Chapter Eighteen: Big Girl, Big Kidnapping
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"Hmm…what about this one?"

Kina and Aivea were out shopping together for clothes. Kina was standing in front of a large mirror, holding a red blouse in front of herself.

"Hmm…I don't think so. Red isn't really your color."

Kina sighed. "Yeah, I can kinda see what you mean. What about this one?" She now held up a bright blue blouse. "I think it matches my eyes."

"That's a lot better."

Kina looked back and smiled at her friend. "I guess that settles that, then." She turned back to the mirror and looked herself up and down. She had the typical Zentraedi female's build: powerful and defined but still fairly slender. "Thanks for coming with me, Aivea."

"No problem." Aivea smirked a little. "So, is it really true?"

Kina turned around. "Is what true?"

"That you and that guy are…a little more than friends now."

Kina sweatdropped. "Uh…well, um…" She giggled nervously.

"Relax, relax, I'm not making fun of you. To tell you the truth, I think it's kinda cute!" Aivea laughed.

Kina sighed, then smiled. "I love him, Aivea. I really do. I know you probably think I'm nuts, but…"

Aivea chuckled, then walked up and put her hand on Kina's shoulder. "Wrong. I'm happy for you. I mean it."

Kina looked back at Aivea, and beamed. "Thanks…!"

That night, somewhere near the base…

"How much longer until we go?"

"…We're to wait here for one more day. Then, it's showtime."

"Are the packages ready?"

"Oh, yeah. All set for action. All we have to do now is wait…"

The next morning, Tommy and John were in the briefing room, but not for a mission briefing. This had to do with some interesting intelligence acquired recently…

"Good morning, gentlemen. Interrogation of the captured soldiers has revealed to us that an attack is being planned against this base, but we don't know when or how it will be carried out. All we know is that it is going to be a very bad one. However, there is good news amongst the bad. We sent up a recon drone with a short-range fold booster and sent it around the Sweetwater system, trying to find a base of operations. The results were inconclusive, save for one photo. This is it."

The Commander pressed a button on the table, and an image of a heavily cratered rock face appeared. In the center was an eerie sight; a strange structure was standing in the middle of the image, looking almost partially hewn into the rock.

"This, people, was taken somewhere in the asteroid belt between the sixth and seventh planets in the system. We were about to get an exact position, but the drone was destroyed seconds after this photo was taken."

Tommy glared at the image. "So that's it. Hammerhead Central…"

"We are now attempting to find out exactly where in the belt this place is. A recon flight will be dispatched within the hour. Be on your guard, pilots. Our squadron may be called on to provide assistance to these recon efforts at any time. That is all. Dismissed."

Outside the briefing room, John and Tommy were walking down the hall together. Tommy wore a look of focused anger on his face.

"Something wrong, man?" asked John.

"Hmm? Nothing, nothing. I guess seeing the Hammerhead base for myself struck a nerve, that's all."

John sighed. "I know what you mean. Don't worry; you're not the only one who'd like to put a few missiles into it. But we have to find the thing first."

"What about all that stuff about an attack on the base? I mean, after that big bombing run went in the toilet, you'd think they'd be smarter than that."

"Don't forget, Tommy, there's more than one way to hit a base. There's an overt way, and there's a…"

Tommy gulped. "A COVERT way! You really think they'd make some kind of commando raid?"

"Who knows? The 'Heads thrive on being spontaneous. We'd do well just to keep on our toes."

Tommy frowned. "Yeah. I still don't like the thought of it, though…"

Meanwhile, at the loading area, Kina was busy pushing a scaled-up hand truck loaded with giant crates. As usual, she was the picture of slightly ditzy contentment and her mind was focused on something entirely different.

"This is going to work out. I just know it will. We're two people who have feelings for each other, and that's all that really matters-" Her train of thought was interrupted by a badly placed footstep that fell on a very slippery section of floor. She stumbled and ended up pushing the hand truck forward, losing her grip on the handles in the process.

"Oh, no! Look out! Hand truck on the loose! Run!!" The truck careened past several workers, eventually crashing into the wall and dropping every crate being carried on it. Kina gulped. "…I'm sorry!!"

A few minutes later, in the foreman's office…

"Kina, you're killing me here! You're killing me! What happened to last week, when you didn't drop a single thing? What have I done to deserve this?!"

Kina's eyes began to well up. "But…it was an accident!"

The foreman sighed. "…I know, I know, and that's why I'm not firing you. You're going to stay after hours tonight…for janitor duty."

"Janitor…duty?" Kina began to cry wavy tear rivers. "But I hate janitor duty! That's really mean!!" She broke into a fit of loud sobbing.

"Oh, why did I even take this job…?"

As the sky turned from blue to black, several shapes began to move in the darkness. They were all headed in the same direction, and they moved swiftly and purposefully.

"Check the timers. Are they working?"

"Yeah. All good."

"Okay. You remember the placement points, right?"

"Yes. All memorized. Are you absolutely sure there's nobody in there to worry about, besides the night watch?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I'm sure. Who would be working at this hour?"

As they approached their target, Kina was hard at work in the loading area, mop in hand and a dejected look on her face.

"Ooh…this is so boring! I can't WAIT to get out of here…!" She continued mopping the floor, pouting. "At least it can't get any worse."

In another section of the loading area, two human men were sneaking around. Their faces were obscured by the shadows, but the leather jackets they wore were not. They carried several small boxes.

"All right, let's hurry up and set the charges. We don't want the guys in the hangars to beat us to the punch, do we?"

"Over my dead body. Give me the noisemakers." The other man handed him a box. He opened the first one up, pulling out a bomb. He placed it next to a support pillar, and set it. The bomb made some slight beeping noises as he entered in the arming codes, but went silent once it was armed.

"It's done. Let's set the other ones and get the hell out of here."

Kina looked up from her mopping with a confused look on her face.

"I could've sworn I heard something beeping…maybe I should check it out." She put the mop into the bucket and walked off in the direction of the sound. "Who would be here, though?"

Meanwhile, the men were setting yet another bomb. Again, it beeped as it was set, then went into its silent wait.

"That's number two. We've only got two more to go."

"Right. C'mon."

They hurried to their next setting point. It didn't take very long.

"Okay. Give me the bomb." There was no response from his comrade. "What, are you deaf? I said give me the bomb!" Still no response. He turned around, and found his friend sweating bullets and staring upwards, his whole body frozen in place.

"Oh…God…!"

The other guy cocked an eyebrow. He followed his friend's gaze…and immediately sweatdropped. Kina was standing there, just looking at them with a confused look on her face.

"Uh…hi there…what are you doing here this late?"

The two men sweated even more.

"I can't move, man…I can't move!"

His partner gulped. "Um…we're just, uh…we got lost! Yeah, that's it! We got lost, and…"

Kina looked at him. "Hey, wait a second…where have I seen jackets like that before…?" She thought for a second, and then brightened. "Oh, right, the Hammerheads…the Hammerheads?!" She gasped. "Hey, you're not supposed to be in here!"

They both gulped. "We've been found out…!" said the bomb-setter.

His partner, having lost all attempts to keep his dignity, fell to his knees. "Don't hurt us! Please!"

Kina felt sorry for him, although she couldn't help but find the sudden breakdown slightly amusing. "There, there. Of course I won't hurt you. But I'm gonna have to turn you guys in to the night watch."

The other Hammerhead finally regained his composure. "Sorry, can't allow that. Later!" He grabbed his associate by the arm and they both took off running.

"Hey, wait! Come back!" Kina started after them, but then realized the direction in which they were running. "Oh, no…wait! Don't run that way! I just mopped the floor there; it's soaking wet!!"

The leader chuckled to himself. "Uh-huh!" he called back over his shoulder. "Like we would fall for such an obvious-AAAHHH!!!" Both men slipped and slid across the wet floor. "AAAHHHH…!" They slid right into the wall, knocking both men silly.

Kina heard the impact. "Oh, God! Are you guys okay?!" She started to run over, but then stopped herself, not wanting to end up the same as the two humans. Carefully, she walked over the wet spots, occasionally losing her balance for a second.

The Hammerheads slowly got back up. The leader shook the cobwebs out of his head.

"I never saw this on the brochure…"

"She's coming, let's go!" They headed outside and sprinted away as fast as they could. Kina, once she got past the wet floor, followed them.

"Stop! You know you can't outrun me, so why bother?" She kept after them.

The leader pulled out a walkie-talkie from his pocket.

"This is Mitchell. We've got a very TALL problem chasing after us! We need someone to take care of it!"

"Understood."

As Kina closed in on them, a Renegade powered armor suddenly jumped up from a ditch, right in the path of the fleeing men. Kina stopped immediately.

"Uh-oh…!" The Renegade opened up its chest-mounted missile launcher. Kina's face lost all its color. "…Help!" she squeaked. The armor launched three missiles at her. She screamed and instinctively put her arms in front of her face. However, when the missiles hit home, a huge cloud of gas was released from each one in place of the lethal explosion she was expected. She breathed in a large amount of it. Immediately, her eyelids began to feel heavy. Knockout gas!

"Huh? Oh…ooh…I suddenly don't feel very peppy…" She yawned. "I think I'll just take a nice little nap right here. Night-night!" She began to fall forward, but the Renegade armor ran up and caught her. She was totally out.

"That's takes care of that. What do we do with her?"

"…We can't leave her here. Once she wakes up, she'll be able to tell them all about what happened. There's no choice, we have to bring her back with us…"