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  The mysterious agent stepped forwards towards Agent Barnes. He was a relatively short man with red hair and green eyes. Unlike the others he had a smiley face badge on his uniform. It was too dark for him to see much over the horizon but he could see the outline of a building a few miles in front of him.

  “Agent Rogers reporting for duty Cap’n,” said Agent Rogers saluting Agent Barnes. He then began to giggle and it didn’t seem to make Agent Barnes do the same. If anything it just annoyed it.

  “Can it Rogers,” replied Agent Barnes with a stiff tone. “I need you to scout ahead before we can go any further. I don’t want any nasty surprises coming our way.” He pointed ahead of their location towards the building. He wanted to end the mission as quickly as he could, he didn’t like the fact that a fellow agent had been captured, especially one with the power of Jessica.

  “Will do.” He still had a smile on his face and Agent Barnes’s somewhat harsh words had not taken away any of his sense of humour. “Toodaloo.”

  Agent Rogers suddenly disappeared into thin air. He had not just simply disappeared but he had teleported several metres in front of the other agents. Where Jessica’s superhuman ability was her gigantism Agent Rogers’s ability was to teleport over long distances. His abilities made him extremely valuable to the company. He was also one of Jessica’s very good friends and he always had the ability to make her laugh no matter how sad she felt. Although he tried not to show it he was actually very worried about her. If anything happened to her he didn’t know what he would do, she meant a lot to him and he didn’t want to see her get harmed. She had protected him on a number of occasions and he felt that it was his turn to protect his giant friend.

  After a few seconds and a couple of jumps Agent Rogers reached the top of the building. It was made out of stone but not bricks, it was very tall although not as tall as the buildings on Home. The low light helped him hide from unwanted eyes but he had to be very careful. If he was seen he could be captured like Jessica and Tucker. Although he could teleport blind he normally liked to see where he was going just so there weren’t any nasty surprises. He saw a window looking into a room and from where he was he couldn’t see anyone inside.

  Without hesitation Agent Rogers teleported into the room and he discovered that it was empty. There was a light on inside but for the moment it was empty, the room seemed to have a lot of paperwork scattered all over. He guessed that this was some kind of records storage facility even though it still looked basic. He didn’t have much time to look around before he heard footsteps. Rather than teleporting away he hid behind a large cabinet which was bigger than any cabinet he had seen before. His cloaking systems hadn’t quite activated yet since the energy he used to teleport would sometimes interfere with the VSC’s systems. Normally he would take time to rectify this problem but because Jessica was in danger he had overlooked the problem.

  No sooner had he hid two Dolorians walked into the room. They couldn’t see him but one of them began to smell the air. He had picked up an unfamiliar scent and he began to look around. The other Dolorian also began to smell the unfamiliar scent and he turned to his comrade. They knew that something wasn’t right here and they wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.

  “Do you smell that?” asked the one Dolorian looking around the room. He couldn’t see Agent Rogers but he could certainly smell him.

  “Yeah but what is it?” replied the other Dolorian. “Maybe one of the aliens escaped or something.”

  “I don’t think so. One of them has been put into stasis and the other is getting a mind probe in the lower levels. Whatever this is its new.” By now he had pinpointed where the smell was coming from and looked towards the cabinet where Agent Rogers was hiding. “And it’s coming from over there.”

  Agent Rogers heard the two Dolorians walk towards where he was hiding. He tried to stay as quiet as he could but he could not block his scent. Although he was being cloaked a Dolorian’s sense of smell was as strong as a bloodhound’s, it would not take them long to find him. Instead he had to do something that he preferred not to do. Just before the two Dolorians reached the cabinet he teleported away to just outside the room, he was still inside the building but now he was just outside the door looking in on the two Dolorians. By the time they did reach the cabinet they discovered that there was no one there.

  Before he cared to find out what exactly the two Dolorians were doing Agent Rogers continued to teleport down the long corridor, he made sure that he didn’t stay in one place for too long so that another Dolorian could pick up his scent.  He did stop for a minute or two in another empty room so that he could reset his VSC to reactivate the cloaking systems. The brush with the Dolorians was too close to call and he didn’t want to be captured like Jessica, he would not be able to help her then.

  When he did reactivate the cloaking system he felt that he could move about more freely. He didn’t worry about being seen but he knew that time was against him. The longer he took the less time he and the others had to actually rescue Jessica and Tucker. He had never met Tucker but from what he had heard Jessica had taken a liking to him and the one thing that he hated to see was her upset.

  Agent Rogers began to teleport quickly from one room to another looking for any sign of Jessica or Tucker, he didn’t stay in one place for too long so that he couldn’t be detected by the Dolorians’ keen sense of smell. One problem he did have that every time he teleported his cloaking systems would deactivate for a couple of seconds before finally reactivating. He was surprised with just how large the facility was, the building above ground was only a small fraction of the full sized facility. For every square metre of space above ground there were five below, it would take him a while to find out where Jessica and Tucker was.

  Using his VSC he could track down Jessica’s signal but Tucker didn’t have a VSC so he couldn’t track him the same way. He didn’t know what Tucker looked like but it would be easy to spot him amongst the other Dolorians. Unlike them he was human where their features were much more like a lizard.

  After several minutes Agent Rogers found himself in a small dungeon like corridor. He didn’t think much of it at first but then he could hear loud screaming. It took him a few moments to realise that the scream belonged to a man and from the sound of it he was human. He teleported forward several metres and he found himself just outside the room where he saw Tucker in the mind probe. He saw five Dolorians inside the room and he saw Tucker screaming at the top of his lungs. He couldn’t imagine the kind of pain that Tucker was going through and he couldn’t leave him like that. His orders had been strictly reconnaissance but he couldn’t leave Tucker to his fate. He didn’t even know how long Tucker would be able to last until his heart would give up on him.

  The female Dolorian was still reading Tucker’s thoughts on the screen in front of her. What she was seeing was disgusting her, he wasn’t revealing any secrets but instead he was thinking about various song lyrics and comedy sketches so that nothing incriminating could be revealed. The probe was already at a high setting and if it was turned up anymore the shock could very likely kill him. The male Dolorian was still anxious with what was actually coming up since he had his eyes fixated on Tucker the entire time.

  “What’s he thinking now?” asked the Male Dolorian. “Has the probe discovered anything of use?”

  “No it hasn’t,” replied the Female Dolorian. “All that is coming up is ‘I am the Great Mighty Poo and I’m going to throw my shit at you.’ I haven’t gotten anything of use yet but I think his resolve is failing.”

  “Good the sooner we get this done with the sooner we can get rid of the alien. Its stench is turning my stomach.”

  Suddenly Agent Rogers teleported directly behind Tucker and grabbed hold of his shoulders. The Dolorians saw him for a second while the cloaking systems caught up with the jump, they had not expected to see him appear out of thin air but before anything could be done he teleported himself and Tucker. He had made sure that the mind probe had been left behind and all the male Dolorian could do was stand up and knock the table over in rage. He knew that he was going to face major disciplinary actions after he had let Tucker escape. To him his life was more or less finished.

  Agent Rogers had blind teleported and he was aiming for thousands of feet above from where they had been. He wanted to make sure that he was well clear of the building so that he didn’t teleport into a wall killing both himself and Tucker. The next thing he saw was that he was hundreds of feet above the building and it only took a fraction of a second for gravity to take hold and both he and Tucker began to fall to the ground. Tucker was still recovering from the effects of the mind probe and he was disorientated.

  Tucker felt his body go numb one every few seconds as Agent Rogers began to teleport safely to the ground. He couldn’t just teleport to the ground in one jump because the sudden G force of falling and hitting the ground would kill them both immediately. This was not the first time he had done anything like this and he made sure that each jump took them closer and closer to where Agent Barnes and the others were waiting for them. He had not yet located Jessica but the rescue of Tucker meant that their mission was half done but the next half would be very risky.

  After several jumps both Tucker and Agent Rogers landed on the ground safely. After a few seconds Tucker began to get more of his bearings and he stood under his own strength and looked at Agent Rogers. He gave Tucker a cheeky grin and it seemed that the worse was behind them, they were close to a mile away from the building but still another couple away from the others.

  “A-am I dreaming?” asked Tucker still not fully sure what had just happened. His head was still hurting after experiencing the Dolorian mind probe and the couple of blows to the head he had received over the last few hours.

  “Well there’s only one way to find out,” replied Agent Rogers. He then pinched Tucker’s arm causing him to cry out in pain, afterwards Agent Rogers giggled as if he had heard a funny joke. “Nope you’re not dreaming.”

  “Did you really have to do that?”

  “Sure you wanted to know if you were dreaming or not and I just showed you that you weren’t.” He giggled once again before placing his hand back on Tucker’s shoulder. “Now one more jump should get us back to the others.”

  “Hang on a sec.” He pulled away from Agent Roger’s grasp and took a step back. He still wasn’t exactly sure what was happening or if this was some kind of Dolorian trick. ”What about Jessica?”

  “Oh Big Jess?” His smile never faded and Tucker couldn’t help but feel somewhat relaxed at the sight of it. It wasn’t an evil smile but a genuine smile that made him feel a little more at ease. “Don’t worry my strange friend, the cavalry’s here to save the day but first I need to take you to them.”

  He took a step closer to Tucker and placed his hand on his shoulder. Almost instantly Agent Rogers teleported both himself and Tucker back to where Agent Barnes and the others were waiting for them. Tucker was glad to see a few familiar faces although he wasn’t Agent Barnes’s biggest fan. He almost collapsed to the ground after everything that had happened but Agent Rogers held him so that he didn’t fall down.

  “You got Tucker back,” said Sue in a surprised voice. She went over to him to check that he was alright, she had some medical training so she could deliver any first aid if needed. She looked into his eyes and saw that he was somewhat distant, this caused her some concern. “I should stay here with him.” Suddenly a clone of Sue appeared right next to her and she was looking towards Agent Barnes and the others.

  “And I’ll go with you guys,” replied the Clone.

  At this moment in time Agent Barnes was somewhat glad that Tucker had been rescued, although the pair didn’t see eye to eye he didn’t want to leave him in the hands of the Dolorians. He knew what they were capable of and didn’t wish that fate on his worst enemy. The thing that was foremost on his mind was finding and rescuing Jessica, like the others he genuinely liked her but he didn’t always like her gentle personality. He felt that it prevented her from doing what was needed to be done at times but he respected the fact that she stuck to her principles no matter what. He looked towards Agent Rogers who had let Sue attend to Tucker’s injuries.

  “What did you find Rogers?” asked Agent Barnes.

  “There are guards everywhere,” replied Agent Rogers. “The Dolorians have Agent Snape in stasis but I couldn’t find where she was. Worse still the Dolorians could smell me even when I was cloaked, if we do go in it won’t be long before we have an entire army of Dolorians on our tail.”

  “Don’t worry about that Agent Grimm is our own one woman army.” He walked closer to Agent Rogers. “Can you take us inside?”

  “Yes I still have enough energy to get us in but I think I only have enough for two maybe three jumps if I have to carry you and the others. After that you’d have to search for her on foot.”

  “That I can deal with.” He then turned to Agent Carpenter. “Do you think your telepathy can work on a Dolorian?”

  “I’m not sure,” replied Agent Carpenter with some hesitation. “I’ve never tried to use my powers on them before.”

  “Guess we’ll just have to experiment if need be.” He once again looked towards Agent Rogers. “Rogers can you take us inside now or do you need a minute to catch your breath?” Although he wanted to finish as soon as he could the last thing he wanted was to work an agent to their breaking point. It would make the mission much, much more difficult.

  “I should be fine,” replied Agent Rogers with a smile. “Besides I think Agent Snape wants to see this handsome face as soon as possible because let’s face it who doesn’t.” This got a few sniggers from Agents Carpenter and Grimm and it even made Barnes smile a little. He had a talent for making people laugh.

  “Ok enough jokes now let’s get serious. I don’t want any heroics; our mission is to enter the complex and extract Agent Snape with minimal contact with the Dolorians. No one attacks unless attacked first. Agent Grimm will remain here with Mr Martel and her clone will come along with the rest of us. If we’re not back within the hour go back to Home and report to our superiors.”

  Agents Barnes, Carpenter and Grimm’s clone all walked towards Agent Rogers. The original Agent Grimm was still treating Tucker for his injuries, they weren’t serious but he still needed some medical attention. The agents all placed their hands on Agent Roger’s body and seconds later they all disappeared. Tucker had seen what had happened and it still amazed him. He just hoped that whether they went they didn’t end up all fused together like in a science fiction film he had watched some time ago.

  Meanwhile in the complex Jessica was being wheeled into another room. She was lying on a hospital like bed and was being pushed by a large Dolorian followed by Doctor N’gor. She was hooked to a serious of chemicals that kept her unconscious, while she was unconscious she would stay at this smaller size. If she were to somehow wake up she would immediately grow back to her normal size and most likely destroy much of the complex in the process. The room that she was taken to had many large glass tube like pods. Each one was large enough to hold a Dolorian and each one was connected with a small wheeled device and some cables. Many of these tubes were already occupied with different Dolorians and they all seemed to be sleeping. They weren’t merely sleeping though, the tubes were keeping them in a state of suspended animation and a few of these Dolorians had been here for some years but while they were here their body no longer functioned. As soon as they were released from these pods their bodies would start up again as if nothing had happened.

  Jessica was wheeled up to an empty tube and the large Dolorian picked her out of the bed without much due care or attention. She was disconnected from the chemicals causing her to sleep but it would take her body sometime to work them out of her system. She would not wake up immediately but she would do in a few minutes. Doctor N’gor noticed the carelessness of the large Dolorian and he quickly put his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.

  “Careful,” said Doctor N’gor with a stern look on his face. “One wrong move and you’ll wake the alien up. You saw what happened when we woke it up the last time, do you want to be crushed to death?”

  “No sir,” replied the large Dolorian somewhat meekly.

  “Just put her in and this time be gentle.”

  The large Dolorian placed Jessica in the tube and seconds later it closed around her. She was still unconscious so she couldn’t resist what was happening to her. As soon as the pod was closed Doctor N’gor walked to the machine next to it and began to press a series of buttons. The light on the machine was originally red but after a few seconds it turned to green indicating that the pod was activated. All of Jessica’s vitals seemed to go to zero but she wasn’t dead, her body had completely stopped and as long as there was power flowing into the pod she would be like this indefinitely.

  “That should do it,” said Doctor N’gor giving out a sigh of relief. “While it’s in there we won’t have any more growing problems. Now I can take the time to study it in more detail without fear of the alien becoming a colossus once again.”

  “Personally Doc I think this is a bad idea,” replied the Large Dolorian. “I don’t think this will work out very well for us.”

  “We don’t pay you to think soldier, we pay you to do a job. It’s dangerous throwing around ideas like that around here. You may end up like one of these poor souls and I think you’re too useful for that soldier. Do you agree soldier?”

  “Err y-yes sir.” He was reluctant to answer the question.

  “Good now I’m sure that you have other duties you need to attend. I need to be alone to work at my best.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The large Dolorian took the bed away leaving Doctor N’gor alone in the stasis room. He took a good long look at Jessica and smiled. This was his chance to be recognised as a true scientific pioneer in his species. He imagined what he could learn from studying her and he had to admit that she was much more valuable to him alive than if she was dead. If he wanted to he could just as easily kill her at her weaken state but then his work could only go so far. At one point he wanted to see her grow in a controlled environment but for now he could begin his scans.

  Doctor N’gor didn’t realise that the pod that Jessica had been laid in was in fact faulty. Although it was reading that Jessica was in suspended animation the actual fact was that the pod wasn’t actually activated. There had been a fault in the pod’s software which gave out false readings that so far no one had picked up on. Doctor N’gor didn’t know that in less than ten minutes the chemicals keeping Jessica sedated would work her way out of her system and she would regain consciousness.

  Not too far away inside the complex’s basement Agent Rogers teleported himself and the other agents into one of the many corridors. Unfortunately for Agent Rogers this was the third jump he had made with all the agents so he was exhausted. Until he had a decent rest he would not be able to teleport them. He could still teleport himself but he didn’t have the energy to teleport anyone else.

  Almost immediately Agent Carpenter began to use her telepathy to scan the area trying to find Jessica’s brainwaves. She couldn’t sense anything from Jessica because her brain wasn’t active. Agent Carpenter didn’t know whether it meant that Jessica was dead or merely unconscious. She also used her powers to create a telepathic link between the four agents, they didn’t want to speak because although their cloaking devices made them invisible to the naked eye it didn’t block out sound. Using the telepathic link the agents could communicate amongst each other without having to speak a word. This would be extremely useful but they also couldn’t block their scents. If they stayed here for too long it wouldn’t take the Dolorians long to realise that they were there.

  “Can you sense Agent Snape Carpenter?” asked Agent Barnes through telepathy.

  “No she seems to be incapacitated,” replied Agent Carpenter also through telepathy. “The VSC can give us her general area but it can’t pinpoint her exact location. I suggest we split up and look for her that way.”

  “That’s my department,” said Sue as she began to multiply herself, within seconds there were five additional clones of her. “I can multiply myself infinitely so I can cover more ground then any of you.”

  What she was saying was true. Sue’s multiplication powers were legendary within the company. Once she wanted to truly test her powers and she transported herself to an uninhabited planet more than three times the size of Earth. There she multiplied herself until there were literally billions and billions of copies of hers. She estimated that she had created close to a hundred billion copies of herself and it didn’t seem to take much out of her. Each copy was linked to each other so each one could feel what the other was feeling and seeing. Her only weakness was if the original Sue was taken down all her clones would disappear instantly. At this moment in time Sue could still see herself tending to Tucker, this Sue was the original Sue so she had no danger of being wounded or killed during this dangerous part of the mission.

  Each of the agents began to go their separate ways to try and locate Jessica. Two of Sue’s clones went with each agent and if they ran into any more trouble she could simply create more of herself. If she really wanted to she could multiply until she outnumbered the entire Dolorian population.

  Agent Carpenter made sure that there was a constant link between the agents. One advantage of Sue’s powers was that Agent Carpenter only had to link with one copy to be able to communicate with them all. Agent Carpenter also created a telekinetic shield around herself in case any of the Dolorians wanted to fire on her. It was strong enough to deflect anything that came her way but she had no control on which direction the projectile would deflect. Once someone had fired at her with a gun and the bullet deflected off the shield and struck an innocent bystander. Although the bystander survived the experience it always made her wary of the shield.

  As the agents covered the area they ran into several Dolorians but thanks to their cloaking systems they were invisible to them. They also made sure that they didn’t stay in one place too long so they couldn’t be detected by the Dolorians’ keen sense of smell. But for the moment it seemed that their search was fruitless. They found no sign of Jessica for the moment but they felt that they were getting closer. Along the way Agent Carpenter had read the minds of a few of the Dolorians but none of them knew where Jessica was located. She was glad that she could read their minds but she was disconcerted that she couldn’t find where Jessica was.

  They didn’t realise just how close they were, on the floor below them was where the Stasis room was located. Doctor N’gor was continuing his scans of Jessica’s body and was paying a lot of attention to the VSC device on her forearm. He had attempted to remove it before she had been placed into stasis but he had received a small electric shock for his efforts. He had contemplated removing her arm to get to the device but for now he wanted her undamaged so that it would better his research. He was so preoccupied that he failed to notice Jessica’s eyes begin to open.

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