"What…!?" Cassiopeia felt her system freezing with terror. The military kidnaped Erwin!?
"No, don’t freak out Cass. I have a plan" Even in the mist of her panic Cassiopeia could see the change in Jess. She went from worried mom and friend, to soldier in the blink of the eye.
"A plan…?"
"Yes, a plan. We are rescuing Erwin"
Late at night soldier Sigworth arrived at Simarea 51.
Nobody would have ever suspected her as she approached the watch post, not even for a second. Why would they? This was her place of work after all. And she was always the perfect mother, the perfect wife. The perfect soldier.
Only that she didn’t want to be that last one anymore.
While Jess was busy getting inside the militar base the legal way, Cassiopeia sneaked to the back, crouching as close to the fence as she possibly could until she found the door. Unguarded, just as Jess said it would be. It was also Jess who gave Cassiopeia one of her uniforms, so she wouldn’t attract as much attention if someone happened to see them once they were inside.
And now she waited for her by the door.
And waited.
And waited…
And then started to fear something happened to Jess.
"For the Mighty Devs’ sake, what is taking her so long…?"
The sounds of steps getting closer startled Cassiopeia, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and just when she was ready to pull out her SimRay… Jess’ face appeared on the slit between the doors.
"Holy Watcher, I thought something happened to you!"
"Sorry, Harrison’s kids are going through the Llama Flu and he wanted to know if I could give him a home reme-" The woman stopped herself when she noticed Cassiopeia was not following at all her explanation and shook her head "Don’t mind! Let me open the door for you!"
As silently and inconspicuously as they could Jess and Cassiopeia sneaked inside one of the buildings. As they were climbing down the stairs Jess started to explain.
"I know there are cells in the basement levels of this building. I never saw them in use, but if they have Erwin somewhere it has to be…"
Cassiopeia wasn’t listening to her anymore because something caught her attention through the window of one of the security doors. It couldn’t possibly be… But it was.
"Cass? Is there something wrong…?"
"They have Sixamnian spaceships here…"
Cassiopeia scrapped her thoughts. It was not the time to be worrying about how humans treated other creatures. They were here to bring Erwin back home.
But the deeper they got into the base the angrier Cassiopeia felt.
This place was not as disgusting as the crater’s lab… yet it was an ode to how superior humans thought they were over other life forms. There were plants from Sixam - and of course Sixamnians knew some humans managed to arrive to their planet a few times, and always avoided them… And now Cassiopeia understood why.
A chill of disgust ran down her spine when she pictured herself inside of one of those glass containers… or cut to pieces like they did to Mother.
But honestly… what could you expect from those who imprisoned their own kind without a real reason? Cassiopeia wondered, as she used her keycard on the door when Jess asked her to, so they could keep going.
They took Erwin away and that enraged her even more. If they did something to him… if they touched even a single red hair of his head she would…
"Cass! Over here!" Jess called, her voice filled with urgency.
Cassiopeia’s heart jumped against her ribs when she saw Erwin through the little window on the security door. He looked devastated, as if he were crying just a while ago, but fine.
He was safe.
She was not the only relieved one, because behind her back she could listen to Jess softly sobbing, muttering how worried she was. Cassiopeia wanted to cry as well, but she didn’t have time to spare for that.
Hitting the glass with the side of her fist to catch his attention she called him, even when her voice felt caught in her throat.
"Erwin… Erwin we are here!!"
When Erwin finally noticed them he jumped out of the bed and approached the door. His face was filled with surprise, but also pure relief and happiness.
"Girls… What are you doing here!?"
"We came to rescue you!" Cassiopeia declared.
"Now we just need to find a way to ge–" As Jess was saying that, Cassiopeia pulled out her SimRay. She had no patience to look around for a key.
She wanted to get Erwin out of there right now.
"Erwin, move away!" She warned.
"Wha– !?"
"What are you– !?"
Before Jess could stop her, Cassiopeia pointed at the lock and fired her SimRay. The door exploded open, pieces of it flying everywhere, and the sound drowned Erwin’s scream of terror.
"There. Problem solved"
"This is supposed to be an undercover mission, Cass!!" Jess whined.
They didn’t have time to celebrate the reunion. The alarms of the base went off, quickly kicking them out of the joy of seeing each other again. The still had to leave that place in one piece.
"Let’s get moving!" Jess hurried them.
On their way back to the first basement level Cassiopeia looked at Erwin over her shoulder as if she wanted to check he was still there. Still alright. On spite of the situation she couldn’t help a smile when their eyes met.
"Thanks for coming to get me" He said.
"There is no way I wou… we would leave you here"
"I thought I was spending the rest of my life inside that cell"
The boy was about to say something else when a voice cut him off.
"After this you can be sure that’s what will happen, young man"
"I can’t believe it! You are everywhere, Circe" Cassiopeia sighed.
The woman approached them, closing the way to the staircase, and when she faced Cassiopeia her features were filled with irritation.
"It’s Doctor Beaker for you, Polaris. I told you to mind your own business, but of course you didn’t listen, and now you all know too much. You can’t leave"
Jess stepped forward in response, shaking with anger.
"You bet we can. Try me"
"I’m not into violence, so I would rather pass. But I’m sure your friends from the army will be excited to try you"
As she was saying this the woman fished out her phone from one of the pockets of her lab coat and with quick fingers she input a number on it. Cassiopeia was done with this. And with this she meant Circe. At the same time Circe put her phone against her ear, Cassiopeia pulled out her SimRay and pointed at the woman with it.
"Put that down" She ordered.
"What are you doing with that!? Where did you get that alien technology from!?" Circe seemed to forget about her phone and Cassiopeia couldn’t hold back a smirk. Who cared anymore? They were on the run now anyways. So, to avoid that Erwin could listen to her words, she leaned in closer to Circe and whispered.
"This is the technology of my people"
Before Circe could even reply, Cassiopeia fired her SimRay. The ice creeped up her body without her being able to do anything about it, freezing her face in a perpetual cry of surprise. At least she wouldn’t look pissed for a while now.
"OH SWEET WATCHER! Did you kill her!?" Erwin gasped.
"Of course not! She’ll be frozen for a couple of hours and then the ice will melt away. She’ll be fine… She’ll might catch a cold tho"
"That’s the least she deserves" Jess nodded.
That was kind of scary... and hot, Erwin thought.
"It really is… Let’s go, we have to keep going before more of them find us!"