Chapter Thirty Four: Great!!

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"True love demands sacrifice and that sacrifice is your test!!"

http://www.fatalurgecarefreekiss.com/

MishiidaAlexander

“True Love demands sacrifice.”

Chapter Thirty Four: Great!!

Everybody falls in love, everybody wants love, but no one is ready to make the sacrifices required to sustain love. Everyone at some point of their life is forced to make a choice between their love and their desires. Career, money, fame, individual freedom, they all could be at stake on one end of the scale, and your love might be making up the weight at the other end. Your choice at such a crucial juncture can determine the future of your entire life thereafter. Those who ditch their love for money, fame, career, freedom or anything else, they never get the happiness they were destined to when they had a choice to pick up love. Money and fame can buy you the best in the market, but you never get the same love. And when your legs are almost hanging in your grave, it’s the love that you miss, the love that you never got from the replacement.

Love demands sacrifice, and without sacrifice no love can be true. And love which is not true, can never lead to a blissful life. You can act happy all you want to but your actions will give away the discontent and dissatisfaction you got from your bought relationship. Any true love story one may read, the one thing they have in common is the protagonists gave up something important for them, in favour of their love.

Soldiers sacrifice their lives for the love of their country and their countries progress. Parents who sacrifice their comforts, their kids grow up to make them proud. People who sacrifice personal gains, they lead revolutions that make better societies. All these and many more acts are based only on the love that made those involved make the tough call, making them pick their love ahead of everything else.

Curt and Ahmed laid down their lives as they loved their duty ahead of it. Jerome, how could he be any different from those whom he led with pride for so long? And the time is finally here when Mishiida will have to make her choice too. It’s either love or throne. Both cannot exist together.

However at this moment we stand witness to the exemplary bravery of Jerome who is lying in a pool of his own blood, his body hurting badly but mind calm.

“Sir,” Monty rushes to his side immediately.

“How are you son?” Jerome asks him like a fatherly figure he has been to his men all the time.

“I am fine Sir, but what have you done to yourself,” Monty cries, “I’ll call the ambulance.”

“I am afraid it’s too late son,” Jerome replies, trying hard to overcome his pain.

“I won’t let you die,” Monty quips and pulls out his radio, “Hexa calling all units! Emergency! We need an ambulance immediately at RAAF base! I repeat Emergency! Colonel Jerome is injured!”

“Hepta copied! Emergency services on their way!”

“Don’t be a Romeo!” Jerome struggles to speak, “We both know it’s my time to go, and what a befitting way after all the years of service! I am dying proud!”

“Don’t say that Sir! You can’t die!” Monty insists like a child.

Just then some missiles are fired and we all look at the sky. Three alien crafts are approaching the earth again, two stop midway and destroy the missiles while one heads down.

“Tell ‘em to stop firing! Tell ‘em we’ve won!” Jerome tells Monty as he puts his blood drenched hand on his arm.

“Yes Sir,” Monty replies, tears rolling down his eyes, “Hexa calling all units on behalf of Alpha! Hold your fire! We have won!”

The firing stops as the advancing alien craft makes haste. The craft heads straight to where we are. The craft lands and its’ door opens. Mishiida jumps out of it, walks towards Jerome and stops just a few feet away from him. Perhaps she still has a tinge of hatred for him in her heart. She looks at him and becomes motionless.

“He’s dead,” Jerome replies overcoming his pain as he tilts his head back and points towards the General’s body with his weak fingers.

Mishiida looks at the body, thinks for a few moments and then rushes to Jerome, hugging him.

“I owe you an apology girl! I am sorry!” Jerome struggles to say a few words to her as Mishiida gets up and wipes her tears. She understands.

“Sir!” Sandeep gives out a loud cry as he carries Ahmed’s lifeless body out of the craft, Corbett giving him a hand, as Hayley helps a limping Alexander out. Monty immediately rushes towards them.

“Ahmed,” Monty yells out.

Sandeep rushes to Jerome as Corbett and Monty carry Ahmed.

“What happened to Ahmed?” Jerome looks at Sandeep sternly even though his voice is falling apart with all the effort he is putting in, “Why didn’t you save him?”

“We were caught off-guard Sir,” Sandeep replies crying, “He gave away his life for the duty and trying to save me and Mishiida.”

“Since when did my men become Romeo’s?” Jerome quips, pained much more by the loss of his two brilliant men, than his own wound, as he barely manages to ask.

“Sir, even you’ve become a Romeo yourself,” Sandeep replies crying, “How could you let this happen to you?”

“We all are Romeos!” Jerome really struggles with his words this time, “We all love our country and friends more than our lives! We all are Romeos!”

“We are more than happy to be your Romeos Sir, but please don’t leave us,” Sandeep says as he struggles hard to overcome his overpowering emotions.

“You can’t stop a Romeo son,” Jerome says as he puts his hand on his shoulder, smiles and becomes motionless, his eyes still wide open. His hand slips down.

“Sir!” Sandeep and Monty cry out as Sandeep holds Jerome’s hand in his hands. Monty puts his hand on Jerome’s forehead and closes his eyes, both crying their hearts out.

The sound of an ambulance catches our attention but it’s not needed at this spot anymore.

While everybody is busy consoling Sandeep and Ahmed, the second craft flies down as well. Mishiida’s subordinate officer hops out of it and walks up to Mishiida. He is followed by five men who all line up as if ready to take orders.

The officer says something to Mishiida and Mishiida replies back to him. The officer says something again, this time pointing to the men standing behind him, who all say something to her in unison. Mishiida thinks for a moment, turns around and looks at Alexander who realizes they are requesting her to return.

Alexander limps up to Mishiida and says, “I love you my Angel but it’s time you returned home amongst your people.” And tears roll down Alexander’s eyes, “I promise you my life won’t be the same without you anymore and I promise never to love anyone ever again. But you need to return.”

For the second time today Mishiida understands each and every word said to her as tears roll down her eyes and she cries and hugs Alexander tightly. Tears roll down every eye present.

Suddenly Mishiida lets go her embrace and looks on at her subordinate officer. She says something to him, pointing towards self and the Earth. The officer is shocked at what he hears and argues with her. Even the five men standing behind him say something to Mishiida. But Mishiida is adamant as she shakes her head in negative, points at self and the Earth again and says something. The officer moves his face around dejectedly and shrugging his shoulders continues arguing with her. Mishiida refuses to buzz as she shakes her head in negative once more and then says something to the officer again, pointing at him.

The officer firmly shakes his head in negative and the discussion goes on for a few more minutes.

Finally, the officer gives away and says something to Mishiida who smiles happily. The officer however points at the craft behind him and then at Mishiida. He says something pointing at the Earth. He turns around and says something to one of his men who immediately rushes into the craft they had just arrived in and brings out the Mishiida trademark silver weapon with pink lining.

The officer says something to Mishiida to which she nods her head in agreement, replies with a smile. The officer and the men give Mishiida the extended bow given to someone important, revered or old in their culture. Mishiida accepts their respect with the grace of a queen.

The officer and his men get up and return to one of the crafts and fly away. Mishiida meanwhile turns around and looks at Alexander with a smile.

“What, you are not going?” Alexander says as he wipes his tears smiling ear to ear. Mishiida gives him a big smile and hugs him tightly again. “Ouch!” Alexander lets out a faint shriek as he realizes he is physically hurting as well.

“We better take him to the hospital,” Dr Hayley Swift quips.

“Great!” Corbett adds as Hayley laughs and hugs him.

The two couples kiss each other once more as the sun shows up around the edge, shining as brightly as it always has. The contrast of the situation couldn’t have been bigger; two departures and two unions. Our eyes are moist, both with sadness and delight as we wipe our tears.

“But wait a minute! What happened to Rick and his men?” the question suddenly crosses our mind and we decide it’s time to go and look for them. We immediately leave for the hills.

We reach the hills where we left Rick and his men fighting the aliens and immediately start our search, flying just about a hundred feet above the ground. The morning light has dramatically improved our searching radius but to what use?

As we search through the dense vegetation all we find is bodies; bodies in the trees, bodies lying over each other as if making chemistry. And for some strange reason the great artist Robbie Williams’ song “Bodies” start to play in our head. Suddenly Rick appears from across the other side of the hillock, a cigar in his mouth and held in between his thumb and first two fingers, his weapon in the other hand. Following him closely are his three men, each carrying their weapons in one hand, and a bundle of seized weapons tied with their belts in the other.

“Great!” is all we say as we smile and rise above in the sky, for as much as me may have wished to savour this moment of glory, we realize we are just voyeurs whose job is only to watch and record everything that happens. However, this day 15th August will no longer be just another day for the entire world after this.

With these thoughts in our mind, we rise up in the sky to witness something new. Who knows, we may end up following MishiidaAlexander once again on a new adventure.

The song continues to play in our head:

“Jesus really died for me,

Jesus really tried for me!”

-The End-

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Chapter Thirty Three: Don't mess with me

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"Those who cannot stand up for their love, they don't deserve love at all in their lives!!"

"She is the only one for me!!"

http://www.fatalurgecarefreekiss.com/

Mishiida Alexander

“Tall enemies have weak knees. Bring them down and they are shorter than you.”

Chapter Thirty Three: Don’t mess with me

Many a times one is faced with an adversary much taller in stature, farther in reach and stronger in ability. Fighting with such an adversary can appear to be a lost cause, mentally and psychologically draining. Your efforts loose impact even before they reach a crescendo. The next thing you know, you are looking for an escape. But then, is it really as bad as you are making it out to be?

Tall people have week knees. But then, it could be the case with anyone. However, it’s easier to hit a tall man’s knees and bring him down on them. And once down on his knees, no man can hit yours. And in that position he is shorter than you, just the right height for you to take his head off.

The best strategy to deal with a strong adversary is to identify his weakness and make him over-cautiously protect it. Once you have diverted his attention, you are free to pierce his chest. And in case he doesn’t protect it, you can always hit him there.

Jerome and Rick knew humanity couldn’t have taken out the enemy in a direct conflict. That was exactly the reason why they chose to involve it in Guerrilla-warfare. And as soon as Jerome realized the General was keen on the gun they have already destroyed, he immediately used the pretext to break him away from his son and lead him into an unprotected zone. The General in his false sense of security, emanating out of his over confidence in their abilities, let himself to be led astray. Now it is up to Jerome to close the deal.

However, at this moment we are standing right next to Sandeep and Ahmed who in their effort to free Mishiida, have been caught. An alien, his weapon held high and pointing at their heads, walks into the room, a big smile on his face. Sandeep is left in suspended animation, not sure what to do as his finger hangs above the last digit he needs to punch in to free Mishiida.

Suddenly Ahmed turns around and lunges at the alien, grabbing his weapon and trying to turn it away.

“Punch the code Sandeep,” he yells as he grabs the alien’s weapon. But he is too weak to have any impact on the stronger adversary. One single shot blows away a big hole in his chest and a near lifeless body of Ahmed collapses on to the floor, his hands still gripping the weapon.

Sandeep meanwhile punches in the last button and dives away. The alien takes a shot but almost misses him, the laser beam tearing away the flesh on Sandeep’s shoulder. As Sandeep lands flat on his anterior side, gripping his shoulder in pain, Mishiida jumps off her bed and flings her leg hard and high at the alien’s arm tossing his weapon away. The alien gets scared and tries to turn around and run. Mishiida however is in no mood to let those who messed with her get away. She flings in air punching hard in the fleeing alien’s back. The alien looses his balance and smashes into the corner of the door. The force of the impact is enough to twist him around and drop him on his stomach. Mishiida immediately crouches next to him, putting her knee in his back and rolling her elbow around his neck. A single jerk from Mishiida and a lifeless body of the alien falls to the floor. Mishiida gets up and turns around. She looks at Sandeep who clutching his own wound crawls to a dying Ahmed, taking him into his lap.

“Ahmed,” Sandeep says as tears roll down his eyes.

“Khuda Hafiz my friend,” Ahmed just about manages to say goodbye. A wailing Sandeep wraps his arms around a dead Ahmed.

A tear rolls down Mishiida’s eyes but she knows the importance of time now. She immediately rushes out and we dash back into the control room to see what the General’s son in up to.

We find the General’s son grabbing Corbett’s hair and lifting him up.

“Let him go,” Dr Hayley Swift yells at the top of her voice as she struggles to keep her body wrapped in her badly torn clothes.

The General’s son laughs at her and raises his fist to hit Corbett. But Corbett beats him this time and punches him hard in between his legs once again. The General’s son collapses on the floor once again only this time Corbett is too weak to do anything as he himself collapses next to him. We see a badly bleeding Alexander lying in pain in one corner. The Gereral’s son gets up on his feet and this time he is furious. He grabs Corbett from his hair and drags him towards the blue spiral flames emanating out of the pillar. He is about to drag Corbett’s body over the flame when suddenly the door to the room in which Hayley and Alexander were held captive opens. Mishiida enters the room only to find the wall in front open. Her eyes immediately fall on a suffering Alexander and a friend at the mercy of her arch enemy. She looks around and is surprised at the too little company the General’s son has.

The General’s son however immediately yells something at Mishiida to which Mishiida replies back. The General’s son leaves Corbett and turns to his men standing at the controls. He says something to them to which they all reply and shake their heads in negative.

The General’s son gets furious and tries to charge at them but they all pull out their weapons and point at him. The General’s son looks at the subordinate officer who turns his face away, bows to Mishiida and says something to her. Mishiida bows back and says something to him before turning her attention back at the General’s son.

Caught unawares and alone the General’s son looks around trying to find something when finally his eyes fall on Alexander. He immediately rushes towards Alexander, perhaps to try and use him as his shield but Mishiida lands right in between him and Alexander. One big punch from Mishiida and the next moment the General’s son’s body is flying in the air.

Left with no choice, the General’s son gets up, says something to Mishiida and gets ready for a fight. Mishiida smiles, nods her head in agreement and immediately takes up her assault stance. The two slowly and slowly inch towards each other, their eyes fixed on each and every movement of the other. The General’s son takes the initiative and flings a punch at Mishiida who ducks by bending over back and balances herself on the tips of her fingers, but while doing so she also flings one of her feet high and right under his chin. His body is tossed away in the air. Mishiida immediately regains balance on her feet and charges at the General’s son, the two exchanging fierce blows and trying to block the hits from the other. We witness some of the best moves of the alien marshal arts.

Finally after a long duel Mishiida seems to gain the upper hand as she starts thrashing the General’s son mercilessly. The General’s son beaten and bruised finally lands close to one of his men. He immediately gets up and punches his man out, grabbing his weapon in the process. He immediately takes a few shots at Mishiida who ducks around like a gymnast but always towards him. She finally get close enough to hit him on his knee with one leg to bring him down, and on his face with her other leg before he could hit the floor. Her heel knocks out one of his eyeballs as he clutches his eye in pain.

Mishiida gets up and takes him to task, giving him a taste of the brutality he had inflicted upon her earlier. She bashes him around the flame in circles until she finally stops and looks up, as if lost in some distant memories. Her eyes fill up and tears roll down them. She gets ferocious like a Lioness and grabs the General’s son with her hands. She lifts his body up in the air, turns around and tosses him through the blue flame. The flame cuts his body into two as his legs and torso fall on either side across it. She gives out a loud shriek and rushes to the pillar bearing the flame. She kicks and punches the pillar ferociously.

She continues venting out her anger when a hand suddenly taps her shoulder. The sub-ordinate officer who had been watching all this silently has come down from the balcony to console her. She turns around and hugs him tightly, crying. The sub-ordinate officer pats her head and says something, trying to console her like a family elder. She finally calms down and asks him something. He replies pointing towards the earth.

“Mishiida,” Alexander’s painful voice calls her from behind.

She turns around and looks at a badly bleeding Alexander who is trying to get back on his feet. She immediately rushes to him and helps him get up. She looks at him, crying. She wipes her tears and kisses him softly on his lips, caresses his face, kisses him again and then hugs him.

“We need to take him to the hospital,” Hayley says as she gets to the edge of her room.

“Are you alright?” Corbett however asks Hayley.

Hayley not caring for the company anymore jumps down into the control room before folding herself back in her torn clothes. She rushes to Corbett who manages to get back on his feet.

“You came here for me?” Hayley asks Corbett, crying as she touches his face.

“I came here to save myself,” Corbett replies, “I couldn’t have lived without you anyway.” And two hug each other.

“Great!” is what Corbett says as Mishiida and Alexander look on at the two and smile. They turn around, look at each other and then hug each other. The two couples share a deep kiss each as everybody in the room smiles and turns away.

Finally Mishiida turns around and says something to the subordinate officer who immediately nods and rushes to a control board. We realize it’s time to catch up with Jerome. We leave everybody safe in the mother ship and head towards the earth.

On our way we notice how alien crafts have all lined up in five files of two hundred crafts each, each file at a different height and angle to the earth. Perhaps they are all present there to provide protection to the craft carrying the General and his three subordinate officers. We dash past them all and make our way down to the earth where we find three alien crafts parked at the site of the Richmond RAAF Base. Five alien soldiers are guarding the three crafts. We leave them there and search through the piles trying to find Jerome and his company. We head straight to the location where the make shift laboratory was set up, the place where everything belonging to Mishiida was taken apart. The fact that Jerome is not there surprises us no end.

“Where could he possibly be?” we wonder as we search around. As we rise up in the sky to have a better look we notice its’ far-eastern end beginning to get brighter. The morning is just around the corner. We finally notice Jerome leading the General, his three subordinates and five men towards the biggest pile at the site.

“It is buried under this one,” Jerome says pointing to the aliens just as we reach there.

The General looks at his subordinates surprised and then gazes back at Jerome, his eyes constricting.

“It is there,” Jerome says again, pointing at the pile and nodding his head in affirmative.

The General pulls out his weapon and points it at Jerome’s head.

Jerome shrugs his shoulders and says again, “I told you, it is there.” He points at the pile once again.

The General looks at his officers once again who also shrug their shoulders in helplessness and point at the pile. The General nods his head contemplatively and says some thing to the five men accompanying him. The men nod their heads, put their weapons away and climb up the pile. They start dismantling it rubble by rubble, tossing everything away like it was made of cardboard.

The General looks suspiciously at Jerome once again who quips nodding his head in affirmative, “It is there!”

As soon as the General looks away Jerome looks up at the sky and we follow suit instinctively. To our and Jerome’s surprise the files of the planes have all started their return to the mother ship one by one.

“What the hell,” Jerome says pleasantly surprised.

Just then the communication gadgets each alien including the General is bearing, they start beeping. They all get surprised but before they can answer their devices the three craft they had arrived in, lift off in the air and fly away. The General immediately pulls out his device and presses a button. The face of Mishiida appears in front of him. As they all get involved with what’s happening Jerome slowly and slowly sneaks away from the group.

He pulls the string of his watch out and after a beep he yells in it, “Now!”

Immediately lids covering trenches are blown away, throwing the sand covering them all around. Anti aircraft guns are lifted out hydraulically and start firing at the group of aliens from every possible corner. Before any alien can answer the fire, three of them are taken out while the General and his subordinates along with their two surviving men run in different directions.

Jerome runs away from the group while the General follows him, firing at will. Jerome dodges his fire as he turns around a pile and gets out of his sight. The General turns the corner only to realize, he’s lost him. With no means left to get away and his men running for their lives, the General is left with no choice but to search his foe.

The General walks through the piles slowly, carefully looking for Jerome. Suddenly a few soldiers appear around the corner and fire at him with their automatic assault rifles. The General takes them out in no time and continues with his search. We too start one of our own and in no time find Jerome stationed above a pile, a brick in his hand and concealed from the Generals view, watching every move of his foe carefully through a small opening between piles of concrete lying in front of him.

The moment Jerome is confident enough of taking his man out, he flings the brick with force at the Generals hand, disarming him. Before the General can react Jerome charges at him yelling at the top of his voice. He flings himself in air but rather than punching him on his torso or head, he aims for his weak spot. The General is down in no time. Jerome quickly gets up, grabs the General from one of his legs and drags him away from the weapon that the General is desperately trying to grasp, still writhing in pain from Jerome’s blow. The moment Jerome notices General’s pain subsiding he kicks him at the same spot again, and then again, until he has dragged the General away in to the middle of another street.

He immediately leaves the General and tries to rush towards his weapon but a laser fire just misses his head. Perhaps Jerome’s instant moment saved him, but the near miss distracted him enough to topple him of his feet. Luckily for him, before the General’s subordinate who had come to the General’s rescue can take another shot, a hummer mounted anti-aircraft gun blows enough holes in his head to silence him forever.

But immediately a laser fire from a side destroys it along with its’ occupants. Another burst of anti-aircraft gun is heard not to far from the current site of action and the lack of laser fire response indicates the neutralization of the enemy to us. A few more random gun fires can be heard in distance. Perhaps rest of the General’s party has been engaged as well. However, all this commotion made us miss the action we were witnessing.

We turn around and find Jerome getting up and making another dash for the General’s weapon but a leg thrust between his legs tackles him face down to the ground. Jerome quickly turns around but it is too late by then.

The General thrusts a thick metal rod he’s pulled out of the rubble, straight through Jerome’s chest. A painful shriek escapes Jerome’s lips, and the General enjoys every bit of it as he twists the rod around. The General pulls the rod out of Jerome and thrusts it through the other side of his chest, then again through his stomach, stabbing him five times in all and finally leaving the rod inside his body. Jerome grabs the rod with both hands while still in pain and tries hard to pull it out of his body. The General laughs and walks away toward his weapon.

“Sir,” a sound from behind distracts us. As we turn around, we find Monty running towards a badly wounded Jerome. He bends over in his run up, picks up the General’s subordinate’s gun and as he falls forward, he tosses it towards Jerome. “Catch it!” is the shout and catch it is what Jerome does, without any mistake.

As the General turns around after picking up his gun, Jerome holds the weapon firmly, stretches his arms above and behind his head, tilts his head behind to take an aim. The next moment, a headless body of the General falls to the ground.

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Last Chapter coming up next week!!

Amanpreet Singh Rai

(Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss)

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Chapter Thirty Two: My time at my will

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"I love her, but unfortunately she needs to be punished for her mistakes before I accept her back!!"

www.fatalurgecarefreekiss.com

Mishiida Alexander

Chapter Thirty Two: My time at my will

Human battles can often bear an uncanny resemblance to the food chains that run within the nature, in its’ pristine wilderness. Some of them are akin to a Lion hunting down a zebra, while others grossly feign a pack of wolves hunting down a deer. But unlike the unidirectional food chains, running from the herbivore to the top-carnivore, human battles have one angle in access to the brute impact, politics. Victory amongst humans is not determined by the strength of the fighting force, but rather by the tactical superiority. An integral part of this tactical superiority is the political manipulation.

A twist of fate and one can find oneself pitched in a battle where one is forced to take on multiple enemies at the same time. The battle may all but seem to have been lost, even before the first shot is taken. But sometimes, what seems to be a lost cause might just be a minor aberration in the plot for a successful campaign.

When fighting many enemies at the same time, the best strategy is to take on and destroy the strongest one amongst them first, avoiding direct confrontation with its pups, letting them run away with minor battles. At the end of the day what matters is, not how many battles you lost but, did you win the war. A pack always looks up towards the strongest one amongst them, and is generally content under the impression that as long as he is there, they are going to win. A comprehensive defeat of their strongest member destroys them psychologically, and instils a fear for you. Besides the strongest one out can be the right medicine to boost your own motivation.

Alexander’s abduction might have been the instigating factor under current circumstances but Mishiida always knew the only way to win this war is to kill those who lead the assaulters. So she headed straight to them. She would have done exactly the same had she not been interrupted in her quest by the over-zealous humanity.

These and many other thoughts cross our tired minds as we toe behind some weary bodies who haven’t slept for too many hours on the trot now. But fatigue is not what could affect the brilliance of a mastermind like Rick. His planning is immaculate to the dot, and execution precise.

“Relieve the dead of what they don’t need anymore,” Rick whispers to his men.

“Sir,” Ken almost doesn’t make any sound as he and Charles slowly and slowly walk to the two dead bodies and collect their weapons, one apiece.

“Formation Bi-dent,” Rick whispers again, and the four men arrange themselves in a Y-shape, Ken and Charles with their new weapons making up the two top edges, Carl in the centre and Rick at the back. The four men start walking again slowly, making sure not even the fallen leaves getting crushed under their feet make any sound and reveal their movements and location.

Suddenly a sound of crushing leaves attracts their attention. Ken and Charles both kneel down into new assault position, raise their hands and make a fist. Carl and Rick kneel down as well, and Rick turns around to face the opposite direction.

The sound of crushing leaves is heard again as Ken and Charles both look in the direction of the sound. The third time the sound originates too close for comfort and a wombat jumps on to Charles without giving a warning and runs away shrieking.

“Damn you idiot,” Charles whispers.

“Quiet,” Rick whispers again, but before anyone could move, a laser fire just about misses Charles’ head by a whisker.

Charles immediately rolls away to escape a volley of subsequent fires.

“Fire,” Rick yells as he and Ken take four five shots in the direction of the laser fire until they hear two painful shrieks which subdue within moments.

“Check ‘em out Carl and relieve them of their weapons,” Rick tells Carl who slowly makes his way up to the dead and picks up the two weapons.

“Keep the spare on self,” Rick tells Carl who immediately complies.

“Formation King’s Cross,” is Rick’s next command as the four men arrange themselves at the four edges of a cross, all facing different directions and once again moving slowly. We look above at the sky and notice Jerome’s craft has almost made it to the mother ship.

We leave Rick and his men to what they are doing and head towards the mother ship. We catch them just as they are waiting outside the mother ship to gain entry into the flying city. We get inside the craft and notice Sandeep and Ahmed hiding securely in the hind part of the craft. The alien is busy trying to establish contact with his masters. Finally the communication channel opens and a three dimensional face appears in front of him that says something to him. The alien responds to him and points at Jerome who is sitting next to him. The face glides across in front of Jerome and looks at him carefully, then the face turns around and we hear him saying something to someone behind him. The faint voice that we hear in the background sounds familiar. The face turns forward and glides in front of the alien and says something to him. The alien nods in agreement and the entrance to the mother ship opens. As the craft flies in, and towards the topmost docking port of the control tower, we decide its’ time to check what Corbett is up to. We make a quick search of the building but end up finding Corbett still stuck on the same floor, four more bodies dearer.

“Great! Looks like I am stuck on this floor for eternity,” Corbett exclaims as he shakes his head. Suddenly a door just behind him opens and two aliens walk out of the room. He immediately turns around and takes two shots to take them out, but unfortunately the second one escapes with a serious injury as he dives back into the room, shutting the door behind. Within a matter of few moments sirens start ringing in the building.

“Great!” is all Corbett says as the General’s son’s full body appears in three dimensions, right in the middle of the corridor and right in front of him. Corbett immediately turns around and tries to run but another hologram of the alien appears directly opposite to the original. The general’s son laughs at Corbett and points his finger at him. We notice a blue light descending down at the far end of the corridor as three aliens jump out of it, their guns pointing firmly at Corbett. Two doors at the other end of the corridor open and four to five aliens emerge out of each and surround Corbett from behind. Corbett looks at those surrounding him from both sides, and they look back at him.

“Great!” Corbett shakes his head and lowers his weapon. Immediately one of them walks up to Corbett and hits him on his head. Corbett falls unconscious to the ground. The alien lifts him up on his shoulders and carries him towards the flashing blue light lift. Two of his mates join him. The lift heads straight up towards the top floor. We decide it’s time to head upstairs and see what is going on between Jerome and the General.

“We want friendship with you people,” Jerome can be heard trying to explain with elaborate hand gestures, just as we arrive inside the control room.

The General looks on at Jerome and then at his son. The two have a bit of a conversation before the General’s son motions at one of their men manning a screen at the front end of the control room, and says something to him. The man nods and immediately starts working on the control panel in front of him. A picture of the gun Mishiida was carrying, flashes on the screen. The General’s son hops down from the balcony, walks up to Jerome and points at the picture of the gun. Then he looks at Jerome. Jerome thinks for a second and then nods his head in agreement.

“Yes, I know where that is,” Jerome says nodding his head and pointing in the directions of the gun. “I can take you with me to find it,” Jerome says pointing to the General and himself.

The General’s son immediately steps between his father and Jerome’s gaze and shakes his head in negative. He then points at himself and then at Jerome, then at the gun, as if saying, “I am the one who will go with you.”

The General immediately says something to his son to which he disagrees. The two start to discuss with each other. Finally one of their four subordinate army officers’ speaks to break the dead lock. Finally the General looks at Jerome and then points at himself and three of his sub-ordinates. Jerome nods his head in agreement. The General, followed by his three subordinates, walks up to a corner of the balcony and a lift appears and lowers them down. They walk up to Jerome and motion him to follow them. We follow them as they lead Jerome out and into the craft that he came in. As the four of them fly away for earth along with Jerome, we return to the control room of the mother ship to see what the son is up to with Corbett.

As we return to the room, a lift similar to the one that brought Mishiida into the control room appears, and the three aliens escorting a now conscious Corbett, violently push him on to the floor. Corbett puffs and gets up on his feet. The sound of alien laughter fills up the room. We turn around and notice the General’s son sitting on his throne, one subordinate officer giving him company. Corbett looks on at him for a few moments, and when the Genreal’s son doesn’t stop laughing, Corbett himself starts laughing out loud. Corbett’s laughter at first bewilders and then irritates the General’s son, who gets up from the throne, jumps off the balcony and punches Corbett hard in his stomach. Corbett clutches his stomach in pain and collapses on the ground. The General’s son keeps standing on top of him, waiting for Corbett to overcome his pain and react. Corbett once again, as soon as he gets over his pain, starts laughing at the General’s son.

This rebellious behaviour irritates the General’s son so much that he starts kicking Corbett non stop. But Corbett keeps on laughing, caring not for his body that is slowly breaking down under pain. The General’s son finally stops and looks on at a wilting Corbett who still manages to give him a smile. The General’s son thinks for a moment and then an idea suddenly hits his mind. He immediately jumps back on to the balcony, goes to his father’s throne and punches a button to open up the room housing Alexander and Hayley. He looks at Corbett and gives him a weird smile. He then jumps from his balcony and into the room housing the two captives.

“What is he doing here?” Hayley turns her head towards Alexander and asks her.

“I don’t know,” Alexander replies, “But I can use a hand to scratch my bum.” And Hayley burst out laughing.

Corbett stays silent and looks on unmoved. The General’s son stands between Alexander and Hayley, who are still unaware of Corbett’s presence there. The General’s son looks at Corbett and lifts his eyebrows, as if asking, “So, what say now?” Corbett stays silent, perhaps trying not to let the alien know his weakness. When Corbett acts unaffected, the General’s son climbs on to the block on which Hayley is lying.

“Oh my GOD! What is he doing?” Hayley asks but before Alexander can answer, the General’s son starts kissing and grappling Hayley like a hungry wolf.

“Keep your hands and body off me you rascal,” Hayley spits venom at him.

“Stay away from the girl you dog,” Alexander yells, “Talk with me if you want to.”

The General’s son stops and looks at Corbett, who still acts unmoved.

“I said, talk to me you jerk,” Alexander yells again, “What are you looking at? Get off her.”

The General’s son looks at Alexander and then at Corbett. He gets off Hayley’s bed and hops on to Alexander’s.

“Oye! What are you trying to do?” Alexander immediately gets scared, “I only asked you to talk to me.”

The General’s son however grabs Alexander’s wound in his hand and squeezes it. Alexander yells out in pain, but Corbett stays unmoved. The General’s son finally looses his patience and yells something at the subordinate officer who is still standing in the balcony. The officer bows his head and immediately punches a few buttons on the arm rest of the General’s throne, and the cylindrical pillar with two helically coiled ribbon shaped flames emerges out of the floor again. Corbett gets cautious but stays silent.

The General’s son gets off Alexander’s bed and walks up to the side wall. He puts his palm on the wall and rolls it around in a combination of clockwise and anti-clockwise manner. A slab moves out revealing a control pad. He punches a few buttons that release the tied hands of Alexander and Hayley, who immediately get up on their feets.

“Talk to me now,” Alexander says as he limps towards him, clutching his wound in pain.

The General’s son immediately grabs him from his neck as Hayley rushes to Alexander’s aid.

“Let him go,” Hayley pleads as she grabs his arm holding Alexander’s neck, with both her hands. That’s when her eyes fall on Corbett who immediately shakes his head, suggesting her to stay quiet. Hayley gets the hint but the General’s son notices the telepathic communication and immediately release Alexander and grabs Hayley.

“Let her go,” Alexander yells and tries to grab his arms as the General’s son rips open Hayley’s clothes. Hayley shrieks and immediately rushes into a corner trying to hide herself in her torn clothes.

“You dirty jerk,” Corbett yells and immediately lunges towards the opening in the wall of the room. He jumps to grasp the top end of the wall with his hands and lifts his body up.

“Corbett?” Alexander also notices Corbett’s presence, but as soon as Corbett’s head appears above the floor of the captive cell, the General’s son grabs Corbett from the hair of his head and pulls him up.

The Generals’s son is about to punch Corbett in his face when Alexander lunges and grabs his legs, lifting his feet up in the air to make him fall on his back. This gives Corbett a chance to get back on his feet.

The General’s son however, immediately jumps back on to his feet and kicks Alexander hard in his face. Corbett immediately charges at him and kicks him in his groin. The General’s son collapses to the floor in pain. Corbett immediately rushes behind him and tries to strangulate him by gripping his neck in his arm. But the General’s son grabs him from his arm and pulls him above his head and throws him out of the room and on to the floor of the control room. Corbett falls on his back and shrieks out in pain. Alexander tries to jump on to the General’s son but a merciless kick in his stomach spins him around in the air and across the two blocks in the middle of the room.

The General’s son gets back on his feet and jumps into control room and right next to Corbett who is struggling to get back on his feet. But this time General’s son is in no mood to let him get a moment for himself and starts kicking him around the room mercilessly.

“Let him go,” Hayley yells at the top of her voice.

“Fight with me you dog,” Alexander yells as he climbs down the wall of his room and lands into the control room, immediately clutching his paining wound that has started to bleed now. The General’s son walks to Alexander and punches him hard in his face, as Alexander crashes on to the floor bleeding from his nose and mouth.

“You scoundrel,” Corbett yells as he struggles to get back on his feet and charge at him. But a big heavy punch spins him around and flat on to the ground.

Getting impatient at this merciless bashing up of our friends, we rush to the room where Mishiida is lying, as if she will be able to do something. We find Mishiida struggling to get her hands and feet released of their bindings. We walk up next to her feet and look at her helplessly. As Mishiida continues to struggle, the door behind us suddenly opens. As we turn around Sandeep and Ahmed sneak into the room and immediately notice Mishiida.

“Mishiida, what happened?” Sandeep asks surprised.

“Mishiida immediately says something to them and then points towards the side wall with her head.

“What is she saying?” Ahmed asks.

“I don’t know!” Sandeep replies, “Perhaps she’s pointing towards the wall.”

“Perhaps the key to release her bindings is in the wall, like the controls to open their doors,” Ahmed suggests.

“You may be right,” Sandeep says as he immediately rushes to the wall and puts his hand on it. “What now?” he asks Mishiida.

Mishiida immediately tilts her head backwards and tries to look at her hands and then at Sandeep.

“I should look at your hands?” Sandeep asks pointing towards her hands.

Mishiida nods her head in agreement and spins her finger around in circles, a few times clockwise and then anti-clockwise. She then looks at Sandeep and nods towards his hand resting on the wall.

“Oh, I get it,” Sandeep says as he rolls his hand on the wall in clockwise and anticlockwise manner, the same number of times as Mishiida spun her finger around. The controls in the wall are revealed.

“Damn,” Sandeep says.

“What happened?” Ahmed asks.

“Unlike their door controls, this one has a lot of buttons,” Sandeep says.

“Don’t worry! Mishiida will guide us,” Ahmed says as he walks behind Sandeep to have a look at the control panel.

They look on at Mishiida who once again, motions them towards her hands. As they carefully observe her hands, Mishiida folds her hands and then opens her fingers as if giving them the code numbers.

“Five, Nine, Six, Nine,” Ahmed speaks them out loud as Sandeep punches in the button by counting them manually, but before he can punch in the last digit, the door to the room opens again.

“Uh Oh!” is all Sandeep says as he looks up at the wall in front.

***********************************************************

“When fighting many enemies at the same time, destroy the strongest one first.”