Chapter 183: Capturing the DNAliens, Manny and Helen
Night hung heavy over the city's sewage treatment plant, the air thick with the suffocating stench of stagnant water and rust.
'Move! Faster! Don't let them catch you!'
A DNAlien sprinted frantically through the dimly lit corridors, its grotesque, misshapen feet slapping hard against the damp concrete. It threw a terrified glance over its shoulder, raising a tuning-fork-shaped energy blaster and firing blindly into the shadows as it ran.
It felt like being hunted by ghosts.
But ghosts didn't use high-tech energy weapons. At least, probably not.
A barrage of laser fire shot out from the darkness behind the creature. The DNAlien contorted its body, narrowly dodging the searing beams that scorched the brick walls, and pushed its legs to run even faster.
But panic bred mistakes. As it rounded a corner, its foot caught on a slick patch of raw sewage. The DNAlien lost its balance, crashing hard onto the unforgiving ground. The tuning-fork blaster skittered across the wet floor, sliding several feet out of reach.
Scrambling onto its hands and knees, the creature lunged for the weapon.
A precise laser blast struck the blaster before the DNAlien's fingers could even brush the handle. The weapon exploded into a shower of useless sparks and melted slag.
Defenseless, the DNAlien had no choice but to scramble upright and resume its desperate sprint.
A creeping sense of dread washed over it. It wasn't just running; it was being herded. Every time it tried to veer off course, a perfectly placed laser beam from the shadows forced it back onto a specific path.
Was it a trap? What was waiting ahead?
Another searing beam sliced through the air just inches from its face, violently pulling the DNAlien's thoughts back to the immediate danger. It shook its head, clearing the panic, and bolted toward the exit.
Dodging the relentless crossfire, the creature finally burst out of the sewage treatment plant and into the cool night air.
For a split second, it thought it had escaped.
Then, a pair of blinding headlights flicked on, cutting through the darkness like twin suns. The DNAlien instinctively threw its hands up to shield its sensitive eyes.
Before it could react, two rings of crackling purple energy shot out from the glare, snapping tightly around its wrists. The energy cuffs yanked backward with tremendous force, dragging the struggling creature toward the back of a heavy-duty truck.
The rear doors of the truck slammed open, revealing the cargo inside: a massive, bulky Null Void Projector.
It was an older model, heavily modified, humming with dormant power.
Watching the glowing aperture of the projector draw closer and closer, the DNAlien thrashed wildly, digging its heels into the dirt. But the mechanical pull was absolute. Its strength was nowhere near enough. With a final, distorted shriek, the creature was sucked directly into the Null Void Projector, vanishing without a trace.
The heavy side doors of the truck swung open. Two figures stepped out into the night.
One was a towering, four-armed male. The other was a sleek, wheeled female.
Yet, they weren't entirely alien. Beneath the extraterrestrial traits, their features bore the distinct, unmistakable traces of human DNA.
The male Tetramand hybrid lacked the sheer, overwhelming muscle mass of a pureblood Four Arms, his build leaner and more grounded. The female Kineceleran hybrid possessed a face that was distinctly human, framed by a sleek, aerodynamic helmet.
"Another one turned to dust."
Manny flashed a wide, jagged grin, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. He cracked two sets of knuckles simultaneously. He and his partner, Helen, had made it their life's mission to hunt down these alien freaks.
With their target eliminated, the two hybrids climbed back into the truck. The engine roared to life, and they peeled away from the treatment plant, disappearing into the city streets.
The truck cruised through the neon-lit arteries of the city, the towering skyscrapers reflecting off the windshield in a blur of passing colors.
"Did you see the look on that thing's face, Helen?" Manny leaned forward over the steering wheel, his voice booming with adrenaline. "That freak was practically scared to death before we even bagged it!"
He turned his head, expecting a high-five or at least a smirk. Instead, he found Helen staring blankly out the passenger window, her reflection sullen and distant against the glass.
"What's wrong with you?"
Even Manny, whose brain was mostly composed of brawn and combat instincts, could read the heavy atmosphere filling the cab.
"It's nothing..." Helen murmured, her voice barely rising above the hum of the engine. She pulled her knees up slightly. "I just... I really wish Pierce was still here."
Her shoulders slumped. Pierce was her brother. Her anchor.
But Pierce, as she had just pointed out, was no longer by their side.
Manny awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with one of his lower hands. He wanted to say something comforting. "Yeah. Me too. Me too."
Helen let out a dry, hollow laugh. "Yeah, right."
Manny gripped the steering wheel tighter, suddenly defensive. He knew he had stepped on a landmine. "What do you mean, 'yeah, right'? I just said I missed him!"
"You two did nothing but argue every single time we went on a mission!" Helen snapped, turning to glare at him. She lowered her voice, perfectly mimicking Manny's gruff, stubborn tone. "'Do it my way, Pierce! No, you're too slow, Manny!' You never listened to him!"
"Okay, fine, we argued a lot!" Manny raised two hands in surrender while keeping the truck steady with the other two. "But now he..."
He's already gone.
Manny swallowed the rest of the sentence. The words tasted like ash. He realized how badly he had messed up when Helen turned her face back to the window, the silence between them growing even colder.
"Look, Helen," Manny sighed, his tone softening slightly. "I just want to do what we set out to do. What we have to do. Eliminate all these alien freaks from the world. Make it safe."
Before Helen could respond, a sharp, rhythmic beeping echoed from the dashboard.
The tracking console lit up with four distinct red dots.
"Four more," Helen said, her sad demeanor instantly replaced by professional focus. "Right nearby."
"Where?" Manny demanded, slamming his foot on the gas.
"Turn around. They're back at the sewage treatment plant!"
Meanwhile, back at the sewage treatment plant.
Klein and his group had successfully "stealthily infiltrated" the facility. This mostly consisted of stepping over the unconscious bodies of the night guards they had casually knocked out moments prior.
"Are you absolutely sure this is the right place, great detective?" Kevin crossed his arms, his first instinct naturally being to mock Ben.
Ben rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look up from the glowing Plumber badge in his hand. "Please open your eyes and look at the coordinates. Can you go five minutes without talking nonsense? Just follow the blueprint."
Gwen frowned, scanning the empty, foul-smelling courtyard. Her hands glowed with a faint pink mana. "This doesn't make sense. The aliens should have run in here. The trail just stops."
Klein, who had been silently observing the perimeter with his hands tucked into his pockets, suddenly stopped. He crouched down near a puddle of murky water, his eyes locking onto a piece of scorched metal.
He picked it up. It was the melted remains of a tuning-fork energy gun.
"Looks like someone beat us to the punch," Klein said, his voice calm and detached. He tossed the broken weapon onto the dry concrete. "The aliens were dealt with before we even arrived."
High above them, crouched on the edge of a rusted catwalk, Manny peered through a thermal imaging scope. A parabolic listening device was strapped to his head, picking up every word of the group's conversation below.
If Helen had been the one operating the equipment, she would have immediately realized the significance of their words. She would have understood that these newcomers were actively tracking the aliens too, and that they already suspected someone else was operating in the area.
But Manny was not Helen. Manny was a creature whose muscles made decisions long before his brain even received the memo. Nuance was completely lost on him.
"What are they saying?" Helen whispered, creeping up behind him.
"Doesn't matter. They're targets. Eliminate them!" Manny growled. He unholstered a heavy blaster, his eyes locking onto the group below.
He quickly assessed the four targets. His gaze landed on Klein. The guy was just standing there, looking completely relaxed, hands in his pockets, not a single ounce of muscle tension. Plus, he was the handsomest one in the group.
In Manny's mind, pretty boys were always the weakest. He looked like the absolute easiest one to bully. He would take him out first.
'Man, I am such a tactical genius,' Manny thought, nodding to himself in deep satisfaction.
He raised his blaster, ready to fire.
Fortunately for Manny's continued survival, Helen grabbed his arm and yanked him back into the shadows.
Manny stumbled, looking at her in utter confusion. "What gives?"
Helen shook her head, her voice a tight whisper. "The Disintegrator still needs time to recharge its power cells. We can't take them all at once. Let's track them first. If we follow them, maybe they'll lead us straight to the main nest."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she turned around—only to see Manny already scaling the side of the brick wall, completely ignoring her plan, intent on dropping down right on top of them.
Halfway down the wall, Manny suddenly froze.
A bizarre, icy chill washed over his entire body. For some inexplicable reason, as he looked down at the relaxed, handsome teenager standing in the courtyard, Manny hallucinated his late great-grandmother floating in the night sky above, frantically waving at him to turn back.
Manny blinked hard, shaking his head to clear the absurd vision. He looked up at the sky again. Nothing but clouds.
Chalking it up to bad takeout, he continued his descent.
Reaching the edge of the lower rooftop, Manny drew four separate pistols with his four hands, striking an intimidating pose as he aimed down at the courtyard.
But the courtyard was empty.
Down below, Klein had casually glanced up at the exact spot Manny had been climbing just seconds prior. Finding nothing of interest, he simply turned and slid into the passenger seat of Kevin's green sports car.
A blur of black and blue zipped across the rooftop. Helen materialized behind Manny, grabbing his belt and dragging him several steps back from the ledge before he could pull the triggers.
"Oh, come on! They got away!" Manny groaned, lowering his guns in frustration as the sports car's engine revved.
"No. They won't escape," Helen said coolly.
She stepped to the edge of the roof, raising her right arm. She aimed a specialized wrist-mounted launcher directly at the departing vehicle.
With a soft click, a tiny, disc-shaped tracking dart shot through the air. It sailed perfectly through the night, slapping hard against the taillight of Kevin's sports car and sticking fast.
Manny and Helen's base of operations was hidden inside a spacious, abandoned building. The interior was stripped bare of normal furniture, replaced entirely by stacks of stolen and salvaged technological instruments, monitors, and weapon racks.
Helen sat slumped in a rolling chair, the glow of a handheld monitor illuminating her face.
She was watching "Pierce's Log"—a series of video diaries left behind by her brother.
On the small screen, Pierce was speaking directly to the camera, recounting their recent missions. Pierce looked far more human than either Manny or Helen, sporting a head of black and white hair. However, his face, arms, and shoulders were covered in sharp, hedgehog-like quills.
Looking at them side-by-side, it was entirely unclear how Pierce and Helen could possibly be siblings. They didn't share a single biological trait.
On the screen, Pierce's expression grew troubled.
"...So, we bagged another one today," Pierce's recorded voice echoed in the quiet room. "But there was something weird about it. One of the aliens we captured... it dropped something. A Plumber badge."
Helen leaned closer to the screen, her breath hitching.
"Manny said it was a fake," Pierce continued, rubbing the back of his neck carefully to avoid his own quills. "And yeah, I know it might be a fake. The bad guys steal tech all the time. But... what if it isn't? What if it's real?"
Pierce looked directly into the camera lens, his eyes filled with a haunting dread.
"If it was real... then we just eliminated real Plumbers. We pushed the good guys straight into the Disintegrator."
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