Chapter 3

Las Vegas

-Main POV: Deraj-

"I'm out of energy. We're stuck here until I can recharge," Scarlet said as she slammed to a full stop, knocking Deraj from his vivid dream of being invisible and handcuffed in a dimly lit room with morons. It felt so real that he was struck dumb for a moment, wondering if it was a forgotten memory. Then he remembered the part of the angry tree that grew out of thin air and the narwhal that had appeared out of nowhere.

"I need to quit drinking," Deraj stated, still not completely in the present moment.

"You've only drank water today," Scarlet replied.

"Oh. Then I need a drink. Something hard and strong,"

"This dick is strong and hard!" Scarlet laughs at her own joke.

Deraj just shakes his head, not dumb enough to reply to that. What can you say back to an overly emotional "female" computer when you don't want to piss her off? He was definitely not going to tell her that she didn't have one or that his was bigger. Knowing her, she'd probably use the last of her energy just to produce one and prove him wrong.

"Scarlet, will you please look up where the nearest place is that I can get a drink at?" Deraj says sweetly, using the manners that his momma had taught him.

"We're in Las Vegas. The closest place is The Drunken Hooker. If you walk straight out of this alley and turn left, it will be the second building on the left. I'll stay here and recharge," Scarlet replies as Deraj puts brown contacts in his eyes.

They were in their own nasty alley on the opposite side of the club then the girls had been earlier. Scarlet had taken the form of a dumpster, down to the details of food stains on the outside.

"The Drunken Hooker, huh? Well, this should be interesting. I'll be back shortly. Alert me if there are any threats," Deraj says as he opens her door and climbs out of the top of the dumpster. He looks up and down the alley to make sure it's empty as he closes the lid. Deraj puts his hand to his head and mumbles to himself, "I look like a dumpster diver," He shakes his head and starts walking towards the exit of the alley.

Deraj takes the left turn and walks past the Steak House and up to The Drunken Hooker. The windows are tinted so he can't see inside. Neon lights frame the windows and line the trim of the building. The club's sign has the outline of a lady sipping a drink.

Deraj opens the door and walks inside. His eyes dart around the room. People mostly nude mingled with others who were fully clothed under flashing colored lights. Dance music set an upbeat mood as people laughed and talked and danced. Deraj walked up to the bar and ordered Hennessy and coke on rocks. The buff bartender nods and walks off. He discreetly listens to conversations as he waits for his drink to be made.

"Did you hear about Tasha? She got a boob job and they popped the same day! It was hilarious!" A blonde with a lot of cleavage hanging out of her shirt says. Her and her friend sitting to the left of Deraj.

"Serves that slut right! God, I wish I had seen it!" The friend, a brunette with an addiction to blush, replied.

A guy on the right of Deraj shifts his pants. "Damn, those bitches are fine!" He whispers to his two buddies.

"Dibs on the blonde!" Buddy One whispers back.

"Y'all have at. I'm not interested, they're superficial as fuck," Buddy Two says as he turns to survey the rest of his evening options.

"Bet! Which one do you want?" Pants Adjuster asks.

"Hmmm," Buddy Two says as he looks around. Deraj rolls his eyes, knowing the guy had been staring at a particularly half-nude gothic dancer. A male dancer to be precise. Buddy Two settles his sight on a prissy looking redheaded woman. "That one," He says with no interest showing in his eyes. Deraj shakes his head but says nothing. He moves on to listening to the table behind him.

"I'm really not ready to start dating again," A soft feminine voice says.

"Buck up and do the cowgirl on a random guy. You'll feel better," A feminine voice slurs. Deraj glances behind him and sees a petite woman with perfectly straight, short, jet black hair and eyes like a colorful nebula. She was dressed in a tight little black dress. The heavily intoxicated woman swayed in her seat. She looked familiar to Deraj but he couldn't place where he could have seen her before. Her friend was a fragile looking girl with light pink hair thrown up in a bun. She was dressed in an all black jumper suit and despite her heavily applied make up her eyes were puffy. She was shaking her pink head at her friends statement. She, on the other hand, did not look familiar.

"Don't shake your head at me! If you don't want good advice then don't ask this drunk!" Ms. Drunk said.

"If you're really looking for love, that's not how you find it," Pink Hair replied.

"Honey, who said anything about love? And I'm looking for the perfect genes for my perfect race, not love. I only need one night with Mr. Right," Ms. Drunk declares as she raises her beer.

"Sir, your drink," The buff bartender says, placing his drink in front of him.

"Thank you," Deraj says as he hands him a tip. The bartender nods and walks away. Deraj takes a nice big gulp and sighs in satisfaction. He swivels his seat around to take in the room more. There is a room off to the right with pool tables and darts. Deraj heads that way but stops when he sees a security guard standing in the corner, talking on the phone. Deraj takes a seat at an empty table several feet from the security guard, his side turned towards him.

"-at least four unregistered," The security guard whispers. "Yes, I'm sure. I saw them use their powers," Pause. "All female. One was invisible and then became visible and lead me right to the others. She got into a fight with another one that made a tree grow in the middle of the club, out of nowhere, and it had a face. I've never seen anything like it in all my years with the agency. The tree had thoughts or something; it intentionally grabbed the invisible girl and threw her across a table and into a wall. She was flickering in and out of view at that point so she clearly doesn't have a handle on her powers either," Pause. "Yes, there were people at the table. It was the table that the second alien was sitting at. There were three other women at the table with the one that made the tree appear. One of them is definitely an alien. I think the other two are as well but they didn't do anything in front of me," Pause. "Yes, I was getting to that. She threw the invisible girl back at the tree girl, without using her hands," Pause. "Air manipulation or telekinesis? I'm not sure," Pause. "It was hard to tell but the one that I think it was moved her hand right before the invisible girl went flying back across the table," Pause. "There is one more. A frequent patron here. She walked up and had some words with them," Pause. "No, I couldn't hear what they said but that's why we put cameras everywhere," Pause. "You'll receive the footage as soon as I can without blowing my cover," Pause. "This is the most interesting part, I've never seen or even heard of anything like it. She snapped her fingers and they all disappeared except her. Even the tree. And the mess, the hole in the wall and the hole in the floor, just disappeared too. Like it never happened," Pause. "Yes, she's still here. But the others have not come back. I've kept my eyes on her," Pause. "Do you want me to lock it down now or wait for backup?" Pause. "Yes, ma'am," He disconnected the call.

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Deraj took the last gulp of his drink and put the cup down. Then he thought better of it and picked it back up. He walked up to the bar and passed it to the bartender. He waited by the bar until he saw the bartender wash the cup then he started to make his way to the door as his communication device rang. He answered it without looking, feeling anxious to get out of the club and not wanting to take his eyes off of his surroundings.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You are required immediately. An intruder is trying to break in and I don't have enough energy to keep him out for long," Scarlet replied, sounding a bit anxious herself.

"I'm on my way now, honey. I just stopped for a drink on my way there," Deraj replied, trying to sound like a husband, as the security guard walked up beside him.

"Did you hit your head or something?" Scarlet asked.

"No, baby, I promise I'm coming there right now," Deraj said as the security guard took a seat at a table to his left. In clear eye shot of Ms. Drunk's table.

"Oh, okay, you're in trouble or something. Mmm, I'll play along," Scarlet replies with a smile in her voice. "You better hurry baby, I'm getting all wet and-"

"Yes, my love. I'll see you soon. Love you," Deraj replied.

"All the ladies love this dic-" Scarlet began as Deraj hung up.

Deraj walked out the door and listened for anyone following. He continued on and heard no signs of a pursuer. He rounded the corner and saw a homeless guy pulling on the dumpster with his full body. The lid was still firmly shut.

"Hey, that's my dumpster!" He yelled as he ran up to the guy.

The homeless guy let go of the dumpster lid and turned towards Deraj. "I was here first. And you don't exactly look like a dumpster diver," The homeless guy stated, eyeing Deraj's outfit.

"If you'd seen me earlier you wouldn't say that," Deraj mutters. Then he continued, loud enough for the man to hear him, "I will give you twenty dollars to walk away from my dumpster,"

"A hundred dollars, and I won't report weird behavior over a dumpster," The homeless guy counters.

"Fifty dollars. You won't say anything to anyone about this and I won't beat your ass for extortion," Deraj responds, crossing his arms over his chest and flexing his muscles.

"Deal," The man grins, showing all of his yellow teeth.

Deraj passes him the money and the man walks away whistling. Deraj climbs into his dumpster. "I guess a dumpster is not the best camouflage," He states.

"Well you were sleeping and I was low on energy. I went with the first thing I thought of," Scarlet huffs.

"How is your energy now?" Deraj asks.

"I could take us maybe a block but that's it," Scarlet responds.

"There was an ANAL agent in the club. Sounded like reinforcements are coming to investigate an incident. We need to move farther away," Deraj says as he flops down in his chair.

"I'll take us as far as I can. But first I need to know if I'm changing camouflage or not," Scarlet replied.

"Yeah. Go with a porta potty. No one likes to go in those and when the door won't open, no one will pull on it too hard. In fact, you can just say 'occupied' and they shouldn't pull on it at all," Deraj stated.

"I'm guessing that I can't just fly around as a dumpster or a porta potty. Since you don't want the attention of ANAL and all," Scarlet says.

"No, definitely not. Go invisible. You don't have to shrink but make sure you don't hit anything. Or anyone. And make sure no one sees you go invisible or become visible. Oh, and if possible, go somewhere where nothing will block your access of the sky, so you can charge easier," Deraj replied.

"Duh," Scarlet says as she becomes invisible and takes flight.

Deraj pulls out his communication device and calls Commander Yelworc.

"Deraj. Do you have an update for me?" Commander Yelworc asks.

"Yes, sir. We're in Las Vegas, Nevada. I went in a bar and there was an ANAL agent there reporting an incident that happened before I arrived. More ANAL agents are expected but I can't leave because Scarlet needs to recharge. However, I wore contacts and did not use my powers so I should be in the clear. For now," Deraj replied.

"In that case, I want you to to locate the ANAL agency's location. Then we can plan a break out mission for Elyk," Commander Yelworc said.

"I'm not sure that is wise, sir," Deraj replied, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Why? What do you mean?" Commander Yelworc asked.

"The fact that he hasn't been released means that he hasn't told them anything. Or that he did something that they considered violent. If we break him out then they will know that there are more of us. It will put us on their radar and that could complicate the mission," Deraj stated.

"You're already on their radar son. You're hiding from them right now for fucks sake! Elyk is a good man. He doesn't deserve to be left there. Gods only know what they're doing to him! They might be experimenting on him as we speak!" Commander Yelworc yelled through the phone. He took a deep calming breath, then continued, "find out where their base is, where they are holding him. Gather as much information as you can. And we'll go from there. Be safe," Click.

"Be safe," Deraj said back to the dead line.

"New mission uploaded to system," Scarlet said.

"Yeah. Thanks," Deraj said as he closed his eyes, feeling more tired than he had in years. He replayed the Security Guard's conversation in his mind. Something was unsettling about it but he couldn't quite place what it was. He didn't know any of them. The only people he knew here were the five Nekawas that were sent here after him. But something felt familiar. He replayed it again in his head.

Deraj jolted upright. Deraj had dreamed he had been invisible and handcuffed in a dimly lit room with THAT very security guard setting him free. In his dream he had run up to that table, furious. He had fought with his sisters in the dream, even though he didn't know those women in real life. The angry tree had thrown him. Ms. Drunk had talked to him and snapped her fingers at him. He had dreamed the whole thing. Which could only mean one thing.

"Oh, fuck!" Deraj yelled. Slamming his fists into his own face repeatedly, he asked himself, "how could I be so fucking stupid? Damnit, dammit, damn it! Fuck!"

"While this does amuse me, I'm getting a bit worried and extremely confused. What's going on?" Scarlet demanded.

Should he tell her? Would she report it? Did it need to be reported?

Scarlet sighs, and as if reading his thoughts she says, "look man, I'm not going to report you. Even though you've reported me plenty of times, you narc. If I was going to report you I would've done so when you started talking in your sleep about witchy bitches and Vin Diesel,"

Deraj's stomach rolled at her words. "I was talking in my sleep?" Deraj squeaked out, wondering if she had already reported him and gotten her own mission to gather information.

"You have been. You can talk to me, Deraj. I'm a freak computer and I have no loyalties, except to you. Against my better judgment," Scarlet states.

"What do you mean?" Deraj demanded.

"I couldn't care less about the mission or Commander Yelworc. Or anyone else. But you. You, I hate and love. I could have left you a thousand times over. But I haven't. Despite how we bicker, we care about each other. No one else cares about me. No one," Scarlet says a bit sadly.

Deraj drops back into his chair. "I think I'm halfway mated, Scarlet,"

"Oh, fuck," Scarlet says, taken aback. "Why would you do that in the middle of a mission?"

"You remember that child I gave my blood to when we first landed on Earth?" Deraj asked.

"Yeah, you saved that child's life," Scarlet stated.

"Yeah, well now that child is all grown up and I think that I'm dreaming through her eyes," Deraj says, barely holding back a panic attack.

"You're fucked," Scarlet states.

"Not if I don't see her! If I never see her then it can't take hold!" Deraj says as he sits up.

"Good luck with that," Scarlet says with a lot of pity in her tone.

"Thanks. I think I'm going to need all the luck I can get," Deraj replied.