Alex dashed forward and narrowly dodged an incoming fist. He skirted around just in time and sent a couple of quick laser strikes to the brute’s side. It recoiled it pain and reacted much quicker than Alex was anticipating. A powerful backhanded blow collided directly into Alex’s head, sending him flying into a nearby wall. He got up as quickly as he could and barely avoided a foot poised to stomp on his head. The meteoric blow still sent shrapnel in every direction, cutting Alex on his shins and feet. He looked down and was horrified by what he saw.

“Is that my toe?”

It was indeed his toe. A rage filled him, one that was beginning to feel all too familiar. He was able to keep it in check somehow. Alex couldn’t lose control in a place like this, it would be far too risky. Amazed, Alex felt as if his body took a mind of its own. In fluid, easy motions, Alex evaded nearly every strike the Zotari brute had to offer. With each missed blow, the alien took a counter strike. Alex could feel that his mind was fuzzy from his crash earlier, but he still managed to keep ahead of the brute. As long as he was able to land more blows than he took, Alex believed he had a chance to end this quickly.

Attack after attack landed, and Alex was pulling ahead. That was until he heard a commotion on the street, heading in their direction. A couple of quick strikes were enough to daze the brute. Without waiting, Alex decided to cut his losses and move on. He needed to leave before whatever was rounding the street could see him. His mission for the night would be infinitely more difficult now, but it would be much worse if they were right on his heels for the rest of the night. At least if he left now, he could get a head start and hopefully finish before he had too many uninvited guests.

He took a circuitous route through the city in hopes he would shake any trackers, carefully so as to not run into any more patrols. He knew it wouldn’t be long until the chase began, so for Alex, the clock was ticking. He found his landmark and started heading toward the power station.

Ouch my foot hurts! I really hope that my toe grows back somehow.

Fortunately, Alex didn’t run into any more patrols and he made his final approach. During his reconnaissance, he had only seen a handful of entrances into the building. He was currently standing in front of one of the smaller ones. There were two guards posted. Alex waited a few minutes to see if any other Zotari were making rounds around the building. When he didn’t see any, he made his move.

He needed to take them out quickly, silently, and simultaneously. He thought of a couple ways to accomplish this. His immediate thought was he could just create a couple of saw blades with his Eonsteel and throw both of them at the unsuspecting guards. While this should work, there were a couple problems with this plan. His aim would need to be perfect. If he missed one of the guards, there would be hell to pay. Another problem was that he would either need to control the strength behind the throw, or somehow draw the blades back in before they collided with the building behind them.

Another idea was that he could use one his thermal blasts to fire into each of them, but this posed similar problems. He would need enough power to kill without punching all the way through and into the building. This had the added disadvantage of being a sudden bright light in the otherwise dark night. So again, he couldn’t do that. His final idea was the best he could come up with in short notice.

He snaked two, thin tendrils out towards the guards along the ground. He was again grateful for the dark color of the Eonsteel. It made missions like this feasible. Alex would just need to overcome his own personal struggles with stealth and he could turn into the deadliest assassin.

The tendrils made their way to guards slowly, but silently. The guards were not very diligent and spent the entire time talking to each other, barely focusing on their surroundings. If they had been paying attention, they would have noticed the tendrils begin to climb up behind each of the soldiers. When they had reached head height, Alex launched them forward. They wrapped around the mouths of the two guards and dragged them towards Alex.

A couple of quick stomps to their heads finished them off without another sound. He stashed their bodies behind what had to be the equivalent of Saxan dumpster. Either that or they were cooking up something rank in there. He moved towards the now unguarded door and silently slipped inside.

He quickly slid to the side behind a panel to avoid the gaze of roaming patrol. Pulling out the map that Krizzik had given him of the complex, Alex pinpointed his current location and planned out his path.

Krizzik had indicated on the map where he could find the control room. Once there, all Alex would need to do would be to was punch in the passwords Krizzik had given him into the main computer and then he would be able to shut down the entire grid. Only someone with these passwords would be able to turn it back on. With the power off, the Zotari would be slightly easier to take out. Their communications would be halted, which should allow for less cohesion among their ranks and less of a chance that reinforcements arrive if the Saxans mounted a counter attack.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Now, he just needed to make it there. It was almost in the center of the building which meant he would have to cross the guards that were roaming around the building, likely multiple times. To say he was stressed was an understatement. If he slipped up, who knows how many warriors he could have chasing him around the city. Plus, he didn’t know how much time he could take before he would have the warriors already alert finding out where he was.

He slid along a wall leading down a corridor. Alex almost made it to the end when two Zotari rounded the corner almost right into him. Before they could even register what was going on, he grabbed each of their heads and smashed them together. Both warriors crumpled together, their heads fused together as one massive blob of flesh. They were much easier to defeat than the Zotari outside and Alex identified them to check why.

Zotari Warrior

Level 22

Zotari Warrior

Level 23

Oops. I feel kind of bad. Maybe I should’ve checked that first. But they just startled me. It isn’t my fault. I thought I was only going to run into the stronger guys here. How am I supposed to keep it straight? I guess my main focus should be getting through this place without being seen. I guess I was probably going to kill them any way. I just feel like it’s not fair. It makes me feel like I just beat a bunch of kindergartners in a football game or something.

Not having any more time to worry about the possible ramifications of killing aliens much weaker than himself, Alex looked around to find a place to stash the bodies. He couldn’t worry too much about the blood on the ground. There just wasn’t enough time and he needed to keep moving. He found an unlocked room and unceremoniously tossed the bodies inside. They flopped around until resting in the corner.

That should do it.

Alex turned around and found two more Zotari right behind him. Reflexively, he shot out two tendrils in the middle of each of their foreheads. Before they could fall to the ground, Alex had already grabbed them and tossed them into the room to join their companions.

Well crap. This is already not going well. At this rate I’m going to be known as a war criminal.

This time Alex decide to hustle away from the scene of the crime. They couldn’t pin it on him if nobody knew he was there. In his rush to leave the bodies however, he mistakenly stepped into the pile of blood created by his first victims. As if he were in a cartoon, his legs slipped out from under him sending him tumbling backwards into the blood.

Disgusting! I think I’m gonna throw up.

Alex started gagging and dry heaving before he got his wits again. He got up as carefully as he could and stepped away from the bloody mess. He activated the self cleaning feature of his suit and ripples began coursing all over his body, wringing out the blood and leaving it on the ground. Alex took a breath of relief and turned back around.

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Joorir was happy with the responsibilities she had been given. Her leaders were proud of her progress and were excited to give her extra jobs. She had volunteered to take an extra shift to help guard the power grid. It was an essential function to the city and their continuous occupation of Tristix.

They needed it to maintain many of the necessary functions of a war camp. They needed to conduct surveillance, communicate with the larger bases, and everyday items also ran on this power. They didn’t have the means to sustain an entire city on their generators, and therefore their position would become much more tenuous should the power grid fail. They were lucky the Saxans attempting to sabotage it had been dealt with swiftly, otherwise it would have been much harder to take the city and maintain control for as long as they had.

Joorir was given the opportunity to not only guard this and start to get in the good graces of some of those that still doubted her, but she was chosen to try and learn the Saxan systems. This should make her even more invaluable to the cause. She couldn’t help but smile at her good fortune. Things were finally going her way. She imagined a life as a tech engineer for the military, maybe even one day reaching high command. Her family would have no choice but to be proud of her. After all the shame she had brought them, this is what brought her the most peace.

That is until she saw those eyes again.

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Alex crashed through the door of what should be the control room. He gave a quick Look around and saw exactly what Krizzik had described to him.

Finally made it.

He gave a double take to a spot he had just glanced over. There was a Zotari warrior standing at the edge of the room by the wall. When their eyes met, she started to scream. Not a war cry or anything like that. It sounded like he had just killed her entire family right in front of her. She sounded like she had just lost everything she held dear. The Zotari began flailing around uncontrollably, her wailing only growing louder by the second.

Alex wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He felt extra bad killing this person. She looked like she had just had a psychotic breakdown, and yet he couldn’t leave her to alert everyone about his location either. He quickly stomped on her head to end the howling. He quickly got to business. The trail of bodies he had been leaving was problematic enough, but with the scream fest that had just occurred, there were bound to be a lot of guards headed his way.

Geez that girl was crazy. I wonder what happened to her for her to have a reaction like that?

He could hear footsteps coming down the corridor.

Why can’t I type faster? I knew I should’ve taken that keyboarding class seriously in middle school.