Defender of Neopia - Tyranny of The Doctor: Part Four by kinokiro
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"Then I woke up, locked in this room," Keenomarci stated, rubbing her eyes, with strained patience.
There came no response from the stalwart silhouette behind the glass. "Is that all you want? Are you going to let me out of here now?" she shouted, her voice echoing. There came no response again. She watched as the shadowy figure withdrew from sight and the lights dimmed in the room above her. She balled up her paws into fists and ran over to the wall. She punched it as hard as she could; she was infuriated at the situation she found herself in. Not holding her strength back, the wall buckled under the force of her strike and she left a sizable dent in the shiny metallic surface. She remembered the doorway and scrambled to find the uneven portion of the wall. She felt along the wall and found the bump that identified the doorway. She reared back and threw a hard punch towards the wall. Suddenly the door swiftly shot upwards and had to hold back. On the opposite side of the door stood a blue Acara, dressed in shiny gold armor, with a look of sheer terror on her face as she had the shaking fist of a very angry purple Kyrii stopped inches away from her nose. Keenomarci saw this as her chance to escape, as the blue Acara was momentarily stunned. Keenomarci swiftly rushed past her, grabbing the blaster from her waist and ran down the dark corridor. She quickly found herself lost; she wasn't familiar with her surroundings. She believed that she was somewhere on board Virtupets Station but she was not familiar with this portion of it. There came the faint sound of footsteps coming from the direction she had just run from. "Oh no, I need to find my way out of here and quick." She looked around and noticed an exhaust vent slightly above her. She jumped up and grabbed the grate, it slipped off the wall with ease. She could hear the footsteps get louder and more plentiful. With her heart racing she leapt up into the vent, leaving the grate on the ground. She did not know where this would take her but it had to be better than the alternative.
She crawled through the musty vent. "Yuck, it smells like dirty socks in here!" she exclaimed, holding her nose. As she crawled, she heard muffled voices echoing in the distance. She followed the sound of the voices and noticed a small, wall access vent. It was far too small for her to fit through but she could see through it into the next room.
There was a large figure, dressed in a black robe. He was sitting in a large leather chair and had his feet up on a large polished desk. She couldn't see his face, but could notice the top of his pointed green head. He was holding a strange looking device that looked remarkably similar to the device that Sam Xtarlight had in the Neolodge.
"All of these talks of a pesky little 'resistance'," the figure seemed to monologue in a sinister tone. "It's only a matter of time now. All I have to do now is recall Garoo and –"
His gloating was cut short by the door on the far side of the room whizzing open and a panicked looking blue Acara, the same one that Keenomarci met moments ago, came rushing in. "Dr. Sloth! Sir, I uh... That is, Um..." She panted, struggling to find the words. "What is it, Ylana? I don't pay you to bother me." Dr. Sloth sat up in his chair, planting his feet and leaned forward on his desk.
"Well, about the purple Kyrii. You see," Ylana chuckled nervously, "she may have escaped captivity."
Dr. Sloth sneered at Ylana and clasped his hands. There was a moment of silence that seemed to last an eternity, Keenomarci held her breath with anticipation. Dr. Sloth folded his arms and leaned back into his chair calmly.
"It's a minor setback," he said matter-of-factly. "Focus on finding the Cybunny Scout."
Ylana exhaled deeply in relief. "Right away, sir. We shall redouble our efforts into finding the scout."
"Just one more thing, Ms. Skyfire..." Dr. Sloth spoke sternly, motioning with a finger for Ylana to come closer. Nervously, Ylana obeyed. "...don't fail me again, or else." Ylana swallowed hard and nodded. Dr. Sloth motioned for her to leave and she quickly did so. Keenomarci quietly shuffled away from the grate, stunned at what she had just witnessed. She heard more muffled talking coming from some distance away. She began to crawl towards where that sound was coming from. As she got closer, it sounded more familiar.
"I got it; I need to find Scout..." the voice said in a hushed tone. "...but what about the purple Kyrii? I can't just abandon her."
She got close to the vent's opening and peered out. It was Gorix, but he was wearing what looked to be a Utility Grundo uniform. "Okay, I understand. I just wish it didn't have to be this way..." Gorix whispered into his wrist quietly. "...Gorix out."
She pushed out the grate from the vent, which startled Gorix who was standing below. "Gorix, it's me!" she whispered as she leapt down from the maintenance vent.
"Keenomarci, is that you?" He couldn't believe his eyes. "Where have you been?"
"I was being held captive in a room; they asked me all sorts of questions," she explained. "They wanted to know what my involvement was with you and with The Resistance."
"I see," Gorix said with a look of concern. "If they let you out, then-"
"No." Keenomarci waved her hands in defense. "I told them about how we met but I didn't tell them where the Resistance Base was. They kept asking me over and over again, but I didn't tell them anything."
"Then how did you escape?" Gorix scratched his chin, confused. "Well, a blue Acara named Ylana was about to walk into the room just as I was about to break through the door. I managed to escape and grab one of her blasters too." Keenomarci pulled out the blaster that she took from Ylana's belt and handed it to him. "Wow," he gasped as he held the blaster. "You Defenders really are something."
Keenomarci felt a lump in her throat again. She felt as though she had to tell him the truth before anything else happened. "Gorix, I'm not actually a full Defender. I'm just in-training."
Gorix looked puzzled, but then just smiled at Keenomarci. "You're a very brave Kyrii, Keenomarci. You don't need to worry about those silly titles. It's not the title that makes you a hero, it's your heart."
She looked up at him and smiled. He put his hand on her shoulder firmly. "You've got the heart of a true Defender of Neopia and you've done a great thing. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to make it back to help out the resistance."
She pondered what had happened in that coffee shop and asked, "I'm curious, Gorix. How did you manage to evade capture?"
He laughed lightly. "I didn't; I got captured on purpose."
She looked at him strangely. "I'll explain. After the attack on Roo Island, we were rounded up and taken on a Virtupets ship up to the station. You were out cold. They had kept us in the warehouse until Sloth decided what to do with us. When they were relocating you for interrogation, Sam and I got into a fake scuffle and managed to wrestle the guard's weapons away from them. After dispatching the guards, we quickly made a run for it. We made it back to Resistance HQ; Sam is likely back there now filling in our leader on what happened. I was sent back into the station to rendezvous with a Cybunny Scout that has Intel on Sloth's next operation." She took a moment to take in all of that information and came to the sudden realization of what Dr. Sloth had been talking about.
"Oh no," she shouted. "We have to warn Resistance HQ; Dr. Sloth is going to send Garoo and his elites in to wipe everyone out!"
Gorix was stunned. "W-what are you talking about?"
"I overheard a conversation that Sloth was having with himself. He somehow got a hold of Sam's communicator and he must be planning to use it to trace the homing signal to the headquarters. We have to save them!" she exclaimed.
Gorix took a moment to ponder. "You're going to have to do that alone," he replied. "I have to go and meet with Scout. If what you're saying is true, we'll need that Intel sooner rather than later. I'm not really much use in a flat-out-fight anyway."
She nodded. "I'm a Defender of Neopia, after all!" Gorix smiled and nodded at her. "That's right! I don't know if I'll get a chance to see you after this but, thank you." She smiled sweetly at him and then ran down the corridor. Gorix took a deep breath and walked into the space station to go meet his contact. As she ran down the maze of corridors, she had many thoughts racing through her head. She was worried how her fellow Defenders would react to what she had done. Suddenly, her train of thought was shattered by a loud explosion nearby.
To be continued...
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