Trapped

Chapter Six: Return to Lepidopterra

I groaned and sat up. A bump awakened me. I was in the back of a vehicle, probably traveling through outer space. I looked at the heavy-duty chains that connected me to the wall of the hold.

A faint white light attracted my attention again, as they did a few cycles ago.

Gamma.

"Gamma?"

His head shot up and stared at me, emotionless. In the time I knew him, I could read his emotions.

"You're awake. Good." He looked back down. "I was afraid I was going to have to leave you here."

"I don't understand. Where are we going?"

He sighed before answering—an oddly computerized sound. "To the Space-Age Center for Criminal Rehabilitation. There, we will be put to sleep."

"The hell?" I screamed, jumping up. That was a bad move, as a sweep of dizziness swept over me. I fell down; or, rather, was pulled down by Gamma.

"Easy now. You took a hard hit from the crash. Nearly killed you. Better safe than sorry, the authorities said. They took you anyways and away we went."

"How many..." I let the question trail off.

"All the aliens involved in what they called the Great Escape are being carted to the same exact place we are. There, we will all be killed slowly, like animals."

I growled. "Is there a way out?"

"Indeed. No machine can hold out a Galvanic Mechomorph." His lone eye began to glow brighter white, and a plasma beam destroyed the chains restraining me. The cuffs—and a short proportion of the chains—remained on my arms, legs, and neck.

"Step back," he warned.

He let out another plasma beam, and another and another, before the metal walls finally gave up and surrendered, bursting out and allowing the vacuum of space to take the air away.

We were floating in space. He was lucky I could breathe in space. We both turned to watch the remains of the ship—and its robotic pilots—blow up in space, lighting the darkness it was.

"I am humbly returning to Galvan B and Prime," he announced, turning his back to me. "It's been nice to meet you, Princess Ciron."

"How did you—" I started.

"I know everything about you, Ciron. I am a Mechomorph. It's how we are."

"Freak," I said dryly, but halfheartedly. I smiled.

He laughed sarcastically, turning around to face me again. He held out his hand. "On Earth, a planet I have been to often, this is a sign of appreciation and respect," he told me, grabbing my hand and shaking it up and down. "I respect you more than anyone, and I appreciate that you gave me a second chance in life."

"What do you mean?" He started to fly off. "Wait! Will I ever see you again?"

He turned back to me one last time, before uttering one faint word.

"Maybe."

"But I'll die out here!" I protested, even though I knew it probably wasn't true.

"You'll survive. You are resilient."

And he sped off, faster than I could follow.

"You jerk!" I shouted after him, my voice echoing through space. "Leave me out here to perish while you go out with your own selfish desires! Just like—"

I froze at this. "Just like what I did to mom..."

The voice of what Gamma would say now echoed through my head. "Ah, now we're getting somewhere, my dear."

I shook my head. The memory of him was to be forgotten. Nothing more.

I saw a familiar ship pass by slowly. They stopped as they saw me.

"Miss, are you alright?" a Lepidopterran asked, stepping out of the ship.

I took on the lost little girl act and shook my head no. "Come on, get in," he urged, pulling me inside.

This was one of the newer ships on Lepidopterra's craze to explore the cosmos, I thought.

"How in the universe did you get out in space?" another Lepidopterran asked, turning from the controls.

"I don't remember..." I said.

They shrugged it off. A few hours later, we arrived in a docking bay not far from the Royal Hive. It's like a palace.

I discreetly exited the ship. The crewmen would probably alert the authorities of me, but I would not be there for questioning. No, I had more important things to do.

"Why should I care about the problems of the Lowest?" I heard a voice thunder through the halls of the Royal Hive. "If this disease is as bad as you say, then the Lowest will be eradicated in a few cycle progressions."

It was my father.

"B-But Your Majesty—" an uncertain voice said.

I peeked around the door to the Royal Chamber. There he was. My father. Using the 'I Can Kill You' voice I had hear him use ever since I had murdered my mother. Two other Lepidopterrans were on the ground, cowering in fear.

"The Lowest have feelings as well, sir!" one of them said, showing remarkable courage. "We can't just sit around and do nothing while a disease kills off our pre-evolved brethren!"

"You dare to call those creatures brethren in my hive?" my father thundered. "You dare to defile the rules I have so nimbly placed since the death of the Queen?" He flew into the air, ready to strike at them. Murders like this from the king were not uncommon.

I quickly flew into the room, grabbing both of his arms with amazing speed (if I do say so myself) and threw him aside, using all my strength to slam him into the wall. He slowly picked himself up, and noticing me, his anger melted away to disbelief.

"Ciron..." he whispered, coming forth. I backed further away, standing in front of the two Lepidopterrans he was about to execute, ready to defend them with my life. "How—how can you be here? You were sentenced to life on Incarcecon. Do not tell me they let you out this early for good conduct!"

I shook my head. "They didn't."

"Didn't?"

"Couldn't."

"Couldn't?"

I nodded again.

"You...escaped?"

I nodded. There was no use in lying.

"I will except all punishment for my actions regarding the escape...as long as it doesn't include Incarcecon," I said simply.

"Why did you do this?? Now I will have the Galactic Enforcers and Authorities on my back for the rest of my life! How could you do this?"

"Cut the drama, dad," I snapped. "You know as well as I do that yelling won't do you any good. You never could control that temper, could you?" I wagged one of my fingers at this. "Tsk, tsk, father." I glared. "End this. End this crap with the Lowest versus the Highest. It's unnecessary. Not to mention stupid."

My father stepped back. "What say do you have? This is my planet. My empire. You are a banished princess."

"Dad, cut the crap and let me finish. As I was saying, Incarcecon did me no good. In fact, it has indeed made me stronger—I have been one of the first to escape...alive."

"One of the first?"

I lowered my head. "I lost a good friend there."

"A friend?"

"What are you talking about?" a mechanic voice asked, making my heart jump in joy. "I am right here."

I spun around to see Gamma. He was being held by two guards. They had his hands behind his back, tightly restrained. A wooden brace was around his neck, so he couldn't escape using technology. The wood was a natural de-amplifier for machinery.

"Gamma!" I flew over to his, blowing past my dad. "What—what are you doing here? I thought you were going to Galvan B?"

He shook his head. "I was shunned by my own world. So I decided to come here and see how things were going with you and..." He glanced up at my father. "...him."

"This is your friend?" my father asked as the guards released Gamma, seeing I knew him well and he knew me. The neck brace remained.

"Yes," I said blatantly.

"You made a friend on Incarcecon? A factual friend?"

"Yes..."

"Your first friend?"

"If I may interject, she already said we were acquaintances," Gamma said, stepping forward to face my father in the eye. "If that is a problem, we will leave."

"Leave!" was my father's response. "I don't care! I don't want two felons, escaped from Incarcecon, living under my roof." He looked at me with pure hatred. "Especially a murderer."

"Well," I said, glaring back equally, "if you want us to leave, you're going to have to fight me."

"Fight you? Why would I fight my own daughter?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was a murderer?"

He growled. "Don't sass me, young lady. I will not fight you alone."

A plasma blast ricocheted off his back, causing him to fall forward. Gamma glared at him, his one eye glowing red.

"Then fight us both," he suggested in an icy tone.

It had become a double fight now. This was treachery of the highest order on Lepidopterra, but treachery was my forte. I knew it well.

"Two against one?" my father's thunderous voice asked as he flew into the air. "I guess this is what outlaws call 'fair'."

"We are not outlaws, sir," Gamma said fiercely. "We are merely creatures spurned by our own kind, and we do not take kindly to rejection."

He shot another beam of plasma as I used my natural abilities and slammed into my father's body with my own, sending him across the room. The Lepidopterrans he had been screaming at were now cowering near the door, afraid of the rouge princess and malevolent Mechomorph that were now threatening their lives.

"You kill my people mercilessly!" I shouted in white anger, ramming into him. "You deserve the same fate!"

"You've killed people before," my father show back. Gamma took the hint and stepped out of the fight.

"Well, unlike you, I've learned a lesson," I shot back. "I have been rehabilitated, as well as Gamma. I see us fit to rule Lepidopterra."

"Rule? My world? You must be joking?"

I slammed into him again, as Gamma shot another, more powerful, plasma blast. The open roof of the throne room proved useful now, and my father was thrown out of it.

He was no longer a part of the Royal Hive.

I stepped to the guards blocking the exit. "Any objections?"

They shook their heads anxiously.

"Gonna turn me over to the Galactic Enforcers and return me to Incarcecon?"

They shook their heads again.

"Good." I walked slowly over to the throne and sat in it, sighing. Gamma approached and bowed.

"Your Highness," he said humbly.

"Gamma, we're friends. You don't need to do that."

"I know. I want to."

We smiled at each other. "Gamma, I'm assigning you the duty of militia officer, if that's okay with you. I trust you enough for you to protect my world."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said. "I mean—Ciron...my dear."

I smiled again. "I need to tell you something, Gamma."

"Oh?"

"The boy, with the Omnitrix...let him use it. He seems to be using it for good; your DNA will not go to waste. He might even upgrade it. Give him a chance. One day, perhaps, we'll meet him."

"If he is using my DNA for good, I see no objection in him using the Omnitrix," Gamma answered. "My old hatred for the watch has died, but not my hatred for the Galvan creator." He turned back towards me. "But the boy is good. The Omnitrix was made to be a peace maker for the universe, and so there is hope for us yet.

"That may be," I said, nodding slowly with my eyes closed. "That may be..."

"But my Queen!" one of the guards objected, catching my attention. "He is a Galvanic Mechomorph! He can't be trusted with such a high position of responsibility!"

I decided to be lenient. "I trust him more than anyone on this planet. He has helped me countless times, and has taught me a valuable lesson. Many of them."

Gamma smiled. "That's all I'm here for."

As he walked off, and one of the guards took off his neck brace, I caught the hidden meaning in his last words.

Could he have been on Incarcecon...just for me?

...Nah!...

Maybe?