So much for that idea. While on his homeworld the western US had retained it's advanced technology and society, and the states had ended up fusing into the nation of Sariel, the more populous east had had far more people, dependant on food transported from inland states. Bender's plague had hit it particularly hard, and wrecked the infrastructure far worse than in the west. The result, a post apocalyptic scenario to warm the heart of the most avid action movie director. Even with the massive die off, there were still more people in the east, disorganised, starving, without any structure, or logistics base but with masses of pre-plague hardware.<br/><br/>As a result, any attempt to restore order by Sariel would be doomed to failure. Their armed force was well trained and well equipped, but small, barely enough to garrison the eastern edges of the state against raiders. It was only lucky that no warlord had arisen in the east. These guys, if they were from his homeworld, were likely from around there, and if half the horror stories that had trickled back were true, they wouldn't think twice about roasting him... then he realised, some of these guys were in their mid 20's at least, too old to be twofers from his world.<br/><br/>He sagged slightly as the familiar feeling of terror descended on him once more. However, by this time he was getting used to it, and rather than paralysing him, it just kicked his faculties into high gear. Hand to hand was right out, he was outnumbered and outmatched, especially with his gloves still on.<br/><br/>The gun in his pocket... if he could take the two handed, marksman style stance he'd prefected from hundreds of hours of shooting zombies in the arcade and using his goggles and gloves in simulator mode, he could be certain at this range of putting the first bullet into any part of her anatomy he cared to. Since he knew there would be a kick upwards he'd never had to compensate for in games, he couldn't be sure where the next one would go.<br/><br/>But that still left the rest of these goons to dogpile him, if he could even aim before she got to him. Besides, it was one thing to stab a monster in desperation and the heat of action, it was another thing entirely to contemplate putting a bullet into someone who but for the leather jacket and the sneer could have been his homeroom teacher.<br/><br/>All this took a fraction of a second to process, and his mouth was already working on the only remaining option before it even crystalised in his brain.<br/><br/>"If you'd rubbed yourself six inches lower, I might have taken you up on that. You've clearly had a lot of experience having males of many species in there. Some of them may even have been anthros."<br/><br/>Get her mad enough to lunge at him, and he was sure he could dodge around her, and leap over the empty motorbike to relative freedom. While on bikes they'd catch him out in the open, if he could reach a sidestreet, or better yet an alley, he was sure he could lose them, even if there noses were as keen as his. He readied himself to leap.