On entering the jungle, Kate and Mitch had been preparing themselves for an obstacle course of tricks and traps. From what they'd already judged to be a rather clichéd set-up for a supervillain's secret lair, they had naturally been expecting to have to dodge their way through a forbidding maze of pitfalls, booby-traps, and those hidden trap-doors that plunged you into an inescapable cavern filled with poisonous snakes and scorpions.

But, as it soon turned out, there was nothing like that. Nothing at all. It was simply a beautiful, untamed tropical forest that seemed to go on forever. The two investigators had been wandering aimlessly for about an hour and still had not come across any sort of path or sign of habitation, or even clues to suggest any human had ever been there at all. It all cleverly gave the impression of a place completely untouched by man, and as Mitch commented at one point, it all seemed too perfect. It seemed that the wise thing would be to not let themselves get lured into a false sense of security by their picturesque surroundings, for they were bound to run into something strange sooner or later.

And indeed they did – just after Kate had been commenting on the apparent lack of wildlife.

"Ah look, there's something!" Mitch said triumphantly, pointing up to the lowest bough of a large tree they were passing under. "What sort of bird is that, then…"

Kate, who had been concentrating on the ground beneath her feet as she stomped purposefully along, did not look up at first, instead just saying,
"We know there are birds here. We've been hearing bird-calls non-stop since we got here. I was talking about…"

She trailed off as she caught up with Mitch, pausing to look up to where he was pointing. It only took her a moment to realise that something was wrong.

"That's not a real bird." She stated casually, reaching an arm behind her back to pluck a bottle of water from her bag.

Mitch looked at Kate, then looked back to the bird, and this time looked more closely. She was right – there was something unnaturally stiff in the way the blue-feathered bird tilted its head and twitched its wings as it sat on its perch, regarding both of them with a lifeless glare.

Then suddenly, Kate and Mitch both jumped, startled, as a sharp robotic voice radiated from the bird.

"Identification, please."

For a long, silent moment, Kate and Mitch just stood there and gawped at the robotic bird.

"…..Um?" Kate tried after a while.

"Voice-key incorrect." The robot-bird replied flatly.

Kate and Mitch looked at each other. "I think we've been caught." Kate said grimly. Then, as she looked back to the bird, she saw its eyes change from black to a fierce, glowing red, as it opened its beak to its full extent, revealing a speaker. Then came the alarm.

Kate yelped and clamped her hands over her ears as the harsh, blaring alarm rang painfully through her head. "We have definitely been caught!" she yelled over the relentless noise.

"Time to run!" Mitch yelled back at her.

With that, the two of them turned away and bolted, Mitch leading the way, Kate following close behind. They tore through the thick vegetation, running as fast as their legs would carry them, trying to put as much distance between them and the bird-cam as possible. And yet, strangely, the noise of the alarm did not seem to get any quieter. Kate chanced a glance over her shoulder as she ran, and to her distress she saw that the bird-cam had taken off and was now following them from the air, its eyes still blazing, its alarm still blaring.

Kate grimaced and looked away, only to spy something ahead of her that caused her to suddenly slow her pace. The trees seemed to be thinning out and, up ahead, she could see sunlight pouring in through the dwindling foliage, suggesting a patch of bare land. But while Kate had slowed up, Mitch was still going full-tilt, so intent on escaping the terrible alarm that he was no longer paying proper attention to his surroundings.

Now forgetting about the bird-cam bearing down on her, Kate took off running again, only this time she was just trying to catch up with Mitch.

"Mitch! Hold up!" she yelled desperately. "You're heading straight for a clearing! We've got to stay under the trees! Mitch!"

But whether it was the noise of the alarm, or simply the beating of his exerted heart pounding in his ears, Mitch did not hear her. Kate saw him bolt straight out past the trees and into the clearing, showing no signs of slowing up.

A second later, the sound of rapid gunfire pierced the still afternoon air. It rang in Kate's ears more clear and terrible than any alarm, and she skidded to an abrupt halt.

A sickening silence followed. The bird-cam had suddenly ceased its noise, and had flown away out of sight.

Kate watched in horror as Mitch's form came back into view. He staggered backwards past the line of trees he had run out from moments before, until finally he fell back into the undergrowth, his body lost from view amongst the leafy ferns.

A choked gasp escaping her throat, Kate immediately started towards the place where Mitch had fallen….then suddenly the world around her turned an electric blue, and she found herself unable to move.

In that instant Kate knew what it felt like to be paralyzed, and it was the most terrible feeling she had ever experienced. She was still breathing, and she could feel her heart beating rapidly, but her body was locked into place, frozen into an awkward mid-run position. The only thing she could move were her eyes, and she took full advantage of this – her gaze roved about frantically as she tried to make sense of what was going on outside her swirling blue cocoon. It had taken her a few moments to realise what had happened to her, but now, as she felt herself being sharply levitated high above the ground, she saw him.

The first thing Kate noticed about Syndrome was that he now looked completely revitalized, all things considered. Gone was the slouching, suffering man that she had chased through Metroville not long ago. Now he stood tall and proud, obviously smug at having captured his prey so easily. His ragged suit had been replaced with a brand new one. That glossy, extravagant outfit – everything from the skin-tight catsuit to the long flowing cape to the steel-capped boots – displaying his outlandish confidence. That outrageous hair swept up like a flame. That impish face grinning triumphantly at her…

Kate's immobilized form was promptly swung round to the centre of the clearing, lowered half way and then dropped, leaving her to fall the last few feet to the dusty ground.

Kate coughed sharply and groaned in pain as she landed heavily in her front, but then quickly scrambled to her feet and glanced around. A small troop of five guards stood in a line behind Syndrome, all wearing bleak grey uniforms, with tinted visors shading their eyes - rendering them emotionless, somehow. All of them had their rifles aimed at Kate….and one of those rifles had unleashed the bullet that-
Mitch. The zero-point energy must have slowed her senses as well as her limbs, for it was only in that moment that the memory of Mitch's execution came flooding back to her…

Syndrome had been muttering something to the guard nearest to him, but as he saw Kate start to turn away – looking back to where her companion had fallen – he called out to her,

"Hey, don't even think about it! You stay right where you are!"

At his command, Kate paused and slowly turned back to face him. Kate could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and she frowned deeply as she tried to force the sadness away – it was not like her to cry so easily. But when she had looked back at that fateful place, all she had seen of Mitch was one foot sticking out from the thick undergrowth he had collapsed into…

"Why did you shoot him and not me…" Kate started to ask in a low voice, before Syndrome suddenly cut her off.

"Oh and she's British, too! Oh how lovely!" he drawled in an intentionally awful impression of a British accent. But then he frowned at her and said, "He was shot because he was trespassing, simple as that."

"I was trespassing!" Kate shouted at him, though her voice quavered with misery.

Syndrome took a few menacing steps towards Kate at that point, but Kate did not back off. So he stopped and said airily, "I gave these guards an order to kill anyone accompanying you. You, on the other hand, I've been expecting. You I wanted alive. This island is strictly off-limits and so I have every right to… 'take care' of unwanted visitors. If you had just come alone then no one would have had to die!"

"Oh, god…" Kate covered her face with her hands, seeming to slouch in defeat. Syndrome was right. She'd had a bad feeling about Mitch coming with her from the start, and now she knew why. Kate was used to death – her career was a risky one and it was not unusual to see co-workers die, often unpleasantly. But that never made it any easier to bear.
A hundred 'if onlys' span through her mind. If only Mitch had not decided to come with her. If only he had just stayed on the helicopter. If only…

Syndrome had now turned to face his guards. "You!" he said, pointing to one of them. "Get her bag!"

"Yes, sir…" the chosen guard strode up to Kate and took hold of her backpack before roughly tugging it from her shoulders. Kate glared at him, but did not resist.

"Take it back to the base and have it searched." Syndrome said to the guard as he rejoined the ranks. Syndrome then glanced at Kate and smiled smugly before adding, "Security protocols and all that…"

Then another guard spoke up. "What about the girl, sir? Should we take her up to the containment unit?"

"Nah, I don't think there's any need for that." Syndrome replied, his consistently smug manner suggesting that he was revelling in his complete control over this young woman's fate. "I'll take her to the base myself – we'll take the monorail. It's about time she and I had a little chat…"

The guard nodded, then motioned to the other guards, and the troop promptly marched out of the clearing and away into the jungle.

"Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road!" Syndrome said cheerily, motioning Kate to follow him as he turned away and – in that swaggering, self-confident gait of his – started walking out of the clearing, heading in a slightly different direction to the guards.

Kate obediently followed him. What choice did she have? And in truth this had been what she'd wanted – to be taken to Syndrome's elusive secret lair. But there had been such a terrible price to pay to get even this far…
Oh, what mess have you gotten yourself into now… Kate thought to herself grimly, as she followed Syndrome to the monorail station.