Paragon

Chapter 20:

"Katana, are you okay?"

Marcus's voice echoed loudly in the sudden silence. I back up against the wall, feeling someone beside me. I took Roman's hand. The room was completely dark except for a slight red glow issuing from the occupied pod.

"We're fine." I whispered.

"Yeah, just great." Roman said. "Can you get some lights on in here, Sasaki?"

"Bit hung up at the moment." He responded faintly. "I have my arm in a door. Please hurry, I haven't done enough push ups to hold this for much longer."

"We're coming back to you, Katana." Nikara said. "Oh, no."

"What?" I asked.

"The door won't respond. I think the Jackal locked me out."

"Alright, Roman can get us out of here. Go to the door and help Sasaki, we'll be right there."

"Okay, Jackal." Roman said. "What happens if we smash that silver orb you call a body?"

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you." The Jackal's voice was suddenly low and threatening.

"What are you gonna do about it, you talking toaster?" He moved over to the orb.

"Roman, don't do that." I said.

"He's just a computer, Katana." He reached out to the orb. As soon as he touched it he was thrown back by a blinding flash of light.

"I said don't." The Jackal snapped.

I ran over to Roman, who lay lying on the ground clutching his hand.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

"Still concerned about my safety, I see." He replied, sitting up. "I've had just about enough of you, Jackal."

"The feeling is mutual." It responded.

An alarm began ringing.

"What's that?" I asked.

"There's a countdown clock out here." Camron said. "It said 30 minutes. Well, 29:30 now."

"The cleansing protocols." Nikara said. "Weska, don't let that door close."

"What do you think I'm doing?" She responded. "Guys, we have the door, hurry up and get out of there."

"You're not going anywhere." The Jackal said. "You're going to die down here in the dark."

The lights came back on, momentarily blinding me.

"Too busy talking to keep your firewalls up, I see." Sasaki said.

"Nice timing, man." Roman said with a grin.

"I'll have you out of there in a minute. Let me just-"

The orb pulsed with silver light and Sasaki cursed.

"We've got a problem." He said. "The Jackal is transmitting some sort of signal blocker. We're trapped down here unless you can destroy that orb."

"Oh, great." I unsheathed my claws. "Give us a minute."

"Skyfall, where are you?" Leela's voice came through faintly.

"Having technical difficulties." I replied.

"We have a plane. And a nice one at that. Has an AUX cord and two nuclear missiles."

"Sorry it took so long." Mahlika said. "There was a guy with a diamond toothed chainsaw. Anyway, we're out here waiting, please hurry up."

I turned to the orb. "Okay, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."