"Vecto!" Crysilis yelled, then disappeared. He teleported inside Vecto's shield as a rocket came at him. He grabbed the rocket and spun it around, sending it back at Vecto. It collided with the robot, knocking him back, but his other shield prevented his body from being hit. It caused Vecto's shields to pulsate, including his outer-dome one. Crysilis teleported out as the shield compressed.

"Retreat!" the police were heard yelling, scurrying to their last vehicles.

"Stay out of this, Crysilis!" Vecto yelled at his friend.

"Get ahold of yourself!" Crysilis said. "This isn't you!"

"Morphaal's going to pay!" Vecto yelled.

"But these people aren't Morphaal!" Crysilis yelled back.

Vecto looked at Azul. "Then where is he?"

"I'm sorry, Vecto," Azul said, his head bowed. "They said they wanted you to meet them at the SS6 training base . . . alone. But you can't go. It's a trap."

"If it means killing Morphaal, I'll take their bait," Vecto said. He looked at Crysilis and Streamline. "Don't follow! Only I can take him!" He gathered his weapons around him as his flame boosters activated, sending him rocketing in the air.

"Wait! Vecto! Don't be rash! You can't take on Morphaal alone!" Crysilis shouted, to no avail.

Vecto was already gone.

What has he gotten himself into? Crysilis thought, scanning the trail of smoke lingering in the air.

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"I'm going to help him!" Streamline said, activating his jetpack.

"Wait!" Crysilis yelled. "Only a fool falls for bait."

Streamline stopped in midair. "I can't just let him fight Morphaal alone!"

"He made his choice," Crysilis said as he rushed to the downed police. "Our priority is to check for survivors."

"But I can't just abandon him!" Streamline yelled.

"And what are you going to do when you get there? Are you really prepared to face Morphaal? If it's a trap, then he'll have both of you where he wants. We have to think this through."

Streamline lowered to the ground.

Crysilis vanished and reappeared next to several police officers to check their life signs. "Can you can get ahold of Dr. Azmeck while I do this?"

"But why do we need him? Morphaal hasn't left for Zendora yet, so we don't need know where the planet is right now."

"Dr. Azmeck's the best person we have at shutting Vecto down."

Streamline gasped. "What are you talking about?"

"You saw what Vecto did to the police," Crysilis said. "We've got to find a way to shut Vecto down before he goes on another senseless rampage."

"If we do that, how are we going to fight Morphaal without him?"

Crysilis appeared in front of Streamline. "Listen to me. Right now, we have to think of a plan to stop Vecto. If it turns out that Morphaal isn't at the SS6 training base, then how many lives will Vecto kill before he finds him? We need to fix him before we lose him."

"There will be nothing left of him if Morphaal gets his hands on him."

"And there will be nothing left of this planet if Vecto goes renegade!"

Streamline shook his head. "All right. I hope you know what you're doing."

I hope so, too, Crysilis thought as he continued to check the police officers. I've got a feeling Morphaal isn't there, and if Morphaal is alive, Vecto's doing exactly what he wants him to.

As Crysilis searched for survivors and as Streamline tried to contact Dr. Azmeck, Vecto's servant, Azul, was silent. He walked to the once-base, his white hair flowing as smoke and small flames rose from the scorched land. His hands were crossed inside the wide cloth of his sleeves, covering his silver bracelets, as his gold tiara glowed from the light. "He'll kill them all . . ." he said to himself.