If this was a race, then Kitty and Jack were in to win. Using their skateboards to avoid Bird Brian's group and now Damian was a lot harder than it looked. Dudley looked up at Kitty and Jack and his fear slowly left him.
"Why is it I always have to save you?", Kitty asked him obviously annoyed, "You make a mistake and I clean it up. Every time."
Dudley managed to grab another skateboard off a pile of rubble and he was skateboarding alongside his fellow agents. Kitty let go of his hand and Dudley proved to be quite the skateboarder.
"Hey, that's what friends are for right?", Dudley asked her.
"I don't mean to interrupt", Jack stated as he dodged another plasma blast, "but shouldn't we stop questioning our relationships and focus on staying alive?!"
That was something Kitty and Dudley could both agree on. And fortunately, Damian got a call on his crystal, but he didn't pull it out.
"Damian, did you find your target?"
"Yeah, but he-"
"Report back to me immediately! You're needed elsewhere!"
Damian growled angrily. He wanted to get Dudley so bad, but he dare not enrage his master.
"Coming boss.", Damian said as he looked Dudley's way, "Your days are numbered."
With that, Damian turned and flew off leaving Bird Brain's armada still on the chase. Finally it seemed Jack had taken enough and just for the record he had. He pulled a smoke bomb from his belt and tossed it ahead and it exploded into a thick smoke cloud which the group entered, but only their boards came rolling out the other end. Bird Brain's group ceased fire and Bird Brain made a call.
"Bird Brain to base. We lost visual."
"Check the area, and keep your ears open. Over and out.", Zero reported on the other end.
Bird Brain hung up and after a circle around the dispersing smoke cloud, it was clear the targets had vanished.
"Well, that was quite the chase.", Bird Brain muttered to himself as his armada turned and flew away to scout elsewhere.
Shortly after he left, Jack, Kitty, and Dudley slowly came out of the debris they were hiding under to be sure nobody saw them. After looking around and clarifying that no enemies were in the area, they dusted themselves off.
"You got some good skateboard skills.", Jack told Dudley as they were dine getting dusted off.
"Well, I don't mean to brag but Roger showed me some moves one time and I guess they just stuck to me.", Dudley answered.
Kitty knew who Dudley was talking about. She met Roger one time even though it was briefly. It was the time Snaptrap tried blasting everyone into the sun using a mall he made into a rocket. Fortunately, he was thwarted and everyone made it back alright.
"Well, now where to?", she asked Jack shaking off the earlier conversation.
Jack checked his schematic and pointed down the street. As they walked along, Dudley was clearly still having a little trouble walking in his pants so Kitty stopped and walked over to him.
"What's wrong?", she asked him.
"It's these pants.", Dudley whimpered, "I can't see my tail!"
Kitty looked behind Dudley and seeing his tail wasn't visible, walked around him and adjusted his pants so his tail was seen.
"Satisfied?", she asked him.
Dudley nodded, but he still felt unbalanced. Why did Jeremiah have him wear pants on this mission? Not to mention the waist line was getting a little tight and he still was working on his walk. Kitty rolled her eyes and helped him out as they went to catch up with Jack.
Not far away, perched on a ledge of a nearby building, the Gemini were doing a little scouting and they were clearly spying on what Dudley's team was up to. As Dudley fumbled around in his pants, the Gemini couldn't help but hold in a giggle.
"Was he always this naive in wearing-", Glacia started.
"Pants?", Byron guessed, "How could he? He's never worn them for a vast majority of-"
"His life.", Glacia put in.
"Ain't that the truth.", they said together in unification.
The Gemini trailed Dudley's group with watchful eyes until they turned a corner. Just as they were about to take off, Galaril showed up unexpected( he had a knack for doing this) and they were not pleased to see him.
"Is that no way to welcome a fellow member?", Galaril asked noticing the Gemini's threatening expressions.
"We're only following orders Galaril.", they answered in unification.
"As am I, Gemini.", Galaril informed them, "Could you blame Zero for having a use for me?"
Byron pointed his pistol at Galaril in one swift motion and Glacia did the same.
"We know you Galaril.", Byron sneered, "You used the system of our underworld to make sure your sentence was-"
"Short lived.", Glacia hissed, "You may think you can fool others, but we are not as easily-"
"Persuaded.", Byron finished.
Galaril could tell the Gemini wanted to pull the trigger if he said the wrong thing, so he thought fast.
"Are you thinking of firing on me? After all I did to deliver this establishment to our master?", Galaril asked trying to sound offended and hurt but the weasels were not buying it.
"State why you're here", Byron growled, "or do us all a favor and-"
"Get lost.", Glacia finished.
The Gemini cocked their pistols and Galaril took that as a motive to split. Quickly, he dispersed and faded into the shadows. Only then did the Gemini put their pistols away just as fast as they drew them. Then they opened their trench coats into their ghostly bat wings and took off elsewhere. And believe it or not, Zero called them.
"Zero to Gemini, facility was infiltrated by Renegade. Don't lose sight of the other no matter what. Await further orders."
"Yes sir.", the Gemini answered in unification as they turned and followed a good distance behind Dudley's group.
The facility was certainly one of the most infernally industrial that Jeremiah had ever seen. Conveyor belts moved android parts along as other parts pieced the parts along and after a brief process of energizing, the androids grabbed a weapon of another assembly line and was out the facility ready for battle. Jeremiah's group made their way past the patrols and after making their way to what seemed to be a control center, Dorian went to work on the security system.
"Just a slide to the left, cut the wire connected to the door mechanism", Dorian muttered to himself, "and cause a little flux to short out."
As if on cue, the door dinged and then slid out of sight. Inside, several guards were on the panels monitoring the activity. Quietly and swiftly, Jeremiah and Iris made their way to behind a couple guards and with a good whack on the head, knocked them out cold. Unfortunately this alerted the others who went for the alarm, but Dorian was quicker and after coming out of stealth, his assistants grabbed each one and used a knock out gas to get them out cold as well. Jeremiah and Iris shut the window bindings as Dorian went to the panel and started pressing sequences. It seemed like everything was okay until an alarm went off.
"Dorian?", Jeremiah asked, "Was that you?"
"It wasn't me.", Dorian stated.
Then the panel went blank and a monitor went on followed by an all too familiar cackle Jeremiah had no trouble recognizing. Zero was on the screen looking right back at them.
"I see you managed to get into my facility. Now let's see how you like going out with a bang."
Zero cackled once more and the screen went blank. Then a computerized voice began a countdown.
"Facility will self-destruct in five minutes."
Jeremiah's team looked alarmed as the place began to shake and some electronic things went haywire.
"Time to go!",Jeremiah shouted as his team bolted for the door.
Getting in was not much trouble, but getting out, not so much. Now with explosions, fire and other things to contend with, things were looking pretty grim. As if things couldn't get worse, some androids still in the base went on the offensive. Jeremiah's team fought hard til Jeremiah heard the voice again.
"Facility will self-destruct in four minutes."
Luckily they dispatched the assault and now were on one of the fast moving conveyor belts with several cranes and lasers assaulting them.
"This...is...crazy.", Dorian stated as he moved across the belt, "Putting a...self-destruct...mechanism...in a panel."
"Vile...but effective.", Jeremiah told him as he dodged a laser.
As Jeremiah's team was nearing the end of the belt, the place was looking pretty violent and now the explosions were getting bigger. Then they heard the voice again.
"Facility will self-destruct in three minutes."
Jeremiah's team continued their movement and as they neared the exit, something blocked their way. It was a battle android about as high as the ceiling and looked pretty offensive. But Jeremiah's team wasn't going down without swinging. As they dodged, the android's arsenal of weaponry, they heard the computer voice once more.
"Facility will self-destruct in two minutes."
Just as the android was taken down, Jeremiah's team picked up the pace. They made it to the door which was locked and Dorian quickly got to work.
"Dorian, could you hurry up?", Iris asked. She was getting worried.
"Patience is a virtue.", Dorian stated as his assistance carefully got into the door mechanics.
"Facility will self-destruct in one minute."
"Now it's not!", Jeremiah stated and not waiting for Dorian, he picked up a huge pipe and wedged it into the door frame.
Just as Jeremiah was starting to pull, the door dinged and slide open sending the pipe flying and Jeremiah's team jumped outside and ducked behind a nearby building.
"Facility will self-destruct in five...four...three...two...one. Good-bye."
The facility exploded with such intensity one might think it was a nuke that went off. And the shock wave that followed was quite big. It lifted Jeremiah's team off their feet for a second and then it was over.
"Wow, what a bang.",Jeremiah stated.
"I'll say.", Iris agreed.
Jeremiah and Iris turned to see Dorian's assistants lying limply at his side.
"Dorian?", Jeremiah asked, "What happened?"
"Guess that power core in the facility caused some kind of electronic power surge. Electronic gadgets are all down. But that also means-"
"The warships!", Iris yelled as she pointed upward. Sure enough, ULTRA's warships were plummeting to the ground real fast.