Chapter 5

Through the windows a small, innocuous-looking remote-control helicopter toy flew into the warehouse. Lance felt more confused and upset then relieved. This had been Ilana's foolproof diversion to get them out of here and get Neil and Mike in jail? Kristin suddenly grabbed and send him down to the floor.

"I think we've been down here long enough," Lance protested.

"Crawl with me and breathe into your shirt," she ordered. "Didn't you see the canister attached to the toy's legs?" Lance obeyed, beginning question his autonomy in life. Was taking or leaving orders all he had going for him?

Once they were out, Kristin shut the door behind them. "We might as well get a head start on the gas," she said. "Any chance you remembered where you parked?"

"Uh…I didn't really come up with this whole plan," Lance admitted sheepishly. "I'm better with attack strategies."

"Never mind, the gas is seeping through the broken windows!" Kristin cried, grabbing Lance by the arm and running. But Lance was hesitant, unsure of where he was even going. As they ran, the helicopter suddenly emerged from the warehouse; the gas released had apparently been colorless but was doing its job quite well, as when they turned around to see the helicopter heading toward them they could see several unconscious figures in the building.

And it seemed that just by looking at them, Lance was growing drowsy as well…

. . . . .

Ilana appeared in the warehouse with her Corus outfit, scanning the building with her robot's built-in headlight. One person was returning to consciousness.

"Thank you for permitting me to collect a few samples," Octus told her. He was breaking off parts of his gel into bubbles, encasing pockets of air into them. Electrocuting the bubbles made them glow a whitish blue color.

"Fascinating!" he cried. "I'm pleased we were able to use Earth's own atmospheric gases against its malevolent inhabitants!" A voice came over from Ilana's watch armor.

"I was going to use nitrous oxide," Devon insisted.

"And I'm glad you didn't," Ilana added. "These people don't need any more psychological damage. They need help."

"Aw, come on, Ilana! They would have just had the giggles, that's all!"

"I find Xenon much more fascinating than this so-called 'laughing gas'," Octus said.

"What I find fascinating is where you got it from," Devon said. "I had all of this laughing gas stored away that I got from…deals, and you just had some Xenon all ready to go! Typical nerd, wanting to use the boring gas."

"If you would like an example of boring gas," Octus countered, "Try Helium. It is obscenely dull and atomically stable."

"Are you kidding, man? Helium inflates balloons and makes your voice high-pitched! You gotta try it sometime!"

"Government facilities tend to house a lot of stuff, you know," Ilana pointed out, not caring about the noble gas debate. She could barely even remember them from class.

"Government facilities? Gimme a break. How many street thugs did you two have to tangle with?"

"You never question the legitimacy of Gregory's rocket construction, or Mark's satellite construction," Ilana pointed out. "How do two teenage boys create a space-worthy vessel in such a short time?"

"They said they went to space camp a ton of times," Devon fumbled. "I mean, if you've got a good propulsion system and you know your stuff, I guess you can make a scientific breakthrough."

"If they can do implausible things, then so can we," Octus said.

"Whatever. Just get Kristin and Lance out of there and get your stupid Xenon. I tipped the cops off for you."

"Ok, just need one person…ah!" Ilana declared. She singled out an Asian girl who she had seen with Mike, prompting Octus to lift her into his main gel body.

"I'll isolate her from the Xenon," he promised. "But who is she?"

"Mike's girlfriend," Ilana said. "I can recall seeing her with him during Lance's driving fiasco. I don't think she's technically done anything wrong."

"Shirley? She's still with Mike?" Devon exclaimed. "He probably never let her go, did he? She's innocent, trust me. Take her with you and get her out of this."

"That's what I had intended to do!" Ilana reminded him.

"Oh. Thanks," Devon muttered. "And if you ever need me, just gimme a call."

"We would be happy to employ your services," Octus said. "But we must ask that you keep our mechanized counterparts a secret. The…United States government can't afford to have this information leaked until an opportune time in the future."

"I hear you. Devon out!" Once Devon had finally ceased communication, Ilana and Octus felt relief.

"You were quite wise to covertly ally with him," Octus told her. "Devon might be a useful asset, if not a serious liability."

"Yeah, one more favor and he'll ask for a date," Ilana sighed. "I should really start trying to be more introverted like Lance and not complicate my life on Earth."

"Ironic, considering our prior situation," Octus remarked.

. . . . .

Lance awoke to find himself back home, with Kristin waiting for him and giving him a hug.

"I'm free!" she cried, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Lance sat up and found that Octus and Ilana were also standing overhead.

Better cover their tracks.

"Well, we're out!" Lance said to Kristin with a smile, getting up from the couch he had been lying on and embracing her. "I told you you just had to trust me."

"Yeah, and trusting me nearly messed it all up," Kristin recalled. "If we had just run out there who knows if your family would have been able to find us? And, well, I guess Devon was helpful, too."

"Did he make the helicopter and the gas?" Lance asked.

"The toy is courtesy of some store, and the gas…well, I'm guessing it was him," she decided. "Devon was always keen with that kind of stuff. I guess he just watched a lot of shows or something."

"Who is he, anyway?" Lance asked her. "How did you two even meet?"

"Oh, him? Don't worry about him," Kristin said. "He kept needing tons of stuff. Drugs, booze…drugs that most of Neil's clients didn't ask for, hardware, tons of stuff that seemed like junk…frankly, I don't know what it was all for. He used to get what he wanted from Mike's group, but then he fell out of favor with them when he wanted to rescue Mike's girlfriend. Mike wrecked him and his stuff pretty good. And then when he started going out with me, I…well, I had hoped he was man enough to get me out of there. He failed, and Neil punished him even worse with a knife and a lit cigarette."

"Neil singed off his eyebrows?" Lance asked. Kristin shook her head.

"Forcibly plucked, then singed the tissue."

"He said it was from a bad chemistry experiment!" Ilana whispered to Octus, who had no visible reaction.

"Then he just ran away," Kristin muttered. "Barely even put up a fight. Did nothing to hurt Neil. I was stuck with him up until you came along." Lance was about to question the validity of Devon's cowardice when she added, "But that's all over now. I can finally go straight and live the way I want to! I think I'll keep the edgy look, though. I kind of like it."

"Fine with me!" Lance said, who personally didn't care about such a subject. Ilana had some thoughts but kept her judgment to herself.

"Now, to celebrate," Kristin declared, turning to Octus (who had by now reverted to his Mr. Lunis hologram) and Ilana, "I just gotta make a phone call." She went into the kitchen for privacy while the Lunis family stayed in the living room. Lance looked guiltily at his allies.

"I am so, so sorry, guys," he said. "I had no idea she had this much baggage with Neil and everything. She seemed kind of aloof, not really wanting to fit in, a bit of a drifter…"

"Your type?" Ilana suggested. Lance blushed and nodded.

"I…it was nice when she was just a girl who I could hang out with, to sort of, you know, get away from you guys a bit."

"What's wrong with us?" Octus asked.

"Nothing! I just…needed my own personal life. But what with how things have been with her...I don't think she's a helpful to the mission." Ilana rolled her eyes.

"What?" Lance asked. She went over to him and affectionately placed a hand on his shoulder.

"This isn't just about me, or the mission, or Galaluna," she said. "I know that things are crazy, but we can have personal lives. I think my father—and yours—would be glad to know that you've found someone special. In light of everything we have to do, it may not last forever. But don't you think we should just not feel like everything is a mission all the time—even if it's just for a little while?"

"Indeed," Octus concurred. "There is a time for everything. Right now, your stress levels have been immense. You've lost a friend, and we did not think it would be optimal for you to lose a girlfriend as well. We helped you because that is simply a common practice of family units throughout the galaxy."

"What he's saying is, we've got your back, just like you have ours," Ilana finished with a warm smile. Kristin returned to the living room just then.

"This is going to be great!" Kristin practically squealed to Lance. "My folks have free time, so you can finally meet them!"

"Your parents?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, I figured the least I could do was offer you into my home—again—and have dinner with my parents. They're nice people, I won't let them embarrass me much. It's about time they knew you, after all."

"Uh…let me talk to the others for a sec," Lance said. Turning to Ilana and Octus, Lance quietly asked, "Still have my back?"

"Certainly!" Ilana said. "But you really want us to go with you? This is kind of just for you."

"Yeah, but you were the ones that came up with the whole thing. You deserve a good meal, too," Lance replied.

"Is there any way your parents can provide dinner for 6?" Octus asked. "We would like to come as well."

"Even better!" Kristin cried. "That way it won't be awkward for anyone!"

So the Lunises and Kristin loaded themselves up in Octus' van for their edible comforts.

. . . . .

Mike rubbed his eyes and found himself surrounded. On three sides, tough guys. And on the fourth…

"What, no!" Mike cried, realizing where he was. "Where's my dad? Can I get my phone call?"

"Looks like that's everybody," another ruffian muttered. "Everybody except Neil."

"What, he's not here?" Mike asked. The other delinquent shook his head.

"No sign of him in the other cells. Thought you had done him in."

"No way, man!" Mike protested. "I don't kill nobody!" So he tried to think of who would.

. . . . .

Neil awoke to found himself in the woods, far from civilization and shelter.

"You're awake. That's good," muttered a familiar voice. "I gave your pistol to the cops. You could try running, but what's the point?"

Neil realized what was going on. He recalled hurting Devon badly, how he had told him he wasn't a real man, how Kristin was his for as long as he saw fit to have her, how Kristin had screamed and protested his treatment of him, how he had done his best to keep her quiet afterwards, binding himself to her and giving her a reason to do the same to other guys until more fresh blood was around for the gang…

For the first time in his life Neil was afraid. Standing up, he heard the sound of a gun loading.

"This is payback, Neil."

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this! I had originally ended the story with Lance and Kristin breaking up over all of the drama, but I decided this ending would suffice more. No more having to deal with Neil ;)

And, as I had said, I added Devon into the plot this time…maybe a bit too strongly, but I guess I can do what I want. I'm just worried I'm letting the plot get taken over by OCs! XD

I still have no idea whether the fans prefer Ilanca or…Kristance, as I assume the ship is named. Heck, I myself have no idea what to do about that. But I've got 20 more episodes, so I've got plenty of time!

Also, I've been accepted into that creative writing program! So in a few weeks I might have to do that more. I'll still be around here, of course, but I don't think I can show you anything that's "original", due to the nature of this site.