his gun out again as well and clutched it in both hands with his head lowered.
Each breath felt like an eternity as the two COPS sat behind the bar in the flashing red light. The Nemarians on the right continued dancing, their mood unsoured by the sudden lighting change. The lounge guests continued chatting and nursing drinks through thick white straws. And the five guards combed the area thoroughly.
When they'd checked under every table and behind every ribbon-like plant, they at last approached the bar. Tiny bubbles escaped the bartender's gills as he conversed with the guards. Varyna tightened her finger around the trigger of her pistol. He wouldn't give them away. Not if he valued his life.
The conversation went on for too long. It had been more than enough time for the bartender to send the guards on their way to the dance floor to continue their search. And his eyes continuously wandered down to Varyna. She risked a glance at Quoppi. He was looking at her with terror in his eyes. With a trembling hand, he motioned above the counter and then the bartender. Then he raised two webbed fingers and tapped them on his opposite wrist. It was a universal sign that all COPS knew.
Danger. Get out now.
"Blast!" Varyna huffed and swung her pistol to the right. She aimed carefully and fired two shots. Both hit the big spinning crystal above the dance floor, and it shattered into pieces.
The crystal pieces were heavy, and they sank quickly, raining down on top of the dancers as they tried to evacuate the floor in a panic. The red lights disappeared with the crystal, leaving that side of the room in near darkness. Perfect.
The guards were already clambering over the counter, just in time to see Varyna and Quoppi dive over the other side and into the dark chaos of the dance area.
Varyna clung to Quoppi's hand as she bounced around between panicked Nemarians. She couldn't see where she was going, but she continued heading farther and farther into the blackness. She needed a plan. They couldn't hide forever; it was only a matter of time before a backup crystal restored the lights.
She was desperately thinking of her next move, still pushing through the unruly crowd, when she felt a tug. Quoppi wasn't listlessly following anymore; he was trying to pull her in a new direction. Right. Quoppi is smart. He'll have a plan. But as the Nemarin led her up toward the ceiling and away from the safety of the crowd, Varyna began to doubt him.
He took them to the remnants of the hanging crystal, and, using both his legs and arms, pulled on it with all his might. Varyna had no idea what he was doing, but she wrapped herself around it likewise and also pulled. Finally, it broke free, a long trail of glowing lines coming out with it.
Quoppi grabbed his pistol and raised it. Oh are we shooting them? Varyna aimed her gun at the lines only to be stopped by an orange webbed hand. Quoppi shook his head at her (and she could have sworn she saw him roll his eyes) and then took her gun. He opened the chamber on both weapons and took a crystal out of each. Then he ripped two of the glowing lines free and attached one to each of the gun chambers. He passed Varyna's gun back to her and then began firing his own against one of the walls nearby.
"Oh I get it," Varyna thought to herself. "Quoppi's finally gone crazy." Because she couldn't think of a single other reason her companion would have for replacing the light she just destroyed with a perfect signal of lasers to lead the guards right to them. Still, she joined him in shooting the wall.
They fired shot after shot. The guns began to heat in their hands, but still they kept shooting. Eventually the wall started to bend where they'd been shooting. But the guards were fast approaching. The crowd, which had gone even crazier with the laser bolts flying over their heads, managed to slow them down, but they'd be on top of Varyna and Quoppi before the laser bolts did anything significant to the wall.
Quoppi reached up and grabbed another glowing line, plugging it into his gun. His gun was glowing red now. It had to be burning his scales, but he continued firing anyway. After only ten shots with his now double-plugged gun, the wall finally gave. It was only a small hole that appeared, but it created a suction that dragged everyone and everything violently toward it.
Varyna and Quoppi were no exception. Varyna gasped as she was pulled toward the wall. She tried to fight the current, but her weak Human limbs were useless. Quoppi came up alongside her and guided them both to another spot on the wall. Together they clawed at anything the current hadn't sucked away—tables attached to the floor, decorative ridges along the wall, fixtures attached to the ceiling—and eventually made their way to the waterlocks.
Varyna hadn't noticed, but the shutters had receded, freeing the doors. So that was Quoppi's plan. He must have realized the building would have a failsafe that freed the waterlocks in a state of emergency. Two of the locks were already in use, but they managed to slide into the third lock just as the doors were closing. Crammed between fearful Nemarians dressed in their best party wear, they waited for the water to drain. As soon as it finished and the lobby doors slid open, everyone ran out and headed for the main doors.
Varyna coughed, ripping her air converter off as she ran with the crowd. The moment she stepped outside to freedom, she sank into water up to her ankle. The street had turned into a river thanks to a stream of water pouring out from the side of the building like a fountain.
"Quoppi…" Varyna paused in the middle of the street, eyeing the pandemonium around them. "We made a mess."
A voice that definitely wasn't Quoppi's startled her from behind.
"You certainly did."