Chereads / When the Stars Burn out / Chapter 14 - In and out

Chapter 14 - In and out

Date: 12/16/269 IG

Location: Rose, Capital of the Astronian-Devlorian Empire; The Trade Center

Time: 6:00 pm

The street is filled with barter merchants and customers from across the Empire. Some people are hauling carts of supplies, others giving away free samples and special offers.

"Remind me, why are we here again?" asked Astronia.

"We found an address from one of the raided warehouses. The onsite workers said they never heard of nor been anywhere near it. The address leads somewhere in this district." said Astronomus.

"I know that but why did you bring me?" asked Astronia.

Astronomus turned to her, "You lack experience, it past time I showed you how to properly search for answers. As a leader you should have this skill because there could be a point where you're on your own." Astronomus turned his gaze back to the crowd in front of him. "Also I stick out like a sore thumb and I need someone to search the market."

He then pulls out a pair of glasses. "These glasses have a camera in them. I'll be able to see what you see and guide you through this."

He hands them to Astronia and she puts them on. "Ok, so now wha-" she turns to see that Astronomus is gone. "Sticks out like a sore thumb-my ass."

The comms device in her ear clicks on. "I heard that, mate." said Astronomus.

"Stay focused on your mission." She starts to walk forward, "so what am I looking for exactly?" an address pops up across the glasses. "That's the address," said Astronomus.

"You're 2 blocks away from it. Head there and see what you can find." Astronia walks down the busy sidewalk doing her best to act natural.

She eventually reaches the address and finds a run down concrete building. It looks abandoned. She walks inside and finds that it's mostly empty. There's a ton of rubble and dust everywhere. She goes further in and hears a bit of rustling down a hallway. She cautiously approaches the sound when a man exits a room and spots her. He then bolts down the hall in the other direction.

"Hey!" Astronia shouts as she pursues. The man hops out of a window at the end of the hallway and onto the street. Astronia follows close behind.

"Keep on him, I'll try to intercept." said Astronomus.

The man pushes his way through a crowd of people, knocking over carts and supplies attempting to to slow down Astronia. She avoids the obstacles and stays on his tail.

Eventually he pushes a pedestrian on the street with an oncoming car.

Astronia makes a split second decision to break off and save them. She quickly pulls them out of harm's way and turns back to look for the suspect. She sees a glimpse of him run into an alleyway.

She rushes over to find him scaling up the side of a building with a ladder. Using her powers to scale the wall. Grabbing on to the wall using her strength to break the wall in a way that it creates a hole for her to pull herself up with. She climbs up the side and continues the chase. For a while they continue to hop across rooftops and slowly go higher until. The man comes to a ledge too high to jump down from and too far from another building. Astronia slows to a halt and short of breath. "There's nowhere left to run."

The man looks back at her with a smile and proceeds to preform a suicidal jump off the roof. Astronia rushes to the edge. To find that half way through his fall the man was caught by Astronomus.

"I'm impressed. You were pretty close for your first chase."

Astronia smiles and blushes a bit.

Date: 12/17/269 IG

Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown

"The fuck do you mean you're going back!?!?" Shouted Iron Mouse.

"I mean i'm going to land just far enough away from their base so that they don't see us but close enough that I can walk there." said MrDevus. She grabs him by the collar. "What could possibly be back there for us!?!"

MrDevus pulls out the stolen data pad. "Our way home." She lets him go and looks at the pad. After a minute she looks up and says, "There has to be another way. If you go back in there you'll die."

"I know the risk," said Mr Devus, "But we still don't know how to get home. This is the only clue we have. Besides look at this."

He takes the data pad and opens up a schematic of the terrorist base. "Their base is an old Astro-Devlorian ship. The captain's quarters is located just under the bridge. I don't have to be inside to get to it with a plasma cutter I can get in through the window. I can be in and out in just a few minutes with no contact." MrDevus then turns to her.

"You don't even have to follow me, you can stay on the ship." Iron Mouse thinks for a minute before responding. "I'm still not ok with this plan but...I won't stop you."

MrDevus nods and begins to move towards the cockpit when Iron Mouse suddenly grabs his arm.

"Promise me that you'll be fine." Mr Devus, surprised, says, "I promise."

she lets go and MrDevus turns on the navigation system and plots a course.