All Over But the Shoutin...

There is nothing...no touch, no song, no poem, no sight...that compares to the feeling of a parent being reunited with their child. The moment is beyond any attempt at words. Beyond anything, and anyone. The feelings I had at having Kara back surpassed any moment in my life, even her birth. And it it would have been perfect......

If not for my father, Obisidian and Iketros standing in the background. I held her close, even though for all of her advanced intelligence, I knew she wouldn't understand.

So, I sat there, in the floor and held my child, for a moment forgetting that I would have to deal with both of them, and what their being here meant. I was so close to forgetting that they even existed, until Ilektros spoke.

"Terina. Would you introduce me?" It was tempting to say no, but that wouldn't be very nice considering he had just come with me to save her.

"Kara, this is Ilektros. He's...an old friend of mommy's."

"Hello, Mr. Ilektros." I was surprised when he took her hand and shook it. "It is a pleasure to meet you." My father of course, looked rather smug and sure of himself.

"Father, are you staying, or going back to the homeworld?" I asked.

"I am staying. Ilektros, also." I sucked in a deep breath. "I don't have room for you here, unfortunately." Obsidian smiled. That wasn't good. "We have managed to acquire lodging nearby. My eyes narrowed. "How near by?"

"The next level up."

I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the fact that I had Kara back, with no casualties, but it was hard to calm down when I knew I was going to have to get through Dispatch to beat the crap out of Christopher as I was SO wanting to do.

Quick Getaways

“Hey, Terra…” Leroy gasped. “Raz and Tam are here.”

“Hey, girl!” Raz and Tam said in unison.

'What the hell,' I thought. "What are you doing here! I didn't call for backup!" I gritted out as Chrisopher grabbed me from behind. I twisted slightly and managed to flip him over onto the ground.

"Dispatch sent us for Christopher," Raz said.

"Oh no." I turned and kicked Christopher backwards into his precious computer system. I always did hate all his little gadgets.

I saw Raz reaching into her little pouch as Leroy grabbed Tam to keep her from interfering. Her and those damn marbles. "It's nothing personal, Terra. Just let us take Christopher to Dispatch and we can all hook up later."

I glanced over to where Tam had managed to break free of Leroy's grip and they were battling it out in the corner. Tam was giving as good as she got. Better him than me. I looked back at Raz.

"No! I'm tired of Dispatch interfering. This IS personal." I turned and stalked back to where Christopher was lying in the equipment, when I felt three marbles hit me in the back. But no charge. I looked back over at her and smiled before running towards Christopher.

I heard Raz calling out. "Um, Tam. Ta-am." She kept throwing marbles with no response. "Nothing's happening. Tam!" Tam kicked Leroy and he bumped into Raz, who lost her balance and banged her head into the wall. Down she went. Damn, that had to hurt.

I never felt my feet leave the floor, but I sure as hell felt the wall. Tam had thrown out a force field and pinned me against the wall. "Tam, let me down!"

"Sorry Terra. Orders are orders." She walked over and lifted Chris up from the debris. He came to as she lifted him out. "Hey Chris, sweetie. We need a way out." He weekly pointed towards a blank wall. Tam ran over to it. "Where?" she asked. He reached out and laid his palm on the door. It opened and he and Tam disappeared through it.

The minute Tam disappeared, so did the force field. "Leroy, I'm gonna kill your girl."

He groaned. "Not if I beat you to it."

I motioned to where they had disappered. "Think you can get through that wall?"

He didn't answer, just walked over stuck his foot through it. I heard a crack and looked up to see a huge crack go across the ceiling.

"Looks like it's time to go!"

Leroy grabbed Raz, who was still out cold and flew up the tunnel with me two steps behind him. This tunnel seemed to be shorter than the others and put us back in the basement, where Ilektros was choking the hell out Veronica. It was extemely tempting to let him continue, but Leroy walked over and slapped him across the back of his head.

"Come on! It's time to go!" Raz was finally starting to come to as we all made our way back upstairs.

My first instinct was to go after Christopher. Leroy must have seen something in my face because he pulled me to the side. "Terra, I know you want to go beat the hell out of Dispatch, but you need to go home to your child first."

I know he was right, but that didn't mean that I wanted to listen. "All right. I call you tonight. We've got to find out what he's up to."

Leroy nodded, then grabbed Raz and left. I turned to Ilektros. "I guess you're coming with me." He nodded and followed me home.

Reunited

I took a moment to catch my breath before starting down the other tunnel. This tunnel was carpeted like the other, but I could hear machinery working at the other end.

"Oh Christopher...where are you, sweetheart? I know you've been waiting for me."

"Down here, Terra." That damn fool actually answered me. I swear sometimes he's down right scary.

At the end of the hall, I saw light coming through an open doorway. Crossing through, I entered a huge chamber. (What is it with everybody and these underground lairs, anyway?)I glanced around and saw him sitting in front of one of those huge, James Bond style computer screens. Now I know where all his money went.

Spinning around, he had the nerve to smile at me. "Hey baby. Cute little outfit. I've missed you."

All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. "Christopher, you're kidding right?" Standing up, he started walking towards me. I hated him...but damn he still looked good. "I told you Terra. I want my family back. And now here we are," he smiled. "All together again."

"Mommy!" Kara came running out of one of the back rooms. "Daddy said we could all go to the park when you got here." I was starting to feel like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

"Christopher, Kara and I are going home." I looked down at her. "Baby, go ahead to the top of the tunnel. Mommy's going to be along in just a minute." Kara's eyebrows drew together, just like her father's. "What about Daddy?"

I looked up at him. "Daddy's not coming right now. He'll be along later."

"Okay." She walked over to Christopher and gave him a hug. "Terra," he said. "I know you didn't think it was going to be that easy." Two seconds later, the tunnel I had just come down caved in.

"Dammit Christopher," I said turning back to him, "you're crazier than I thought."

He shook his head. "Not crazy. Just....determined." His face hardened. "I want my family back."

I stepped forward. "Not gonna happen. You should have thought about that before you tried to take over the world!"

"A minor detail," he shrugged. "Besides, I've got you to keep me on the straight and narrow."

"Kara sweetie, go and get what you're taking with you from the room." She nodded and ran off. I couldn't wait for her to get through the door good before I swung.

Wham. Can you begin to imagine the joy I felt as he went flying across the room? I stepped forward to finish him off when my father popped in and Kara came rushing out the room. "Daddy take Kara out of here." He nodded and scooped her up, disappearing instantly. A door opened to left and out came Leroy.

"It's about time you got here," I said. Christopher stood up and stalked over to me. "Is that anyway to treat your devoted husband?" he growled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so devoted, that you've got your little admin girlfriend installed upstairs!" I rushed him again.

Into the Tunnel - Ilektros

The tunnel I was directed to was damp and dark. It resembled nothing more than a dirty whole in the ground. It took me deeper into the earth with no exit other than the one I entered from. I wondered what the others were doing. Especially that one, Sonus.


His casually attitude towards Terra's plight disturbed me. This is the one she called a friend? The one she placed her trust in? I could see it was time for her to be taken back to the homeworld.


When her father contacted me, I was happy to learn that she was alive and well. Her powers joined with mine would immediately elevate us to Alpha status. However, he neglected to mention the halfling child with the earthling. Obsidian has assured me that he will be able to convince her to return. So for now, it is in my best interest to protect her.


I was so consumed with my thoughts, that I almost didn't notice the body of water that I almost walked in to. I expanded my light to see that this was somekind of underground cavern. Looking closer, I noticed the patterns of the water rippling as though something extemely large was swimming beneath.


It's best for one to chose the time and place to engage in battle. Since I am not familiar with the water species of this planet, I deemed it best to experience this at another time. Turning back, I started back up the tunnel careful to make sure that whatever resided within the water did not decide to follow.


Once I reached the opening, I noticed that there were strangely dressed females waiting in the basement area.

"Who are you?" The earth women seem just as unsettling as Sonus. How could Terra remain in such a place.

"She's Raz.."

"And She's Tam..." The girls giggled at each other. This was more fun for them, than work.
"Oh look Raz, this one has a pony-tail."

"He should go get that braided by the same girl that Leroy goes to."

"Are all you eathlings like this?" Llektros frowned.

"Like what?" The girls hunched their shoulders.

"Ok, lets get this show on the road. Where is Christopher?"

"If it is the halfling's father you are looking for, you may discontinue your search."

"That's going to be a negative, big guy." Raz walked to the other side of Llektros.

I watched as both separated and crouched as though about to attack. I raised my arms to strike, but it seems they were quicker. They both attacked me, one throwing some kind of explosive metal balls at me, while the other threw some kind of force field around me.

I generated enough energy to distort the force field and threw a bolt towards the one who generated it. I was about to throw another bolt at the one with the explosives when the ground shook and a puff of smoke came from the tunnel that Terra had taken. I was thrown to the floor, hitting my head. Before I could gain my feet, both of them had jumped on me.

I closed my eyes for only a moment to draw more power to finish them for once and for all, pushing up on my arms to rise, when I found myself hit from behind and spiraling down into the darkness.

Onward and Downward

Ilektros' light ball was pretty handy. Looking around, I could tell that this wasn't something that Christopher had decided to do overnight. The carpet covering the floor, the smoothness of the walls; this was something he had been planning for quite some time. Possibly longer than I had even known him. I got mad just thinking about it.

I had traveled about halfway down the tunnel when the lights suddenly came on dimly.

"Damn!" I lowered my hand but kept the energy orb close to me. I fully intended to use it on Christopher as soon as I got Kara two steps away from him.

The tunnel angled down at a 45 degree angle. I wondered what the other tunnels looked like. This one was actually kind of bare. I went deeper and noticed several doors on either side of the wall. Each door was made of some kind of metal. My dear husband made sure that I would never easily be able to track him down.

Considering how far this thing was going, I figured I'd might as well start checking doors. I cautiously stepped forward to the next door and twisted the knob and opened the door. I held the orb up for better light to see that it was an empty drywalled room. Strange.

I backed up and closed the door, to continue down the hallway. This time, I passed a few doors before I tried another one. I had a feeling that my luck wasn't going to hold. I'm a superhero, but I am by no means invincible. I placed my back flat against the wall and used one of my tentacles to cautiously open the door. As soon as I had the door opened completely, I heard a "whoosh".

I held up the globe to see several blades gleaming in the light. Did I mention that Christopher loved Indiana Jones? It would be just like him to set up some little crazy trap behind each one of these doors.

I cautiously opened several other doors. None of them seemed to go anywhere, or either had these wacky traps. I'll give him credit. An ordinary person would have never made it through. I finally reached to bottom of tunnel and reached two wooden doors. "Why wooden doors here when everything else was metal?"

Touching both doors, I figured out why. Only half of the door was wood. How to approach this? I had to think this through. I really didn't think Christopher wanted to kill me, but after I left him divorced him, sued for alimony, child support, and locked him up? Hm. He still might be holding a bit of a grudge.

The door knobs to each door were on the inside, next to each other. I figured best thing to do would be to trigger them at the same time. Cautiously, I placed myself between the two doors and threw them open. Nothing happened at first, which made me feel like an absolute fool.

Just as I stepped forward to look in the door on my right, an explosion blew me six feet back up the hall.

Maybe he was holding a grudge after all.

Closer to the Goal

It didn't bother me that Leroy kicked the door in. The time for being subtle was over. Veronica had probably sent him some kind of message to let him know we were here. Either that, or they had some kind of surveillance that tipped him off when we arrived. Christopher was nobody's fool, and he knew I'd be coming after Kara.

Leksi went down the steps first, with me in the middle, and Leroy behind me. I'm guessing subconciously they were trying to protect me. Which was okay. As long as they didn't underestimate me or Christopher, then we would get through this with a minimum of drama.

Just that quick I had forgotten about my father.

He was standing in the middle of the basement, eyes closed. "There are several tunnels running behind these walls."

Why was I not surprised? I looked down at the floor to see that it was concrete with not so much as a speck of dirt. I had to think. I couldn't have Leroy tear down the walls, that would destroy the foundation. My father and I were severely limited by the fact that there was no organic plant life or earth in the house.

As much as I hated to ask it, I only had one choice. "Leksi, take the power."

He nodded, then walked over to the circuit breaker. Laying his hand against the panel, he turned to me. "How much?"

"At least three or four blocks. We don't know how far these tunnels go."

He turned back to the box and thirty seconds later, everything was pitch black. The only light coming in was through a small glass block window. I heard a soft 'whoosh' as the doors slid back, leaving four holes in the basement walls.

Drawing in a deep breath, I stepped forward to the tunnel closest to me. "We're going to need to split up. And we'll need something to see by." I held the palm of my hand up. Leksi created a ball of energy and bounced it me and the others. Leroy made a face, but thank goodness, kept his tongue behind his lips.

Once we were all prepared, we each stepped into the tunnel.

New Developments

I sighed as I motioned Leroy towards the refrigerator. I already knew the three of them working together was going to be a problem, but really, what choice did I have? The main focus was to get Kara....and beat Christopher's ass for taking her.


Since my father was the only one amoung us that couldn't fly, I had to send him a mental picture of where I wanted him to meet us. Before I could blink, he was gone. I turned to see Leroy had grabbed three of Kara's juice boxes out of the refrigerator. Out of all the bottled water and other stuff in there, he had to grab a juice box?

Whatever.


He sucked them down in record time and we were off. My father was already waiting for us when we got there. I looked around trying to get an idea. There wasn't a lot of vegetation on 8th street. A couple of scrawny trees here and there, and dirt patches where there used to be grass.


As I turned in a circle, I noticed that one of the houses sitting directly on the corner had no vegetation what so ever. The front yard was concrete and there were no flowers of any kind, not even a weed. The only thing resembling a plant that it did have was a big, fake plastic tree sitting in a pot. Even for 8th and H, that's strange.


On a hunch, I decided to walk over and knock on the door. Imagine my surprise when the door was opened by Veronica Tyler, my ex's old administrative assistant. I always knew that broad was too good to be true.


"Oh! Ms. Davidson! What are you doing here?" If that girl's eyes got any wider, they'd pop out. "The question is, what are you doing here?" I pushed past her into the house. "I thought you went back to Omaha or wherever the hell it is you were from?" My eyes narrowed at her. "Where's Christopher?"

Do you know this broad tried to get bold with me?


"I don't know what you're talking about." she snipped. I stepped forward. "You'd better figure it out damn quick!" I turned to walk up the stairs to look for Kara when I saw her move forward out of the corner of my eye. I had just turned to deal with her when I saw Ilektros raise his hand and pin that bitch to the wall. HELL YES!! That's what I'm talking about!


While he had her pinned, I raced through the upstairs rooms checking for signs of Christopher or Kara. There was no sign of either one of them. But I knew they had been there. I knew it.


I motioned for Ilektros to let her go. Then I stepped up into her face. It was tempting to just knock her slam out, considering I owed her for problems she tried to cause with me and Christopher when we were together. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you. Where is he?"


"I...I don't know what you're talking about!" she wailed. Damn crybaby.


I picked her up by her throat and was about to toss her narrow butt across the room when Sonus stopped me.


"Wait a minute, Terra."


I'll be damned if he didn't lean over and whisper something in her ear, then she nodded. He turned to us and said "basement."


"Where's the door?" She pointed to a door that matched the rest of the paneling completely.


I started towards the door, then doubled back. I stared at Veronica for a moment, then punched her in the face before anybody could stop me.


Like I said, I owed her.

Rounding up the troops....

I was just about to jump on my father's case when I heard a 'thump' outside on my fire escape. Before I could turn around, I could feel Ilektros bristling with electricity.

Leroy must be here.

My father turned around and frowned at the window. I noticed out the corner of my eye that Ilektros, turned and frowned at my father.

I'm guessing that daddy dearest left out some information.

Ilektros started to raise his hand when I grabbed his arm. "Whoa! Not in my house buddy!" I walked over to open the window. "He's here to help us. This is Sonus."

Ilektros slowly lowered his hand, but didn't stop frowning. "Why would we need the help of this.....human."

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "You know, Lexi, I didn't invite you here. So you can either help out - peacefully - or you can take your ass back to the home world." He narrowed his eyes at me before answering. "We will do things your way, for now. But we will talk later."

I shrugged. "Maybe we will, maybe we won't. I'm not making any promises right now. I only have one priority right now and that's finding Kara. So all of you," I caught Leroy making faces out of the corner of my eye. "Chill on the testosterone rush."

"Let's go."

"Uh, Terra?" Leroy said before we could leave, "Can I get something to drink first?"

From bad to worse....

I heard from Leroy around noon the next day.



I told him to meet us here, at my place, then we would go over to the last spot they were seen at. 8th and H.


I was able to tell in which direction he'd gone, but like Dispatch and I had argued about before, he just seemed to disappear. No matter what I did, I couldn't get their location to come in any clearer.



I turned to look over at my father was two steps from ballistic and kept walking into the other room, like he was talking to someone. But who? Hopefully not my mother. In spite of everything, I really like this planet and don't want to see it blown out of orbit.

I started towards him once and opened my mouth to ask when he gave me this look. I was too scared to ask. I just hoped he wasn't calling for reinforcements. Two people besides me from my home planet were two too many.



But unfortunately patience wasn't his strong suit, and my father was never one to sit back and wait for things to happen. If I wasn't careful, there's no telling who he'd call in.



I managed to get some food on my stomach. Whatever was coming up, I was going to need to be at full strength. My father refused to eat. I could feel him simmering... I know he thought I was being too nonchalant.



I sighed in relief when the doorbell rang. "It's about time," I muttered to myself. I swung open the door, ready to chastise Leroy for taking forever to get there. What I saw on the doorstep made me want to scream.



My father stepped forward and motioned him inside. "Good. I see you got the directions."

He turned to me, eyebrow raised. "As you can see, we no longer need your little Earth friend." He leaned out and shook hands with the last damn person I ever wanted to see again.



Isoglani ilekrismos. Ilektros for short. Also, my ex-fiance.



From what I could see, this was a disaster in the making.