Chapter 11
Fortunately, Princess seemed determined to be found. Less than a minute later, Mark received a locator signal from the Swan on his communicator, using the G-Force Secret Code. His heart beat faster.
She was on this ship.
Quickly, the Eagle tracked the Swan to her broadcast position, silently eliminating any enemy soldiers he encountered enroute, to prevent them from raising an alarm. He didn't know who or what else was on this spacecraft, and given that he and Princess had apparently already fallen into a trap, Mark didn't want to make things any worse.
He followed Princess' signal, approaching her location, and soon he was only a few meters away, facing a large door bearing the inevitable Spectran devil head symbol. The enemy was nothing if not consistent in their interior design choices.
The Commander grinned to himself as he noted the location of air vents along the wall, indicating the placement of ventilation ducts along the corridor and beyond. Using the edge of his Sonic Boomerang as a makeshift screwdriver, the Eagle opened a nearby vent cover and slipped inside.
He continued to follow Princess' signal, moving along the air ducts toward the source of her transmission. It didn't take long for the Commander to find what he had been seeking.
Peering through a grating below him, the Eagle saw a sight that made his blood run cold.
Princess lay restrained on a metal table. Zoltar was bending over her. Whatever the expression was on his purple masked face, it was clearly one that did not impress the Swan.
"I'm so glad to have you as my 'guest', my dear." the Spectran Leader smirked. "While your Commander certainly was entertaining while in my care, he didn't quite offer the same pleasures that you do."
The Swan's face was impassive, and she did not move as Zoltar pulled out a long, barbed whip that was all too familiar to the Commander.
Fiery pain slashed through him, nearly sending his body into convulsions. It took every shred of self-control he had left not to pull himself into a fetal position, giving away the fact that he was slowly being weakened by the Spectran Leader's harsh treatment of him. Every day, the Commander was being broken down more and more. His implant was working overtime to heal him from each session of physical torture, but since the Eagle wasn't getting enough food or rest, this only ended up weakening him even more.
A fact that was unfortunately fast becoming all too evident.
A spray of salty water mixed with the smallest amount of hydrochloric acid covered his body, creating a fiery agony in his wounds, and preparing him for whatever Zoltar had next in mind. The Spectran Leader flicked a switch on a nearby control panel, and an electrical charge passed over Mark's prostrate form, conducted through the sheen of water layering his skin, to cover every square centimeter of the Commander's body. Pain such as the Eagle had never known coursed through him, his wretched form convulsing and shaking within the metal restraints that held him down to the Spectran Leader's mercies.
And Zoltar had no mercy.
Deprived of sleep for nearly a week, barely given enough nutrients to survive for the past six months, and subjected to the physical, mental, and emotional pressures of his incarceration, the Commander's resolve finally broke.
He whimpered.
It was a soft sound, and it should have been drowned out by the crackling electricity passing over his skin, as well as the thumping thrashes of his convulsing body, but the moment the whisper of noise had left his mouth, Zoltar had been at his side, his malicious cat eyes staring through his purple mask, a victorious smirk behind them.
Immediately the electrical charge ceased, and the Eagle's body flopped on the table, Mark's chest heaving as he gulped for air.
"Did you say something, Commander?" Zoltar asked smugly, bending over to carefully study the Eagle's face.
Mark stared back, his expression once more set into its standard blank countenance. He refused to let one moment of weakness send him tumbling into whatever black abyss the Spectran Leader had prepared for him.
"I see." Zoltar smirked, reaching back to his control panel. "Then, I guess I will have to begin once more…"
The Commander whimpered again.
Internally, the Eagle winced at this crack in the wall he had carefully set up around himself. Instantly, he was flooded with shame at this involuntary show of weakness.
But the damage had been done.
"Excellent." sneered Zoltar. "You are ready, Commander."
Mark shuddered visibly, fearful of what his tormentor had in mind.
"Tonight, I will interrogate you, before all of the soldiers at this Penal Complex." the Spectran Leader announced. "And you will answer my questions, Commander." Zoltar laughed, and the sound sent chills through the Eagle's soul.
No matter how much he resisted, Mark knew that what the Spectran Leader said was true.
Tonight, the Commander of G-Force would be forced to reveal anything that Zoltar, Leader of the Spectran Empire, wanted to know.
****
Mark swallowed nervously at the memory, before recovering himself. He was no longer subject to Zoltar's questionable mercies.
But Princess was.
"Will you answer my questions, Swan?" the Spectran Leader smirked.
"What do you think?" Princess asked coldly, her demeanor defiant, despite her restraints.
"I was hoping you would say that." Zoltar laughed viciously. "Now you force me to convince you to speak." The Spectran Leader looked straight up at the ceiling.
Straight up at the Eagle.
"But first, why don't we have your Commander join us?" Zoltar suggested smugly, pulling a nearby lever and causing the ceiling panel upon which the Commander was kneeling to fall open.
The Eagle dropped to the floor, just in time for a force field to envelop him. He slammed one blue-gloved fist against the shimmering translucent wall, but his pummeling had no effect.
"You are so predictable, Commander." Zoltar taunted him. "I caught both you and your Swan with the same trap! Do you never come up with anything new?"
The Eagle refused to take the bait, not answering his tormentor. Instead, he continued to bang his fists against the walls of his electronic prison. Unfortunately, his efforts proved to be useless.
"I knew the lure of the Hybito Drug would be too much for you to ignore." Zoltar bragged. "Of course, I had hoped that we would have longer to create more Hybito-dependant Terrans, but a million or so infants seems to be enough to get to your bleeding Federation hearts."
Mark kept his eyes lowered, doing his best to concentrate on the problem of getting free of his force field prison. But it was difficult to clear his mind with Zoltar's insidious voice sneaking in to distract him.
"Sure enough, you came to one of our factories to locate the formula for creating the Hybito Drug!" the Spectran Leader cackled.
"We care about all of the Federation's citizens!" the Eagle declared proudly. "Would that the citizens of the Spectran Empire could say the same about you!"
"How dare you?" Zoltar hissed, turning his malevolent glare in the Commander's direction. "You, who deny us the very resources we need to exist, claim that I don't care about my people? It is you who are the source of this conflict: you who are the ones who do not care about the fate of others!"
"And now, you shall tell me what I want to know." the Spectran Leader declared, an insane light in his eyes. "I will reclaim the Earth for the Spectran Empire, and destroy this new G-Force Team you have somehow managed to cobble together!"
"Even after all of these years, you don't know us very well, do you, Zoltar?" the Swan laughed mockingly. "We would never reveal anything to you!"
"Oh, I think one of you will." the Spectran Leader hissed. "I broke the Commander's resolve, although I will admit that it took me far longer than I had anticipated. But now I know why."
Mark stared in amazement. What had Zoltar discovered? As if sensing the Eagle's unspoken question, the Spectran Leader's eyes bored into him, before he could speak again.
"The Commander refused to speak to us, because he knew his Team was alive. His greatest weakness is that he actually cares about you. He nearly killed himself in what he saw as an attempt to protect you." Zoltar revealed. "But now, the Commander will be forced to speak, to protect his Team." Mark snorted in disgust, and the Spectran Leader's eyes gleamed devilishly.
"If you don't speak, Commander, " he addressed the Eagle directly, "you know what will happen to the Swan."
Zoltar's whip suddenly flared out, lashing across Princess' exposed arms.
"Of course, I will enjoy myself even more with you than I did your Commander, Swan." Zoltar leered, his red-gloved fingers running over Princess's bare thighs and moving underneath her miniskirt. "I'm sure the Eagle will enjoy watching you scream with pleasure as I ply my whip."
Mark's head spun. No… Zoltar wouldn't… he couldn't do that to Princess…
"After all, members of the Spectran Military have standing orders to impregnate any Terran woman they encounter." Zoltar revealed. "And as the Leader of the Spectran Military, I must set a good example for my men…"
Mark's mind screamed in protest as the Spectran Leader taunted the two G-Force members, continuing to ply his whip against the Swan's flesh. But the Eagle forced these thoughts from his head.
Zoltar might be familiar with their usual strategies, their tactics, even their interpersonal relationships, but he was entirely wrong about one thing.
The Commander's loyalty to his team… Mark's love for Princess… these weren't the Eagle's greatest weakness.
They were his greatest strength.
Mark's need to help Princess was overwhelming, blocking out everything else around him. Silently, he unsheathed his weapon, his fingers flickering over the controls until he had found the setting he was looking for.
The Eagle's Sonic Boomerang, now precisely matching the frequency and polarity of the force field surrounding him, sailed through his prison walls as if they didn't exist. The wave of intense sound smashed into the back of Zoltar's neck, sending the Spectran Leader slumping to the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head. The weapon landed back in the Eagle's hand, only to be instantly thrown again at the panel that manipulated the force field. Sparks flew as the Boomerang connected with the control system, and the shimmering wall vanished. The Commander caught his weapon again, using it a third time to pry open the Swan's restraints, a loving expression on his face as he gazed at her tender smile.
They were free.