RULES OF DECEPTION: CHAPTER 1

"Alexis, stay behind me." Carlos instructed as he gently pushed her behind him, keeping his body between hers and the 3 men.

"Move over, hombre." One of the three men held up his stolen army knife as he approached the 2. "We take the girl!"

The blood inside Alexis' body seemed to freeze as she saw the men approaching. She knew she was another 20 minutes from her dad's lab. They wouldn't be able to hear her scream through all the jungle's thickness and even if they did, they would arrive too late. There was no way that she and Carlos could take on the 3 men. Alexis cursed herself silently for even agreeing to coming to South America with her father. Why did she agree to go?

Few days earlier….

"May I present to you the class of 2008." The principal motioned to the high school graduates that stood before him in the front row of the Graduation Assembly, with their brightly colored yellow and blue garments.

The crowd erupted with cheers and applause as the graduates began their ceremony march away from their seats towards where their proud families' sat. Alexis eagerly swept the crowd, but once her eyes caught glimpse of her mother, her heart sank. There was an empty seat beside her…her father did not show up. Tears of sadness and anger filled her eyes, but she fought them back. There was no way that her "too-busy" of a father would ruin this event for her.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," Her mom said with open arms as she welcomed her daughter into a tight hug. "I can't believe you're finally all grown up now." She sniffed as she wiped away some tears.

"Moooooooooom," Alexis smiled in embarrassment as her mother finally let her go. Her eyes flashed to the empty spot beside her.

Before her daughter asked what lame excuse her dad had this time, Alexis' mom spoke up, "I'm sorry. His flight was a bit delayed, but he will meet you tonight at the house. He said he has a BIG present for you."

Alexis' mind quickly flashed to a new vehicle to take with her to college, but that was too much to hope for.

As soon as she got home, Alexis plopped down on the couch. She was exhausted from the several mini-rehearsals they had that morning starting at 7am sharp. It was just good to go home and do absolutely nothing till her father arrived. Turning on the television, she switched the channel to CNN to where they were doing a cover story on the mysterious accounts of "alien lifeforms" last year. There were several speakers debating back and forth to where these fictional stories with people jumping on the bandwagon to military testing new weapons. "They are still talking about that?" Alexis' mom commented as she walked through the living room, catching a glimpse as to what was on.

"Yeah….so much for the economy or the war right now, right? We're too busy talking about something that doesn't even exist. Alien robot lifeforms…ha!" Alexis rolled her eyes at the debaters and quickly changed the channel.

Suddenly the door bell rang. "That must be your father, Lexy! Can you get it?" Her mom called out to her from the other room.

Opening the front door, she came face to face with her father, whom she hadn't seen in several months. He still had his familiar smile on his face and his eyes lit up as soon as he saw her. Unable to hold back anymore tears, Alexis cried out "Dad!" Hugging him tightly, she buried her face against his shoulder and cried tears of joy.

After dinner, Alexis mainly told him about her classes and the graduation she had. She knew better than to ask him about work. He always told her he could never really tell her what he did. But that evening, she would be in for a big surprise. "Lexy, I guess you want your graduation present now, right?" He chuckled as the conversation ended.

"If you want…" Alexis smiled back sheepishly.

Giving a quick concerned glance to his wife, her dad cleared his throat and leaned closer to where she sat across from him. "Well, I discussed this with your mother this morning while you were at rehearsals….this summer instead of taking a part-time job before going off to college, how would you like to spend your summer months with me?"

Alexis blinked, she wasn't too sure if he meant where he worked or if he was in fact staying over for a few months in the U.S. "You mean at your lab?"

Her father nodded. "Uh-huh. I mean your dad is really pulling around some weight down in South America. We are having a tremendous breakthrough and instead of asking them for some more money, I decided to bring you down with me instead."

Without hesitation, Alexis jumped off the couch and caught her dad in a hug. "Thank you, dad!!!! Oh my God! This will be amazing!!!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then ran to her room. "I so have to get on Facebook and tell everyone!"

Watching her daughter leave the room with worry, her mother looked back at her husband. "You really think this is a good idea, Rich?"

"Of course it will be, Bethany. I haven't seen my girl in months since they placed me in South America. I mean I do want to see her before she goes off to college for 4 years. She will be fine. It's safe down there and I have the utmost protection."

Alexis covered her ears as she and her dad exited the helicopter from the helipad a few days later. Her dad held her hand as he guided her to a white sleek sports car. It really stood out from the rest of the vehicles in front of and behind it. After getting into the front passenger seat, her father joined her in over the driver's side. "We're about 5 miles away from the lab. The road's kind of bumpy so buckle up, sweetie. " Rich instructed as he slid his belt lap across.

Still in awe of the vehicle that she was in, Alexis glanced around at the new leather black seats and the sleek dash. Even the startup of the engine was exhilarating to her. "Whoa, dad. This is…your car?"

"Yeah," Her father chuckled. "You like it?"

Alexis looked as giddy as a schoolgirl as she glanced out the window as her father drove off. "I LOVE it! You think I can drive it for a bit while we're here?" A smile spread across her father's lips and he couldn't stifle the laugh from within. This bewildered her. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing…." Rich cleared his throat. "Just an inside joke between me…and my uh-assistant." He seemed to keep his eyes away from her as he drove. "So want to learn about what I do?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Well, we may have made a tremendous breakthrough in the energy industry. With what we have created, we will be able store energy with 100 more times capacity but into spaces about the size of a small vehicle. "Her father blurted out excitedly. Alexis blinked in confusion, not knowing exactly what he was talking about. Sensing her silence, her father continued, "We will be able to store a year's production of energy harnessed from power plants all over United States including the rest of the world and it will give us power for more than 100 years! One energy cell that we create will be able to power Manhattan by itself!"

"Dad, that's incredible! But….why couldn't have you done this in the U.S.?"

Rich sighed. "Due to the recession, the last thing people in the United States want to hear are more jobs going away. You see, sweetie, with we have created, we wouldn't need power plants up and running all the time. We could use the time to focus on another energy source that wouldn't pollute the Earth. This invention has a lot of pros and cons. However, after a few more years of testing here in South America, I'll hope to have more solid results to show the United States."

Alexis slumped down in her seat by her dad's words. The last sentence stayed in her mind. The last thing SHE wanted to hear was her dad stating that he would have to stay away for a few more years, even if she did go off to college in a few months. Her college was much closer to her home than he was.

The rest of the car trip, there was silence, finally her dad spoke up again as he slowed the car down, "Good. We're here. I cannot wait to show you the prototype that Wheeljack helped me create!"

"Who's Wheeljack?" Alexis asked as she took off her safety restraint.

Her dad seemed to freeze up by her question. "Oh….uh…" He got out of the car and looked at the facility. "He's my assistant.."

"I hope I can meet him." Alexis said with a smile as she tried to keep herself positive through this trip. She exited the car and walked towards the facility.

She turned her head as she could have sworn another voice nearby speak out, "Heh. You already did."

Once inside the facility, her father provided her an ID badge to allow her access inside and to all the floors he was working on. "Before I let you meet the rest of the gang, Alexis, I thought I would show you a small sample of what I'm working on." Her father led her inside a room that looked like it should have been in Star Trek! The walls were lined with computer monitors and keyboards, in the center was a metal table with a small metal like container on top. The container was about the size of a small television set. "This is a sample…well the prototype of what I'm working. It's our base model."

"Does it work?" Alexis was in awe of the weird blue glow that came from within the box.

"Well, not what the main ones do. This one holds only 2 times of the energy capacity and weighs roughly 35 pounds. It could probably provide power to a small city for about 20 years…Manhattan probably a little less than that. It's safe to carry, but I wouldn't drop it."

Suddenly a young Hispanic male entered the room. He appeared to be in his late 20's, clean cut. "Ah, Carlos, there you are. Alexis, meet Carlos. He will be your guide tomorrow." Rich ushered her over to him.

"Tomorrow?" Alexis smiled at Carols and extended her hand for him to shake it.

"Yes, mam. Your father has instructed me to take you to a local village about a few miles away from here. "

"I have a lot of meetings tomorrow, sweetie….they're boring anyways. However, the rest of the week, we'll be doing some tests that you're welcome to be a part of."

Alexis nodded her head, but something was not settling right. Even though her dad invited her to come down….it was as if he was holding back something. What was it?

As Alexis was looking around at the little items for sale at the local village market the next day, Carlos came up and tapped her on the arm. "Alexis, we gotta head back now. A local rainstorm is approaching and your dad wants us to get back to the facility before it gets dark. It's not safe traveling in the jungle when it's dark."

Looking up at the clouds approaching, Alexis nodded her head, but it seemed that Carlos was worried about something more than just rain. "Is something the matter, Carlos?" She asked as she quickened her steps to keep up with him as he made his way through the market crowd to the village's exit.

"No….we just have to go." Carlos continued on without even looking at her.

Becoming frustrated with all this secrecy, Alexis grabbed his arm. "Something's going on around here. What is it?"

Carlos looked kind of nervous to speak out and he glanced back up at the sky then towards the direction that they needed to go. "I cannot say. You have to trust me."

"Well I am not going ANYWHERE till you tell me." Alexis crossed her arms and firmly planted her feet.

"Your dad radioed me 30 minutes ago telling me to get back to the facility…soon after the radio was dead. As a precautionary measure, I am to escort you back."

"Carlos…" Alexis sternly looked at him. He STILL wasn't telling her everything.

"Forgive me, Alexis." With that, Carlos took her and carried her over his shoulder and hurried his pace out of the village.

"Put me down!" Alexis squirmed and protested as he carried her, but the male ignored her.

They were about 45 minutes away from the facility and after 20 minutes of walking, knowing there was no way she was going to go back to the village now, Carlos gently placed Alexis back down, then continued on. "Stay with me."

"What is the hurry? Carlos?" Alexis stumbled along the uprooted vines as she tried her best to follow him as he used his machete to cut away the limbs and leaves that were in their way. Carlos ignored her questions and pressed on. "Carlos! Please you're scaring me!"

"You must soften your voice, Alexis…" Carlos pleaded quietly.

Suddenly the sound of twigs snapping nearby made them stop. Carlos looked to his right in the direction the noise it came from to see 3 rough looking men approaching. They appeared to be natives of the land, but dressed like they were from the village. Their clothes were torn and battle-worn. Each of them possessed a sharp hand-held knife. "You goin somewhere?" One of them chuckled.

"Carlos…" Alexis started to tremble, sensing the men's hostility.

"Stay with me and keep walking." Carlos grabbed her hand and started to go again, but one of them ran over and stopped in front of them. A sadistic smirk spread across his face.

"You got any cash?" The man in front asked.

"We do not want any trouble. I do not have any on me." Carlos spoke out. His voice not trembling at all. "Alexis, stay behind me." Carlos instructed as he gently pushed her behind him, keeping his body between hers and the male.

"Move over, hombre." One of the three men held up his stolen army knife as he approached the 2.

"We take the girl!" A third voice spoke out as he moved quickly behind Alexis and tightly grabbed her around the waist.

Screaming out, Alexis grabbed Carlos' hand tighter. Carlos pulled and moved to grab her with his other arm, but the man who was in front but at his back, seized the opportunity and moved in behind Carlos, slitting his throat.

Carlos, stunned, stood frozen as blood oozed from his throat and gurgled from his mouth. Seconds later, he fell down to the ground, dead.

"CARLOS!!" Alexis cried, witnessing the horrific scene in front of her. The men laughed giddily as the other 2 approached her.

Just as they did, there was a thunderous boom in the sky, turning all heads up to see what appeared to be some sort of fighter jet heavily damaged crashing to the ground. The jet crashed about 1 mile away from where they were, East. The facility was North of where they were. The shockwave from the crash was so bad that the ground quake caused Alexis and the men to be thrown about.

Sensing the new opportunity of a dead or alive down pilot and salvageable wreckage parts, the men got up and ran towards where the plane went, eagerly talking amongst themselves.

Shaken about everything that happened before her, Alexis stayed where she was for several minutes. Finally pushing herself off the ground, she turned her head, unable to see Carlos' dead corpse on the ground. Her first instinct was to run back to the facility and get help, but another thought was for her to follow the men and find out about the jet. Choosing the latter of the 2, she ran as fast as she could in the direction the men went, ignoring the fact that she was putting herself into more danger.

When she arrived at the scene, some of the trees were on fire from the wreckage and the metallic heap on the ground was hard for her to make out what kind of jet crashed. Actually, the shape now didn't even resemble a jet! Suddenly the metallic form lifted up. Were her eyes deceiving her? There in front of her she could have sworn that this metallic form had a head….a body….arms and even legs?! There was no way! It had to be the heat from the inferno causing this ridiculous mirage.

One of the men seemed to panic as he yelled at his comrades. He then took out a small hand-held gun from his belt as he began to fire upon the metallic form, screaming in rage or was that fright? A terrible shriek from the metallic form and it almost seemed to growl as it raised his arm, knocking all 3 men in one swoop against a tree hard, killing them upon impact.

Alexis crouched down and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming as she looked on. The three men who killed Carlos and planned on doing unspeakable horrible things to her, now shared the same fate as her guide. The metallic form looked at the 3 corpses, made another noise as it tried to rise up, but to only fall again. A terrible shriek escaped the form's mouth as he struck the ground hard with his fist, making her stumble. Several noises came out from it…as if it was talking. Alexis tried to listen in, but nothing it was saying was making sense….the only word that came close to the English language was "energy." Hearing this, Alexis' lit up. It was hurt!

Feeling guilty for its predicament, Alexis took a deep breath and stood up from where she was, slowly approaching the metallic form. "Energy?" She called out to it. Quickly turning its head towards her, the form raised its gun at her. Stopping,, Alexis said again. "Are you hurt??? Do you need Energy??? I can help you!"

Tilting its head, the creature lowered its gun some. Did it understand her? Was it really considering what she had to say? "Yes…" It's voice slurred some in the English language. "Bring…me….energy."

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