Chapter Text
Change of plans
A hooded figure sat in a dark room illuminated only by the display he was observing. It was the room's only light source. The light barely reached his chin, which looked human. The rest of his face remained hidden.
The sound of keys being pressed on a keyboard filled the room as the mysterious man typed.
"This is [DATA EXPUNGED] reporting on the status of the mission. Our main target, the last known Cerinian, escaped with her allies via a teleporter to an unknown location. However, we successfully destroyed planet Earth this time, and it is gone for good." The mystery man said this as he watched the footage of Earth's complete destruction.
The planet was completely surrounded by enormous Penetarox destroyer spaceships, each equipped with a massive laser cannon. The beam was so thick and powerful that just one was enough to reach the planet's core and set it ablaze.
"What about Doctor Pavier, the scientist?" A deep, robotic voice asked from the hidden speakers in the room.
"His fate remains unknown, my lord. Since his arrival at the Xavier facility, I have been unable to track him. The device implanted in his head simply stopped working. The same thing happened with the Cerinian." The man explained.
"Probably because he manipulated it. After all, it was his creation." The voice from the speakers added.
"Maybe they found out and removed it. If I had to guess, he most likely escaped with them, my lord. It seems like he ditched us once again." The mysterious man chuckled as if he had expected this outcome.
"I should have seen this coming!" The robotic voice said louder, indicating its rising anger. "At least they don't have a home to go back to." The voice exclaimed, quieter this time, after a small pause.
The hooded man leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin as he waited for new orders.
"Whatever! Forget about that blue, furry creature and her pesky friends. We have more important things to consider. You'll have to deal with it with the help of my soldiers." Said the robotic voice.
"My lord, with all due respect, I don't mean to question your decision, but I think our main focus should be on these five troublemakers until we are sure they won't bother us anymore. Doctor Pavier might be plotting against us right now, and his genius makes him very dangerous! I didn't give him such a high position at my former facility for nothing." The man explained to the voice with concern.
"So, what are we going to do about this? Do you have any suggestions? After all, you said that he and the Cerinian are impossible to track down now." The robotic voice objected.
"Yes, I can't track them down directly. But I have an idea where they might be. You see, the X-Avier facility has another secret-"
He was cut off by his leader, who was losing his patience.
"That one has already been taken care of!"
"Oh no, my lord! I'm not talking about the second part of the facility on Mars, which was used for mining businesses. I'm talking about a highly secret and dangerous base that only me and Doctor Pavier knew about. If we ignore it, it could pose a serious threat to us in the near future." The man said, sounding worried.
After a minute of silence, his lord finally replied.
"Speak up, human!"
Several hours had passed since Doctor Pavier perished. Blake stood in the hallway and looked out the glass wall into outer space. He had spent more than enough time in space. In fact, he had spent most of his life there, not counting the two-hundred-year cryosleep. Yet he had never had the chance to appreciate the beauty of the endless black void filled with countless stars, each slightly different in color and size.
He was only out in space for a mission or a battle, situations in which he was focused on something other than the wonders of outer space.
This time, however, he finally had the chance to enjoy the moment, although it wasn't perfect due to all the worries about what had happened before and the consequences that came with it.
Still, there was some good news. About twenty minutes ago, Blake received a call from Chris on his wrist communicator. Chris told Blake that they had finally managed to bypass all the strict security measures inside the small facility with the help of Bot. They were currently registering everyone into the facility's database so that, in the event of another lockdown, the turrets would not shoot at them.
Blake chuckled when a thought popped into his head. "We actually managed to invade a base that isn't ours and take everything for ourselves. I guess we are space pirates after all."
It was only a matter of time before they could wander around the small base and use everything as they pleased, as if it were their own. Maybe they'll even discover more secrets the scientists kept from them.
Still, they were all suffering from one major problem. Now that Doctor Pavier, the mastermind behind the plan, was dead, they didn't have a proper plan to follow. Their only hope was to find information about how Doctor Pavier's plan would have continued and how to defeat the Penetaroxes.
He snapped out of his trance as a figure approached him from behind. Once it got close enough, Blake could make out in the reflection of the glass that it was Krystal.
"You seem troubled. I could feel your thoughts consuming you from a floor below." She said this as she stopped next to him and joined him in watching outer space.
"Am I that obvious?" He asked, not looking at her.
"Yeah, well, you're like an open book to me." She responded.
"Anyway, how could I not? Our plan fell apart, and now we don't know what to do next." Blake replied with a hint of hopelessness.
She didn't respond because she didn't know how to, and because he was right. However, focusing only on the negative was only feeding the fire.
She took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder as they stared into the void together. His worry immediately began to fade away as if it had never existed, which seemed to do the trick. It was replaced instead with shyness, nervousness, and a warm, fuzzy feeling.
The cobalt vixen smiled slightly when she noticed his emotional shift, but she decided not to mention it. Blake had already endured enough teasing from her in such a short time, so she decided he certainly deserved a break.
"S-so, how is your family doing?" He suddenly asked with a stutter.
"They're asleep in the medbay, recovering." She told him, yawning afterward.
He examined her facial expression more closely in the glass's reflection. Her upper eyelids were barely holding themselves up, threatening to slam down after several days of sleep deprivation. She also had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was a mess. Needless to say, she looked tired.
"As long as we don't have any missions, you should take this opportunity to rest properly. I want you to be in tip-top shape for our next mission, whenever and whatever it may be." Blake said with noticeable authority.
Krystal sighed in annoyance.
"I know. I tried multiple times already, but I couldn't fall asleep. There's this stupid voice in my head that shows up for a second and then disappears. I wake up immediately after that." She explained.
"Nightmares?" Blake asked.
"Yeah... Sort of." She answered uncertainly.
"I can't really blame you. So many fucked-up things happened in such a short time." Blake said with a groan, straightening his posture and crossing his arms.
They stood there for a while, enjoying the view. Krystal slowly embraced him so carefully that he didn't seem to notice. He was lost in his thoughts.
"Blake?"
He didn't realize she had called his name right away.
"Mh?" He turned to her.
"I was wondering if you could-"
Blake's wrist communicator began beeping rapidly.
"Sorry." He apologized as he carefully extricated himself from her embrace and answered his wrist communicator.
"Yes?" The word escaped him with a hint of anger.
"Blake, I have huge news! Head up to the control center immediately!" Chris's voice blurted out a bit too loudly.
"All right, calm down, dude! I'm on my way." He hung up afterwards, groaning.
"I have to go. Chris needs me, and it seems like my sense of duty has finally kicked in."
"Okay, I guess I'll try to fall asleep again." The blue vixen said in a tired voice.
"Yeah, you do that. Sweet dreams, Krystal." Blake patted her on the shoulder one last time before walking off through the hallway, leaving her alone. The sound of his metallic combat boots meeting the metallic floor faded in the distance with each step he took.
She let out a tired sigh as she wandered over to the nearest bench and sat down.
"I can't believe I almost asked him to sleep with me." She said quietly to herself.
It didn't take long for her to become too tired and for her eyelids to slowly shut. But before she could reach the deep sleep she had tried to achieve several times, a voice in her head stopped her.
"You blue mutt! You ruined my plan!" The voice in her head exclaimed angrily.
Her eyes widened, and she jumped up. There it was again: that voice. It sounded exactly like Doctor Pavier.
"Grrr! Get out of my head, you traitor!" She growled angrily, pulling on her hair with both hands.
A ding sounded as the elevator arrived at the top floor, where a single circular control room was located. The doors opened with a hiss, and Blake stepped inside for the first time. The bulletproof and laserproof walls provided a breathtaking view of space and the asteroid's surface, where the facility was hidden below.
Several rows of consoles lined the room, each with colorful, glowing buttons that served various functions for the entire facility. Chris sat in front of the main console, which had several large monitors arranged above it. The main console was placed in the center of the room, indicating its importance compared to the others where normal workers presumably used to work. Bot accompanied Chris on a different console next to him. They were both busy typing on the keyboard and pushing certain buttons.
"All right, what got you so worked up?" Blake asked curiously as he approached him from behind.
"Check this out." Chris exclaimed, his disbelief evident, as he typed something on the keyboard. After he finished, a recorded message played in the control center.
"This is Doctor Pavier. If you are hearing this recorded message, then I am dead. Most likely, I've been killed." The scientist said in the recorded message. He pronounced the last word with venom.
Blake crossed his arms and continued listening. Something about this recording felt off.
"Yes, you know exactly who and what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a blue-furred mutt, two failed super-soldier experiments, and a piss-yellow pile of scrap!"
Both of Blake's eyebrows rose in surprise as the scientist mentioned them all. His attention was now fully on the message.
"You ruined my plan! Without it, the chances of taking down the Penetarox Empire are slim to none!" There was a brief pause as Doctor Pavier took a deep breath before continuing his recording.
"Luckily for you, a smart and dedicated scientist like me always has a plan B. You see, before I made this recording, I felt that something like this might happen." He chuckled like an insane person afterwards.
"But enough of my nonsense. Time is short and shouldn't be wasted. Attached to this message are multiple files with clear instructions on how to carry out the plan. There are also blueprints of the facility and its contents that you may find useful."
He paused before continuing.
"Oh, and one last thing: Screw all of you! I hate you all, but I hate the Penetaroxes even more. Make my death count, you idiots! End of recording..."
"..."
The entire control center fell silent, except for the occasional whirring and beeping of computers in the background.
"That was...something." Blake stated. It was clear that he hadn't expected such an outcome.
"Yeah, so what now? Do you think we should trust his plan? Because we don't really have any other options." Chris said with concern.
"I don't know. I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a peek inside." Blake scratched the back of his head.
"I suggest we take a look at these blueprints first and familiarize ourselves with the facility's system before jumping to conclusions." Blake suggested.
"Yeah, good point. I took a peek inside, and you should've been there to see my reaction. I was losing my shit." Chris said as he typed away on the keyboard.
"Take a look at this." The display image changed to a rotating, three-dimensional asteroid. X-rays showed the inside of the facility with all of the apartments.
"This is where we are inside right now. The facility wasn't built inside the asteroid, the asteroid itself is the facility. It was designed and built that way." Chris explained.
"Wait, so the asteroid is actually fake?" Blake asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. The entire surface is covered by an activatable plasma deflector shield. Once activated, nothing can pierce through. Not bullets, not lasers, and not even plasma itself. There are also dozens of hidden laser turrets below the surface, and the facility is capable of hyperspace travel. In case shit hits the fan, we can always defend ourselves and bolt out of there." Chris continued to explain.
"Well, that's good news, at least." Blake said, relaxing his shoulders a bit more from the heavy lifting of his worries.
"I know, right? But that's not all! Bot!" Chris called out.
Bot's torso rotated ninety degrees, turning its entire upper body to face Chris.
"Explain him the fan-fuck-tastic news!" Chris commanded.
"Yes, sir!"
Bot's torso quickly rotated in Blake's direction.
"A couple of minutes ago, I scanned the entire facility and calibrated everything. Here are the most important resolutions: There are two hundred GG-3884-A specimens in the storage area and two Xeviour space fighters in the hangar. Both are the latest models. We also have a fully operational Cosmic Beam Eraser hidden and locked underground and ready to be used at full capacity. Additionally, we have a small X-Avier teleporter in a teleportation lab."
"Holy shit!" Blake exclaimed with disbelief.
"Not bad, huh?" Chris said with a shit-eating grin.
"Not bad? Dude! We hit the mother load!" Blake called out.
"Ha! I had the same thought when I opened those files." Chris responded with a laugh.
"One of these bad boy crystals is enough to power anything eternally, and we have two hundred of them! At this rate, we could use them as ammunition against the Penefucks!"
"That's actually not a bad idea. Storing too many of those fragile, unstable energy crystals in one place is basically suicide. Imagine if something happened and one of them exploded. That would cause a chain reaction, and the whole facility would be reduced into nothingness." Chris warned.
Blake's expression immediately changed from excitement to worry.
"What's with the face?" Chris asked. His excitement died down, too.
"..."
"Blake?"
Blake faced Chris with a serious look.
"Bot said there were two Xeviour fighters, which means this facility was most likely operated by two people. The fact that there are only two dorm rooms backs this up." Blake pointed out.
"So, you think Pavier was working with someone else here?" Chris asked.
Blake balled his hands into fists.
"I'd bet my life on that! If I had to guess, I'd say it's the head of the X-Avier facility himself. That bastard probably works for the Penetarox Empire as well. Is there any information to back this up?"
"Negative, sir. I scanned all the stored data inside the facility and found no trace of a second individual." Bot confirmed.
"Maybe he isn't even alive. Or maybe he tampered with the system to cover his tracks." Chris theorized.
"I don't know. It's just... Something doesn't feel right." Blake said with uncertainty.
"Yeah, I have the same feeling. Let's take a couple of hours to rest, wait for the Cerinians in the medbay to wake up, and wait for Krystal to finish resting. Then, we'll regroup here and look at the plan Pavier prepared for us together." Chris recommended.
"All right, I guess I'll go back to whatever I was doing and let boredom consume me." Blake turned around and approached the elevator, which was waiting for him with its doors open.
"Do you mean going back to your stargazing date with your girlfriend?"
Blake stopped and turned around to face Chris, who had a smug look on his face.
"Okay, first of all, it wasn't a date." He said, arms crossed.
"Second of all, she is not my girlfriend!" He said, a bit more loudly and with clenched teeth.
"And lastly, how the hell did you know?" He asked curiously.
"Cams." Chris stated boldly.
"You were spying on us the whole fucking time!?" Blake, clearly pissed off now, approached him with balled fists.
Chris held both hands up in defense.
"Relaaaax, man. I'm just messing with you. But I gotta admit, Bot and I enjoyed your romantic show with Krystal." He answered with a chuckle.
"Oh, Bot too? Oh... Oh! I get it now! I guess that makes you a robosexual!" Blake pointed his finger at Chris.
"A what, now?" Chris asked, laughing.
"And a faggot, too!" Blake added right away.
"Bot and I haven't done anything besides watch you. How does that make me gay?" Chris questioned Blake's logic.
"I'm a robot. I don't have a gender." Bot clarified.
"Yeah, no shit! But you have a masculine appearance and a male voice box." Blake said.
Bot's eyes lit up pink, and two inflatable pillows popped out of its chest plate.
"Are you sure about this, honey?" The golden robot asked, now speaking in a robotic female voice.
"I'm out of here! Have fun, you two."
After Blake entered the elevator, the doors closed with a hiss, leaving Chris and Bot alone in the control center. They stared at each other for a minute or two.
"I, uh... I didn't know you could do that." Chris said, completely surprised.
"Me neither." Bot said, still in that feminine voice.
Blake returned to the hallway where he used to gaze at the black void filled with stars. There, he spotted Krystal fast asleep on a bench. She was in such an uncomfortable position that Blake wondered how she could even fall asleep like that.
Blake was not a doctor. In fact, he didn't even know how to properly bandage someone. But there was one thing he was certain about. A horrible sleep position like that ruins everyone's back.
He sighed and shook his head as he walked up to her.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to do this." He thought to himself.
"Wait..."
He looked up at the ceiling and spotted the camera through which Chris had been spying on him and Krystal the whole time. His eyes charged with power and glowed brighter. He released a small laser beam that obliterated the camera in an instant. Now, only a couple of sparking wires with black burn marks were left hanging from the ceiling.
"Much better."
He picked her up bridal style as gently as possible to avoid waking her up. She stirred briefly, but immediately felt much more comfortable. Her sleep deepened.
Blake walked down the hallway to the lounge area. On his way, he destroyed every camera he came across.
"You should have thought twice before spying on us." Blake thought.
Once he arrived at the lounge area, he picked a sofa and walked towards it. He gently set her down. The leather squeaked as her weight sank into it. He stared at her for a minute.
She looked so peaceful in her sleep. It was as if the recent nightmarish events had never happened and it was just a normal day in her life. It was supposed to be that way, but it wasn't.
He couldn't take his eyes off of her. They were locked in. Blake had just realized how beautiful she really was. It was the most addictive kind of eye candy. While looking at her sleeping form, a feeling he rarely felt overcame him. It was satisfaction, but also something else.
He sat down beside her and reached out to her. He didn't know what he was doing. It was as if his hand had a mind of its own. It finally reached her ears, and he began to stroke them. The fur brushing against his palm felt incredibly fluffy and warm.
"Damn it, Blake, pull yourself together! What the fuck are you doing!?" His mind screamed at him.
He quickly pulled his hand back, still feeling the warmth in his palm.
"I should check out the hangar. I'd better get out of here before she wakes up." He thought, getting up.
As soon as he stood up, a blue-furred hand grabbed his and pulled him back down.
"Please stay..." Her words echoed through his mind.
She wrapped both of her hands around him from behind and pulled him closer. Blake was so tense and nervous that he couldn't properly process what was happening. He simply let her do whatever she wanted.
He was now lying next to her, facing up. Her muzzle was buried in his neck. She rested one arm on top of his chest, and one of her legs slipped between his. Her tail, softer than any pillow, covered them both a little.
All he could feel at the moment was warmth, and he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. If only his two hundred years in cryosleep had been this luxurious. Then again, the two-hundred-year sleep felt like only a fraction of a second.
He wondered if he would dream this time. It would be his first memory of actual sleep. He didn't count cryosleep, mainly because he was heavily drugged before his body was frozen, putting his whole life on pause. This continued until he was awakened. It was crazy to think that someone's life could be treated like a video game or any sort of computer program that could be put on pause.
Blake didn't realize it, but his eyelids began to feel heavier before shutting. The red, glowing irises behind them slowly dimmed until they lost their light and turned gray.
Blake was now asleep.