Ashley stared at Rick with narrowed eyes; the snide and skinny excuse for a man had a sleazy smile stretched across his face. Her heart was thumping steadily against her chest. Was he just bluffing about the lockdown? Did he know what the machine really was? She glared at him, wondering what exactly Kyla saw in him. He wasn’t much of a man; he was thin with no visible muscle on his body. Ashley was sure that if he were to take off his shirt, he would be pale and have a soft midsection. Rick wasn’t a man at all, just a soft shell and a waste of good oxygen. The more she thought about him and the more she watched him paw at her hard work, the more her anger burned.

“GET OUT!” She screamed. Her voice raised the small blonde hairs sprinkled over Rick’s arms and he backed away from her slowly. “And stay about two hundred light years away from my sister! And then go about four thousand light years from that point. I don’t ever want to see your face again. I’m warning you only once. I can erase your existence. I guarantee no one will miss you.”

“Oh gay and homicidal,” Rick quipped still moving steadily backward. Ashley took a giant step forward and he stalled, tripping over the bottle of water she’d thrown earlier.

“Better than idiotic and desperate, not too mention-”

“Yes the forcemen will have quite a bit of fun with you won’t they?” Rick answered with a malevolent grin splitting his face in two. The blood rushed from Ashley’s face and she began to pale.

“Get out of here you slimy piece of sh-” Ashley was once again interrupted but this time it was by Kyla who had swung open the door to the lab and was now moseying her way over to Ashley.

“Ash?” She asked tentatively observing the two adults tossing murderous glances at each other. “Do you want something to drink? I brought you semblantic juice, fat free just like you like it Miss Thang.”

“Your ex was just leaving,” Ashley answered acidly. Kyla glanced at Rick and then her gaze shifted back to Ashley.