Retrieval Saga

Dragon's Temptation

Chapter 8: Arrestment

The Weather had taken a turn for the worse since the disaster at the warehouse. Matt had seemed very smug for a loser though when he'd signed out three humvees, two crates of sonic charge rifles and gotten 12 other mercs to help. Techo, Chip, Draco and Matt were in the lead vehicle, Matt driving and looking at what looked like a GPS every few turns. "For someone who just got fired from a contract, Matt's very cheerful." said Techo to Draco as the small convoy turned into the Chinatown area. "I know," said Draco, "But unfortunately, it's the kind of cheerfulness that usually gets us in trouble."

Matt turned his comm on. "Unit two, circle round the back and cover the side exits. Non-lethals only. I wouldn't give that symbiote the satisfaction." he said as a gym came into view. Matt jumped out first and was so busy looking at the GPS as he walked towards the entrance that he walked straight into Jake. "Jake? What are you doing here?" asked Matt. "Picking up Haley," responded Jake. Matt looked up questionly up at the gym. "You do know she's only seven, right?" he said. "She's getting dragon training from Sun Park, her teacher," said Jake. Matt shrugged then slapped the GPS. "Bloody junks on the blink again." He sighed and pulled out the sdare device and saw the same location. "Er, Jake?" he said slowly as the rest of the convoy team jumped out and headed for the doors. "You didn't happen to see anyone... unusual as you were coming here, did you?" "Not more than the usual crowd," said Jake. "Well, maybe you better stay behind me, this could get messy," said Matt as he approached the gym doors.

Matt nodded to one of the other mercs and slowly opened the door. "You, you...take upstairs," he said to two of the mercs who nodded and headed for some stairs. The door at the far end also opened and several mercs with sonic blasters ran by.

Techo and Chris went in and headed towards the locker rooms. Techo positioned himself outside of the door to the women's room. He counted to three and then kicked the door open. There was the sound of a woman screaming and Techo quickly closed the door, his face a bright red. "Sorry lady, didn't see a thing," he called. Matt sighed then looked at the GPS again, which had altered to a floor plan. "In there," he pointed.

Several mercs came in and pointed their weapons at various places. This moment became rather anticlimactic when all they saw were a Korean woman and an Asian girl with some gym equipment. "I'm gonna kill the GPS programmer," muttered Matt. "Hey, that program is mine- cousin's, my cousins'," said Techo. Matt glared at Techo before looking at the GPS again. "I'm just gonna recall the drone. Hell of alot easier," he said. The tiny spiderlike drone dropped from the roof, minorly concussing Draco.

Techo was the first to snap back. "Erm...huddle, guys," he said, waving to Draco, Chip, and Matt. "If the drone's here, then Splicer's here too," he said. "Oh, I see him," said Draco. "Where? He's running around my head. Oh, and he brought his siblings too." "Nevermind him, he's delusional," said Chip, "Fortunately, I know of one thing a symbiote like him can't resist." He reached into his compartment and drew out one of the largest chocolate bars Matt has ever seen. Matt stared at Chip. "Have you caught Spyware again?" he said levelly. "I've done some research and apparently chocolate's one of two sources where phenethylamine is most abundant. And symbiotes need this stuff for their constitution." "What's the other source?" asked Matt. "Human brain matter," said Chip flatly. Matt, Techo and the, by now, eavesdropping mercs all looked over at Sun and Haley and slowly backed away a few steps. Matt carefully took the chocolate and pulled the wrapper off. "Anyone want some dairy milk?" he said loudly.

As soon as the wrapper came off, PlasMorph caught the scent. "CHOCOLATE!" he screamed and came charging around the corner towards Matt. Fortunately, Chip was prepared and hit him on the head with a frying pan. Matt turned to Sun and Haley then over at Jake. Techo muttered to Jake, "If it's Haley, sorry for the stunning," before taking the safety off. However, it wasn't who the squad expected.

Suddenly Sun's mouth grew several fangs and a long prehensile tongue lashed out and grabbed the chocolate bar. It brought it back where it was quickly and messily devoured. "Ew, that could've been my brain," muttered Chris. 'Sun's' chest blossomed with laser sights as the mercs all aimed. "Splicer...erm...whatever your surname is, you're under arrest," said Matt, aiming. Splicer appeared proper, its liquid form covering Sun from head to toe. "Oh, I'd best surrender then," she said sarcastically and sent a tentacle out that floored a row of mercs before the others fired sonic blasts into her, much to Haley and Jake's shock. "My teacher's an alien?" cried Haley. "Welcome to my life," said Matt as he flew past. Splicer pinned Chris to the wall and said to him, "If you don't mind, I'd prefer being linked to you. Your adrenaline level's more compatible to me and you have more muscle mass." Then he looked somewhat uneasy, "And I can't help but get the feeling that people are oggling me."

Matt ran up and shoved a collar round Splicer's neck that let out a whine before the sound passed into the ultrasonic. The effect on Splicer was immediate, the symbiote screamed before vanishing, leaving a shocked Sun wondering why she had Chris by the throat. "What just happened?" asked Haley. "Long story short: your teacher was possessed by an alien parasite that used her to commit various thefts around the city," said Chip. "Oh, you think I'd not be surprised by this type of thing." "Again, my life," said Matt just as Neilsson and his men burst in. Neilsson pointed towards Sun. "That's the one, take her into custody. In fact, take them all in," he said. Matt glared and stepped in the way. "Hey, the Longs have nothing to do with this and Miss Park didn't get much of a choice." Two of Neilsson's men went up to grab Sun only for Jake to dragon up and him and Chris to floor the two troopers. The other troopers raised their rifles and fired two neat stun blasts. Matt lost it and aimed a plasma-fueled punch at Nielsson, only for another blast to hit him in the back...

--

He came to on a hard bunk. "Dammit..." he muttered to, realizing he was in a cell. He got up and saw Jake was his cellmate. "Ok, what hit me?" he said as his head throbbed from the stun bullets' after effects. "I don't know, but I think we're in for something big," said Jake. A few moments of silence passed before they heard Draco's voice call, "Chris! If you don't stop playing that blasted harmonica, I'm going to shove it down your throat!"

"Well, the others are here," said Matt happily, before laying back. "You'll be fine, not even Neilsson would take a timeline specific out his world. Sun however, and me, we're in smeg sector...big time." "Well, isn't there something about someone being force to act against their will/knowledge?" asked Jake. "Neilsson's from another version of this world, he was Huntsclan. How he got a job in NSC military is beyond me, but he's the one writing the report, you get me?" Matt said glumly. "All this fancy tech and you guys don't have lie detectors?" demanded Jake. "Of course we do," said Matt sarcastically, "Everyone has one so we can tell who's fibbing or not."

Suddenly a familiar buzzing sounded in the next room. "I see they sent men to the ship, HEY FIBBER!" called Matt through the wall. The door was banged on. "Shut up, ya dumb reptiles," said the guard from outside. Matt glared at the door. "I hope we get out soon, and meet Neilsson when he's alone. Nullspace can be so dangerous..." said Matt, with a suitably evil smirk.

"For the last time, confess you snake!" yelled Neilsson. "I told you, I don't recall anything of what you said that creature made me do. It must have been doing it while I was asleep." "Fine!" snarled Neilsson, "I guess we'll have to get more physical then." He waved to a splitter standing in human form in the corner. The figure walked forward, his hand crackling with electricity. "Useful things, splitters. They're living tazers," said Neilsson conversationally before spotting the collar. "What...is that?" he said, pointing to it. "I don't remember putting this on," said Sun. "Well, we don't want anything intefering with the torture," said Neilsson as he ripped it off. The instant it was off, Splicer's purple goo covered Sun. "Thanks for that," said Splicer, "I hate being kept dormant under living beings. Good thing I figured out how to suppress consciousnesses. Speaking of which, you're about to be unconscious." Neilsson backed up and pulled out his blaster, firing two rounds into Splicer to no effect before being pushed through the wall. Splicer stepped through the hole, ignoring the rounds that bounced off her. "Now then...might as well finish the job the emperor gave me," she said, before firing a few spikes into the attacking troopers and heading towards the armory.

--

Matt was trying to fall asleep when the lights went out and an alarm began to wail. "Well, something tells me Neilsson did a very stupid thing," said Matt as the door's magnetic lock failed. "Well, since the door's open, I guess we can walk out," said Jake. The two of them stepped outside to see Spicer-Sun walking towards them. "Then again, maybe we should stay in." "Hi again, Splicer. I'm guessing Neilsson was an idiot...right?" said Matt, readying a plasma ball. "Indeed," said Splicer, "That's the deal with some humans, too arrogant to see what's really going on. Now if you excuse me, I've got pressing business." With that, Splicer forced Sun into her dragon from and started slashing out with several tentacles. Matt blasted a few before blasting the locks on Chris's and Draco's door. "A little help?" he said, blasting a tentacle apart. Suddenly Splicer stopped and Sun's voice said, "No, violence is not the answer." Jake and Matt paused for a minute before Splicer said, "Psyche!" and punched them through Techo and Chip's cell door. Splicer laughed insanely. "Idiots," he said before blasting the far door down and heading into the firing line of Chip. "You really want to try that?" he said before whacking Chip into a filing room and fire blasting the lock till it melted.

"Hello? Hey! Let me out of here!" yelled Chip as he pounded the door. Then he noticed the filing room was in terrible disarray. "Well, as long as I'm in here," said Chip as he picked up some papers.

Meanwhile, the remains of Neilsson's force were blocking the room with Splicer's old EXP-bomb, firing with everything they had when Splicer strolled cockily into view. "Sorry fellas, but I've got a job to do," said Splicer as he glued them to the walls. Then he noticed something on the table. "My armor! I've been looking everywhere for that!" He leapt off Sun's body and latched himself to the armor's remains. He grabbed a canister of nanobots to help repair the damage. As Splicer got into his suit, a red searchlight focused on him. "You are not authorized..." said a male voice and several larger versions of Matt's tracker drone scuttled out of alcoves and aimed small-looking blasters at the symbiote. "Please release the reptilian lifeform at once," said the room's A.I. "Beat it, peewee," said Splicer as his robotic tentacles extended. The lead drone's eyes turned red and a thin black beam chopped the tentacles off neatly before the other drones opened fire. Splicer quickly realized he was outmatched and lassoed both the EXP bomb and Sun. "You'd make a good hostage," said Splicer, "not to mention a tasty snack."

The drones fired earnestly as Splicer blasted a hole in the wall and escaped, a few even scuttling after him till he crossed the base's perimeter. The drones, programmed and fueled by the proximity of the base's computer, had to stop at the boundary. "Aw, is someone's leash too tight?" mocked Splicer. The A.I however knew an insult and literally parted his head with a final blast. Splicer's body nearly lost its integrity, but then Splicer's head extended a tentacle and reconnected with the neck. Then Splicer got his head back on and said, "Annoying little pests, I have just the thing to take care of you." He tossed what appeared to be an electrical grenade, but it had been reprogrammed to take in electricity instead of charging it out. The drones just sniggered and vaporized the grenade before scuttling away as several mercs ran out shooting. Splicer merely made a rude hand sign at them before leaping away.

"You fool!" yelled Neilsson at Matt, "How could you let that thing get loose?" "I let it loose?" yelled Matt incredulously, "You're the one who took of that collar!" Neilsson glared at the beaten crew. "You...you and your genetic rejects are the cause for this damn mess. Splicer will destroy the east coast and it's because you were too soft to kill him when you had the cha..." he started but was stopped as Matt knocked him out with a good hard jaw punch. Everyone else's jaws dropped as Neilsson hit the floor. Matt's crew would have applauded right then and there if they didn't sense the antipathy in the air. Matt had also drawn his weapon and was aiming it in Neilsson's face. For a minute it seemed as if Neilsson was in trouble, then Matt lowered his gun. "You're not worth a shot," he said before turning around. "Let's go kick Splicer out of New York," he said.

As the group was running down the hallway, Techo asked, "By the way, what happened to Chip?" Draco heard paper rustling behind a door and used his super strength to rip it off. Chip turned to the others and said, "Oh, hi guys, just finishing up." The filing room was much neater than before with no clutter anywhere. "Chip? How the hell did you do this so fast? Admin have been trying to do that for the last 40 years...it was there when me and Chloe joined...IT WAS THERE WHEN LEYTON JOINED!!!" he said, shocked. "Well, when you're locked in a filing room and have nothing else to do, you might as well tidy up. Can you do me a favor and take this to the recycling bin?" said Chip as he held up a huge bag full of useless paper. Matt glared and vaporized the paper...and the basket. "That answer your question? C'mom...you may be needed to defuse an EXP bomb," he said. As Chip scuttled after them, he said, "Do I get anything for this or is this going to go on unnoticed?" Matt shrugged. "The planet won't be overrun by the empire," he said simply. "We'll need help. We got no idea where Splicer'll set up. It'll have to be somewhere he can hold Sun without difficulty." "What about Jake?" suggested Chris.

--

Splicer looked around the old Huntsclan facility in the subway. It was the same one that Matt and the experiments had broken into months ago and all of the holding tech was still intact, even though the clan was gone. "Nice tech," muttered Splicer, "of course the armory back home's got better stuff, but this could do substantial damage." Just then, Sun got the gag off her mouth, "You won't get away with this!" Splicer smirked. "Blah blah blah...heard it all before...have a taster of the future," he said and fired an EXP dart, only to have it do nothing. "And that's why I hate magic, damn cure all," he said before looking at the other weapons. "Huh, wonder what this could do?" he muttered as he picked up a metallic gauntlet. The gauntlet sent off an energy blast that vaporized his elbow. Splicer regenerated and said, "Neat, I'm taking this back for a souvenir." There was a distant explosion that was nothing more then a distant thud. "Oh, visitors, and me all alone, guess I need backup," he said, making a part of him come off and head for Sun.

--

Matt smirked at Jake and the gang, while standing in dragon form in front of the half-melted door. "Who needs an access code?" he said evilly. "Warning! Intruder alert!" cried the security system. Several nasty-looking lasers focused on the group. "Drat," said Chip, "he must have gotten the security system online again." The guns however only had eyes for Jake, Draco, and Matt. "Guess he didn't change the targeting list though," said Matt, dodging blasts desperately. "He's not the only that has lasers," said Draco and he fired his laser vision. The lasers bounced off one of the blasters and started bouncing off everything reflective in the base. Eventually, the heat of the lasers caused the blasters to melt. Matt watched with interest as the blasters were all removed. "Erm, Jake, any other things we should expect? Giant boulders, spike traps, quantum reactor self-destruct?" he said, running off an internal list. "I'm not sure he'll have enough time to set those up," said Jake, "We should look for Sun."

"Uh, I think she found us," said Techo as he and Chris were being wrapped up in a slimy dragon's tail. Matt and Jake turned as Sun, possessed by another symbiote came into view. "Oh great," he muttered, before Techo was thrown at him. Draco turned to Jake and asked, "You dragons are flame-retardant, right?" When Jake looked insulted, Draco clarified, "I mean fire doesn't hurt you much, right?" "Yeah, why?" "Just checking," said Draco as he started belching flames at the symbiotic Sun. The symbiote shrieked and shriveled up in the heat, leaving a dazed Sun lying on the floor. "Clever, think it'll work on Splicer?" said Matt, checking to see if Sun was ok. "I don't know," said Chip, "I think he'll have plenty of experience to know how to avoid being burnt up." Matt shrugged. "Meh, an interesting experiment," he said as Sun began to stir. Jake knelt down by Sun. As soon as her eyes were open, Jake asked her, "Sun, where's Splicer?" Sun pointed towards the corridor she'd emerged from. Matt shrugged. "Seems simple," he turned to Draco and the others. "Me and Jake'll deal with Splicer, I bet Neilsson's sent some men after us. Make sure they head after us, we'll probably need the help," said Matt.

--

Splicer was humming to himself as he finished arming the bomb. "Warning...Virus payload armed. You have 5 minutes to leave detonation area," it said. Splicer smirked toothily, "A little late, but I always get the job done. Best of all, this'll take that idiot merc with it when it blows." "You rang?" Splicer turned around to see Jake and Matt in their dragon forms. "Oh great, more dragons, you're really getting under my skin," he complained, "Guess I'll return the favor." Several cloned symbiotes sprang out their hiding places towards the duo. Matt flamed a few and had to fly out the way of a second that lunged supposedly at him. "Your clones need to work on their aim," chuckled Matt before a fireball knocked him out the air. "Who said they were aiming for you?" laughed Splicer. Matt turned to see Jake, wearing a new symbiote suit. Matt cursed and said, "Is there anyone these things won't attach themselves to?" He quickly fried the one that was on Jake. Splicer laughed as the smoke cleared to show no effect. "Ah, ah, ah, not twice you don't," he said before turning to the bomb as Symbiote Jake lunged at Matt. "Are you crazy, Jake? He'll fry the whole city with the detonator alone," said Matt, trying to reason with Jake. All he got in response was a mindless savage roar. "That's the trouble with cloning," muttered Splicer, "brains don't get carried on with the DNA."

Draco, Chip, and Morph had followed despite the fact that Matt had told them not to. Heck, they were experiments, disobeying orders was built into their genetics. It was just as well as they saw the fight going on. "Ok, you guys work on the symbiotes, I'll disable that bomb," said Chip. "Boy there sure are a lot these things," said Draco. Suddenly one jumped on Morph and tried to meld with him. However, Morph was able to throw it off easily. "I guess they can't really attach themselves to other blobs," said Draco.

While the others were trying to deal with the symbiotes, Chip focused on that bomb. He snuck over and started typing in a deactivation sequence. Unfortunately, Splicer had looked over his shoulder and saw what he was doing. "Hey! Cut it out!" he yelled. "Make me," challenged Chip. Several robotic tentacles extended from Splicer and shot towards Chip. Chip was able to parry several tentacles with his hands, but there were quite a lot of them. "You can't beat me, you pathetic little android," said Splicer, "You don't have the physical strength to so much as ding my armor." "Well, I wasn't built for hand-to-hand combat, was I?" said Chip as he zapped Splicer with his viral energy.

As Matt grappled with Symbiote Jake, he muttered, "What I wouldn't give for a sonic grenade right now." He noticed Morph running helter-skelter and said, "But I've got the next best thing." He grabbed Morph with his tail and told him, "We need noise, a lot of noise." Morph nodded and morphed into a one-blob band and started playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" as loudly as he could. Everyone in the room cringed. "I said noise, not aerial torture!" yelled Matt, but unfortunately, Morph couldn't hear him over the din.

The symbiotes couldn't stand the clangor and were being knocked unconscious by it. The symbiote on Jake trembled and melted off in a sticky puddle. Splicer looked like he was at his wit's end. "I can't stand it!" he yelled, "I've got to get away from it!" "Too bad you don't have a soundproof capsule like this," shouted Chip as he held up a capture container. Splicer immediately dived into the container without a moment's hesitation and Chip quickly closed and sealed it. Splicer soon realized he was tricked, but was unable to form a solid-enough shape to break the glass. "Will somebody shut that slug up?" shouted Draco over Morph's music. Matt threw a plasma bolt at Morph, which splattered him into several bits. "You know, you could've just asked him to stop," said Jake. "There are several ways my sanity can become unhinged and each way takes a certain amount of time to recover from," said Matt calmly, "I don't want to find out how long it would take to recover from maddening music." He picked up Splicer's container and the bomb that Chip had just deactivated. "Now let's get these two things out of my sight and hair."

Matt and the gang walked out towards the exit. Techo was standing in the entrance, looking gloomy. "Sorry, Mate. Tried to stop em," he said, letting them past to see a practical army of NSC troops and several urban tanks aiming at them. "Captain Lynch," said Neilsson, who was leading them, "you are under arrest." "Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Matt as he lifted his hands up, "On what charges?" Neilsson held up what looked like a folded piece of paper, until the unfolded end touched the floor. Matt looked at the end of the list. "Sy-Yong destruction? These were all overruled by the council," he said as two troopers grabbed him. "Neilsson shrugged. "They were till you hit me...take him away."

"Now wait just a minute," said Chip, "You can't arrest Matt just when he apprehended Splicer and..." "Since you're the only one around here who's either a tolerable species, mature, or sane, I'll give you this warning," said Neilsson, "Stay out of this or the entire crew will be incarcerated." Chris looked at Jake and Sun. "You can't arrest them, not without the council making your life hell." "I suppose not," said Neilsson, "But then again, I've already got a net full of big fish. Take them away." As the troopers took Matt and Splicer towards the 'paddy-wagon', the others were about to make a move before Matt silently told them to stay where they were. As he was being lead away, Matt asked, "Don't you guys have to read my rights first?" "I was hoping you'd say that," said Neilsson and snapped his fingers. Matt instantly recalled what usually happens when 'criminals' like him ask for their rights. "On second thought, how about we just…" Matt was cut off when the troopers taking him away started whacking him with nightsticks.

"I can't believe Matt's getting pulled away like that," said Jake. "Yeah, if it were me, I'd make some show of it… OW!" Draco started hopping on one foot after Chip stomped on it rather painfully. "This isn't over yet," said Chip, "I have a pretty good hunch as to where Matt's going to end up. Now if you excuse me, I've got a couple law books to read."


Surprisingly enough, that's the last chapter. Not the type of ending we normally get with our stories, is it? You know what we call these things? That's right, a two-part cliffhanger. To find out more about what happens to Matt when he's sent to prison, look for the next story in the Retrieval Saga. I'm not sure when that'll be, but it'll be worth waiting for. Until then, please review.