Dean looked at the excavation team digging a very wide but oddly shallow hole near a cave on the edge of a desert and sighed, “Okay, so the Falos are digging for it, that won’t do them any good. The issue is less that and more the slew of Cosmic Patrol they have running a perimeter.” He turned to face the two girls in Katsi’s ‘battle van’. “Alright, so our goal is going to be getting into the mouth of that cave. Once you are in, time and space are gonna get screwy. That’s the crystal defending itself. It is going to mess with your head to test your resolve. And I’m not talking about some ‘which did you drop’ nonsense.” The girls seemed confused so Dean stated firmly, “The cave hates you and will twist every knife it has. You show doubt or weakness and it WILL kill you.”
“Okay, then how does Kat get in?“ Anisa asked stoically,
Punching her sister in the arm, Katsi exclaimed, “Excuse me?!”
Dean sighed. “If you can be honest with yourself and your intentions are pure then you will be fine. Just don’t worry if it feels like you have been in there for days or if it looks like you are going the same way you have before. Once it starts screwing with you, time loses all meaning. It is usually only about 10 to 20 minutes below the surface in real time. Normally, I would suggest a diversionary tactic or something, but I know these caves. Once we are in, we are golden. Trouble is the Cosmic Patrol. How do we get to the cave with their net this tight?”
Anisa sighed and transformed. Dean looked at her in confusion before she stated, “The reason I run from the cosmic patrol isn’t because I’m scared of them. I am trying to save the good ones from difficult decisions.” She opened the back door and motioned the other two to follow. Dean went to transform but she motioned him not to. As the three approached the nearest patrol, the officer took a battle ready stance. She shook her head, drawing a pistol from seemingly nowhere. It was clearly advanced tech to match her own appearance. “Sargent, the Falos are dangerously close to a crystal and I would hate for this to become noisy for your sake.”
The officer didn’t drop their stance just yet, “Another intervention so soon? What’s the occasion? And who was that new friend?”
Dean almost spoke but decided to trust her, “The occasion is them finalizing their conquest of our planet. They just need a few more components. I can promise that if you allow me past this point that I will bring their focus with me. Innocent lives spared and justice will be done.”
The officer looked at her the same way he would some religious cult leader, and then they laid eyes on Dean and lit up. Realizing he knew this rookie, Dean got excited as well. Did they remember him? “Detective Paddock! I knew I wasn’t crazy!” They seemed to drop their guard and asked Dean, “I don’t know what’s going on, sir, but if you and Zora are working together on it then we might actually have a chance to settle this with minimal casualties.”
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Dean proceeded to hug and crush the rookie, “Cheza, you pure hearted baloo!” The rookie proceeded to fall to the ground, completely fainted from the sudden lack of air. Dean patted him and sighed. “Sorry, just good to know that my intel was right. If Cheza remembers me then bringing back the other two should help us put things right.”
“Not quite, Bruin!” Dean froze and turned to face a very avian faced monster. It stood staring at him from the side of its head, “I had a nightmare the other night. A bear faced warrior casting me into a chasm as I recall.”
Dean growled, all too familiar with this foe and more than aware of the danger. “You two, run for the cave and don’t look back.”
“You don’t really think I will let Zora claim the power source, do you?” The bird let out a loud shriek, clearly summoning his cronies. “Soon you will be overrun and I can shake this dark premonition.”
He motioned them again to run and when Katsi looked worried, Zora picked her up over her shoulders and began to run, shooting at the beast with her pistol. The birdman tried to block with his feathers and was caught by complete surprise when the force of the shots broke his guard. He went to chase the woman when a bright orange flash caught his attention. Turning to face it, he got a heavy armored fist across his beak, “Katchakhan… I really hoped you would be smart enough to run away this time. Still, I can’t let you stop us.”
The bird did the best glare he could from his one eye, his beak cracked from the impact, “You lack a predatory manner. Why does this feel predictably disappointing?” The monster charged Bruin, his heavy blows propelling the armored soldier back, but leaving him mostly unfazed. “A massive slab of metal hiding such tough meat. But that’s all you are. Nothing but canned ham!” The blows continued to reign down and the monster began to feel victory was assured, watching Bruin’s arms drop to his sides limply. Continuing his volley for a few more minutes as his army gathered around him. He stood up and began preening his wings. “Seems my nightmare was just that.”
Bruin sighed, “You really did learn nothing.” He stood up slowly, rolling his shoulders, “Acid feathers, hyper sonic cries able to make stone into soup.” Bruin cracked his neck and rotated his arm, his bladed gauntlets appearing on his hands. “And you still think playing with me is the smart move.” Katchakhan got back into battle stance and tried to shriek Dean into submission, only for the crack in his beak to worsen. Sensing the danger he stopped before it broke off. Dean stated, “Unlike you, I learned my lessons on this. So the next ten minutes will be you and me beating on each other until my friends are done. I hate this as much as you do.” The soldiers began unloading their laser rifles on Bruin, each shot seeming to just bounce off of his armor, “But it has to be done.”