Vecto stared at the wall and punched it. It bulged but was too thick to punch through. He shape shifted and extended his outer shield into a ribbon thinner than a sheet of paper. He slipped it through a crevice, navigating it between the maze of layers. When his shield exited the other end, he expanded it outward, forcing the layered walls apart.

The walls split, and air sucked into the room.

Sable braced himself and shielded his eyes from anticipated heat, but the air was already cold. He shook his head in disbelief as Vecto walked past him.

"My-my soldiers," Sable said, his worst fear verified.

Vecto paid him no mind.

"What did they do to deserve this?" Sable turned, rose to his feet, and punched Vecto in the back. His fist made a loud thump, but nothing more. "They were human beings! Protectors of Acaterra!"

Vecto glanced into a corner of the room at the surviving New Earth Police, who had been cuffed and tied up by Streamline. They were regaining consciousness. Vecto turned around, grabbed Sable's arm, and twisted it. "You're nothing but a traitor!" he said coldly. "If your son Phantom was alive, he'd despise you!"

Vecto twisted the man's arm until it broke, causing Sable to drop to his knees and curse up a storm.

"Vecto!" Crysilis yelled. "That's enough! We weren't supposed to kill anyone!"

Vecto let go of Sable's arm. "You saw these police officers. They were shooting to kill. The SS6 were the same, so why should I act any different?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"We intruded on them, and they have every right to defend themselves. Besides, we're better than that and agreed to come only to obtain information."

"I'm getting tired of holding back!"

Crysilis vanished, then reappeared in front of him. "And what do you know about being tired? Huh?"

"Why? Because I'm a just a machine? Is that what you think?"

"Vecto, get over it!" Crysilis said. "Ever since Gyro died, you've been taking it out on everyone else. Where's the Vecto with morality? Where's the robot who was human?"

Vecto ignored him and knelt beside Sable, who was clinging to his broken arm. "One last time. Where's Morphaal?"

Sable grimaced but answered. "All right, all right. Talk to my brother Azmeck," he advised. "He's your best chance at finding Zendora. All we know is that Morphaal somehow has the location of the planet and plans to return and make it his base of operations. Find the planet, and you'll find him."

"Return?" Vecto questioned.

"Yeah, he was there when my son and I and Azmeck crashed on the planet," Sable explained, grunting as he rested his arm on his lap. "We left Zendora by boarding Morphaal's ship. That was eighteen years ago."

"Is that all?" Vecto asked.

"If you don't believe me, talk to Azmeck," Sable said. "But we had nothing to do with Morphaal comin' back, I tell ya! These men didn't deserve to die!"

"Thank you for your cooperation," Vecto said as he stood back up and proceeded down the dais. He waved for his companions to follow him through the hole he originally created in the wall. He let Sable live not only for Crysilis' sake but for a reason. If Sable was lying, he wanted him to tell Morphaal what he did to the SS6-tell him what he was capable of-let him know that he will hunt him down and disintegrate him.

Sable watched the three A.S. members leave the room, wondering how his men could have been killed so easily. The whole SS6 Formation. Everyone. Disintegrated. All his hard work of training them-just for them to die. He cursed under his breath and slowly stood back up, looking at the pathetic-looking police squad with mufflers on their mouths and wires around their bodies.

He'll get his due. One day, he'll get his . . .