AN: Since the music video link that inspired the story was looking all weird even when I tried using the html part, I moved the link to my profile page.
Same disclaimer found in the first chapter...
Chapter Two
Vela darted into the nearest dark corner when a sound echoed behind her. The blip on her scanner was a man following Zanir.
"Who's there?" Zanir had turned midway at the noise, but he was immediately subdued by a taller, stockier individual with knowledge of close-quarters fight training.
Zanir struggled fiercely and tried to scratch the attacker's face. There was an angry bellow from the attacker, followed by a sickening snap of a broken neck.
"Zanir? Come in, Zanir." A gravelly male voice filtered through Zanir's communicator. The boxy unit was on the ground, discarded during the brief struggle.
Vela observed the scene with passive eyes. There was no shortage in the body count working for the Drule Empire. Her training and subsequent profession had drilled away any feelings of compassion.
"Oh, be silent!" The attacker's voice was metallic in tone as if he was using a voice changer to disguise his real voice. The man kicked the destroyed communicator and soon silence reigned. He swiveled sharply, casting a suspicious glance at the empty dark corner where Vela stared back. The masked man peered at her as if she wasn't in shadow mode, giving her the chance to fully examine him. He was covered from head to foot with only his eyes visible. There were no markings or identifiable insignia on his clothing, which was a very plain black. She did see the rip in his mask, but the man had quickly turned away from her, realizing his identity could be uncovered if he didn't adjust his mask straight away. The man carried his misgivings while turning back to stare at that corner. His instincts warned him he wasn't alone, but there was no one else there. He stepped away from Zanir's lifeless prone body, thinking that whoever was here might make a move.
None came.
He was certain he was being watched, yet there were no cameras installed at the junction, which was why he had chosen this section for the ambush. He strode back to where he came, straining his ears for unwanted sounds. He pretended to stop on his way back but not even his ploy stirred any would-be witness. The man neared the foot of the stairway. On the wall, his finger traced the selected old runes. Under his touch, the runes glowed, activating the command to part the floor of the well at the center just above the staircase. When nothing else happened, he climbed the stairs and the mouth of the well slid to close again.
Disengaging her shadow mode, Vela became visible. She inspected the wall in earnest. The set of runes the man used was another sequence and she was thankful she had made a recording a few minutes ago in order to exit the tunnel later. She examined the rest of the wall. It was filled with pictoglyphs. Those she could easily discern were five lions and a giant robot towering over people depicted either with their arms up or drawn in mid-dancing around the robot. The images then showed the robot sailing through the star field but always returning to Arus. The next set of images held the wars - figures either lying on the ground or shielding each other futilely against blaster rays. Vela scrutinized an elaborately drawn battle on the next wall. These pictoglyphs covered a big portion with various scenes happening simultaneously. It caused her eyes to roam. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the middle figures and let them tell the story.
At the center Voltron was pictured going head to head with a Drule Robeast, one after another. There was an armada of Drule ships hanging in the background and blasting the planet's surface. By the lower section of the wall, foot soldiers tracked by the hundreds invaded homes, then out from these images several Drule soldiers towered over the rest. A quizzical frown crossed her face as she studied the representation closely. There were a handful of Drule soldiers etched taller with deep outlines, giving the impression that these Drule soldiers were more important than the rest.
"Of course," she realized. During a Drule occupation of a planet, one of the things they would later set up was a spy ring. She followed the images until she came to a set of pictoglyphs depicting again the heavily etched Drule soldiers but this time they were with a small ring of people. The Drule at the center of the ring had its arms out. Vela noticed the same stances in the next groups.
"So these Drule agents were the contact assigned to Arus," she muttered, sitting on her haunches, gazing back at the whole wall. This was the history of the spies on this planet. She swiveled her light to the last portion of the representation. Now, the Drule agents were depicted standing at the center of the ring with both arms up holding a big eye. The other groups were the same, and on the final image it showed the planet surrounded by those eyes.
"Now, what does that mean?" she mused and chose to take a recording of the whole wall for later study. Vela figured the man would still be waiting for her above ground when she completed the task and came to decision to settle in one corner. But before she could make herself comfortable, hurried footfalls echoed in the passageway. She hastily tabbed a control to re-engage her shadow mode.
The two men were flying up the stairs after they had activated the command on the runes. Vela followed them and stepped to the side when she neared the top. The two men wore identical hoods and wore face masks, too. She carefully started to give these men some distance.
"Whoever was the intruder, he's gone now." The man with a gravel voice told his co-conspirator when he had completed his scans, but there was something else he wanted to try. He reached into his jacket pocket.
"The cleaner never struck this close." The slighter framed man made a sweep of the surroundings with his searchlight. "He knew the ones in Lazar and now us." He was surprised to see his companion had taken out two marble-sized sensors from their nestled container.
"Bring your light over to the right, Havran, to where the slabs are."
The beam was stronger than an ordinary visorlight which gave the user a view at least 10 feet. The passage of the light fell squarely on Vela's face, heading to the direction of the broken slabs which were situated to the right of the well. She remained unconcerned and continued the slow retreat. Yet the light shining on her face hadn't moved and it made her apprehensive. With the help of her visor scope, her vision zoomed to see what the other man had in his hand. It looked like a tracking scanner. Still she wasn't worried. Even if it was tracking for heat signatures, the features of her field uniform would bounce a false reading back to the receiving unit. Vela increased her audio pick up.
"Nothing on the scanner but I feel there's someone out here."
Vela tensed. She couldn't make any hasty movements on loose gravel; they would immediately know her position. Both men had jumped down and were advancing to her hiding spot. It was unnerving as she observed the men. They were as stealthy as she was. No lose stones crunched under their boots, which meant they had training. Vela knew she could easily dispatch them, but she needed the men alive to lead her to the Drule contact assigned in this sector and gather whatever else was in Maahox's grand scheme of things after Kala's demise.
"Havran, switch off the light now."
Havran did as he was told, plunging the area into darkness. The moon had hidden behind dark clouds. Automatically, Vela's visor switched to night vision and the tableau changed to a harsh, eerie, green color before her eyes. She had been inching further away just as the men were advancing toward her.
She read their postures.
They were ready for a fight.
"I know you're out here, Cleaner. I can feel you."
"Fellin, if this is indeed the Cleaner, we need to leave." Havran tried to persuade his colleague.
"Afraid to face us?" Fellin, the gravelly voiced man, flicked his wrist and two small devices launched in midair toward Vela's position.
Vela carefully inched backward just as a warning flashed across her visor. The two devices were trying to decloak her system but were fried even before it managed to analyze her systems. She needed to get out of here before *her* identity was revealed. With all the loose stones and gravel, it would be easy for the men to detect and catch her, but it was chance she had to take.
"Neutralizing my own tracers tells me you're definitely NOT from around here."
In devilish synchronicity, Fellin and Havran charged to where the intruder would be. Vela timed her sprint. She reached the nearest slab, and since it was leaning at an angle that enabled her to launch herself back at the men still coming towards her, she delivered a whipping kick to each of their faces. The painful contact elicited angry outbursts from the men as they both fell to the ground, both gasping to clear their vision from the sudden, if invisible, blows.
Vela, now perched on top of the broken wall, observed the men on the ground as a new voice cut through the darkness.
"Fellin, Havran! Did you find him?" Another hooded head popped through the well. He leaped down and shined his light at the groaning men still on the ground, clutching their heads from the pain.
"We'll deal with the Cleaner, later. We have Zanir's body to take care of." He helped them up and both men staggered back to the secret well.
Vela leaped down from her temporary perch and resumed her trek back to town. Tonight was a fruitful surveillance. She could use the information during her deep cover mission back at the constabulary.
She checked her chronometer. The neighborhood would soon wake up in five hours. She needed to get home quick.