| Just then an aid approached agent Crandel and handed him a message. He read the message and took out his phone. The next minute the loud speakers throughout the facility were announcing that the word had come down. The next attack was to take place in an hour. Everyone prepare for battle! Tracker gathered the trible for a quick meeting. “Okay guys, lets try to watch each other’s backs while we are out there. Anybody who is using a laser be sure to check it to make sure it is working properly before we leave the facility.” “What about the secondary mission?” Daniel asked Crandel. “Do we follow the saucers again or not?” “Good question. We need to make some sort of progress in this battle. Fighting the saucers without finding their mother ship probably isn’t going to get us very far. Follow them but this time send someone else. You two didn’t fare well, perhaps send The No-See-Um if she makes it back in time. If not; send … Hummingbird and The Hawk.” “Okay, will do.” Daniel replied. He nodded at Tracker to make sure he heard the order. Tracker nodded back. “I’ll go up top and keep a watch for No-See-Um.” Tracker offered. Tracker 2 looked around and saw Black Wasp. He wondered over her way and said, “Good luck today.” “Thanks handsome.” She replied coyly. “I always accept all wishes of good luck. Especially from attractive heroes such as yourself.” “I’m in way over my head aren’t I?” Tracker 2 asked. Black Wasp smiled and laughed. “Did I wonder over your way or the other way around?” “Touche’.” Tracker 2 replied. “See you after the battle?” Black Wasp asked. Truth was, she was hoping his answer would inspire confidence. They had not done so well the first time out. She was a little worried about the upcoming fight. Tracker 2 shared her worries. He new that he and his siblings would be okay no matter what happened, short of a very dark miracle. Black Wasp was not gifted with the regenerative powers that he and his siblings enjoyed. She wasn’t the only one he worried about. The first battle had lost over a dozen of the jet-pack fighters. Also injured was Crawdad. That poor guy had taken quite a beating since this all started. Luckily he was the only one from Mel’s hole that had been injured to the point of not being able to go out again for this next battle. “Yeah, you’ll see me.” “That makes me feel a little better. I don’t like admitting it, but I am a little worried after our last battle.” She said, making a face. “Come here.” Tracker 2 said. “I have a secret to share.” The two walked away from everyone else so nobody could hear what Tracker 2 had to say. “Don’t worry at all about me, or any of the trible. We have regenerative powers that all but ensure we cannot be killed. That is why i am standing here in front of you today. My original half, got cut in two by Crawdad. He also cut Dragonfly in two. The two separate parts grew back into what you see today. Each of us, FireAnt and myself, have a double because when we were cut in half, each part grew back into a whole.” Black Wasp looked astounded. She stayed silent while never taking her eyes off of his eyes. Then she said, “That is amazing news! Does Crandel know?” “We talked about it and decided that right now it isn’t knowledge he needs to be made aware. Our fear is he will want us to volunteer to be cut in half again. It is not a pleasant experience to put it mildly. Don’t get me wrong, if we thought it would make the difference we are ready to submit, but we want it to be our decision, not commands.” Tracker 2 replied. Black Wasp hesitated in her reply. She needed to think this over. FireAnt took a real chance letting her know. She appreciated his position but also was aware that they were facing dire circumstances which might require every possible asset to be put on the table in order to win this battle. “I don’t know what to say.” She replied honestly. “You know if it should somehow, some way, turn out that keeping this information from command, agent Crandel, ended up hurting the mission … there would be no forgiveness. And now you have brought me into the mix.” “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I just didn’t want you to be focused on the wrong things while in battle.” He said apologetically. He thought to himself, ‘Now I’ll have to kill you.’ Of course, he was kidding, but he did realize he had perhaps taken a leap of faith that was going to come back to being a regret. “Take that look of reget off your face.” She said. “I’m not going to sell you out but next time you have information which could get me in trouble, just keep it to yourself.” “Copy that.” Tracker 2 replied. “I guess I will go up and see if my double has spotted No-See-Um yet.” “Really? You’re going to join your double to see if either one of you can spot something that is designed by nature to not be seen? I figured he went up just to get away from the circus that is going on down here on this level. I seriously doubt he went up there thinking he was going to spot Carrie coming back in.” “Fair point.” Tracker 2 replied. “I guess I will go get something to eat. Wanna come?” “I’ve got team members to check on. My team lost three of the jet-packs so i need to check in with the new recruits. Let ’em know we’ve got their backs, all that neat stuff.” Tracker 2 leaned in and gave her a kiss. “For luck.” He smiled and walked away toward the facility’s kitchen. Black Wasp smiled and watched him walk away, then she turned and found her squad. ———————— Chapter ———————— It was time. The loud speakers throughout the facility announced for everyone who was going into battle to go to their assigned spots. Some went up to the top of the building, those who were flying or being flown. The rest went down and climbed into black SUVs. Crawdad sat at the doorway which exited the building. He wished all that passed his way a good luck going into battle. Then he thought to himself, ‘you’re going to need it.’ He didn’t say it out loud however and he hoped he would be wrong. Up on top the building the various teams were gathered together and prepared for the order to launch. Some were checking their lasers one more time to make certain they were functioning properly. Across the sky they saw the saucers racing from one point to another. There seemed to be about four main convoys which went in all four directions. Suddenly the loud speakers came to life once again. ‘Launch! All squads are cleared to launch immediately!” The rooftop began to empty as the various squads leapt into the sky. Tracker led the way with Daniel and Seta right behind. Daniel was carrying the Scorpion. Behind them came Hummingbird carrying Tonka, aka the Beetle. Behind them came the rest of team Crandel. The heroes attacked the saucers and like before, at first they were winning the battle. Hummingbird and the Hawk followed the convoy that led away from the point of attack. They followed the saucers which were falling into line where the four different convoys converged. As they followed the saucers in front of them they saw an entire fleet of saucers come at them and then go racing by toward the location where the team Crandel had first launched its attack. Hummingbird said to the Hawk, “I hope they will be okay. That was an even bigger fleet than we lost to last time around.” “Yeah. Well it might be up to us to find a way to stop them so be on your toes.” He said in reply. Next Page “ |  The Jet Pack Soldiers heading into battle with the UFOs  The Silkworm  The Beetle prepares for battle  The Hawk seen fighting the saucers while team members are seen being taken in the background. |