Thankyou for reading guys. I am really thankful… Before I begin to write I would like to say that I am under a lot of pressure and problems. What, with exams after exam, assignment after assignment and stories in progress and my internet connection and computer malfunctioning like crazy I can't seem to get any break…..

I am so sorry, if this chapter turned out lame…

And please read my Author's Note at the end of the story.

Literally Out Of This World

crystal-mist

Chapter 9

Infiltration

Air bubbles escaped and floated to the surface. At time they stuck on the cool surface of the glass or at times they would just dissipate into nothingness. It was cold; it was freezing. The liquid was thick and mucky and it smelt horrible. But Alice Gehabich was forced to close her eyes and take all the excruciating pain without protest.

She opened her eyes a little. Her glittering eyes fell on the glass tank that she was imprisoned in. Wires were attached on various parts of her body as the scientists made studies and recorded each reading. She was suspended in a curious bluish fluid.

She wasn't made of stone, but each and every one of the people there treated her as an inferior animal that only contributed to their 'research'.

'Masquerade, why won't you face me? If you did then we could have got everything over with.' She thought to herself desperately.

Suddenly there was a loud bleeping noise. Her eyes fluttered open in shock as she gazed at the flashing red lights and the loud siren. She also felt an immediate surge of shock emanating through her body. She would have screamed if only her mouth wasn't tied up.

Through the thick walls of her glass prison she could hear muffled voices.

"Intruder alert." cried one of the guards.

"It is spaceship 20456… It is approaching our HQ at illogical velocities."

"What is the meaning of this?" shouted Masquerade's hologram.

"By my calculations, this is probably a rescue mission." answered one of the scientists.

"Fire the missiles." commanded Masquerade, anger flooding his voice.

Hoards of missiles were fired at the approaching aircraft…But the spaceship evaded them all very skillfully. The monitors played the video again and again. Alice knew that flight pattern very well.

'William, what do you think you are doing?' she tried using telepathy but immediately another bolt of electricity passed through her body.

Before she knew what happened next, she passed out.

Shun sat in a seat, nervously. This certain ride was worse that any rollercoaster he had ever ridden on.

He held on to the handle desperately, trying to hold back the urge he felt to puke.

After the wild ride, the aircraft was brought to land in a kind-of cave. William briefed him through the plan.

William held a little rod in his hand. He popped in open, it was a sword.

"I believe you know how to use one of these?" asked William hopefully. Shun nodded and they started making their way into the well-protected building.

There were a variety of robots. Shun was glad of his ninja training. It really came in handy.

There was a ruckus of clanging as metal crashed against metal. Everything happened in lightning speed. Shun could feel blow after blow hit him, but he also struck out deadly blows.

He and William made their way through the hallway as fast as their opponents would let them.

It was tiring; Shun could feel that his left shoulder was disjointed. They took a quick break and William helped him relocate it. The Earthling scrunched his eyes as the sudden pain shot through his body in a flash of red.

"All good." said William in a self-satisfied tone. He then injected a strange substance into Shun and smiled as he explained. "That will make your reactions at least ten times faster and your recovering capacity phenomenal... You remember the stuff I gave you during your recovery? It will make you stronger…You will be faster and swifter than any Earthling would have dreamed."

Shun stood up and stretched a bit. "I am ready now." The both of them nodded at one another.

Very soon they reached another hallway. This one had dozens of killer machines and even some Neptunians who wielded weapons.

A long, tiring battle stretched on. From the corner of his eyes William noticed the only entrance closing itself. He immediately took hold of Shun by the collar and yanked him out of the door. Shun just managed to slide out of the small crack that was left.

William was smiling at him. "Go on without me. I will take care of everything here."

"But William-."

"I said go!" yelled William as the door completely closed and the only thing that was left was the sound of clanging metal.

Shun could find no other option so he continued running in the direction they were previously heading. As he was running he couldn't help but thinking.

That last scene; how cliché was that? A hoard of enemies attacking; one of the teammates sacrificing himself for the greater good; the teammate smiling and asking the other to take care of the 'job'. Way too old school, in too many movies and stories.

But Shun couldn't help but admit that it felt horrible when it actually happened in reality.

He shook his mind free of all thoughts as he came across some more opponents and defeated them as well…

At last he came to a door, a very sophisticated metallic one. He took out a device that William had given him and attached it to an open port. The machine configured the password and Shun was granted access.

He stormed into the room. A lot of people in white coats looked at him in horror. Shun's eyes fell on a large glass tank that was in the middle of the room. It had bluish liquid floating in it.

But….it was empty.

"Where is Alice?" he asked in a stern tone.

A woman stood up. She was Masquerade's deputy. "That is none of your business." She said as she wielded her gun and shot directly at Shun. He had no time to react. The bullet pierced him on the left side of his chest.

He held his side and blood immediately stained his hands. But instead of falling to the ground, he felt the pain diminish as it healed so quickly.

"Thank you William." He said positioning his sword in an attack stance.

"I will ask you again. Where is Alice Gehabich?"

"Bring it on then." said the deputy as she took the stance for attack as well…

End of this chapter. So how was it?

IMPT AUTHOR NOTE: - To tell you the truth, I am a bit disappointed by the way it turned out…Hm.

Well, the major reason is that I am running out of ways to turn this story around. Honestly it is like my options are slowly fading into oblivion…

I have decided to end this story in the next chapter…. I may rewrite this story when I get too embarrassed. I hope that you can forgive me.

I know I know it is not a good excuse, but I dunno what to do.