NOTE:::: I apologize for the late update; there had just been issues in my personal life lately that has called a lack of time in writing. THIS IS the LAST UPDATE till JUNE.

Chapter 5

Sometimes Plans Fail

They we're going to die. Todd couldn't help but think these thoughts as they flew with the army of ships and towards a red spec which he assumed would be the planet they would be attempting a rescue on. The Starjammer's mock space ship flew close to theirs and maintained even speed; he himself was more stressed by Mika's expression. Todd was certain he had no idea what he was doing and was more aware to the fact that Lance was just holding things and not flying at all. Fred was reciting a poem or limerick under his breath as his eyes were jammed shut. Todd couldn't see his other teammates from where he sat but he looked to his left towards Nature who was currently looking at her hands. He assumed she was thinking about her powers and what to do with them once they reached the planet, her hands were shaking. He didn't want to ask her why; it dawned on him that even through the Brotherhood was way out of their league on this…. Nature and Mika had never even been in an actual battle like they had back on earth. Todd felt a little more prepared in comparison, he had battle training… the rest of the Brotherhood did as well. He held Nature's hand and continued to look forward towards where they were flying.

Meanwhile on their set destination; Zodiac was shoved back in her cell. She was silent in her own thoughts, realizing she should have just kept her mouth shut. She sat on her rock chair and focused on the cracking pavement. She was a mixture of emotions over information she'd received. Her mind flashed back to Vantragood's rants about the violence and the reasons behind the war. Which she already knew was a lie, she didn't know how, but it was. She knew her mother had said Animite was a peaceful planet and that wasn't the picture Vantragood was trying to paint. She was angry, not at her mother so much, but at herself. She shouldn't have stormed out in anger, it hadn't been a level headed reaction… she should have questioned, argued, demanded to know more. Instead here she was in an alien prison cell trying to figure out the truth… which she had already told Vantragood he was a liar… she was acting like she knew more than she did.

"Zodiac?" it was Hephzibah's voice, "Are you alright?"

"I don't know anything…" said Zodiac, staring at her dirty gold boots.

"That seems to be your theme," said Hephzibah, Zodiac groaned, "But there's good in that."

"How is there good in not knowing anything?" said Zodiac as she climbed back up to the small opening, "I have no idea who I am, where I come from, and how much of my life wasn't just all deception… and Vantra- whatever his name is has told me more about that then my parents… but I don't even know what to believe… how is any of that good?"

"Because you can make your own conclusions rather than being told what to believe," said Hephzibah casually, "You can be your own person… not what someone want you so be….so far I see you are very passionate…. Otherwise you wouldn't care so much about this place you've never been."

"I wish…" Zodiac sat down again, "I wish I knew more though, maybe I could do more…. I mean I don't even know what I'm capable of….."

"You'll have to find out," said Hepzibah, Zodiac heard her hop back down into her cell.

Zodiac stared at her feet and then her hands. The nylon vee gloves had tears and dirt on them… and pin holes. She thought back to the concert again and back to her spikes and electrical charge. It always seemed that her body knew what to do without her telling it too, like it always knew more than her. She remembered when she fell in the water and how she'd tried to swim but simply sunk. She put her hands where the gills had sprung from that day, the first time she'd thought she was a mutant. Her fingers wrapped around her necklace and she began playing with it. She thought about her family and friends, especially her mother who'd given her the necklace when she was nine. The last words t her mother had been snarky and angry… what if she never saw her again. She looked back at her hands and tried to imagine the spikes again like at the concert…. Animal traits is what she had, gills for breathing, thick wet scales for fire, spikes like a porcupine for protection… or a puffer fish, electrical charges…. Why did it only work in distress? She tried to make the spikes happened again, imagined the gills, heck she even imagined fur on her arms.. anything.

There had to be a way to make this work, maybe it could somehow bide her time if not get her out of here. She tried thinking back to the situations again, imagining them in detail; maybe if she focused enough she could trick her own mind. She visualized the water and sinking, her necklace getting caught on the rocks and causing her to gasp at the strain and take in water. She had felt her neck on fire then as she yanked the necklace off the gills had come. She imagined the small fire a few months ago, and then the concert. She remembered the squeezing voltage pressure, the appendages knocking off one of her boots and almost suffocating her before her necklace had fallen off… Zodiac froze.

She felt a rush of unease come over her as she played with the necklace again and pulled it off. She looked at the thick and dense wooden beads; the main charm was a large wooden bead with jade on it. She remembered when she got it and her mother had told her to never take it off. She dropped it and watched it slide on the gravel and slate. She hoped it was all a coincidences, she really did but she stared at her hands again and looked at her arms. She imagined the porcupine quills again and with a sharp but quick pain, there they were. She was shaking with anger but took calm breaths. She wasn't going to focus on her anger and why her powers had only ever been sporadic.

"Has she ever told me the truth," said Zodiac to herself.

"Are you okay dear?" it was Hephzibah again; Zodiac looked up and felt the strange itch as the quills disappeared.

"I don't know yet," said Zodiac, she stared around to room and then back at her hands, what else could she do?

Lance was trying to think of a more detailed plan, anything, wondering if they had planned this better they could have gotten a layout or something. For once in his life he wished Summers was here, it made him physically ill to think that, but he was an excellent strategist… and he would never in his life tell him that. He looked back at his teammates as they large planet came into view; it was dead silent in the ship as they landed in the fleet strip. It was dark and darkly lit as they sat in the ship watching soldiers head in a file line towards the giant building that made up most of the planet it seemed.

"They kinda look like bug armor," Lance jumped as Todd's voice came in his ear.

"Okay, right now… NO one will sneak up on anyone in this group, got it!" said Lance, as everyone stood up, he turned back towards the window, "EEee!"

"Hey it's the Starjammers," smiled Todd as three armored and disguised soldiers waved at the ship in front of them before heading towards the door as Nature opened it.

"Okay, so we have a better plan," said Corsair, he sighed, "You see after we talked about it….. we know what to do… you all don't."

"We don't want to die," said Pietro quickly, "If you tell me where they are, I'll pick them up and we'll get out of here in five minutes."

"We don't know where they are," said Ch'od, "They'd be in somewhere in prison area but that's over a thousand units spanning four stories underground."

"Okay we get Hephzibah first; she has a location device that we're picking up signal on now that we're in range…. Then we have her sniff out your friend. You all head back to the ship and wait for us or you can join us in sabotaging the weapons," said Corsair, Lance knew his stressed look matched his fellow teammates, Corsair sighed, "I'll draw up plans."

The last guard walked passed the end of the securest cells in the prison wards. He could hear pacing and crying as he shoved food under the door, glancing inside to check on the prisoners. Hephzibah growled from where he could see glowing silver eyes in the back of the cell. He glanced in on the crying girl on the other side of her and then towards the newest prisoner. He looked in the cell but didn't see the prisoner but a small pile of clothing in the corner. He looked to try and see if she had moved around the corner. He cursed in an undistinguishable language. He opened the cell and looked inside, he felt a burning sting in his neck right under the armor. He spun around and looked but still he saw nothing but as he felt a sickening feeling and his eyes began to cloud, a young women appeared from the rocks just as everything went black. What a crappy first day at work.

Zodiac watched as the large guard hit the ground and she relaxed so the spike on her hand would fade. She'd been lucky this guards sight must have been terrible because her attempt at blending had been horrible even with all the focus she had. She peered around the door corner to see the final guard leaving and locked the door behind her to at least delay the guard when he eventually came too. She looked at the strange key he'd had in his hands, she assumed it was the key since it locked the door. She was shocked at how well this plan was going since she, Hephzibah, and the voice from the other wall had come up with it in a half an hour.

"Nice work, dear," came Hephzibah's voice, Zodiac unlocked the door to her cell.

Zodiac was taken aback by the women who came out of the door. The eyes was the only thing she'd really been able to see and white hair, up close she was tall and intimidating for sure. Zodiac would have been more afraid under other circumstances, but the uneasy feeling fell away as she heard noise coming. She sprinted towards the other cell quickly and unlocked the cell that held Hephzibah's attempted rescue mission and the voice's cell. A small blonde girl in clothes that reminded Zodiac of a renaissance fair came out of the cell closest to Hephzibah and with a growl from the feline women as a tall women with orange pupiless eyes with dark markings around them, and feather likes hair stepped out of the other cell. Something about her reminded Zodiac of a bird, she spoke in a different language but Zodiac understood the message in her head, it was less clouded without the necklace blocking her.

"We need to go," said the bird women in Zodiac's mental translation, there was an L in her name but Zodiac couldn't understand her.

"Guards," said Hephzibah as the sounds of footsteps got closer; the four took off down the opposite stair well.

Pietro zipped down the stairs to check if the area was clear, he could see figures heading up the opposite stairwell and ran to alert the others. Soon the two groups began running and checking cells, Corsair was holding the device that Hephzibah must have activated, but he looked confused as he looked in an empty cell. This confusion was short lived when Nature managed to spot Zodiac's broken necklace on the floor near the unconscious guard once Pietro had manipulated the door.

"Sooooo they apparently escaped?" asked Todd, there was a long paused silence.

"We're going to have to find them," said Corsair and they were off.

"This mission is ridiculous…." Grumbled Lance as they headed off towards the stairwell and right into oncoming guards, apparently they'd been alerted.

"We should know better, yo… we never win," sighed Todd.

TO BE CONTINUED