It was late, and he should be getting to bed. Callie had already gone, but Sonny kept reading the files he gathered. Normally, he would be debating this with Corso, but Corso was on a mission to Akillian to get Micro Ice. They didn't know what the people Micro Ice has involved himself with were capable of and Sonny wanted to be prepared.
For six years that file had sat in his laptop. All the information on The shadow behind the Throne.
And now, the shadow was identified as Brim Balarius. This came as a surprise, Balarius, while his methods were unorthodox, always seemed to have peace in mind. He had to look into this.
Sonny played Micro Ice's message to Artie again. It was eerie, but too vague to do anything with.
All Micro Ice knew was that the galaxy was in danger and it involved the Flux Society. Sonny sighed as he scrolled through the files. He should give them to Callie, she could often see something he didn't.
Sonny rubbed his forehead, he started to develop a headache. He logged out with a sigh, got up, headed to the bathroom to get changed and put on his bathrobe. Then, he silently opened the door to the bedroom.
He carefully snuck into the bedroom and got undressed before he crawled into bed next to Callie.
He kind of missed Corso, but that would be solved soon enough. Sonny kissed Callie before he pulled her in. Callie sighed as she felt Sonny's hand slide down and carefully placed it on top of her stomach.
She put her hands on top of his. She was the luckiest woman in all the Galaxy.
It was getting late, and Micro Ice should be here by now. Corso checked the time. The kid was more than an hour late. Something wasn't right. And without a text? Mom Ice came over to him.
"He should be back by now." She said.
"He's probably taking a detour and got lost. Wouldn't put it past him." Corso said with a small smile. Mom Ice seemed to think of something.
"He acted odd earlier, I told him about a burglary in the warehouse where he picks up the shipments of Mice Delight. What would people want to do with that?" She asked. Corso paid close attention to what she said and made a mental memo to check in with Sonny later. He took a sip of the coffee she gave him. That hit the spot. That was when he received an anonymous message.
'They got me, help!'
It said. Corso decided not to tell Mom Ice as he sent a coded message to the Black Manta. This was going to be a long night.
Micro Ice tried to get out of the ropes he was tied with to no avail. He mentally kicked himself for going to the warehouse to restock after giving Corso the file and the tubes with the samples. If only he had never stumbled into this. And here on Akillan. He was alone. No one would come looking for him, they were all elsewhere. Micro Ice felt something wet drip from his eyes. Tears. He was crying and the night had only just begun.
Sonny woke up from his transmitter going off. Callie was sound asleep, so he carefully got out of bed. Corso looked worried as he answered, bathrobe halfway on.
"I got the file and the test tubes with the crests, they're in the secure vault of the ship. I was supposed to meet with Micro Ice later, but he didn't show up. He's in trouble." Corso reported. Sonny had a sinking feeling Corso was right, especially when he showed the message he received. Sonny knew they had to act quickly.
"Lock on to the message's source." Sonny said. Corso nodded, as he yawned. Sonny couldn't resist a smile.
"Sorry, no rest until you found Micro Ice. Return as soon as you can, I'll be waiting with Callie." Sonny ordered. Corso smiled and nodded.
"How did things go with Dame Simbai? Is Rocket doing any better? We could use some good news." Corso said. Sonny nodded with a small smile.
"The dose he has now makes up for his loss of power. Nothing too much, but it's a start." Sonny reported. Corso sighed.
"I'm sure you'll manage eventually." He said. Sonny smiled.
"Thanks Corso, I really appreciate the confidence. Now, go out and find Micro Ice. They might want to get rid of him." Sonny said. Corso nodded as his normal eye darkened.
"I'll find him and get him out, no matter what." He said. Sonny nodded.
"Just get yourself and Micro Ice safely back to Genesis, we will take things from there." He said. Corso saluted, then ended the transmission. After a quick briefing, the team spread out to search for the missing Snow Kid.
It was bitter cold. Micro Ice tried for hours to free himself, to no avail.
Where were his abductors taking him? He had no idea since he had been tossed into the back of the truck they drove in. How did they even find him? Was he being tracked? He was cold, his fingers felt frozen. It felt like they drove for hours. He knew what they wanted from him, but he didn't have it anymore. Corso did. He just hoped the man could help him.
"Any sign of him at all?" Corso was starting to lose patience with his crew. The cold didn't help. They searched for almost six hours and still no trace, even with two groups searching.
"We can't find him anywhere." One of the Pirates reported. Corso sighed.
"Return to the ship, Team Two will take over. He can't have just vanished into thin air.." He said.
The Pirate saluted before Corso cut the transmission. He brought up a map of the area. They searched over half of it. He decided to come along this time. He got his essentials ready. He preferred field work, anyway. Corso grabbed an extra grappling hook and was off.
He knew this place. It wasn't the Astroport, it was too small and secluded. This was where the Mice Delight shipments he delivered came in. From the window in the office where he was now held, he could see the boxes being unloaded from the big cargo ship. He wished he could call his friends, maybe Artie would have known what to do.
Corso finally managed to lock on to Micro Ice's signal. He was still far away. Good thing his eye had night vision, it came in handy as he rode on his snowmobile. He came across a secluded shipping yard. This was the place. He checked the area. Whatever they did, it wasn't legal. He left his snowmobile and went on foot. Once closer, he hid in what small vegetation there was. Heavy patrol duty for a simple shipyard. Corso grinned. He was in his element. He moved silently through the snow. He pulled up a map of the area on his transmitter. He connected to Micro Ice's signal inside, so he knew where he was. Now he needed to find a way in.
For such a small operation, it was heavily fortified. He remembered seeing that before. Back in the army… He noticed the tall ship that was docked. Corso made sure to secure footage for investigation. The ship looked familiar, but he could not put his finger on where he had last seen it.
Like a shadow, Corso moved into the area. It didn't take too long before he found the place he was looking for. Corso used a tiny mechanical fly, to get a closer look into the room. There, Micro Ice was gagged and tied to a chair.
Corso silently approached the door. The guard was quickly taken out with a dose of knockout poison. Corso had the next syringe ready as he made his way inside the dark room. Micro Ice did not even notice him. The kid was scared out of his wits. Corso tried to not scare him too much as he cut the ropes and removed the gag.
"Easy Micro Ice. It's me. Let's get you out of here." He said as he removed the gag. Micro ice nodded.
"I'm so glad to see you Corso. They know I had the items. Are they safe?" He whispered. Corso nodded, and put a finger to his lips. He led Micro Ice out silently, over to where he had hidden his snowmobile.
"Try not to trip any alarms." He warned. Micro Ice nodded. As soon as Micro Ice was secure in front of him, Corso started the engine and silently took off. Soon enough, he could hear the alarm going off at the compound.
"They figured out I'm gone." Micro Ice said. Corso just sped up. The more distance between them and the others, the better. Soon enough, lasers were fired. "I don't want to get hit with one of those."
"Don't remind me." Corso said through gritted teeth. He had no intentions of getting caught. They weren't far from The Black Manta.
"We'll drive into the ship, be prepared for a quick take off and deploy stealth mode the minute we're on board." Corso reported to Stevens.
"Just hurry up and don't get shot." Stevens said.
"We'll be there in a few minutes, get ready to leave." Corso requested as he picked up speed.
In front of them, they could see the Black Manta with the loading ramp open, Corso pushed the snowmobile in high gear and smashed into a padded wall in the hold. He was quick on his feet.
"Close the ramp, we're out of here." Corso ordered. They could feel the blasts hit the Black Manta as the pursuers approached, but they managed to fly away before they were caught. Corso looked at Micro Ice.
"Call your mom and tell her you're going to Genesis. Sonny has some questions for you." He said. Micro Ice again just nodded despondently. It worried Corso. Corso took him to the command center, where Micro Ice called his mother. He himself withdrew to the Captain's cabin and called Sonny, dead tired.
"You found him?" Sonny asked.
"Yeah. He's physically alright, but he's rather shocked by the entire situation." Corso reported. "Not exactly used to it." Sonny nodded.
"Inform Mom Ice of the next steps, and then get some rest. You look like you need it.." Sonny said mildly.
"Let's get some alone time once I'm back, I found a few things that we need to look at." Corso said as he transferred the images to Sonny. Sonny noticed the identity code on the ship.
"It can't be. I know this ship." He whispered in disbelief. Corso looked at him. He didn't like what he heard.
"Sonny? What's wrong? Do you know them?" Corso commented when he noticed how pale Sonny had grown. He swallowed.
"I might. I just really hope I'm wrong."
A/N: Who are these new enemies? Or are they old enemies? What has Micro Ice gotten everyone into? Guess we'll find out later.
Thank you Paranoidgirl, for the amazing work you do, and the inspiration you give me through your inputs and changes to my chapters.