I considered lunging to grab the pistol and disarm Alia, but Rill stood behind her like a stone block, his strong hands ready to squeeze the life out of me if I merely clenched my fists. This scared me enough to cancel my plan.
Agent Nebula, on the other hand, wasn't going to give up without a fight. She didn't make it apparent, but she was preparing for a suprise attack. Alia was opening her mouth to say something (probably taunt us) when Nebula attacked. She leaped forward, knocking the gun out of Alia's hand. She tried to crawl past Nebula to retrieve the weapon, but Agent Nebula flipped her on her back and grabbed the gun.
Unbeknownst to Nebula, Leonid also had a pistol and pulled it just in time to knock out Nebula's gun. Leonid was about to shoot when Nebula ducked, dodging the bullet. It was headed straight for me and I didn't want to die in the crossfire, so I took cover behind the crate in which I previously hid.
The bullet ricocheted off the wall and bashed into one of the screens, which detatched itself from the array and landed on the floor, shattering the monitor. Leonid fired again shortly after, piercing a wire. Sparks flew and all the screens turned black. Luckily, I was safe. At least from him.
Nebula plotted a counterattack, but before she could commence it, Rill rushed over to assist Leonid, who held her at gunpoint. Rill grabbed Nebula by her braid and lifted her up into the air. Ouch.
Leonid casually flipped the crate behind which I hid. Rill grabbed me too, by my blouse's hood. Now, we were both captured and failed to evade the Perseids.
- Easy there, traitors... - Leonid still held us at gunpoint.
Rill was carrying us somewhere, but he had to be careful not to electrocute himself with the sparking wire. Under Leonid's supervision, Rill Gomana brought us out of the storage room. Alia got up and followed the two other evildoers.
If Nebula's braid could sting like a real scorpion tail, she'd do it now, as Rill holding her by it caused her a great deal of pain. Rill didn't care in the slightest, as he found the struggle amusing.
The Perseids brought us to a different armoured door, which we didn't notice before. Behind the door was a small hallway with a reinforced glass window on my right. The window showed us a completely empty room, seemingly made with imprisoning in mind. This made sense, considering how the submarine was manufactured by the Science and Containment Centre.
Next to the window was a door, which Leonid opened. Rill nonchalantly threw us into the room and Leonid locked the door before we could even get up.
Nebula wasn't going to accept this, as she banged on the glass, hoping to shatter it. She didn't pull out any weapons or tools, at least not yet, as to not tip off Leonid, who may decide to properly search and disarm us. Or her, because I don't have any weapons on me, unless my smartphone counts.
I hoped to use it to call Arika or any other ally, but it seems like Leonid thought about that in advance. Alia hid a peculiar device resembling a landmine in her pocket. She dropped it onto the floor, which activated the weapon. It didn't hurt anyone, neither us nor the Perseids. I deduced that it was an EMP of some kind, meant to fry our electronics and cut us off from the outside world.
To fact-check my suspicions, I whipped up my smartphone and to my dissapointment, I discovered that I was right. The EMP had a high frequency but a short range, as any wider range would probably damage something vital aboard the submarine. This EMP seemed to only target the things in our room.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSUWvz6Pbj
- Have fun going insane - Alia taunted us.
- Wait! - I suddenly came up with an idea. Agent Nebula looked at me with uncertainty, unsure what to expect from me.
Alia didn't bother to stick around as she considered her job done, but Leonid stopped her.
- Why wait? You wanted to betray us, those who can fix what you broke. You also double-crossed your beloved friends, since they're working with us to get us closer and closer to the end of our peaceful contract. But you were suspecting us and had to break away to see if we were plotting something. What would we be planning, stuck on a submarine with you, in the middle of a deadly subsurface ocean? - Leonid ranted.
- There was no reason for you to believe that we'll backstab you. It's in our best interest to keep you around so that we can get away scot-free, but since you've betrayed us, it's best if you think through what you did, in silence - Alia added.
- We know something you don't about Icebreaker-5! - I lied, but I wanted to trick them into releasing us.
- What is this piece of knowledge you didn't dare to share with us? - Leonid asked, seemingly intrigued. He caught my bait.
- There's an exotic matter reactor aboard, contrary to what Nigel's been whining about. It can be used to open small but stabilized wormholes that objects can be teleported through. Who knows, if we repair the craft, we may generate larger wormholes that can bring people around! Imagine what you can do with that! - this was an obvious hoax, but I tried my best to sound convincing.
- Wow! - Rill believed me.
- Is this true? - Leonid turned to Nebula for confirmation.
- Yes. That's why the Suspicious Activity Detector has a built-in exotic matter flux receptor, in case the downed spacecraft cooed gravitational waves. Also, why would I spend so much time piecing together this mystery if what Captain Nigel was saying was true? - Agent Nebula played along. As it turned out, she was a good actress and sounded truthful.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7J3b9XgQqD
As far as I'm concerned, that receptor was added "just in case", but Leonid seemed to actually believe us, having dismantled the Suspicious Activity Detector during the Perseids' escape.
- We have a general idea of how to get the thing up and running, but we need to be there to do it - I bargained.
- We'll think about it - Leonid left us behind and so did Rill and Alia.
- Nice thinking, kid - Nebula congratulated me, albeit quietly.
- I think he's convinced, but I doubt he'll want to keep us around for too long - I shared my suspicions.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXCwTFw5dk
- I think that they're planning to ditch us anyway. They're evil and as soon as they find an escape route, I bet they'll try to destroy us - Nebula predicted - Saying that you're not planning anything villainous instantly makes you suspicious. They must have something planned.
- Yes, I think so too - I whispered.
We waited for a bit, not doing much as to not catch the Perseids' attention. Eventually, Leonid came back alone.
- Fine, you can come, but get to it as soon as you leave this room. We're going to meet Icebreaker-5 very soon - he announced.
ns216.73.216.187da2
and then Add to home screen.