Chapter 26

             As ordered, an agent called up each of the three chosen Power Surge members, and each one picked up.

            I guess this number is BACK in service, The Spektrum thought as he answered his cell phone.

            “Hello?”

            “We have another mission for you,” the agent said to each of the three teens. “We’ll pick you up early on Saturday, 8 AM, Pacific standard time. Make sure you rest up the night before, it‘ll be a long day.”

            Before anyone could ask what the mission was, the agent hung up.

            As before, black SUVs drove up to the houses of The Spektrum, Metal-Head and Catgirl, and then took them to the nearest airports. Also like before, The Spektrum and Catgirl flew together in the same plane to the secret location of Anonymous Inc’s headquarters.

            “Hey, Cat,” The Spektrum (as Code Silver) excitedly greeted her as they walked up to the plane.

            “Hey, Spek,” Catgirl replied.

            Like after their Vegas mission, the two sat on opposite sides of the aisle, and were rather quiet. She kept trying to figure out what to say in relation to Vegas, but wasn’t sure where to begin.

            “Is something wrong?” he asked her.

            “Huh? What makes you say that?”

            “Your ears are doing a lot of moving around,” he said. “They’re apparently very expressive.”

            “Oh. Well… I guess I was overthinking thanking you for… Vegas.”

            Spektrum could read her emotions in her drooping ears.

            “Oh, no need to thank me there. I mean, c’mon, I wouldn’t be much of a hero if I let that happen.”

            “Yeah, but I should still say ‘thanks’. I didn’t really say it then, and it’d be rude of me not to.”

            “Well, then, you’re welcome.”

            Catgirl smiled, and her ears perked up, and it made him smile. But they were still pretty quiet for the rest of the flight.

 

            “We’re going where?!” Catgirl asked Mr. Darklite when they met in the conference room.

            “Calamar, Guaviare, Colombia,” he repeated. “Metal-Head has been in the general area before, and you two will be with him on this revisit. Look-Out will explain on your flight there.”

            Catgirl and The Spektrum followed Metal-Head and Agent Look-Out back upstairs to the airstrip and boarded a military-grade transport plane. For such a big plane, there were far fewer seats. Catgirl sat down, and The Spektrum sat down beside her. They weren’t just close, they were practically shoulder to shoulder.

            When it came to boys, Catgirl’s only ever sat this close to Shaun. When it came to girls, Spektrum’s never sat this close to one. He did his best to distract himself, so he just started looking around at the plane. But she remembered her little argument with her friends, about Shaun and Spektrum, and her cheeks began to burn red.

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” he suddenly asked.

            Catgirl looked at The Spektrum, her cat ears perked up.

            “N… No!” she forced out of herself, not noticing her ears move around oddly.

            She grumbled and covered her ears to make them settle down.

            “You’re lying,” he responded. “There’s something going on with you and I think it’s more than just what happened at Vegas.”

            “No there isn’t,” she said defensively. “It’s just, you always sit next to me.”

            “Well I can’t exactly help it in here,” he said, turning from Silver to Blue. “And I thought it was okay, because we’re friends. I mean, I know you have a boyfriend, but c’mon, it’s just sitting. You can allow yourself to sit next to someone, can’t you?”

            She tried to respond, but had nothing, so she just growled and scowled at him while looking away in a huff.

            Metal-Head Alan chuckled at the little squabble as the Anonymous Inc. agents made sure the supplies were fully stocked and strapped in. The transport plane then took off minutes later, headed straight south.

            “Alright,” Agent Look-Out began, “we’re headed to Colombia to deal with their illegal drug trade and production. Mr. Darklite feels that with us helping out, the War on Drugs will come to a faster end.”

            “Wow,” Catgirl said in awe, “this time we’re doing something truly significant.”

            The Spektrum glanced over at Metal-Head, then at the supply crates the Anonymous Inc. agents brought with them. Remembering how troopers flew in with rifles to save him only a few days ago, The Spektrum had some suspicions about this mission.

            “We’ll be landing at an airstrip about fifty miles from our actual target,” Look-Out continued, “and we’ll be taking a pair of jeeps for as far as we can.”

            “For as far as we can?” Catgirl echoed. “You mean we’re going to be walking in the jungle?”

            “It’s no big deal,” Metal-Head spoke up. “I did it last week and I’m fine!”

            “Because you can turn into a robot!” Catgirl pointed out. “Robots don’t need to worry about endurance the same way humans do. And not only that, but they don’t have to worry about disease carrying mosquitoes, poisonous tree frogs, and carnivorous snakes longer than three people!”

            “I doubt any of those are in Colombia,” Metal-head countered.

            “But she still has a point,” The Spektrum said. “That’s quite the hike.”

            “Don’t worry,” one agent joked, “we’ve packed plenty of juice and snacks for you little kiddies.”

            “Are you calling me a kitten?!” Catgirl asked, scowling.

            “No, Catgirl,” The Spektrum explained, “he said ‘kiddies.’ As in kids.”

            “Oh,” Catgirl said as she calmed down and felt embarrassed; clearly Tiger using that as a nickname lingered in her head.

 

            It was a couple hours before the plane landed at the Colombian airstrip Look-Out mentioned. It was located inside a small valley that had been cleared of trees and plants, with only a couple of hangars set up on the right side.

            Jeeps drove up to the team of three Power Surge members and six Anonymous Inc. Agents. Look-Out took shotgun of the first jeep, and Metal-Head hopped into the back seat of the same one. Catgirl sat in the back of the second, but grumbled when The Spektrum sat next to her again.

            “Knock it off,” The Spektrum said. “Like you’d rather sit next to Pin-cushion Face.”

            Catgirl looked at Metal-Head and all his many face-piercings.

            “Good point,” Catgirl admitted.

            She may be trying to distance herself from The Spektrum, but she didn’t want to end up getting close to that guy.

            “Besides,” Spektrum said, changing to Red, “best of a bad situation.”

            Spektrum smirked, and despite trying not to, Catgirl smirked back.

            “No,” she said, “you’re tied for second. Even after always following me.”

            The jeeps were loaded up, and drove northeast towards the target drug camp. The trees became more common, and more and more sunlight was being blocked by the branches and leaves. The jeeps hit a big bump in the road, and Catgirl was tilted into The Spektrum. She blushed, hesitated, then pushed herself away from him, the words of her friend Karina ringing in her mind.

            The drive continued on quietly at the same pace for half an hour, which meant they were roughly half way to the true destination.

            Look-out’s jeep suddenly slowed down and stopped. The second jeep copied, and The Spektrum got out, wanting to see why the first one stopped. A thick, fallen tree was blocking the dirt road.

            “C’mon, c’mon,” Look-out shouted to the others in his jeep. “Let’s get this out of the way so we can move on.”

            As the other agents got out of the jeep and Metal-Head transformed into his robot form, The Spektrum looked around.

            “That’s odd,” he muttered. “If that tree fell down, where’s the hole?”

            “What hole?” Catgirl asked.

            “The hole in the ground where the tree’s roots would’ve been. If the tree fell over, it would‘ve uprooted itself and dug up dirt, but the ground around here is intact.”

            Catgirl looked around for herself, and realized he was right. Not a bit of dirt was out of place, and certainly not where the roots were.

            As the Anonymous agents worked to roll the tree out of the way, VVFT! Something small hit the dirt fast on the left side of the second jeep.

            “Something just zipped past my head!” Catgirl said frantically.

            In an instant, it all became clear to The Spektrum!

            “Get down!” he shouted to everyone as he ran at Catgirl.

            He grabbed her, jumped and rolled, and the two landed on the ground with Spektrum on top as a bullet ripped into the back seat.

            The Anonymous agents scrambled back to their jeeps as another bullet hit the front right tire of the second jeep. Catgirl was blushing as The Spektrum held her down and held her close.

            “Spektrum,” she said shyly, “you can let me up.”

            “Not if it means you getting a bullet in the brain,” he told her firmly as he looked into her eyes.

            He changed to Yellow, and thought quickly on how he could find the sniper’s location. He rolled off Catgirl slowly and signaled for her to stay down. He activated Analyze, peeked over the jeep’s back seat and watched the trees.

            The special vision this ability gave him checked the known bullet trajectories, but before he finished calculating, Metal-Head moved between the trees and the jeeps, his weapons warming up.

             “I’ll take care of this!” he shouted.

He raised his arms and brought out his mini-Gatling guns.

            “Metal-Head, stop!” The Spektrum shouted as he hurried over the seat.

            But it was too late! Metal-Head opened fire, and the bullets rat-tat-tatted out of his arms like the sound of a hundred drums. Catgirl and The Spektrum covered their ears. After five seconds, Metal-Head stopped shooting, and lowered his arms.

            “You idiot!!” The Spektrum shouted at the robot. “What’re you doing?!”

        “I’m pretty sure I killed the guy who tried to kill us!”

            “That’s not what I was talking about!” The Spektrum said. “You made so much noise that any drug runners within several miles likely heard it!!”

        “Your point?”

            The Spektrum gave up reasoning with Metal-Head and turned to Look-Out.

            “So that’s what this mission was?” The Spektrum began. “Find the drug traffickers’ camp, burn their stuff, and take their lives?!”

            “Why do you think it’s called the ‘War on Drugs’, kid?” one of the other agents answered.

            The Spektrum’s anger boiled up, and again, he automatically shifted to Code Black.

            “Uh, that is NOT why at all!” Catgirl spoke up, joining The Spektrum on the same side of the jeep. “We didn’t sign up for this!”

            “We’re not soldiers trained to kill,” The Spekturm pointed out. “I may fight alien criminals, but I only fight to win.”

            “So you’d rather let these guys win and continue what they’re doing?” Look-Out asked as he finished loading his rifle.

            “N-no…” The Spektrum said, glancing at Catgirl.

            I’m no killer, he thought. And she’s even more innocent.

            “Then let’s go,” Look-Out said as he, the other Anonymous Inc. agents, and Metal-Head continued along the path on foot.

            The Spektrum looked at Catgirl again, and she looked back. He calmed down, and he looked back at the group as they walked ahead.

            “C’mon,” he told Catgirl as he changed back to Red.

            “Spektrum,” she said quietly. “We’re not going to kill anyone, are we?”

            “No,” he answered. “Not if we can help it.”

            The Spektrum and Catgirl followed behind Metal-Head and the others, stepping over the fallen tree.

            Several minutes passed before Catgirl spoke again.

            “Umm, Spektrum… Sorry about being… rude, and defensive. It’s nothing you did, I just—”

            “It’s alright,” he replied. “Apology accepted.”

            Catgirl smiled, and finally lightened up her mood.

            “Also,” she said, “thanks for saving me. Again. That second bullet would’ve killed me if you hadn’t pulled me to the ground.”

            “Well, you’re welcome,” The Spektrum replied. “But the honor was all mine. It’s not every day I get to huddle that close with a girl as attractive as you.”

            Catgirl blushed, and a part of Spektrum was shocked by how bold he just was.

            “What’s so funny?” The Spektrum asked.

            “Oh, sorry,” Catgirl said, “it’s just… you also flirt with me so much! You’re lucky you have powers, or Shaun might not like that.”

            “The jealous type, is he?” Spektrum asked as he carefully stepped down a ledge.

            “No,” she said as she also stepped down. “But, I dunno. You flirting and me not saying anything, it’s like… I’m not being a good girlfriend.”

            “You felt you were cheating on him?” The Spektrum simplified.

            “No!” she blurted out.

            “You were falling for me, which meant falling out of love with him.”

            Normally she liked his smirk but right now it annoyed her.

            “That’s not it!” she said. “It isn’t.”

            Catgirl was bright red now, and grumbled loudly.

            “That blush means you were~,” he teased.

            She frowned and pushed him sideways, grumbling the word “Idiot” as he chuckled.

            “Keep it down back there,” one of the agents ordered; it was the same guy who made that “kiddies” wise-crack on the plane. “Do you want the enemy to hear us?”

            “Oh like Lug-nuts here didn’t already let them know where we were?” The Spektrum retorted. “I don’t think our conversation compares to his bullet storm.”

            Catgirl giggled quietly as she tried out the phrase “Lug-nuts” for herself.

            The group came to a hill, and on the other side the sound of rolling tires and a revving engine could be heard getting louder. A vehicle was getting closer!

            A pair of rusty trucks drove over the top of the hill with enemy reinforcements riding inside!

            Before Look-Out even finished giving the order, The Spektrum took cover with the Catgirl, sweeping her off her feet and jumping into the tree line on their left. Bullets hit the dirt as everyone but Metal-Head ran behind trees and other plants.

            The Anonymous agents opened fire from their hiding spots, and Metal-head armed his large, shoulder-mounted Gatling.

            The glass windshields were shattered, and the grills were peppered, but none of the enemy men were hit by the bullets. The same went for the Anonymous agents: they were not harmed, but the trees they hid behind became whittled and chipped.

            Metal-Head’s shoulder Gatling was almost ready, and any bullets that hit him merely bounced off with a ping.

            The Spektrum peered around the edge of the tree, Catgirl watching over his shoulder. They could see someone in the truck on the right preparing something, but the sudden roar of the Gatling made them bolt back behind the trees.

            The stream of bullets pierced the engine of the left truck and ripped through the gas line. The truck exploded, and the drug traffickers jumped out in horror as the flames consumed the rusty frame.

            In the truck on the right, the man Catgirl and The Spektrum had spotted finished his preparations, and stood up. He aimed an RPG launcher at Metal-Head and fired!

            It only took a second for the rocket-powered grenade to make its way to Metal-Head. It impacted on his chest plate, and the explosion slammed Metal-Head back onto the ground.

            “Metal-Head!” Look-Out shouted.

            “Stay here!” The Spektrum ordered Catgirl.

            “Wait, Spektrum!”

            She tried to stop him, but wasn’t fast enough. He activated Over-Drive and rushed at the guy who fired the rocket. The Spektrum climbed up the front of the truck and drop-kicked the man in the chest. He grabbed the RPG launch tube, and swung, clubbing two men at once—one of them being the original operator—and kicked a third down of the truck bed, all in only four seconds.

            The driver, who was hiding behind his door, turned to face The Spektrum. Before the driver could aim and shoot, The Spektrum batted him in the head with the launch tube’s heavier end, where the muzzle and scope were located. The driver collapsed unconscious, and The Spektrum deactivated Over-Drive.

            Look-Out and the others moved closer, guns pointed at the enemy.

            “We should keep moving,” The Spektrum suggested. “This is obviously not all of their forces, and when these guys don’t return they’ll just send more out.”

            Look-Out considered The Spektrum’s idea, then nodded.

            “Move out!” he ordered the other agents. “We can use their truck as our own, and make it to their camp faster.”

            The Spektrum changed to Code Silver, and lifted the unconscious bodies up out of the truck, then tossed them to the side of the road. Catgirl hurried forward and dragged the man The Spektrum kicked off the truck over to the same side, and piled him on top of the others. One of the agents hopped into the driver’s seat while Look-Out took shotgun again.

            They drove along the dirt path with The Spektrum, Catgirl and Metal-Head riding in the back with the rest of the Anonymous agents.

            “There’s a good chance we’ll meet more on the way,” Look-Out told the group. “Be ready to fight at the drop of a hat.”

            “And with these,” one of them said as he held out a hand-gun to both The Spektrum and Catgirl.

            “I’m not using a gun!” Catgirl shouted. “I couldn’t shoot one anyway, I don’t have the training!”

            “You still need it to defend yourself!” the agent insisted. “Sure, The Spektrum can create force fields, but what if you get separated? What’re you going to use for protection?”

            “And I’m not always Code Blue,” The Spektrum added.

            “But Spektrum,” she pleaded. “You said we wouldn’t have to kill anyone.”

            “I also said ‘If we could help it’,” he reminded her.

            The Spektrum looked long and hard at the guns. He hoped in his heart that he wouldn’t have to use one, but he knew it’d be dangerous without one. Reluctantly, he took one from the agent.

            “Spektrum!?” Catgirl shouted.

            “It’s as a last resort!” The Spektrum said sternly. “No one knows what’s going to happen!”

            Catgirl’s ears drooped, and she frowned at The Spektrum.

            “Well, then… I guess I have no choice. I’m going to use you as a shield.”

            “What?!” he blurted out.

            “Well, you’ve got a gun AND you can make force fields, I don’t have anything!”

            “That’s why he’s offering you a gun!”

            “I already said I’m not using a gun!”

            “But you’re all for using a human shield?!”

            “Quit squabbling!” Look-Out ordered. “I can see the camp up ahead. We’re close.”

            Catgirl looked where he was looking.

            “I don’t see it,” she said.

            Look-Out points up ahead.

            “See that little wooden guard booth? It‘s about 30 yards out, but I can see the guard sitting inside watching a tiny television.”

            Catgirl squinted and even leaned forward.

            “I can barely see the booth! And I have cat senses! How do you see any of that?”

            “It’s why he’s called ‘Look-Out’,” Metal-Head explained. “Where as some people have 20-20 vision, he has like, 20-10 vision, and can see the smallest details clearly from even this far away.”

     Catgirl sat back down.

            “Wow,” she said, “Anonymous Inc. has some real unique people in it.”

            “That includes you all now,” Look-Out replied. “A guy who can turn into a robot, a girl who is part cat, and all the things The Spektrum has proven he can do, you three alone make the rest of us look like the average ones.”

            Catgirl and The Spektrum smiled with pride at the compliment. If Metal-Head still had a mouth, he’d likely smile, too.

            “What should we do about that outpost, Look-Out?” the driver asked. “He’ll contact the rest when he sees us.”

            “Then we won’t let him contact the others,” The Spektrum said as he got up, tucked the gun into his back pocket, and moved to the same side of the truck as the booth. As the booth got closer, he shifted to Code Red.

            “Spektrum, what’re you planning?”

            The booth got closer, and closer, and Code Red prepared himself. He gripped the side of the truck, and kept his eyes focused on the guard. The booth got even closer. The Spektrum waited a few more feet, then… Whoosh! He jumped over the side of the truck and landed in the booth, on top of the guard. The guard hit his head on the wall, and The Spektrum kicked him in the head for good measure. Code Red then used Over-Drive to catch up with the truck.

            “Awesome!” Catgirl said as The Spektrum got back aboard.

            “Alright, speed up,” Look-Out told the driver. “We’ll surprise the camp and get ‘em while they scramble.”

            The truck accelerated, and The Spektrum changed to Code Yellow.

            “Why Yellow?” Catgirl asked.

            “Just a hunch,” he answered, “but I think we’re gonna need to think clearly, and Yellow seems to do that best.”

            Within minutes, crudely-put-together shacks could be seen, along with rag-tag gunmen. The Anonymous Inc. agents prepared their weapons, and Metal-Head moved towards the edge of the truck bed.

            “Metal-Head,” The Spektrum said, “are you sure you’re okay after taking that RPG hit?”

            “Yeah, yeah,” he answered; even though he was a robot, the irritation and defensive tone were still audible. “My armor is tougher than just one grenade.”

            “But to be safe, you should be careful,” The Spektrum suggested. “Maybe give the others cover fire instead of being on the front line.”

            “Are you telling me how to fight?! Don’t forget which of the three of us has the most experience here.”

     “Then you think you’d be better at not taking damage,” Spektrum countered.

     Metal-Head grumbled as his forearm Gatlings popped out again. As the truck entered the camp site, Metal-Head jumped out, followed by the jokester agent and two more.

            “This is your stop!” Look-Out shouted as they approached the largest building. “Find the drug stash and dispose of everything, especially equipment!”

            Catgirl and The Spektrum jumped out, and the truck continued to the other end of the camp. Catgirl followed The Spektrum to the building, his gun drawn.

            The front door opened, and a man with a gun ran out. He saw The Spektrum, but was shot in the leg before he could take aim. With a kick, The Spektrum knocked this guy out just like the guard in the booth.

            More gunmen were headed towards them, and The Spektrum changed to Code Blue. They opened fire from inside, but Code Blue’s force field appeared in time. Catgirl, who was crouched behind him with tail tucked in, peeked over his shoulder.

            “What do we do now?” she asked as the shooting stopped.

            The Spektrum changed to Code Red, activated Over-Drive, and attacked. In a blur, he knocked four of them off their feet, but there were still three left. They took aim at Catgirl, but she already made her way over to them. She ducked down and tripped two of them at once, pulling their legs out from under them with her hands, then kicked the third man‘s gun up. Bullets hit the ceiling, and Code Red--still with super speed--tackled the man into a wall. The man slumped and slid down the wall, knocked out from the impact. Catgirl took care of knocking out the two she tripped with a cracking kick to the head for both of them.

            The Spektrum deactivated Over-Drive, changed back to Yellow, and led the way down the halls. None of the rooms they passed seemed suspicious, and soon they came to the end of the hall, with only one room left.

            “Wait,” Catgirl said, “I thought the drugs they made here were like, weed. Wouldn’t there be a huge field of it growing instead? Why did Look-Out send us in here?”

            “No one ever said what was being made,” The Spektrum pointed out. “This could be some hardcore stuff. Y‘know, stuff made with chemicals. You should cover your mouth with your shirt or something, to filter whatever might be in the air.”

            Catgirl and The Spektrum took the collars of their shirts and pulled them up over their mouths, holding them there with a hand. Slowly, they entered the last room, and indeed, there were several chemical tubs sitting around the room, along with several pots and stoves.

            “Holy Hell, I think this is a meth lab!” The Spektrum said.

            “What?! Then, how’re we supposed to dispose of this stuff? Isn’t everything in here volatile and deadly?!”

            “Maybe! Honestly, what kind of mission was this to put us on?!”

            The Spektrum was really starting to wonder what Anonymous Inc. was all about.

            Sure, fighting drug dealers is one thing, but exposing teenagers to deadly chemicals, expecting us to take human lives…

            “We should head back,” Catgirl suggested, “get one of the Anonymous Inc. members to help.”

            “No, we don’t need them for this,” The Spektrum said. “We can just… tip these over and run out away before the fumes get us.”

            With one hand each, the two lined up the different chemical tubs, and kicked them over. The liquid contents spilled onto the floor, and mixed.

            “Run!” The Spektrum said. “No stopping!”

            They hurried back the way they came, Catgirl in front, hands still holding the collars in place. They passed the unconscious bodies of the drug traffickers, and didn’t stop until they were a few yards away from the building.

            “Those chemicals,” The Spektrum panted, “will react and cause toxic fumes to fill that room, and most of the building. Breathing them in for more than a few seconds is deadly.”

            “Then what about the drug trafficker guys inside!?” Catgirl asked.

            The Spektrum looked back at the building, and grimaced.

            “Given the quantity of what we dumped, it may already be too late to go back in.”

            “How do you know that?”

            The Spektrum thought for a moment.

            “I… I just do. Now come on, we should meet up with Look-Out.”

            The Spektrum took Catgirl by the hand and led her away.

            “But Spektrum!” Catgirl said.

            “Catgirl, there’s nothing we can do!” he replied. “We’ll die from those gases just like they will! Besides, they’re the enemy. They’d just continue to try and kill us.”

            As the two moved away from the building, Catgirl felt the reluctance in The Spektrum. It was in the way he was gripping her hand. She could tell that even though he was the one who made the decision, he didn’t like having to leave someone to die any more than she did. But she had to admit, he had a point: going back into that building as it was filling up with dangerous gases was suicidal.

            The Spektrum and Catgirl had almost made it back to where they had been dropped off when a lone gunman popped out from behind a shack. He opened fire on the two immediately!

            Catgirl was wrapped in The Spektrum’s arms, his body completely blocking her from the view of the attack. She panicked, knowing he would take the full hit of the rifle! She tried to push away, but he wouldn’t let go.

            Ping-ping-ping! The bullets hit something, but it wasn’t flesh. Catgirl looked up, and saw that Code Yellow had been replaced by Blue, and the two were safe inside his force field. Catgirl was relieved, and the gunman was surprised.

            BANG! The gunman went down, a bullet hitting him in the shoulder. Catgirl flinched at the sound, and looked for the source.

            “Spektrum!?”

            The Spektrum had drawn his gun, or rather, a gun. What he was holding now wasn’t what he had been given earlier. Those were somewhat generic in their look, “standard issue” as they say. This one was big, with a double-barrel, yet he somehow still held it with one hand.

            “I didn’t shoot to kill,” The Spektrum said. “So you don’t need to be so shocked.”

It was then that Catgirl noticed The Spektrum had made another change, this time to Code Black.

            The Spektrum put the gun away, and that’s when he noticed the change, in both his gun and his Code. Without saying anything, he led Catgirl to cover, and the two hid behind a shack closer to where they entered the camp.

            “How did you get that gun?” Catgirl asked.

            “I think it’s Spectralization,” he answered. “Didn’t think it applied to more than clothes, but that doesn’t matter. Our priority is getting out of here without getting shot. I’ve seen that my powers can hear bruises to a decent degree, but I’m not so sure about bullet holes.”

            The two looked in front of them and saw Metal-Head. His bullets ripped apart shacks, tents, walls, and men.

            “He’s purposefully shooting to kill,” The Spektrum said grimly.

            The Spektrum stormed forward, eyes set on the raucous robot. Catgirl tried to bring him back, but he got just out of reach as she went to grab for his shirt.

            “WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!” Code Black roared over the blaring bullets as he kept walking forward. “IS THIS WHAT YOU ARE?!”

            Metal-Head ceased fire, and looked at The Spektrum.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

     “I thought we were heroes,” The Spektrum shouted, “not slaughterers!”

            “Who ever said that?” Metal-Head replied smugly.

            The Spektrum’s anger boiled.

            “We don’t need to take lives,” The Spektrum said, looking Metal-Head in the eyes. “We’re not mercenaries like these other guys!”

            “We’re not mercenaries, either!” the jokester said as he walked up. “We’re the elite special ops unit of Anonymous Inc!”

            “Besides, what about self-defense?”

            “Is it self-defense when you’re just shooting wildly?!” The Spektrum growled.

            Catgirl approached cautiously from The Spektrum’s left. She put a hand on his shoulder, and he tensed up. After seeing who it was, The Spektrum calmed.

            “We were accepting a mission,” The Spektrum said, “not planning on entering a war-zone. No one said a damn thing about this!”

            “We’ve been over this,” Look-Out said.

            The Spektrum and Catgirl turned to see Look-Out and the truck approach.

            “This is how we stop them,” Look-Out continued. “Did you at least dispose of their stuff?”

            “We dumped their chemicals,” Catgirl replied. “They won’t be able to do anything with them now that they’ve soaked into the wood floors.”

            “Good. We’ll head back then.”

            Look-Out climbed into the truck, taking shotgun again, and the other agents got into the back. Metal-Head deactivated his weapons and walked past The Spektrum.

            “Spektrum,” Catgirl whispered. “C’mon, let’s go.”

            He didn’t move at first, his mind was still focused on the argument. After a few seconds, The Spektrum sighed, and followed Catgirl as she climbed into the truck. He didn’t say anything more the entire trip back to the air strip.

            The Spektrum also didn’t say much on the plane ride, and didn’t switch from Code Black. Sensing his frustration, Catgirl chose not to say anything, either. She had met all the Color Codes, so she felt confident in saying Code Black had the most intimidating aura. There was something there that almost scared her, but only calling it “anger” wasn’t enough.

            After reporting to Mr. Darklite directly and being dismissed, The Spektrum finally spoke again.

            “Darklite, it was one thing scaring off Zorb’s new henchmen,” he glared at this shady organizatin’s leader. “But I definitely, never ever want to see your thugs in my hometown again!”

            “Spektrum...!” Catgirl said in surprise.

            “Now that I know how they operate, I don’t want them,” he continued. “Not even sure if I ever needed them.”

            “Sure you didn’t,” the same jokester said. “I was there, I saw the fight. Six against one, one of ‘em was practically a giant, there was no way you were gonna win.”

            “You were there?” Code Black asked as the agent moved closer.

            “Yeah, I was the one in charge.”

            “I see…”

            BAM! The Spektrum decked the agent with an uppercut, the same kind used back in his first fight as Code Black.

            “Spektrum!” Catgirl shouted.

            “That’s for shooting live rounds at a school!” he shouted at the agent. “You’re damn lucky you didn’t hit anyone, or a bruised jaw would be the least I did to you!”

            Catgirl pulled The Spektrum away as Look-Out helped the agent up. Mr. Darklite quietly signaled for other agents to escort The Spektrum and Catgirl back upstairs to the hangar. Catgirl questioned The Spektrum the entire way.

            “Why did you do that?! Why did you punch him?! You didn’t need to punch him!”

            “He deserved it,” Code Black answered sternly.

            “What do you mean ‘deserved it’?”

            “You heard what I said in there. He shot live ammo on school grounds. MY school. He could’ve hit someone.”

            Catgirl felt the fury building. Whatever happened between him and the agent, it bothered The Spektrum greatly for him to hold on to it grudgingly. And even with what little she knew, she could understand why he’d be mad, so she pulled back.

            “Well… still no reason to hit him.”