While Dudley was accommodating Kitty into the crew's sleeping quarter his son was just a few rooms away and stood there flabbergasted as the tall human man in the lab coat, which was too small for him, pushed the gun into his hands.

"What?" He just asked confused as Isaac nodded amusedly. Nick looked around, Powers had placed himself in a corner of the room and leaned nonchalantly against a wall. Next to him, Keswick checked the ear protection, which he just put on, by clapping his hands next to his ears. Again he looked into Isaac´s face who, a little impatient, took the boy by his shoulders and spun him around.

"Look there, do you see that?" He pointed at a piece of metal that was attached to the naked wall of the makeshift laboratory.
"I do but why would you…"
"Look Nick…" Powers called to him from the corner. "We need you to test the new ammunition Isaac came up with. So, would you just shoot at this plate over there?"

"Oh… oh well…" He said and eyed the unsuspicious-looking piece of metal that tiredly reflected the white light of the neon tubes. Nick lifted the gun in his hands up into his line of sight. This wasn´t the first time he held a gun and, even if his mom hated to admit it, he was probably better at it than she was. During the times his mother has taken time to show him how to shoot, he only once missed his target.

"You know that… If that´s their armor… bullets not really work against their armor…" he mumbled while still aiming. He took some time, he didn´t want to show any weakness to the aliens. Especially not while this scientist was close, weakness would just confirm the prejudice he had against them anyway.
"That should be the least of your worries." Isaac stomped his feet on the ground. "And now shoot already."

Nick grinned and almost immediately pulled the trigger after Isaac finished his sentence. He hoped that the sound of the gun would startle him but instead the outcome of the shot was the really startling thing. Not for Isaac but for Nick. The piece of metal was simply gone and so was a good portion of the wall behind. While the little pieces of concrete were still pouring to the ground, he already heard cheering from behind him.

"Perfect shot Nick!" Powers clapped his hand and walked towards them.
"It w..w..worked!" Keswick had also approached them. He had pulled the ear protection from his head and looked smiling at Nick and then grinned triumphantly at Isaac.

"Great." Isaac shrugged unimpressed. "I told you to put more armor in front of the wall."
"Why are you so bitter Isaac?" Powers asked. "Your idea worked."
"Well a..a..actually…" Keswick cleared his throat and stepped forward. "The basic idea was mine. I thought it would be more e..e..efficient than modifying all of our guns. But Isaac did the main w..w..work to be honest."

"Oh really?" Powers grinned at Isaac who had turned back to one of the tables and checked his notes. "Very good work, Keswick and Isaac."
Isaac grumbled and rolled his eyes as he took the gun out of Nick´s hand.
"I need you two make a lot more… I´d like to have about." The Captain tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling make some estimations. "10,000 rounds." He meant as he looked back at Isaac and Keswick.

The short scientist looked surprised at Powers "Oh well, that´s q..q..quite a lot… I don´t think…" But before he could explain any further Isaac nonchalantly said "Certainly, not a problem."
"Splendid." Powers said a little tonelessly and turned to Nick. "Nick, do you mind doing me another favor?"

"What favor…?" Nick asked this time with less suspicion in his voice than usual.
"Go tell the chief that he can get ready for the battle he wants." Powers started smiling friendly. "Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Uhm sure…"
Powers started nodding contented and folded his arms behind his back again. "Much obliged."
The boy looked at Powers´ back for a second before he shook his head and left the room running to fulfill his mission.

The moment the door closed behind Nick, Powers started to giggle. He rubbed his hands together grinning. "Isaac, you wouldn´t believe what Meliha suggested. She´s a mad genius"
"Is that so?" Isaac mumbled angrily bending over a table, and swiping on a hologram. "Want to share her ingenious with us normal people?"

"I´ll do so later, when we are all together." The captain kept on chuckling. "I got to find Kate, she´ll love to hear that." He left the room in search of the tick and headed for the conference room hoping to find her there. But what he found instead was a dog that had locked lips with the cat that lay on the table with him.

"Are you SERIOUS?!" Powers immediately yelled at the sight that was presented to him.
Dudley almost fell off the table as the voice of the captain thundered through the room. He immediately moved away from Kitty like he was oil and she was water and stammered. "She kissed me!"

"I did…" The cat purred and clumsily tried to grab him to pull him back to her. "And I´m not done with you…"
"Of course she did!" Powers stomped towards them and placed himself between them. "She´s still drugged! What do you expect?!" He started pushing Dudley away from her.

"No! Give him back!" She said and did something on Powers´ back that resembled pushing.
"I know you have a hard time acting normal around her, but I expect at least a little bit of self-restraint!"

"Sly I…"
"Dudley…" he went closer to the dog and spoke with a quieter voice. "She can´t decide right now, don´t do anything you might regret."
"Dudley… come back to me…" Kitty begged while purring even louder.
Powers turned to Kitty and simply lifted her onto his shoulder. "No Miss Katswell, Dudley got some work to do, you´ll see him later."

"Let me down!" The attempts to free herself might have been an issue for Powers but in her current state, he didn´t even have to struggle.
"Don´t worry… I will…" Powers left the room and left Dudley with a look on his face that just emitted pure terror.

Kitty tried to get out of Powers' grasp the whole way to the shuttle where she was handed from Powers to René who was, even though still exhausted by his last mission, still trying to fix everything. After Powers exchanged a few words with him, among them an order to relax and to force Kitty to do so too, he left and the two of them remained.

René handled the cat a little more carefully than the captain.
He didn´t simply carry her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He carried her in his arms like a groom carrying his bride what was, because Kitty still tried to escape, not that easy. Kitty ended up being strapped into one of the comfortable seats of the shuttle with René sitting on the seat facing her.

"I know this isn´t very comfortable but it should do the job." He sighed and leaned back in his seat slowly closing his eyes.
"Let me out of this…" she continued struggling weakly. "I want back to my Dudley…"
"Your Dudley?" His eyes immediately open widely. His tired face formed a wide grin. "Tell me some juicy details."

"I just want him to kiss again." Kitty pouted like a little kid while still trying to get out of her shackles.
"Oh Dudley, you blue-balled fool." René closed his eyes again and shook his head. "Hands of the drunk chicks."
"I´m completely fine."

"You might think that now, but mate, been there done that too often…" he chuckled a little. "Also, you usually don´t give the impression that you´re that into him."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I mean…" René once again sighed and opened his eyes for just one sentence. During its whole duration, he looked into her face. "Don´t play with him, make up your damn mind."

Kitty opened her mouth as her intoxicated mind tried to find something to say along the lines of "I am not the one playing" but the little part in her, which grew due to the returning sobriety, knew that there was nothing to discuss here. René confronted her with a problem that was still at hand.

She still had no idea what to do about it. The mere thought about this triangle would have brought back these weird raging headaches she always had if the painkillers wouldn´t still work fantastically.

In the time Kitty drifted to sleep the chief, at the requests of Powers, gathered a group of about 20 volunteers in the cafeteria, the biggest room of the bunker complex. Together they had moved the tables to the wall to create a free area to train in.

The chief was curious about what would happen now, Powers said he would send someone to train with them. Although he had a suspicion about who that would be he still allowed his mind to think about the possible trainers.

He would have loved to spar a few rounds with the captain, he seemed like someone who had a few fights on his back. Also, this Kate woman seemed like she could teach them a few mean tricks. The pilot seemed like he was a weird one, but these were especially interesting to fight. The scientist and the engineer would probably not appear and the chief was thankful for that, he wanted someone to fight, not to beat up.

The mind wandering came to an abrupt end as Dudley was pushed into the room by Powers, who told him something the chief didn't understand, before leaving again. He sighed, it wasn't the first time he had sparred with agent Puppy and though he had spent much time with the humans and was allegedly commanding his own ship, he knew him.

He knew all the special moves he knew mostly because he was there when they were taught to him. He remembered how hard it was to teach this dog any tricks, Dudley had mostly banked on his pure strength and had never been a fan of filigree maneuvers. That this now old dog had learnt some new tricks.

"Oh, great you are here already!" Dudley said with feigned happiness. "So, I was told that you all needed some training, is that right?"
The crowd started mumbling words that resembled agreement.
"Very nice… so for the first time I think we should agree on what to train in our next few sessions. So, what do you think is the most important thing in your opinion?"

A few hands were raised but the one who answered was a tall wolf who did so with a stern expression. "We definitely need close combat training." It was Rob. The chief could see Dudley's displeasure without even trying. The dog seemed to be angry that his competitor was here at all.
"Fine… any other suggestions?" The hands that were raised before sank down again and the fact alone unnerved Dudley enough that he sighed. "So be it… How about we start with a demonstration?. Any volunteers?"

The chief looked around the room as a big figure moved from behind him towards Dudley. Jorge, an over two-meter tall bear who not only had the height of a wall but also all other characteristics of it. The chief now looked worried at Dudley, Jorge was not the kind of guy who was gentle. He was known for his excessive outbursts of violence during the missions.

Although he was a potential threat to the base, he was left alone. This came due to the fact that he was the only one who could take a lizard down in hand-to-hand combat due to his exorbitant strength. The chief knew as they both eyed each other that Jorge would probably more than just hurt Dudley if the dog wouldn't be careful.

"Ah okay, and your name is?"
"I am Jorge." Growled Jorge and looked down at Dudley.
"Okay Jorge, pretend I am a lizard what would you…" before Dudley could finish the sentence Jorge had lunged out at him and hit him right on the arm.

It could have been the head, but Dudley had been fast enough to pull his left arm up to block the hit. Now the chief looked interested at his former agent. The chief knew Jorge's punches, no one just blocked them without also flying in the direction Jorge wished to.

"That's quite a good punch." Dudley said and shook his left arm probably in an attempt to shake out the pain. "But this approach is a little do direct for my taste."
Jorge stared at Dudley then at his paw then at Dudley again. The bear wasn't much of a thinker but that seemed to have turned some gears in his skull.

"Now let's switch roles. You play the lizard now, re-" again the bear started attacking without a warning but Dudley this time rather evaded the attack instead of blocking it. With a swift twirl, faster than anybody the chief has ever seen, he got behind the bear. He used a quick and precise kick into the bear's knee pit, which also was accompanied by a nasty sound, to bring the giant to his knees.

From there he grabbed the bear's head and it for a moment looked like he was about to gouge his opponents eyes out as he suddenly stopped, released the bear's head, and stepped away from him. "So see, the problem we all have is…" He nonchalantly moved around the bear who was panting still not sure what just happened. "… that the lizards are very big and, by nature, armored well. But their size is also their biggest disadvantage. You need to try to evade them and search for a place where they are vulnerable, their soft spots if you will."

"Okay but…" Rob started raising his voice again. "What are we going to do if we don't have fancy super speed?"
"I don't have super speed." Stated Dudley annoyed. "I maybe have some advantages because of human medicine but most of it is training."

"Then let me rephrase that." The wolf said and crossed his arms. "What do we do if we don't have half a millennium to train?"
"Using every moment you have for it." And with these words, he ignored Rob and turned to the crowd. "And now everybody, let's start with some push-ups. I want to see… what's a realistic amount… 100?"

The crowd started mumbling again and sounded less agreeable this time.
"Dudley that might be a little much." The chief said.
"Then give me 30." The mutt ordered and this time he sounded more like someone in a leading role. The chief sighed. 30 push-ups, it's been a while since he could do so many.

But he would at least try it, even though he wasn't sure if it would help. The chief knew that if they wanted to succeed against their enemy, they needed to be fast. He agreed with Rob in that regard, what should they do without half a millennium of time? As the sweat started to run down his arms the chief hoped for a miracle, because his stamina was beyond drained after 20 push-ups.

"We need… to win this…" he wheezed as he pushed himself to the 21st and then the 22nd. And as he tried for the 23rd he could feel a hand from underneath picking him up gently. He was carried away but that didn't stop him to push for the 24th. It took him god knows how long and he was on his knees panting.

"Chief…" Dudley spoke softly to the flee on his hand.
"Not… now… got… five…more." The flea croaked and fell to the side. He didn't know when his lungs burnt like that for the last time.
"It's okay chief…" Dudley meant slowly. "The training is over…"

Confusedly he looked around. The cafeteria was empty, even the chairs and tables were at their original spot again. "Wh..."
"You needed like good 50 minutes for the last two..." Dudley said and put him down on one of the tables. "You probably passed out or something."

"I'm fine." The flea gasped grumpily. "Just need some water…"
"I'll get you some in a moment just a thing..." It became immediately obvious that Dudley was trying to choose the next words wisely. "You should maybe think about… reduce the field work."

"What?!" The chief jumped up but tumbled, a certain dizziness has crawled into his head. If you had asked him that had nothing to do with the lack of oxygen.
"Chief, your health isn't the best anymore… are you still smoking by the way?"
"I stopped… It's hard to get my brand here."

"Sure… anyway, you have obvious health issues and also your age…"
The chief pointed his finger at Dudley and sternly stated. "Listen here agent Puppy. First of all, you are older than me! And second, I am still the chief, and if you want to stop me from fighting, you need to chain and shackle me, do you understand?"

"Herbert I am not opposing that." Dudley said and his voice tried not to sound patronizing. "But you need a slower training program."
"Ah, bite me, I'll be here tomorrow same time, same place." The flea crossed his arms and darted an angry stare at the dog.

"If you wish so…" The dog smirked and walked towards the exit of the cafeteria. He turned around in the doorframe saying, "Oh and if you really want to pull rank, it's captain Puppy" and then he left.
Not a second after Dudley left his field of view the chief sat down again and started breathing heavily. In a clear moment, he asked himself how he should survive another training but then his ego covered the common sense again and he said to himself through gritted teeth "For the victory."