Part 4
*********
"What?" Zed nearly yelled.
"He looks like a spitting image of him…maybe
slightly smaller, or younger looking, if you can call it that. But he looks
just like him." Elle thought for a moment, "I think I will analyze a sample to verify
any genetic connection."
**********
"Whoa! He
looks just like Edgar!" Jay exclaimed.
"Who?"
Katra asked a bit puzzled.
"Edgar was
a bug we fought about two years ago, in which you have a striking resemblance
to," Kay replied.
The bug
blinked, and then shrugged.
"It's
probably just a resemblance, since all bugs have some kind of relation to
another, whether it be siblings or cousins, maybe he was an uncle…" his voice
trailed off as he watched Elle walk in the room, Zed was beside her.
"Excuse me
gentlemen, but if he doesn't pose any threat to anyone right now, I'd like to
treat his shoulder. I need to
neutralize the chemicals from the plasma blast, or else it will continue to
burn."
"Is that
why this still hurts so much?" Katra muttered as he rubbed his shoulder.
"Don't do
that," Elle ordered and Katra complied.
Zed nodded
to Elle. "Very, well then. Treat him, but there's still a lot of questions he
has to answer."
Elle nodded
and walked out of the room, and soon returned in a few moments with some agents
who were bringing in some equipment. Jay and Kay backed away to make room for
Elle and her assistants.
Jay
whispered over to Kay, "Do you really think we could trust this guy?"
"Don't know
sport," Kay answered in his usual manner.
"If you could come over here
please," Elle directed the large bug toward some futuristic medical devices
that typically covered the MiB lab.
Elle, turned to Jay who was next to her. "You know, I could go down in MiB medical history right now as
being the first doctor to treat a bug as a willing patient. Of course, don't worry, I won't gloat," she
gave her usual Elle smirk.
"That's all Elle needs is another
ego boost…" Jay muttered to himself.
"If you don't mind, Elle, we'd like
to talk to your patient as you treat him," Kay said.
"Oh, no problem at all," she
responded. Elle motioned Katra to lean
down so she could reach his shoulder and went to work. A machine turned on and emitted a wide green
laser-like beam and started to scan over the bug's shoulder.
"Explain to us again why you are
here, and why you were with Miss Henderson?" Kay asked Katra.
"As I said, I'm just visiting
earth. I happened to be taking a walk when I heard a struggle, investigated,
helped, and then I ended up here."
Katra winced a bit as Elle probed the wound with an odd shaped tool on
his shoulder. It looked like a mutilated fork with buttons.
Zed then asked, "Why didn't you
contact MiB if you were just 'visiting'?
You've violated many rules and regulations by coming here
unannounced. Are you aware that MiB
views you're species as a threat to earth?" His voice was getting louder with
each word.
"That's exactly why nothing was
mentioned," Katra snapped in response. "You honestly think MiB would allow me
to take a casual stroll through Central Park alone, with out surveillance, if
they knew what I was?" His eyes narrowed.
Kay looked at him indifferently.
"OK, so who brought you here?" Jay asked.
"I mean, whoever did it has some pretty fancy stealth technology to be able to
drop you off undetected, and to be so nice as you even give you a lift
here so you can go on your little vacation.
It doesn't sound like a nice ol' bug friend of yours decided to drop you
off here just for the heck of it."
Katra sighed.
"That's another reason why I could
not get involved with the MiB," he paused. "Sure, I am originally from the
bug's home world, obviously, but I am not a citizen of it. I'm from another planet, hatched and
raised. I'd like to elaborate more, but I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to
disclose to MiB…"
"What do you mean 'allowed to
disclose'?"
"Well you see,
umm…well..."Katra was starting to grow nervous.
"Well?" Zed said impatiently.
"The place where I come from is a
planet far, far away, which I doubt is nothing new for you. However, because of the nature of the
inhabitants, they are a very secretive bunch, especially when it come to
matters pertaining to Earth," Katra tried to explain the best he could.
"What?" Zed said.
"I don't know how else to put it
but I can't say anything else."
"That's all?" Zed asked
incredulously.
Katra was about to respond, but was
caught off by a beeping sound.
He looked down at his wrist.
"What is it Mira?" he asked.
"Would you like for me to send a
message to Jergan of your predicament?
I'm sure that a crew would be sent to retrieve you with minimal effort
if you are being harassed," she said a matter-of-factly.
Katra thought for a moment. The
instinctual part of him quickly responded with "Yes, I should get out of here
now!" then another part of him realized what that would mean. "No! Wait." He
paused a moment before continuing. "If they come now, who knows when I'll be
able to come back and visit this planet, or anywhere, again. I haven't even
been here a week," he said more to himself then to anyone else.
Katra turned to face Zed directly.
"Could I please stay here?" he
asked with as much sincerity as possible, hoping maybe he had a slight chance
of keeping the whole ordeal from being a complete fiasco.
Zed looked pensive. "I have to
think about it," he said finally and then continued, "Elle, finish up and see
me in my office. Kay, Jay, you too."
Katra narrowed his eyes briefly as
he watched Zed leave. After Elle was finished tending to his arm he thanked her
and was left alone in the large secured holding cell. After the doors shut, Katra looked down at his wrist.
***************
Zed sat at
his desk and sighed, his hands folded in front of him. He looked up at Kay and
Jay who were standing in front of his desk.
Elle walked into the office with someone following behind her. Zed stood up from behind his desk and
greeted the guest.
"Lord
J'uksa, I'm sorry about what happened to your daughter this evening."
The alien
disguised as a man in his late fifties shook Zed's hand. He nodded and then sat
down.
"Lord
J'uksa, do you have any idea why someone would want to kidnap your daughter?"
J'uksa
sighed as he slumped slightly in his chair, "I believe so. Recently my home
world has been receiving threats from the Zamari."
"Ah yes,
I've heard of them. They are a
terrorist group in your galaxy?" Zed questioned.
"Yes. They insist we give them a shipment of the zorinite ore from one of
our planets moons, as well as the blueprints to one of our scientist's latest
discoveries. But we absolutely can't.
You see, we use this particular ore as a clean and efficient fuel
source. This same material, however,
can also be manipulated in that it could serve as the central ingredient to a
very powerful weapon, in which is what the Zamari want to use it for. I can only surmise that they planned to try
to get me to give in to their demands and betray my homeworld by kidnapping
Kassandra." J'uksa paused for a moment, and then continued. "If this is truly
the case, they have probably sent some of their bounty hunters after her, or
even possibly me. However, she being a ordinary human would make a much easier
target."
"Do you
think that the Zamari would have any league with the Bugs?" Zed questioned.
J'urksa
paused, "I don't think so," he thought for a moment. "No, I'm sure they
haven't. They distrust the bugs as much as we do. As low as the Zamari are, I doubt they would associate themselves
with the bugs."
Zed nodded and then responded,
"Lord J'uksa, rest assured I have my best agents watching you're daughter
around the clock. If anyone tries anything again, they will be on top of
things. Agent U will show you to where your daughter is so you can take her
home."
J'uksa
nodded, stood up and then shook Zed's hand and left the office, and was greeted
by Agent U.
Zed turned
to the three agents still in his office, "Well, it appears Katra's story checks
out, at least from what we have so far.
Miss Henderson confirmed that there was only one man who kidnapped her,
and he appeared short, and in his mid thirties, and that someone that sounded
much younger came to her aid. However,
despite of this, I don't know if we can allow Katra to stay here without any
supervision. At least, that is, for now until we can make sure we can trust
him."
Zed
unfolded his hands and continued, "Kay, I would like you to keep an eye on Miss
Henderson. Whoever did this will most
likely try again, if not, others will.
And we still can't be 100% sure that Katra isn't a part of this, he's
still a suspect, so Jay, you follow him and make sure he doesn't try anything."
"Elle, if
you could catch up with Agent U, I would like you to also help escort Miss
Henderson and her father from the headquarters with out having her see anything
she isn't suppose to. There will be no
need to alter her memory. Besides, she should be aware of a kidnapping threat
and be on the alert."
Elle
nodded.
Zed looked
up at the agents, "Dismissed."
**********
Katra let
out a sigh and looked up away from Mira.
"You can
cut it now Mira, I've heard enough."
Katra had
had Mira eavesdrop on Zed's office because he had a feeling important
information was going to be mentioned.
He felt disappointed in that he could not get anyone to trust him.
However, the story about the royal person and his daughter sounded interesting.
"Aw well, there's no way I'm going to get involved in that," he resolved
quietly to himself.
********
"Well it's
about time," Katra said to himself walked down the street. He tucked his hands deep into his
pockets. He walked faster and faster,
wanting to get as far away from the MiB headquarters as possible. He knew he was being followed, but figured
that perhaps eventually MiB would finally realize he wasn't there to be
involved in anything but to enjoy the new surroundings. He had probably been at MiB for almost a
whole day, maybe more. He felt cold,
tired, and hungry.
He walked
down toward a newsstand and noticed they had a small candy bar section, which
he started to browse through. However, what caught his eye a moment later was
the small dog sitting next to the unmoving newsstand clerk. It appeared to be shivering.
"Hey umm,
sir, I think your dog is cold," Katra told the clerk.
The clerk
said nothing, however the small dog seemed to turn to him. Then much to his
surprise, it talked.
"Hey, I
don't want any trouble. Get what you
want. Just don't eat me."
"Uh…" Katra
was at loss for words. Katra paused for a moment to analyze what was going on,
and then it hit him. "Oh I remember you
now, you're that dog I nearly tripped over at that pawn shop. I didn't know you were an E.T. too," he said
casually as he took a couple of candy bars and set them in front of the small
dog.
"Ok, so how
much are these? I'm not going to eat you, or anything. I don't know what your
previous run-ins with bugs have been like, but I'm not like that. By the way,
I'm Katra, and you are?" He extended his hand to the small dog in hopes of making
a friend.
The pug
hesitated, but then slowly put out its paw, "I'm Frank, and that will be
$3.00."
Katra
smiled shook Frank's hand, and then got out some money.
"So, you
mean you're really a bug? And don't want to kill anyone?" Frank asked.
Katra
blinked, "Um, yeah. Is it really that
hard to believe?" he asked, trying to sound lighthearted. He had finally gotten a full realization of
what he had been sheltered from as he grew up.
He had always been told that his species was not liked or trusted, but
he never knew the full extent of it, until now.
"Well, it
is when that's what they normally want to do," the pug simply shrugged, still a
bit nervous.
"Ah, I
see," Katra paused for a moment as he unwrapped one of the candy bars. "So how
long have you been on earth?" Katra attempted to start up a conversation. So
far he had only Mira to talk to, and interacting with others had only caused
him trouble. Conversation started
shakily, but eventually the pug seemed to relax and started to talk as if he
had forgotten what he knew about Katra.
Katra idly thought to himself that Frank appeared to be the type that
talked a lot because he sure seemed like it.
"What, so
you mean you're going to go around using that name?" Frank asked
unbelievably.
"What?
What's wrong with my name?" Katra asked, a bit distraught.
"Oh come
on, how do you expect to pick up girls with that name? It practically yells out
that you are not from around here. And
no one really likes tourists. That suit gives you the looks, you gotta have a
name to go with it. What, you think all
them famous celebrity aliens use their real names? Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim
Carrey, Keanu Reeves, they all have different real names."
"Well for
one, I didn't come here to pick up girls, and besides I don't know what kind of
names 'work' here. What would you suggest for me?" Katra asked a bit annoyed.
"How the
heck should I know? Just pick a regular American name or something. You are in
New York after all. There are common
ones like Allen, Nick, John, Kevin…" Frank instantly shut up as someone walked
up to the newsstand and started looking around the magazines.
Katra
realized that the conversation would have to end or wait until the customer
left. However the person didn't seem like he would be leaving any time soon,
and Katra was starting to get thirsty from the candy bars.
"Well,
Frank, it was nice to meet you, I will be going now." Katra nodded toward the
pug and the fake person in the stand. The customer just gave him an odd look as
he walked off.
"I'm sooo
thirsty," Katra murmured. He quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking
at him. "Mira, are there any places around here that I could get something to
drink?"
"Searching…."
She said. After a small paused she continued, "The closest place for a beverage
would be across the street."
Katra
looked up at the green sign with what seemed to be a mermaid on it,
"Starbucks?"
********
"Man, how
do I always get stuck babysitting suspected people," Jay mumbled to himself as
he stayed across the street by a newsstand. A customer finally bought what he
was looking for and left.
"Come's
with the job sport," Kay said coming up behind Jay, who nearly jumped not
expecting him there.
"Ya know,
the kid doesn't seem half bad," Frank interjected. "I don't think he should be
under suspicion."
Jay looked
from Frank and then to Kay, "Hey, what are you doing here?"
*********
At the
condiment counter Katra had a pile of nearly twenty empty packets of sugar to
the right of his cup. He had just finished pouring a packet of sugar into his
cappuccino, and then reached for another.
"Geez, you
put anymore sugar in that and it will be like drinking syrup," came a feminine
voice from behind him.
Katra drew
his hand back from the sugar packets and turned around. His mouth opened to
retort something back until he noticed who the woman in the Starbucks uniform
was, and then quickly shut it.
"I'm sorry,
did I scare you?" the blonde Starbucks worker said jokingly as she noticed the
young man's eyes were wide as could be.
"Uhh…no, it's nothing. You just,
reminded me of someone, that's all," Katra absentmindedly waved his hand as if
he was trying to think of something else to say. He couldn't help but steal a glimpse
at her nametag that had "Kassandra H." written on it.
The woman's
eye's suddenly narrowed, as if she was scrutinizing him.
"Perhaps I have
met you before?" she asked before she started wiping the counter down with a
wet towel, and then proceeded to arrange the sugars in order.
"Uhmm,
n-no...," he stuttered, "what would give you that idea? Hehe," he tried to act
in earnest but was failing miserably. Boy this feels awkward, he thought.
"Well,
maybe you're right. You don't look familiar, but your voice…well never
mind. It's just my brain probably
muddling things up. You know how that can be," she said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah,"
Katra chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. This was just great
he thought, not only was he under suspicion of kidnapping Kassandra Henderson,
and being watched, he was also right here with her. This could only make things seem worse. He
was just about to make up an excuse to say that he had to go when Kassandra
interrupted his thoughts.
"Well, I've
got to go back to work."
Katra
nearly sighed in relief that he wouldn't need to make up an excuse to leave.
Kassandra was about to leave, but
then asked, "I'm sure you know my name from my tag, but I don't know yours."
"K-k…" Katra instinctively wanted
to give her his name, but what Frank had told him popped into his head and he
had to think for a moment, and just said the first thing that came to his mind
to make sense with what he started with.
"Kevin," Katra finally blurted out.
"Well Kevin, it was nice to meet
you, I hope you come by this Starbucks more often," she left with a wink.
Katra blinked, a bit taken aback.
He had a thought for a moment, and then held back a smirk and turned around as
he headed for the door, however stopped when suddenly the glass door shattered.
The people inside screamed as they
backed away from the entrance, ducking down to avoid shards of wood and glass
as more of the Starbucks complex started to shatter inward. A mixture of green and white light protruded
into the building and a strong gust of air whirled around inside.
A few of the tables flung back onto
Katra, nearly burying him.
***************
"Whoa! Talk
about sudden!" Jay yelled as he took out his gun.
Kay took
out his communicator.
"We're going to need a back up crew
with a lot of neuralizers," he said and then quickly put it away. And with that
Jay and Kay ran towards the Starbucks firing at the 30-yard long ship hovering
above the front of it.
************
Inside the
Starbucks two unknown aliens entered, seemingly unaffected by the disturbance
their ship was causing inside the Starbucks. The disoriented people inside
continued to scream and yelp. One of the aliens instantly ran and leaped behind
the counter of the Starbucks with deft speed, blocking any way out for the
customers and employees inside. The aliens wore mechanical masks over their
faces. Each of them were armed with
some kind of staff-like weapon. They walked with digitigrade feet, and their
skin had a reddish tinge. They spoke to each other in a raspy indescribable
voice.
The alien
from behind the counter looked at the employees that were ducked down by the
cash register.
In a raspy,
hissy type voice, it spoke, "Kassandra Henderson, show yourself, or everyone
and everything here will be desssstroyed."
A blonde
haired woman by the cappuccino machine looked up. The alien saw this and pointed the staff-like weapon at her. She
was about to say something until she heard a yell. Kassandra looked up and saw
the young man she knew as Kevin tackle the alien down.
She saw
them wrestle for the weapon. Kassandra
let out a short shriek as she heard the weapon go off, and a static green light
hit Kevin the chest, sending him flying, crashing right out of one of the already
half broken windows of the Starbucks.
Katra
landed hard onto the street right in front of the feet of Agents Jay and Kay.
"About time
you guys got here," he gasped. Staggered a bit as he got up. "Inside, aliens,
going after Kassandra," he said, each word coming out as fast as he could. He
rubbed his chest where he had been hit. The blow from the pulse ray was hard
and painful, but it had not penetrated his exoskeleton under the suit.
He barely
got a nod from Kay before the agents ran in.
Katra
quickly grabbed the pendent around his neck, and hoped no one was looking in
his general direction. There was a
quick flash of light that for a moment, seemed to overpower the already shine
of light that was over them. Katra now in his in his natural form looked up
behind him, and noticed the origin of the blinding light that was blaring down
onto the Starbucks was coming closer. The light suddenly intensified, seemingly
enveloping the Starbucks area. Katra opened his mouth, but was caught in mid
yell.
The light suddenly vanished,
as did the ship, all of the aliens inside and out, a Miss Kassandra Henderson,
and two of MiB best agents.
Soon after
it started to snow.
***************************************
Sorry for the long wait (for those who have been waiting),
but I've been REALLY busy…before it was high school, and then summer, and now
college, oy. Still busy! Doh.
Welp, don't worry, even though I may not update these in
months, I always intend to update EVENTUALLY…
Also why this is taking so long is cause I'm going back and
forth with my Matrix stuff, which is nowhere near done(however is next on my
agenda).
Anyways, I hope this chapter was enjoyable.
Reviews/comments/corrections are always welcome, whether
through fanfiction.net's review thing, or through e-mail.
-
Tammy
amberblah@hotmail.com
Also after uploading this on fanfiction.net the first time,
I noticed that some of the text is not coming out right. For some reason some
places are not indented, and some things are spaced apart when they shouldn't
be. I don't don't know why, it looked fine in Microsoft word, and I've never
had this problem before. I'm going to
try to get this fixed somehow or something. If the story loads up funny, I'm
sorry.
