The angry red vortex opened in a quiet, dark, and empty alley. The Professor and Colin came out first: the former was wearing a long-sleeved black sweater, brown slacks, and black shoes, and the latter a pair of blue jeans, a white undershirt that bulged from the barrier boxes at his chest and back, an unbuttoned blue plaid overshirt, and brown boots. Stumbling to a stop against a brick wall, they turned, and awaited the others.
Wade and Mary cried out as they erupted through the vortex, but Wade was caught with a full hug by the Professor, and Mary in a sideways hold by Colin, before they could go any further. As the vortex closed, both were let down with laughs and excited smiles. Wade was dressed in a pair of tight blue jeans, white sneakers, and a short-sleeved white shirt with a red heart in the center, while Mary was in a short-sleeved brown blouse, a long flower printed skirt, and black slippers, and was holding the tech briefcase.
It was early morning, and when they emerged from the alley, they city was just barely beginning to awaken: a few cars were driving past on the street, there were one or two pedestrians walking by, and the streetlights were just beginning to turn off.
"I suppose an early morning slide beats the endless rocking of a battleship on the high sea," the Professor commented with his arm in Mary's. Colin spoke up from behind him and next to Wade. "How many warlords do you think Jules and Thomas have taken down by now?" Wade reached out her elbow, and Colin nodded with a smile as he put his arm in hers. "Maybe they've brought peace to that whole Earth by now," she offered.
Mary looked back to say something, then noticing the others arm in arm, gave out a happy laugh. "Do you two want to come up here and make it like Wizard of Oz?" she asked. The Professor shook his head and patted her arm. "Not enough room, Lady Mary," he said with a smile. "But we will need to find a place to hook up our equipment and find the next window. Perhaps at the hotel?"
A short walk later, they arrived at the Chandler. The Professor was upstairs with the equipment, while the others found seats downstairs at the breakfast area and waited for him to return. Their table was against the window, Colin on the outside next to Wade, and the girls watching out the window. There were few other occupied places in the restaurant: there were a few men in business suits checking their phones, a man behind the bar, a man getting some food from the buffet line, and another setting up and wiping tables, but not many more.
In a few minutes, there was a strange flutter of activity around them. Wade caught a few of the businessmen looking their way, and the worker cast a few too many glances towards them from his tables. The man behind the counter was cleaning glasses, but despite his clumsy attempts otherwise, he cast glances at them a little too often for comfort. Finally catching him making "come here" gestures with his head, the three stood and took seats at the bar.
"You folks better get out of here while you can," the man said. He was round-faced, fair-skinned, and dark blonde-haired with a bit of a clean and professional scruff for a mustache and beard, and light blue eyes. His nametag, pinned on his long white-sleeved shirt right above his black apron, read "Hal".
"Why? What's going on?" Colin asked. Hal's eyes passed between Wade and Mary, then focused back on Colin. "The girls, of course," he stated with an odd look on his face. "I understand you may be wantin' to show them off, play hard guy. But a lot of Hunters hang out in these parts."
Colin looked around, and noticed that every eye was on them. The businessmen who didn't leave were on phones, looking directly their way. "What's wrong with girls outside?" Wade asked. "Do we need to cover up or something?"
With a shake of his head, Hal looked between the two with a face a mix of confusion and pity. "No, young missy," he said. "The penalty for harboring breeders is enslavement or death."
A cold fear gripped their hearts. Colin silently and slowly rose to stand between the men behind them and the girls in front of him. "Breeders for who?" he asked directly. Hal cocked his head slightly to the side, unsure if he was joking, but finally spoke anyway. "The Kromaggs, of course," he answered.
Confirming that their time was a mere 20 hours, the Professor unhooked all of the equipment and stowed it all away, then checked his watch to confirm. With a smile and a sigh, he made a mental note that they would be sliding out early once more, around 2 in the morning.
There was a scream from downstairs... Mary's. In a flash, the Professor grabbed the tech briefcase and bolted downstairs, not waiting for the click of the door behind him. Skipping the elevator, he tore down the stairs as fast as he could, just in time to see two masked men there, both dressed in similar urban camo with pocketed vests atop them. They were carrying an unconscious Wade and Mary with them out the front door of the hotel.
With a roar of pure, desperate anger, he charged the man holding Mary and swung the briefcase at him. Dropping the small woman, the man had just enough time to draw and squeeze the trigger on his dart gun. The shot went wild into the far wall before he took the full brunt of the briefcase on the side of his head. While he spun away and dropped to the ground, the other pulled out his dart gun and shot at the Professor. Just too slow to catch it on the briefcase, the dart tagged him directly in the underarm. He pulled the dart out as quickly as possible, but the drug worked almost immediately. The world began to spin, his eyes and head got heavy, and within seconds, he had collapsed to the floor on an old throw rug.
Hours passed before the Professor began to stir. He was in a dark room with sunlight streaming through some boarded up windows, lying on a hard floor and covered in blankets. His entire body felt like it was asleep, but in minutes, he could detect feeling returning to his extremities. He managed to roll over the barest amount from his back, just long enough to feel the timer still in his slacks, but then soon collapsed onto his back in exhaustion.
"Miss... Welles?" he croaked out. "Lady... Mary?" When no answer came, he summoned as much of his energy as he could to call out once more. "Mr. Mallory!" his voice came out softly. Images of the barrier boxes failing and Colin disappearing from the world filled his mind. Of Wade and Mary crying for help. The adrenaline burst through his body, and he painfully came to a sitting position. "Colin!" he cried out.
There were footsteps from outside. A stream of light entered as a door opened, illuminating the prone figure of Colin on the floor next to him. A brief moment of relief was soon crushed by swirling thoughts of the captured girls. "Hey, keep it down," a figure said from the open doorway before closing it once more. "If they find you here, we'll all be in trouble."
The Professor breathed heavily as he pulled himself over to Colin's unmoving body. He was breathing and alive, but it was anyone's guess how long he would be out. "Who are you?" the Professor demanded, panting heavily. "Where are the women who were with us?"
After the sound of a pull chain filled the air, the Professor found himself face to face with a man with a nervous look on his face. "I'm Hal," he introduced himself, holding his hand out. The Professor made no move to reciprocate, though whether from distrust or inability to do so, it was unclear. Hal pulled his hand back. "You're in the storage room to the hotel," he continued, then turned to the side and made a face. "Actually, you're in the hidden wine room behind the storage room. Nobody would think to find you here. I've smuggled a few of the sympathetic elements back here until the heat died down, you know. Can't just sit around and do noth..."
"Sir, please focus," the Professor interrupted. "Where are the two women?"
Hal looked back to him and shook his head. "Probably with the Kromaggs by now," he guessed.
A freezing terror gripped the Professor's heart. "Kromaggs? Here?" he asked. "Where are they? How can I get to them? Why is your city not a warzone?" Hal placed his hands out in a calming motion, then took a seat on the ground, hands around his knees. "Well, your girls are probably in a detention center somewhere, before they figure out what to do with them," Hal started. "You can get to them through any old road going out of town. And I honestly don't know about the last part."
He looked up, thinking back. "Things were bad for the first few months they were here," he remembered. "Bodies, fighting, shooting, soldiers on the street. But a few months ago, there was a big shift. The Mantas stopped flying around overhead, and most of the ground troops left. They just left behind an edict that if any women should be brought to them, we would be free to live our lives freely otherwise. And to not betray them, of course."
The Professor nodded, then winced as he tried to rise. Hal gently ushered him back to the floor. "Look, I know you want to get to the facility," he said, "and if you're going to go after the girls, I get it. I think you'd be better off keeping a low profile and doing things on the down low, but it's your funeral."
Producing a syringe filled with clear liquid from his apron, he squirted the barest amount of fluid out in preparation for injection. "This stuff'll flush out the Hunter tranq lickety split," he explained. "There's enough in here for you and your friend, and I understand you probably don't want to get poked by some guy you barely know with some juice you've never seen before. But if you want to get up and about in time to get to your girls, and away from this hotel, this is the only choice you've got."
"How long will the tranquilizer be in effect?" the Professor asked. Hal looked upwards. "Minus the four hours you've been out, probably another 8 before you can stumble around, 12 before you're well."
With all his strength, the Professor reached out his left arm. "Do it," he stated. Hal nodded, prepared the area with a small bottle of alcohol, injected the fluid, then bandaged him up with the skill of a trained nurse. Almost immediately, the Professor felt strength returning to him. "Gotta learn what you need in times like this," Hal said with a smile and a wink, before he turned to Colin. "Should I get your friend, too?"
"If you would, my good man," the Professor answered, crawling next to his unconscious companion. In seconds, Hal was done with him too.
"What're those boxes on him?" he asked. The Professor opened the two panels of the barrier boxes, seeing that the power was still on in both, and nothing seemed to be out of order. He sighed in relief. "We can call it life support for now, sir," he answered, then looked up to Hal. "How can we gain entry into the brutes' facility?" he asked.
His spirits fell when Hal shook his head and shrugged. "I mainly help captives and runaways," he explained, "not base assaults."
Colin began to stir and groan, finally pushing himself up on two strong arms. "What... happened?" he asked, then took a look around the room. "Professor?" he asked. The Professor smiled back, helping the young man into a sitting position with his back against a brick wall. "It's good to see you up, Mr. Mallory," he spoke, but then his mouth turned to a serious frown. "We have much work to do, and little time to do it in." Colin's thoughts began to swirl, and his face broke out in concern and fear as his memories began to return.
The Professor turned back to Hal. "Is there nothing you can do?" he asked. Hal hummed in thought, saying nothing as the other two men looked on in silence. He made a face, then shook his head, dismissing the thought. "What is it?" Colin asked, feeling his body finally starting to return to normal. Hal let out a strong breath. "Well..." he started, taking another breath, "I suppose you could ask the Hunters. They deal with the Kromaggs all the time. They might know what you can do."
"How do we find them?" Colin asked. Hal raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes slightly in defeat, then reached two hands down to pull the two men to their feet. Despite a little stumbling, the two were soon able to follow him up the stairs and through the box- and shelf-lined storeroom to the hotel bar. Taking a quick look outside and seeing only two men with their backs turned, eating a late breakfast against the far wall, Hal led them to the entrance hall.
"I got the darts out of you two, both from the same gun," Hal started, walking towards a couch against the wall, "but the other one from the partner should be right..." He reached up, pulled a dart out of the wall, then handed it and the others to the Professor. "Here," he finished.
The Professor and Colin looked carefully at the darts, and in no time, saw the inscriptions on the sides: F. Enir, 41653, and E. Williams, 139482. Hal pointed to the darts. "Those are the guys who took your girls," he explained. "If anyone knows where your ladies are, it's them."
"The Williams guy didn't see me," Colin said to the Professor, then looked over to Hal. "Where do these guys hang out?" he asked. Hal smiled, then pulled a notepad and pencil from his apron, and began writing.
The room was dark, and the examination table soft, but cold. Some readings on consoles around the room lit up the area in a soft and flickering light, but there was otherwise nothing to see. Wade was strapped down, still dressed in her jeans and white shirt with the red heart, but her shoes were gone.
Her mind was laser focused. Thoughts of the Kromaggs, the camps, the modified Manta, the experiments, the captives, everything, no longer found purchase in her mind. Her thoughts fired down a solid tunnel of hardened steel; the images, the memories, the fears of the future, they battered against the focus of her mind like rats against a brick wall. She knew of only four ways forward, and no matter the outcome, she was prepared.
The door opened, and in walked a Kromagg in an officer's black uniform, flanked by two others holding energy rifles. The ones at the side had the most simian features with extremely large noses and brow ridges that jutted out, but the one in the center had a face that was smoother with a smaller nose, though his brow was still thick, and his teeth pointed.
He smiled wickedly at her. "The surgeons did a most excellent job of removing your scar, Cyberiad," the Kromagg spoke in a voice both oily and pure evil. Wade watched him neutrally as he approached. "If it wasn't for your records, you might be considered just another vessel for a future Kromagg warrior."
He turned away from her, then indicated towards the door with his head. The others left. "There might be time for the Dynasty to change its mind on this," he added. He paused, letting his words fill the air. Turning towards her again, he was surprised, perhaps even irritated, at the lack of evident fear in her face. "Do you wish to put forward your preference?" he asked.
Wade raised her head in defiance. "So the Dynasty is making another modified Manta?" she surmised. "Or are you just trying to repair the one I broke?"
With a flash of anger running across his face, the Kromagg stepped forward and backhanded her across the face. A small trickle of blood began to pool at the corner of her mouth, then slowly ran down the side of her face to the white-clothed table. She simply stared back at him.
Recomposing himself, the Kromagg straightened. "What was the origin of the attack on our breeding facility, human?" he asked. Wade said nothing. "How did you escape? Who was responsible for feeding the information of our facilities to you?" On her continued silence, he raised his hand as if to strike her again. Wade simply stared, fearless.
"How did you get here?!" he demanded. With no response, he growled, then lowered his arm. "You won't last long here, human," the Kromagg promised. "Whether we bring out your secrets in pain, or await a commander to rip them from your mind, we will know what you know. And then you will serve your purpose..." He leaned in, his stinking breath on her face. "Whatever it may be."
He turned to the door, but before he could leave, Wade spoke. "I promise you one thing," she started. The Kromagg turned to look at her. Her face was fierce, determined, and angry. "I will never stop hunting you," she said in a deathly low voice. "You put me with the other women, we'll find a way out. You put me in control of another Manta, and I'll bring it down on your heads. I will never, ever, stop hunting you."
With a resolute smile, and her brown eyes never leaving him, she spoke once more. "Keep one eye open, monster," she said in deadly seriousness. The Kromagg smiled his wicked, sharp-toothed smile at her, then turned to leave, closing the door behind him.
The man in the bartender outfit struggled hard against his binds to no avail. He shot an angry glare at the Professor, who tightened his gag even more. "I apologize sir," he said, leaning over to prick the man in the neck with one of the missed darts from the hotel. "Rest knowing that you may be saving lives." His eyes rolled back in his head, and in seconds, he was asleep. When he was sure the man was down, the Professor removed his gag, then left the employee restroom with the bartender passed out behind a pile of carefully slid crates.
Hal nodded to him from the far wall, then after the Professor was clear and out the back entrance, he walked out to take his position at the bar. The denizens within, all men, paid him no mind. Some were dressed in urban camo, others were shirtless and roaring in drunken revelry, and still others were in street clothes, but they all had one thing in common: they were Hunters.
After a scan of the bar and noticing nobody who fit the description of the man who darted Colin, he looked to the entrance where a shadow lay in wait. He raised his head high in confirmation, then returned to his duties of cleaning glasses and serving drinks.
On cue, Colin entered the bar. "A whole truck of 'em!" he called out. Everyone turned to look at the sudden intrusion: Colin was wearing the same clothes as before, but was now wearing a long black coat. "Drinks on me, boys!" he finished. A tepid cheer went up, alongside mutters of disbelief. Colin strode to the bar, slapping several hundreds onto the counter. "Hell, make it three!" he yelled out.
This time, the entire bar erupted into raucous cheer, as Hal worked hard to fill a dozen orders at once. Colin turned to scan the bar, shaking a few hands and accepting a few shoulder claps, until he finally saw the man who fit the description: a dark-skinned man with a round jaw, short and dark hair, and a short nose, wearing urban camo, and now approaching the bar. He took his two whiskey shots back to a corner table in the dark to drink alone. His heart pounding, Colin smiled confidently and waved the man back over to the bar.
Looking around as if getting the wrong guy, the man pointed at himself. Colin nodded and smiled wider, waving him over once more. After downing both of the shots, the man finally started an only somewhat unsteady approach to the bar. As he sat, Colin motioned for Hal to pour two more, then he turned to his new drinking buddy.
"What's up, bro?" he asked. Hal poured two drinks from two bottles. The man shook his head. "This'll be three," he said in a voice both low and ponderous. "I ain't turning down free shots." Colin chuckled and turned to his drink, then after raising it to clink against the other man's, downed it in one gulp. Apple juice.
"It's cool man, I can go for hours," Colin said confidently, pointing to the shotglasses again. Hal filled them once more. "Big score." They clinked and drank once more, and finally, the other man smiled. "What's your name, man?" he asked. Colin smiled, pretending to blink heavily. "Call me Shade," he answered.
The other man laughed. "Cool," he answered. "Just call me Ed." Colin indicated for some smokes, and in no time, Hal presented a pack of cigarettes and two cigars. Ed took the cigar, raised it in thanks, and Colin followed. With a match from the bar, he lit both of their cigars, then turned to take in the people around him.
"Listen, I'm just gonna cut to it," Colin said, holding his cigar between his index and middle fingers. He took a puff, then blew out a thick cloud before continuing. "I'm looking for a new partner. I'm done dealing with my current one."
"What happened?" Ed asked. Colin tsked, ashed on the floor, then took another puff. "Bro, if I wanted nagging dead weight, I'd ask the Kromaggs for a wife," he said sardonically. On Ed's laugh, he turned his head back and held up two fingers. "Beer," he ordered. "Take it easy." Hal obliged and poured two, the two clinked glasses, then they downed the shots.
After a pair of puffs, Ed looked to him with eyes increasingly bloodshot and wobbly. "Why me?" he asked in speech getting more slurry by the minute. "You got all these guys in here, you pick me?" Colin put a confident arm around Ed's shoulder, then waved his hand over the bar. "All these guys are sitting together, man," he pointed out, then lightly slapped him on the chest. "You were the only one drinking alone."
He pulled his arm back, took another puff, then blew the smoke out. Ed followed. "I work in small groups," Colin continued. "Less reward to spread around, move quieter. And you gotta have an eye for details in this job. Never know when someone's keeping the merchandise hidden somewhere. So whaddaya say?"
Ed nodded slightly, taking another puff. After a few seconds of deliberation, his nod got stronger. "All right man," he finally said. "The guy I'm with now is taking 80/20. Think's he's hot stuff 'cause he's been doing it longer." Colin smiled and tsked, turning back to the bar and signalling another two fingers to Hal. "60/40, and room for growth," he promised, looking to Ed confidently.
After Hal filled the shots, Ed nodded. "Agreed," he answered. Before he could raise the shot to drink, though, Colin stopped him with one raised finger. Ed looked at him expectantly, wobbling slightly. "Only one thing I need to make sure of," Colin added. On Ed's raised eyebrows, Colin raised his shot. "That you understand this job ain't just about the mission," he said with a wicked smile. Ed returned a grin, they clinked glasses, then they drank again.
A short while later, the sky was beginning to darken. Colin held his drinking partner as they stumbled out the front door of the bar and past some parked cruiser motorcycles. The ground was dusty and flat plains extended all around. The two laughed as they stumbled forward towards a parking lot with vehicles on both sides. "DD man, DD," Colin said in as best a slurring voice as he could. Ed laughed, lost his balance, then was pulled back up by his drinking buddy.
"Whosh gonna DD?" he asked with a laugh. Colin made a fake serious face. "Wait, it's not you?" he asked. Ed laughed uproariously as they stumbled forward. When they got closer to a group of larger vehicles, Ed pointed to a beat up old green truck, then spent a full minute trying to fish his keys out of his right pocket on the way. When he finally got them out, they had finally stumbled next to the beat up vehicle. After he struggled to find the hole for fifteen straight seconds, Colin switched sides, took the keys from him, then unlocked the door, laughing together with him.
When the door was open, Ed fell in. In seconds, his breathing became regular and a snoring sound cut through the air. Colin looked to his left, where he saw the Professor approaching from several feet away with the tech briefcase. The two of them lifted the sleeping Ed into the cabin, then with his body passed out sideways, each took a side of the cabin: the Professor in the driver's seat, and Colin in the passenger's.
The Professor started the truck and turned it back towards the bar, carefully bringing the vehicle to a stop next to the rear entrance of the employee's restroom. Colin quietly got out, and making sure nobody was watching, took the unconscious Ed with him to the back door. Dragging the man to a position behind the crates with the first bartender, Colin went to the door leading to the bar and knocked a 2-1-2 rhythm. A double knock came back.
Wasting no time, the Professor dug through the truck and found a dart gun, a small plastic box filled with several darts, and a map displaying several Kromagg facilities around the northern California area. He waited in the cabin for two full minutes in silence, his heart pounding, waiting for Colin to return.
Right on time, the younger man opened the passenger door and climbed in, holding up Ed's clothes with an ID card and notebook atop it. Setting the pile between the two of them, he rubbed the knuckles on his right hand between flipping pages of the notebook. "Are you ok, Mr. Mallory?" the Professor asked.
Colin nodded, eyes poring through the notebook. "He was waking up," he explained simply.
A few seconds later, he finally stopped on a page in the book, looked up, then held the open page in front of him. "And we have one more stop to make," he stated.
Mary sat in the middle of the room as night came upon the facility, now in a white gown and barefoot. It was impossible to tell, as the only sight looking out was the shielded entrance lined by horizontal bright white lights running vertically up the sides to the cell. Aside from the silent women inside, the mattresses, cots, mats, sink, and toilet, along with the bare metal walls, were the only things within the women's cell. This was the first time she had ever been within, rather than looking in on, such a place. The oppressive terror of the large room draped across its entirety like a dark blanket.
She sat in the middle of the room, eyes on the shield, invisible to sight until interacted with, as if inviting her to rise and walk straight out. She knew what she had to do.
It was an hour of waiting before a familiar sight from the shielded open doorway: blue energy dissipating as a key was run through the air, allowing two black-garbed Kromaggs, one armed and animalistic in his hideous face standing in the back, the other more human in appearance and an obvious mid-level officer of some sort, to come in. They didn't even have time to scan the room before she looked around at the women around her, then spoke.
A guttural language filled the air, and the two Kromaggs suddenly looked at her in surprise and confusion. They looked at one another, and though they scanned the room once more, couldn't help but eventually return their eyes to Mary's. She gestured at the women around her, then pointed to herself, speaking the language once more.
When the two seemed to falter, she pointed at herself once more, then spoke the barest of words in the rough language. The Kromagg in the front immediately stopped scanning the room, then gestured for the one in the back with a simple order. With dim eyes, he drew forward, grabbed Mary's shoulder, then spun her around, throwing her chest first to the ground. The other women around them made soft cries of fear, but none dared move.
There was a click. The energy rifle hummed with power. Mary closed her eyes as a loud whine filled the air. Mild burning pain erupted from her upper back along her shoulders.
But she was still alive. Apparently satisfied with his findings, the officer barked an order and the whine disappeared, leaving Mary confused on the ground. She chanced a look over her left shoulder, and her eyes went wide and mouth dropped to see the beginning of a sequence of symbols tattooed there. Unable to see the rest and not willing to risk any more of her captors' patience, she turned her head back towards the metal ground before an order filled the air, and the soldier with the gun stowed his weapon to lift her up with a single arm and carry her from the room.
There were a pair of honks outside. It was night, and the lightly-painted house sat alone in the middle of a dusty field with light plantlife around. The man within was fair-skinned with a short button nose. His head was oval-shaped and normal, except the right side of his face was completely scorched, and scarred with several slash marks. He had dark bloodshot eyes and brown hair that stood up slightly to the right. He recognized the low noise, and looked out of the peephole to see Ed's truck outside. A shadowed figure sat inside on the passenger's side, waving him forward. He opened the door, revealing he was barely dressed in a pair of striped boxers and not much else.
He didn't even have enough time to call out before something flashed through the night to strike him directly on the temple. His head cracked against the open door, and though his body jumped into action and turned to meet the attacker, a sudden second body soon tackled him from his right side, knocking the wind out of him and pushing him back into the house.
He fell on a short wooden table covered with dirty paper plates, and with the added weight of the new attacker, fell upon it. The table legs buckled and it smashed to the floor. The figure atop him took the opportunity to slide around to the opposite side now facing the door, and put him in a chokehold. The surprise and strength of the attack left the man trying desperately to escape, but all he could do was grip the choker's arm with fingers strained white. The one who had hit him in the head, a larger man with a beard and a dart gun pointed towards his eye, stood in front of him.
"Where are the women you took from the hotel?" the Professor demanded. He scanned the room from left to right, seeing nothing but an empty cabinet to his left, an old TV on his right, and a beat-up old couch. The entrance to the dining room was ahead with nothing but a table and some chairs to see, and a hallway led left farther into the house. He heard nothing, but kept his attention flitting where he could.
The man made no move or sound. The Professor took a step forward threateningly and Colin squeezed harder. "Answer!" Colin barked from behind him, but the man sat in silence. Taking one hand off the gun, the Professor dug into his pocket and retrieved the map of northern California. Immediately after, he spoke a series of quick words, one after the other, watching the man's reaction. "Alpha?" he started. "Beta? Gamma? Delta? Beta? Delta?"
He suddenly stopped. "Two hits on Beta," he spoke to Colin. The man's mouth opened slightly in surprise, but he quickly closed it afterwards. Without another word, the Professor shot the dart gun into his belly, and the tranquilizer slowly began to make its way through the man's system.
Colin held him as the drug began to take effect. He spoke, slowly, and carefully. "On my world, there were roaming men that would do great evil to the settlements they found," he started. "Those who couldn't fight would become theirs. I don't need to say any more on that. But what people like you do? It may be even worse.
"You are dooming your own world," he continued. After a pause, he spoke again. "Do you not care about the cries of these women? Their pain?" When there was no response, just a slackening of the man's grip on his arm, Colin continued. "There is no future here without your children. And the more you hand over your women to them, the more powerful they become.
"There are times when there is nothing a man can do against a great enemy. In these times, it is his duty to fight regardless, to endure and wait for a better opportunity, or to keep his head down, survive, and protect his own." Colin paused, feeling the man's strength further leaving him. "But the one thing you don't do is give aid to evil."
"I'm not... enduring anything," the man sputtered with the last of his strength. Colin continued his hold as the man began to go limp. "Then keep your head down," he whispered. The man's grip released, and his body went slack.
Several minutes later, the two had raided the house, finding extra darts with another gun and the man's ID, along with his urban camo clothes and vest. Colin quickly stripped to give Ed's clothes to the Professor, which fit the larger man better, and traded his own for their new spoils. Taking a pair of keys from the new vest, Colin entered the impressive garage of the house to find a larger black truck there, which had a brown back cover easily two meters tall. Weaving around old boxes within the garage, he entered the truck, engaged the motor, then waited.
Moments later, the Professor was in the cabin, snapping the tech briefcase shut and buckling his seatbelt. "One hour," he spoke out. Colin exhaled anxiously, then reversing quickly, the two were on the dusty and lonely road, speeding off to the Beta Facility.
Silence engulfed the cabin as they roared down the road. Both knew what had to be said, but in the meantime, their minds raced to what they would do when the time came. Eventually, the Professor broke the silence. "We are not soldiers, Mr. Mallory," he said simply. Colin nodded. "I know, Professor," he answered, casting a quick glance to him. "But I'm ready to hang with Wade and Mary, if that's our fate."
"As am I, lad," the Professor said back with a smile, clapping him on his shoulder. Putting the hand to his chin in thought, a few seconds passed before he continued. "But something our good friend Hal the bartender may provide some insight into our battle plans," he said. "The Kromaggs pulling back their forces, their ranks diminished... whether due to facing a new enemy, needing troops and materiel for another conquest, or simply bleeding this world dry, this may be an opportunity, if we act smartly."
"What do you have in mind?" Colin asked. The Professor looked to the back of the truck, then back to Colin, and finally brandished his dart gun with a nod.
The black-garbed pair of Kromagg soldiers stood in the middle of the entrance hangar, energy rifles slung at their sides. It was quiet as the night dragged on. There were only two other pairs of soldiers standing aside the far wall guarding two different hallway doors, their energy rifles slung at their shoulders and dangling next to them. A few of their Humvees were parked against the walls to the left and right of the entrance, but otherwise, it was bare.
A black truck with a brown back cover slowly entered. The two recognized it immediately, then waved it to the side, where it parked with its back facing the wall. The driver was masked, and simply pointed backwards with his thumb. One of the two Kromaggs left to check, while the other watched the driver reach into his glove compartment and look around.
The first Kromagg threw open the back tarp, seeing a shivering shape in the corner. It was larger than expected, but still moving. With an angry face, he climbed in to subdue the awakened quarry, when the shape suddenly turned, then shot a dart directly into his neck. He was out before he even hit the floor.
A minute passed with nothing coming from the back. The driver looked up and to the left, sighed, then exited the passenger door to investigate the delay. The other Kromagg soldier came up from the driver's side, and they reached the rear entrance at the same time. The Kromagg threw open the tarp to see a large masked man in Kromagg fatigues pointing a gun directly in his face. A hand suddenly covered his mouth, and there was a sharp prick in his neck. The world went dark.
Colin peeked his head around the corner, shook his head and sighed, then turned back to the Professor. "They're guarding both entrances," he said in dismay. "What do you think? Cause a distraction, get them over here, and dart them too?"
The Professor shook his head. "I don't think so, Mr. Mallory," he answered. "I think it likely only one of the three will come, while the others remain on standby."
Colin nodded. "Then you'll drive the truck forward and make a wide turn through the center with the turn signal on," he suggested. "Get close enough to the ones on the right before they realize what's happening. Then you hit the gas and take them down, and I'll be hanging on the side and use it as cover to shoot the others. We'll have to find the girls fast."
Thinking for a few seconds, the Professor shook his head. "The facility seems to be rather small, considering its size on the map. If we make that much noise, the alarm will go off in no time. Seconds are critical here, Mr. Mallory," he spoke, then took a quick look at the Kromaggs on the far wall. "They aren't even at a ready position. If we time this right, we may be able to do this." Colin nodded, then listened to his plan.
A minute later, the truck began backing up towards the center of the room. The four Kromaggs watched carefully as it got closer and closer, foot by foot. It was 40 feet away, then 30...
Just as the four began to reach for their rifles, two energy blasts shot out from the tarp, taking both of the soldiers on the right directly in the chest. They both grunted in pain and sank to the ground with vicious burn marks left behind. The other two brandished their rifles and shot back, just as another shot exploded from the now open passenger side window to tag the Kromagg on the left, leaving a burning mark on his neck as he flew backwards. The moment of distraction was enough for Colin to leap out of the back of the truck to take cover behind its rear wheel, then fire a final blast at the distant soldier, catching him in the chest and driving him to the floor. In no time, the Professor engaged the parking brake, then the two dashed through the right door.
When the alarm suddenly rang out through the facility, the two Kromaggs looked around the cell block in confusion. One brandished his rifle, and the other quickly shut down the energy field leading into Wade's tiny cell, where she was lying on a wall-mounted cot. She slowly sat up in her white gown, looked up, and smiled.
The sound of two people speaking Kromagg came from the nearby room. They were barely audible over the klaxon roaring through the hallways, but one voice was far higher pitched, and unmistakeably Mary's. Colin and the Professor burst into the room, a small area with a few chairs against the far wall, and a table against the side. Mary was standing, arms bound and tied to the ceiling, while a Kromagg officer held a knife under her chin. On the sound of the two entering, the Kromagg whirled around in surprise.
Mary reached her legs back and kicked them into the back of the Kromagg, sending him tumbling towards the two men. His knife hand went wild, and a second later, his chin met a vicious uppercut delivered by Colin, sending him to a crumpled heap on the ground. Taking his knife, the Professor reached up to slice Mary's bonds, who immediately ran to the door, taking a look down both metal-lined halls.
"It's a holding facility," she said, waving the others forward. "A monitor room should be this way."
Wade walked between the black-clad Kromaggs on either side of her. Her mind was crystal clear, and her head was raised high, undefeated. There wasn't a trace of fear, questioning, or doubt in her mind.
Two grunts came from both of her captors at once as they were suddenly pricked by something, then they turned to look back down the hall. Wade immediately turned and wrapped an arm around each of their necks, pulling her body backwards as hard as she could. The Kromaggs tilted, but didn't fall... until Colin and the Professor barreled forward like charging elephants to drive massive fists into each of their noses. Wade released her holds, steadied herself on the floor, then watched as the two soldiers crumpled down like sacks of potatoes. She ran forward to hug Mary and Colin together, pushing them forward into a third from the Professor.
"In this together," Colin said with a final squeeze. Wade smiled brightly. "Didn't doubt you for a second," she answered.
Colin pushed everyone apart and pointed his rifle either way, still seeing nobody, then recovered the tech briefcase from against the wall. Mary beckoned them onward. "This way," she insisted. Wade deliberately went out of her way to step on the side of one of the fallen Kromagg's faces as she followed them.
The door to the computer room opened, and two Kromaggs slumped to the floor outside, with angry red wounds hissing vile steam from each of their chests. Mary, Colin, the Professor, and Wade quickly entered, taking in the sight of the computer console against the wall with the large monitor above it. There were camera shots showing much of the mid-sized facility: the hallways were empty in several places, but they were slowly beginning to fill up with more and more Kromaggs entering from the outside.
Mary ran to the console and hit a few buttons, causing the outer doors as well as the entrance to the computer room to seal up. The scene made Wade think back to her near rescue by Remmy, Maggie, and the others, but when she saw Mary typing a few more commands into the console, and prison doors de-shielding and flying open all over the complex, her mouth hung open in surprise.
Prisoners all over the complex began pouring out into the hallways. Some women were immediately gunned down by Kromaggs, but soon, the flood of captives overwhelmed the temporarily meager resistance, and they began to arm themselves. Wade looked between the monitor and the door, but the Professor shook his head. "This place will be overrun in a short time, Miss Welles," he said. "And this is just one of many facilities on this world. We have done all we can."
Knowing she could do no more, Wade watched helplessly as the white-gowned women raided the armory and started passing out weapons. Some of the women stayed in their cells, afraid to move. Others tried desperately to help the ones shot down by the energy blasts. Still others were setting up blockades with furniture in the narrow corridors of the facility.
The Professor put a hand on her shoulder. "We will honor them by finding the others, and a way to put an end to this menace," he promised. Wade put her hand on his and squeezed.
Colin opened the tech briefcase and set up the Kromagg timer and display, linking them to one another and plugging the pair into an outlet in the wall. There were ten minutes left. He prepared the timer for powering up when Mary backed up close to him, then pulled the back of her gown down to reveal the top of her bare back. "Is it still showing?" she asked. Seeing a few of the odd Kromagg symbols, Colin pulled her gown down and open further, and his face turned to an expression of surprise. "Is that... coordinates?" he asked.
The Professor and Wade approached, then exchanged a look. "They are," she said. The Professor looked to the monitors, found themselves in the top middle on a single display, then looked to the far right corner to see the black orb of a camera looking in on them. "Lady Mary!" he exclaimed, pointing to it. She threw a glance between it and the monitors, nodded in understanding, then stood under the camera with her back to it.
Wade gestured for the knife that the Professor recovered from Mary's captor, and after she got it, she stood behind her to cut open a rectangle of cloth on her upper back. Colin and the Professor immediately looked away, then stood guard at the door with rifles ready. Briefly noticing the cute chivalry of the two, Wade pulled the terminal and timer closer to Mary, who began typing furiously into the Kromagg device.
With seconds to spare, she was done. Powering the device, she engaged the timer and opened the familiar angry red vortex. Taking one last look at the brave women awaiting their inevitable battle, the four escaped into the mouth of the tunnel, and it soon closed.
The world was similarly male heavy, and although their were some women walking about in contrast to where they had just come from, they weren't taking any chances: Wade was wearing a red baseball cap, short white shorts, and black sneakers they had bought from a clothing store, along with Colin's blue plaid overshirt with the collar flipped up and buttoned to cover most of her face, hiding between the boys. The sleeves were too long and covered her hands, but she otherwise looked normal in her disguise. Mary also kept between them in her secondhand long-sleeved white sweater with the collar pulled up, black slacks, and black shoes from a used goods shop.
It wasn't difficult to find the address. Word of Mary's defection had already reached her homeworld, and her parents were marked, exiled, and easy to find through an online registry at the library. Wade and the Professor smiled at one another as the taxi pulled up, and the ever welcome Pavel himself pulled up to usher them in. His grey newsboy cap sat atop his head and covered his greying brown hair, and he smiled from behind his thick grey beard. When he got the address, he looked to them confused, but quickly recovered, shrugged, then turned to the road. "Customers always right," he said in his nostalgic Russian accent.
Mary sat in silence, looking quietly out the window as the drove. The Professor looked at her in the rear view mirror, and Wade and Colin cast glances her way, only imagining what she could be thinking. Each prepared something to say, praising words and goodbyes, cheerful "Get 'em next time" speeches in case her family moved, anything that might bring the silent woman up before they finally parted. They arrived half an hour later, and waved happily goodbye to Pavel when they reached their destination. Mary went in alone, promising to return soon to invite them all in for food.
Fifteen minutes passed, and no Mary. The Professor, Colin, and Wade waited outside of the apartment block, the former two still in their urban camo stolen from the Hunters, while the latter kept herself hidden between them. The building was unpainted and covered with the darker stains of constant air pollution. There were bicycles chained to a nearby bike stand in front of the main entrance, but the parking spots for cars were utterly empty. The Professor checked his watch, noting that they only had ten minutes left.
"We won't have much time to join for lunch," Colin commented. Wade shook her head. "What if they're turning her in?" she asked. She couldn't believe it when Mary asked to go in alone, but thinking it was some kind of world custom, none of them objected at the time. The Professor sighed. "We'll need to go in soon regardless, or risk leaving her here before we make two slides to return," he spoke.
Minutes later, the decision was made for them: Mary emerged from the building. Her dark eyes were stained red from tears, but somehow, she was still smiling.
The others watched her approach expectantly. Finally, she spoke. "My mom just asked how I was doing," she started, her voice wavering, but with a tinge of unexpected amusement. "My father sat me on the couch and just looked at me. Then my mom started yelling and said they were here because of me." She laughed, a tear falling from each eye. "They said I wasn't family."
The Professor's face flashed between guilt and anger, but the other two looked up at the apartment solely in fury. Colin stepped forward towards the main door, but Mary put a gentle hand over his belly, softly holding him back. He looked down at her in confusion, only to see her still smiling face.
"It's ok," she said through her tears, looking at each of the three in turn. "I have a better one now."
Wade, all smiles, rushed forward to squeeze her tight in a strong embrace. They laughed together through their tears, while the boys exchanged another pair of grins. They all turned their backs to the building, and headed towards the street, ladies first.
"If the next world's peaceful, I want pizza," Mary suggested, arm locked with Wade. Colin looked to the Professor. "Your treat, Professor?" he asked with a smile. The Professor returned it. "Absolutely, Mr. Mallory," he answered, then turned to Mary. "And what shall we be ordering for yo..."
"Pepperoni," "Cheese," Mary and Wade's voices came out at once, then they laughed. "Guess we're set," Colin surmised, to which the Professor nodded, getting the timer out and ready.
Wade released her arm from Mary's. "And if it's not peaceful?" she asked aloud, then started shadowboxing. "Kick their butts again!" The other three lifted a cheer, and with a power up, the Professor engaged the timer, and opened the angry red vortex. And four jumps later, they were gone, and the vortex closed.