Simon stood outside under the cover of the loading dock, keeping a careful watch as his men loaded crates onto a truck. This was the first of his scheduled deliveries and he wanted to make certain that nothing went wrong. One of the men grunted and the end of the crate that he was carrying slipped from his grasp; landing heavily onto the concrete floor.
"Stop!" Simon yelled out. Instantly, everyone froze in place. Simon stepped forward, frowning. The man who dropped the box seemed to get more nervous the closer that Simon got to him. He stepped up to the man in question, but turned to look instead at the one who was directing all the traffic. "What is wrong with you?" He turned away from the crate carrying man, who had a look of relief etched on his face. Simon walked up to the loading supervisor. "You know how important this cargo is; how volatile their contents, what the hell were you thinking by only assigning two men to each crate, knowing how heavy they are?"
"Simon, I thought you wanted them loaded quickly…" he started but Simon cut him off.
"I said as quickly as possible, but I believe I emphasized that they needed to be handled carefully more than speed, correct?"
"Um,…" the dock supervisor looked down at his feet.
"If you don't have enough men here to get the job done in time, recruit some more. I'm sure there are plenty inside that have nothing better to do."
"Yes, sir, Simon, sir." He turned tailed and scampered into the building, glad to be away from Simon's wrath.
Simon turned back to look at all the other men who stood around, awaiting an order.
"Double up on those crates. Four men to each one. Don't pull out any more until all the ones currently on the dock are loaded."
The men all started to move, two men to one end of a crate, one man per each corner.
Simon watched as they slowly cleared the dock of the crates that had been left in the open when Simon had changed their orders. It took several minutes and by the time the last crate on the platform had been picked up, the dock supervisor had returned followed by a half a dozen men.
Simon didn't even bother to speak to the supervisor; he just strode past him and faced the group. "See how all the others are doing it? Four men to each crate, no less than that. Anyone caught trying to do anything else will answer to me." Each man nodded. "And no rush." He glanced at the supervisor, giving him a glare. "Just use caution; their cargo is highly valuable."
They all headed off to join the men who were currently working. Simon walked over to the supervisor, John was his name, he finally remembered. Simon had so many people working for him now that he couldn't even remember their names unless they did something significant to make themselves stand out. John was apparently not one of them.
"John." Simon crooned as he approached the dock supervisor.
"Simon, I'm sorry about all of this. I must have gotten your orders slightly confused. I just wanted to make sure all was going to go quickly and smoothly."
Simon nodded briefly. "I appreciate your efforts, John. But that's not an excuse. You know exactly how heavy those crates are and how delicate they are. I surmised that you would have enough foresight to plan better."
"I'm terribly sorry Simon. It won't happen again." John replied.
"I believe you are correct in that regard." was all Simon said.
They stood nearby each other watching the rest of the crates being loaded. When the last was on the truck, one of the men turned and closed the doors on the trailer. Simon vaguely recognized him as a new recruit from a day or two or ago, but otherwise, Simon paid neither him nor any of the others any mind. They all headed back indoors after Simon waved them all back towards the building.
Trask came up from behind Simon and John, trailed by two large Asian men who looked so much alike that they could have been mistaken for twins. Simon turned to smile slightly at his three head henchmen. Trask wasn't always the sharpest of men, but that's what made him a perfect right hand-man. Enough smarts to keep things moving in an operation, but not enough that he had any real clue as to what was going on beneath his very nose. The fact that he followed Simon's orders without fault was just an added bonus.
"Boss." Trask said as he came up to Simon. "I figured it would be about time to get the load sent off. Is it ready to go yet?"
"As always, Trask, you have impeccable timing. Yes, the cargo has all been loaded and is ready for delivery. I assume that Chan and Brak are going with you?" The two Asian men nodded almost imperceptibly just once. They never said anything; they just did as they were told so long as they were paid on time. They never seemed to have much of an interest in the business end of the operation, outside of the occasional dirty job that had to be done in this kind of work. Simon was about to give them another opportunity.
"Trask. I'd like for John to accompany you on the delivery. Show him just how much we appreciate all his hard work." Simon knew that Trask would catch his meaning. He noticed that Brak and Chan exchanged a quick glance with each other, smiling ever so slightly.
"Right, Simon. No problem." He extended an arm in John's direction. "Come on. I'll show you how we take care of the delivery end of our operations." John started to head for the truck when Trask got his attention again. "Oh wait." He reached out and took the clipboard that John was holding from him, absently handing it towards Simon. "You won't need that. We don't like to carry records around with us, you know?"
John just nodded as Chan and Brak flanked him on either side, herding him off towards the truck. Trask glanced briefly at Simon. "Don't worry, boss. We'll have this little matter cleared right up for you."
Simon smiled slightly. "You're such an efficient employee, Trask. Perhaps I should give you an extra bonus."
Trask laughed and headed off after the two henchmen and their colleague.
------------------------
"Guys, check this out." Bridge had gotten Z and Syd to join him in his lab room. It was always cluttered with various parts and tools; Syd had once commented that it looked like a graveyard for electronics. Bridge's toaster making computer, his pride and joy, dominated an entire desk. Syd was afraid that he had called them here to unveil another twisted contraption of technology that ultimately wouldn't have any useful purpose except perhaps to amuse someone briefly. Syd would never tell him that of course; everyone had to have their odd hobbies here and there, and besides, who was she to criticize having a stuffed animal collection of her own? She stopped daydreaming to pull her attention back to what Bridge was telling them.
"So how exactly is thing supposed to work?" Z asked.
"Well, it picks up on a passive signal that all our morphers put out, but Boom narrowed the frequency reception to pick up only on the one that comes from Sky's."
"And he did that how exactly?" Syd seemed skeptical.
"Boom put together this transceiver with parts he had left over from the space radio, and he had to install…"
"That's okay, Bridge." Z spoke up. "I'm sure that Syd and I don't need to know all the specifics," she shot a quick glance at Syd, who shrugged "just that it will work. It will right?"
"It should. I mean without Sky's morpher around, we couldn't exactly determine it for certain, but we got some close signal approximations from the computer database, based on previous transmissions from Sky." Bridge finished proudly.
"I suppose it's better than nothing." Z stated.
"Are you sure about this, Bridge?" Syd spoke up. "I mean, I don't want to go charging into Sky's investigation and have it wind up being nothing and us blowing his cover for no good reason. Sky would be really angry at all of us."
Bridge grew solemn for a moment. "I'm positive, Syd. I may not be sure about a lot of things that have gone on recently, but believe me, of this I'm certain. If we don't do something, we could lose Sky forever."
Syd nodded. "Alright. When do we go?"
------------------------
Treelatix waited impatiently at the pickup location somewhere on the outskirts of the city. His contact had promised him half of his goods as soon as production was complete. It took time to manufacture the material that Treelatix required. He wished it wouldn't take so long, but he could understand, he wanted only the highest quality product, after all. His contact had told him that he could make more in less time, but it would cut down on the effectiveness of the material and therefore Treelatix would need more of it. So Treelatix waited as patiently as he could, using his spare time to further plan his revenge over S.P.D.
He heard a low rumbling noise approaching from the distance and turned to see a large truck pull up the dusty road. It stopped several feet away and three men got out. The two larger men kept back, standing beside the truck, arms crossed, while the third approached.
"Treelatix." He greeted when he was within an arm's reach. "Simon sends his regards. I hope we weren't too late for you. We had a small business matter to attend to along the way."
"Your business does not concern me, only as long as I get what I need."
"Of course. Sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you. We have what you've come for." The small man responded.
"Good. I'll take it now." Treelatix headed towards the parked vehicle. The small man walked quickly to keep up with the taller troobian.
"How do you plan to get it all to your ship?" he man asked.
Treelatix held up a small device. "With this."
"I see." The man fell silent. He motioned to the other two to open the doors on the trailer and they had it fully open by the time he and Treelatix reached the rear of the truck.
Treelatix saw roughly a dozen crates lined inside. "Excellent." He jumped inside and placed his transporter on top of one of the crates. He pulled out several smaller devices, placing one on each crate. He returned to the first device, keyed a sequence on the pad, then jumped back out of the truck. Seconds later, all the crates in the back of truck vanished from view.
The two large men didn't seem to react, but the smallest of three stood there with his mouth agape.
"Wow! What was that thing? How did you do that?" he asked.
"Teleportation technology. You do not have such things on your world?" Treelatix replied.
"I don't know, I'm not into that kind of business. This is what I do and that's good enough for me." he said.
"Then our business is concluded for now. Until next time." Treelatix stated.
"Until next time. Simon will contact you when the rest is ready. I look forward to seeing you then."
Treelatix snorted slightly. "Whatever. I'll see you at our next appointment, Trask." He keyed his own personal teleporter and vanished from sight.
Trask turned to Chan and Brak. "Close it up and let's go."
------------------------
Sky couldn't wait to get a moment away by himself. Unfortunately in this place, that was proving extremely difficult to do. He kept running into people and several times he'd been diverted to do some task or other. It had been almost an hour since he'd volunteered to move cargo. The harried-looking man who had run in seemed desperate to grab anyone that was nearby and he hadn't batted an eyelid when Sky stepped forward; despite the fact that he was still on 'probation' and wasn't supposed to be doing anything besides guard duty. When they all had gotten outside, Sky had seen several men already moving boxes, with Simon standing nearby keeping a close watch on them all. Sky had just joined in with three others at the nearest crate and for the next half an hour helped carry boxes. Heavy boxes as it turned out. No wonder they had four guys on each one, he thought.
Now he was just waiting for the opportunity to slip off to see if his morpher had picked up anything significant. He had managed to fall to the back of the group as they made their way to the loading dock, and had set his morpher to silent scan mode. Nobody seemed to notice, and if they had, it would have only looked like Sky was fiddling with a cell phone or some such. There were times since Sky had started this mission that he wished he had some way to disguise his morpher; it rather stood out. He would suggest the idea to Kat when he got back, having the ability to make a morpher appear as something else would be extremely handy on future undercover missions.
He reached the duty assignment station which was nothing more than a tiny cramped office with one desk and a chair. One slightly older man sat behind the desk, several lists laid out on the desk surface in front of him. He looked up briefly at Sky when he entered, grunted and turned back to his pages. Sky checked the schedule list and saw that he was off for a few hours until an evening guard shift. Yes, he thought, just what I need right now. He turned slightly towards the old man. "Excuse me?"
The old man grumbled and looked up; not appearing to like being disturbed. "What is it?" he rattled. "Not happy with your schedule? Tough."
"No, its fine, thanks. I was just curious if I could go out for a bit. I'm still new here and not sure what all we're allowed to do or not."
The old man waved an arm at him absently. "Sure you can go out. Just don't go too far. Boss doesn't like for you newbies to get too far out of sight."
"Not a problem. Thanks." Sky told him. He slipped out of the door just as two other men entered, arguing over something. "No, that's your time, I told you that I…"
Sky didn't hear the rest of the argument as he headed down the hallway; looking for the door out. If I can remember where the hell it is, he thought. This place is a maze.
After several minutes, he crossed back into the corridor that led out. He had finally realized why he hadn't encountered anyone when he had first slipped in. Simon purposely kept the first quarter or so of the building empty and devoid of activity in order to make it appear as if it were an empty warehouse. I suppose it could work, he thought, anyone first coming in wouldn't ever guess that there was an entire operation going on behind these walls. Though it was left empty, it was not left unwatched. That's why Mandy had turned up after him. Either she or someone else had seen him walking around and she had come to investigate. Some part of him rather wondered why she had let him in. Their orders as he'd been told was to discreetly but firmly direct people who wandered nearby to somewhere else, and if they showed resistance, then shoot. Simon didn't want to draw attention to the place, but the order was that if people didn't get the hint, you were to take them out. Fortunately, that hadn't happened since Sky had started; it would kill him to see an innocent person get hurt by these thugs.
It still made him wonder why Mandy would blatantly ignore that order. From everything he'd been told, by all rights she should have just shot him on sight. But for some reason she didn't. It rather confirmed his suspicions that she wasn't the hardened criminal she wanted him to believe she was. Certainly she was a perplexing individual. Perhaps he'd get a chance to talk to her again and try to figure out what she really was about.
He finally came to the exit, and opened the door to be immediately greeted by the muzzle of a gun. He flung both hands up in the air. "Whoa. Take it easy, it's just me."
"Nate." The other guy holstered his weapon; Jake was his name Sky thought. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You shouldn't have come out this way. There's other exits we use."
"Sorry, I didn't know. This is the first chance I've gotten since I started to get out for a bit and it seems no one bothered to tell me the proper protocols on that."
Jake laughed. "Yah, they do that a bit around here, don't they? Especially with you new guys. It's alright, they got me pretty good when I first started too."
Sky chuckled slightly. "Well, thanks for not shooting me."
"Don't mention it. Listen, I'll let you back in this way when you're done because trying to tell you where to find the other doors will only get you lost. I'll show you where they are and how to get to them some time later on. Alright?"
"Sure, thanks." Sky started to head off. "See you in a bit."
Jake waved once and returned to his position, sitting on top of trash container. If they don't ever use that door, why not just lock it and be done with it? Sky thought. This place sure does have some weird things going on. He continued walking and turned onto the main street that was bustling and crowded with people. Sky thought that for being a shady neighborhood, the place seemed pretty busy. Though Sky was certain that not every piece of business that took place around here was on the up and up. He passed a few food vendors, whose food stuffs didn't smell particularly appetizing though several people were buying. Yuck, and I thought the stuff in the mess hall was bad, Sky thought to himself. He continued walking, looking at a few things here and there, pretending to seem interested in some of the wares that the vendors were hawking. He had caught the old man's comment about the new people not getting 'too far out of sight'. Which told Sky that they probably kept a watch on everyone on this street. Damn, he thought, that's going to make it harder to find a quiet place. He sighed; he had to think of something. He looked around and spied a small restaurant on the corner. He headed in its direction.
Sky entered the cramped, dingy restaurant that smelled of grease mingled with sweat. If I had been hungry beforehand, I wouldn't be anymore, he thought upon entering. A waitress came up to him.
"What will you have?" the woman asked. She was probably about in her mid-forties, had her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and was chewing on some gum.
"Um, I don't know yet." Sky told her. "Could I use your bathroom first?"
She rolled her eyes briefly. "Why is it that everyone who comes in here wants to use the bathroom all the time? You'd think we were a damn public restroom, not a restaurant."
Sky didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry. It's just that…"
"Don't worry about it, son. I didn't mean to take it out on you, it's just been one of those days, you know?"
Sky chuckled slightly. "I know what you mean."
The waitress pointed. "Down that hall there, in the back, third door on your left."
"Thanks." Sky replied and headed off the way she had indicated.
The back area of the restaurant wasn't much of an improvement over the front, but Sky figured that if it got him a few minutes away from any peering eyes, it would be a veritable haven.
He finally found the door he was looking for. He knocked briefly, and when he got no response he opened the door and stepped in. I'm really glad I don't have to use the bathroom either, was the first thing that popped into Sky's mind. But he ignored his surroundings, locked the door behind himself and pulled out his morpher. He brought up the scan results.
"Yes." he said quietly to himself. His morpher had picked up on some very strong energy signals, ones which matched the substance he and Syd had found in the last warehouse. "These readings are off the chart!" he whispered to himself. I have to get this to Kat, he thought. Here comes the real challenge, trying to get her the information without giving himself away at the same time. "Now I wish there was a way our morphers didn't put out quite so much energy." He had known when he started this mission that anything other than passive use would likely be detected. He hadn't seen any high tech equipment around in the areas he'd been in, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. Sky was sure that this place was either where the stuff was made directly or it was refined here in one way or another. He still needed to find out what its purpose was and what it was going to be used for.
It was possible that Treelatix had stolen the material from them in the first place, but the more Sky found out about Simon and his operation, it was more likely that he was directly providing the material to Treelatix. Damn, he thought, I really need to get this information to the others, but I have no way to do that without getting myself caught in the process. He was suddenly struck with an idea. Trask; he goes out often enough, in fact that's why Jake was covering the door just now, Trask is out running an errand for Simon. If I can get in good with Trask, I might be able to convince him to drag me along sometime. That's the likeliest chance I'm going to get.
He placed his morpher back into his inside jacket pocket and left the bathroom. He got back out to the restaurant front, squinting as the dark of the bathroom made the front of the building seem ten times brighter. He spied the waitress talking with someone near the door. Someone familiar.
He approached them quietly; the waitress spied him across the top of the other woman's shoulder. "Are you ready to order something now?" The other woman turned around to see who the waitress was talking to.
"Nate! I didn't know you came in here too." Mandy stated.
"Not really, this is the first time I've gotten a break away." he told her.
"Yah, it can be hard to find the time to slip out, can't it?" she replied.
He simply nodded at her. Mandy turned back to the waitress. "I'd really love to stay for a bit, I'm sure you know how it is, always on the go."
"I understand. Things can get pretty hectic sometimes." She quickly looked over both Sky and Mandy, an odd look coming into her eyes. "I wish you young people wouldn't work at that place, you know. It's such a same to see bright young folks working for the likes of that crowd. I hope you both get out while you still can." Without saying another word, she turned on her heel, and went into the kitchen.
Sky took a few steps forward to stand next to Mandy. "What on earth did she mean by that?" He glanced over at Mandy.
She shrugged. "No idea. Probably just some crazy woman talk. Doesn't matter. C'mon let's go back." She started for the door. Sky didn't know what to say, so he just followed her.
"Hey." They heard someone call from behind them. They both stopped right in front of the door and turned back to face the waitress.
"Next time you both pop in here to use my bathrooms, I expect you to actually order something, you understand." She laughed and walked off, carrying plates of food.
Sky quickly glanced at Mandy, who had an incredulous look on her face. "God damn…" she muttered under her breath. Sky figured that the waitress had just let something slip about Mandy that she had rather not anyone know about.
"Mandy? You okay?"
She shook herself slightly. "Yah, I'm fine. Like I said, crazy old woman." She pushed the door open and strode out into the street.
Somehow, I don't think she's as crazy as you want me to believe, Sky thought.
------------------------
Bridge stood and fidgeted impatiently as he, Z and Syd evaluated a group of cadets' training exercise.
Z nudged him slightly. "Chill out, would you? I know you're eager to get out of here, but we are supposed to be working right now." she whispered.
"I know." he whispered back. "I can't help it, though."
Z didn't say anything else and focused her attention back on the cadets. They defeated the last of the simulated krybots and stood at attention, waiting to hear their report on their performance.
Syd stepped forward. "Not too bad. I can see some room for improvement, however. You all need to work more as a team rather than on an individual basis." She pointed to a tall sandy blonde haired boy. "You got to far away from your team members, allowing yourself to be cut off by two krybots. If it hadn't been for your teammate here" she pointed at a short brown-haired girl "you could have been in a lot of trouble. Sticking near each other not only puts you in a better spot to assist your fellow cadets, but also provides cover for yourself if trouble arises."
The blonde boy spoke up. "But ma'am, sometimes that's not always possible, is it? I mean, haven't you all been in situations where you were separated?"
Z spoke up. "True. But we also try to keep that from happening if it can be avoided."
"We also have a bit more experience than you guys do." Bridge added.
Z and Syd glanced at him briefly, both frowning slightly. Z continued "Bridge may be right, but experienced or not, you still have to be aware of where your teammates are at all times. The more you work together, the better you'll become as a team. Keep up the good work."
The cadets clearly took that as a dismissal and they filed out of the simulation room.
Syd turned to Bridge. "What the hell was that? You should know better that experience doesn't always count for everything. Look at A-squad, they had a lot more training than we did, but we were able to beat them because we worked better as a team than they did, not because we had experience."
"Sorry." Bridge said. "I'm just distracted."
"Well, come on then." Z responded. "Let's turn in our reports and then we can get going. Do you have any idea of where we even need to start?"
"I have a couple." Bridge replied.
------------------------
Sky had followed Mandy back into the building through one of the other entrances that Jake must have been referring to. He was right, Sky thought, if I had tried to find this door on my own, I'd have been completely lost. Mandy had led him through a couple of alleyways, cut through an empty building and had even walked through a busy shop once. They apparently didn't want anyone to stumble accidentally into their operation. That's probably why they left that other door open, he surmised. As it was the only visible access from the outside, anyone coming that way would automatically be pegged as purposely looking for the operation. It made it easier for Simon's men to spot cops and the like. Such as himself. The more he thought about how Mandy just let him walk right into the operation, the more perplexed he got. Why in the world would she do such a thing? he wondered yet again. Her line of having someone to watch her back wasn't really a viable excuse. There had to be some other reason and Sky had better find out what it was and quickly, or else more than his mission could be compromised.
"So, Mandy…" Sky started off as they threaded their way through another corridor, headed back to the core of operations. "Do you get out much when not on duty? That waitress seemed like she sort of knew you."
Mandy shrugged indifferently. "I've only been in there a few times and have talked to her just in passing. You'd think she was some kind of mother hen or something the way she carries on." She turned slightly to look at Sky. "Don't think anything of her. She does that to just about any of us that happen to wander in there."
"Oh, I see." Sky said, though he doubted many of the others here actually bothered to talk to waitresses.
They had finally reached the main corridor and Sky saw a few others wandering around. He glanced up at a catwalk that was obscured by the shadows; barely able to make out the two men that were on guard there. He waved vaguely at them, one of them nodded back. He turned his attention back to Mandy. "So where to next?"
She turned to him. "Don't you have something to do?"
"Not yet. I'm off until an evening shift." he replied. Sky took the plunge. "I was hoping I could talk to you a bit more. I was kind of tired last night and didn't really have a chance to carry on our conversation like I wanted to."
"Hmmm." she thought for a moment. "I have to run and see Simon for a few, but after that, I think I'm free. How about you meet me at my room in, say, 15 minutes or so?"
"Sounds good to me." Sky replied. "I'll see you then." He watched as Mandy walked off, leaving him standing in the corridor. This will also give me the opportunity to better check out that door lock of yours, too, he thought.
------------------------
Bridge had Syd pull the jeep to a stop on the outskirts of one of the less respectable neighborhoods. He checked the transmitter, it chirped almost imperceptibly. "This has got to be it." He looked at both of the girls. "Boom said that the signal will get stronger the closer we get to him."
Syd looked doubtful at their surroundings. "I don't know about us going in like this, Bridge. If I knew you'd have us harrowing about shady areas, I would have insisted that we all change into something other than our uniforms. We're going to stand out this way."
Z nodded. "I agree. We should have taken the time to disguise ourselves."
"I'm sorry guys, but I didn't think we would have the time." He glanced nervously at both of them. "My feelings are just getting worse by the minute; if we take too long, we may be too late." Bridge seemed visibly distraught.
Z placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. It just would have been nice if we could have been a bit more prepared." Syd nodded her agreement.
Z stood up. "Let's go then. Bridge, lead on."
------------------------
Sky stood outside of Mandy's door, glancing around to make sure that there was no-one nearby to see him. He quickly knelt in front of the door handle and peered at intently. He spied a few small buttons on its underside. Somehow, I don't think that's part of the original door, he thought to himself. He guessed that it served as a way to disable a security mechanism. What that was, he had no idea. Interesting. Why would Mandy want a specific security in place for her room if she was just another delinquent crook? he wondered. Paranoid, perhaps? No, it had to be something more than that. Perhaps he'd be able to find out during the course of their conversation. He heard footsteps echoing faintly in the distance and quickly got back up to his feet; leaning nonchalantly against the opposite wall from the door. He smiled slightly as Mandy came into view.
"Impatient are we?" she commented while she approached.
Sky shrugged. "Like I said, nothing better to do at the moment."
Sure, she thought to herself, and I'm sure I saw you checking out my door for no good reason either. She stepped in front of him and keyed the sequence on the door handle that would enable her interference apparatus. She had no idea what Nate thought her setup was for, but she bet that he didn't figure that instead of preventing people from entering while she was out that it actually interrupted the complex's surveillance, making her room free of spying when she wanted it to be. She opened the door once she had enabled the privacy net.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Come on in." She didn't know what he wanted to talk to her about, but she intended to unravel him a bit further.
Sky walked in and chose to sit in one of the two chairs at random while Mandy closed the door. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Nate?" she asked.
"Just want to get to know you a bit better, that's all. You're not like anyone I've met before in this line of work."
"That goes for you as well." she replied as she took the other seat. "I think there's a lot about yourself that you haven't told me." She leaned forward towards him. "The question is, how much would you be willing to really tell me?"
This is not how I wanted this conversation to go, Sky thought frantically. Once again, Mandy had managed to turn the tables on him, this time before he could even get anywhere with his own questions. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, he contemplated anxiously.
"I have no idea what you mean." Sky started off.
"Bullshit. I know you're not who you claim to be. I don't know who you really are, but I'm certain that you're not some kind of criminal. Why are you here? What is it that you're really after? And don't try to give me that yarn about having a sick sister either, you've tried that once before, and it didn't work."
Sky was stunned. She had pretty much just come out and told him in no uncertain terms that she'd already seen beneath his cover. He wondered if she guessed what he really was. But he didn't want to stick around to find out. All of his instincts were screaming at him to get out now, while he still could. He was neck deep in hot water and on the verge of drowning in it.
He stood up quickly. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about." he told her dismissively. "I think you're just too suspicious of other people to maintain any kind of friendship with anybody." With that, he turned on his heel and strode towards her door.
"Nate, wait!" she called after him; but it was too late, Sky slammed the door shut hard behind him and hurried down the hall, looking for the nearest way out.
He turned a corner and practically ran right into Trask.
"Nate." Trask said cheerfully. "I was just looking for you." he said as two large men approached Sky from behind. "Simon wants to talk with you."
Oh crap; it was the only thought that had time to flitter through Sky's mind before he was plunged into darkness by a blow from behind.
------------------------
The pink, yellow and blue rangers made their way across the roof of yet another building. Because they hadn't stopped to change out of their S.P.D. uniforms before coming down here, Z had suggested that they get around by using the building rooftops. At least it kept them out of the way of other people.
Bridge was staring intently at the signal transceiver when he stopped dead in his tracks; jerking his head up suddenly.
"Bridge?" Z called. "Is everything okay?"
He shook his head frantically. "No. It's just gotten worse." He faced the other two rangers. "We have to go now!" Without waiting for either of them, he pulled out his morpher.
"S.P.D. Emergency!" he yelled.
As soon as he was morphed, he took off running in a direction that only he could follow.
Syd and Z quickly morphed and hurried to catch up with Bridge as he jumped from one roof top to another.
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Sky was pushed down a hallway, both hands tied behind his back. His escort came to a door at the end of the hall and one of the three men opened it. He was forcefully shoved forward through the door, losing his footing and coming down hard on his knees. He heard a rough chuckle from behind him. He glared up as Trask came around him, a vicious grin on his face. It figures, Sky thought.
"That will be enough, Trask. I think it's time we let our guest have a seat." Two sets of hands grabbed him from behind, hauled him to his feet and chucked him into a chair. Sky looked up just in time to see Simon Withers spin around in his chair to face Sky. He sat behind an old worn desk, one that had a lot of score marks on the top of its surface. A lot of those marks had to have been made by sharp items. There were also numerous dark spots, which at first Sky had thought were just the coloring of the wood. He realized with some bit of trepidation that they were old blood stains. Glancing around, he noted similar stains on the floor and even a few on one of the walls.
Everyone in the room was focused on Sky, though for different reasons. Trask he wasn't sure about, he couldn't begin to guess if Trask had ever been suspicious of him; the other two men were just waiting for another chance to rough him up a bit more. Sky didn't ever actually catch their names; they never spoke to anyone anyway. It was the other two that Sky was most concerned with; Simon and Mandy. He was a bit surprised to see her. Despite her current profession, Sky had sensed that she had a good heart and he suspected that deep down, Mandy was a much better person than she normally let on. After their conversations together, he had thought that perhaps Mandy stood a chance to leave this life behind her. He looked directly at Simon.
"What the hell is all this? Why did you have your goons knock me out and truss me up? What's going on here?" Sky asked.
Simon leaned forward slightly in his chair. "I'm sure you want to know everything don't you? That is why you're here after all, aren't you? To gather information about my little operation and report back to your superiors?" Simon narrowed his gaze. "Who do you work for?"
Sky leaned back in the chair, fixing Simon with an icy stare, saying nothing.
"I see. So it's going to be the hard way, is it? I really wish you'd reconsider. I so hate to see bad things happen to good people." Simon got up from his chair and walked around the desk, stopping in front of Sky. "If you tell me what I want to know, I may decide to take it easy on you."
"Go to hell." Sky responded.
The fist seemed to come from out of nowhere. It struck Sky across the left side of his face, splitting his lip. Sky looked back up to see Trask grinning like a madman at Simon's side. Sky spat out a bit of blood and continued to stare at Simon, sitting in stony silence.
Simon let out a huge sigh. "You know, normally I like to let Trask, Chan and Brak have their fun, but I'm afraid I'm terribly short on time." He made a gesture at the other two that were standing behind Sky. They grabbed him and hauled him up out of the chair.
"Let's take a walk outside, shall we?" Simon spoke. He headed out the door and down the hall; the two guards dragged Sky along in Simon's wake while Trask and Mandy trailed after them all. They turned several corners and passed down a few more corridors before Simon finally came to a door; opening it to reveal the outside. It appeared to be another loading dock area of the building. This one wasn't paved at all, just packed dirt and a few patches of mud here and there. Simon stopped when he had gone several feet away from the building. He turned back and looked at Sky and the guards, gesturing to them slightly with a jerk of his head.
They stopped and let go of Sky, puzzling him. What is he up to now? he thought.
"Mandy, my dear." Simon spoke. "Perhaps you would do me the honor of escorting our guest the rest of the way?" Sky turned his head and glanced back at her. She met his gaze briefly.
"Of course, Simon. I'd be more than happy too." she replied.
Mandy quickly stepped up next to Sky and grabbed a hold of the rope that tied his hands. She shoved him forward. "Move it!"
Sky started walking slowly; as they drew away from Simon and the others he spoke quietly to her. "Mandy, don't do this. I know you're a better person than you let on. Don't let them turn you into a monster."
"You don't know the first thing about me. You have no idea what I'm really like. I'm sorry, but I have no choice." She stopped and spun him around so that he was facing her. She looked long and hard into his eyes. "You're just going to have to trust me on this." Sky shook his head no at her as he realized what she had just said. What exactly did she mean by that? he wondered.
She turned back around to face the others. "All ready, Simon."
"Thank you, Mandy." Simon turned to Trask and the other two guards. "Kill them both."
"Oh shit." Sky heard Mandy mutter under her breath.
Sky watched as Mandy got into a defensive stance directly in front of him, her right hand going for something underneath her jacket while her left arm started to snake around Sky's waist. "Move when I tell you to, not one second before, you got it?" she whispered at him.
"I got it." he replied.
Trask and the other two men aimed their pistols at Sky and Mandy; Sky could feel her grip tighten on him. "Get ready...wait for it..." she spoke quietly. A sudden blast of energy hit the ground directly in front of Trask and the others. Simon quickly wheeled away, shielding his face from the flying dirt and mud.
"Hold it right there! You're all under arrest!" a voice cried out.
Sky looked to see the rangers come sprinting in from different directions. Bridge stopped and faced Simon and his men.
"You're accused of manufacturing dangerous goods, conspiracy to commit treason against Earth and murder. Judgment!" The Blue Ranger spoke as he aimed his morpher at the four assembled men.
"That's where you're wrong, my friend. It's not time for me to be judged just yet." Simon pulled out a teleporter and before any of the rangers could stop him, he vanished.
Trask stood with his mouth hanging open; he couldn't believe that Simon had just abandoned him. "Boss? Boss!" he yelled out.
"Guess he's not your boss anymore." Z spoke up. The other two guards looked at each other briefly and pulled out their own teleporters; they too were gone in an instant.
"Hey! Wait! That's no fair!" Trask whined.
"Looks like you'll be coming with us after all." Bridge told him.
While Bridge and Z had been facing down the others, Syd had a fix on Mandy. She didn't know exactly what was going on here; this woman was one of these criminals, but it seemed that she had been on the verge of trying to save Sky when they arrived.
"You okay, Sky?" Syd asked.
"Yeah, just get me untied would you?" he replied.
Mandy turned back around to face him. "Sky?" she asked, in disbelief. She shook her head slightly. "I knew there was something more to you. I should have known. Who exactly are you?"
Syd powered down and walked around behind Sky, beginning to untie him, and although he didn't seem to be too concerned about the woman, Syd still kept a watchful eye on her.
"My real name is Sky Tate. I'm S.P.D.; Red Ranger." He spoke to Mandy as Syd finally got the ropes off his wrists. He glanced briefly back at the pink ranger. "Thanks."
By this time Bridge and Z had also powered down and hauled a handcuffed Trask between them over to where the others were. Trask grimaced.
"So what's going on? You alright, Sky?" Z asked.
"I'm fine. I was just telling Mandy here who I really am." He gestured in her direction as looked down at the shorter woman.
Mandy shook her head again and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Oh man, I'm so gonna get busted over this one." Sky gave her a puzzled look. She sighed and reached for her back pocket; all three rangers instinctively aimed their weapons at her.
She put up a hand. "It's cool, just getting my id." She pulled out a black bi-fold wallet and opened it so they could all see. "Special Agent Hailey Summers, FBI."
"I knew it! I knew it all along!" Trask barked. "You're a cop, too!" He laughed.
"Shut up!" all five of them yelled at the same time.
"Now, since we all know who we really are, let's say we start back at the beginning." Hailey said.
To be continued
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, no copyright infringement is intended.