The Collab...

Chapter 10

By Agent Havoc

As Kuri led the three strangers he decided to help escape, his only thoughts were pinpointed on the fact that the hunter lady , Anika had said that she would give him a sum of money If they managed to escape. Actually, that had been Kuri’s only motivation for helping these strangers since he knew very well that this lady and her partner were reputed for rewarding those who helped them. Money meant that he would be this much closer to raising enough money for Mikan’s medical fees and that was enough for Kuri. Going through the mazes of the districts alleys, Kuri knew full well where he was going and knew that the strangers would be safe from the law enforcement agents in no time. Of course, the only place he knew that was really safe from the cops was his « house », wich was located in the Core. That meant he would have to let these people in his house and and keep them there until things cooled down a little bit. Again, Kuri was ready to do that for Mikan’s sake. After all, these people all seemed decent enough…there should be no trouble coming from them in the coming days. With Anika Jansen’s reputation, Kuri could almost even count on her protecting Mikan and himself for the time she was in their home. Of course, reputations can easily be exagerated, but Kuri had to go with his feelings on this one…

Finally, after all these twists and turns, Kuri finally reached the ventilation duct that led to his home.

« We’re here », he said in a very low tone.

« We can’t possibly fit! » said Anika as Kuri started to crawl inside the duct.

« I know", said the boy from inside, his voice echoing through the the walls of the duct, "I’m going to open you a way in from the inside… Just stay where you are and I’ll be back in a few minutes »

And with those words, Kuri continued crawling…

Cisia wasn’t feeling too well being, so near the Core…A thousand horrible memories sprang to her mind as she was reminded of the horrible experiments the Ministry had forced on her. Everything that was around her started to blur out only to be replaced by the pain and misery that she had known during most of her life, she now had much trouble distinguishing reality and memories. Those few seconds felt like an eternity to her and she howled in pain, anger and sadness… At least, she thought she screamed. She could no longer hear anything but a loud buzzing sound that made her very uncomfortable. She fell to her knees and saw everything turn red around her still as her vision was blurring more and more. And then, everything went dark and she blacked out…

Talehn was still deep in thoughts about Valeri as he, Cisia and Anika waited for the boy to return when suddenly he heard Cisia howl a scream of pain. Under the shock of such a dramatic scream, Talehn turned around to see what was going on. He saw Anika do the same but did not pay much attention to the blonde ex-hunter and kept all of his concentration on Cisia.

« What’s wrong Cisia? », asked Talehn nervously not knowing what was happening.

He then saw his friend fall to her knees and breathe heavily, her hair wet with sweat that had been produced in the last few seconds. Seconds felt like hours when Talehn saw Anika reach for something in her jacket, trying to react as quickly as she could. Turning his attention back to Cisia, Talehn saw the young Interface starting to glowin a reddish light. Still not knowing what to do, Talehn started to walk towards her.

« No Talehn ! Step back ! »screamed Anika taking out a small metal box from her pockets.

Talehn went against Anika’s warning and kept on going forward. It was then that all hell broke loose. Cisia stood straight up , still glowing in that reddish light and looked directly in Talehn’s eyes. Her eyes were completely black as her stare froze a shocked Talehn instantly.

The young interface lifted her hand towards Talehn, sending him flying away at least a dozen feet knocking the wind out of him as he hit a wall. Talehn recovered as quickly as he could and when he came back to himself, he saw that Cisia had her attention on Anika now and the young blonde woman was without any doubt having one of the worst moments of her life; Anika Jansen was floating in the air, at least 7 feet off the ground and she was gasping for air and kicking frantically the empty spaces of that was around her feet.. It was then that Talehn noticed the small metal box that Anika had taken out… It was a few feet from his position and not knowing how to deal with the situation, he reached for It and opened It.

Inside, he found a dozen seringes filled with a green liquid that had not been broken or cracked up in their impact with the ground. He closed his eyes and tried to focus and knew that he had to act now or Anika might not survive another minute. But what was in these seringes ? Would It kill Cisia ? Most likely It wouldn’t because If Anika had wanted to do so, she would have drawn her gun . Talehn started to panic and was in a state of indecision until he heard Anika gasp for air again, obviously in pain.

He looked at Cisia and saw what would have been the personification of evil had he been religious. A creature with an evil stare and completely black eyes, with a blood-red glow around her. This was as far away from the Cisia he had known as possible. This creature was not Cisia, nor was It Valeri…and it was about to kill a very decent person. He had to take a chance. Ho took out a seringe from, left the box on the pavement and then plunged at Cisia with a defiant scream and sticking the needle in her leg. He pushed the liquid into his friends body and felt another force lifting him in the air, making him let go of the seringe.

He felt a force wrapping itself around his throat and suddenly was unable to breathe. His eyes gazed down at Cizia’s leg to see the seringe still sticking grotesquely from her leg. And, without warning, the red glow around her died down and she fainted .

Both Talehn and Anika fell to the pavement like two heavy bags filled with potatoes.

Talehn, as soon as he hit the ground, crawled to Cisia to make sure that she was alive. To his relief, she was still breathing.

He heard Anika cough violently behind him. She was obviously still alive too. Took the seringe off Cisia’s leg and gave her a hug, sobbing because of the very intense situation he had just gone through. He felt Anika stand up behind him, still breathing very hard, without any doubt trying to catch up all the air she had missed out on just a few moments before.

« I’m sure you’re dying for an an explanation for what just happened here, and I think It’s about time I gave It to you… » said the young blonde still panting.

Before Talehn could answer, he heard a metal door open, he turned around to see the young Kuri open a door and looking at the trio of tired companions.

« Did I interupt on something ? » asked the young boy innocently.

High in orbit, Paula,who was extremely angry at the irresponsabilty of her compatriots, was collecting equipment she would be using on earth. She did not care for the fact that she would most likely be reprimanded for her course of actions but she would not feel right by just leaving this planet. She smiled to herself, satisfied by the plan she had just come up with.

She double checked everything that was in her backpack : A few devices for her to defend herself as well as a few medical tools that would without any doubt help her through this situation. It wasn’t much, but It was alot more than what was available to the natives of this planet. It would most certainly do.

« Robot shuttle to be launched in 10 minutes » announced the ship’s computer.

Paula smiled to herself again and ran towards the docking bay of the survey station. She had a shuttle to catch.