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So Rue ordered her out of it "Prio to Percy and lock yourself in with him Don’t unlock it for anyone We’ll use the code word once this refuse has been rusticated"

Pri below, intent on protecting her twin froht on hirabbed up a sluicingat Tasherit a full biff to the side of the head He went down, dropping his gun A deckling tuun in a sounman Shoulder wound but effective, for theto his knees Twofrothethe wooden handle to the

Meanwhile her two deckhands, Willard and Bork, pried off the grapples in case anyher two invaders with bloody aplo easy on them They were only mortal, and she could have killed the at them like a house cat with fieldback over the rails rather than continue to suffer those claws The other huddled in a ball, his back a shredded mess Occasionally, he would uncoil and skitter sideways She’d yowl, charge, and swipe to stop hiain for a time and then skitter the other way She’d let him think he could escape for a while, then pounce in a jolly manner

Rue let her have her fun

Out of the corner of her eye, Rue ads in action; like a s to every part of his body Despite being a substantial fellow, he was slowly folding under their collective weight

Rue turned her full attention back to the blighter lying below her He was clearly not best pleased to have been felled by a gentlewo as Paas one of the biggest Rue knew He grabbed the o rather than pit her strength against his He rolled to his feet and swung Rue darted back, out of reach, wary

Spoo, having deterunht work a bitin a decidedly evil manner as she handed over the man’s revolver

The man squinted at her in focused interest

Rue wasn’t overly fond of guns but they were awfully useful when facing a endered respect and Rue did kno to shoot one – Daer than the muff pistols she’d learned on but seemed to function about the same in theory It took both her thumbs to cock it, and she hoped not to have to actually shoot; it’d have a terrific kick

Upon seeing her facing him with a revolver and not a mop, the man became wary

"What do you ith this ship?" Rue demanded

"It’s not us It’s ’ele the pistol "That is not an answer"

The " He ran for the railing

Rue was surprised enough not to shoot They were about rooftop height above the ground It wasn’t a fall ht folk could survive Except as he jumped, he shed his massive overcoat and had some kind of boxy device strapped to his back She leaned over the railing to watch It deployed into an articulated gliding apparatus which lifted off his shoulders with the pull of a strap

Rue had never seen the like He see himself with a tilt this way and a tilt that way, like a bat It looked pretty darn fun and Rue instantly wanted a whole bunch of the, but this was et us so similar lines I’ve not seen such a contraption before Have you, Spoo?"

"No, I ain’t"

"Well, then, new gadget, pretty advanced at that" Which made Rue think of Quesnel’s mysterious fern tank down in the boiler room Perhaps these -burglars weren’t so unco new outside patent control, they h, they didn’t see seeie had pulled an enormous h one of the securing rings n Rue had seen Quesnel in a steam roly-poly transport made with exactly the same kind of carapace

If anyone was after that tech, they certainly weren’t getting it Rue was oddly reassured over its safety, especially given no one had asked her opinion on its presence

Back on deck, Tasherit had her s had their le on every available part of hihty pleased with themselves Rue decided she would put on a very nice tea for theet sole’s