Invasion #2, Part 3

---------Cornerian Research Center---------

James and his group needed to walk as slowly as they could in effort to suppress the sound they were making. There was virtually no cover they could in these narrow hallways they were walking through, except for a couple of rooms they could hide in. James kept an ear out for any approaching footsteps coming their way. The rest of the company were on other levels and they were to stay on those levels in order to avoid friendly fire.

James peeked at the next hallway and saw an elevator. Nobody was there, but he saw a green "up" arrow glow. He told the group to stay here and wait. He walked towards the elevator and held out his gun. But before he could ready himself, he heard, "Don't shoot! Whoever is out there!" from inside. The door opened, and there was Beltino Toad, standing with hands up.

"Sir? What are you doing here?" asked James.

"I escaped," replied Beltino. "I was hoping to find somebody out here to help me out."

"Well sir, we'll extract you as soon as we..."

"Free the hostages down below?"

The other soldiers, listening to this, thought it safe to come out.

"Hostages? What?"

Beltino looked confused. "Isn't that why you are here?"

"Um... no, actually. We were just told to clear the building," said James.

"Oh... well, in order to do that, you'll need to clear out the basement as well. Which is where the hostages are being kept. So, uh... it sorta works out, doesn't it?"

James sighed. "Alright. Is there any other way downstairs besides this elevator?"

Beltino led the group to a stairway located at the other side of the building. James took the lead again once they got there and ordered five of his soldiers (Peppy, Barrett, Monroe, Ward, and Young) to follow him while the rest stay behind to protect Beltino and to watch over the stairway. They couldn't have twelve individuals climb down the stairs without making any sort of noise, which was the reason for this order. He led the five down the stairs with him, trying to keep quiet. This was quite a task, since the stairs were hollow metal and any sound they made would echo throughout the stairwell. James held out his weapon the entire time and kept his eyes forward. Young and Ward shot glances behind them from time to time.

They were nearing the bottom when James told them to wait for a moment. He continued on with the others taking cover behind the walls. He peaked out the corner and saw two guards standing near the stairwell. He looked back and motioned Peppy to come forward. James moved forward while Peppy stayed by the corner, looking out at the guard. They both placed suppressors at the tips of their weapons. James nodded at him, and they both took their aim. He whispered a count of three for only Peppy to hear. At three, the guards below immediately dropped to the ground. James continued down the stairs while Peppy stayed behind.

He reached the bottom and looked around. This place was like an unfinished basement, but worse. The walls were brown rock and the floor was concreted. The ceiling seemed to stretch up for miles. Lights mounted on the walls brightened up the room. He checked the left corner. Nobody there. Then he checked the right corner. Nobody there. He decided to take a risk and he peaked his entire head out the left corner. Still nobody. Then he did the same for the right corner. He saw about ten people in prone position, their hands covering their necks. There were guards looking through drawers and some looking for some sort of data on the computers. There could be more hostages/guards, since he couldn't see anything behind the stairwell.

He backtracked up the stairs and met up with the rest of the group. "The left side is completely clear," whispered James. "The right side is where all of the guards and hostages are."

"How many are there?" asked Monroe.

"I saw ten hostages and about five guards. I don't know if that's all of them though."

With that, he led the group downstairs. James reached the bottom first and watched the right corner as the rest of the group sneaked into the left side of the room. They all backed up against the wall while James crawled past them. This whole room was sorta donut shaped and there were only a few tables around, which made cover a little hard to come by. James stuck close to the wall and avoided areas where there was light. The guards weren't looking anywhere in this direction; they were more preoccupied with finding whatever they were finding. A couple hostages, however, could slightly see a fox in uniform sneaking by. James put his finger to his mouth, telling them to keep quiet. He counted the guards; seven of them. He saw fifteen hostages. James sneaked back to the group to tell the numbers.

"Alright. Now, your aim must be as precise as it possibly can. We're all going to shoot at one guard each. There's an extra one that I'll take out, but won't kill. We'll question him."

The group nodded in unison. James led them to their positions, each one taking aim at a guard of their choice. He looked to see if they were all ready, and he whispered, "One... two... three!"

Everyone fired, and six guards fell to the ground like dummies. James immediately charged toward the extra guard, whose mind was still digesting what the hell was happening. He took aim at the guard's head, to which the guard obliged and dropped his weapon and raised his hands.

"Whatcha looking for?" asked James calmly.

The guard whimpered, obviously scared out of his wits. "I never wanted to be in this war! I wanna go home!"

James was bewildered at this reaction. "I–I never asked–"

"Please, let me go!" screamed the guard. "I don't wanna die!" He bent down to the floor and cried.

James lowered his weapon and sighed, trying not to laugh. "Listen, son," he said, even though it was obvious this guard was older than him. "I'm not going to kill you. I just want to ask a few questions." He hesitantly patted the guard on the shoulder. The other soldiers looked in amusement. This could not have been any more awkward. "What's your name, kid?"

"Um... Ca–Caiman Shears."

"And where are you from?"

"Fr–from Z–Zo–Zoness, sir..."

"Zoness, eh? I'm sorry to hear that. So Mr. Shears, can you tell us why you attacked us?" James tried to use the most soothing voice he could possibly use. It sounded forced, but it seemed to be working, as Shears' whimpering was starting cease.

"Well... we received news that you've killed William Black, our leader. The other planets too, they received news too that their leaders have been killed."

"Who gave you this news?"

"Um... Andross did," said Shears.

This didn't surprise James at all. "Well, I'll tell you that Andross was lying. Your leader is alive, and if you don't believe me, I can take you to him."

Shears looked up, shocked. "Andross lied?"

"Surprised? He lied about everything. We have no bomb of any kind."

"That's what we were looking for. Blueprints for that bomb."

"They don't exist," assured James.

"Then what was that explosion? In the sky?"

"You got me there. I don't know who set that thing off, but it wasn't us. I would say that it was Andross, but I don't have any proof of that."

Shears was silent.

"Your leaders put too much trust in Andross. They seemed to believe everything he says. That bomb he probably showed them was most certainly made by him. General Miller's signature was forged by him. That entire product is his."

Shears was still silent.

"Now we have all of the leaders of the planets except for Katina. I think we're planning to negotiate with the planets. We'll give them their leader if they cease fighting."

Shears... you know.

"All of the leaders say that they are fully convinced that the bomb was not ours. However, we don't know for certain whether they were telling the truth or just telling us what we wanted to hear. We don't have much evidence, you see."

Shears looked up at James and could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. "Okay... what are you going to do with me?"

"Well, first we'll strip you of any armor and weapons you have, and you'll join this group of lovely folks here," he said, pointing at the hostages. He raised his eyebrow, seeing that they were all still flat on the ground, hands above their heads. "You know... you can get up now..."

The hostages awkwardly raised to their feet. Shears removed his pistol and his under armor and joined the hostages. "Okay," James said to his group. "Let's go."

Everybody clamored up the stairs, not worrying about the noise. James reached the top first, seeing the five soldiers and Beltino still huddled around the opening.

"Any trouble up here?" asked James.

"Nope," replied Pvt. Bonham. "We were all bored out of our minds here."

James smiled. He saw Cpl. Daltrey and his group emerging from the corner. "Hostages?" was his first response.

"Yep," said James. "We'll wait for Cpl. Plant and Gilmore by the entrance."

Daltrey nodded, and everybody scurried over to the entrance. It was a tight space, with very little room to move their arms. Most of the soldiers were ordered to wait outside, with some of them inside to watch over the hostages, sitting down on the floor. While they were waiting, James sent a message to ROB to bring the ship over to their position.

It took about ten minutes before Cpl. Gilmore and his group were seen walking towards the entrance. He, too, was surprised by the hostages. They all waited another fifteen minutes until Cpl. Plant's team arrived.

"We're all here, then?" asked James. "Alright, ROB will be coming any minute now."

Almost immediately after he said that, he saw the transport landing by the building. He waited for the ship to settle, then he ordered the hostages to board the transport. ROB walked out of the ship to meet with James.

"Where are you taking them?" asked James.

"Far out on the countryside," said ROB.

"Not the subways?"

"No. We've moved all of the civilians to the countryside. There was an attack at one area in the sewers. Sixty were killed before soldiers saw what was happening."

James froze, immediately thinking about Vixy.

The robot paused for a minute. "I just received a message from Colonel Banks, sir. He wants your company to board the ship. No explanation is given."

"Okay then," said James, his mind not thinking clearly. He and the company boarded the transport and ROB walked back into the cockpit. The ship lifted off the ground and flew off. The robot was smart, keeping the ship low near the buildings.

"Excuse me," said Beltino from behind him. "Where's the restroom?"

James pointed it out for the toad and he immediately rushed to it. He sighed, looking at the poor toad almost waddling towards the restroom. Hard to believe this guy was actually married.

He went inside the cockpit, where ROB was concentrating on the path as hard as only a robot can. "How long is the flight?"

"Two hours, sir," said ROB, not looking away. "If there are no distractions, of course."

"Alright." He walked over to the briefing area, where the hostages were staying. "You all don't have to stay here, you know. This is a pretty big ship. You can walk about if you like, as long as you don't get lost."

The hostages stared at him, still unsure. James walked away, trying to avoid any more awkwardness. He found his soldiers in their sleeping quarters. "We've got two hours until we reach the countryside."

"Thank the Lord," exclaimed Pvt. Moon.

James climbed up to his bunk, above Cpl. Plant's. The other soldiers that weren't his sat in the bunks of some of his soldiers.

"So you play guitar, Page?" asked Townshend. "So do I."

"You do? How long?" asked Page.

"About six years, I think."

"Ahh. Eight years for me."

"I play bass," said Jones.

"Yeah, so do I," replied Waters.

"Me too," said Entwistle.

"Well, don't we have quite the musically educated group here?" remarked James.

"Doesn't stop there. I play the drums," said Bonham.

"You copier," joked Moon.

"Hey Sarge, you play an instrument?" asked Page.

"Well, I played the recorder in fourth grade," said James, to which everyone chuckled. He grinned, glad that he finally had the opportunity to bond with this group.