Part 2

Check.

Biodampener.

Check.

Stealth card.

Check.

Spare gun.

Check.

Susan decided that those were all she needed.

Hopefully.

She checked to make sure that Kathy was fast asleep. It was 3 in the morning; the long day had left Kathy totally exhausted.

Good.

Susan made sure that everything was in order. Then she climbed out of the window, with more than a little trepidation.

After all, she might not be coming back.

Now, she was hiding behind one of the various corners around the area, looking at the two guards in front of the cell. Wil and Fred, if she remembered correctly. The two grunts were usually used for jobs that required much muscle and little brain.

This could be challenging. Dull as they might be, they had incredible stamina and could stay alert for days on end.

Susan performed the time-honoured ploy of throwing an object (in this case, a small wrapper she was somehow carrying) to one side.

It worked partly. Wil glanced at the general direction of the sound, and went to investigate.

That left Fred. Susan wondered how she was supposed to get past him.

There was one option. It was potentially suicidal, but it could work.

Susan took a deep breath, and prepared herself.

Then she ran full-speed towards Fred.

Just as Fred noticed this blur of something hurtling towards him, Susan aimed a roundhouse kick at his head.

It worked. Fred dropped like a stone, and lay there, unmoving. Susan checked his pulse. He was still alive. Susan didn't want to kill him; after all, he was only doing his job.

Then her blood ran cold as she felt a gun barrel press towards her head.

"You're in deep doo-doo," Wil snarled at her. "Breaking into prison cells, assault, and irritating me when I'm having a bad day. Save your pathetic excuses for the judge, you-"

He never finished the sentence. Susan felt the pressure ease off, and heard Wil slumping to the ground.

She stared in amazement at the dark figure standing there.

"You're getting careless," the figure told her in an encoded voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Susan said in disbelief.

"Call me the Dark Sentinel."

Susan vaguely remembered having heard that name before, but shook herself out of her reverie. Now was no time to stop and think.

"Can you disable the lock?"

The Dark Sentinel nodded. "Easy as pie." He aimed a device at the lock mechanism. It whirred, then clicked. The door slid open.

"Right." Susan stepped into the gloom. "Nick?"

"Susan?" Nick's voice was incredulous. "Is that you?"

"Yes." Was he blind? Couldn't he see who it was?

"Thought so. Only someone like you would be crazy enough to pull a stunt like this." Something in his voice told Susan that it was a compliment of sorts.

The Dark Sentinel stepped into the cell as well. "You might need this," he said, handing something to Nick. "I got it from the evidence locker."

Susan realized that what the Dark Sentinel gave Nick were his goggles. Nick put them on in relief. "Thanks. Who are you?"

"A friend. Call me the Dark Sentinel."

"I thought you didn't exist."

"I feel perfectly fine right now. I think I exist."

Something about the way the Dark Sentinel talked nagged at Susan, but she couldn't place her finger on it. "You okay?" she asked Nick instead.

Nick grinned. "Yeah. What do we do now?"

Susan blinked. She hadn't thought this far ahead.

"Uh, I don't know," she admitted.

"Kids these days," the Dark Sentinel said, shaking his head. "I've got a hovercar waiting outside. If we hurry, we can get there before they find out what happened."

Ril smiled weakly. "The tracking device is working. That much we can be thankful for."

Kathy sighed. "I still feel bad about fooling her like that."

"It's for her own good."

Crysta stood, looking out of the window. "She's crazy. She's on a suicide mission."

"Love can make people do stupid things," Nar said sadly.

Ril looked at him for a while, before turning back to her console. "She's going towards the docking bays. Bay number 4, if she keeps going in this direction."

Sarah stood up. "Do we stop her now?"

Ril sighed. "I suppose."

Just then, Peter and Kavi burst into the room.

"You will not believe what happened," Peter said breathlessly.

Nar sighed. "Actually, nothing around here surprises me any more."

Susan looked at the Dark Sentinel, who was at the wheel. "Now what? You know that they'll shoot us down if we continue."

"We keep going," the Dark Sentinel said firmly.

"Hovercar ZX-9281, please respond!"

Nick looked at the Dark Sentinel.

"Tell them to screw off," the Dark Sentinel said evenly.

Nick silently muted the connection.

"Same effect," Susan murmured.

The Dark Sentinel pressed a few buttons on the dashboard. Susan noticed that the buttons were not standard for this model of hovercar.

"Here we go," the Dark Sentinel said calmly.

The hovercar jarred to a halt, then leapt forward in a manner reminiscent of old sci-fi vids. Like the old sci-fi vids, it disappeared. Unlike the old sci-fi vids, it disappeared into a portal.

The air-traffic controller stared at the space it used to be for a moment, before calling security.

The Dark Sentinel didn't turn around. "In truth, I'm with the authorities. We received an anonymous tip that the hacking originated from some other source than the Academy. Nick was not the culprit. Rather, the real hacker is with your old enemies, the Apocalypse."

Susan stared at him. "If you're with the authorities, why didn't you release Nick?"

"We had faith that Nick would be cleared eventually. We just wanted to keep the real hacker in the dark about our plans for as long as possible. Which was until you decided to go on your rescue attempt."

Susan felt one of her headaches starting again, and fervently wished for some aspirin.

"Regarding that anonymous tip," Nick said suddenly, "it wouldn't be a certain unflappable female sprite cadet who spends a lot of time with the Prime, would it?"

"I do not know what you are talking about," the Dark Sentinel said evenly.

"Ah. Thought so."

Susan thought so too. Just a hunch.

"We're almost there," the Dark Sentinel said suddenly. "Hold tight, everyone. This is likely to be a bumpy ride."

"This is getting too clichéd for my tastes," Nick said sourly. Susan shushed him.

The only form of defense seemed to be two Perovanians guarding the main entrance. Susan noticed that they had keytools.

"Renegade Guardians," the Dark Sentinel said. Susan thought she sensed a hint of anger in his voice. Which was impossible, because his voice was encoded, and-

"Watch this," the Dark Sentinel suddenly said. "They're professionals, right?"

"Meaning?" Nick asked.

"They'll know what this sound means." The Dark Sentinel held up a pulse grenade, and threw it towards the two guards.

The guards glanced at the pulse grenade, then dived for cover. Susan and Nick both ambushed them, and soon had them bound and gagged.

"Not bad," Susan said to Nick.

"Same to you."

"Leave the congratulations for later," the Dark Sentinel said. "Get in now and arrest the hacker."

Susan resisted an urge to salute.

They rushed into the warehouse, SWAT-team style. Which was really unnecessary, as the only person in the warehouse turned out to be a Khatran girl, seated at a computer.

"Who the blazes are you?" she exclaimed. Susan noted that the girl looked about her own age, but with eyes that seemed to have seen too much for an 18-year old. There was also something strange about the girl, but Susan had no time to dwell on that.

"We're your new landlords," Nick said to the girl. "And you're about to get evicted."

"Screw you," the girl snarled. "I'm rigging this computer to self-destruct. It'll take this whole warehouse with it."

"Hold it," Susan said to her. She noticed the Dark Sentinel moving towards the computer, which the girl had unwittingly left. "We can help you."

The girl looked surprised for a moment, then went back to looking angry. "I'm too far gone for any help."

Susan tried to stall. "Don't you have any family?"

"Don't try to appeal to my sense of belonging. Landross purged me of that long ago."

Susan's headache was getting worse, but she tried to ignore it. "Who's Landross?"

"None of your business!"

Susan thought hard. Suddenly she said, "What about Kavi?"

"Susan?" Nick said dubiously.

Susan shrugged helplessly. She had no idea why she suddenly mentioned Kavi.

But when she looked back at the girl, she knew she had scored one. The girl was looking very scared and confused. And there was also a faint undercurrent of hope.

"What do you know about Kavi?" the girl asked. "Who are you?"

Susan noted that much of the girl's rage had gone. She also noted that the Dark Sentinel was downloading something from the computer. "We're Kavi's friends," Susan said.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Kavi's a Guardian, and part of Alpha group. We're also part of Alpha group."

"Susan...." Nick said worriedly, but Susan gave him an I-know-what-I'm-doing look.

"Do you want to see Kavi again?" Susan asked as kindly as possible. She tried to smile, although the headache pounding through her skull made that nearly impossible.

The girl looked torn between her previous cause, and her strange desire to see Kavi.

Susan pressed her advantage. "Do you want to see Kavi again?" she repeated.

The girl seemed about to nod, when she spotted the Dark Sentinel at the computer. "DAMN YOU!" she screamed. "LIES! ALL LIES!"

"Wait!" Susan shouted, rushing towards her. "We're really Kavi's-"

"SHUT UP!" The girl slapped a large button on the side of the console. She then ran through the portal that materialized, while an alarm sounded in the warehouse.

"Go!" The Dark Sentinel shouted. "I've got what I need! This place is going down in twelve seconds!"

The three of them ran towards the door. Susan estimated that they still had several more metres to go.

We're not going to make it, she thought despondently.

We're not going to make it.

We're not going to-

Susan couldn't see much through the smoke. She could see a vague outline of a person. "Nick? Is that you?"

"No, it's me," came the encoded voice. "We had better find Nicholas fast. That was only a small one."

"Er... small one?"

"I managed to delay the main explosion. But we don't have much time." The Dark Sentinel faded back into the smoke.

The thick smoke was getting to Susan, and she coughed. "Nick?" she called. "Where are you, Nick?"

"Susan?" came a voice from the distance.

"Nick? Can you tell me where you are?"

"Susan?"

The little idiot. Susan ran towards where the voice seemed to come from. Suddenly, she tripped over something. She cursed, and picked the offending object up.

"Nick's goggles? Then he must be nearby." Susan looked around, and finally saw him. He was standing in the middle of the wreckage of some crates. Susan didn't dare run to him, as there might be shards jutting out that she wouldn't see until too late. "Nick!" she called.

Nick looked around confusedly. "What? Susan?"

Susan had heard of disoriented, but this took the cake. Anyone would think that he was blinded or something. She needed to attract his attention somehow.....

Of course!

Susan aimed, and gave the goggles a good throw.

The goggles hit Nick on the head, and Susan could hear him shout a curse. Then Nick put on the goggles, and saw Susan.

"Thank whatever deity is watching over us," he said in relief. "Is everyone okay?"

Susan waited for him to pick through the crates, then grabbed his arm. "Come on, we have to get out of here. The exit's that way."

Susan spotted a diskette on the dashboard. "What's that?" she asked.

The Dark Sentinel glanced at it, then took it and put it somewhere about his person. "It's the evidence we need to clear Nicholas's name. At least, for the time being."

Nick grinned weakly. "Don't worry. After this experience, I don't think I'll be pulling any more stunts for a while."

Susan mulled over it. She wondered how the Dark Sentinel was to get the diskette to the Prime without being shot on sight. Ah, the mysteries of the world.

"We'll be arriving shortly at the Supercomputer," the Dark Sentinel announced.

"Whereupon we will be shot down three nanoseconds after we appear," Nick said.

"Don't be silly."

Susan thought she heard him mutter something, or maybe it was only her imagination.

"Kids these days."