Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Hyren woke to the sensation that he had been dreaming but
forgot what the dream was about. Honestly, he was surprised even to find
himself awake, albeit sore all over. He blinked his eyes open and realised he
was in a standing position, his arms stretched above his head. Trying to move
them met with resistance, and he looked up to see his wrists shackled to the
wall. He still wore his armour, although it was in terrible shape and his visor
had several holes blown in it from blaster fire. Cracks spread across the clear,
blank plate like Spyderwebs, making it difficult to see his surroundings.
He was in a very small room—no, a cell. The walls were dark
and bare, and something mechanical hummed distantly below him. A few metres in
front of him, a containment field sizzled red.
Looking down, the Grundo saw that his utility belt and
blaster were missing. His sword was also gone, and he bowed his head in a
moment of silence. Garoo had probably appropriated the weapon, and that
close-minded idiot didn’t deserve it. Not to mention it reminded Hyren of all
of the adventures he’d gone through with his two best friends. Space Faerie, if you’re out there, get them
home safely, he thought.
Hyren stood there for what felt like hours, listening to the
sound of his own slow breathing. There was no way to tell time in the cell. His
HUD once had a chronometer, but his armour had sustained so much damage, it
would never work again. At least Terra and Blynn were headed home, he reminded
himself. It didn’t matter what happened to him now.
Finally, he picked out the sound of approaching footsteps,
heavy and deliberate. He lifted his head to see a black-cloaked figure pause on
the other side of the containment field and lean over for a retinal scan. The
field dissolved, and Dr. Sloth sauntered in, arms folded behind his back.
He stopped in front of Hyren, somehow managing to look down
his nose at the Mutant Grundo even though Hyren was a head taller than him.
Neither of them said anything for a long time, sizing each other up.
“Well.” Sloth finally broke the silence, his voice flat and
quiet as the space before a supernova. “This is a surprise.” Amusement danced
in his crimson eyes, though his face remained neutral.
“Why did you leave me at Sakhmet?” Hyren asked. “I conquered
numberless worlds for you! Did you even look for me?!”
The doctor remained unflappable. “I gave you everything you
needed to carry out my orders,” he said. “If you fail me, it’s your fault.”
“But it wasn’t my
fault!” Hyren said. “Garoo doublecrossed me!”
“So it was your fault for being naïve,” Sloth said. “I did
not mourn your loss. I made you, commander. Do not insult me by insinuating I
cannot mold someone else to suit my needs.”
Hyren felt like he’d been punched in the gut. After all he’d
done for Sloth, this was what the overlord really thought of him. Gormos was
right. Hyren felt like a fool for his loyalty, now. He never wanted to carry
out another order for this sociopath again. “How did you know to come after me?”
he asked. “What tipped you off in the security feeds?”
Sloth turned and looked at him sidewise. “I haven’t looked
at the security feeds,” he said. “It was the light in your eyes, Hyren. The way
you carried yourself, the tone in your voice. You’ve changed.” He frowned. “I
don’t like it.”
“Eight months planetside can do a lot to a guy,” Hyren said,
still glaring at the doctor. “And if you’re going to ask if I want my job back,
forget it. I’m through invading.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” he said. “I don’t tolerate these
kinds of misdemeanors from my top officers. You knew better.” He began pacing
back and forth in front of the Grundo. “You lied to me, you aided in the
attempted escape of test subjects, and you resisted capture by Garoo.” Sloth
stopped and looked up at him. The scientist’s face tilted downward, sunken into
shadow so that his eyes glittered like hot coals in the darkness. “Did you
think that would save them?”
Hyren’s stomach twisted. “They got away,” he said. “They’re
probably halfway to Neopia by now.”
Dr. Sloth smiled. It was a wide, oily smile, and it sent
chills down Hyren’s spine. The doctor reached into one of his draping sleeves
and pulled out a very familiar lantern, opening it and dumping out a
disoriented fire mote that rolled weakly around the floor. “No, they’re not,”
he said.
The Grundo’s breath caught in his throat and he wheezed like
he’d been hit in the chest. “No…” he choked, forcing air into his lungs. “No!”
Clenching his fists, he struggled against his shackles and felt them strain
under his strength, but they did not give. “You leave them alone, Sloth!” he roared.
“They’ve done nothing to you!”
Sloth dropped the lantern and it clanged against the floor,
making Hyren’s antennae flinch. “On the contrary,” the doctor replied, “they
deprived me of one of my elite commanders.” He grinned viciously. “Maybe I’ll
let you see them again, someday. That would be amusing, wouldn’t it?”
Hyren leaned back against the wall, his chest heaving and
head spinning. “You’re a monster,” he said.
“Funny how that didn’t matter to you until now,” Sloth said.
“I’ve learned some interesting things from observing you, Hyren. You’ve greatly
expanded my knowledge of Grundo psychology and military skill under mutation.
Now, however… it’s about time I used you for experiments of a different sort.”
He retreated back toward the doorway, his cloak billowing
behind him. “I do hope you enjoy your stay in the laboratory,” he said. “I’m
looking forward to interesting results from your testing procedures.” The doctor
re-activated the containment field once he was out. “You could have lied, you
know. Said they escaped you or something. What stopped you from making up an
alibi?”
“I’m not going to grovel at your feet for forgiveness,”
Hyren spat, antennae lowered in irritation. “I was stupid for allying myself
with you. You no longer have my loyalty.”
Sloth widened his eyes, and then bared his teeth, his
nostrils flaring. “You’re an idiot,” he hissed. Then he calmed himself again
and gave Hyren another slick smile. “I’ll be back soon,” he said. “Things are
about to get very interesting for you.” With that, he turned and swept out of
Hyren’s view.
“Blast it,” Hyren grumbled, watching the fire mote sputter
as it searched in vain for something to combust. The mote found its way to his
bare foot and nestled up against his ankle. The tiny fire sprite was pleasantly
warm, especially compared to the lifeless coldness of the rest of the cell.
“Sorry you had to end up here, too, little guy,” Hyren said
to it. Actually, he thought as he observed it, maybe being cellmates with a mote
wasn’t such a bad thing. Slowly, he began to piece together bits of a plan. It
wasn’t much, but as long as he was still going, he could still fight.
“I’m going to throw you,” he said to the mote. Clenching his
fists, Hyren lifted his aching legs off the ground, scooping the fireball up
between his feet and ignoring the strain in his wrists. “When you reach the
containment field, flare up and short it out, and then return to me, all right?”
he said. He curled his knees to his chest, and then kicked forward with both of
his legs, letting go of the fire elemental and propelling it across the cell.
It smacked into the field with a shower of sparks and
bounced down to the floor. The energy wall fizzled more furiously for a moment,
but then went back to normal. The mote spun nearby, looking disoriented.
Hyren sighed, a gnawing feeling growing in the pit of his
stomach. He was out of ideas. He slumped against the wall again, watching the mote
dizzily make its way back to him. “It’s okay. At least you tried,” the Grundo said.
“I tried.” His chin trembled and he
ducked his head, letting the tears fall. He had tried so hard to do what felt
like the right thing, and he had failed. Worse, he had failed his friends. And
he still had a headache.
He stood there for another period of time that could have
been minutes and could have been days. Hyren decided that this had to be
Sloth’s most insidious torture method, making his prisoners go mad in timeless
isolation. Was this what eternity felt like? And all the while, Hyren couldn’t
stop thinking about Terra and Blynn.
After the longest wait, Hyren looked up at the security
camera in the corner. “I know you can see me, Sloth,” Hyren said. “I don’t know
whether you’re watching this live or if it’s being recorded while you’re in the
lab.”
“I know it’s useless to plead for my friends,” Hyren said. “You
don’t care. And you’re probably going to look back on this and laugh. So I
won’t waste my words. But I will ask one last request of you—remember me as
someone you gave everything to, and he threw it all away and never looked back.”
Hyren flashed a lopsided grin. “Let that keep you up at night wondering which
one of us is sane.”
With that, he closed his eyes and tilted back his head,
listening to the sound of his own calm breathing. He had resigned himself to
his fate. But try as he might, he couldn’t do the same for his friends. The
very thought was too sickening.
A tremendous burst of multicolored sparks suddenly filled
the doorway, making Hyren jolt back to attention. His heart slammed in his chest
and his adrenaline spiked painfully, and he shut his eyes tight against the
light. When he opened them, the field was gone, the framework dented in and the
emitters blackened and smoking. “What in the galaxy…” Hyren muttered, blinking
to try to clear the afterimages from his vision.
“Gotta love those fireworks shows.” A familiar voice echoed
in from the hall.
Hyren’s antennae perked and he froze. “Blynn?!” he called,
scarcely able to believe what he was hearing.
Terra emerged through the smoke, sword in hand as she
shielded her face with her sleeve. Blynn followed close behind, blowing on the
tips of her slingshot like the muzzle of a blaster. Both of them looked a
little grimier than when he had left them, but unharmed, and Hyren couldn’t
wipe the shock off of his face as he felt a planet’s weight of worry fall from
his shoulders.
“Hyren!” Terra said as she ran to him and hugged him. “Are
you okay?!”
“I’m fine—I was so worried about you!” he said. “You’re not
hurt, are you? How did you escape from Sloth?!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Terra asked.
“Hey, how’d my lantern end up here?” Blynn asked, scooping
up the mote. “It fell off my pack when we crawled into that air duct…” She
looked up at the Grundo. “Man, we’re always getting you out of messes, aren’t
we?”
“I’m happy to see you, too!” Hyren said with a laugh, the
relief making him slightly giddy. “Sloth was bluffing! That miserable oaf! What
are you two doing here? I told you to get in an escape pod, you little rascals!”
“C’mon,” Terra said. “Did you really think we were gonna
leave you like that? After we split up from you, we headed for the nearest
ventilation duct and made our way through the ship.”
“But how did you track me?” Hyren asked.
“The nose knows,” Blynn said. “I followed your scent. Plus,
everybody’s talking about you out there! We kept overhearing Neopets say stuff
about how the great Commander Hyren went rogue and Commander Garoo captured him.
They mentioned what level you’d been taken to. That helped a lot.”
“Let’s get you free from that wall,” Terra said. “Do you
mind if I climb up you?”
“You call me a blueberry fish pop,” Hyren said, “so long as
you’re out of Sloth’s clutches!”
“Fair enough,” Terra said. She sheathed her blade, dropped
her pack, grabbed on to his chestplate, and began lifting herself up to his
shoulders. She managed to crouch on one of his pauldrons and placed her hands
on his helmet for support.
“Don’t look down,” Hyren said. Sure it wasn’t too much of a
height, but the hard floor still had the potential for injury if she landed
wrong. And right now, he couldn’t catch her.
“I can do this…” Terra whispered to herself as she slowly
stood up on his shoulder, letting go of his helmet to draw her sword. Hyren grimaced
as she wobbled, but managed to keep herself balanced. “Okay,” she said. “On the
count of three, you pull against the shackles and I’ll strike. “One, two…
three!”
At her command, Hyren yanked his wrists forward, and Terra
brought the blade down with a yell. Sure enough, the bonds snapped against the
combined forces of mutant Grundo strength and faerie-tempered steel, and Hyren
took a half-step forward to steady himself.
Terra, however, lost her footing from the force of the
strike and tumbled from his shoulder with a yelp. Hyren twisted around and
caught her. “Are you okay?” he asked, setting her down.
“Yeah,” she said, stowing her blade with shaky hands. She
smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’m okay. I got you free, that’s what matters.”
“You did great,” Hyren said. He patted her head, although
the moment was marred by a sudden, strange twinge of nausea. It couldn’t have
been the Protein on the Go bar, that was too long ago, he thought.
“All right, let’s blow this joint!” Blynn said, hooking the
lantern back onto her pack.
“Gimme a sec,” Hyren said, removing his helmet. “This
armour’s not much use any more.” It could still protect against physical
attacks adequately enough, but that was barely a fraction of its capabilities
when functional. And he was tired of looking like he still worked for Sloth.
“We don’t got all day, chief!” the Zafara said, poking her
slingshot out at the hallway. “Pretty sure that explosion’s caught somebody’s
attention by now!”
“You’re right,” Hyren said. “Hang on.” The armour would be
bearable enough, but the cracked visor was driving him crazy. Holding the
helmet in front of him, he cleanly punched out the remnants of the glass,
shaking out stray shards before jamming the headgear back on. “Okay, I’m good.
Why have you been calling me ‘chief’ lately, anyway?”
“Sounds cool,” Blynn replied, bounding back out into the
corridor.
The hallway was long and lonely, with only a few stray doors
along the walls. Cameras dotted the ceiling, but considering the little disturbance
Blynn had caused earlier, stealth wasn’t a priority anymore. “We’re in Sloth’s
maximum-security cell block,” Hyren said as he slipped out of the cell. “Which
makes me wonder how you two even managed to get to me in the first place.”
“We have no idea,” Terra said. “We’ve been crawling through
the air ducts and stuff, and avoiding guards and ‘bots. Maybe we’re just really
sneaky.”
“It’s hard to be sneaky in the presence of bio-radar,” Hyren
said. “Unless…” He blinked, and then chuckled. “Of course! Back when my armour
was functional, I’d tagged you two as allied units, and the tag stuck when my
armour reconnected to the ship’s network! No wonder no one’s thought to
apprehend you!”
“Way to think ahead!” Terra said.
“Well, I wasn’t really thinking that far ahead at the time,” Hyren said. “I hope you kids have a
plan to get out of here.”
“Of course we have a plan,” Blynn said. “It’s called ‘run as
fast as you can for the escape pods’.”
“Yeah, we might need a slightly better plan than that,”
Hyren said. “Let’s move.” He shooed them down the hall.
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
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