Part 23: A New Plan

Sam grunted as she tried to help climb the mountain ranges outside of Area 51, scaling up the sheer side to escape the onslaught of the Scamlar army. There was a small troupe of people behind them, following them since they didn't know anything else to do. They reached a high enough ledge to remain out of sight and collapsed onto it, Sam lying down while the others sat to rest. Sam knew Jerry wouldn't be following them... and chances were, neither would Stella, Carmen, or Gabby...

"So..." Alex panted. "What do we do now?"

"I've already contacted Brittany and warned her to keep away from this base." Arnold said as he sat down beside the girls. "We need to figure out a plan of counterattack." Sam turned her head to stare at him. The boy had changed immensely... his youthful, happy and nervous appearance had given way to something harder, colder, more calculating. She supposed it was only natural, he'd lost as much as any of them in all this.

"Counterattack? Nothing short of a nuclear missile could take these things out, and I'm not even sure of that." Clover said.

"If it'll take a nuke, we'll find a nuke." Arnold replied. Sam stared at him in surprise.

"Dropping a nuke would..." She began before he interrupted her.

"We're in the middle of nowhere right now. If we found a nuke and dropped it on all of them, it's the best chance we've got to vaporize them." Arnold said.

"And if people get in the way?" Clover asked.

"There's nothing we can do about that." Arnold replied.

"Jerry taught you well." Sam said tersely. Arnold looked down at her, then looked away as if ashamed. But he didn't withdraw his statement. "We don't have a nuke anyway... and we're not likely to find anything without some means of transportation, so that should be our top priority." Sam sat up and rubbed the back of her head. "Arnold, any ideas?"

"There are some jets in the hangar down there." Arnold jerked his head toward the base. "We could sneak in and-"

He was cut off when Lady Luna stood up right behind him. "Forget all of this! I'm going back home... the stars would never treat me the way you people have been treating me so far!"

"Calm down Luna." Clover stood up beside her. "Panicking won't help!"

"I'm not panicking, I'm putting my foot down! I'm going back home!" Lady Luna shouted.

"How? We don't have any space shuttles." Alex pointed out. Lady Luna opened her mouth, then fell silent.

"I wish I knew how my babies were doing... they must be so very thirsty by now..." Professor Zero sighed. Sam stared at him for a moment, remembering that his plants were inside the pyramid... which was also...

"That's it!" Sam exclaimed, drawing all eyes toward her. "We still have a powerful non-nuclear weapon, if we can just get to it."

"What are you talking about Sammie?" Clover asked. "You were hurt pretty bad, maybe you should lie down..."

"The anti-gravity generator Clover!" Sam explained. "The one that Jerry built into the pyramid for Professor Zero to use! It's still there, its just been disabled, and I'm betting YOU could re-enable it!" She jammed her finger into Arnold's chest.

"I... I suppose I could try." Arnold stammered in surprise.

"If we can get to the anti-grav generator and turn the beam toward the planet, we could send the entire army of Scamlar drifting into space! We'll never have to worry about them again!" Sam exclaimed.

"Sorry starshine." Lady Luna said. "If it's based on the same anti-gravity generator I was using, it's more like a bridge than a laser. Unless you can turn the entire pyramid I don't think it'll be possible to redirect the field like that."

"Or we take the generator OUT of the pyramid." Arnold added.

"Yes." Sam punched her fist into her other palm excitedly. "We surgically remove the generator from the pyramid. Arnold re-enables its systems, and Lady Luna is familiar enough with the controls to operate it efficiently. And we can find a helicopter or something to haul it into the air and aim it, there are plenty of those lying around that Scam doesn't have control of."

"Now we just have to worry about transportation again." Arnold said. "That pyramid is in Egypt, and we're about as far from there as we could possibly get."

"We'd better get to an airport then... but we're not dragging all these people with us." Sam gestured to the group of prisoners they freed from WOOHP's holding cells. Most of them looked like decent enough people, only a few had hideously insane and maniacal looks in their eyes. "The question is... what do we do with them? We can't just leave them..."

"We'll take care of them." Sam whirled when she heard a familiar voice behind her. Pam was standing further up the mountain, flanked by Crimson, Alice, Yuki, and Megan.

"You? You know what's going on?" Sam asked.

"We've been keeping track." Pam knelt down and winked. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of them all."

"Okay..." Sam nodded up at her and turned around. "Alex, Clover, Lady Luna and Arnold are coming with me. The rest of you can stay with Pam and her team, they'll take good care of you I'm sure of it."

Alex walked up behind Sam, putting her mouth close to her ear. "Sam... I have a bad feeling about this."

"Huh?" Sam looked back at her.

"It's too convenient, Pam showing up now knowing everything that's happening..." Alex whispered. Sam blinked. Of course she was right, there was no way Pam could know the entire situation without being told. And knowing the kind of capabilities the Scamlar had, she couldn't just trust anybody who showed up out of the blue. But what to do about them... and how to take advantage...

"Pam, could we talk in private?" Sam asked.

"Of course." Pam slid down the side of the mountain to join Sam as she walked away from the others, around a path that curved around the mountain. Sam stopped and took a deep breath, pulling her bloodstained shirt shirt off over her head, leaving her in a similarly bloodstained bra over her chest, which still had a visible scar from her wound. "What are you doing?"

"Hold this." Suddenly Sam threw the shirt at her. Pam's eyes went wide and she deftly moved out of the way as if it was a time bomb. Of course... the nanobots were still present in Sam's blood. Which meant her blood was as good as acid to Scamlar. Just as she thought.

"Why are you throwing things at me?" Pam asked, still trying to keep up her façade.

"Well, I thought you'd help me... I need comfort." Sam walked up to her slowly. Pam looked panicked, which was the strongest emotion she'd seen one of these things have. She knew what would happen if Sam hugged her with blood on her chest, but she was undoubtedly ordered to keep up the pretense, and running would give her away. She was trapped. "Please..." Sam grabbed her and hugged her close, pressing her chest against Pam's.

Pam let out a howl as the blood touched her, a small hole appearing in her chest as the nanobots attacked this unfamiliar inorganic invader. Sam let her go, watching her thrash against the side of the mountain as her substance slowly vanished. Soon she was little more than a slowly disappearing silver puddle at Sam's feet. A good weapon... but she didn't have enough blood in her whole body to take out an army. So infiltrating them would have to be enough for now. It was always good to have a backup plan.

Sam scooped her shirt up from the ground and walked past the silver to a small stream, using it to wash the blood off of her clothing. She thoroughly scrubbed her shirt and bra clean, letting the blood wash downstream. She wished she could mend the hole in her shirt to make the illusion complete, but she didn't have the time or materials. Now clean and fresh as she could get, she turned to walk back to the others. Everyone looked up when she approached.

"Where's Pam?" Crimson demanded.

"She needed to do something." Sam said coldly, meeting her gaze with a cold stare. Crimson didn't react, which made Sam a bit nervous, but she couldn't let that show. She was glad she was a fairly decent actor after being a spy for so long.

"You cleaned up..." Alex commented suspiciously.

"I didn't want blood all over myself." Sam replied coldly. "Why don't you girls go ahead with our plan, while I stay here and help keep an eye on the civilians?" She suggested. Clover walked up beside Alex, who was still staring at her suspiciously. Clover just stared at her, until Sam dared a quick wink. "You'll be in charge... won't you, Clover?"

"Of course..." Clover replied softly. "Of course, we'll do the best we can." Clover turned around. Alex looked over at her in surprise, then grabbed her and whispered harshly in her ear. Clover whispered back, then looked up again. "Lady Luna, Arnold, come with us. We'll go do everything we can to put an end to this." Clover turned to leave.

Alex eyed Sam suspiciously, but followed after Clover. Arnold didn't even look at her as he followed them, and Lady Luna just shrugged and went with the group silently, not really seeming to care about any of it. Sam watched them leave, then turned to Crimson, who was eyeing the prisoners with a stony silence. Sam watched her, then looked back at the prisoners.

"Well done, soldiers." The prisoners gasped as a small silver vehicle hovered up over the edge of the cliff, on which Tim Scam rode. Dozens of WOOHP Officers climbed up over the edge of the cliff after him, though Sam knew they were more likely Scamlar soldiers than WOOHP Officers. Scam stepped off the platform onto the cliff path, looking over at Sam with a wry smile. "Overriding your protocols a little aren't we? I didn't program you to replace Sam."

"She discovered the truth." Sam replied. "I acted to neutralize her and avert suspicion." She kept her face a cold mask, despite the cold fear that ran up her spine when Tim Scam walked up to her. If she was uncovered, she was dead. No amount of nanobots could protect her from this many soldiers.

"Well done... maybe I'll use your model as inspiration for future generations." He smiled smoothly and turned to face the prisoners. "As for you all... really, I don't care about you one way or another, but there are certain things you know that I have to keep quiet. So, kill them." Scam waved his hands carelessly and walked back toward his platform with the Scamlar WOOHP Officers following behind him. "Then return to base."

Sam's blood went cold. Kill them...? He wouldn't... but even as she watched Crimson, Alice, Yuki and Megan were approaching the civilians, their arms forming into silver blades. She couldn't stop them or she would expose herself, and they would quickly kill her. All she could do was watch as the Scamlar soldiers approached the frightened civilians.

Professor Zero lowered his head and closed his eyes as they approached. Sam looked away and clenched her eyes shut just before the screaming started. She heard people try to run, but their footsteps were cut off after a very short time amid strangled screams of fear and pain. She didn't open her eyes until the screams had given way to dead silence, and even then she could not look in the direction of the slaughter.

Alice, Crimson, Yuki and Megan were already making their way back toward Area 51, sliding down the cliff face as if it was nothing. Their bodies were spotted randomly with blood. Sam was shaking in horror, but thankfully it didn't look like they were smart enough to question her instead of following Scam's orders to the letter and return straight to base.

The sickening smell of blood was overpowering, only compounding the horror of what she knew had just happened. It was so quick and brutally efficient... she couldn't believe even Tim Scam would go that far. She quickly began to scale down the side of the mountain toward the base, partly because she had to return to base too, and partly to escape the horrible stench that threatened to make her throw up. And she never let herself look back.

She reached the base of the mountain, taking a few minutes to compose herself as much as possible. She had to look cold and robotic, relatively emotionless. It was extremely difficult, but she forced herself to strand up straight and hard, and walked onto the base, hurrying to catch up to the others. WOOHP Officer Scamlar were scurrying about the place with cold efficiency, operating machinery or disposing of the dead bodies of those killed in the attack.

As she walked, three things occurred to her. One, Tim Scam had known they were on the mountain probably the whole time... why did he let Clover and the others go on to attempt to stop his plans? Two, she didn't see her mother anywhere, nor did she see Stella or Carmen. They weren't among the bodies of the dead, and they weren't walking around the base. Could they have escaped somehow? Three... where were the REAL Pam, Alice, Crimson, Yuki, and Megan? Had they already been killed? Was that how Scam got his Scamlar to mimic them?

She followed the Scamlar versions of her old friends down into the base. She looked completely out of place as the only one not coated in blood, but they didn't notice, too busy following Scam's last order. They left the elevator to walk down the hallway. Sam split from the pack and walked down another hallway, still trying to look cold and emotionless in case anyone happened to see her.

She passed empty room after empty room, from living quarters to research laboratories. They were all empty, and almost all of them were spotted with blood. She passed many Scamlar in the halls though. They must have been patrolling for any stragglers they missed in the initial assault. To finish them off like those people on the mountain...

She shook her head clear, then stopped when she heard muffled voices from a nearby room. Sam slid along the wall up toward the solid steel door. She reached into her pocket to pull out a pair of red contact lenses. The M-Ray lenses fit snugly against her eyes, then activated, adjusting automatically to let her see through the steel door.

She saw her mother standing in the middle of the small bedroom, flanked by Scamlar WOOHP Officers with Tim Scam standing in front of her with a wry, wicked smile on his face. She slid up to the door and pulled out her Ultra-Sensitive Earring Microphone, placing the end against the door so she could hear the conversation inside.

"I don't believe you..." Gabby's voice was shuddering, her face contorted in pain. "Sam would never... she's too smart to be bested by you... she's so much smarter than I am..."

"It doesn't matter if you believe me." Scam grinned and stood up, approaching her. "You don't even remember me do you?" He asked. Gabby didn't respond, her eyes on the floor. Scam put a hand under her chin and raised her face to look at him. "You don't remember being my slave? If I recall you were quite a good one too..."

"Don't touch me..." Gabby demanded.

"Awww, are you going to be mad at me forever for a little thing like killing your daughter? She wasn't much of a person anyway." Scam smirked. Gabby closed her eyes, obviously trying to hold in the tears. Sam's blood was boiling, but she couldn't just break in and kick his ass... no matter how much she wanted to.

"You're a monster." Gabby told him sharply. "An evil monster..." Tim Scam just laughed and gripped her arm roughly, pulling her close.

"You WERE the most beautiful of the three you know..." He raised one hand and ran it over her head. Gabby tried to pull back, but the Scamlar soldiers on either side of her jammed their arms into her back, shoving her back up against him. "More beautiful than your daughter is... was..." He cackled.

"Get away from me." Gabby growled hatefully through tears of anger and sadness.

"I think I would like having a queen... perhaps you'd be worth sparing since your daughter is already gone." Scam grinned, pulling her closer still, so that they were face-to-face. "I'll need children too..."

"Get away from me!" Gabby slapped him across the face, but in a second the Scamlar soldiers were on top of her, beating her to the ground and holding her down roughly. She struggled vainly, but she didn't have a prayer of breaking loose. Scam knelt down in front of her, sliding one of his hands over her cheek. She tried to move away, but couldn't.

"You'll come around, I'm sure. Take her to her quarters." Scam ordered. The Scamlar saluted him and lifted Gabby off the floor easily, carrying her toward the door. Sam gasped and ducked out of the way, putting her gadgets away and turning to walk down the hall as if she hadn't seen anything. Her blood was boiling... that bastard wouldn't stop with killing everyone, he was going to take her mother by force. That was just going too damn far... and there was nothing Sam could do about it... or was there...?

She turned into an empty room, disappearing from sight. She waited for the Scamlar soldiers to pass, carrying her mother between them. When they were far enough away Sam left the room again and followed them, as if going about some established routine route. They wound through the base, heading for the Officer's quarters near the surface. They stopped and pushed Gabby into one of the rooms, then turned to leave.

Sam walked calmly down the hall to the door to try the knob. It was locked of course, but it was also steel. The put her M-Rays and Earring Microphones back into place to see her mother sitting on the floor, her head down with Carmen and Stella kneeling beside her.

"Are you okay, Gabby?" Stella asked worriedly. Gabby looked up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"H... he said..." Gabby gulped through her tears, trying to clear her throat. "He said... Sam... is..." She choked on her next words. "She's dead..." she broke down sobbing, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh my God... Gabby, I'm so sorry..." Carmen slipped her arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly. Stella hugged her from the other side, stroking her hair with one hand.

"It's okay..." Stella said softly into her friend's ear. "We're here for you..." Gabby didn't look up from her hands, her shoulders shaking violently with the force of her sobs. Sam sniffled and raised one hand to the door on front of her, as if reaching out to touch her mother's shoulder. Tears were sliding down her cheeks. How could that bastard do this to someone who had nothing to do with his sick sense of revenge? Sam was the one he hated, not Gabby.

"I won't let you stay here mom..." Sam said softly. She wished she could comfort her, show her that she was okay. But that was too risky, someone could notice her acting strangely, or her mother could say something to give her away. She had to maintain her cover for now, and that meant hiding... even from her. But that didn't mean she would let her stay here.

Sam removed her M-Ray lenses and Earring Microphone, stuffing them into one of her myriad pockets before turning to walk into the hall again, walking down the center as if she owned the place. None of the Scamlar Officers gave her so much as a second look. She made it to a nearby janitor's closet and ducked inside when nobody was around, closing and locking the door behind her.

"I hope she's still around." Sam pulled out her X-Powder and began typing a furious message. She didn't have the luxury of sending a powerful voice message, but hopefully a data stream would be enough. She encoded her quick message and a small data packet into a tight beam and pressed transmit, waiting until the signal light faded before tucking her X-Powder into her pocket. If someone detected the transmission, she was doomed. But it was a risk she had to take... if she couldn't save her mother herself, she would ask someone else to do it...

TO BE CONTINUED