"I won't betray The Pillar!" Frederic said just before Nack kicked him in the stomach, Frederic had his hands tied so he couldn't do anything.
"Talk Fred! And both of you will be free, can't you see that?" Blaze said.
Frederic shook his head. "I'm loyal to these people, my people, powerful people."
"That doesn't make you powerful." Nack said. "You are still weak, foolish and defenseless." He punched his face. "Talk! Where is Mr. Sundance?!"
Frederic laughed. "This is for your friends? Isn't it? The dumb weasel has feelings after all, feelings for a pair of morons, a dead pair of morons, probably."
Nack got furious and pushed Frederic, he fell and Nack put his foot over his throat. "Speak now, idiot! Or I will tread stronger until I crush your freaking throat!"
Frederic began to cough, he wasn't able to breathe well and the pain was growing, Nack kept treading with strength, Frederic feared for his life and finally spoke. "I…I'll tell you, I will go with you, but…please…"
Blaze noticed that Nack was still hurting him. "Nack! Stop! Remember our talk! You can change!"
Nack hesitated, then he growled and moved his foot away from Frederic, who took a deep breath and started to cough. "Stand up, tell us where to go." Nack said.
Frederic told them the location of Mr. Sundance when they were traveling on the air-bike, they had arrived outside of a big building in the middle of the desert and got off the vehicle. Frederic put this hand on a recognition pad, then a metallic door opened, Blaze and Nack got inside. "Thank you, Fred." Nack punched him so hard he fell unconscious.
"Was that necessary?" Blaze asked.
"Uhm, yes, it was necessary." Nack looked at the building's inside. "Kind of out-dated, for a big, evil society."
Blaze closed the door. "No more time to waste, let's find this guy."
"I will search down here, you take care of the second floor." Nack said.
Blaze nodded, and they both began to explore their respective areas, all of the walls were gray colored and the entire place was very cold, illuminated by dying light bulbs. "It's alright Blaze, you will return home and see your son and Rachel again." She inhaled and exhaled quickly. "Everything is alright." She said to herself while walking cautiously through a great hallway, then a security guard saw her from distance and began to shoot, she acted fast and created a flamed wall in front of her, then the guard who had begun to run towards her stopped behind the fire, Blaze turned around and saw an Egyptian cat standing in front of her, then he grabbed her neck and lifted her up, making her to scream. "Nack! Na…" She coughed desperately.
"Your highness, it's an honor to meet you in person." Mr. Sundance said, then he threw her to the floor strongly. "I thought you were stronger than that." He took her neck again and ran through the hallway while holding her, then he threw her again, this time over the railing next to the stairway, making her to fall from the second floor to the first one, she groaned while struggling to stand up. "What are you?"
"A warrior." Mr. Sundance jumped from the second floor and landed perfectly on the first one. "This is no place for a queen."
"The thing is..." Blaze turned her hands on fire. "I'm also a warrior."
Mr. Sundance smiled. "Bring it on then."
Meanwhile, Nack was shooting with his gun all of the dozens of guards that had ambushed him on a room, always aiming at not lethal points. "I'll still cause you pain fellows, that's for sure!" He said so while neutralizing the last of them. He sat down on the floor for a moment. "Okay, that was easier than I thought."
"Until now." The fox that had beaten him up previously showed up outside of the room, then entered alongside the cat that had done the same.
Nack stood up quickly and tried to shoot at them, but he was out of ammo. "Dang it." He said. "Alright, make it quick." He dropped his gun.
"It's not our style." They took off their coats and untied their ties, then dropped them.
"Two versus one? Meh, I can handle…" Nack got interrupted by the fox's kick, he rubbed his face and looked at his foes again. "Maybe not." He shouted and punched the fox; the cat kicked Nack's leg, but he resisted and did the same to him, making him to fall over one knee, then the cat jumped, grabbed his head and made him fall with his own weight, Nack groaned and freed himself from the cat, then he stood up and kicked his face, leaving him on the floor.
The fox chuckled. "A nice contender." He walked towards Nack and began to throw punches at him so did Nack.
Blaze was throwing fire balls at Mr. Sundance; he dodged them easily; he managed to get close to her and kicked her belly; she threw flames on the floor, and Mr. Sundance didn't show any reaction. "You will need more than fire to stop me." He walked over the fire and punched her, then she got behind a column and climbed it, then jumped and landed on him, and began to punch his face several times.
"What is this place?! What are you doing here?" Blaze said.
Mr. Sundance's mouth was bleeding. "This is unstoppable, the future, the next step, salvation for the world." He hit Blaze's forehead with his own, then stood up and kicked her face, she fell down. "I wanted to end your life with honor, but it seems it will be much quicker." He stepped on her throat.
Nack was holding the fox's head while hitting it against the solid wall. "Where are my comrades?" He stopped doing it to let the fox speak.
"I've already told you, I don't know." The fox said while sobbing, his face covered with blood."
"It's a shame I don't want to carry with your pathetic life." Nack pushed him to the floor and took a chair that was on corner of the room, then hit his head before he could try to recover.
"This can't be stopped my queen, the entire world will flourish thanks to The Pillar, even if no one ever knows our name." Mr. Sundance kept suffocating Blaze, each second getting closer to kill her. "You have failed, to you and your people." He said before he suddenly felt a wire squeezing his neck. "Wha…"
Nack was choking him from behind, he was walking backwards until he reached a wall. "Tell me now, where are they, Bean and Bark." Nack said.
"Or what?" Mr. Sundance was struggling to speak.
Nack tightened the wire against his throat. "Let's find out."
Blaze had slowly recovered from the previous event, then she glanced Nack choking Mr. Sundance. "Nack!" She yelled. "He will speak! In jail, let him live!"
Nack tried not to listen to her, but then he remembered the conversation they had together, he hesitated for about a minute, then he dropped the wire and Mr. Sundance fell unconscious.
Blaze walked towards Nack. "Thanks, now, let's get what we need to get out of this place."
After a couple of hours, Blaze and Nack had found plenty of information on the place's computers, then they got on the Marvelous Queen and returned to Sol, where they imprisoned Frederic and Mr. Sundance in the castle's dungeon, then they went to the forest behind the castle. "Now I will rescue my team." Nack said, then he put away a pen-drive on his vehicle's trunk.
Blaze nodded. "This weird society and that mineral, the effektium, need to be tracked down and destroyed, I will assemble a team to do it and your help could be handy, but I know your friends come first."
Nack extended his hand and Blaze shook it. "Take care, your highness." He got on his vehicle and left.
A week later, a big futuristic ship was parked in front of the castle, Blaze and Rachel were standing next to it. "I will miss you, sister." Rachel hugged Blaze briefly.
"I'll be here soon, I promise." Blaze said.
"Can we just leave already?" Spark said from the ship's inside.
Blaze chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry, he insisted to come." She sighed. "I felt the same way after my training on Erif, powerful and wise." She put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "Will you take care of my kingdom?"
"With my life, Blaze." Rachel answered.
Blaze nodded and got on the ship, then it flew far away from the kingdom.