Back on the crashed and semi transformed warship, the members were hard at work getting the act back together. The commander( it's the cougar) was peddling hard and after getting some defense up, the crew gave a report.
"So far, our communications are still dead, defense is limited and ship is immobile.", one crewman reported.
The commander tried several button sequences on his chair, but all the screen showed was a bunch of static.
"Blast.", he thought to himself, "Can't get a message through to Dark Wolf."
Luckily they did have scanning of the entire structure of the ship and some were monitoring as the commander did a once over.
"Is the medical bay in tact?", he asked his crew.
"Negative commander.", a crewman( a gerbil) informed.
"The auto repair system?"
"Wiped out.", another crewman( a raven) reported, "By the shock wave."
Then something caught the commander's eye on the ship scanners. The lower hull had been ruptured and had a few holes not very big, but not to be ignored.
"We have a breach!", he called out, "Get repairs down and seal them! Let's move people!"
Now things really went into overdrive. Some crewmen peddled to allow doors to open as a group got emergency repair kits from the storage room and headed to the lower hull area. Luckily the communicators they had were operational. With the lights flickering on and off as though power surges were occurring, it was pretty spooky in the ship and Heaven knew what was lurking outside. Patiently, the crew awaited an answer from the hull. A short time later, they got a reading from the hull and saw on radar that the crewman had reached the holes and had begun patching them up. Then, came an alarm as a bunch of red dots started appearing alongside the crewmen and a transmission came through.
"Guess who?", Galaril mocked as his image appeared on the screen static, "Excuse us, but we have orders to infest and take this ship."
Galaril's image faded and now the crewmen were running back to the deck. The commander started shutting the doors. He didn't know what Galaril had brought, but he didn't want to find out. Shortly the crewmen came back on deck and the doors swung shut behind them. The crew stopped running controls and got their blasters ready for battle. The doors shuddered as constant bangs and scraps came from the other side. Then the door started to slowly open to reveal Galaril with several of his nightmares and a really strong looking warden( a grizzly bear) prying open the doors. That's when the ULTRA agents opened fire, but Galaril waved his hand and a barrier formed in front of him protecting his group from the assault.
"Did you think I didn't think this out?", Galaril mocked, "I work for the most powerful being that ever walked this wretched earth. Soon you will all be enslaved or slaughtered."
Soon Galaril's warden had the doors open and as soon as Galaril had his shield down, a shout came from behind him.
"Hey, Galaril, think fast!"
Galaril turned fast to see a smoke bomb go off covering the area with thick smoke.
"What the?", Galaril chocked as he turned to see what hit him.
As you might have guessed, Dudley's team was successful in blowing the facility apart and getting the shock wave to ignite. Catching their breath from the blast, they checked their communicators and found out that the power was back on.
"Well, looks like it worked.", Jack said with pride.
Kitty was about to answer until she saw Dudley on the ground obviously trying to get comfortable in his pants but still not working.
"Dudley, are you trying to take those pants off again?", she asked him.
"Hey, these things are not easy to get used to.", Dudley answered as he tried to get his pants off again, "Jeez, why does Jeremiah make me wear these?"
As if on cue, Dudley's communicator went off and it was Jeremiah on the other end.
"You look better that way."
Dudley looked hurt.
"But-"
"No buts!", Jeremiah snapped, "Now listen up, the warships are back online and Dark Wolf wants us to rendezvous at TUFF HQ. The resistance will meet us there."
"Resistance?", Dudley asked, "What resistance?"
"Just get over there and everything will be clear.", Jeremiah stated harshly and he hung up.
Kitty helped Dudley to his feet and that conversation really got Dudley's mind off his pants for a bit. Unfortunately the moment was interrupted by several plasma bolts firing from above and as you might have guessed, it was Bird Brain and his goons on the offensive again.
"I'm going to flambe that booby into a roast chicken!", Kitty screamed as she opened fire.
It was plain to see she was annoyed. Jack and Dudley joined in although when Dudley pulled his blaster from his pants, he flipped himself and fell smack on his back.
"Stop playing around, Dudley.", Jack told him as he took on a mutated owl and bat.
"I'm not.", Dudley complained, "These pants flipped me."
Dudley got to his feet again only to get swooped at by Bird Brain and nearly got impaled by razor sharp claws. Kitty fired away to help keep Bird Brain at bay, but she too had her hands full with a mutated hummingbird and duck.
"What to do?", Dudley asked himself and then he lit up.
As Bird Brain came near, Dudley fired into a nearby pipe and blasted Bird Brain in the face with a blast of scalding hot steam. Bird Brain screeched in agony and the blisters on his face certainly were not something nice to see. Jack and Kitty saw this and following the method, had Bird Brain's armada fighting air with hot steam. But then Bird Brain changed tactics. His armada and him flew out of reach and used the open air for evasion and attacked with grenades and plasma shots. Dudley's group managed to avoid the assault and with carefully timed angle shots, send Bird Brain's armada flying into steam pipes all over again. They did this about four times and Bird Brain gave up and flew off with his battered and wounded armada following.
"Well, that was unexpected.", Dudley said catching his breath.
"At least we're okay.", Kitty informed him.
She had calmed down and thought carefully on her first opinion.
"We'll talk later. We got a place to get to.", Jack said sternly, "Zero is not taking this lying down. Is he?"
Kitty and Dudley couldn't disagree on that. After a careful look around and getting their breath, they made their way down the street once more.
After several long hours of travel, Dudley's group reached TUFF HQ, though it did look better as a skyscraper then as a towering mountainous structure of dark iron. They kept to the shadows as they noticed that several patrols were on the lookout as well as several towers on the structure having watchful eyes. Just seeing those eyes made Dudley remember the towers back in Hades. The eyes looked here and there unblinking and watching for any who dared to wander close.
"Now what?", Dudley asked trying to be quiet.
"Not sure.", Jack told him, "Jeremiah said to rendezvous here."
"So where is he?", Kitty asked.
As if something wanted to answer, a giant energy shot fired straight at the tower followed by two more. The tower put up a shield fast, but went red after the assault. Dudley's group turned and saw ULTRA's warships back in the air firing away and spilling out all the flying troops they could. Dudley's communicator went off and Dark Wolf's face appeared.
"This is Dark Wolf to Agent Puppy. Over?"
"Dark Wolf, we read you loud and clear. Over.", Jack informed.
"Okay, listen up, when the shield disperses, you got only a few seconds to get in.', Dark Wolf informed, "Once inside, you'll be cut off from us. We'll hold Zero's forces at bay best we can, but our power is still low. You need to find the main power generator in the base and shut it down so the shield can't replenish itself. Over?"
"Got it.", Kitty told him, "I'll explain it to Dudley when we're inside."
"Explain what?", Dudley asked.
Dark Wolf could tell Dudley had toned out his message so he sighed heavily.
"Please don't mess this up. Dark Wolf out."
Dark Wolf hung up and then there was a loud piercing sound and the tower shield faltered and started to shimmer. That was a sign that Dudley's group had to move. Zero's patrols saw them approach and opened fire although they did keep firing on the warships. Finally as Dudley's group got to the edge of the shield, it lifted up a bit and Dudley's group jumped through. Then the shield hole closed and their communicators went dead.
"Let's move it.", Jack stated as the group kept avoiding incoming fire.
Finally they reached the doors and after Jack threw an explosive near it, ducked nearby as the doors blew open. Not having time to stand around, Dudley's group quickly got inside. There was going to be trouble in here, but at least they were inside.
"Now what?", Dudley asked.
"We get to the main power generator.", Kitty told him, "But we don't want to get spotted. Zero probably added security measures to the ones we already had."
Jack had made his way to the air duct and had opened a hatch before turning back to the group.
"Found a way.", he said as Dudley and Kitty turned to see what he was doing.
That wasn't what Kitty had in mind to get to the main generator, but it will have to do. As she helped Dudley get into the air duct, she noticed a surveillance camera turning their way. Thinking fast, she put a silencer on her blaster and fired at it. After blowing the camera to scrap, Dudley and Jack hoisted her into the air duct and she sealed their entry behind her.