Just as I had climbed aboard the jet, I felt it lift off. As the back door started to close I moved inside and tried to find somewhere to hide myself. To my surprise there was nothing to hide behind or in.
"Oh boy." I muttered to myself. It was then I heard a voice. I jumped and spun around, only to find myself face to face with Forge. "Uh oh."
"Why aren't you back at N-Tek?" He asked and I tried to come up with an excuse. When nothing came to mind I just said the first thing that came out of my mouth.
"Oops?" At that Forge rolled his eyes at me.
"You were supposed to stay back at the Com room and help Berto. Why doesn't anyone listen anymore?' He said as I stood there and tried to look innocent.
"Just for the record, you didn't tell me to stay behind." I pointed out and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"It was implied. Fine, since you're here now just stay in the jet and don't touch anything." He told me, motioning me to follow him into the cockpit. As I walked behind him, I grinned. When we entered the cockpit I discovered that Jefferson was the pilot.
"Did you find out what that noise was?" He asked, glancing over for a moment. He seemed surprised to see me but continued to pilot the jet.
"That would be our little stowaway here." Forge said and Jefferson laughed at that, never taking his eyes from the path in front of him. For that I was grateful.
"Hey, who are you calling 'little'?" I grumbled at Forge as he walked over and bent over a computer console. Wandering over I looked down at the screen and tried to make sense of what I was seeing. After about a minute I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at so I asked Forge.
"I'm using this computer to find the location of the energy bursts from earlier." He explained as I watched the computer light up. "Hmm."
"Huh? Did you find something? Come on, don't keep me in suspense." I said. Forge raised an eyebrow at me and pressed a button. Instantly a screen popped up showing Kat's face. She seemed to be piloting another jump jet. When she saw me standing just behind Forge she smiled.
"Kat, any progress on your end?" He asked Kat.
"Nothing yet Commander. It's like the energy's just vanished into thin air. Should we turn back?" Kat asked and Forge sighed.
"Maybe." He said and pressed another button on the console. This time, Max's face appeared on-screen. "Max, Steel any luck?" He asked as I tried to work out just where they were.
"Nothing on our end either." Max replied, suddenly walking into the cockpit and I jumped.
"Whoa! Where'd you come from? We're in the air." I asked as he grinned at my shocked face. It was then I noticed he seemed to be wearing some sort of flight suit.
"You mean us. And we used Flight mode." Steel replied, appearing in front of Max. I had no clue what he was taking about, or where he had appeared from for that matter, but I just nodded like I understood. I'd get an explanation at another time.
It was at that instant that I felt like something bad was about to happen. It sent a chill down my spine and I shivered. "Is something wrong?" Forge asked me and I shook my head.
"I don't know. I just feel like something's going wrong. Not here though, at N-Tek." I replied and Forge scratched his chin.
"Well that explains a lot. What do you mean by that?" He replied and I tried to come up with an answer. It was then I heard Berto's voice. I looked at the console as Berto's face popped up onscreen. He looked worried about something.
"Commander, something's wrong." He said and I could hear the panic in his voice.
"Martinez, what's going on?" Forge asked as Berto glanced behind himself.
"Someone's trying to break into N-Tek but we don't know who it is." Berto told us and that's when the screen suddenly went black.
"Martinez, come in! Darn it! What's going on?" Forge shouted and turned to Jefferson. "Jefferson, head back to N-Tek pronto. Kat, you as well." Jefferson and Kat both gave a slight nod and we were on our way. Forge then turned back to me. "Looks like your hunch was right." He told me and I shrugged.
"I was kind of hoping that I was wrong." I said out aloud as I glanced at the computer screen. It remained blank which didn't help the worry I felt. The trip back seemed to take forever, even though we had only been travelling for about fifteen minutes and as soon as we got back I practically leapt out of the Jump jet as soon as Jefferson landed it back in the hanger. Before I could take off, Forge placed a hand on my shoulder stopping me in my tracks.
"Hold on, wait for us. If someone is trying to break in, you can't just go racing ahead." He said and I frowned.
"Let's go already." I said, shaking him off and taking off anyway. I heard him shout at me as I headed for the com room at a dead sprint. Once I found the room again, I realized it was empty. Raking my brain it occurred to me that Berto was most likely in his lab so I headed there next. By the time I reached his lab I was pretty winded and need to lean against the wall of the corridor to catch my breath. When I could breathe again, I hurried into the lab and found Berto typing away at his computer keyboard.
"What's going on?" I asked him and he glanced up at me.
"Nothing at the moment. Before there was something attacking the outside of N-Tek and now it seems to have disappeared." He told me, looking back at the screen.
"What was it?" I asked as he started typing something else. It was at that moment I heard the sounds of guns firing and something walking around in the corridor. Curious I decided to check out what was making all the noise. As soon as I stepped into the corridor I stopped in my tracks and immediately wished I hadn't bothered. Standing a few feet away and trashing the place was the same monster that I had come across not long after I woke up in Copper Canyon. I just stood there as it roared in anger and that's when I felt its eyes on me. To my surprise it spoke to me.
"You again! This time you won't get away so easily!" It shouted at me and started towards me, sweeping its arm at a group of people in armor and helmets who were firing on it and flinging them into a wall. Scared as I was I stood me ground and faced it, still angry at it for attacking me.
"Being knocked out cold doesn't really count as 'getting away easy'!" I yelled at it and it laughed.
"This time I'll burn you to a crisp!" It said and I could swear its voice sounded different. As it go closer and closer, I started walking backwards. Not looking behind me I tripped over a gun that had ended up near me and almost fell. Surprising myself I grabbed the gun and aimed it at the Elementor. It stared back at me as I held the gun with both hands that had started shaking the instant I had picked it up. The Elementor watched me for a few moments and then started for me again. In a panic I fired and the shot hit the wall beside it. Laughing it raced forward and swiped at me with one of its arms. I cried out in panic and dived under the monster, just missing its claws but dropping the gun in the process. Landing on my stomach I shot to my feet and tried to get away. That's when Max and Steel finally showed up, running past and slamming into the Elementor in some sort of armor. I moved out of the way as they collided.
"Looks like we're late to the party!" Max yelled, sending it flying into the rear wall. "And our invite got lost in the mail."
"Max steel! " It roared and I cringed. It sounded really mad now. While Max and the Elementor fought I decided to take cover and ran into Berto's lab. Berto looked up from his console and asked what was going on.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." I gasped and he seemed puzzled by my explanation. Apparently deciding to find out for himself, Berto moved towards the door. I tried to stop him but I was still out of breath from all the running around I'd been doing and wasn't fast enough. The second Berto stepped outside the lab; Max was sent flying by the monster. Still in the armor suit from before he collided with Berto and they both slammed into the far wall. Completely forgetting about the danger I raced over to see if they were alright. Max was sprawled on the ground, complaining about being thrown around.
"Rushing headlong into a fight without a plan may not have been the best idea." Steel said from somewhere nearby.
"Oh yeah? You didn't exactly have any bright ideas either." Max shot back as he climbed to his feet. "Let's try this again." He then rushed at the Elementor once again. This time, however, he ducked when it swiped at him. Max then smashed his fist into its jaw, sending it flying into the other end of the corridor. Distracted by the fight, I almost forgot about Berto. He was still sprawled on the ground. When I knelt beside him, he slowly sat up rubbing his head
"You okay?" I asked him.
"Ow that hurt." He replied and I helped him to his feet. "Note to self; if someone tells you not to go outside, you listen."
"Come on let's go back to your lab and you can sic C.Y.T.R.O on him, it, whatever." I said as we began to head back. Unfortunately just as we reached the door to his lab, Berto yelled something. I didn't quite catch what he said and was about to ask him to repeat himself when I saw his eyes go wide. As I spun around something crashed into us. Dizzy, I found myself lying face down on the floor. When I tried to move, I noticed that Berto had somehow ended up lying on top of me.
"Hey Berto. Would you mind moving? You're kind of heavy." I said and when he didn't respond, I got worried. After a struggle I managed to free one of my arms and nudged him but he didn't move. "Oh man. Little help here?" Someone then lifted Berto off of me and I could breathe again. As I struggled to sit up, I realized that the Elementor is looming over me, holding a limp Berto in its claws.
"We have what we came for. Time to leave." It said and it lifted off the ground. I climbed to my feet and tried to stop it somehow. Max tried to stop it too but even he was no match for it. We were both sent into the back wall. Before I crashed into it, one of Max's arms shot out and caught me. But the jolt was enough to make me pass out. The last image I saw was the Elementor flying through the air towards N-Tek's main entrance, knocking anyone caught in its path away.