Chapter 5

Joe and Kelly crept down the hallway, keeping to the shadows as they took in everything they could about their surroundings: building layout, threat potential, proximity of security cameras and guards. Although the corridor was dark and completely bare, they left nothing to chance. To be careless around the Vorak was to risk capture; something neither of them wanted to contemplate.

The warehouse appeared to be built around something. As far as they could tell, the corridor through which Joe and Kelly were making their way ran along the outside wall of the building. There were no interior doors or windows to let them know where they were, much less any exterior openings. Only the dimly lit hallway stretched in front of them, one section indistinguishable from the next.

They turned the corner at the end of the hall, only to see another featureless corridor stretching beyond. But just around the second corner, they came across what they had been looking for.

An elevator.

Of course, who knew where it went, or how it was accessed?

“Interesting…” whispered Kelly, as she bent down to examine the access panel. “It looks like it requires access card verification to enter.”

“I have an access card.” Joe smirked, pushing his fist into his other hand.

“Much as I love your way of dealing with things, Joe, I think I can do better.” Kelly smirked, prying the panel off of the wall and peering inside. “Let’s see…”

A few seconds later, the indicator screen at the top of the wall showed that the elevator was approaching. Kelly quickly replaced the panel, after which she and Joe stood flat against the wall, on either side of the door.

A soft ding announced the arrival of two Vorak guards. They were both greeted by a punch in the head, and dropped to the floor without seeing their attackers.

“Looks just about my size.” Joe grinned, pulling the green uniform off of the first android.

“Green is definitely not your color, though.” Kelly winked, as she began removing the clothes from the other Vorak.

“It is, for you.”

Kelly stared at Joe in shocked silence for a moment, attempting to come to grips with what he had just said.

“Your eyes.” Joe clarified, looking down. “Your green eyes suit you.”

“Oh.” Kelly replied, blushing. “That’s nice to know.” The Dove continued her task in silence. She felt a warm glow inside of her at the unexpected compliment, especially from someone as taciturn as Joe.

The relationship Kelly and Joe shared had always been close. When they had been children training for the Eagle Riders team they had been good friends, enjoying each other’s company. When they had gotten older, they had continued that friendship, despite the usual social awkwardness between members of opposite genders during early adolescence. Kelly had always felt closer to Joe than to anyone else on the team. Hunter had constantly imposed a kind of self-isolation on himself, particularly after he had been accepted at flight school, leaving the others behind. Ollie and Mickey had taken to each other instantly, perhaps partly because Ollie had completed his flight school training before the boy had joined their ranks.

At one point, Kelly had thought that the feelings she and Joe shared might go deeper than friendship, but that had been at a time when their battle with the Vorak had been all-consuming, and there had been no time to explore such potential.

But that didn’t mean that Kelly had never thought about it.

She had felt lost when Joe had ‘died’ in what they had hoped at the time would be their final battle with the Vorak. For two years she had felt alone, deeply mourning his loss, and never really coming to grips with the Falcon’s absence. Whenever she was working at her Snack Bar and she heard the bell over the entryway ring, she would always look up, half-expecting to see Joe walking in the door. They had never found his body, and somehow, that had prevented Kelly’s mind from letting go of Joe’s memory.

Her reluctance to admit that Joe was truly gone, either verbally or emotionally, had been a source of constant irritation for Hunter, enough that he had stopped coming by the Snack Bar as much. Kelly had learned not to express her views in front of the Hawk, but she held onto them, all the same. They had wrapped themselves around her heart, grasping at the tiniest straws of hope, each night as she had lain cold and alone in bed.

Eventually, of course, they had learned that Cybercon had returned to Earth, and the Eagle Riders team had gone back to active duty. Kelly had had a difficult time moving back to Gateway City and resuming their usual routine of training and minor guard duties, without seeing Joe there as well. The others had sensed this, and had helped her through it, but none of them had ever spoken of Joe’s absence until that day when Dr. Keane had announced the Falcon’s replacement.

It had come as a shock to all of them, but most of all to Kelly. She hadn’t been prepared to accept that Joe would not be returning, much less that he should be replaced.

Of course, Zarnec hadn’t lasted long with the team. He had been quickly exposed as a Vorak android and spy, and had been killed by a feather stunner shuriken… Joe’s weapon.

It had been at that moment, staring at Zarnec’s deactivated body with the feather shuriken embedded in the neck, that Kelly had finally been able to admit to herself what she had been denying for so long.

She loved Joe.

The surge of elation welling up in her at the evidence that the Falcon was still alive had suddenly made sense.

She loved Joe.

But her joy in that discovery had been short-lived, as Hunter had scorned her theory, and Joe had not stepped forth to proclaim his survival. Although Mickey and Ollie were clearly considering the possibility themselves, the Hawk persisted in proclaiming that it couldn’t be Joe.

But Kelly had known that it was.

Every time they had encountered the ‘mysterious stranger’ who had been assisting them, the Dove had only been more and more certain that it was the Falcon.

And then one day, Joe Thax had returned.

She would never forget that moment. The image of Joe walking across the sand, approaching them as if he had only been gone for two hours, instead of two years; stopping to let them approach him, as if he didn’t want to just assume that they had wanted him back in their lives.

For Kelly, there had been no question as to what she wanted.

The Dove had run across the remaining distance that had separated them, her heart screaming that she had been right. She had been right! Joe hadn’t left them!

Joe hadn’t left her.

He had come back.

She had stopped just short of him, simply drinking in the incredible sight of the Falcon whole and healthy, without a trace of the injuries he had suffered when he had disappeared. Ollie and Mickey had greeted him, but Kelly had barely noticed. She had only had eyes for Joe.

She had reached out, grasping his hands in her own before collapsing into his arms, tears of joy and relief pouring forth from her eyes as she had nestled herself into his embrace. At the time, Joe had appeared emotional as well, and she had thought that things between them would return to the way they had been before.

But they had not.

Ever since the day Joe had returned, he had been pulling away from the rest of the team. Kelly had been confused and hurt, but it had also been clear to her that Joe was dealing with a number of issues, to which she was not privy. She tried to talk to him, but he had rebuffed her efforts. She hadn’t known exactly what barrier lay between them, but she had certainly understood that it was there.

When Dr. Aikens had finally shed some light on the matter, Kelly had been relieved, thinking that now that Joe’s cyborg nature was no longer a secret, they could work things out.

But if anything, Joe was even more distant now, especially after their mission on K3. There, on that God-forsaken mountain, he had held her, keeping her body, and her love for him, alive. But later, he had refused to talk about it, only pushing her aside the moment the others had arrived, despite her attempts to reach out to him, to show him that he was human after all, despite his man-made parts.

Kelly understood that this was something Joe had to work out for himself, and she was going to allow him to take all of the time he needed. But that didn’t mean that she was going to let him go off on his own again, leaving the team behind forever.

Whether or not he knew it, Joe needed companionship. Isolation would only deepen his depression and sense of self-loathing. There was no way in hell Kelly was going to let Joe do that to himself, even if it meant leaving the Eagle Riders entirely.

She loved him too much to abandon him like that.

By now, neither of them looked like anything but Vorak guards. Unfortunately, even in the baggy uniform she was wearing, Kelly’s feminine curves were difficult to hide. She was able to pull up her hair somewhat underneath the mask, but she knew she wouldn’t stand a close inspection. As it was, Joe was averting his eyes, trying not to get lost in his own inspection of the Dove’s attributes.

Kelly nodded to Joe, and the two of them entered the elevator, pressing the only button available to them from within the small box.

As they descended downward, the near darkness inside the elevator compartment was suddenly illuminated as the shaft in which they were traveling suddenly became a clear tube, descending along a wall through a giant hangar, revealing to them the purpose of this Vorak installation.

“A mecha…” Kelly whispered. “Another one? Didn’t we just destroy their last mecha an hour ago?”

“It looks like… a wasp?” Joe asked, unable to answer the Dove’s question.

They stared in awe at the alien attack craft, wondering for what purpose it was intended.

“We have to warn the others.” Kelly said, raising her wrist to her mouth before realizing that her bracelet wasn’t there.

“I’m not sure we can.” Joe replied quietly. “It’s up to us to deal with this, Kel.”

The Dove nodded, professional and calm.

“Understood.”

The elevator reached the bottom of the massive hangar, its doors opening to allow them access. Slowly, the pair exited, and was moving off to the right when someone addressed them.

“Hey, you two!”

Joe turned to see a Vorak Captain in a yellow and black striped costume approaching them. Kelly stood slightly behind him: not quite hidden, but not completely visible either.

“Yes, Sir!” Joe replied, saluting smartly. Kelly attempted to copy the maneuver, but did so in a somewhat more clumsy manner.

“I need you both to help install the power couplings.” the Captain ordered. “Get yourselves inside Waspagon and over to Engineering. And do it now! Mallanox is already furious about the delay!”

“Of course, Sir.”

Joe and Kelly moved quickly, following the Captain up a large ramp and into the mecha. The Vorak stepped aside, gesturing sarcastically that Joe and Kelly were to take the lead. Fortunately, signs in the Vorak language directed them to Engineering. Between that and their previous experiences with Vorak mecha, they were able to find their way to where they had been directed without any obvious mistakes.

Once they had arrived and found the appropriate workstation, the Captain moved off to another part of the room, supervising other work being performed there. Kelly looked over their assigned equipment, whispering to Joe in an amused tone.

“I can’t believe it!” she laughed softly. “This is the most inefficient, shoddy piece of work I’ve seen in a long time. No wonder this thing is behind schedule!”

“Well, see what you can do with it.” Joe muttered, pretending to help. While the Falcon knew everything about car engines, this kind of technology was definitely not his forte.

“Oh, I can do something with this.” Kelly winked at him.

Joe’s heart lurched for a moment as he watched Kelly doing what she did best. She had chosen to come with him, and was more than pulling her fair share of weight.

Whatever its mission, they had to destroy this ‘Waspagon’. Mallanox’s plans for it would obviously not be in the interests of the Global Good.

Joe surreptitiously looked around. On the way to their station, he had noted that the entire mecha was crawling with Vorak goons, and Engineering was currently filled with work crews.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joe saw a purple flash, and he quickly turned his head to see Mallanox entering the area. The Vorak Leader was accompanied by the Wasp Captain.

“What is taking so long, Captain?” Mallanox ranted, waving his arms wildly. “We were supposed to be underway three hours ago! The Eagle Riders have already defeated Wormstra, and may be returning back to their home base at any minute!”

“I apologize, Sir.” the Captain snapped to attention. “We have been experiencing difficulties obtaining some of the supplies and parts we needed. But thanks to the raids on the Global Security Council’s warehouses in this district, we now have all we require.”

“Well, install it all immediately!” Mallanox screeched, stomping his foot childishly and pouting. His lower lip was quivering visibly underneath his mask. “Cybercon will drop us all into a black hole if we fail this time. As it is, he’s already threatened to cancel my trip to Disneyland!”

“Disneyland?” the Wasp Captain asked, his jaw dropping in astonishment.

“Yes, Disneyland!” Mallanox snapped. “It’s the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’, after all. Don’t I deserve to be happy?”

“Uh… yes, Sir!” the Captain saluted. “I’ll just get back to overseeing the final adjustments. We will be ready to attack Gateway City in a few minutes.”

“Excellent!” Mallanox was suddenly all smiles, clapping his hands together with glee. “I’m so glad that Cybercon was finally able to reactivate Eva Douglas’ signal from within the complex. With the Eagle Riders still at Global Security Council Headquarters, Gateway City is defenseless against us!”

The Vorak Leader turned to glare at the Wasp Captain, who was staring, mouth agape, witnessing his superior officer’s immature display.

“Didn’t you say that it would be only a few minutes, Captain?” Mallanox demanded haughtily, sweeping from the room in a vain attempt to restore his shattered dignity.

The Captain sighed, turning away and moving toward Joe and Kelly. The Dove’s fingers moved quickly, and the Falcon pretended to assist her, while in reality simply obscuring her actions from view with his own hands.

“How much longer?” the Wasp Captain demanded as he approached their position.

“Five minutes, Sir!” Joe replied in a harsh, guttural voice.

“Too long!” the Captain barked. “You have two minutes, then everyone will be needed to recalibrate the thruster relays for immediate departure!” The man roughly pulled away Joe’s hands to get a better look at the power couplings Kelly was working on.

The Falcon held his breath. Would the man notice the Dove’s tampering?

“What are you doing?” the Vorak shouted furiously at Kelly. Joe tensed, ready to strike. He and Kelly would have to fight their way out of this mecha in hand-to-hand combat. In his mind, the Falcon was already planning exit strategies.

“There’s no time for redundant bypass circuits!” the Captain remonstrated Kelly harshly. “You’re done! Just get the hell over to Propulsion Systems, now!”

“Yes, Sir!” Kelly grunted in a deep tone, quickly closing the cover panel over the section she had been working on, as the Captain walked away.

“How far did you get?” Joe whispered quietly, under cover of the noise of the drills they used to re-attach the panel to the wall.

“I was able to re-program the couplings to overload, feeding back into the main engines.” Kelly reported. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to set a timer on it. We’ll have to transmit the correct signal to this thing once we’ve gotten out of here.”

“Then it’s time to go.” Joe nodded curtly, moving toward the exit. They had to get off of this mecha before it was launched.

“Let’s go back the way we came.” he suggested.

But as the pair exited Engineering, they heard the Captain’s voice behind them, as he spoke to a wall-mounted viewscreen.

“Mallanox, we are ready to depart!” he informed the Vorak Leader. “Our remaining work can be completed enroute to Gateway City!”

“How long until we arrive?” came Mallanox’s voice.

“Approximately one hour.” the Captain replied. “We’ll head out to the ocean immediately, engaging the Stealth Supra-Structure so that Gateway City won’t be able to detect us until it’s too late.”

“Excellent!” came the response from the Vorak Leader.

Kelly hurriedly pulled Joe from the room.

“We have to get off now, Joe!” she hissed.