Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Evil Never Wins
Chapter 2: Back To Where It All Started
After just finishing up an interview with the head of the construction site, interviewing workers, talking to what little eyewitnesses they had, and thoroughly examining the crime scene for any further evidence of the drill's disappearance, Buzz and Mira finally got a lead. A tanker driver had seen recently seen Warp's ship pass through the area.
"Are you sure it was his ship?" Buzz asked the driver, an American man with strong southern accent.
"Sure was! I saw him with my own eyes. Scary lookin' feller an' was he plowin' through here at 90 miles an hour." The driver replied as he cringed at the memory of that near death experience.
"That definitely sounds like Darkmatter. Never did have respect for any traffic laws."
Then Mira asked, "Did you happen to see which direction he was headed?"
"Yep. That-a-way!"
The driver pointed straight to the right out into vast emptiness that is space. Though they knew it was a long shot, Buzz and Mira decided follow up on it.
Zeta Quadrant Space, 1430 hours
Buzz and Mira continued to scan for any evidence of Warp Darkmatter as they flew through space.
"Anything showing up on the scans, Mira?" Buzz asked.
"Well, I've cross referenced the security feed, the traffic cams, and the eyewitness reports."
"And?"
"I've just caught on to his ion trail and have pretty good idea of where he's headed." Mira pulled up the results from her scans and displayed them on the big screen. "It's a moon. No name, just coordinates."
Buzz stared at the screen for a minute as his mind tried to access his memories. Where had he seen those coordinates before? Then he realized… "Wait,… now I remember! These are coordinates to the moon where Warp faked his death!" Buzz exclaimed.
"What?! Why would he go there? There's nothing left for him there… unless what he's looking for is on that moon!" Mira said.
"Well, whatever it is, we'll make sure Darkmatter or Zurg doesn't get it. Full power to the thrusters, Mira."
"Yes, sir!" Mira entered the coordinates in the computer and hit the throttle.
Uncharted Moon, Zeta Quadrant, 1500 hours
Buzz and Mira had just landed and gotten off their ship. Mira went to unload the moon rover from 42's vehicle bay. Buzz stood there for a minute as the memories from the day that haunted him came flooding back. The battle with the slag monster, breaking into Zurg's facility and Zurg's escape, the hunks of debris that fell onto his partner, the explosion… the betrayal.
"Buzz… we're ready to go." Buzz snapped out his trance and looked back at Mira.
"Good thinking, Mira. We'll be able cover more ground if we drive." They got in the rover and buckled themselves in.
"Buzz, are you sure you'll be okay? I know that coming here ought to bring out a sore spot." Mira said with concern.
"I'll be fine, Mira. Now let's go and look for Darkmatter. Evil waits for no one." Buzz replied. Mira looked at Buzz for a minute then started the moon rover as they started to look for any trace of Darkmatter's presence.
After driving around for several hours and finding nothing, Mira stopped the moon rover. "I don't understand! I've checked the coordinates over a dozen times! Warp Darkmatter was headed for this moon!"
All of a sudden, Buzz spotted something and motioned Mira to get down as they hid behind a nearby boulder. Buzz peeked over the edge of rocks to get a better look.
"What do you see?" " Everyone is leaving. There are Hornets everywhere and ... wait they're transporting something. A box; its very old and the marking look Tangean in origin. "
" Tangean?!" Mira suddenly began to have a worried look on her face and began to say in hushed tones, "How is this possible? They said it had been destroyed..."
"What had been destroyed? What are you talking about Mira?" Buzz whispered.
"Buzz, we need to get a better look at that box, because if that box is what I think it is... we may not be able to stop Zurg."
Buzz and Mira slowly made their way to where the mystery box was being guarded, dodging and hiding between rocks and machinery along the way.
"Ranger, you have some explaining to do. What is so dangerous about this box?" Buzz asked.
"It's not the box itself Buzz. It's what inside it. According to Tangean legend that box is said to hold the spirit of all things evil in this universe. If that box is really is the one from the legend, when its opened, it'll unleash all the dark power it has and have the potential to enslave the universe!" Mira replied. She turned her head and peeked out from behind the boulder to see the 4 Hornets that were guarding the box to get a closer look at that markings. Mira's face was then filled with horror as she hid again. It was the box that she heard of ever since she was a child. The legend was true! "Buzz, if that box gets into Zurgs possession,..."
"It won't, Mira. Not if we can help it." Buzz then gave Mira a few signals; she nodded in acknowledgement. Buzz jumped out from behind the boulder and aimmed his laser at the Hornets as the Hornets aimmed back in reply. Buzz grinned confidently; this was going to be easy. It wasn't long before they went into an all out laser fight and Buzz was doing all could to distract them. Meanwhile, Mira ghosted through a nearby rock wall and was almost had the box in her possession until...POW! A plasma blast from above prevented her from grabbing it. Mira and Buzz glanced up and then scowled when they saw who let off the shot.
"Warp Darkmatter..." Buzz said under his breath.
"The one and only. How come you always come to spoil my fun, Lightyear?" Warp smirked.
"You have no idea of how much raw power is being held in that box! The consequences would be catastrophic!" Mira shouted.
"She's right Darkmatter! That ancient Tangean box should have been left buried and out of reach where it belongs!" Buzz yelled.
That comment left Warp a bit puzzled. "Tangean? Oh really? How ironic for you Princess... Either way, Tangean or not, you two will never get by me."
Buzz scoffed in reply. "Ha! You and what army?" Warp gave them an evil grin as Buzz and Mira turned to see Hornets as far as the eye could see.
"Feel free to surrender any time." Buzz and Mira then took fire and started battling with Hornets left and right!
"Have it your way..."
Hornets and robot parts were flying every which way as they exploded or were being torn apart by Buzz and Mira. All of a sudden Buzz took a cold, hard punch to the jaw from Warp! Buzz then gave Warp a punch to the gut only to have Warp return the favor. Buzz and Warp continued to punch, claw, and wrestle each other but they knew each others moves too well and continued to struggle. Mira still came at the Hornets with full force but then the Hornets seemed to come at an endless stream to the point where it was overwhelming for one ranger to take on alone. Mira pulled out her communcator as she continued to fight them. "Attention all Rangers in the Zeta Quadrent! Requesting backup! Reques-!" Mira was then bludgeoned with a sneak attack and knocked unconscious. As he knocked Warp to the ground, Buzz spotted Mira lying on the ground motionless and was about to attack the remaining hoard of Hornets. WHACK! Buzz was then knocked out cold with Warps cold metal fist and Buzz collapsed right next his fellow ranger. Warp stood over their limp bodies for a moment to relish his victory against his foes then motioned a few of the Hornets to move the unconscious rangers. "Take them to the old lab. I know just what to do with these two."
Back at Star Command...
Booster and Tessa sat at a table at one of the Star Command Cafeterias, conversing as they ate. XR on the other hand, was now completely bored out of his hard drive. They had seen everything that Star Command had to offer and then some so he was starving some real action. Booster and Tessa ignored his sighs and continued to talk.
"So Capital Planet is really Earth? Huh. So why the name change?" Tessa asked.
"Well, so many different aliens races started to live here and Galactic Allience put their headquarters here, that they decided to rename the planet to something more unified." XR then interrupted.
"Booster, can I talk to you for a minute?" Booster nodded in response and XR led him away from the table where they were sitting.
"Do you really believe Tessas whole 'lost in time' story?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that she might... y'know, have a screw loose! She might just be part of some big scam or publicity stunt we don't know about. "
Booster gasped in shock of what his friend was saying. "You're accusing an innocent civilian of being insane and corrupt?! You disappoint me, XR."
"You guys do know I can hear every word you're saying, right?" Tessa said dryly. XR sheepishly grinned while Booster crossed his arms. Then Tessa noticed something. "Hey, whats that blinking on your wrist Booster?"
Booster looked and then he and XR looked at each other with worry. The ranger and the little robot then ran out of the cafeteria with Tessa trailing behind. "Hey! Can someone please tell me what's going on?!"
"Its a distress beacon sent by Buzz! We've got to back him up!" Booster replied. XR then added "This is strictly space ranger buisness only. No nosy teenagers allowed."
This made Tessa furious and as they came to the starship cruiser bay, Tessa was stopped by a cadet as Booster and XR passed through and got onto their ship. "Oh no! I'm not taking a backseat this time!" Tessa then proceeded to kick the cadet between the legs and storm her way through as he collapsed. "STOP THAT GIRL!" He cried as other rangers began to tail Tessa. She dodged down a corridor and as the gang of rangers turned, Tessa had vanished without a trace. Nothing but ships and a locker for tools. One ranger took lead with a few rangers in one direction to look for the little stowaway while rest went in the other direction. Once the coast was clear, Tessa emerged from her hiding spot in the tool locker and scurried over to the nearest ship she could find. As the sliding doors closed behind her, she could faintly hear Booster and XR's voices and in turn Tessa breathed a sigh of relief. Up at the bridge, Booster finished putting in the coordinates. "Ready for liftoff!" He cried as he fired up the thrusters. Uh oh... Tessa thought as she scrambled to find something to hang on to. Just in the nick of time, Tessa latched on to a nearby upright with all her might as the ship took off.
Back at Star Command, Commander Nebula just learned of Tessa's little "incident". He furiously stormed up to the observatory as he watched the ship begin to fly away. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO, BUT STOP THAT SHIP! WE CAN'T LET A CIVILIAN OUT ON A MISSION! MOVE IT PEOPLE! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Nebula barked as rangers and LGM's scrambled to their stations, but then a ranger pointed to Booster and XR's ship as he yelled, "Commander, Look! Its getting up to LightSpeed!" And just like that, the ship was gone and already on its way to the Zeta Quadrent. "Craters!" Commander Nebula slammed his fist against the wall. He just let a stowaway go to one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy. If that girl left the ship... the Commander heaved a heavy sigh as he said under his breath, "That kid won't stand a chance. She's a goner..."
Meanwhile, at the lab on the Unknown Moon
Buzz groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and shook off that last knock-out punch. He noticed that Mira was still unconscious and they were tyed together back to back in chains, dangling above the floor. It was the laboratory where the explosion occured. Buzz and the unconscious Mira were dangling above a vat of boiling hot liquid in the dead center of the room and when he realized this, Buzz got to work on trying to ecape and help his fellow ranger. He tryed to wriggle out his hand in order to get to his laser but it was no use and it just ended up waking Mira.
"Mira, are you alright?"
"I think so. Hey, I'll ghost out these chains then we'll get that box!" Buzz nodded and She started to ghost but...Mira was unable ghost through the chains.
"I don't understand. Why am I not ghosting?!" Mira continued to struggle as she tryed ghosting through the chains again with no success.
"Stop Mira! You'll just drain your energy. Hm...odd. They look like ordinary iron chains but that could only mean these chains are made from a metal alloy."
"I'm surprised Lightear. By now you would have figured these things out." A dark voice called in the distance. A large moniter turned on to reveal the menacing voices identity.
"Evil Emporer Zurg!" Buzz exclaimed. "Whatever twisted plan you have to destroy the galaxy this time whatever evil is in that box will be too much for even you to handle."
"Oh? And you know this how? No matter, the creature in that box will be the downfall of the entire galaxy and not even the great Buzz Lightyear can stop me."
"Not if we put it back where it belongs."
"Heh heh heh... I believe that's going to be a little difficult..."
Zurg started to cackle and laugh menacingly as he moved out view for a moment to reveal the cursed chest on a podium in his lair on the other end of the transmission. Buzz and Mira were in shock as they stared at the screen. Zurg moved back into the view of the camera. "I have only piece left in my plan and then I will rule the universe! No would dare to oppose me!" Zurg gave another evil laugh as Buzz and Mira struggled to get out of their bonds in any way possible.
Booster and XR were coming in for a landing when they spotted 42 nearby. Booster started to fiddle with some buttons on his communicator as he got out of his seat.
"Alright. The GPS coordinates will lead us straight to Buzz and Mira."
"Lets just just hope we're not too late. " XR said in response as they headed down to the exit doors.
Tessa could hear Boosters thunderous footsteps and XR's treads whirring and clacking on the floor as they headed closer and closer. Tessa looked all around and she spotted a few lockers. She jumped in one and closed the door tight behind her as she held her breath so her presence would not be as easily known. It happened to be just in time as Booster and XR ran out the air lock and the door that lead to the outside, never noticing that they had a stowaway. Once the last door closed, Tessa breathed a sigh of relief and warily opened the locker door. She turned as she stepped out and noticed there were space suits inside. There was a suit fitted for women and Tessa was tempted to try it on. But she restrained herself and made a promise to herself she wouldn't wear it unless they didn't come back in a few hours. Booster and XR flew around frantically looking for any sign of their friends. Booster watched the GPS tracker on his wrist like a hawk as it continued to beep faster and faster until it finally became one steady tone. They stopped and looked around to see a large building.
"OK, now we need to find out how get in there and thats not going to be easy." Booster said. "I know, I mean c'mon, this is the place where Warp...well...you know. And now that its back in commission its probably has more security than ever." XR replied.
"Unless..."
"Unless we went in the same way Warp and Buzz did back then!" Booster exclaimed.
"Well , I was going to say shoot everything but your way works too."
Buzz and Mira continued to dangle above the boiling pot as Warp walked into the room.
"Well Lightyear, I guess this is it. Its ironic. You're going to actually die where I faked my death."
"It doesn't matter if Mira and I live or die; if there's one thing I know, its that evil-"
" 'Evil never wins'. I know. You've said it a thousand times. Do you really believe that stupid philosophy? Well heres a news flash. Life doesn't always work that way. Your side has been winning too much lately, Lighyear. I think it's high time evil had a few victories for a change."Warp signaled a Hornet to pull a nearby lever to lower the captured rangers to their doom but then he heard some clanging and what sounded like explosions outside the door.
"Wait a minute, stop." The Hornets look at each other and switched the lever back as they were told.
The sliding doors flew open to reveal Booster and XR as they finished off one of the last Hornets that were standing guard.
"Alright Darkmatter, you release our friends and we won't kick your butt!" Booster cried as XR threw him a gun.
Buzz and Mira were relieved that help had finally arrived but they continued to struggle to get out of their chains. Warp however, began to chuckle.
"You really think that you're going to defeat me?"
"Well, we've done it before. I don't see how we won't be able to do it again." XR said with confidence.
"You can do it guys!" Mira cheered.
"Don't underestimate him! I have faith in you Rangers!" Buzz exclaimed.
Booster and XR nodded in acknowledgement as they steadied themselves for what battle laid ahead them.
Warp got out his cannon and said to himself, "This is going to be easy...".
Back at the ship...
It had been hours since Tessa had last seen Booster and XR. She continued to pace back and forth in the small room where she had been stowed away and look at the digital clock that hung on the wall. None of this would have happened if she hadn't been so curious and so selfish. Tessa looked back at the spacesuit. She didn't know how many Star Command regulations she would break or what kind of trouble she would get into for wearing that suit, but if it meant saving her childhood heroes, then she would anything. Tessa with through with sitting on the sidelines. She had done that most of her life. Now it was her turn to be in the game for at least once. Tessa put on the space suit as quickly as she could because she knew her heroes were in danger. But before she left, she noticed that there was a small pistol that hung on a hook in that same locker. She grabbed it and Tessa ran out the doors as fast as she could."Okay, how do you turn on the jetpack again?" She said to herself as she continued to run. It had been a while since she has seen the show and was a little fuzzy on which buttons made certain things work. Then she remembered. It was the large red button on the chestplate of the suit. Tessa pressed it and she flew straight up then spun wildly out of control. After a while, Tessa managed to get the hang of it and flew as fast as she could and searched for any sign of Warp or Team Lightyear.
"Told you you can't beat me." Warp said with a smirk as Booster was chained with Buzz and Mira. XR was in pieces and all his parts were in a net dangling over a pot of boiling lava, ready to melt him down.
"I'm sorry Buzz. I really am." Booster hung his head in shame.
"Booster, don't blame yourself. There was no way you could have known he would pull out a smoke bomb and pull a sneak attack." Mira said as she tried to comfort her friend.
"Even I probably wouldn't have seen it coming. Its alright you two did your best." Buzz replied.
"Okay Darkmatter did you have chop me up a like a piece of meat? I mean come on,..." XR huffed as he dangled above the floor.
"Well it would have been too easy for you all to get away if I left you in one piece, tin toy."
"For the last I am not made of tin! Its a terilium carbonic alloy! Learn the difference!"
"Whatever. Maybe now I can tie up loose ends without any interruptions." Warp went on to clear away what debris there was from the control panel before what was soon to be the execution of Team Lightyear. Buzz got to thinking more and more about their escape.
"Booster, any luck breaking free?"
"Not yet sir. I don't know what kind of alloy this is, but it sure is strong."
"XR, do you think you can loose?"
"Not without loosing half of me in the process and thats just plain messy. Lets just face it. We're goners."
"Thats not ranger thinking XR! We're going to get out of this. There's always a way. There has to be..."
"Sir, we haven't exactly been on our A-game today." Booster said solemnly. Mira looked at the grim looks on Booster's and XR's faced then turned her head to try and face Buzz.
"I hate to say it Buzz, but they're right. I don't think we're going to make it out of this one."Buzz looked at his fellow rangers and looks of gloom and despair they had on their faces.
"No! I refuse to believe that we've been beaten! If I do go down, I'm going to go down fighting for my life. What about you?"
The three rookies stared at each other for a moment and in that instant, they got back their fighting spirits.
"I don't see why you guys still struggle. Its completely hopeless. You're not getting out here. Well, not alive at least."
"Because not we're not going to give up!"
"You see Lightyear, thats your biggest flaw. You don't know when to quit." Warp had his hand on the lever and Team Lightyear braced themselves for the blow. But then, in the distance, they could hear gun blasts and explosions. Warp groaned in frustration.
"Ugh... Now what?"
"Booster why didn't you tell us backup coming? You've got to remember these things..." Buzz knew Booster would forget things but he didn't think Booster would forget anything like this.
"Thats just it. I never called for backup, sir." Booster replied in hushed tone. Buzz and the rest of rookies looked at each other quizzically and to their surprise, who should burst through the open doorway but Tessa, in a space ranger suit, chasing after a Hornet attempting to shoot it but missing several times due to her uncoordinated movements and poor aim. Then in a fit of frustration, she succeeded in destroying the horrid machine.
"YEAH! How do you like that, huh?! HUH?!"
Tessa kicked the hornet head across the room and it landed at Warps feet. Darkmatter glanced down at the dismembered robot head and then up at Tessa. She froze. One of the most dangerous criminals in the entire universe was staring her dead in the eye. In a nervous panic, she aimmed her weapon at Warp. Warp continued to glare at Tessa and then, out of the blue... he snickered. He snickered some more and then it spiraled into some chuckles and then full blown laughter.
"Aw man! Star Command is hiring young these days! Heh heh heh!"
The team looked at each other and the rookies gave Tessa a look of concern while Buzz gave a mixed look of anger and worry. Tessa glanced at back them mouthing 'I'm sorry' as Warp contined his hyena-like laughter.
"Craters Lightyear, you must be getting desperate if you're letting a mutt like her in your team!"
"Mutt?" Tessa echoed agitated.
"Face it kid. You're not even dry behind the ears yet."
Kid. Tessa hated being called that word. That simple word made her forget her fear of him. So raised her plasma pistol at Warps head in retort. Warp let out another chuckle. The "rookie" had spunk and he liked that.
"Nice try...but mines bigger." Tessa was soon staring down the barrel of Warp's arm cannon as she gulped. But anger won out over fear.
"Yeah...Thats the only thing on you thats big if you catch my drift."
Warp was obviously miffed but instead of blowing her head off he gave an agitated smirk.
"We've got ourselves a smart-mouth over here."
"There's plenty more where that came from. "
"Oh yeah? Gimme your best shot."
Buzz knew what would happen next so he intervened. "Think about what you're doing Tessa... the only thing that'll do is-"
"Can it, Lightyear! I want to see what this lil' brat's got..."
"Okay... well, at least now we know if you wear boxers or briefs. Seriously, are you trying to rip off Superman's look?"
"Ha! Thats really the best you've got? After that comment? Or are you just flustered by my devilish good looks?"
"Who told you that?"
"Ouch. Now theres the snarkiness I was introduced to. But seriously, you're pretty young to be a ranger. Whats the matter? Did your Saturday morning cartoons and dollies start to get boring?"
"Oh, I'm old enough to kick your sorry keister."
"Is that right? Then why don't you just shoot me now and be done with it?"
"Because if you really wanted me dead, you would've shot me by now and personally... I don't think you're worth the bullet."Warps smile faded a little. Tessa said too much and she knew it. She thought, Crap! Me and my big mouth and my stubborn ways... as she started to go into a nervous sweat and Warp began to back Tessa into a corner. "I like you kid. You've got attitude and you're stubborn,... but you don't have the guts when it comes to the crunch. Its a shame... I almost wish I didn't have to kill you..." BANG! Tessa's blaster went off and grazed Warps cheek and started to bleed with dark red blood. Warp didn't take notice of it and simply gave a malicious grin that sent chills up Tessa's spine. Warp's arm cannon began to charge and Tessa pulled the trigger on her blaster again but nothing happened; it was empty. Tessa threw her gun on the floor and she was up against the wall, nowhere to run without getting blown away. She shut her eyes tightly as she braced for the blow and then... THUD! Tessa opened her eyes to see Warp out cold on the floor and a very peeved Buzz Lightyear standing where Darkmatter stood. Tessa smiled awkwardly as she said sheepishly, "Um,... thank you? Eh heh heh..." Buzz simply stood his ground, slowly tapping his foot. "You. Are in BIG trouble young lady. And by the way, you're welcome. LOOK OUT!"
Buzz and Tessa ducked as they came under fire from the Hornets. The Captain, the rookies, and even Tessa, all took a group of Hornets and did all they could as they fought their way through, all except for XR, who was still dangling from the ceiling. "Uh, hello! Ranger in need of rescue!" Tessa finished off in destroying another Hornet when she heard his crys and Buzz heard too. She was about to shoot at the net to get XR loose but Buzz made the rescue first and was about to help put the little robot back together. Tessa to pick up an arm to help too but Buzz snagged first."You've done enough for today." Buzz snapped. Tessa then got a dejected look on her face as she looked away from the two.
XR remarked "Uh, Buzz... don't you think you were a bit-"
"No, I wasn't. We'll all talk about this when we get back to the ship."
Just then, another swarm of hornets came in for another attack! Tessa went to help fight the swarm but out of nowhere she was pulled into a chokehold by Warp! Buzz saw and wasn't going to let a civilian get hurt under his watch so he and his team fought those Hornets harder than they ever did before. Tessa was starting to gasp for air as Warp tightend his grip more and more. Tessa tries to turn her head towards Warp's good hand.
"No sense in struggling. You'll die either way..."
"Not ...today...Warp..."Tessa bit hard on Warp's hand!
"YEOUCH!" he yelped as Tessa kept biting until his hand bled and let go in which she spat out any leftover blood and made a mad dash for Team Lightyear. Warp tried shaking off the pain from his hand but it still stung and only made him angrier and chase after her. Team Lightyear were finishing off the last of the Hornet Swarm when they saw Warp come charging after Tessa. All of a sudden, Warp bumped into Booster and the ranger gave him such a punch, it sent Warp flying into the control panel, setting off several buttons. The intercom came on and said in a monotone:
"SELFDESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS."
Buzz looked around for a quick way out and spotted a hole in the ceiling. "Lets go!" The team turned on their jetpacks and flew out with Tessa close behind.
Warp came to and shook off that killer sucker punch. "Man, that big guy sure packs a wallop."
"SELFDESTRUCT IN 10, 9, 8..."
Warp snapped to and flew out as fast as his jetpack would let him as the intercom continued to count down. Warp was barely out of range when a mighty explosion rocked the small moon and sent him spinning head over heels in the air. When Warp regained a stable flight pattern, looked off into the distance as he watched Lightyear and his group get away yet again until they were but dots. One of them stopped to look back and Warp squinted to see who it was. "The brat?" Warp could see that Tessa noticed he survived, annoyed at the fact, and she proceeded to stick out her tounge at him and then flew off. Warp, however, was unamused yet slightly annoyed. "Typical kid. Annoying and immature." Then, to Warp's dismay, he heard his communicater ring. Warp groaned because he knew it was Zurg and let the communicator ring several times before he answered it.
" DARKMATTER! You have some explaining to do..."
Back at the ships, Buzz was angrily spouting off about how many regulations Tessa broke and how she could be so reckless while the teen put her hands behind her back and hung her head in shame. The rest of the team winced at each regulation Buzz mentioned and began to whisper amongst themselves as Buzz continued his rant.
"Whew man,... I'd hate to be in Tessa's shoes right now." Mira replied.
"Yeah, did you hear how many Star Command regulations she broke? Over a dozen of them and shes not even a space ranger!"
"Yeah, but when Tessa missed Warp, she ended up shooting some of the chains apart. In a way she helped us escape. "
XR chimed in. "Either way, I see a lot of community service in her future..."
Buzz was about finished with rant as he said, " Tessa, I'm not mad at you for trying to help save us. In fact, I'm grateful for it. What infuriates me is that you were reckless enough to stowaway on a cruiser, fire a Star Command weapon without proper training, confront one of Star Commands most wanted head on without backup, and worst of all, impersonating a space ranger!"
"Well I wasn't trying to pretend to be a ranger! I had no idea what the atmosphere was like and waited for hours for before I went out! Warp just assumed I was a ranger. You think he'd figure it out what eith my lousy fighting skills..."
"That may be, but you never said that you weren't a ranger either. I'll do what I can to lighten your sentence, but you'll still have a lot of community service. Okay people lets head back to Star Command... we've got a lot of explaining to do..."
"... So you're telling me that you captured Lightyear single handedly, but you couldn't handle a fresh out of the academy, incompetent, snot-nosed brat of a rookie?!" Zurg was more furious than ever and Warp flinched every time the Evil Emporer raised his voice.
"Y-yeah, pretty much..."
"Ugh! Just my luck! So close to eliminating Lightyear and slips away yet again, no thanks to you! And I can't get this blasted chest to open! I've gone through every key, blowtorch, and prybar in existance and nothing works! I'm having the Grubs and Brain-pods dig deeper into Tangean mythos to see what I've missed. And as for you Darkmatter..."
Warp knew his head was on the chopping block yet again. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wasn't the last. Although each time he failed, Warp worried that one day Zurg would snap and put that 'failure means death' policy to use and he feared today may be the day.
"You did bring the chest to me so I'm willing to give you one last chance and only one. If you can handle it..."
"I'm listening...""Bring me the key to the Tangean sacred chest and-you'll love this- bring me that girl."
"The brat?"
"Yes, the brat! Who else?! But I want her alive and unharmed. I'll deal with her personally. I'll have the Grubs send you information you need."
"Consider it done, Evil Emporer. "
"It better be..."
The line on the communicator went dead and Warp headed towards his ship. When he got there though his warship sustained significant damage and scorch marks from the explosion. It was still flyable but it just put him in a more foul mood as he took off. Warp figured if he was going to get anything on this mystery box, it was to head where it was created: Tangea. Warps computer screen blipped and shown a message with the files that had been collected on the box and to his surprise, some footage of the fight with the mystery rookie. "Well, it looks like the eggheads were able to salvage some of it."
Warp clicked on the video and paused on a clear shot of the girls face.
"Computer, run facial recognition through all Star Command Databases. Now all I have to do is wait."
The screen blipped shortly after. "Huh. That was fast."
On the screen the results read:NO MATCH FOUND.
Warp was left confused. "Shes a civilian? And posing as a ranger? Hmm... Computer, do the same thing only with the criminal database."
Again, an immediate result: NO MATCH FOUND.
"School systems..."
NO MATCH FOUND.
"Census? "
NO MATCH FOUND.
Warp was intrigued and yet buffudled by this mystery girl."Who are you?"