X.p.l.o

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter twentynine... the dramatic tale continues...

Chapter 29: Nine lives spent
‘That’s everything on the ground floor, I think,’ Kandy whispered. They haven’t been able to detect any sign of Odin, nor Rong. ‘We’ve seen where the stairs are- should we try the basement first, or should we go upstairs?’ ‘The basement,’ said Searain without hesitate. ‘That’s as good a place as any to hide something in this house, plus we’ll have less chance to bump into Rong.’ They went to the corridor, without further talking.
Kandy didn’t say anything, but Searain’s remark had rose another question inside of her: What if Rong would hide Odin in his own bedroom? It would be extremely hard to smuggle him out of the room without Rong noticing, let alone the chance that Odin would start meowing.
And there wasn’t a sign of that dog either. As much of a watchdog it probably was, wasn’t it supposed to be guarding the house? While Searain had gone to get the key, Kandy had noticed a dog house in the large yard, but it was empty. As they proceeded, she grew a bad feeling about it…
They came at the stairs and descended it as quiet as possible. The basement was huge; it was built under the entire villa. It was full of junk: old furniture, boxes, piles of paper and more of that kind where all over, either scattered ore in large piles that looked like they could fall every minute, connected by many cobwebs. There was complete darkness, only enlightened by a couple of windows.
Through all of this, Kandy could hardly see anything, but Searain already seem to have gotten used to the dark. She walked around without even tripping over anything. Cat eyes, Kandy thought. She didn’t move for fear to trip over something and cause everything to fall.
Searain tried to examine the room. It was so musty in here that trying to smell Odin seemed useless. Sight was bad, because, although she might have good night vision, the junk, dust and utter darkness made it very difficult to see. And moving around quietly was very difficult with all that junk lying around. To her relief, she saw that Kandy had decided to stand still.
Kandy heard something. She was keeping a close eye on Searain, and knew for sure that she wasn’t the one who made that sound. Kandy was getting scared now, but apparently Searain had heard it too. She looked startled. Kandy didn’t dare to say anything to her, since the funny feeling grew inside her that they weren’t alone in this basement…
Searain now carefully made her way towards where the sound had come from. She knew she was out of sight for Kandy now. She bent over, leaned with her hand on something that felt solid, looked sideways and saw something she didn’t expect: a door. It was a dozen of feet away to where Searain was now. So this wasn’t the whole basement after all! She knew that the sound they heard had come from behind that door… She also knew that Odin was behind the door. She didn’t smell it, she just… felt it. Then, the thing she used to lean her hand on suddenly slipped away… things fell…
Kandy couldn’t see Searain any more, but she had kept on hearing her breathe. Until now, it seemed as though she was holding her breath… Kandy did that, too and listened carefully. The, as a bolt from the blue, she heard something fall, followed by a loud shriek.
The reason Searain had shrieked was that she was suddenly looking at the broadest and meanest grin she had ever seen. Unfortunately, the owner of this grin was no one other than W. Rong, who had opened the door from behind and was now threateningly standing in the doorway. The lights wee on in the room behind hem, so the basement room they were in was now a lot lighter. Rong had seen Searain and grinned his unpleasant grin.
‘I’ve been expecting you…’ Kandy, from her position heard a sneaky voice say. It was unmistakably Rong’s. They had been caught.
‘From the moment I heard what freaks you were yesterday,’ Rong continued, ‘I knew there had to be something done about you. I don’t know just what you are,’ his voice became full of disgust, and his grin was gone, ‘and I don’t want to know either, but I do know that I don’t want you in my neighborhood, understand? No, of course you don’t understand!’ Rong was starting to look slightly mad now, as he began to get red. ‘I knew you wouldn’t understand! Not would you freaks understand human language, would ya? Would ya?’ Rong was raging now, but he wasn’t finished yet. ‘That’s why I took one of your kind, your precious, precious little cat…’ Searain gasped, which had clearly a calming effect on Rong. He seemed to deflate, and the grin reappeared. ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ he continued, ‘and you won’t get it back ‘till you’re ready to leave this place… for good!’
Searain stared at him in disbelief. ‘What, worried about the little furball?’ sneered Rong. ‘Don’t worry, he’s in good hands with me and Hector! Well, that is, until Hector gets hungry of course! Mwahahaha!’ Rong silenced, apparently he didn’t have anything more to say. They just stared at each other. For a moment, time seemed to be frozen…
Then, Searain turned around and hurried over all the junk back to Kandy. ‘Quickly, let’s get out of here!’ she shouted. Due to all the noise, it seemed Rong was coming after them, though he didn’t come through not quite as light-footedly as Searain did.
They hurried back to the stairs. They were sure they would make it, until… Hector appeared at the upper end. He was drooling and showing off his scary, sharp teeth. Meanwhile, Rong had appeared on the lower and. He was carrying a large rifle… they were closed in.

[cosmichedgehog]

You're all pretty eager to know what's gonna happen to Odin? Today may be your lucky day cause herrre's chaper thirty!

Chapter 30: Rong’s secret
Rong grinned broader than ever. ‘You’re not goin’ anywhere… Maybe you make an even better hostage than that furball…’ He laughed like a twisted maniac and looked like one too. This was serious, as Rong didn’t look afraid to use his rifle. Hector didn’t move, but looked ready to bite anyone who’d come near.
Searain made a step in the direction of Rong. Rong suddenly started to look nervous. It seemed like he moved backwards a little. ‘Get away, you… I warn you!’ But Searain was delighted; it seemed Rong was afraid of her… she stepped down another step. ‘So I am a freak, right?’ she said. Rong took another step backwards.
Kandy didn’t feel comfortable about Searain’s behavior. Obvoiously, she was trying to scare Rong, but she played a dangerous game, daring him like this.
But Searain thought she had found Rong’s weakness: fear of her. And she was now to find out just how far that fear would go. Maybe she could make him drop his gun.
She approached Rong step by step, while Rong became more and more nervous, but he still held the weapon. This doesn’t work, Searain thought. If I can make him just a bit more scared…
Then she reminded something. By habit, she had kept her tail wrapped around her waist all the time, but now she unrolled it in a single, fast move.
This relatively simple move had an overwhelming effect on Rong. He seemed to be completely panic-stuck for a while, and during this moment Searain’s little plan looked like it was going to work. Rong’s grip around the gun weakened…
But suddenly, Rong recovered himself. His facial expression turned from panicked to maniacally frenzied. He tightened his grip again, and aimed the gun straight at Searain. Searain was nailed to the ground. This is it, Rong thought. All I have to do is pull the trigger to free the world from one more monster… Of course he would get in trouble, but Rong was in too deep to think about that. His finger reached to the trigger…
Kandy didn’t hesitate for a moment. She pushed the button on her SIAB.
A flash, a bang, a lot of comical question marks and Kandy had jumped in between Rong and Searain. The bullet had been fired, but had simply bounced off Kandy’s armor. A second later, Kandy had disarmed Rong and thrown the weapon on the ground.
Rong screamed. It was hard to make sense of what he tried to say, but it apparently had something to do with Hector, since the dog was suddenly alarmed. Without even barking, the Rotweiler dashed towards the girls.
Kandy took the attack; the dog tried to tackle and bite her but might as well had taken on a solid rock; Kandy wasn’t familiar with the capability of the SIAB armor but it needed apparently more than a single dog’s power to take it down. Kandy pushed the dog away. For a moment, Kandy was about to hit the dog but decided not to do that; she was an all-around animal lover and, though she wasn’t very fond of this dog; knew that this was only due to his master.
She wanted to carry the dog somewhere else but suddenly felt a couple of strong arms around her neck. Rong had jumped from behind her and till couldn’t quite think clearly. She was completely overwhelmed by this attack; he couldn’t breathe well and was also unable to move her arms, even with the armor on. Rong was strong and apparently a master at strangling people. Rong now looked like an out-of-control WWF wrestler. Hector had walked to the end of the stairway with his tail between his legs.
Kandy couldn’t pay much resistance to Rong’s grip… Rong was very strong and really pressed with all he had… She was choking, on the edge of faint…
‘Don’t even think about it!’ said a voice. Rong’s grip weakened; thank goodness. As soon as Kandy could breathe properly, she saw that Searain had picked up Rong’s rifle, aiming straight at his oversized nose. Rong calmed down as Searain smiled almost evilly, her tail moving cheerfully from side to side.
Rong calmed down with a very bad grace, but suddenly seemed to notice something. He grinned again and said coolly: ‘There was only one bullet in that gun.’
Rong immediately tried to grab Searain, but this time, Kandy was faster. She slapped Rong in the face.
Rong flew backwards two meters before falling on the ground. He was unconscious before he did. Kandy looked at her hand in disbelief. Did she really slap that hard?
Seconds later, they were in the basement room Rong had came out of; a small chamber with a chair, a desk and a lamp. Odin was indeed there, locked in a box used to carry cats to the vet. They opened the box; it was a happy meeting-again.
But while Searain was caressing Odin, Kandy, who had deactivated her SIAB, noticed the paperwork on the desk. ‘Searain, come! …take a look at this!’ Searain came and read. ‘Oh my god…!’ ‘You said it! This guy actually does practice fraud! Look at this, he’s stolen thousands, even tons! No wonder he’s this rich!’ ‘W. Rong, my neighbor, a white-collared criminal… Yes, it makes sense!’ said Searain. ‘And here’s the proof. Let’s take it.’ ‘Right! He could go to jail for years with this… No wonder he had it hidden in the basement.’
And, very satisfied, the girls left the villa with Odin, leaving a scared Hector and an unconscious Rong behind. Kandy’ very tired, climbed into bed. Finally, she thought, I can enjoy some well-deserved rest.
The alarm-clock rang a quarter later.

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 31: Leaving Toronto
Jay munched on a sandwich. ‘Really, what you two did was dangerous, reckless, irresponsible and not to mention stupid,’ he said between two chomps. ‘In other words: Welcome to XPLO.’
They were having breakfast. The girls had spoken about their adventures. Mom and Dad looked worried, but Jay could see the humor of it.
‘Honestly,’ he continued. ‘We do those thing all the time. It get pretty tricky sometimes, but as long as we’ve got these…’ - he pointed at his SIAB – ‘…we’ve got nothing to worry ‘bout.’ ‘Okay, when will I get one of those?’ said Jack.
Before Jay could answer, something beeped. ‘Hey, that’s my watchphone!’ ‘Your what?’ ‘My watchphone! You know, telephone with visuals on my watch?’ ‘I’m not even surprised…’ said Searain.
Jay pushed a button on his watch. ‘Jay Mand here. Who’s it?’ A face appeared on the tiny display. ‘Hello, this is Troy,’ said a familiar voice. ‘Troy! You’re alright?’ ‘Fine, good as new!’ said Troy. ‘Did you find Searain?’ ‘Sure did! She’s right here!’ Jay moved his watch so that the tiny built-in camera viewed Searain’s face.
‘Good!’ said Troy. ‘I’m in Trenton right now. Wait, I’ll give you Minus.’ he turned his face. ‘Mrs. Minus? It’s in order!’ Troy walked away and got replaced by Makad Minus. ‘You’re all there? Good. I want you guys to come over here as soon as possible. You will get instructions on your next recruit.’ ‘And don’t forget…’ G. Bay appeared behind Makad. ‘Two of you still need their equipment.’ ‘Right,’ said Jay. ‘We’re going right away. Out.’ He turned to the others. ‘Well, you heard it. Time to pack our bags.’
They prepared and said goodbye to Searain’s parents. ‘Thank you very much!’ ‘It’s been a great stay!’ ‘I’ll miss you.’ ‘And don’t forget to turn in those papers at the police office. Rong’s gonna appreciate spending some time in the big house,’ Jay added with a nasty grin.

Jay, Kandy, Jack and Searain spent the next two hours getting back to Toronto and taking the Wormhole to Trenton. Makad Minus, Troy and G. Bay were waiting for them. ‘Okay, here’s the deal,’ said Minus, who didn’t even bother to say hello. ‘Next person to recruit is known to us as Robbie B.’ ‘Robbie Bee?’ asked Jay. ‘No, B. We don’t know his full surname.’ ‘Couldn’t you look it up?’ ‘No. File’s out, remember?’ ‘Oh, that’s right. I forgot.’ Jay sighed. ‘You know, sometimes I even start to miss that little devil, you know that?’ Minus waved aside the remark.
‘We couldn’t find that much data.’ she continued. ‘What we did find however was a huge criminal record,’ finished G. Bay. He turned on a plasma screen. ‘Look, here’s it.’ Jay and the others looked at the screen. ‘Burglary, robbery, drug dealing, theft, blackmail, all on his name,’ said Minus. ‘But we didn’t trust it, even for a grown-up thug this is too much.’ ‘Excuse me, ma’am, but what do you mean, even for a grown up…?’ asked Jay. ‘Because,’ said Makad dramatically, ‘Robbie B is fifteen, as old as you are.’
‘He’s what?’ said Jay, and the others looked shocked too. But Minus ignored them and continued. ‘Like I said, we didn’t believe a fifteen year old could do all this. We looked a little further and we found…’ G. Bay finished the sentence. ‘…Exactly the same list, under a different profile. Apparently, somebody who is hardly any older than Robbie B has done all exact same crimes in the same order on the same time.’
‘And this guy is…’ Jay wanted to ask, but he was interrupted again by Minus. ‘We’ve found no name, but we do have a picture of his. Bay?’ Bay pushed a button and a picture appeared on the screen. It showed the front of a young man in a city. He seemed to be taking to someone else, but the picture only showed his back.
Minus went on. ‘We also found that this man has an alliance with a criminal network known as the “Invo”.’ G. Bay took the word again ‘So we figured that this criminal record doesn’t belong to just one person, but to this whole Invo organization, and that our man Robbie B is also part of it.’ ‘We couldn’t do a tracking on Robbie B himself, but we traced were the picture was taken; in Chicago,’ said Makad. ‘That is also the city were Invo is active. So you’ll be going to Chicago and ask around if anyone has seen this man, this No Name. If you find him, you might be able to infiltrate into Invo and thus contact Robbie B.’
Jay didn’t like this idea. ‘Why do we have to stick our heads into the fire? Why do we need this Robbie B anyway? I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of full-trained XPLO agents around willing to take his place?’ ‘It’s a prophecy made by File, or actually a calculation.’ said Makad. ‘Only with all seven people on his list, no more, no less and no substitutes, can Queen Z be defeated. Nobody knows how and why, but File is… was programmed to be always right.’
Minutes later Jay and the others got ready to go, but not before Bay provided Jack and Searain with their equipment. The button on Jack’s SIAB was green, the one on Searain’s was yellow. Out of Bay’s chest of weapons Jack chose a Repeating Laser Blaster, a quite large gun that fired fast. Searain chose a most handy, small weapon that sent out electromagnetic rays that disabled any electric devices they would hit.
After this, Bay opened a Wormhole to Chicago and Jay, Kandy, Troy, Searain and Jack walked trough the Wormhole into new adventure.

[cosmichedgehog]

Sorry for the overdue-ness, during the last week my computer has had every nasty problem imaginable... But I'm filled up with inspiration now and heeeeeerrrrre's chapter 32! Featuring... ZTDinozaur!

Chapter 32: Down to the bottom
HQ Chicago was different from other XPLO headquarters Jay and the others had been as it was located under water. It was a hypermodern aquatic building on the bottom of Lake Michigan.
In the Wormhole Chamber were not only the usual air- and spacecraft, but also a lot of high-tech submarines. There were a lot of windows that looked out to the lake, but since the water was quite murky, there wasn’t much to be seen.
After the transportation through the Wormhole Jay and the others were approached by a very strange creature. His body was humanoid, but very sturdy. His skin was covered with small, blue scales. On his back were two rows of diamond-shaped plates, some fist-sized, other the size of A3 paper. On each shoulder was a long, He also had a tail, that had spikes on it instead of plates. Compared to his body his head was rather small and reptilian-like. He wore an XPLO uniform that was suited for him.
‘Z. T. Dinozaur I am. Hello. Minus’s team, you are?’ said the creature in a low, growling voice. He suddenly noticed that he was gaped at by five astonished faces. ‘What it is? Never seen a Deinozaurian, you did?’ The five heads shook synchronically. Even Jay had never seen an alien this weird. He had heard of Deinozaurians before, but never imagined that they would look so bizarre. ‘Yes, err, we’re Minus’s team,’ he managed to bring out. ‘You’re the Wormhole operator?’
Z. T. Dinozaur continued his Master Yoda-like talking. ‘Bad job, I have. Me being one of only Deinozaurian on Earth nasty is. Earth one of few planets is where XPLO and alien life kept secret is to population, know you. Stay in this base I have, every night and day. But me always follow President Rex’s orders. Him always want a Deinozaurian agent on every planet. Wormhole operator I am, and bring you to Chicago I will.’
He took them away. Though the Deinozaurian pretended to sound grumpy, they soon found out he was actually a very friendly person. Searain, who had stared her eyes out so far, now asked Dinozaur about the Wormhole generators. He answered her in slang.
‘…And then these tiny plasma wires sparks of energy send to the gravity-bender which altering the matrixes between molecules in air does.’ ‘Do you really need such a big ring to activate it?’ ‘Yes. Well, that is, in that ring a big generator is, that activated is by the computer.’ ‘Okay, but haven’t you ever thought of a small generator in a small computer?’ ‘What mean you?’ ‘Well, if those chips really can be made that small, shouldn’t it be possible to put a Wormhole generator in, say, a wristwatch computer?’ ‘Possibly. Hmm, very likely, that is actually! But through such a small ring nothing can go.’ ‘But what if you don’t let it generate a Wormhole in the middle but let it be created somewhere else? Not between a ring, but, err, let’s say beamed away? You know what I mean?’ ‘Yes. Well, I know not. Be, it could. The Martians I’ll ask. Not a bad idea, it is.’
‘How are we getting to the city?’ asked Troy. ‘A submarine, we take,’ answered Dinozaur.

The submarine had looked more like a spaceship at first sight. It was about the size of a small plane. It had wheels and stood in a corner of the Wormhole Chamber. Jay wondered how they would go outside into the lake, since there wasn’t a pool anywhere.
Z. T. Dinozaur told them to go inside. The ship’s innards were very much like that of a bus. There was more than enough room for all five of them.
Dinozaur himself sat down on a special driver’s chair. He pushed a button, and suddenly a gate opened in the wall. The submarine drove trough it, and they came in a smaller room that was just big enough for the sub. The gate behind them closed. Then, the room started filling up with water. Before them opened another door that led directly to the lake. The submarine went trough it and their trip trough Lake Michigan began.
There were many windows inside the submarine but the water wasn’t clear enough to see anything. Z. T. Dinozaur navigated using a three-dimensional radar system.
The first couple of minutes, the group tried to amuse itself by looking out of the window. However, this started to get boring soon. ‘How far is it from the base to the coast?’ asked Jack. ‘A couple of miles, it is. Far now, it won’t be.’
When he said that, a huge rock mass loomed up before them. They expected Dinozaur to move over it or past it, but he went straight at it. ‘Err, what are you doing?’ asked Kandy. ‘You see that rock, we’ll crash right into…’ ‘Worry not. What I’m doing, I know.’
Suddenly, they saw that the submarine went into a large cave in the rock. It led to a very long tunnel. To cut a long story short, the tunnel went up. Above was a hole just big enough for the submarine. As the submarine came through the hole, they saw that they had come out of the water. They were now in a pool, inside of a building.
Dinozaur opened the door and told them to get out. They did and were followed by Dinozaur himself.
‘There,’ he said. ‘In Chicago, you are. Anything else I can do, perhaps?’ ‘Yes,’ said Jay. He showed the picture of the nameless Invo criminal. ‘Do you know who and were this is?’ ‘Nope. Never in the city, I come. Why, you can see.’ Jay saw that it was true; Z. T. Dinosaur didn’t look like someone you’d want to encounter in a dark alley.
They went out of the building and find themselves in Chicago, where the new search could begin.

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 33: Chicago Hopeless
After several tiresome hours the five ended up in the crowded center of Chicago. They knew they were near the place where the picture with the nameless Invo thug was taken, as they had asked around. Nobody had ever seen the thug, though.
‘I suggest we split up. We could search the whole area and give each other a call when we find the place on the picture,’ said Troy. ‘Okay, but even if we find the place, how are we gonna find the guy?’ said Jay. ‘Hope, I guess,’ said Troy.
Jay got the picture out of his pocket. They all had a copy of it. It showed the nameless thug talking to someone in a long raincoat, standing before something that looked like an obscure pub. “The Marauder”, it was called. ‘So, we split up in two groups. We’ll separately search for this pub, and we’ll see where we’ll end up. Troy, Searain, you go that way, while I’m going this way with Kandy and Jack.’
So they did. The two groups went their separate ways and kept asking around. Fortunately there were some people who recalled seeing the mysterious pub somewhere, though no one knew exactly where.
‘Doesn’t seem like a place people like going to, does it?’ asked Troy. ‘Not really, no… It might be an Invo hideout,’ Searain answered. Her tail was well hidden under her brand-new SIAB. ‘I hope it is,’ said Troy. ‘It’ll be a piece of cake to infiltrate. Reminds me of the good old days when I was still a spy…’ ‘You were a spy?’ ‘Haven’t I told you? No, I haven’t. Well, those were really exciting times! I remember that time when I was working undercover in a cafeteria…’ ‘Yeah, you can tell me some other time, there are more people there.’ ‘Oh. Alright. Well, then I’ll take that side and you’ll take this side.”
Troy already walked to the other side of the road, when Searain suddenly called him back. ‘Hey, Troy! Come over here!’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Look at this!’ Troy looked over Searain’s shoulder. ‘Well I’ll be a kipper,’ he said. She was holding the picture before her, with the pub, “The Marauder”, and the two men on it. Behind the picture was the real pub, completely with one of the men; the one facing front. This was the man they were looking for. ‘Find the differences,’ Troy remarked.

Jay was not amused. He was obviously searching in the wrong direction. Nobody really seemed to know where the mysterious pub was. Jay was just about to give up when his Watchphone rang. ‘Jay speaking!’ ‘We’ve found the pub!’ said Troy’s voice.
A few minutes later all five of them stood before “The Marauder”. Troy had seen their man go inside. ‘So, what do we do now?’ asked Kandy. ‘We need a good strategy,’ said Jay. ‘We want to infiltrate to get to Robbie B.’
‘Do you think that’s wise?’ asked Jack. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’ asked Jay. ‘Well, to me it seems better we’ll let one of us infiltrate- that would seem less suspicious,’ answered Jack. ‘This person will keep in close contact with the rest of us.’ ‘Good idea,’ said Jay. ‘Now who’s it gonna be?’ ‘That would be Troy,’ said Searain. ‘He’s a former spy; he’s the most experienced in this sort of thing.’ ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ said Jay. ‘I’m all for it!’ said Jack. ‘Me too!’ said Kandy.
‘You’re not leaving me any choice, are you?’ asked Troy. ‘Nope,’ answered Jay. ‘Okay then,’ said Troy, ‘but I’m not that much of a James Bond...’ ‘Troy, we’re all depending on you. It’s the universe we’re saving here!’ said Jay. ‘Oh yeah? Oh, yeah. The Queen Z stuff,’ said Troy. ‘Well, I could give it a try. And if it gets too tricky, I still have my SIAB.’ ‘That’s the spirit! Now show us why you’re named after the Trojan Horse!’ said Jay. ‘And, by the way, don’t forget to keep in touch. Call us if you get in trouble. But do it discretely, the last thing we want is Invo to discover our secret organization.’ ‘Okay. I’ll remember that. For the rest, I’ll improvise,’ said Troy. He saluted and firmly stepped to the door of The Marauder.
It was a dark, dingy pub. Troy immediately felt stared at. On the seats and at the bar were all obscure, grubby-looking people. Their nameless contact person wasn’t among them. Between all those people, Troy looked really neat and clean. They all stared at Troy with something that felt like sick interest. Still, Troy gave no sign of weakness. He ignored the nasty looks and sat down on a stool near the corner.
The landlord came to him, a dirty, bald man. ‘Well, what’s it gonna be, boy?’ he asked in a very hoarse, rasping voice. ‘A beer, please,’ Troy said as casually as possible. The landlord gave him a glass of beer. Troy took a draught. It was the most nasty he ever tasted, but he drunk. Don’t draw attention, he thought. He discretely beckoned the landlord. The landlord came to him again. Troy showed him the picture. ‘Do you know this guy?’
The landlord looked puzzled, or at least, he tried to. Troy saw that the landlord was hiding something; he was a the right address. Troy saw, too, that the landlord exchanged significant looks with some of the other guests.
What Troy didn’t see, however, was that the landlord pushed a button under his bar table. This caused Troy’s stool to swing over. Troy fell right through a hatch in the wall that had just been opened…

[cosmichedgehog]

For suggestions or requests regarding XPLO feel free to PM me in the future. *note* ONLY for suggestions and requests.

I had to force myself to write this chapter since half of it was lost in our harddisk accident. After all, I can't let XPLO die, can I? I re-wrote it and am pretty happy with the result. So please, go and read chaper thirty-four: Start of a *Big* adventure with Troy!

Chapter 34: David Trojan, Evil Genius
Troy fell through the hatch and landed uneasily on something cold, smooth and metal-like. The hatch had immediately closed, and Troy couldn’t see a thing. He decided to grope his way. The floor he landed on was very slippery, and it seemed sloping, too… Before he knew it, he slid away down a long slide, in an uneasy position. He was to busy to think of where he would end up, but he realized that it would be a wasp’s nest.
The slide ended. Troy fell down a few inches. A hatch behind him closed. He scrambled on his feet. He was in a room that seemed to be entirely made of metal plates. It was faintly enlightened by fluorescent lamps. In the middle was a very solid, metal chair, that looked out to a huge mirror in one of the four walls. Troy had the feeling that this mirror was a window at the other side, from which someone was watching him now…
His hunch was confirmed when a low pitched, thundering voice suddenly spoke. ‘Please, sit down.’ Troy was startled. He didn’t immediately respond to the voice’s request. ‘Sit down!’ said the voice emphatically. Troy decided that it would be best if he did what the voice told him to. He sat down on the uncomfortable metal chair.
Immediately, metal bands emerged out of the chair’s side around Troy’s arms and torso. He couldn’t move. Troy had expected it. He knew it would be useless to try to get himself loose, so he didn’t try to and waited until the voice spoke again. He didn’t have to wait long.
‘Now, let us talk. Who are you, and why are you here?’ ‘I was wondering that,’ said Troy. ‘Wrong answer. Let’s try again.’ said the voice. ‘What were you doing in that pub?’ If Troy could raise his shoulders, he would. Instead, he tried to look innocent. ‘Just drinking a pint, of course. Why, is that a crime?’ ‘Let me refresh your memory. You were looking for a man. You asked the landlord if he knew him. Why are you looking for him?’ ‘That’s none of your business, I believe, said Troy coolly. He heard the voice growling softly. ‘I guarantee you that it is my business, indeed. You see, this man you were looking for is a member of the notorious criminal network known as Invo.’ Troy smirked. He was clearly at the right address. ‘And I take it that the fact that this person is Invo makes it your business?’ he asked.
It took a while before the voice answered again. When it did, it was slightly panting. ‘Listen up, you son of a Brit. You’re working on my nerves. You can’t see it, but there’s a huge laser gun behind your back that’s aiming right at you. My finger is above a red button. If I press it, your head gets blown off, so if you annoy me… Get it?’ Troy slowly nodded. He had to be really careful now.
‘Good,’ said the voice. ‘Now all I want you to do is answer my questions. So, again, who are you?’ The voice emphasized every word of that last sentence. Troy knew what to do. It was time for an alias. ‘My name is David Trojan,’ he said. ‘And why were you looking for this particular person?’ said the voice. Troy hesitated for a moment. ‘I wanted to speak to an Invo executive,’ he said truthfully.
Again, the voice didn’t answer immediately. ‘That’s what you’re doing now,’ it said. ‘Okay then…’ said Troy. Things were looking good. The voice continued. ‘And what did you want to ask me?’ Troy looked fearlessly in his own reflection’s eyes, hoping he was looking the man at the other side of the mirror in the eyes too. ‘I want to join Invo,’ he said, trying to sound as convincingly evil as he could. ‘You do? Hah! And don’t you, Trojan you English fool, know that membership of our, err, group is pretty… exclusive?’ ‘I can figure that…’
‘You can’t go and become a member just like that. You have to pass a test first. A hard one. If you manage to pass it you’re part of Invo for the rest of your life. That means you’ll share credit everything the organization has done and have to follow the Master’s orders no matter what.’ ‘And if one would fail…’ Troy started uneasily… ‘In that case, you won’t become a member,’ said the voice almost cheerfully. ‘Instead, you get shot for knowing too much. So, you take it?’
‘What if I don’t?’ asked Troy. ‘If you don’t, I’ll press that cute li’l red button in front of me and you can spend the rest of your life with a hole in your head. Mwahaha! But one comfort: That rest of your life won’t be long…’ ‘Okay, okay! I’ll take it!’
Troy sighed. The owner of the voice he was talking to was not only evil, he thought, but also at least slightly insane. He had dealt with such people before. The voice spoke again.
‘Good, good. I’ll free you. You’ll be awaited by two of my henchmen. They’ll do the testing.’ ‘So, I guess this means goodbye?’ asked Troy sarcastically, sounding positively evil. ‘Hehe… yup. Gotta say this for you, English guy, you got guts!’ With these words, David Trojan was released from the chair.
Troy stood up, happy to walk again. Suddenly, a door opened in one of the metal walls. In the doorway, Troy was surprised to see two teen-aged boys. One he recognized immediately: The man on the picture they had been looking for. The other one was smaller, had dark hair and for some reason looked more cruel than the first one. The nameless man on the picture did the word. ‘David Trojan, ‘eh? Call me Rudy. Rudy No Name.’ He pointed at his dark companion. ‘And this here’s Robbie. Robbie B.’ Bite! So this was Robbie B, the very goal of this crazy spying stuff. Well, finding him was one thing, but how would he persuade him to join XPLO?
‘Follow us,’ said Rudy. Troy followed. He was filled up with self-confidence. He knew he would prevail. He, David Trojan, would Show Those Fools what an Evil Genius he was!

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 35: Troy Takes the Test
It was already early in the evening. Jay and the others had settled down in a small hotel in the Chicago center. He had arranged two twin-bedded rooms, one for Kandy and Searain, one for Jack and himself. They were now all in Jay and Jack’s room, where they talked everything over. They hadn’t heard of Troy yet.
‘He’ll be alright,’ said Jay. ‘In the best case he has stranded somewhere in the middle of a criminal network. Nothing he can’t handle. I hope.’ ‘And that’s the best case?’ said Jack. ‘Of course. That’s just what we want, isn’t it? Of course it could be that he didn’t get to Invo at all and is now lost and lonely in a city as big as this one… That’s a bad case. Or worse, he was considered an enemy by Invo and got killed in a terrible way… Or maybe he is getting tortured now…’ ‘Jay, don’t say those things!’ said Kandy. ‘Hey, ease up, I was only kidding.’ Kandy gave Jay a poisonous look. Jay ignored her. ‘What I meant to say was, life is risky. The biggest risk we can take is taking no risk at all. We have to find Robbie B no matter what.’
Right when he said that, his watch beeped. ‘Oh look!’ said Jay. ‘That’ll be Troy!’ Jay pressed the button. Indeed, Troy’s face appeared on the miniscule screen. ‘Troy! How are things?’ ‘Shh…’ said Troy. ‘I don’t know if I’m being watched… Here’s what happened.’ In short Troy told him about his conversation with the Invo executive, the test he had to take now and his meeting with Rudy and, Jay was delighted to hear, Robbie B.
‘It actually rather tragic, really,’ Troy concluded. ‘Robbie. His parents died when he was ten. He didn’t say how… after that, he was raised by Invo criminals. He now does things like stealing money, dealing drugs… Those Invo guys have completely stamped out every bit of dignity within him… If I wasn’t undercover, I’d show those guys…’ ‘I understand, but we have to be careful. Where are you now?’ ‘I am alone… In a small room in a cheap, dirty inn… Rudy brought me here, together with other so-called new recruits. Rudy… That’s a different story. He’s the boy on the picture we’ve been looking for. His father is an active Invo member, who is now doing time. Bad to the bones, that Rudy fellow. He’s kind of our supervisor. He’ll make sure no one escapes with valuable information about Invo. I’m sure of one thing: The criminal record we’ve seen isn’t half the record they should have… but anyway, what should I do?’ ‘Taking Robbie with you and trying to get away seems like a bad idea,’ said Jay. ‘I don’t think he’d come with you willingly anyway. You must try to win his confidence. Then, you must find an appropriate time to escape.’ ‘That could get difficult.’ ‘Well, they can’t shoot you if you have your SIAB activated. Keep that in mind. Take the test, but don’t wait too long to escape. We might still have a few days before the big mission starts, but it’s not that much and we still have other people to find.’ ‘Well… I’ll try.’ ‘Don’t try. Just do it. I know you can, don’t you?’ ‘Well, then I’ll do it. But it won’t be easy,’ said Troy. ‘Agreed,’ said Jay. ‘When will you give me a call again?’ ‘I wouldn’t know. Maybe I don’t get the chance at all, so don’t panic if you don’t hear of me soon. But I got to go now. Bye.’

Troy turned off his Watchphone. He lied down on his bed. That Jay. Easy for him to say everything would be fine. He sat safely on his butt in a luxurious hotel while Troy was in a dirty, lonely room behind enemy lines. He had to spend the rest of the day here to be collected by Rudy past midnight to start the test, which would undoubtedly be heavy, difficult and dangerous.
But he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it. Although he was an all-English gentleman, he had always been mysteriously interested in a living on the edge. That’s what made him a spy. Maybe that was also why he was calculated to be a member to Jay’s team by File.
Tomorrow the test would commence. What would they make him do? Would he have partners, would it be some kind of competition? He didn’t know. But his major problem was Robbie. How would he win his confidence? He would have to show him that he could be trusted. Maybe the test would be a good time to do that. He’d just have to improvise. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. He would need it…

‘Wake up!’ Troy had already awoken due to some noise outside. He heard Rudy knocking on his door and calling him. ‘Wake up, English guy.’ The door opened and Rudy came in. ‘Ah, you’re up already,’ he said. ‘Yeah…’ moaned Troy slowly. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. ‘Well, you can forget your tea today… Follow me.’ Without waiting for an answer, Rudy disappeared. Troy quickly stood up and followed him. They went though the long, dark corridor. It was still dark outside. Troy looked at his watch and saw that it was two a.m.
They went into a larger room. Robbie was there, and so were five others: rough, creepy looking guys. The new recruits. They would take the test together with Troy.
Rudy took the lead, Robbie on his side. He pointed out the first stage of the test: Breaking and entering into a secured house and taking at least five hundred dollars or things with an equivalent value within thirty minutes. Everybody would get a house of his own. Troy was happy to hear that; he would be alone again to contact Jay.
They all went down the stairs, through the entrance hall and out of the hotel. They followed Rudy and Robbie, whilst intimidating and daring each other. Troy held aloof. He didn’t want to make things harder than they were.
After a while, they stopped. ‘This is one of the houses. Let’s see. You. No, not you. The English guy. Trojan. You. You take it. I wanna see you back in a half an hour.’

[cosmichedgehog]

The Troy Tales continue...

Chapter 36: The Burglar
Troy examined the house, while the others examined Troy from a distance. It was an ordinary terrace house, nothing ever so special. Two cars on the drive, a garage. From what he could see, it didn’t look like a tough house to break into. He had already figured how he would do it. He would go through the window. Forcing the window would be no use, he was sure there would be some sort of alarm. But he had a plan.
To break in, he needed his laser gun. In their day off, Troy had experimented a bit with his SIAB and it’s functions. He knew his gun would come in very handy right now, but he couldn’t activate the armor with all the others watching. Fortunately, he knew how to fetch it without having to activate the armor. He discretely pressed a small button on his SIAB. This opened a hidden flap, on which where several other buttons. Now let’s see… Troy said to himself. Blue was the Hover Bike, red was self destruction, yellow was the flashlight… Green. He pressed the green button. His laser gun appeared in his hand. How convenient.
‘Yo, Trojan! What ‘re ya doin’ over there?’ Robbie yelled at him. Troy waved aside the remark. He didn’t need to be disturbed now. He was customizing his gun. Right now, it was at “Blast enemies to smithereens”. Of course, he had to turn a switch to make it able to burn through walls. He found the switch. There, that should do it, he thought. He aimed at the window and pulled the trigger. Beautiful. The beam burned right through the glass. Now to make a hole that was just big enough for him to crawl though. He didn’t want to cause too much trouble to the owner of this house.
With his gun, he made a hole, while the others could only stare. Troy ignored them. With ease, he climbed trough the hole in the window and stepped to the floor. So far, so good.
He looked around. He was in a small room, furnished as an office. There was a desk with a computer and some paperwork. Troy wanted to go through the door, until he noticed one paper had the FBI logo on it. Curiously, he read it.
“Dear Mr./Mrs.

We have strong reasons to believe that criminals aligned to organization Invo are active in this area. We therefor strongly advice you, in the interest of your personal safety, to double your security measures.

Golden tips on the whereabouts of executive Invo members will be rewarded.

The FBI and Chicago police department”
So the FBI’s involved in this, thought Troy. He had to be careful, because the owners of this house would likely have taken the FBI’s warnings into account. Maybe it would be a good idea if he activated his SIAB. The visor of his helmet could make invisible rays visible, plus it would protect him against any unpleasant surprises.
He opened the door and ended up in what was undoubtedly the living room. He entered it, closed the door and pressed his SIAB. He wanted to be out of his supervisor’s sight. Now wearing his armor, he looked around. There was nothing special to be seen with the bare eye, but through the ionizing visor of his helmet he saw the ground was covered with infrared rays. An invisible alarm system. Tricky, but avoidable. He had to find quite some money, which would of course be well hidden…
Well, first thing’s first, Troy thought. He had to contact Jay to keep him informed. Troy made a call with his Watchphone and waited for Jay to answer.
It took a while. Of course, Jay was probably fast asleep. Finally, his sleepy face appeared on the minuscule screen. ‘Wazzit?’ ‘It’s me. You wanted me to keep you informed. I’m breaking and entering in a house.’ ‘Ahaaaah,’ said Jay, failing to suppress a yawn. ‘Test, I suppose?’ ‘Indeed. I need to collect five hundred dollars in a half an hour.’ ‘Then why are you wearing your armor?’ ‘Well, one can never be too careful…’ ‘They didn’t see your armor, did they?’ ‘Of course not.’ ‘Okay then. Well, anything else?’ ‘Yes, actually. I might be causing trouble to innocent people…’ ‘I understand. In one of the pockets of the armor are some cheques you can write . Just leave one of them where you took the money. That’s it?’ ‘Yeah. I can manage.’ ‘Well then, I’m going back to sleep.’ Jay disconnected.
Well, that was that. Now to find five hundred bucks. Troy carefully stepped over the laser beams. He searched in cupboards, in drawers, behind paintings and under several things, but didn’t find any money, wallets or poaches. This was probably one of those “sleeps with wallet under pillow” types…
Instead Troy wanted to take an object worth at least that, but he couldn’t think of anything. He didn’t find anything more precious than a… Wait, that was it!
Troy stepped back over the alarm rays to the door to the office, deactivated his SIAB, opened the door and entered the office. He unplugged the computer’s monitor, keyboard and mouse and took it all away. Those would be worth more than enough. A new computer could always come in handy. He stepped through the hole in the window, carried out the whole computer and set it on the floor, went back into the office and wrote out a cheque and an anonymous letter with his apologies, and went back to the meeting point, with the computer under his arms.
When he got there, he saw the longest limousine he had ever seen parked along the road. Rudy No Name was talking to someone in the shadows, someone whose shape alone gave Troy the creeps…

[cosmichedgehog]

The next chapter, introducing one of my favorite characters, namely...

Chapter 37: Christiano DaLuci
Troy put down the PC. ‘Hello? I’m back!’ ‘Wha?’ Rudy turned on Troy. ‘Oh, Trojan. What gives?’ ‘I took a computer.’ ‘You what? A computer? You idiot! Why d’ ya need to do that for?’ ‘Well, you wanted something worth five hundred. Won’t this do?’ ‘Come on, why the heck would I need a computer?’
‘Easy, Rudy…’ said suddenly the man in the shadows. He still had his back turned on Troy. ‘I think it is a rather… original approach for this problem…’ Miraculously Rudy’s facial expression turned from a furious frown to a false grin. ‘Yes, err, you’re absolutely right, sir!’ he said. ‘Trojan,’ he continued bluntly. ‘Meet his Excellency. The Upper Master. The Big Boss of all Invo. Christiano DaLuci.’
The man in the shadows turned around and Troy was face to face with the greatest professional villain in Chicago. And some face it was. Christiano DaLuci was very pale, almost greenish. He had black hear combed back, a chin-tuft, glowing eyes and perfectly flawless, sharp teeth. He wore a night-black tuxedo and a blood-red cape. He reminded Troy of Count Dracula in each an every way.
‘Well, well. David Trojan. A new recruit, I see?’ DaLuci spoke with a strange, mid-European accent… Troy couldn’t immediately find words, as he realized this was probably the most dangerous man in the world. Fortunately, Rudy responded too quick for Troy to look suspicious. ‘Treat him with the utmost, well deserved respect, Trojan. His Excellency is the greatest man in the world!’ ‘I know I am, Rudy,’ sneered DaLuci. ‘Let him find out for himself.’
Troy had found his tongue again. He bowed down, but not too deep. ‘Ahem, I am most honored to meet you, mister, err, Your Excellency.’ ‘Ahh, so you learn fassst,’ hissed DaLuci. ‘Sooo, how have you been doing the first test?’ ‘Actually, it wasn’t all that difficult, Your Excellency,’ said Troy. ‘I had a little trouble finding my loot, so I figured, why not take the PC?’ ‘Hmm, I must say that was a clever idea, Trojan. How did you get in?’ ‘Err…’ The last thing Troy wanted to do is tell about the laser gun. He wanted to think of an excuse, but Rudy interfered.
‘He used this kind of gun thingy, Your Excellency. Really weird. He burned a hole right through the glass.’ ‘Hmm, I see, I see…’ said DaLuci. He examined Troy from head to toe. ‘So, you have special equipment? Dressed for the occasion?’ he said. Troy nodded. ‘Yes, err, Your Excellency.’
To his great surprise, DaLuci laughed. ‘Bwahaha! Excellent! We can always use an innovative mind instead of all the brawn. You have brains, Trojan. And guts as well. You shall make the test, for sure. And I’m looking forward to working with you.’ DaLuci stuck out a white, bony hand. Troy shook it. It felt cold and dry. Rudy stared at it in awe. ‘But, Your Excellency…’ he started, but he was interrupted by DaLuci.
‘Hey, look Rudy. There’s the rest of the group.’ Indeed, Robbie appeared, followed by two of the new recruits. Troy didn’t know where the other two were. Rudy walked to him, followed by DaLuci and Troy. ‘Robbie? Where are Beatington and Kreshmir?’ he asked. ‘Got caught by the cops,’ said Robbie. ‘What? They’ll tell everything to the police!’ yelled Rudy. ‘Hey, it was their own fault!’ said Robbie.
‘Gentlemen, gentlemen, ease up, please!’ said DaLuci. ‘I shall see to it, personally, that this most inconvenient error shall not have too many negative consequences… Albert!’ He screamed towards he driver of his limousine. ‘We’ll be going again. Rudy!’ Rudy was startled. ‘Yes, Your Excellency?’ ‘You’ll be coming with me. The rest: Just continue the test. Oh yeah, I’ll keep that computer. Come on! Go go go!’ ‘Well, let’s go, y’all,’ said Robbie. He walked away, followed by Troy and the other two recruits.
DaLuci and Rudy stayed behind. When Robbie and the others where out of sight, DaLuci turned on Rudy. ‘Rudy, you incompetent fool!’ ‘Pardon? I mean, Your Excellency?’ ‘That English recruit! How could you ever take that guy?’ ‘Err, wasn’t that good?’ ‘Good? Good? Don’t you see what’s up with Trojan?’ Rudy looked puzzled. DaLuci sighed. ‘He’s a double agent, you idiot. I smell those guys from a kilometer’s distance!’
Rudy was perplexed. ‘What do we do now? Should I eliminate him, Your Excellency?’ DaLuci looked as if he was to say “yes”, but then he hesitated. His pale face developed a broad grin. ‘Noooo… Leave it. What test is tomorrow?’ ‘Part two, sir. Car theft,’ said Rudy. ‘Good. I’ll be there as well. We’ll think of more… creative measures to dispose of Trojan, won’t we? Won’t we, Rudy?’ ‘Oh, sure, Your Excellency.’
‘And now. Those two caught recruits. What where their names again?’ ‘Beatington and Kreshmir.’ ‘Right. We, that’s to say, you, are going to eliminate them.’ ‘Yes, Your Excellency…’ said Rudy sadly. ‘Now get in the car, you. Albert! Hand this man a machine gun, please. And carry in that computer. I could use one…’ The driver said nothing, but came out of the limo, carried in the computer, and opened another door in the huge car. Rudy embarked with the worst grace imaginable, and got handed a machine gun. DaLuci stepped in as well. ‘Albert, step on it!’ And the car containing the evil master and his clumsy companion disappeared in the night, on it’s lethal mission…

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 38, in which we get to know Robbie a little better. This topic is still open to discussion or comment, by the way.

Chapter 38: Robbie
Meanwhile, Robbie, Troy and the two remaining new recruits walked over street. The two had not yet done their test, and Robbie was taking them to their location now. Robbie was peevish. Troy examined the two remaining men that had to take the test. One of them had a beard, a lot of tattoos and was all dressed in leather. Many of his tattoos included motorcycles and Harley Davidson logos. A true Hells Angel. The other one was tall and dressed in a long black raincoat. He wore black gloves and had narrow, cunning and sneaky eyes.
Robbie halted. ‘Here’s another one of the houses. Gabriel, you take it.’ The Hells Angel grunted. ‘Heheheh. Easy as pie. I’ll tackle that one in no time.’ ‘Whatever.’ Gabriel went to the house. ‘Okay, you two comin’ with me,’ said Robbie. They went on a few houses. ‘Maverick, you take that one.’ The tall, sneaky one didn’t say anything, but went. Before he knew it, Troy was alone with Robbie. A good chance to get to know him a little better.
‘So, what do you think of Christiano DaLuci?’ ‘Wha?’ ‘DaLuci. What do you think of him?’ ‘’Why do you want to know?’ asked Robbie, more surprised than distrustful. ‘Well, I’d like to know about my new employer.’ ‘Ah. Well, he’s… the boss. Untouchable, powerful. Not one to ever speak bad of.’ ‘Is he a vampire?’ asked Troy. Robbie smirked. ‘I dunno. He looks like one, doesn’t he? But he can walk in daylight at no problem.’ ‘Hmm. Well, he doesn’t look too healthy.’ ‘You be careful, Trojan. Don’t speak bad of him. If somebody catches you and reports you’re dead before you know it.’
Troy nodded. ‘Right. So he’s someone you’d rather keep as a friend.’ ‘Well, kinda. Between you and me, I wouldn’t trust him. He acted all nice and all back then, but he’ll kill you in cold blood whenever he wants to.’ ‘I see.’
There were a few moments of silence. Then said Troy: ‘Have you ever, err, killed someone?’ ‘Who, me? Nope. They leave that stuff to the big guys… I’m just a kid.’ ‘Hmm. Why do they put you and Rudy in charge of these training nights then?’ ‘For the same reason- I’m just a kid. I still have a lower rank. And Rudy… He degraded. Used to be one of DaLuci’s top men. I don’t know what happened, but he probably screwed up something. He’s lucky to be alive…’ ‘I understand.’ ‘It’s possible to get promoted, if DaLuci likes you or thinks you have potential…’ ‘Hasn’t anyone tried to take over his leadership?’ ‘Oh, sure. But nobody will ever take his place as the leader of Invo. If something would happen to him, it’s all over. His power and influence is that big. And he’s invincible anyway. So don’t get any illusions.’
‘What about you then?’ asked Troy. ‘Why are you in this organization? I mean, what’s your target in this life? Craving for power is no use, is it?’ Robbie turned his back to Troy. ‘I have my reasons… I was raised here, for one thing. It’s never been different… I’ve been here for five years now.’ ‘Were you treated well?’ ‘Not really. I was raised a bit by Rudy’s parents… But Rudy has never been a friendly type. And with his parents in jail, I’m pretty much alone in life.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘Oh well. You get used to it. Being pushed around and all.’
Robbie switched subject. ‘And what about you, then? You seem sensible enough . Why then did you decide to follow this joint?’ ‘Well…’ said Troy. He had to think of an excuse, cause he didn’t want to inform Robbie about his true agenda yet. ‘I’ve been a particular white collared criminal in England for some time. But they found me out and I had to flee to the States, and figured that organized crime could help me further.’
‘Well, that’s what most people think at first,’ said Robbie. ‘Some of them achieve their goals. They get high ranks and bring in a lot of money for the sake of Invo. DaLuci’s sake, that is. Some don’t make it and stick with lower ranks. But most of them don’t even make it through the tests. You can guess what happens to them.’ ‘I do have an idea, yes.’ ‘So, who knows,’ Robbie continued. ‘You might make it. But Invo, organized as it looks, is one big jungle with only one principle: Survival of the fittest. And DaLuci is always the fittest of all- he makes sure of that.’

A couple of miles away, Jay Mand lay awake. He couldn’t sleep. Jack snored, but that wasn’t the main reason. He was wondering if he was such a good leader. He was caught in a motion of depression. What if he would blow it? He didn’t doubt about his teammates, he doubted about himself. How was he ever supposed to defeat Queen Z?
He heard a car pass underneath his window. Little did he know that it was a long limousine, containing Christiano DaLuci and Rudy No Name. They had just did their terrible work: Beatington and Kreshmir wouldn’t talk.
‘There, I’m glad everything’s in order now,’ said Christiano, as if he had just let Rudy mow his lawn instead of kill some men. ‘Me too, Your Excellency,’ said Rudy. ‘I’ll try not to let Robbie do such a stupid thing again.’ ‘Ah, but you will not fail me, Signori. Neither of you will. Tell me, do you know what the worst torture imaginable is?’ ‘Eh, no, Your Excellency?’ ‘Mental torture, Rudy. Mental torture. I will give you a minor demonstration tomorrow, when we get rid of… What was his name again?’ ‘Trojan.’ ‘Ah. Si. Trojan. You shall learn that murder can be a true art, Rudy. And you shall learn as well that I can be an apt artist…’

To and will be continued...

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 39: Day Six
“A cold-blooded liquidation shocks Chicago once again. A police car containing two officers and two criminals seemingly belonging to the notorious criminal network known as Invo has been taken under machine gunfire tonight from a number plate less limousine. Both the criminals and one officer were killed, the other officer is severely injured. He was able to do a deposition and is out of mortal danger.
It isn’t the first liquidation of this brutal kind. Jack A. Napes, head of the Chicago Police Department, declared that he has long been investigating Invo’s practices and that its roundup can’t be far away. He advises every inhabitant of Chicago and the surrounding area to take as many security measures as possible.”

Jay and Jack were listening to the early news on the radio in their hotel room. ‘Well, we sure picked the right gang to infiltrate in,’ said Jay. ‘Those Invo guys are capable of anything.’ ‘It’ll be alright. Troy is smart. And he has his SIAB,’ said Jack. ‘How can you be so optimistic?’ said Jay. ‘It keeps you sane… kind of,’ said Jack. He winked. ‘Come on. Don’t get your hopes down. If anything happens, it also happens without us worrying about it. We’re gonna see the city today. I never been to Chicago before…’
Right when Jack said that, Jay’s Watchphone beeped. ‘There! That’s probably Troy! I told you he was alright!’ said Jack. ‘Yeah, yeah, don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched… Jay Mand here.’ ‘Hello, this is David Trojan.’ ‘Troy! You alright?’ ‘Yes. Everything’s going A-OK. I think I’ve won Robbie’s confidence.’ ‘Good. You heard the news on the radio?’ asked Jay. ‘I just did,’ said Troy. ‘Pretty awful. It was probably DaLuci’s way of preventing people to talk…’ ‘DaLuci? What’s a DaLuci?’ Troy filled Jay in about last night’s events.
‘Well, I’ve heard enough,’ said Jay. ‘Tonight’s the car theft test? We’ll be there to get you and Robbie out of there. The sooner this operation is over, the better. These guys mean business.’ ‘Agreed,’ said Troy. ‘But we got to have some kind of plan,’ said Jack, who was following the conversation. ‘Well, gentlemen, what do you suggest?’

Troy spent the rest of the day in the same hotel room as the day before. True villains were night people, so they would sleep at daytime. Troy didn’t have a problem shifting his biorhythm. He slept a bit, discovered that he could also play Snake on his watch, and thought up strategies for tonight.
Finally, at midnight, Rudy came in. ‘It’s time, Trojan. Say your prayers.’ Troy, who didn’t know the exact meaning of this, hoped that Rudy was intimidating him, or just messing with him.
He followed Rudy outside and was soon rejoined with Robbie, the Hell’s Angel Gabriel and the sneaky Maverick. They had both passed their first test as well. ‘Today’s the car theft test,’ said Rudy. ‘The name says it all: steal a car without having the alarm go of. An expensive car, that is. A fancy Ferrari or something. We know where to find those, so follow us.’
Troy knew approximately in what neighborhood his inn was. He knew that, when the group would go somewhere, it would pass by a square Troy recognized from his first day in Chicago, when they were looking for the man on the picture. He had told Jay and the others to go wait for the group there, so that they could take Troy and Robbie with them and flee as quick as possible, to escape DaLuci’s wrath. Roughly, that was the plan.

Jay and the others were waiting by the square. Jay patrolled the square itself, Kandy and Jack were together keeping a eye on the surrounding streets and Searain had somehow climbed on a roof to oversee the situation and warn if anything was up. With the whole area covered, everyone on the alert and their SIAB’s at ready, they were prepared for anything.
Except for what actually happened.

Rudy went another way. Troy hadn’t taken account of that. ‘Err, shouldn’t we be going the other way?’ he carefully asked Rudy. ‘Of course not,’ was the answer, ‘the expensive neighborhoods are all that way.’ Troy could slap himself in the head, but he kept quiet. Now how was he to tell Jay?
Discretely, he pressed a couple of buttons on his watch.

Jay was getting bored. They had been waiting for hours. When would something finally happen?
Then, his watchphone rang.

With his watchphone on, Troy walked to Robbie. ‘We’re going a different direction than yesterday,’ he said, loudly enough for the watchphone to pick up the sound. ‘Where are we going?’ ‘To one of the more luxurious outskirts,’ said Robbie. ‘I believe it’s called The Garden. That’s where we usually do car theft.’ ‘Aha.’

Jay had heard the conversation. After a while, he realized what was going on. He called the others. ‘Come on, you guys. We’re going to The Garden.’

[cosmichedgehog]

What I like to call "One big pile of excitement"

Chapter 40: Gardening
It was a long walk to The Garden. Troy was terribly nervous; would Jay have understood his last call? Yet he tried to hide it as good as possible. And, if necessary, he could always try doing something on his own.
Fortunately, Searain had spotted Rudy’s group. She had recognized Troy and was now following them over the rooftops. There was a good density of houses here. She jumped from roof to roof, one with the shadows, silent as a cat. On ground level, Jack and Kandy were literally on her tail. Jay was taking a different route. He had his SIAB armor on and was riding his Hover Bike, ready to come in action if things would go out of hand. They were all in close contact. Thus, unnoticed, they followed the gang of Rudy, Robbie, Troy, Gabriel and Maverick to The Garden.
Houses were getting bigger, and there were more and more villas. Searain had trouble staying high, and at a certain point she had to give up. The houses were just too far away from each other. She reported that to Jack, Kandy and Jay. She jumped off the roof she was on now, and joined Jack and Kandy. From the ground, it would be way harder to follow Rudy’s gang unnoticed. Fortunately, Jay’s Hover Bike was equipped with a radar system that could track any SIAB near. He tracked Troy’s, and soon they were following again, but more prudent than ever.
Finally, Rudy halted. They were by a particularly large villa. He had an evil smirk on his face. ‘Okay, people. I know this house. The garage opens up with a number combination, which I have. There’s a really expensive car inside. Trojan, you did a fancy job back there last night. Now let me see how you tackle this one.’

Jay, followed the whole conversation from an unseen distance, helped by his helmet’s magnified vision and his Watchphone, because Troy had purposely left his on. ‘Trojan, you did a fancy job back there last night. Now let me see how you tackle this one,’ he heard Robbie say. Hmm, he doesn’t sound natural, thought Jay. He’s up to something, but what? ‘Well, it’s fine by me,’ said Troy. Jay saw that Rudy chuckled, although he didn’t make a sound loud enough for the Watchphone to pick up. ‘Okay then. Follow me. Robbie, you stay here with those two.’

Troy followed Rudy. With relative ease, they climbed over the fence around the house. They went to what had to be the garage, though it could have been an extra house attached to the big villa, as if the mother villa had had a baby. The gate was closed. Next to it was indeed a digital combination lock.
Rudy took a piece of paper from his pocket. a four number combination was written on it in an elegant handwriting. Rudy dialed in the combination. Slowly, the gate opened. Troy gaped at Rudy. ‘How’d you get that code?’ asked Troy. ‘No need for you to know, Trojan,’ said Rudy. ‘Now, what are you waiting for?’ Troy didn’t trust it at all, but he didn’t know how many chances he had. He figured that it would probably be best to obey- for now. He walked into the garage.

Jay saw it all happen from his distance and suddenly realized that they were leading Troy straight into a trap, and that moron was falling for it with his eyes open. He saw Rudy push a button on the combination lock. The garage door suddenly closed. Jay cursed, hopped on his Hover Bike and raced toward the villa.

As soon as Troy had stepped into the garage, he heard a noise behind him. He tuned around, just in time to see Rudy’s big grin but too late to get out of the garage; the door was shut in a few seconds and suddenly, all went dark. Troy couldn’t see a thing and was about to get desperate when suddenly, the lights went on.
His new environment was a big garage, with room for no less than four expensive looking cars, including a long limousine and a very rare Lamborghini Diablos. At the end of the garage, there was a door open. He did the next best thing and walked toward the door, when he heard a familiar voice say: ‘Do come in. We could have a better talk inside.’ Troy hesitated. ‘Now come on. I don’t have all night.’ Troy decided to walk through the door. Suddenly, but not unexpected, he was once again face to face with Christiano DaLuci. ‘Well, well, well. Mister Trojan…’

In a few seconds and with his armor still on, Jay reached the villa. He ignored Robbie, Gabriel and Maverick, but blasted a hole in the fence with his gun and drove through to Rudy. In one move, he hopped off his bike and tuned on Rudy. ‘What’s the code?’ he barked. Rudy was dazed, but soon figured tat this clown had something to do with Trojan being a secret agent. ‘Where is the code?’ said Jay again. Robbie took the paper from his pocket. ‘Oh, you mean this?’ ‘Give it to me!’ Robbie grinned. ‘No can do, sir. Take this!’ A shot. Robbie had secretly pulled a gun from his other pocket.

[cosmichedgehog]

Im hoping to get to chapter 50 by January eightteen, when XPLO will be one year old. Meanwhile, here's to the holidays.

Chapter 41: Christiano’s Masterpiece
The door from the garage led to a large, stylish, old-fashioned hall, with two stairways leading to a balcony. In the middle was a large dining table. ‘Welcome to my humble living, Mr. Trojan. Please take a seat,’ said Christiano DaLuci. Troy sat down to the table, DaLuci took the opposite seat. ‘Can I offer you something to drink? Tea, perhaps? Jeeves!’ asked DaLuci. No sooner had he said that or a butler appeared with a glass of wine in his one hand and a cup of tea in his other. He gave DaLuci the wine, and Troy the tea. ‘Thank you, Jeeves,’ said DaLuci. The butler nodded and disappeared.
DaLuci took a draught. ‘Delicious, good year.’ he seemed to ignore Troy. Troy felt like James Bond, who was having a drink with the villain. Both were being friendly to each other while secretly thinking of ways to do each other in. Troy suspected that his tea was poisoned, so he pretended it was too hot to drink.
‘Tell me, Trojan, how long have you been a spy?’ asked DaLuci. If troy would have drunken his tea, he would have sprayed it all over the table. Instead, he gaped at DaLuci. ‘No secrets will be hidden from me, Trojan,’ said DaLuci. ‘So, what do you work for? CIA? FBI? XPLO?’ Troy was flabbergasted. Did DaLuci really say XPLO?

Thanks to his armor, Jay was untouched by the bullet Rudy had fired. However, he got angry. ‘Why you! Give me that!’ ‘Not on your life!’ Rudy threatened to rip the piece of paper apart. Jay took a deep breath and calmed down. ‘Whose life? If I were you, I wouldn’t stake my life on it…’ He slowly reached for his laser gun. With alert eyes, Rudy followed the motion of Jay’s left hand. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t saw his right hand coming.

While Troy was in a James Bond situation, he decided to act like James Bond and keep his cool. ‘Well, so you see right through me,’ he said. ‘How have you become familiar with XPLO?’ ‘You should know, shouldn’t you?’ said DaLuci smoothly. ‘You won’t get out of here alive, David, so why would I even bother telling you?’ ‘Whatever your plan is, Christiano, it won’t work. Even if you manage to beat me, the whole of XPLO will be on your tail.’ ‘Beat you?’ Christiano smiled again. ‘Hah! Why don’t you press that… what was it called again? SIAB of yours and see if I can beat you…’
Troy pretended to be laughing, but then he jumped up and pressed his SIAB. In response, DaLuci also stood up. A couple of seconds, the two looked each other in the eyes. Then, Troy felt a penetrating pain in his stomach and realized that DaLuci had punched him. But how? The armor was meant to protect him…
Troy looked around for DaLuci and saw that he was on top of one the stairways. How did he get there so fast? Troy pulled his laser gun and tried to hit DaLuci, but his shots were avoided with ease. DaLuci moved incredibly fast. Just when Troy started to realize that DaLuci possessed superhuman strength and speed, he was hit again, in the head this time. Maybe DaLuci was a vampire after all…

Jay’s right fist collided with Rudy’s skull. The owner of that skull didn’t take that. Before they knew it, Rudy and Jay were in a wrestle. In the end, Jay won by knocking Rudy unconscious. The paper with the code had come through undamaged. Jay took it and entered the code. The garage gate opened and Jay rushed in.

Troy fell on his knees, sick of pain. DaLuci stood triumphantly before him. ‘Think that’s painful?’ he sneered. He kicked Troy between his ribs. Troy flew back a few meters and landed unsoftly on his backside. He stood up again, though he was staggered and a spout of blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth. Christiano DaLuci shook his head, almost pitiful. ‘You should have stayed down. You have yet to experience true pain, Trojan.’
DaLuci made ready to strike again, but suddenly a voice screamed: ‘Leave him alone!’ Troy looked, DaLuci too. Jay Mand walked out of the garage door, Laser Gun aimed at DaLuci’s pale face. Time seemed to freeze.
Then, Troy screamed ‘Look out!’ DaLuci charged at Jay with an incredible speed. Jay reacted fast and stood aside. DaLuci crashed against the wall.
‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ said Troy. Christiano was scrambling to his feet again. ‘Right,’ said Jay. They ran off to the garage door. DaLuci was right behind them. He took something that looked like a remote control from his pocket. While Jay and Troy were making their way through the garage, DaLuci pushed a button on it and to their horror Jay and Troy saw that the gate was slowly closing.
They made a tremendous sprint, dodged the four cars and made a terrific roll at the same time just under the closing gate. They had made it. DaLuci hadn’t, but the gate was opening up again. Jay and Troy stood up, but were suddenly face to face with Rudy, who had regained his consciousness. Right behind him were Gabriel, Maverick, and a rather doubtful looking Robbie. The four of them had them surrounded.
Behind them the gate opened, revealing DaLuci, grinning more evil than ever. ‘Well, signori, looks like this is the end for you.’ But Jay pushed a small, red button on his watch, that would cause three alarms on three other watches to go off. Jack, Kandy and Searain were on their way.

[cosmichedgehog]

Chapter 42: Robbie’s battle
Jay and Troy were closed in. They stood back to back, hands in the air. DaLuci pulled a sinister-looking, big gun. ‘See this, signori? It is a Plexicum Penetrating Plasma Gun, a PPP. This will cut right through those pathetic armors of yours.’
Jay knew it was true: He had never seen a PPP before but knew what it looked like. It would be only a matter of time before Kandy, Jack and Searain would come, so he had to buy time. ‘So, mister Lootsie…’ ‘DaLuci!’ ‘Whatever. Tell me, what planet are you from? They don’t make PPP guns on Earth…’ ‘Hah, you clever, mister XPLO agent,’ said DaLuci. ‘One could indeed say I’m not… native… to these grounds…’ Some of the thugs surrounding them moved uneasily. Jay saw Rudy and Robbie exchange confused looks.
DaLuci spoke again. ‘But my past is quite irrelevant… More interesting would be your future… Of course, your future won’t be long, and it is entirely up to you whether you want it to be quick and maybe somewhat painless or longer and definitely painful… Hmm, I know what I’d pick. Either way, you will learn that nobody opposes Christiano DaLuci and gets away with it alive!’
At that time, a beam shot over DaLuci’s head. ‘What the?’ Three people on hovering motorcycles approached. They shot beams at DaLuci and the thugs, knowing they could not hurt Jay or Troy with them. DaLuci turned on Jack, Kandy and Searain and so did Rudy, Gabriel and Maverick. Robbie was seemingly in doubt. Jay and Troy ran towards their friends, while DaLuci aimed his PPP. ‘Watch out for his gun!’ screamed Jay. DaLuci shot. The beam missed Searain on an inches’ difference. Th other thugs were also shooting, but their bullets didn’t do any damage. Jay and Troy fought them, while Robbie was still only staring at what was happening.
DaLuci shot again, this time aimed at Jack. The beam hit his Hover Bike; It exploded and Jack flew then feet through the air. He landed unsoftly on his arm. Kandy screamed. She got off her Hover Bike and ran towards Jack, who was lying on the ground and moaning, but had to avoid more beams from DaLuci’s gun.
Jay and Troy had knocked out Rudy, Maverick and Gabriel. They now ran towards DaLuci, who was trying to hit Kandy. Jay grabbed DaLuci’s neck, Troy tried to disarm DaLuci by grabbing his armed arm with both hands. They both realized how strong DaLuci was. DaLuci didn’t seem to notice tat Jay tried to strangle him and Troy couldn’t move DaLuci’s arm. Then, Jay put his hands before DaLuci’s face. DaLuci screamed: He couldn’t see. He started moving wildly to shake off Jay and Troy, but they held on. Troy made use of this moment of weakness to grab DaLuci’s gun and throw it away. Then, they couldn’t hold on anymore, DaLuci shook them both off. Jay and Troy fell on the ground.
A couple of feet behind them stood Robbie. He picked up the PPP gun.
‘Ah, Robbie!’ said DaLuci. ‘Quickly, give me back the gun!’ But Robbie hesitated. ‘Oh no, he’s gonna ruin everything…’ moaned Jay. Troy stood up. Don’t give it to him, Robbie. Why would you be thankful to him after all he did to you?’ ‘Did to you?’ sneered DaLuci. ‘You were never able to be promoted because you never made an impression on me, Robbie. But if you give me that gun, you shall soon be one of Invo’s head men! Think of all the power I could give you!’ Robbie stared at the gun, clearly in doubt.
Searain had stepped off her Hover Bike and prudently approached Robby.
‘He’s lying,’ said Troy. ‘Look what happened to Rudy! He can give you power, but he can take it from you just as easi…’ suddenly, DaLuci knocked Troy on the ground. He didn’t make another move. ‘Give me that gun!’ said DaLuci. ‘Give it to me or meet the same destiny as him!’
Rudy hesitated, then looked Christiano in the eyes. He looked like he was going to throw the gun to him, but then he threw it to Searain. ‘No!’ bellowed DaLuci. He wanted to attack Robbie, but Searain said: ‘Don’t even think about it!’ The PPP gun was pointed at DaLuci’s face. DaLuci calmed down. ‘Fine then!’ he snarled. ‘You’re just as foolish as your parents, Robbie!’ ‘What?’ ‘Your parents, yes.’ Despite his position, DaLuci grinned again. ‘You didn’t know that, did you? Remember me saying murder can be an art? They were among my greatest masterpieces… indeed. They suffered for five hours before I finally decided they could die. It was quite funny, actually… In the end, they were begging at my feet for mercy… Begging that I would kill them, to end their pain… Well, in de end, I did.’ He laughed maniacally. Robbie looked almost as pale as DaLuci. ‘You’re sick, you know that?’ said Jay, who had stood up. ‘You’re really sick. Searain, please shoot him.’ Robbie gaped at DaLuci. ‘You… you monster…’ ‘A monster?’ said DaLuci. His face suddenly looked more greenish than ever. ‘You don’t know how right you are…’ For a moment, DaLuci just laughed. It was as if he was getting greener every second. Suddenly, Jay realized something. He cursed in Dutch.
‘Quickly, get the heck out of here, everyone! On your Hover Bikes! Searain, take Robbie with you. Go, go, go!’ Nobody understood what he said, but Searain put the PPP gun in her pocket, and got on her Bike. She told Robbie to sit on the back seat. Kandy got on her Bike as well, with Jack on her back seat because his own Bike had exploded. Jay took the unconscious Troy with him and got on his hover Bike as well. They all drove away. Meanwhile, DaLuci had gotten totally green he was making strange noises and moves, and it was as if he was getting bigger…

[cosmichedgehog]

In this chapter, our heroes meet up with a whole different side of Christiano DaLuci...

Chapter 43: DaLuci’s true nature
They drove away from the villa: Jay with Troy (who was out cold), Kandy with Jack an Searain with Robbie. ‘Would you tell me why we had to move away so quickly?’ asked Kandy. ‘Didn’t you see DaLuci getting green and growing?’ asked Jay. ‘Robbie was right when he called him a monster…’ ‘Is he a vampire?’ asked Jack. ‘He’s no vampire… He’s much worse…’ said Jay. ‘He’s a Skaét. An evil and insanely powerful alien. Skaéts have shape-changing abilities. They can turn into somewhat of a human, as well, but… you wouldn’t like them in their true form…’
Jack looked back; He saw a huge monster that looked like something in between a dinosaur and an enormous mantis. It had a sleek, green body, a cruel lizard head, insect wings and huge blades for arms.
‘Holy Fiddlesticks! Is that DaLuci?’ ‘That wás DaLuci…’ ‘What do we do?’ asked Kandy. ‘Base! We gotta tell the base there’s a Skaét roaming around, fast!’ said Jay. ‘Jack, you do it. You’re the only one with your hands free.’ Jack brought his watch to his face. ‘How does that thing work?’ Jay tried to explain it to Jack, but due to the fact they were all driving ad high speed it took a while before Jack had finally contacted the underwater headquarters of Chicago.
Meanwhile, the monster that was once Christiano DaLuci was following them. It was surprisingly fast for its size, and demolished everything in its path. There were already hysterical people on the street, screaming an running in panic. The Skaét showed no interest in them: Its main target were the three Hover Bikes ahead of him. Fortunately, the Hover Bikes were also very fast and it didn’t gain up on them.
Z. T. Dinozaur, the Deinozaurian operator of HQ Chicago, appeared on Jack’s Watchphone. ‘What, it is?’ ‘In trouble, we are! I mean, we are in trouble!’ said Jack. ‘There’s a… What was it again? Oh yeah, a Skaét. There’s a Skaét here! In Chicago! It’s like, really big and it’s after us! Like, help!’ ‘Ease up. A Skaét you say? Yes, in trouble, we are. To the place you must get where I dropped you. There I’ll be. Quickly!’
Jay and the others had all heard the conversation through their transmitters. ‘Well, you know what to do!’ said Jay.
And so the chase began. Jay, Kandy and Searain raced to get to the building outside of the town center where, hopefully, Dinozaur would be waiting for them with a high-tech submarine. The Skaét was still on their tails. Jay tried to lead it as much as possible away from people and crowded places Unfortunately, he didn’t know the way very well, and he hadn’t fully memorized the route they took to The Garden. Kandy had though, and she soon took the lead. Nobody spoke during the ride, as they were all concentrating. Everybody, also Robbie, thought the same: ‘Faster!’
There were more and more houses. The Skaét efficiently wrecked those in its way by using its scythes, head and tail. There might have still been people in them, but there was no time to think about that. Drive on, for Gargoyle’s sake, drive on!
After what seemed to be an age, the building with the pool that leaded via an underwater tunnel into Lake Michigan loomed up. Searain’s eagle-eyes told her that the doors were wide open, ready for them to drive in. She told Kandy and Jay. They all concentrated on the door opening, which was getting closer and closer… Meanwhile, the Skaét was also closing in… The were almost…
‘IN!’ screamed Jay. He pushed the brakes; his Hover Bike stopped so abruptly that Troy fell off. He was still wearing his armor, so it couldn’t have hurt much. At the same time, a shock went through the building and everybody knew the Skaét had crashed against the building. The doors were closed already. Everybody used their appropriate SIAB button to make the Hover Bikes disappear. Z. T. Dinozaur was inside the building. As they had expected, the same submarine as before floated around in the pool. It was the same as before the adventure in Chicago, only with a crucial difference: Robbie was now with them. Technically, they were done here. Well, done…
Another shock went through the building as the Skaét was trying to demolish it. ‘Err, mister Dinozaur, how much can this building take?’ asked Jay. ‘Much, but a Skaét, I doubt,’ was the answer. ‘In the sub, you better get.’ ‘We’re running away?’ asked Kandy. ‘Err, yeah. Does that sound so unlogical to you?’ asked Jay. ‘Yes, it does!’ said Kandy. ‘We can’t leave that… that monster there to wreck havoc!’ ‘Now hold it!’ said Jay. ‘What can we do? You cant stop a Skaét with only four SIAB’s! The big guys at the base will fix it.’ ‘By that time, the beast could have killed a hundred more people! I don’t want to just stand aside watching!’ said Kandy. Jay wanted to protest, but Dinozaur said: ‘The girl point has. Do something, we must.’ ‘What, then?’ said Jay. ‘Remember, in chapter 32, where Searain here me asked if Wormholes can’t generated be from a Wristwatch Computer?’ asked Dinozaur. ‘Yeah?’ said Jay. ‘Well, Martians I asked. Good idea, they found it and prototype, they gave me.’ The Deinozaurian held up his watch. ‘With this, a big Wormhole to Io-Niath prison I can create. All to do we have is make sure the Skaét walks through it.’