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Traitin followed Cryos through the dark streets. He obviously couldn't believe he had met a real alien. Felons had encountered aliens before, one member of the species had even been accepted into the exclusive 'Green Lantern Core.' So it wasn't a complete shock to him.

An ancient species called the Elders had invented rings that could channel vast amounts of power. The people who wore them, the so-called 'Green Lanterns,' were actually strong enough to cause Cryos some trouble. If he got going though, the lanterns barely slowed him down. One member from each species under the protection of the Lantern Core got a power ring. Cryos had had several confrontations with them in the past, they were rather leery of anyone from outside the Core, and as a rule he tried to stay off their radar.

Cryos led the way through the back alleyways, twisting and turning in the darkness so much that even Traitin, who had spent his whole life in these streets, got confused and lost.

Finally, he stopped. "Here we are." He announced and opened a sewer cover.

"You live in a sewer?" Traitin asked.

"I know, its a little cliché, but it works." Cryos took the entire distance to the wet, slimy concrete in one jump. Traitan used the ladder.

Cryos held his wooden staff out in front and the small glass ball on top started to glow. Traitin's eyes glowed in the yellowish light as Cryos started off down the dark tunnel.

"How does that staff work?" he asked.

"It's made from wood from the Leech Tree. The tree lives by sucking the life force out of everyone around it. I installed some gadgets in this branch and they're powered by the energy it sucks from me. It's also indestructible so long as it can use my power."

"Isn't it bad that it's sucking away your life force?"

"It would be if I wasn't immortal. This staff is a pretty small piece of the tree anyway, even a normal person would have to hold it for weeks or even months before it caused any ill effects. But I'm not normal. My life force can never run out, and I can never die."

"Awesome!" Traitan shouted. "You can live forever! That's so cool!"

Cryos stopped walking. "You would think so, but think: you would have to watch your loved ones die of old age, one by one, knowing that you can ever join them in the afterlife. Eventually you get over it and have another family. But it happens again. Every time you find someone and get to like them, they die of old age and you never change."

Traitin didn't look so excited now. "Has this happened before?"

"Not yet, but I've been separated from everyone I know for the last ten years. I've had lots of time to think." His eyes glassed over. "Eventually in trillions of years the last stars will burn out, all life will die except for me. I will be completely alone for countless trillions of years until finally, matter itself begins to break down. Maybe then I can join my loved ones in the afterlife…"

"How old ARE you?" The Felon asked.

Cryos started walking again. "Not that old just yet. Only sixty-five, even without immortality old age wouldn't have gotten me yet." He got a faraway gaze. "But I would be dead, many times over. It must be twenty times at least…" He suddenly stopped. "Oh crap, I almost forgot-"

His words were cut off when a tiny blur zipped out of the shadows and latched to the side of Traitan's neck. He had just enough time to cry out in surprise before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.

Traitan slowly regained conciseness.

"I'm sorry about that." Cryos said from above him. "Are you feeling ok?"

Traitin was about to scream out, of course he shouldn't feel good, he was just knocked out! But as he tried to sit up he realized that he actually DID feel good. Very good in fact. "Actually, yeah… What just happened?"

"I wasn't thinking and my security system went off."

"That was a security system?!"

Cryos smiled. "Traitan, meat Mazzark." He held up his hand to show a tiny dark green creature.

It had six limbs, but stood on only four legs, each ended with a pair of blobby toes that had sticky pads on them. The front end of the creature's body pulled up into an almost humanoid torso. It had two tiny arms, they each had two small fingers just like the toes and were tipped with the same sticky pads. The creature's head, which had no visible mouth, was shaped like a crescent, pointed at both ends with narrow eyes and neck towards the front end and a long, curved crest arching up and back. The crest had a number of horizontal stripes on it. They didn't circle all the way around the crest, but were only on the top side. But the part that caught his attention was the tail. It was long and thin, but tipped with a wicked-looking stinger.

Traitan felt his neck and found a bump, it felt exactly like an insect sting.

"I found Mazzark on a world where his people, the Lalz, were the main food supply for several other species." Cryos explained. "I taught them how to fight and to make weapons. Turns out they're highly intelligent, it just took awhile to realize it since they're language is so bizarre." He looked at Mazzark. "Traitan is our new friend, apologize for hurting him."

The little creature looked up at him and the stripes on its head started to flash with light. They formed complex patterns of chasers and flashers that raced across the creature's head.

"I don't care that he feels fine now, just because your poison has a mild euphoric effect on most species doesn't mean you couldn't have hurt him. Besides, you had no idea on the dosage. You could easily have killed him. Apologize to him."

Mazzark turned to Traitan, he glared with his tiny eyes and blinked out a pattern of lights.

Traitan had no idea what he said, but judging from the look in his eyes it wasn't very nice.

Cryos made a face. "I guess that will do for now, but you two are going to have to get along in the future. Shake on it."

Neither of them moved.

"Go ahead." Cryos insisted.

Traitan slowly reached out to the tiny alien.

Mazzark grabbed the Felon's paw-like hand and bent a finger backwards.

Traitan screamed in pain and tried to pull his hand away, but the little creature was amazingly strong and had him pinned. He felt a sudden surge of power from inside himself and suddenly he flipped his hand up into the air, launching the Lalz at the ceiling, where he stuck with all six limbs and scurried away.

"Mazzark!" Cryos cried out. "That's it! No dinner for you!" He sighed. "He'll be fine, he's just jealous."

"He almost broke my finger!" Traitan shouted.

"Did he? Looked more like you almost broke his entire body when you launched him like that. You threw him awfully hard."

Traitan thought so to. "How did I do that? It was like I suddenly became stronger."

"You did, you now have a tiny portion of my strength, my life force. If you train and develop it you can become amazingly strong one day. That's why I have to train you myself until I'm sure you aren't going to hurt anyone. So, would you rather train or eat first?"

For the first time Traitan looked around the room. Even ignoring the smell, it was pretty obvious it was in the sewers. Tables were made from slabs of concrete piled on top of each other. An old, badly damaged couch was by the far wall. The room was dimly lit by decorative strings of lights, judging from the exposed wires, they were dug out of the trash and strung back together. In the far corner, a large, old and rusty refrigerator hummed softly.

Somehow, the atmosphere didn't make Traitan hungry.

"What's involved in this training?" he asked.

"Not much at first, some light sparring and teaching you the basics of hand-to-hand combat, just to see what you can do. If I decide to train you we'll move into high-gravity workouts and maybe even some serious matches."

The Felon gulped. "Well, I guess we should get started…"