Chapter 9: Bars, Stars, and Hovercrafts

Exactly three-and-a-half hours later No.9's mental alarm clock went off. He sat upright in his bed, suddenly wide awake. He glanced over to the digital alarm clock on his nightstand. It was exactly 4 o'clock in the morning. The team had all decided to meet at Mr. Invent's garage at 5. Just before sunup. The earlier they left the better. It was going to be a long flight to the middle of the ocean.

No.9 got out of bed and tiptoed across the room to his chest of drawers. He put on a pair of bluejeans and a black long sleeved tee. He wondered if he should bring a jacket, but decided against it in the end. He'd have a lot more to worry about than the weather where they were heading.

After he finished dressing he pulled out a gym bag from underneath his bed that he had packed the night before. Inside was what he named the "Stun Sabre" (essentially an electrical baton that would stun almost anything) and his personal supply kit to help with any problems they might have with equipment, or if they needed to build a weapon in the field...or patch themselves together should they have a nasty bout with Setra.

After everything was in the gym bag No.9 ran through a mental checklist in his mind, decided he was ready to go, and then quietly headed down the stairs. He reached the front door and was just about to turn the handle when his stomach made a loud gurgle.

Better get a quick bite to eat, he thought. Who knows when I'll get another chance for some food.

When he made it into the kitchen No.9 opened the refrigerator door and looked all over the shelves to try to find a small snack. After a few seconds he cut off a chunk of  cheddar cheese and grabbed some saltine's from the pantry. He put his breakfast in a plastic sandwich bag and headed back towards the front door.


"TIMOTHY SHAWN BRYANT!"

No.9 nearly jumped up to the ceiling as he passed the foot of the stairs. His mother was standing at the top in her nightgown with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, hey mom," No.9 replied nervously. "I was just, uh, you know." He froze for a second and stood there doing mental gymnastics. "It's just, I heard the cat in our tree outside so, uh, I was gonna go get it. You know, make sure it was OK?"

"WE DON'T HAVE A CAT!" No.9's mother yelled back down the stairs at him.

"Oh," No.9 replied, realizing their cat had died several years ago. "Right."

No.9's mother made it half way down the stairs huffing and puffing when the phone in the upstairs hallway began to ring. She glared at him for a moment before turning around to take the call.

Saved by the bell, No.9 thought to himself.

"Hello?" No.9's mother's voice echoed down the stairs. "No Joyce, I haven't seen Brian."

Looks like L.G.'s already on his way.

"Well, no I don't know where he could be," No.9 could guess what L.G.'s mom was going to ask next. He walked as quietly as he could towards the door. "Hold on, let me ask Tim." As he got on his bike and pedaled down the driveway the last thing No.9 could remember hearing was his mother screaming his name from the hallway telephone.

*      *      *

When he arrived at the shack above Mr. Invent's garage the rest of the team was outside waiting for him.

"Where have you been?" L.G. asked shivering in his baseball tee-shirt.

"My mom caught me trying to sneak out," No.9 replied as he hid his bike behind a tree. "Your mom really helped me get away though."

"What?!"

Everyone laughed as No.9 joined the circle smiling.

"It's a long story," he said and patted L.G. on the shoulder. "Well, since we all made it let's get started."

"Here," Mr. Invent reached into his pocket and pulled out several plastic cards. "Genie Wiz said I should make them for you. Probably a good idea just in case you need to get out of the garage and I'm not...well, you know." He handed everyone a blue card the size of a credit card before swiping his own to open the garage elevator door.

What did he mean by that? No.9 thought as the cramped elevator headed down. Is he worried he might not make it back with us?

When the elevator doors opened again everyone spilled out into the garage. No.9 headed into the library while everyone checked their supplies by the Alley Cat. The Fulton was sitting on the desk, still turned on. The screen was blinking the word ACTIVATE Y/N? No.9 hit the N key and the screen went back to showing the map to Sacoy. He picked up the device and headed back to the main garage where everyone was huddled together.

"Alright," he addressed everyone as if this were a mission brief. "Our main objective is to reach this garden of Sacoy and recover the Satar particle.Now-" he started to walk back around the group, looking each one of his team members in the eye as he spoke to them "-I have no idea what this place is that we're going to...I don't know what this Satar particle is or what it does...And I don't know why the agency wants to retrieve it so badly." No.9 came to a stop back to where he began speaking and said, "But I do know this: We've proven ourselves yesterday. We can handle anything this place has waiting for us." Everyone started nodding their heads with excitement. "And I know that I don't trust our agency with this Satar particle no matter what it does. Jim proved to us that there are enemies in the least likely of places. They can't keep it safe!" Everyone was feeling the energy coming from No.9's speech. The adrenaline was flowing. Their hearts were racing with excitement. "WE can keep it safe."

"YEAH!" everyone responded back in unison.

"WE can make sure that device is never used to harm anyone we love!"

"That's right!"

"And we are going to save the world."

Everyone clapped and cheered as No.9 closed his speech. After Mr. Invent's comment at the elevator he knew that they would need the motivation and encouragement. He knew that they needed to be reassured. They needed to know they were going to make it home alive.

After everyone was feeling pumped No.9 decided it was a good time to address their major threat in the mission. "We were all here yesterday," he began again, "and we all know there's going to be some things we've never tackled before." Everyone got quiet again and looked at one another nervously. "Now, we know its name. We also know not to look at it directly, and to avoid its head. So, we have an advantage there. But we're going to need some decent weapons just in case. So, let's see what you've got." No.9 nodded his head at Blond Bomb. She always knew when to bring the best firepower.

"Okay," Blond Bomb replied, bending down to unzip a beige dry cleaning bag at her feet. "I brought my latest flamethrower." She pulled out a large Super Soaker water gun with a plastic backpack for what should have been for water. "The liquid's a mixture of my own making. Mostly lighter fluid and hairspray with a little extra here and there. Now this," she held up the side of the gun and pointed to a trigger on the second plastic handle that she had installed, "this is where you light the flame." She pulled the trigger. It made a small click sound and in front of the barrel a steady lighter flame appeared. "And when you're ready for a weenie roast, just give er' a few pumps and pull the other trigger."

"Perfect," No.9 replied as Blond Bomb packed away the flamethrower.

"I've packed a few stun bombs," Mr. Invent chimed in next to Blond Bomb. "I've got fifty of them ready to go. Basically you use them like you would any normal bomb, light the fuse and throw, but these let out a gas that will confuse the enemy and blur their vision."

"Nice," No.9 smiled at Mr. Invent with approval.

"I made us something when I got home last night," L.G. said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small black box the size of a tape recorder. "I call it a Danger Meter. It can hear footsteps up to 50 yards away and vibrate if it detects anything. Could helps us avoid some fighting maybe."

"That will definitely come in handy, L.G." No.9 said proudly to his friend before looking over to what Genie Wiz had pulled out of her backpack. "What in the world is that?"

She had pulled out what looked to be a metallic baseball bat covered in tiny black dots.

"This is my Boomer-Bat," she replied. "The black dots are sensors that pick up body heat. And inside-" she unscrewed the top of the hitting end of the bat, "-is a computer." She turned the bat so that everyone could see the tiny black screen. "When I turn it on, the screen shows any enemies nearby." She pressed a small button on the handle and the bat started to whir quietly. "Then I give it a throw. Anyone not on our side should get a good hit upside the head." She screwed the end of the bat back on and flipped the switch to tun it off.

"But what if it accidentally thinks one us is an enemy?" asked Mr. Invent shakily. "If it tracks by body heat then any one of us could be hit!"

"That's why I had you make those security cards," Genie Wiz replied. "It's programmed to ignore anyone with that security chip on them."

Mr. Invent looked relieved. He obviously did not want to be hit by a heat-seeking bat missile.

"One more thing," said Genie Wiz. "If there's a situation where one of you has to use the Boomer-Bat without me, make sure you take my glove." She took off one of her black leather biker gloves she was wearing and showed it to everyone. "It's the only way it'll come back to you. They're super strong magnets."

"Genius," said No.9. "You live up to your name!"

No.9 was impressed with what everyone had brought to the mission. So much so that even he was starting to believe that they had a chance.

"Alright then," No.9 said, "if every one's ready, let's get started." He picked up his gym bag and put the Fulton inside. He caught L.G. looking at him confused and said, "Better take this too...just in case."

The crew piled into the Alley Cat one by one. Everyone was excited and nervous. No.9 was just worried.

"Alright, let's get this thing flying!" said Bombshell, taking a seat.

No.9 took the copilot seat next to Mr. Invent as he punched in the coordinates for Sacoy on the Alley Cat's computer. "OK, here we go," Mr. Invent said after he entered the numbers and waited for the position to show up.

"Yo, Mr. Invent," L.G. called from his seat in the back, "you've gotta teach us how to drive this thing sometime!"

"Sure, L.G., anytime," Mr. Invent replied jokingly.

"L.G. you thought our coordinates were going somewhere underneath the earth yesterday," Blond Bomb laughed in the seat across from L.G.

"Yeah, so?" L.G. replied.

"So how are you going to fly a hovercraft if you can't read a map?"

Everyone laughed as L.G. tried to defend his sometimes spaciness mind.

Mr. Invent's computer beeped and whirred as a large spinning globe came onto the screen. After a few seconds it stopped spinning above the Pacific Ocean and zoomed in slowly. Finally it stopped and a small yellow dot appeared over what looked like nothing in the ocean.

"Could it be somewhere underwater?" No.9 asked looking at the screen.

"It's possible," Mr. Invent replied worried. "Or it could be an uncharted island. I guess we won't know until we get there." Mr. Invent hit a few keys on his computer and the Alley Cat rose off the ground. When they had flown out of the cave exit of the garage, Mr. Invent set the Alley Cat to auto-pilot. He hit a few more keys and a timer appeared on the computer screen that began counting down from 2 hours. "It's an alarm. So we can get some sleep," Mr. Invent explained as he laid back in the pilot seat and closed his eyes.

No.9 yawned and decided to take a nap as well, and within twenty minutes everyone aboard had drifted into an uneasy sleep.

*      *      *

Two hours later the crew was awakened by a loud beeping noise from the Alley Cat's computer screen.

"Morning," L.G. yawned out sleepily in the back cabin.

"Yeah, ditto," said Genie Wiz, annoyed.

"We're nearly there," Mr. Invent said to No.9 as he looked around the cabin and out of the Alley Cat's windshield. There was nothing but deep blue all around them.

"Did anyone bring any coffee?" L.G called out as he rubbed the sleep from his eye. "I am not a morning person."

"I've got something better," Mr. Invent replied. He got out of his seat and started sifting through his knapsack on the floor. "Here they are," he exclaimed, taking out a small metal box with miniature granola bars inside.

"Um, what are those?" Blond Bomb asked confused as she looked at the bars.

"They're my homemade, one-hundred percent guaranteed energy boosters," Mr. Invent replied enthusiastically. "You eat one or two of these things and your adrenaline will pump and your heart will race and you'll be wide awake." He took out one of the bars and popped it into his mouth.

"Slow down," said LG, "you're starting to sound like an infomercial." He grabbed one of the bars from the box. "Can't hurt to try I guess," he added before gulping it down. Everyone helped themselves to a few of Mr. Invent's energy bars and immediately felt focused and awake.

Mr. Invent put the bars away and checked the computer screen once more. "We're about thirty miles away from Sacoy," he called back to everyone. "But that can't be right..." he started talking to himself. No.9 walked back over to the pilot's seat to check in with Mr. Invent. "No, that's just not right," he was saying. "It's not possible..."

"What's the matter?" No.9 asked.

"This trip should have taken nearly all day," Mr. Invent replied, messing with the computer the whole time. "Suddenly we're thirty miles away after two hours? The Alley Cat is fast, but not that fast."

"Well, maybe it's a good thing," said No.9. "Maybe the computer made a glitch and it was really closer than we thought."

Mr. Invent stopped typing and looked at No.9 square in the eyes. "My computers do not make glitches." Suddenly the yellow dot on the screen became ten times larger. Mr. Invent took one look at the screen and gulped. "One mile away," he said.

"Look!" Blond Bomb cried from the back cabin. No.9 walked back to see everyone huddled around a side window. No.9 looked out and saw a bright white light shining straight out of the ocean. It was getting brighter and brighter as the Alley Cat flew towards it.

"What is that?" asked L.G.

"Some kind of reflection from the sun, maybe?" Genie Wiz said.

"Off what, the ocean?" L.G. replied.

"I don't know what it is," said Bombshell, "but we're heading right for it."

She was right. The Alley Cat turned into the white light until the whole cabin was nearly blinded by it.

"It's like we're inside of a star!" yelled Bombshell, covering her eyes.

"At least it isn't star," called Mr. Invent. "Or we'd all be burned alive!"

The Alley Cat had come to a stop in midair and began descending.

"It's not a star," said No.9. "It's Sacoy."

As the Alley Cat dropped lower the light started to fade little by little. When No.9 could finally open his eyes again he couldn't believe what he saw. Through the window of the Alley Cat No.9 could see a large canyon below them. Surrounding the canyon he could make out streams, flowers and fields just beyond the canyon and snowy mountains in the distance. The light had completely faded now and everyone was trying to define what they were seeing. Sacoy was a beautiful place. Surely not a place where any life threatening beast could live. For a moment, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

But suddenly tiny cracks started to appear from the mountain's peaks. They moved their way down to the forest and meadows like snakes.

"Wait," Mr. Invent backed away from the windshield worried. "What's happening?"

The picture they had laid their eyes on was cracking all over, piece by piece.

"Mr. Invent, should we be worried about shattering into a million pieces?" No.9 called out to Mr. Invent, who just stood there in silence starring out the window.

Suddenly there was a loud CRASH and the picture of Sacoy that they had hoped were real shattered and fell away like glass. All they could see now was blackness.A loud thud shook the Alley Cat. They had landed...on something. In the distance they could hear a loud whooshing sound coming from outside.

"What was that?!" Genie Wiz jumped away from the window in fear.

"Relax," said No.9, "It's probably just the wind. Who knows what kind of weather-"

BANG, BANG, BANG

No.9 stopped talking and looked around at everyone, trying to stay calm. The banging noise came back again.

BANG,BANG,BANG

It was coming from the dome of the Alley Cat. And it was getting louder.


BANG, BANG, BANG

L.G. looked at No.9 and mouthed, "What do we do?"

No.9 had no idea. He was trying to think of a plan when the banging came again, louder than the rest, followed by something they would have never expected to hear:

"Ello?" came a tiny voice from outside. "Ello? ELLO? Let me in! Please! ELLO?!"

BANG, BANG, BANG

Chapter 8: The Fulton

After a forty-five minute hover journey the crew had returned to Mr. Invent's secret garage quite tired. No.9 had several bruises on his arms and legs, not to mention the huge scrape that ran all the way up his right leg.

Mr. Invent wasn't interested in resting though. He was interested in examining the crystal. He took it to a back room in the garage which must have been his lab. After several minutes he came out of the lab and announced something very bad.

"The crystal is nuclear charged."

"So what?" L.G. yawned.

"So what?! That crystal is jeopardizing everyone's lives! If we try to destroy it an explosion bigger than the atom bomb will occur! It may blow the whole world to smithereens! And if we keep it eventually someone, somewhere, will try to get it back and use it. That weapon Jim made us retrieve needs this crystal to work. See?" Mr. Invent pushed the crystal into the large hole on the top of the Fulton. "And this slot here is a major part, too," he said, pointing at a thin slit on the side of the weapon. He walked over to the Shocklist and picked it up. "Do you get it now?"

He pushed the Shocklist into the slot and at that exact moment the screen of the Fulton turned on.

The words ENTER TARGET/LOCATION suddenly appeared in neon green letters.

L.G. walked over to the Fulton and typed "Washington D.C."

INCORRECT LOCATION

"Try your name," Mr. Invent said.

L.G. typed in his real name. Within an instant his photo and information from the agency records were on the screen. A set of numbers flashed underneath LAST KNOWN LOCATION below his picture.

"Should I try someone else?" L.G. gulped.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Okay," he said, sounding relieved as he placed the Fulton next to the laptop with the Infester's video feed.

"This weapon puts everyone here in danger," Mr Invent said. "It puts our families in danger. We shouldn't tamper with this, we better just give it to the main headquarters. The crystal too. Maybe they'll go easy on us for taking it."

"And have someone else steal it and use it?" said No.9. "What if Jim wasn't the only traitor? What if the whole agency is infiltrated?"

"But you heard what Mr. Invent said," Blonde Bomb piped in, "it can't be destroyed."

"But we can't handle this!" Genie Wiz said. "This is way too big for us."

No.9 started pacing back and forth in thought. He had no idea what to do next.

"Nice of you to join me again," said a very familiar voice.

Everyone looked over at L.G.'s laptop sitting on the desk next to the Fulton. Mr. Cobbledhead and the general had just walked in to Mr. Cobbledhead's office.

"Can I get you a glass of water?" Mr. Cobbledhead asked cheerfully as he closed the office door. The general said nothing. "Sit down, sit down."

"Well?" The general did not sound happy at all.

"Well what, General?"

"Do you have the crystal?"

"Unfortunately we do not have the crystal or the Fulton device in our possession at this time," said Mr. Cobbledhead smoothly.

At this the General stood up, his face red as blood.

"You said your agency would get it," he yelled, shaking with rage. "Don't worry you said! But now this mess about Cryton will be out and this entire planet will be destroyed! Do you know the seriousness of this situation, Cobbledhead?!"

"Now General, there is no reason to bring Cryton into this," Mr. Cobbledhead replied, still sitting calmly in his chair. "I doubt the persons in possession of the crystal or the Fulton will know how to actually use them, let alone what Cryton is. Or where Sacoy itself is even. This is merely a minor setback."

"A minor setback?!" The general's head looked like it could explode at any moment. "Do you have any idea how much time, how much energy and dollars and lives have been used to keep this from getting out?

"Calm down general," Mr. Cobbledhead replied tensely. "Of course I'm aware of all the measures we've taken to keep Cryton contained. I'm the one who makes sure it remains a secret. I'm the one who's sacrificed for that cause. Don't ever forget that."

"Be that as it may, we have to take severe measures now," the General replied angrily. "The only way to make up for this is to retrieve the Satar particle on Sacoy. I trust you'll remember to send your best this time."

"If you feel that that is necessary, then so be it," Mr. Cobbledhead replied. "As you know we've had...problems in the past concerning the Satar particle. Even my best men will have to deal with Setra."

"Just get it done," the General replied.

Mr. Cobbledhead pushed the button down on his desk's pager.

"Yes, sir?" came the secretary's dull voice.

"Bring me group 114 right away," said Mr. Cobbledhead.

No.9 was confused. He had no idea what the words "Cryton" "Sacoy" and "Setra" referred to, but he knew that whatever or whoever these words described he would be dealing with them soon enough. He grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper off of the desk next to the laptop and started writing everything he had heard. When he finished he concentrated hard on the screen, making sure not to miss a word

A knocking sound came from the monitor.

"Come in," said Mr. Cobbledhead.

The door opened and six muscular men in camo pants and black t-shirts strolled into the office and stood in a straight line in front of Cobbledhead and the general. Senior agents. The best of the best.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" one of the agents replied as he stood in the line.

"Yes," said Mr. Cobbledhead. "I have a mission for you and your team. It is going to be the most difficult task you've ever faced, and it is going to be extremely dangerous. Everything I am about to tell you is above Top Secret. Any sharing of this information is treason, especially with any of the other agents."

The team looked around at each other and the man on the far right of the line nodded his head in understanding.

"You may ask no questions," said Mr. Cobbledhead. "Your transportation will be arranged ahead of time with the location. I am not able to tell you where. When you arrive you will be just outside of a large garden. Inside of this garden are four stone pillars. Each of them will have a unique inscription: Seti, Destri, Lorti, and Zeusi. The Zeusi pillar is your target. Once you have located it, push the stone symbol carved under the inscription into the pillar. A small bright orb will fall out of the carving's opening. Do not let this touch the ground. You must capture the orb in this," Mr. Cobbledhead held up a small round metallic ball. "As soon as it is safely inside you must return it here immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" the six agents replied together.

"Very good," said Mr. Cobbledhead as he handed the metal orb to the soldier in the middle of the line. "However, I haven't mentioned the most dangerous part of this mission just yet."

The agents looked sideways at each other, not daring to let Mr. Cobbledhead see them worried.

"In the center of the Garden," Mr. Cobbledhead continued, "is a ferocious beast known as Setra. Describing him to you here would be a waste of time and energy. His appearance, by now, has most likely changed since our last encounter with him. It is unlike any creature you can imagine. As of now we don't know of any way of killing the thing either. All I can tell you is to avoid eye contact and stay away from his head, and teeth, if at all possible."

The six agents were all quietly sweating in their suits.

"You will leave in the morning, 6 a.m. on the dot" Mr. Cobbledhead finished. The six agents walked out of the room and No.9 walked over to a leather armchair across from the screen showing Mr. Cobbledhead's office. He laid the paper he had used to copy the meeting's information on his lap.

"I'm not so sure we should do this," he said, reading over the instructions Mr. Cobbledhead had said again. "This garden sounds pretty creepy, and I'm not too keen on meeting Setra whatever that is. But on the other hand, if we don't get this...this Satar particle," No.9 read from the paper, "who knows what will happen?"

The others stood around listening closely to No.9, though they all understood that he was really talking to himself. He was trying to decide how they would handle these strange instructions.

"What is this place they keep talking about anyway? Is it some kind of trap?"

No.9 sat in deep thought for a few moments before finally addressing everyone else in the room.

"Maybe we should examine the Fulton properly," he said, looking up at everyone else staring at him. "Yes, that's what we'll do."

No.9 looked over to L.G. and the Fulton laying on the desk next to him. He read through the conversation he had written down, trying to pick out anything that might help them.

"L.G., try entering 'Cryton' into the Fulton device," No.9 directed.

L.G. typed this into the Fulton, but all he received in return was another INCORRECT LOCATION message.

"No good," L.G. replied shaking his head.

"Alright," said No.9, moving his finger over to the next word that made no sense to him. "Try Sacoy."

The Fulton made tiny beeps as L.G. pressed each letter. There was a pause and suddenly the Fulton began to whir. The screen flickered slightly and the word SEARCHING blinked onto the screen. L.G. looked up at No.9 excitedly.

"It's working!" he exclaimed.

Everyone crowded around L.G. and No.9, looking at the Fulton's screen as it searched for...something.

After a few seconds the Fulton stopped searching. The screen was entirely blue with green lines spaced evenly apart going up and across the screen. In the center of the grid was a blinking red dot

"What does it mean?" Blonde Bomb asked what everyone was thinking.

No.9 didn't have a clue. He looked around at everyone discouraged. He was finding out that starting your very own agency was not as easy as he thought.

"Wait a minute," Genie Wiz said over L.G.'s shoulder. "I think-" she pulled out a pair of glasses and put them on, looking at the screen. "I think it's a map." She came around behind L.G. and pointed to the top of the Fulton's tiny screen. "Look here. Numbers!" She moved her finger down the side of the screen. "And here too. Latitude and longitude lines!"

No.9 looked closely where Genie Wiz's fingers had pointed and could just barely make out tiny numbers. "Is there a map around here?" he asked Mr. Invent standing on the other side of the desk.

"Come with me," said Mr. Invent. He lead everyone into a tiny library across from his lab. On the only wall without a bookcase was a huge map of the the world which he walked over to, grabbing a Sharpie marker out of his pocket on the way. "Alright," he said, "give me the coordinates."

L.G. squinted at the tiny numbers on the top of the Fulton. "Okay, it looks like for the one going up and down-"

"The latitude," Mr. Invent corrected.

"Yeah, that one," said L.G. "Looks like it's 33."

Mr. Invent scanned the top of his map until he reached 33 degrees going North and South. "And the second number?" He sounded a little confused.

"Negative 179?" L.G. replied, a little unsure of himself.

Mr. Invent ran his finger down the North and South line of 33 degrees, trying to find the point where it would cross negative 179.

"Wait, how can that be right?" L.G. questioned. "Wouldn't that mean it's like, below the Earth if it's a negative number?"

Everyone in the room looked at him instantly except Mr. Invent.

"What?"

"You should have really payed more attention in Geography class," Blonde Bomb replied.

Everyone laughed. L.G. shook his head, still confused by it all.

Mr. Invent popped the cap off of his Sharpie and made a small black circle on the map with a few squeaks. He turned around to everyone a little worried. The black dot was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

"It's in the middle of the sea?" Bombshell asked, staring at the black dot in disbelief and then looking at Mr. Invent.

"In the middle of the Pacific Ocean," said Mr. Invent.

Everyone stood there quietly. No.9 went back into deep thought. He wasn't so sure if all of this was such a good idea anymore. When they were younger their missions with the agency had been easy. Keep a lookout on the corner, secure such and such perimeter, stuff like that. It wasn't until they stole the Fulton and the crystal that any of them had faced real danger. And after what just happened at Area 51, would they be able to handle this? Were they prepared to outsmart six senior agent, all while avoiding some unknown beast named Setra in a mysterious garden in the middle of the ocean?

No one wasn't saying a word. Everyone was waiting for him to make a call. After the past few days it was clear who their leader had become. He sat there in silence for another few seconds before making a decision. This was too important. Not just for them, but for the fate of the entire world.

"Can the Alley Cat make it that far?" he finally said, looking over towards Mr. Invent.

"It should," Mr. Invent replied, turning back to the map and tracing a route with his finger. "She runs on a combination of gasoline and solar power so, as long as it's not too cloudy on the way, we should be just fine."

"Alright," No.9 said decidedly. "I'm going. I don't expect all of you to join me. Especially after tonight. This is going to be dangerous. The most dangerous mission any one of us have ever been on. If you want to back out, say so now. I won't look down on you or make you leave this group. I'll understand."

No.9 stood in the doorway of the library as he gave his small speech. He half expected most of the group to back out of the mission, but no one said a word.

"We're all with you, Nine," L.G. replied to his friend. "Let's go save the world."

L.G., Blonde Bomb, Genie Wiz, Bombshell, and Mr. Invent gathered together in a half circle in front of No.9. The team was ready to follow him anywhere.

"Alright then," No.9 said, smiling at his teammates. "Let's all go home for the night and get some rest. We all deserve it and we're definitely going to need it for tomorrow. We'll meet back here before sunrise."

Everyone nodded in agreement with excited faces. They left Mr. Invent's garage and headed off to their homes. The anticipation kept most of them wake for hours until they finally nodded off into a half-sleep.

Everyone except No.9, who lay awake until the wee hours of the morning, worrying that he might have just cost everyone their lives.