he body of Raul, who remained unconscious.

The two had been stripped of their weapon and their glasses, meaning they had run out of communications with Ardwen and the others. Even Rick couldn't come to save them as they had no idea where he was in the scouting and he wouldn't have any idea they were captured without the communication network.

"We'll be fine. I'm sure somebody will come to save us when they figure things out. Until then we'll just sit this one out and hope they don't kill us. I'm sure my fan club back at the academy will wonder where their favourite student has gone and will rally up a breakout."

Porter rolled his eyes and looked around for ways of escape. There wasn't anything available though. They were caught and being paraded about through a building swarming with guards. Omnicorp was a premier manufacturing company of all sorts of things, including some prized weapons, to all the different countries and so they had to keep the place tight in case of attacks. But kids sneaking in was a bit of a new one for these guards to see and they all wanted to take a look. Porter wasn't sure whether to feel embarrassed by this or proud they had made it as far as they did.

Ardwen and Nami were staring at the screen, watching the two go through the different halls on their way to the main office in the centre, completely baffled. Suddenly they were walking about through heavily guarded areas with no regard for their safety and weren't going towards the objective. And just as suddenly, they had stopped all contact. Ardwen had tried furiously to re-establish the link but they had to shrug shoulders and give up eventually.

It was Riya who was the most panicked though, pushing at them to keep searching, to keep trying to make sense of it and get in contact. She was scared. She knew something was going wrong and it was she who first came up with the idea that maybe, just maybe, they had been caught.

"Well that would make a lot of sense then wouldn't it?" Ardwen sat back in the chair and pondered a little. "But then if they are, what do we do?" They all looked at each other than over at Shotuku, who was showing Gretta exactly how to properly slap someone using footwear. "You're our teacher, aren't you supposed to know these things?"

Shotuku slumped in his seat for a bit in thought and exasperation. There was a dead silence that passed through the stationary ship as they all looked towards the elderly man. "We need...a rescue."

* * * * *

Porter, Chase, and an unconscious Raul were escorted through a large gilded doorway, which was surrounded by pictures of famous figures shaking hands with a man and of different achievements by Omnicorp. Things had gotten rather plush in this central area, with ritzy looking chairs outside of brown leather (a fairly rare commodity these days) and a door made of mahogany wood, another rarity.

The doorway, though it looked antique and impressive, still opened automatically upon their arrival. Whoever had installed it hadn't gone with the full authentic look and opted for the more modern automatic systems. Either way, it was rather impressive, and Porter would have surely marvelled at it were he not bound and possibly being led to a death sentence. A corporation like this existed outside the sway of a country's laws and it was entirely possible they had their own justice system they could dispense.

The group was shoved through the doors to a large, high-ceiled room of wooden panelling fused with computer monitors and modern electronic devices. In its centre sat an ageing desk of redwood and cedar and an equally ageing man sat behind that.

He stood up at their entrance and revealed his tall, gaunt nature. His face was pulled tight over a bony structure and was speckled with tufts of greying stubble and a mixture of a short goatee. He wore a long dark suit kept in pristine condition and removed his glasses and set them down on the desk with delicacy.

"Well now, what have we here?" He looked the group over and then gave a signal for the guards to leave, satisfied that none of the young men could hurt him in their arrested positions. The doors were closed behind them and the man sat back down in his leather chair. Outside of the teens vision was a computer embedded in the desk and the man started working on it. "Not going to say anything? Come now, you've taken an oath of silence?"

Porter stood still, as did Chase, which shocked Porter that the arrogant boy could keep his mouth shut for a single second after the chatter down to this spot. Obviously this man would have no idea they were trying to clear Riya's name from the assassination listings. Maybe they could barter that out though...

"Umm, well sir we-"

"Please, call me Mr. B," the man interrupted.

"Yes, well we are here on behalf of someone else you see, sort of. I mean, well, we're kind of representing the academy, or no, wait, that doesn't sound right."

Chase rolled his eyes at Porter's blundering beside him but Mr. B's face seemed to go rather stern and darken. "You say you are here for someone else? A rival company, no doubt. I just can't believe they would send children in here. Obviously some kind of trickery on their part. Well who was it? Who set you up to this?"

If Porter's hands weren't bound behind his back he would've been waving them in front of him to compliment his startled look. "No, no not a company exactly but a person really."

"Oh a private contractor then? Hmm well, give me this person's name and we'll see what we can do about hunting them down. Don't worry, I'll spare you obviously; you're just hired goons. So long as you give me their name." Mr. B was standing again, walking around to the front of his desk, leaning back on it, and folding his arms across his chest.

"I...uhm...no you put out a bounty on a girl called Riya Bittel! She's my friend...our friend I mean...and you sent somebody to kill her or capture her or whatever because she is the daughter of your rival, Enver Bittel and we just came here to...to just...well we were going to try to erase the bounty, to clear her name." Porter felt a flood of tears rushing to his eyes but he wasn't sure why. Emotions pulling these out? He held them back though by biting down on his lip and only a few hot tears leaked through.

Chase looked over at Porter in mild disgust. So weak and pathetic, crying over his poor friend. But Chase thought back to his own losses, to what losing another person meant to him. He had been so relaxed, so nonchalant about all of this. He hardly considered Riya a friend but now, he wasn't sure. They were a group, a squad, a team, and they were students together. Why not? They could be friends. Maybe even family...a new one for him to protect.

Mr. B's face had somehow grown even darker, even to the point of being sinister. "I see. Well I'm afraid I can't do anything about her. That's a fate that is sealed." He picked up his glasses and examined them in the light, cleaning them on his shirt before returning them to the bridge of his nose and Porter was reminded of Ardwen sitting back in the ship. "However, I am curious to know how you learned there was a bounty on her at all."

"That would be my fault." Rick dropped down from the ceiling as his Chameleon suit shimmered and revealed his form. He withdrew a small knife and quickly released Chase and Porter of their bonds before tossing Porter the katana once more. They all heard Raul moan a little as he was groggily waking up and he rolled over on the floor.

Ignoring him, Rick lunged for Mr. B, wrestling with the man as the two flipped backwards over the desk. Rick was trying desperately to get off the little hidden satchel of poison under his wrist but Mr. B seemed quite aware of it as well and was doing his best to tie up Rick's hands. As they wrestled Porter went to check the door but found Rick was one step ahead of them in locking it. He breathed a sigh of relief that guards weren't going to come pouring in and ran to the desk to check on Rick.

Chase had jumped in on the scrap and the two had the older man pinned to the ground. He was squirming and putting up quite a fight but he clearly wasn't going to escape. That was when Porter looked straight down at the computer in the desk. "Wait a minute, if this is your personal computer, then it's probably where I can access the bounty order! I bet you this will work."

"No, wait, you don't understand!" But then Rick put his hand over Mr. B and muffled him while Porter set about to using the computer.

"It's too bad Ardwen isn't here, he'd know what to do. Or Nami, she could work this stuff. Stupid guards took our glasses though." Porter fumbled with the buttons in an effort to find out where the file was for the order on Riya.

Suddenly there was a loud clamour outside, and Porter had the sinking feeling of a group of guards making a charge through the door. Then everything went deathly silent outside the entrance. Porter had just turned back to the computer when the doors were smashed open and he flew around to look at the intruders.

There was Mr. Shotuku, standing triumphantly in the doorway, with slipper in hand. Behind him stood Ardwen, Nami, Gretta, and Riya, each one with a complete look of disbelief on their faces, frozen in time.

"What the...how did you guys get in here?" Porter asked.

Ardwen's mouth moved a little but no sound came out, before he pointed at Shotuku and found some words. "He just...I don't know. I don't know what happened. We were...we were at the entrance, and then the lobby and then suddenly we were just down here and there were guards flying everywhere and slippers coming from I don't even know where, he just has them, all over his body, and they were hitting everything." Ardwen looked back over his shoulder at the trail of destruction in the form of knocked out soldiers. "I just hope they're all still alive even."

"They will rise again in a few hours," Shotuku said calmly. "I cannot believe that some of my students would go and get themselves captured. We needed to form a rescue party to come bail you out. Shameful."

"Porter!" Nami snapped out of her reverie and bounced over to her dream boy, wrapping him up in an enormous hug, but she pulled off when she caught the looks coming from Ardwen and Chase over the desk. She had to remember the game.

"Uhm, well this works out well. We need you to go use the computer Nami. You can access the files on Riya right?" Porter said as he peeled Nami off himself, finding it a bit easy when she released of her own free will.

"Yes I should be able to, give me a moment." And with that she hopped over to the desk to begin her work.

Riya poked around from the side and came up to Porter with a nervous glance. "Is it safe around here now? I mean, did you guys find the man who did all this? Was anyone in here?"

"Yes, we got him. It was just this Mr. B guy, who must run this place." Porter brought Riya around to look down at the man trapped on the floor and was surprised when Riya gave out a wail and threw herself on Porter.

"That's...that's..."

"Yes, who is it Riya?"

"That's my father!"

* * * * *

The group was staring at Mr. Bittel. They had sat him in his chair and tied him up using the remains of Porter and Chase's restraints and they were each looking at him in a perplexed manner. Raul was back up and had had everything explained to him up until then, but they were all stuck on exactly what was going on.

Riya was in tears though and couldn't look at the man in the chair, turning every which way to avoid it as she sobbed. Porter felt his heart swell with anger at seeing her like this. How dare her own father...but could her own father even? Well Riya had identified him and he had admitted to the bounty before, or at least seemed to, so it couldn't really be denied at this point.

"Listen buddy, this is sick and twisted and wrong but all I want to know is why it is what it is." Porter was dumbfounded to find all the words he had been thinking of saying coming out from Chase's mouth.

Mr. Bittel glanced up at them with sadness in his eyes then hung his head down once more, a defeated man. "We bought out Omnicorp not too long ago in a corporate take-over but I made sure to keep it fairly secretive, so I could run both at once. Once I was in power here, I made some startling discoveries related to a group of investments made by Omnicorp. It captured my attention and I became quite engrossed in it."

"It was so bizarre, yet so intriguing," he continued. "I couldn't believe it at first but when I went to take a look, when I saw it for myself, I just had to believe it. I mean the things that were being done, the future of humanity. To think that that was even possible. So I started thinking things through when I was given an offer. They needed a new test subject; they wanted another one to add to their ranks. And they were willing to pay huge back to me, not just in money but in other things too. Power, political power I mean, and positioning, and governance. All promises to me that I just...I mean I just couldn't resist them. I had to have them."

"But I couldn't come up with a suitable subject. They were very choosy about it all. That's when it dawned on me: Riya was exactly what they wanted. She was the perfect match. And so I decided that I would bring her to them, and I ordered that bounty, under the guise that it was Omnicorp making an attack against Bittel Inc. Of course I was orchestrating both of them but it was just...I mean Riya, if you could have gone with them, the things that would have happened, what you would have become!"

He thrashed around a little in excitement and snapped his jaw together like a wild animal. Chase and Rick had to hold him down in the chair just to be safe. "But father, you ordered me dead or alive. How would you give them to me dead?"

"It didn't matter, because as soon as you were killed you would be returned to me and in turn I would give you to them. Most of your body would still be somewhat alive and that's all they need to complete the transformation. It doesn't take much from the original patient; they just have to meet their standards. Besides, once I saw this agent here, I knew he wouldn't be able to kill you anyways." He nodded at Rick.

"Guilty as charged." Rick took a little bow then realized how out of place he looked and backed away a little sheepishly.

Ardwen was scratching his chin in thought listening to it all. "It's a fascinating story and all, really quite sick too when you think about it, but it's missing one thing. Who wanted Riya? What was the investment in?"

"Why the Enigma Soldier Project of course!" He looked over at Riya with a pleading look on his face. "Daughter, I beseech you. Go to them! They have the future. Submit to them; give in to the project, for the benefit of all of mankind! They are the pathway to the future, to the heavens themselves. You must do it, for me, for your poor old father. You must. You must!" He began to shake and snap at the air wildly while gnashing his teeth together and Riya recoiled in fear, crying once more as she backed away towards the nearest wall and slid down it into a slumped mess of wet tears.

"Stop it! I don't want to hear any more! I want to go from this place," she screamed and was quickly attended to by Gretta and Ardwen. Porter looked at her longingly but he knew there was nothing he could do. Betrayed by her own father, sold out by him, as he tried to collect reward for himself by giving away his own daughter. Porter shook his head in sadness, unable to comprehend the situation fully.

Nami perked up from the computer. "I've set it so that Riya is listed as terminated. That works right?"

"Yes indeed," Rick answered. "The Circuit Breakers don't make mistakes, at least not public ones. They would never allow for anyone to change the status of Riya back to living now, lest anyone find out a mission was failed. She's safe now. Besides, I am her personal bodyguard! She seems to be far too distraught for me to leave her now! I shall accompany you all back to the academy."

"Thank you Rick," Riya sniffled as she was picked up from the ground by Ardwen and Gretta and helped out of the room. Her new escort soon followed, along with Shotuku, Nami, and Raul. Only Chase and Porter were left behind.

"You know Porter, I really want to beat this guy senseless, for the terrible things he did to Riya."

"I know Chase, but we can't. He's still Riya's father and she would never forgive us for hurting him."

"Porter you say?" Mr. Bittel interrupted. "So you're Porter are you? Isn't that interesting hmm?" Enver's tone was taking on that of a madman as he sat, trapped in his own chair by a bunch of students. "Yes, very interesting indeed. Porter. Oh, how fascinating to find you. Perhaps you too should visit the Enigma Soldiers then. Maybe you all should! Ha!"

Porter knelt down to the man's level and looked him dead in the eye. "How do you know me? What have I got to do with the Enigma project?"

"Oh wouldn't you love to know these things but no! You cannot! It is not for me to say. Who is to say I know anything at all? Maybe I've gone just a bit loony from this whole experience. Maybe I'm just making it all up!" The man laughed and cackled until Porter and Chase had to leave him in there.

"Weird Porter, that he would even know you. I wonder what that's about."

"You know what else is weird, Chase?"

"What?"

"That we're talking like we're good friends." The two looked at each other with baffled expressions then scowled and made the walk back to the ship in silence. Riya was still torn up and was being looked after by everyone possible, but otherwise they were ready to make the trip back to the academy, and back to their haven of learning...

* * * * *

Ochenkov rolled into another room as a cluster of guards sprinted by. That was a bit too close. He had almost had to use the needle. Things seemed to be going quite poorly though. Whatever was going on, it was big and it was rocking the entire base. The facility was constantly shaking from explosions and more and more soldiers were always heading in one direction, but never returning.

The general looked over his shoulder and found he was in a large, circular, white room, empty other than cameras placed around the edges and mounted on the walls. Some sort of observation room? He could only guess. Maybe they tested the Enigma Soldiers in here. Maybe the real Allyson had even been in this room.

The information lying on the discs Ochenkov carried now seemed more valuable to him than anything he had known before. And somehow it had all been unlocked with the phrase he was supposed to deliver. He had never even thought of making that connection, of why Sigmeund wanted General Christian to know about the password, to know about this place. Something wasn't right about that at all.

But first, he had to leave. He had to escape. As he neared the door to try to make another break yet another group of guards went passing by. They didn't go very far though before a nearby explosion caught them all and Ochenkov heard their screams echo down the hallway.

Then the wall imploded. It crumbled away and shook the room with enough force to knock Ochenkov to the ground. He rolled around until he could prop himself up on his hands and knees and then get back to his feet. The wall had kicked up immense amounts of dust and smoke was billowing in through the hole, choking Ochenkov's lungs and his sight.

The barbarian could make out a dark blur standing near a wall, the one with the hole in it. The more he looked the clearer it became, until he could see it was the shadow that made the void in the wall. As he regained his mental strength a little, his warrior's sense began to return and his vision cut through the smoke like a knife.

It was a man standing in the hole. Or was it? Perhaps it was a human at some point but Ochenkov doubted he could call it that anymore. It was a fusion of skin with purple metal and machine and its face was set with two hard eyes that scanned the room with the calculations of a computer. And it was raising its arm towards him. From its hand it looked like a little light was starting to twinkle, to grow within its palm.

Then Ochenkov felt the searing heat and the beam of energy shot out towards him.

A/N: A stunning reveal from Riya's own father. How can the group rebound from such a devastating blow? And what of Ochenkov? Has his time finally expired with the arrival of Sigma?!