To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 31

We were all excited when we reached the control room, the mercs because they thought they were getting paid and me because I had finally changed the fate of a fictional world. It had taken ten years to do so but I was thrilled about it.

Unfortunately, John Philips was not.

As soon as we entered the room he whirled toward us with a red face and bulging eyes and pointed to one of the computer screens, his hands shaking. "A piece of the station fell off a few minutes ago."

"What?" Ace ran forward to investigate and immediately started searching the security cameras to see where the damage was done. "...I have to go take a look. Will you guys be fine on your own?" he asked as he ran toward the door, a gun in one hand and a tool box in the other.

"Wait." Derek grabbed his arm as he passed. "Take some of the mercs with you. There could still be aliens hiding in there."

Ace shrugged and barely paid attention to Maddox and Jala as they joined him. They were far from happy about completing yet another escort mission.

Once they were gone, John spoke up again. "And another thing! This entire ship is falling apart! I refuse to stay here any longer and demand I be taken back to Manica. The AI says there's already a ship waiting."

I could tell my husband was doing all he could not to roll his eyes. "Fine. Zora will escort you to the hangar since you obviously won't go alone." He glanced at Zora to verify, who nodded with a frown on her face.

"Good." Derek was about to head toward the computers when his boss spoke up once more.

"It seems unfair that Ace gets two people to escort him while I only get one."

Geez. Was this guy a two year old?

Rolling my eyes on purpose, since my husband couldn't, I stepped forward and pulled out my pistol. "Fine. I'll come too." I shot Derek an apologetic look, which he returned, before following the wimp out of the control room, my moment of victory forgotten.

◑○★☆●◐

The hangar looked the same. Nothing had shifted other than one, small ship which Di must have moved. It was sitting on the edge of the force field leading out into space.

As I walked toward it, keeping an eye out for any aliens, though I was sure the removal of the sphere had gotten rid of any remaining ones, I glanced back at Zora and John, who were standing side by side behind me.

I was just within touching distance of the tiny, silver ship built for two when I heard Zora whisper something to my husband's boss.

"Shoot the camera in the far left corner," she told him, her order so quiet that I had to strain to listen. It didn't fully register in my brain until John picked up the small gun she had handed him, looked at the black camera hanging off the ceiling, and shot at it. His first two shots missed but the third cracked the screen, causing it to power down.

"Hmm?" I threw my hands up in confusion as Zora approached me. "What are you doing?"

"This guy's nuts," she whispered, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from John, who was now looking at us with mounds of confusion on his face.

I was even more baffled. "You know I could hear you befo—" My ears twitched when a heard a quiet snap sound from my wrist. I looked down and gasped when I realized that Zora had attached a small, metal bracelet, similar to a thick hand cuff, to my right wrist. "What are you doing?"

The black haired woman smirked, her eyes betraying a darkness I had failed to notice before, and started to push me toward the force field. Her mouth opened in a sneer and she only stopped moving when my back was half an inch from the only thing keeping us inside the station.