Kaleb almost bit his cheek raw over the next few hours. He and the rest of the Super Group were handcuffed, disarmed, and shoved in the back of the van. Afterward, they were separated and questioned relentlessly. Kaleb had wanted to argue their innocence against their captors. But he knew it would fall on deaf ears. Also, his questioners seemed more intent on getting a rise out of him. Questioning his capabilities and worthiness to the team. They also trotted out his inventions and scoffed at their usefulness.
It had rapidly become clear to him that someone was trying to pull his non-existent tail. Another odd angle of attack from the HLO. So instead, Kaleb kept quiet. Though it was a massive struggle. Multiple times, Kaleb wanted to leap over the interrogation table and start slapping a few smug NPCs. But he calmed himself down and maintained. Almost completely by his own willpower.
But a big mental help from the constant benign questioning was a forum thread Jar-lock had started. As players, they still had access to the forums while in their holding cells. Jar-lock started a private thread for the SG and posted all the questions he was asked. Soon, Vivienne, Abby, and the others all found the post and started adding their own struggles. Although Kaleb noted that none of them had been questioned about their place in the guild. Mostly, they were asked about their stance in the guild, what they did, what they were planning. How was it any better than the HLO? Through it all, Kaleb and his friends remained silent.
“It’s weird, though,” Abby posted. “It’s like they are worried you are planning something, Prof.”
“You got that too?!” Two Gun replied.
“Yeah, it’s like they are worried you’re planning something nefarious out in the hangar.” Claire added.
“More like hoping he is.” Jar-lock sent. “They need the Professor to be a threat so they can justify shutting him down. Meanwhile, they are testing us for weaknesses.”
Kaleb rolled his eyes as he stood in his dark cell. The lone window on the wall above him sent a shaft of light into the sole door in the room. The tiny three-by-four square of cement made him claustrophobic, and his friend’s conversation helped distract him. Although Jar was being a little too melodramatic.
“Really, Jar-lock? Weaknesses? Y’all ain’t hardened enemy spies. What could they gain from that?”
“They are searching for social weaknesses, Doc. Things that upset us about our own social circle. But besides your noisy workshop and moving my damn library out of the sun, I’ve got no complaints. As for what they hope to gain? Maybe an eye into our operation? A way to frame us all for something horrible?”
“I’ve seen corporate interest trying to protect their investments before. But this shit takes the cake.” Two Gun wrote. “I mean, the HLO is a government-accepted body. A way to turn a profit on heroes while keeping the costs of their escapades down. But these fellas are acting like they want to be the only game in town.”
“Aside from a few other outfits like us, they are.” Kaleb typed angrily.
“When do you think they’ll let us out? I’m bored.” Abby posted.
“Can’t be too much longer. They’ve got nothing to hold us on and we have a legitimate contract with that cereal company.”
“Farrah said she would have us out by morning.”
“Anyone know the time in-game?”
“Looks like five in the morning, according to the clock on my wall.”
“Wait, Claire? You have a clock?”
“Yes? And a fairly comfortable bed as well.”
“The beds are comfortable.” Abby agreed.
“I’ve had better.” Two Gun typed.
Kaleb fumed as he momentarily dropped his out-of-game window and took some screenshots. He place his arms on the walls of his cell to show how small the space was. Once he finished, he quickly loaded them to the forum and sent a string of expletives.
“Oh, that’s fucked up.” Jar-lock sent along with a sad emoji.
“Ha!” Abby sent.
“Good gracious.”
“Lord, son. That fucking sucks.”
“Tell me about it!” Kaleb wrote. “Why do the rest of y’all get normal cells and I’m stuck in a damn box!?”
“Cause you’re the dangerous lizard leader of a non-HLO approved group of heroes. It’s probably scare-tactics.”
“Or it could be meant to alienate you from the rest of us. I mean, we all get out and talk about our experiences in here and notice the differences. Next thing, the Professor is angry that he was clearly treated worse and lashes out at us and the HLO.”
“Really, Abby? Isn’t that a little too paranoid?”
Kaleb was in the middle of writing an angry response to Vivienne when his cell door was thrown open. A dark object was flung at him and Kaleb caught it on instinct. It was an empty duffel bag and Kaleb looked at it in confusion. But the guards at the door merely glowered at him. With a wave of their batons, Kaleb was instructed to exit his cell and follow the armored goons.
He was led down a dark hallway to a four-way intersection. A guard place his baton on Kaleb’s shoulder and glared at him. The message was obvious: move and be smacked. Kaleb grit his teeth but remained still. While that was happening, another guard was operating something on the wall. It was a series of blinking light and Kaleb saw them blink out in order before the four-way spun quickly. Nearly bowling him over.
Once the four-way they were standing stopped spinning, Kaleb was forced to march down a second hallway. From his position, he could see another group of guards moving just ahead of them. They joined that group at the next intersection, and Kaleb grinned as he saw Claire waiting patiently with her own guards. He gave her a nod, and she waved in return while their guards operated the weird controls again. The intersection spun a few times and he and Claire were hurried off.
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Another four intersections and Kaleb was back with his friends again. Their crowd of guards nearly packing the hallways tight. But no one said a word. Instead, they were quietly and hurriedly marched out of the weird system of hallways and brought to a large foyer. The contrast between the dark hallways and the bright foyer was jarring, and Kaleb turned around to look back into the dark hallways. But they were gone. Instead, he found himself in a large tiled room, with a large bay of windows making up one wall. Just below the windows were two large double doors with guards posted at either end.
Kaleb turned back and noticed a large front desk, and several harried and put upon workers. Their guards were quickly dispersing about the room, but keeping an eye on all of them. The room was decked out like the lobby of a hotel, and Kaleb almost went and sat on a comfy-looking seat when a familiar voice shouted at him.
“Professor?”
Kaleb looked for the voice and found a familiar rabbit-woman with a severe look standing in front of the wall-to-wall front desk. His friends were approaching Farrah as she gave them all a nod in hello. A squat grey alien was seated behind the desk and he didn’t look happy to be there. As Kaleb joined everyone, he heard the alien muttering angrily.
“It’s not my fault the paperwork got lost. It took us forever to find them. But they are here now and you’re all free to go.”
“I don’t care who’s at fault! Something this simple shouldn’t have taken this long. We had the contract, the videos, and the proof that what was taken from Trilli-O’s was not a simple recipe. But for some reason, my people were taken to a secret bunker and interrogated like common criminals. I had to file a report with city hall to even find them!”
Farrah’s tirade made the alien fold into himself. Kaleb bet the guy wished he were anywhere else right now. Instead, he had to bare the Farrah’s glare as they all crowded the front desk. Kaleb could feel the guards still watching them. But thankfully, they weren’t breathing down all of their necks.
Beyond the front desk, Kaleb could see a group of clerks busily working away and not looking at them. It took the grey alien a few more minutes to collect himself, but once he did, he waved a stubby hand over his shoulder. A few more clerks hurried over, carrying various objects. As they placed the stuff on the front desk, Kaleb and his friends gasped. It was their gear, and it was in much worse shape than when they had taken it off. Farrah noticed some of the damage as Kaleb’s group collected their things.
“What the hell happened there?!”
“Some of... um, our scientists were a little… Um, overzealous in their inspections.”
“Overzealous?” Kaleb questioned as he stared at the large rend in Claire’s leather chest piece.
“Well, the items were rated as dangerous, so we…”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Farrah shouted. “I’ll be filing another complaint as soon as we are back at our headquarters.”
She punctuated her sentence with a heavy glare down upon the seated clerk. The alien had the good sense to remain quiet as Kaleb and his friends studied their scuffed up gear. As he was strapping on his holsters and feeling the weight of his lab coat again, Kaleb heard Two Gun hiss in anger.
“Where are my guns?”
Everyone froze, and Kaleb looked over at the remaining items on the counter. His taser-eggs, their launcher, and his Quad-gun were all there. And he spotted his Magic Gun placed with Jar-lock’s stuff. But his Cybar was missing. He glared up at the flinching alien sitting behind his desk. Two Gun had both his hands on the wooden desk and looked ready to wring the pudgy alien’s neck. But the whirring sounds of the guard’s weapons stopped everyone.
“Items have been known to go missing sometimes while being put into storage. It happens.” Said the gray alien.
Kaleb bit his cheek so hard he was sure he had drawn blood. He was about to leap over the counter and search for his weapon himself when Farrah’s voice spoke up, loud and clear.
“Yes, I’d like to report a theft. I’m at the HLO holding building off Grant street. It seems that someone broke into—”
“Ai ai ai!” the grey clerk screamed over Farrah as he flung himself to his feet and grabbed her cell phone.
The squat little alien tried to wrench it free from the bunny woman. But Farrah merely smirked as she ripped her hand out of his grasp. She glared at him as a feminine voice on her phone was asking if she was in trouble. The man’s grey skin went extra pale as he quivered in his seat. From behind him, a raspy voice spoke up.
“Wait, we’ve found them here.”
A green lizard in a lab coat and a scowl on his face walked out of a backroom behind the desk. In his scaly hands were Two Gun’s and Kaleb’s pistols. Unlike the rest of their gear, the weapons appeared to be in excellent condition. Kaleb caught the bipedal lizard staring at him and he realized it was another Basilinoid. He looked almost identical to Kaleb, from the coloration right down to the dirty lab coat. Although Kalebs had the telltale shine of self-repairing cloth.
His doppelganger’s eyes crawled over Kaleb’s face and down to his robotic arm. The lizard scoffed harshly and then spun around in obvious dismissal. He put his Cybar away as Two Gun did the same, all the while Kaleb kept his eyes pinned to the retreating Basilinoid. Particularly on the other lizard’s slim tail. It was beating a rhythmic beat against the floor, and something about it tickled Kaleb’s brain. But he set it aside as the desk clerk waved at Farrah.
“See, the items were found. There’s no need to get the cops involved.”
Farrah glared at the alien before apologizing to the police and hanging up her phone. She snorted at the now sweating clerk and spun on her heel. Kaleb and his friends all looked at each other before hurrying after the rabbit woman. No one stopped them as they marched out of the building and into the sunlight. Kaleb stretched in the early morning sun and sighed loudly.
“Don’t relax just yet, Professor. Not till we get home and even then I want to go over our equipment with a fine-tooth comb. Matter of fact…”
Jar-lock trailed off as a pulse of blue energy exploded off of him. The wave hit Kaleb and the others and small sparks went off across their equipment. Kaleb even saw a tiny trail of smoke raising from his hip holster. The others all grimaced as Kaleb swore under his breath. Of course, the bastards had bugged their stuff. He was going to have to scan everything once he got back to his workshop. He groaned and followed Claire and Two Gun to the impound. It was right next door and clearly where Farrah was headed.
The rabbit woman slowed to walk next to Kaleb as the others pulled ahead slightly. She glanced over at him as the others approached the walled in parking lot.
“You have an appointment right after this.”
Kaleb raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? With who?”
“Alderman Madden. Somehow, he was aware the team was captured and even offered to help get y’all out. We didn’t need the help, of course, but he did request to meet you as soon as possible.”
Kaleb looked down at his scuffed up gear and bugged equipment. “As fun as that sounds, I can’t go in my combat gear. This shit is clearly bugged and probably screaming my location to anyone looking.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered. I just thought you should know.”
“Great. I can’t wait.” Kaleb groaned as he joined the others at the small guard shack of the impound. He got their attention with a wave and explained. “Apparently the good Alderman has summoned me. So I have to head out.”
Jar-lock paused in his conversation with the impound guard. Two Gun snorted as Claire and Abby nodded knowingly. Vivienne looked puzzled as Jar-lock glanced at Farrah.
“Was he made aware of what happened?”
Kaleb glanced at Farrah. “He knew before he contacted us.”
“That’s fishy, Doc. That’s as fishy as a surf and turf restaurant at an aquarium. Can any of us go with you?”
Farrah shook her head. “I only brought along a new set of clothes for the professor. The rest of your gear is compromised.”
“How did you know to prepare that?”
“How did you know his size?”
Claire and Abby asked at the same time. Farrah looked at both of them before answering Claire. “I didn’t. He contacted me this morning when I was on my way here. I had just enough time to grab the Professor a new set of clothes. I figured if he was going to meet the alderman, he should at least look official.”
“It’s fine.” Jar-lock nodded, lost in thought. “Just… professor, be careful. We don’t know what that man wants.”
“I’ll be fine.” Kaleb said as he nodded at the others.
They all waved him off as Farrah pointed further up the street. “I’m parked up ahead.”
They took off at a jog, and Farrah hit the fob for her car. It beeped twice and Farrah opened the backseat for Kaleb. He grinned at being treated so cordially, but then noticed the suit hanging off a hook above the opposite backseat door. He pulled his head from the backseat and glared at a smirking Farrah.
“You can’t be serious.”