Here we go again folks, it's Chapter 4. I would be most appreciative if you could leave a review after reading this. Thanks.

Here is an account of what happened in the lab after Rick left.

The butler wheeled the trolley up to the main reception desk.

'Excuse me, we have a defrosting appointment for Mr. Shadow?'

'Ah yes, right this way' answered the receptionist, leading them to a large room at the end of the corridor.

'This is Mr. Shadow, Dr. Black.' Said the receptionist, referring to the butler.

'He's not Black Shadow you fool, I am!' interjected the black-clad man.

'Sorry'.

'Good to meet you, Mr. Shadow' said the scientist, extending his hand.

Black Shadow just gave him a cold look, and the doctor withdrew his hand. 'Can we please get on with this thing?' said Shadow.

'Of course. This way' said the doctor, motioning towards a large blue cabinet. 'We just need to put the patient in here and heat it up a little.'

The butler and Dr. Black hauled the pod into the cabinet. Black Shadow smiled an evil smile, realized where he was, and quickly wiped it off his face.

Dr. Black went over to a control panel and pressed a few buttons. The cabinet made a loud whirring sound, signifying the fact that it was starting up. It flashed bright orange momentarily, and made a shrill hissing sound. The cabinet's doors opened, and as the smoke cleared, Black Shadow, his butler, Dr. Black and the other scientists saw the revived figure open the pod's doors and step out. 'State your name!' commanded Black Shadow.

'No need, Mr. Shadow, we've performed a scan and we have a whole database on this guy.' Retorted Dr. Black.

'Well, who is it?' said Black Shadow, impatiently.

'Zachariah Odalis, Age at death: 51, Cause of death: car crash'

'Call me Zoda,' said the revived person.

'Zoda...' said Black Shadow, thoughtfully. 'I thank you, Dr. Black, but now I'm afraid you will die.'

'What?!' cried the doctor.

'When I got here, I planted a time bomb in here. It was set to 15 minutes. This procedure has taken precisely 13 minutes, 34 seconds. You have roughly a minute to escape. Zoda, Jeeves, let's go.'

As the butler drove away, Shadow and Zoda looked behind them to witness the huge explosion. Black Shadow threw back his head and laughed manically. Zoda just smiled serenely.

That Night...

Pico, the intergalactic hit man, frowned and scratched his head. He had been sent a new target, with an offer of half a million space credits if successful.

It was an offer too good to turn down, especially for Pico, whose targets never survived. The only problem was; he had no idea who his target was. His anonymous client had asked for one R. Wheeler to be dead by sundown tomorrow. Pico had checked every database he knew, but the only information on R. Wheeler was name, age, and date of death.

Date of death?

Pico checked the envelope again. This was the first request he had received by post. There was no name, no return address, just the scrawled words:

'R. Wheeler

Dead by sundown tomorrow

500,000 SC'

Pico frowned again. How could he kill someone who was already dead?

Suddenly, while he was pondering this, Pico's computer played a short jingle, meaning he had received a new email.

It was from a certain database.

He had requested more info on R. Wheeler, in the vague hope that someone would be able to find out more info. The email read:

'In response to your query regarding lack of information on R. Wheeler.

Name: Rick Wheeler

Age: 32

D.O.B: 4/10/2019

D.O.D (Date of death): 16/11/2051

Profession: Detective

Cause of Death: Car crash while chasing convict'

But what really caught Pico's attention was this:

'Additional Notes: Revived on 21/3/2597 by Mute City Science Labs. Now employed as member of Intergalactic Space Federation.'

'Hmm...' thought Pico as he turned on his TV and sat down. It was the news.

'Breaking news' exclaimed the news lady 'An unknown black-clad person has blown up the Lightning Power Plant. Further info as it comes.'

Pico smiled and turned the TV off. 'Hmm...' he said to himself. 'If Wheeler is on the federation as a detective, I bet he'll be at that explosion site tomorrow'

Pico could smell another victim, and another huge cash reward.

So who was the black-clad figure that caused the explosion? Is it Pico who has Rick cornered at the wreckage? What of Zoda? All will be revealed in the next chapter: Blind to Betrayal!