Chapter 2

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Apparently he had passed out again, because the voices had stopped and the environments
outside of the box was decidely different. For one, it was much hotter now, and two, the box
was being tossed around like a gross, icky thing that nobody wants to touch. Megavolt was
pondering that metaphor when the box suddenly fell and he tumbled and hit the side of the
box. The box shattered where it had hit concrete and he flopped onto the ground. Finally, a
lucky break!

He climbed to his feet. It'd been a long time since he's been able to look at a non box-like
environment it seemed. He looked around him: At the dense jungle that surrounded the
squalid encampment he was currently standing in. He peered at the tall chainlink fences
topped off with razor wire. He marveled at the nice sunset he could just barely make out
behind the canopy of the jungle. Finally he frowned at the armed guards that surrounded
him. "Hi." is all he said.

A tall, female rat stepped out from behind the guards. She was thin, wearing a dark grey
military uniform and had a certain charming twitch under her left eye. She looked like she'd
hadn't slept in a month, the whites of her eyes were faintly pink. "Good evening. I'm sure
you're wondering why you've been brought here by such.. drastic measures."

"Actually I was wondering if I left the oven on.."

The rat ignored the comment, "Well, you can be assured we have a good reason!"

"Is it aliens?" a look of concern ran across Megavolt's face.

"What? No!" she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Look, I'm going to try and explain it now, okay?"

Megavolt leaned over to one of the guards and whispered, "I was right. It's aliens. Always tragic."

she ignored him this time, "You were brought here because we believe you are the key in curing
my father's illness."

"I'm a key?"

"Yes. Your powers. The ablilty to channel electricity.." She gestured for him to follow her. He
did, as did the guards. "This is going to sound silly, but an ancient legend spoke of someone
with your abilities."

"Yeah, that is sorta dumb." Megavolt noticed they were coming upon a building. A hangar of
sorts. "I don't suppose there'd be any power sources around here, would there? I'm feeling a
bit drained."

"Not any that you'll have access to. We're not stupid, Mr. Volt. You'll notice we took the liberty of
removing your battery pack before you came here."

Megavolt twisted his body to try and see his back, "Well, whaddya know! I thought I felt a bit lighter
than usual. Um. Can I have it back?"

"Sorry, but we can't give it back just yet." they entered the building and walked down a few generic
halls in silence. Finally they came to a small, entirely white room where only Megavolt and the female
rat sat down at a long, metal table.. The armed guards had disappeared.

"Well.. when do I get my stuff back?"

"When you do as we ask." she crossed her arms and stared across the table.

"What if I don't want to? I mean, you coulda asked me nicely or something! Ever think of that? But
nooooo! You had to have the stupid weasel guys come and kidnap me. Ooh! That makes me mad!"

"Would you have cooperated if we had asked."

"Heck no. I'm a busy guy, you know. Places to rob, people to see. Or vice versa. Actually that works
either way."

"What if I told you that my father's life was on the line if you didn't cooperate?"

"Why should I care if some guy dies? People die all the time."

"What if it were two people? If my father dies, then so do you."

"You're threatening me now? How very mature of you. Alright, fine! Anything to get back to rotten, old
St. Canard. No offense but this place is hot and damp. I hate dampness! Are we near the equator?"

"Something like that. I appreciate your cooperation, even if I did have to force you into it." she extended
a black gloved hand. "My name's Rachel, by the way. Rachel Panzer."

Megavolt took her hand, "Yeah. Right. A real pleasure to meet you." he said, sarcastically.