Ch.9

Hi-Tech's POV
"Ok alright, that should do it! Man, snake central is for quite a shock when they see my robot hound and bat jacker!" I was adding the finally touches and was so intent on it…I didn't even hear the door hiss open until I heard a voice near and I finally looked up to see Scarlett with an annoyed look on her face and her hands on her hips.

"Hello? Earth to Hi-Tech, you missed a meeting!" Oops…

"Another one?"

Scarlett shook her head. "Yes another one! And that makes two meetings in two days! Even Ranger with her disappearing acts still manages to show up for meetings!" Argh…

"Are you kidding me?! Wow…I guess I worked all night…"

Scarlett walked closer to get a better view of what I was working. "So what's with the vampire hours?"

I gave a grin and patted my project. "It's all because of this baby here." But what Scarlett said next shattered my ego…

"It looks like a toaster if you ask me." WHAT?! "Well, either that or some kind of vacuum cleaner." She turned to walk away. "Inventing toys is ok except when you're missing meetings." Without another word she left, leaving me gaping at her. She did not just…ARGH!

"Looks like a toaster…" Funny, I had a weird feeling that someone was in my position right about now…but I was too annoyed to care. "Just you wait and see…all I need is one chance…I'll show them!"

Duke's POV
"Duke, we've completed our sweep…but there's no sign of cobra anywhere." Scarlett's report came in from her mission with Snake-eyes and his apprentices. "It's weird, it's like they went on vacation or something."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Keep looking…they're out there somewhere." I sighed as my crossed my arms. "You got anything Hi-Tech?" There was a long pause…and no answer. Huh? I turned around to see Hi-Tech at his station, head dropped slightly…no he wasn't…"HI-TECH! You weren't just nodding off were you?!"

Instantly, our resident geek's head immediately swung up and he turned around to give me a sheepish grin. "Uh…NO! I was just thinking and uh…monitoring the air traffic and stuff…" Suddenly he paused. "Hang on, check it out, I found a possible ion trail…" I could hear him typing on his keyboard. "It could be from a cloaked Cobra ship. And look, it was headed here…"

When I looked at the screen…"The Central Museum?"

"The museum is doing research on nano-technology, it's just the kind of thing Cobra would be after."



Hmmm…"Well, a field trip sounds like fun." When I gathered the team up, Ranger declined saying she felt that at least one experienced person should stay behind in case something went wrong. I had to agree, and Stone vouched her her…as he seems to do a lot. I wonder if there's something between these two. Well, then it was me, Stone, Firefly, Heavy Duty, Tunnel Rat, Long Range, and Spirit off on this mission.

Spirit's POV
When we arrived at the museum…things were quiet…too quiet. Duke looked around the huge hallway that we had entered. "Man, this place is big. Really big…we'll have to split to cover it." He divided us up. "Move out and stay alert." I ended up being with being Heavy Duty, Long Range, and Firefly.

When we met up again, all of us had no results from our searches. But Heavy Duty pointed out there was one area we hadn't checked out yet, the Virtual Theater. I had a really bad feeling about this…and Tunnel Rat being who he is…he rushed in first. I noticed Duke staying behind for a moment and eyeing the theater, I knew he probably had the same suspicions.

Hi-Tech's POV
Man I was having such a nice dream…when suddenly I felt powerful hands shake me violently. "Dammit Hi-Tech, wake up! Can't you hear that damn alarm?!" My eyes snapped open to meet Ranger's annoyed glare. "Something's wrong!" I turned my bleary eyes up to the screen."

"You know, there really should be a snooze button on this thing…" as my vision cleared, my drowsiness disappeared instantly. "Huh?! OH NO!"

Ranger looked dumbstruck. "What…WHAT?! What's wrong dammit?!"

"Talk about a rude awakening…" I slammed the communicator button. "Duke! Come in! There's a huge power surge at your location! Duke?" Shit! The radio was jammed!

Ranger clenched her fists where I could actually hear her gloves creak. "If I didn't know any better…they just walked into a trap!" She whirled on me. "What are we going to do?!"

Dammit…dammit! I should have been watching their backs…but instead I was sleeping! I turned to Ranger. "We don't have a choice, we have to go in."

Ranger grinned, a frightening grin which made her look like a predator ready for the hunt. "Finally, here I thought you were only good at sitting here and being the resident lab rat." She grabbed me and yanked me down the hall, damn she was strong! "Let's get you suited and go already! And maybe you can test out those new toys of yours." Before I knew it, we were taking the Rhino copter to the location. But I had to wonder…did Ranger know something like this was going to happen and stayed behind?

Spirit's POV
Heavy Duty looked annoyed as we explored the empty theater. "Looks like this virtual theater is virtually nothing!" And just as he said that…suddenly all the lights came on! What the?! Then all I saw and heard for a good long while was flashing lights and the yells of my comrades.

"It's a trap!" Duke was suddenly cut off and that was never a good sign.



Suddenly, I sensed movement and I saw something flying right at my face! "NO!" I managed to swing my staff and deflect whatever it was, but when my vision fully cleared, I was treated to the sight of everyone on the ground with those devices strapped to their faces!

"Duke…Tunnel Rat…Heavy Duty?" No response. That's when I heard sickeningly familiar laughter coming from above me. "Destro…"

He gave me a confident smirk. "Don't worry; you'll join your friends soon."

I notched my bow and aimed straight at him. "Tell me…what have you done to them!"

"I have done absolutely nothing at all…" His grin grew wider. "Only taken their brains!"

What?! "How?!"

"Just like this." He suddenly shot his arm out. "Sigma 6! Arise my minions…" What…suddenly I could hear movement behind me and I whipped my head around to watch as everyone got off the floor. No…"So what do you think of my new invention? I call it the Cobra brain ripper, a simple neural implant. But once activated, it puts any human subject under MY complete control."

I could only watched as the devices unlatched from their facings, only leaving behind the implant in their foreheads. My friend's eyes were blank and glowing a sinister red. I knew I was in trouble. I could only turn my frustration on one person. "You'll pay for this!" I pulled my bow back and latched one right at Destro, but to my horror, I watched as Duke intercepted it. "Duke? Impossible…" I turned to escape, but the doors were locked and I was trapped against a wall.

"You can't escape Spirit. Your time has come to join Cobra. Now my minions, your target is Spirit...TAKE HIM DOWN!" I could only notch my bow, but I couldn't bring myself to fire upon my own friends. "Bring him to me now!"

That's when they opened fire, a barrage of it. I was blasted right through the wall. "I need a way out of this place…" What?! NO! Suddenly I felt that implant hit my face…and I knew no more.

Hi-Tech's POV
When we landed, I was still clumsily trying to climb over the fence that Ranger had scaled in one leap. "Come on Tech, our friends could be huge trouble right now."

"Well excuse me if I don't have MAD ninja skills like yOOOOOU!" OW! I had lost my grip on the fence and fallen flat on my face. I could hear Ranger's exasperated sigh as she grabbed my collar and hitched my back to my feet. My new hound had apparently found a door and was already next to me.

"Nice, maybe that's your mad ninja skills." She looked cautiously around as she put on her mask. "Stay close alright?" She had dashed off, with me following. When we were inside, I could see Ranger was very uneasy.

"If Cobra was here, they probably know that were here…but why haven't they acted yet." She had drawn out her longer blade and peered down the hallway.



That's when I got something. "Hang on, I got a reading." I flicked open my wrist communicator and looked it. "It's not human…and it's dead ahead." We heard footsteps approaching and who we saw both gave us a jolt. It was the other Sigmas! They were fine! "Hey guys…" Suddenly Ranger grabbed me and pulled me back.

"Wait, something's wrong." Then the others turned, we saw the red glow in their eyes and the implants in their heads. Oh…crap… We tried to turn back the way we came, but found our path blocked by the others. "Kuso…this way!" Before I could say anything, Ranger had already yanked me down another hallway just in time before where we had been standing was hit by laser fire. We could only run as laser fire zinged mere inches around us. Ranger flung me around a corner just as one of Heavy Duty's missiles nearly blew us to kingdom come.

The both of us could only peer around the corner at our advancing friends. "They've all got implants in their heads…some kind of mind control?" That's when I felt Hound prodding me pretty hard. "Stop it…I'm thinking!" But he wouldn't stop prodding, so I turned around. "Hound what is it, you got bugs in your…"

Ranger cut in. "No…he's talking about those." As she pointed down the hallway behind me, I yelped. It was a literal army of BATS heading right for us!

"No! You've got BATS!!" Ok think Hi-Tech, think! "Ok, launch your bat jacker at them…now!" Nothing happened and Ranger face palmed. Hound only turned to give me a confused look and beeped. "What do you mean what is that?! It's built it!" Hound's display only flashed two big question marks. "Ugh, do a system search! Remind me to test my new inventions…" My tirade was cut off as a red laser nearly took my face off. "Back in the lab…" Hound and Ranger both gave me sour glares as they hugged the walls to avoid the laser fire.

"Smooth lab rat smooth!" Ranger was nearly pelted by green laser fire this time and she chucked a smoke bomb down the hall to hopefully slow our mind controlled friends down.

"Ok now you got it." Hound got in position. "Right…let's do this…Hound…NOW!" Just as I pointed my finger, it got zapped by stray fire. YEOW! "Uh…I need to chill a minute…you go on without me." Hound shot me another sour look before getting ready. "Ok, lock onto the lead BAT. I watched as the grapple device shot out and latched onto a BAT's face. "Awesome! I'm hacking in!" I furiously typed out commands as I could hear Ranger behind me deflecting fire.

"Will you hurry up already?!"

"I'm trying! Beginning override…now!" Two small antenna shot up from the grapple and soon the entire BAT group was swashed in green electricity. It was working! I could see the BATs eyes turning green, indicating my program was getting in! "Hi-Tech, you are on total genius!" An annoyed beep interrupted me. "Uh...and his robotic sidekick too of course…YIKES!" Suddenly I felt Ranger tackle me and drag me into the room.

"Celebrate later! We have other problems remember!" She threw me into a safe area behind some crates as she drew out both swords and faced our friends.

"Oh…not good…well, it's time to get a grip on things." I ordered the BATs to hold down our friends, hopefully that would do something. Suddenly I could see a green glow forming under 

the BAT dog pile…or not, the BATs exploded into debris as my friends clearly weren't even phased by it.

Ranger growled. "Dammit Hi-Tech come up with something quick! I'll hold them off!" She deflected what laser fire they threw at her then charged Spirit and Tunnel Rat. With acrobatic grace, she jumped over them, grabbed Spirit by the arm and spun him into Tunnel Rat, sending them both flying into crates. "Got...ARGH!" She was suddenly grabbed round the neck by Duke in a sleeper hold, but again she flung her head back to land a solid head butt and grabbed his arm to throw him off of her. A spinning roundhouse sent Stone flying as he advanced and a back fist deterred Heavy Duty. A leg sweep knocked Firefly off and a kick send him careening into Duke who had been trying to get back up. Damn…she was good.

Of course, she had forgotten when she deflected the laser fire, some it went right at me! I dodged like crazy before toppling off the crate I had been standing was destroyed by Ranger throwing Long Range into it and I fell off in a heap. "Great…finished off by my friends…" Ranger suddenly gave a cry as one of Stone's shots found its mark on her arm and Long Range's took out a leg.

"Shit! Hi-Tech!" The moment of distraction was enough for Heavy Duty to sneak up on her and apply a powerful choke hold on her. I could see her struggling, but there was no way she was getting out of that grip, not when everyone dog piled on top of her. I could almost hear her bones creaking in protest. "Do…some…thing!"

"Dammit…so much for my bat jacker…" Hey…wait a sec…those implants. "That's it! They're brains have been jacked into!" I could hear Ranger's gasps for air as she was slowly being crushed by the mob. "Now Hound…jack them back!" Hound gave me a startled look. "It's our only chance!" I shoved down my goggles. "Lock onto Duke and fire!" Hound started to protest…"just do it Hound NOW!" With a beep of acknowledgement Hound launched the grapple and it latched squarely on Duke's head. Duke reared back off of Ranger as she started reaching for the grapple. I wasn't going to give him the chance. "Nice, overriding now!" Now it was my friends being zapped by the green energy as they all reared off of Ranger and gave yells of pain. The implants sizzled before falling right off and with a collective groan, they all collapsed.

I rushed over to Ranger first. "Hey you ok?"

Ranger pushed up the mask and gave me a weak grin plus thumbs up. "Remind me to tell everyone to maybe shed a few pounds…" She managed to get up in a sitting position.

I then checked on the others, but according to a brain scan, they were fine. "Phews…they're ok. But I bet they're going to have quite the…" Then Ranger's leg suddenly kicked out and knocked me away. "Hey! What…!" A huge explosion cut off my protest as Ranger was knocked right into a wall. That's makes three times she'd saved me now, and this time, she was out cold.

I turned around only to behold one of Cobra's huge robots, the Mantis! And Destro was at the controls! "You've run out of tricks Hi-Tech, it's time we finished our little game."

Uh…"HOUND RUN!" We dashed like madmen behind some crate for cover with Mantis just missing us with its claws.



"Tear this place apart! Find them and destroy them now!" I could hear the Mantis's lasers ripping through the crates; I only hoped it didn't hit the others.

"Uh…this is going well…NOT! Got any ideas Hound?" In answer, Hound opened up on of his compartments, revealing the parts for my plasma rifle. Alright…I soon had it assembled and powered up. I rushed out and took aim at the Mantis. "Hey! Remember me?"

"What?!" The rifle went off alright, and had such powerful recoil my aim went bad I only hit the Mantis's arm, disintegrating it. Destro laughed. "Looks like you missed!"

"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?" I picked myself off the floor, rifle in hand.

"You made your last move…now it's MY turn!" Before the Mantis's good claw could crash down on me, Hound came swinging in and pulled me to safety.

"Yea! I've just began to make my move!" As I landed, it was awkward and the rifle ending up clonking me right on the head then dragging me off the crate again. Yea…smooth…but that probably saved me as missiles struck where I had just been standing. I was behind the Mantis as it futilely searched where I had been. "Only going to get one shot with this…alright Hound, get into position and get ready!" I cocked the rifle. "You know what to do!" A beep answered me as Hound scurried off. "Destro!"

The huge robot turned. "Let's see you invent your way out of this!"

"Yea? No problem!" We were having the classic face down, then the Mantis charged!

"HOUND NOW!" I watched my faithful new toy swing down suddenly and latch onto the cockpit of the Mantis. Wires shot out and hooked themselves and now the show was gonna end!

"What is this?!" I smirked, time to turn the tables.

"It's my new invention! The BAT jacker!" I could see the systems of the Mantis freeze up as my program took over. "Now it's time to finish this!" Hound unlatched as the Mantis reeled back. "Good night!" One blast from the rifle hit dead center and blew the Mantis right out of the building. Then it was just darkness…

I felt a prodding on my head and I managed to force my eyes to open, and right into Hound's concerned display. Then it all came back. "Hound! We did it! You're my coolest invention…" I had to hug the little guy. "And now, you're my new best friend too!"

"So…what does that make us?" I shot my head up, could it? "Wot's the deal?" Yes it was! "Yea what gives?"

"Uh…" I turned around to see my revived friends standing behind me. "Hey guys…"

Spirit nodded at me. "Thanks for saving us from Destro's plan my friend."

Firefly gave me a cocky grin. "You did great man."



It was Duke who spoke last. "Yea, you dented up metal real good, now let's get outta this place." He offered me his hand and I took it. Oh yea I felt…wait a sec, where was…

A loud crash caused everyone to spin around weapons drawn, but it was only Ranger who had kicked a crate off herself and was standing, favoring her arm and leg.

"Hey lab rat, next time, try to pay attention next time so I can stop taking bullets for you." I was a little miffed, but before I could really say anything, Ranger's legs buckled from underneath her. It was Stone who caught her and lent her support to stand upright by looping one of her arms around his shoulders and one his arms around her waist. "Oomph, thanks. Oh…by the way…" She now focused a glare on Heavy Duty. "Hey big guy, try laying off the cheeseburgers for a bit ok? I swear, you weighed more than these other guys combined."

"SAY WHAT?! You saying something 'bout me?!" Ranger waved him off.

I grinned sheepishly. "Well, if I wasn't staying up all night…I might have seen this a lot sooner…"

Heavy Duty turned his scowl away from Ranger. "Ah man, don't lose any sleep over it!"

"What are you talking about? I already have!" Everyone, minus me and Heavy Duty, burst out in laughter.

"Wait, I don't get it! What are you talking about?!" As the others turned to leave, I was trying to explain to Heavy Duty.

"Well, I was staying up all night working on the Hound, that my brilliant new robot invention. It has a BAT jacker interface and…" That's when Heavy Duty turned to follow the others. "Hey…HEY! Where are you going? Oh come on guys! It's really interesting!"

Ranger's POV
I was currently in Stone's quarters as he carefully wrapped the bandages around my shoulder and leg where the suit hadn't fully protected me from flying debris and stuff. "OW! Stone, be careful, that hurts!"

He gave me an apologetic look and a kiss. "Sorry dear." His face suddenly grew dark. "Listen, Ranger, I'm sorry…"

I cut him off. "Sorry for what, you weren't in your right mind…literally. I can't blame you for something you really didn't do."

He heaved a sigh. "I know…but." I cut him off again, this time a little more forcefully and with my lips.

"But nothing, you weren't responsible, it was the idiot Destro. Now stop frowning, you don't look so good when you frown." His face grew lighter. "However…" Now it was surprised. "You COULD always try to make it up to me somehow." I gave him a subtle wink.

He slowly grinned and pulled me close. "Oh I'm sure I can find something…to make you feel better," he growled as his lips moved down my bare neck to my shoulder. I only wrapped my 

arms around his neck as he pushed me down. I had to admit; there were some very nice perks to this new life of mine…


Well, surprised? I actually managed to squeeze on out! :D There might be a few mistakes in there, just tell me and I'll fix them up ASAP. Enjoy and sorry for the long wait. My real life issues had been draining away my creative energy. Please leave a review!

Edit: Aw come on guys, 8 alerts and only 1 of you reviews, and 1 new person? Where are all the reviews?