A/N: The next chapters will take place largely during "In or Out" and "Prisoners". As usual, where the script overlaps with the show, Disney owns the rights.
Chas arrived at the Central Plaza with his fiancée, making his way onto the podium. The crowd had assembled for the press conference, expecting to hear Chas making an announcement about the charity Lightningball game he was going to be a part of.
He looked over to Brie, still grinning broadly after the news she had given him. He was over the moon to know that he was going to be a father. Now more than ever, he believed in his conviction that his father should not win the race. He didn't want to consider what Corinth would be like for his child if his father had his way.
"I'd just like to keep this brief because I still have some treatment to undergo before the match." Chas said into a microphone. "I..."
"Hugh Tracker, Dome Secrets magazine." A reporter interrupted him as he shoved his way to the front. Chas didn't mind his rude behaviour; he kind of expected it from that publication. It was the kind of tabloid that reported scandal and sensationalised stories with little, if any care for those the stories hurt, or even if they were true. "Is it true that your team for the charity game is incomplete because of injuries to yourself and Corporal Hicks?"
"I can confirm that I'm not certain if I'll be medically cleared in time for Saturday's match, and to his great disappointment, Corporal Hicks has already been told he will not be ready in time, however we will be trying to find a suitable substitute in time. If I have my way, the game will go ahead as planned. However that is not..."
"Julia Reeves, Evening News. This game is expected to raise a considerable amount of money for several deserving charities. Many will be relying on the game going ahead." Another reporter from a considerably more reputable publication stated. "If it doesn't go ahead..."
"The game will go ahead; both I and Robert Taylor are determined to ensure it goes ahead." Chas replied. "The Racetrack Rockets are ready, and my own Warriors are doing everything we can to replace Corporal Hicks in time. You all have my word that the game will go ahead. However, this is not the reason I have called you here today. I have called you here to announce that after careful consideration, I have decided that I will run for the office of Mayor."
There were a few murmurs from the crowd as he said this. There had been rumours before that he had political aspirations, but he also had more than a little bit of a reputation as a playboy from his years wasting his father's money.
"It has been reported that you recently left your father's house and are currently residing on the military barracks." Hugh called out. "Is your running for Mayor merely a way of getting back at your father for throwing you out?"
"I would really rather not discuss my family, please try to keep all questions related to the campaign." Chas replied. "I respect my father's ambition; however my reasons for opposing him are not personal. I just believe that I can do a better job."
"Come on, are you honestly trying to tell us you aren't dragging your own daddy issues into the political race?" Hugh asked him.
"If there are no further questions, then I have a lot to attend to." Chas replied as several other reporters immediately began yelling out questions. The soldiers assigned to crowd control guided him off the stage and into the barracks, where Colonel Truman was waiting. Brie hugged him sympathetically.
"This was a disaster." Chas sighed. "Hugh made me look like an idiot. At this rate my dad will eat me alive."
"It'll be fine, you're a good person." Brie assured him.
"It's not like that ever mattered in politics." Chas grumbled.
"You just need a little more practice dealing with the questions." Colonel Truman said with a smile. "The press is a harsh mistress."
"I really need someone that knows what they're doing." He commented. "I have ideas; I just don't know how to get them across without them making me sound like an idiot."
"I'll help you wherever I can." He replied. Just then, an explosion was heard.
"That came from the oxygen recycling plant!" Colonel Truman yelled. "I have to get out there!"
As he left, Chas just slumped against a wall, hoping for some inspiration. He heard a sarcastic, slow clapping and turned, seeing his father approaching.
"Well you're off to an amazing start." He told him sarcastically. "You still have time to just give up."
"Just get out of here dad." He snapped.
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." He responded. "Just remember that when you watch me walk into office."
Colonel Truman went back to the Garage with the Rangers after the attack at the plant. Crunch and Shifter had done a considerable amount of damage, leaving them with a serious problem.
"It'll be at least 30 days before the oxygen recycling plant is up and running again." Colonel Truman told them. "Until then we only have the air inside the dome to breathe."
"This circumstance was considered in the design of the dome." Corporal Hicks added as he put a folder in front of them with his one uninjured arm, wincing a little in pain as he did so. "There is enough air in the dome to last for 90..."
"97 days 4 hours 43 minutes and 17 seconds." Dr. K corrected him. "Presuming the population doesn't expand within that time."
"The point is we have enough air inside the dome to last until the plant is repaired, though we cannot risk it being targeted again." Colonel Truman stated. "It is for that reason; we have taken the decision to divert all the city's surplus power to overcharge the shields." He explained. "During that time, we will be unable to lower the shields for any reason for 48..."
"43 hours 16 minutes and 12 seconds." Dr. K corrected him quickly. The others all looked at her. "What? I like to be exact."
"Well it's not like we have much reason to want to go out." Flynn replied with a shrug. None of them noticed Tenaya in the background, shifting in her seat. Venjix was not into senseless destruction, everything it did had a purpose. She knew that Dr. K was smart, but Venjix had supercomputers and high speed processors at its disposal. If she could figure out there was enough air in the dome to last until the plant was repaired, the Venjix had to know. It would make the attack on the plant pointless; they were bound to increase their defences while it was repaired. Why would Venjix want that?"
"How are we going to win...?"
"...if we keep hiding in here?" Gem and Gemma chimed in as cheerfully as usual. Colonel Truman just looked at them questioningly.
"If we're going to destroy Venjix for good..."
"...we have to get out there..."
"...and start blasting..."
"...boom..."
"...Zap..."
Dillon clamped a hand down on Gem's shoulder, while Scott reached around, clamping a hand over Gemma's mouth to shut them up. Dr. K felt a little jealousy creeping in as she saw Scott's arms around her, holding her, but got a slight smirk on her face as she realised that he was, only doing it because she annoyed him. Although she was her friend, she couldn't help seeing Gemma as competition, especially since she had already openly said that she thought Scott was attractive.
"We are fortifying the defences to maintain the safety of the dome." Colonel Truman said in an irritated tone, his grip on the folder in his hand tightening so much it started to distort and change shape. "When we overcharge the shields you won't be able to get back in."
"Meh..." Gem responded in a shrug.
"We stay in the dome and defend the city. That's the plan." He replied, sharply. Gemma finally broke free of Scott's grip and pulled up a close up scan of an area of the map.
"Well here's our plan..."
"...there's an outpost a couple of miles outside the city..."
"...we're gonna blow it up..."
"...explosions are cool..."
"...Boom...!"
"How many times do we have to ask you to stop that?" Scott interrupted the twins.
"We're outta here..."
"...see ya!" Gemma concluded. With that, they both ran out of the compound.
"I'm glad to see the rest of you have more sense." Colonel Truman commented. "We're going to overcharge the shields. You be ready for anything. The last thing we need is a panic."
Colonel Truman and Hicks left, leaving them to their duties.
"I'll be over at the orphanage." Ziggy informed them. "Tenaya, would you like to come with me?"
"Um...not right now...I feel a little unwell." She lied, hoping to get a chance to check the computers to check out her suspicions that Venjix had some ulterior motive.
"Are you alright?" Ziggy asked her with a look of concern on his face.
"Would you like me to run some tests?" Dr. K asked her. Tenaya shook her head.
"I think I must have eaten something which disagreed with me." She replied. "I'll just rest up a little and I'll be fine."
"Well there isn't much to do around here, so how about we catch that movie you wanted to see?" Dillon asked Summer. She put her arm around him and walked off with him, leaving Dr. K and Scott with Tenaya.
"I'm getting out of here for a while." Scott told them. "Maybe I can catch up to Gem and Gemma and stop them before they go."
"I'll be in the lab if anyone needs me." Dr. K told him. "We may as well enjoy the quiet period while the shields are overcharged."
As soon as she was alone, Tenaya made her way over to the computer and hacked into it quickly, checking the schematics of the city.
"Why would Venjix want the humans to increase the defences to the city?" She asked herself. "It can't get anything..."
Suddenly, her enhanced vision caught a barely visible line on the map, running out in the direction of the compound that Gem and Gemma had gone to destroy.
"That's on the geological survey map." She whispered as she pulled up the appropriate file. "It's an underwater spring, but there's something artificial in there...a pipeline, but that's way too small for Venjix to get anything into the city."
She then thought about the other end, taking a closer look at the energy readings from the other end. Having spent so long as Venjix's servant, she was familiar with the energy readings of its most powerful warriors. She recognised the warrior.
"Vacuum bot." She gasped. "That's it. Venjix isn't putting something into the city, it's taking something out! It's going to remove the air!"
She thought about this for a minute, realising she had no way to communicate with the others...with Ziggy. She had no way to warn them, in a few short minutes, they would all be trapped inside the dome.
Thinking of Ziggy, she decided she couldn't take the chance that Gem and Gemma would escape the city and destroy the Vacuum bot before the air was gone. She had a much keener knowledge of all the ways into and out of the city. She grabbed the Sonic Blaster, and used it to blow the door open, causing an alarm to sound. Dr. K just arrived in time to watch her throwing it aside and sprinting out of the Garage as fast as she could, far too quickly for her to follow.
"Where are you going?" She called out. "Tenaya!"
Turning back to the computer, she saw what Tenaya had been looking at. It was then that another warning came. She had set the computer to monitor air levels in the city. To her horror she realised saw that the level had dropped by several hours, and the plant had only been out of commission for a little under an hour.
"Rangers, this is Dr. K!" She screamed into her communicator. "The air is being sucked out of the dome from the complex Gem and Gemma have gone to destroy! You must assist them!"
Tenaya had managed to escape the city before the shields were overcharged, and was now running through the desert, heading in the direction of the complex.
Tears burned her eyes as she thought about all of the humans who had taken her in and treated her with kindness. So many people, most of what remained of the human race lived within that city. If Venjix's plan succeeded, she knew that none of them would survive.
As she drove onwards, she saw something odd. A couple of humans came over a ridge, gesturing to her. They were carrying a mishmash of weapons of varying technological levels. As they came closer, she used her enhanced vision to get a better look. The others had told her about the Dregs, and she could ill afford the time to take on any survivors. She realised quickly that they were not Dregs, but true humans. They were carrying guns ranging from a couple of blasters, a few old pistols and shotguns, obviously whatever could be scavenged from the ruins of cities.
"Get into cover!" One of them called to her. "Come with us!"
She knew that Venjix had factories out in the wastes where humans were held captive and forced to work as slaves building Grinders, patrol vehicles and other things it considered beneath its efforts. Obviously these were escapees, survivors that had scavenged what weapons they could to form a resistance movement in the hopes of finding Corinth. One of them grabbed her arm, pulling her along. "Are you trying to get caught? There are patrols all over this area!"
"Leave her!" Another called as he came into view, levelling a blaster at her. He was tall, and heavily muscular. He was wearing combat fatigues and boots, and a dusty leather jacket. She couldn't see his face, as it was covered by a helmet, including a visor and gas mask. "I recognise her, I'd know her anywhere. She's Venjix's pet cyborg!"
"I really don't have time for this!" She implored him. "I'm not going to hurt you, just let me be on my way..."
"So you can tell Venjix you've found us?" He asked her. "Not likely!"
He fired a blast at her which she managed to dodge. As one of the others levelled an assault rifle at her, she had no choice but to snatch it from him and throw him aside.
"Leave her! You won't stand a chance!" The masked man ordered them.
"None of you do!" She yelled at him. "If you know who I am, then you know what I'm capable of. I need to get going. I don't want to harm you..."
"That's just your problem then, isn't it?" He asked her. He leapt to the attack, scoring a hard kick to her face, sending her to the ground. She found herself rattled by the attack. It was powerful, so much more powerful than a human should be capable of delivering. He scored another kick, winding her and leaving her unable to fight.
"What the hell are you?" She wheezed. "You've been upgraded."
"My designation was D46." He informed her. "Of course, unlike you I escaped before I was turned into his little puppet.
He kicked her in the head once more, knocking her completely unconscious. The others crowded around her, levelling weapons her way.
"No!" He ordered them. "We need to find out what she knows. If the camp is compromised, then we need to know! Bring her!"
"Yes sir." One of them called out, as he and one of the others grabbed her, and began dragging her away. "Everyone get back to the camp. We've been exposed here for too long."
Later in the day, the Rangers returned to the Garage through the gate, narrowly avoiding being incinerated by venting propane as they went.
"You all saved us!" Colonel Truman greeted them. "I can't believe we were almost suckered in like that."
"We've since found the pipeline and shut it down to prevent Venjix trying again." Hicks assured them. "It's now secure."
"We still have more than enough air to last until the plant re opens." Dr. K told them happily.
"Where's Tenaya?" Ziggy asked her. She had relayed the information that she had gone to try and destroy the compound herself. When they arrived, there had been no sign of her. They had gone through with the mission, saving the city, but she was nowhere to be found. Dr. K looked to Dillon sadly. She could see from the look on his face that he too wanted to know where his sister was.
"I am afraid she has not returned." She told them. "She is still out there."
"I'm going back out there." Dillon announced bluntly. "We have to find her..."
"Dillon, we have no idea where to start looking." Summer told him. "Tenaya's tough, you know she is. If anyone's going to make it, then she will."
Flynn was concerned for Dillon, putting a hand on his shoulder, but he also looked across to see Ziggy, taking a seat and holding his head in his hands so that the others would not see his tears. So far he was the only one who knew how he felt about her, and he knew he had to be going out of his mind with worry. The difference was, he was going through it alone.
Tenaya came to, groaning with the pain of her beating earlier. D46 had taken her completely by surprise. She hadn't expected any of the freedom fighters to be a match for her. Of course, she didn't know that he too was the victim of Venjix's cruel experiments.
She was being held in a rocky cave, though it was clear her captor was taking no chances. Her wrists were crossed, and secured above her head by a length of strong chain, binding them to a pillar she was rested against and padlocked allowing virtually no movement. Because of Dr. K's restraining bracelet, she couldn't remove her hand, or escaping would have been a simple matter. Her ankles were also bound together with chains.
She saw D46 entering the cave, observing her thoughtfully. He came over to her, carrying a length of steel pipe.
"You're here for the camp, aren't you D45?" He asked her.
"What camp?" She asked him. He kicked her in the stomach painfully.
"Don't lie to me! You know where we are don't you?" He snarled. "Venjix knows where the resistance is in hiding."
"You have to believe me; until I met you I didn't even know there was a resistance!" She responded in laboured gasps. "I came to destroy a Venjix outpost..."
"Liar!" He screamed, punching her hard in the face. "I remember watching them take you to serve your master..."
"I was treated with nothing but cruelty!" She snapped back. "I was tortured day and night! I want to see it destroyed..."
This time it was the pipe which was swung aggressively into her ribcage.
"These people here depend on me to keep them safe. I am the only hope any of them have of survival!" He told her. "Those I've freed fight to free those they can."
"The Rangers will help you!" She told him. "I came from Corinth. I live with them now. I..."
"No one knows where Corinth is." He told her as he slapped her aggressively. "Now tell me if you know where the camp is! Has Venjix...?"
"Venjix doesn't know anything about your location." She interrupted him. "I told you, I didn't even know you existed..."
He slapped her again, cutting her off. She just glared at him.
"Please, just tell me if the outpost was destroyed." She begged him. "If it wasn't, everyone in Corinth is going to die!"
"We saw an explosion." He told her. "I guess that's you happy then. Of course all that could just be a diversion."
"You know if you aren't going to believe me, what's the point in asking the questions?" She asked him sarcastically. D46 elbowed her in the face hard, before getting up and turning to leave.
"I just need to be sure." He told her. "I'm going to bring some more...refined tools. I will get to the truth eventually."
He went outside the cave, walking past two guards standing there with rifles.
"You, go and check with the perimeter sentries. If we have to get out of here I want to know about it." He barked at one of them, at which he ran off. "You, make sure no one goes in that cave. I don't want anyone other than me going in there. She's too dangerous."
He looked around at the makeshift shelters and tents all carefully nestled and camouflaged into the cliff face to prevent them being found, and knew how many lives depended on him. Men, women and children all lived in these cliffs from day to day, uncertain of how long they would survive. It was a bleak existence, but it was all they could hope for. They had no way of finding Corinth, and even if they did, there were scores of people here. They had no vehicles capable of carrying them to the city. A soldier rushed over to him, offering him a water canteen, which he refused politely.
"Sir, do you think it's possible she's telling the truth?" He asked the leader of this colony.
"My brothers and sisters can't be trusted, that's why I destroyed all the ones that weren't zombies." He told him. "I need to be certain. There are too many lives at stake."
"What if she is telling the truth?" The soldier asked him.
"Like I said, my brothers and sisters can't be trusted." He replied. "I'll put her out of her misery like I did to the others."
