Van Terra II: Overdrive [PREVIEW]

Chapter Twenty-Four ~ A Cyborg, a Pop Star, and a Pirate Walk Into a Bar

South Siren, as it turned out, had no intention of leaving the group alone.

Jasper and the others made it back into the city proper and headed for their motel. They were a couple of blocks away when someone called out to them from an alley.

"Hey!" The woman waving at them had the hood of her coat pulled over her head. Sunglasses hid her eyes.

She also had Sarena Trench's voice.

The hood came down as the five entered the alley, revealing Sarena Trench's dark brown hair.

"Sarena Trench?" Thea asked incredulously. "What are you doing out here?"

Oh boy. Jasper folded her arms. "Here we go."

"Skybreaker's tougher than I expected." Sarena took off her sunglasses and tossed them to the ground. Weird move. "I don't think any one villain will be able to take them on alone."

The wig came off. Sarena's real hair, short and white, fell to her chin. Her eyes began to glow.

"I want to work with you," Sarena said.

"South Siren?" Jax blurted.

Holly folded her arms. "Knew it."

"What?" Jasper shot Holly an incredulous look. "You said you didn't believe me when I told you they were the same person!"

"Of course I believed you! I was just messing with you."

"Yeah, it's not actually that surprising," Thea seconded.

"Oh, for the love of—" Jasper cut herself off with a sigh. Now wasn't the time. She turned to Sarena. "I don't know. I'm very busy. Besides, I think you're the one Skybreaker's more invested in, with everything that happened at the Star Conquerors set. It sounds like a personal problem."

"You don't know that for sure!" The glow faded from Sarena's eyes as she flung out her arms. "We have no idea what their motivation is. You could be in just as much danger as I am."

Jasper shrugged. "Yeah, but like I said, I'm busy. I tend to deal with threats to my life when they actually become threats."

"Okay, well, there's more," Sarena said. "Remember those warps you were freaking out about?"

"Hey, I wasn't the only one 'freaking out.'" Jasper's eyes narrowed as she made quotes in the air with her hands. "We all could have been killed on Iros."

"Okay, okay, you're right. They're dangerous," Sarena conceded. "And another one just opened up here in the Janus System. I know where it is."

Jasper's stomach turned. "You do?"

Sarena nodded. "And so do a few gangs and villains. They're fighting for control of it right now. If they know Starr's after the warps, they might try to sell the location to him or trade it for a favor."

"Other people know Starr's after the spacetime warps?" Grace asked incredulously. "How?" She looked at Jasper, her eyes wide.

Jasper's jaw clenched. "We're not the only people who know how to get info." And in this case, it sounded like Starr was going to benefit from criminals knowing what he was after. Glancing at Sarena, she asked, "Where's the warp?"

"That's where we have a slight problem," Sarena said. "It's near Radia."

Great. Radia had no spaceports. The nearest ship warp was pretty far, too. Jasper rubbed her chin. "We'll have to fly there in some sort of...spaceship."

"Brilliant observation, Van Terra." Sarena put her hands on her hips. "I have the money to get us a good ship, but the arrangements will take a few days, especially if we want to lay low—"