DESTROY ALL HUMANS: INTO THE VOID

FIVE

Crypto quickly dashed out of the palace with Charles right behind him, lugging Pox on one shoulder. The mother ship was quicker though. It blasted the cannons and sent a barrage of missiles into the summer palace. The palace crumbled as the missiles shot right through it and exploded every last bit. Crypto watched in shock as everything seemed to go away at once. A loud ringing reverberated in his ears and sent chills down his spine and throughout his body.

Crypto looked at his feet. There was Pox, dazed and unconscious as always, he had been tossed there. He looked at the palace as everything fell over the platform and crashed into other asteroids. Charles was no where to be found however. Crypto looked around him and only saw gunfire and explosions, no sign of any other life form. Charles was gone.

Crypto's eyes suddenly turned from anger to sadness. There was no where to hide, no way to save the city, no way to win... He grabbed Pox and slung him over his shoulder, his face showing no emotion whatsoever. The cockpit to the saucer opened and Crypto placed Pox in the passenger seat. Crypto threw himself into the driver's seat and started it up. The saucer shot into the air while the last of the palace debris barely missed the rear.

Magnus must be crazy, Crypto thought. If he can just attack a city for no reason, there must be one. The saucer steered away outside of the city limits and entered the depths of space. Crypto glimpsed back to the last of the city as the clouds of smoke engulfed it. And then they entered the Furon atmosphere.

Once they were in Illumopolis, Crypto rushed Pox to a hospital, hoping the damage and knockouts he's had hadn't have hurt him too much. He ran inside the hospital and placed Pox in a chair in the waiting lounge. Pox slowly fell over and was on the floor before Crypto realized. "Help him please." The doctors rushed him into a wheelchair and steered him into a room. Crypto couldn't think straight. The thought of losing his mentor-no, not his mentor, his best friend, was unthinkable.

The sun slowly descended on Illumopolis and casted a bright orange onto buildings and sidewalks. Crypto sat in the waiting lounge of the hospital and stared outside at the sun. There was a better view from the Fourth Ring, but that was gone now. Magnus wanted war, and now he's got one. His thoughts were interrupted by loud stomps through the hallways. Orthoneises walled into the lounge with the rest of the council.

"Crypto! What happened? Where's Pox?!" he yelled. "POX! Is in medical care right now because of you!" Crypto shot right into the air and walked over to him. "ME?!" "Yes you! He was right, why get involved? Furon wasn't noticeable until we put the shields up. As soon as they were there, the Fourth Ring was attacked!" "You were the one wanting to supply them-" "Don't!" Crypto caught himself about to throw his hands on Orthoneises and choke him right where he stood, but he restrained himself, just like Pox taught him. "Hurting a council member are you-?" "Stop it! Just stop right there old man! I know you've hated me for a while now, but you're not emperor. I know you worked for Meningitis and I told Pox to lock you up, and you know what he said? He said, no, give you another chance. But honestly Orthoneises, you don't deserve one for siding with a traitor and I will see to it one day you will be put where you belong." Crypto stomped off towards Pox's room and shut the doors behind him.

Orthoneises stood there, angry. He knew every word Crypto said was true, there was no reason to hide it anymore. He followed Crypto into the patient's room and saw Pox. Pox was hooked up to all sorts of wires, his breathing slight and heavy. "You're not leaving me," whispered Crypto. Pox's orangutan body was hard to look at. It seemed very strange talking to a half monkey-alien that was also the emperor of a planet. Not very good for Furon's reputation. "He'll be fine you know. He always is." Crypto wanted to punch Orthoneises, but at the same time he knew he was right. "Come on. We need to talk."