"I mean, yeah. You're small enough to not be seen. You're just about Talon's size." Nova said. "I can watch the kid."

Macy was about to speak before she just shrugged. "Can't argue with science. Just thought you would've wanted to come considering you don't like kids."

"What? I don't don't like kids! I just, well I don't really see much interest in becoming a babysitter or...uhhh..." Nova sighed. "This is making me sound like a mean person."

"We can talk about mean people later." Talon said. "We should get moving."

Macy gave Nova a quick hug before reaching into her bag and giving Nova and Talon two phones. "This way we can stay in touch in case something goes wrong."

"Good plan." Talon said before instantly putting it away in his pocket. "But I don't trust that shiny rectangle."

After that, Talon and Macy peeked out of the manhole cover to see a hover car fly past them. So they quickly followed them, but ended up with a gate. "This is where the camp should be."

Talon then climbed and jumped the gate with ease, landing on his feet. "No time to waste."

Macy looked at herself and tried to think if she could jump or be as athletic as she used to be now that was a fox thing. So she shrugged and just climbed and jumped the gate instead. "Heh. Still got it."

The two then hid in the bushes and watched the hover car slowly float over to some guards. "Received some more humans."

"Well, make your way to the conversion camp. We set up the capsules further down the road in a shack that didn't have anything important inside to begin with." The guard said.

The Shade inside the hover car nodded and then headed off. They arrived at the place shortly after, with Talon and Macy loosely following before out came a few prisoners. But it was barely any. Guess The Shade weren't too picky.

"I already feel like jumping into action." Macy whispered.

"Just wait. We'll get there to save everyone." Talon said.

One of the human prisoners looked down before suddenly running away while screaming at the top of her lungs. The Shade were about to go after her before they started to scream in pain because of the noise, even Talon began screaming in pain, but it mixed in so well with the hundreds of other screams that it didn't give them away.

Then, a somewhat familiar Red Slasher took out his blades and then sliced as he screamed, half decapitating the woman, not even cutting it off by the neck.

Macy and Talon's jaws dropped as the screaming stopped and the body fell limp, blood spilling onto the grass and dirt.

"DAMMIT, KREJI!" One of the Shades cried. "First you kill one of the traitor before we get the chance, scar a kid's eyes, kidnap their parents, and now this!?"

"What? I made her stop. You're welcome." Kreji said as he pulled back his blade.

"You couldn't have at least cut it off by the neck?" Another Shade asked.

"Eh, I'll get better with practice." Kreji commented as he watched the other prisoners be forced into the camp. Thankfully, only one of them saw the horrifying death.

Talon and Macy slowly retracted into the bushes. "T-That was..."

Macy covered her mouth before vomiting, and then coughing, but trying to be quiet. "W-What kinda monster does that?"

"My kind..." Talon hissed before patting Macy on the back. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I-I should be fine. Just that with the moldy bread and beer bottle I had earlier doesn't seem to be settling with my stomach. And after seeing that? I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep without a sick stomach."

Then, one of the Shade began to speak up. "Eh, we still have a vacant capsule available for a non-decapitated head." He said as a converted human walked out, with the same symbol of the drone back at the hotel in their eye.

"What happened to her?" Macy whispered.

"That's what happens when you're converted. You're basically in an eternal coma, being artificially controlled to maintain the planet's ecosystem." Talon whispered back.

"Letting go of your own free will and becoming like a mindless robot...I think I like robots a little less now." Macy said.

"What occupation did the commander assign this body?" A Shade asked.

The converted began to speak. "Factory worker. Specifically for the manufacturing of floating sleeves."

"Ooh! We're gonna need those." A Shade said before Kreji shoved them aside.

"Move along." Kreji commanded as the converted just walked away.

Meanwhile, Nova and Derek were waiting for Macy and Talon, before Nova clicked her tongue.

"So, what Macy said back there, I DON'T hate kids."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot she said that!" Derek said.

Nova internally facepalmed, feeling like slapping herself.

"It's okay. I know how obnoxious kids can be." Derek said.

"Well, adults can be REALLY obnoxious too. Especially if they were never allowed to be obnoxious as kids. But I don't hate kids, really! Hell, I used to be a kid! Why hate my own kind, just younger?"

"No kidding." Derek said.

"My childhood just wasn't filled with that much laughter or fun is all. I think I got it from my dad, I dunno." Nova said with a sigh. "But right now that's not important."

"Yeah! Cause my parents might be brainwashed right now-"

"Yeah! Of course! And we're gonna help them, I'm sure Talon knows a way to get them out of this brainwashed state right now. And maybe even I can! Who knows? I've trained my whole life and never really had time to focus on anything other than that. I mean, I never focused on fun or friends and was pretty damn lucky that Macy wanted to be my friend or that Raymond wanted to be associated with me. I thought I was useful in my own way! I'm a R.A.P.I.D AGENT. I'M USEFUL."

"Y-You, uhh, sure are!"

Nova sighed and then stopped monologuing. "Sorry, I...guess I feel like the weak link of the team, you know? Macy's a super smart genius and Talon's an alien with blades in his fists! Meanwhile me? I just gotta hope I don't run out of bullets. This invasion makes me feel more and more useless."

"Hey, you're not-" Then, there was a noise. Nova looked into the shadows before her eyes widened and she saw a construction worker run out, but growling and roaring.

It had a weird symbol on its eye, the same one from the drone at the hotel.

"...Shit." Nova whispered before shooting the converted in the leg, but while it did scream in pain, it did not stop chasing them.

"RUN!!!" Derek screamed.

Meanwhile, Talon and Nova had scaled a tree and were now looking at the conversion camp from above. "The capsules should be inside that shack." Talon said.

"Right." Macy nodded. "How do we get inside?"

"The capsules can be broken pretty easily with their breakable glass."

"Great. Now how do we get inside?"

"Once the prisoner are free, we steal one of the hover cars and escape. Mission completed."

Macy narrowed her eyes. "Okay. Cool."

"Now how do we get inside?" Talon asked.

Macy groaned before trying to think of a plan, one of which involved digging a really large hole, but that would take way too long. Talon then got an idea.

"I have a plan, but it involves me being a distraction." Talon said.

"What!? Tal, you could barely fight a Smasher!"

"I once fought a whole force of Shades to save my brother and my sister once for being outcasts!" Talon said, unknowingly revealing something about his past, one of those 'brothers' being Kagin. "This is something I gotta do alone."

Macy narrowed her eyes. "Okay, we are not done with this talk, but that is exactly what dark and brooding characters say before they do something stupid for personal reasons."

"This isn't just for personal reasons." Talon commented. "Stealing the hover car will blow our cover instantly, but I'm a fugitive. All eyes will be on me, giving you plenty of time to escape with the prisoners."

Macy sighed. "Alright. I guess I can't argue..." She whispered before grabbing her blaster, but then hugging Talon. "Be careful." She said as she snuck down.

Talon nodded before unleashing his blades and cutting down a large branch, letting it make a 'BRAM' noise as it fell to the ground.

All the Shades turned around before they gasped at the source of the noise. Talon. They all took out their guards, blades, or even charged up their energy beams.

Kreji cackled. "Not gonna lie. I only ever saw your headshot. I thought you'd be taller. And I have no idea how a short shit stack like you managed to escape the entire army, but now we got you surrounded."

"And to think, this could've all been avoided if only you didn't betray us." A Shooter hissed.

Talon grunted. "If only you guys weren't so worth betraying."

A Smasher scoffed. "Well, someone thinks he's too good for his own race! Is that why you're outnumbered right now? Doesn't seem good to me."

"Goodness isn't judged by your ability to overpower others." Talon said to all of them.

The Shades were silent...before they all bursted out laughing as hard as they could.

"Did you get that from an Earthling door mat or something?!" A Shade howled with laughter.

"No way! That's something a Quorqok would say!"

"Yeah! Earthling speeches combined with the idiotic ideals of Quorqoks!"

"With a touch of absolute pussiness!" Another Shade laughed.

One of The Shades looked at him. "What does that mean?"

"It's a term I picked up on this planet. I feel like it means weakness."

Talon crossed his arms. "You are a fool. That's not what that could truly mean."

One of the Smashers growled. "You must feel pretty damn good about yourself to think you're better than all of us!"

"I don't think I'm better than anyone."

"And you must feel great for saying that!" The Smasher hissed.

Talon huffed. "I have both good and bad inside me, like all of you. I only chose to embrace my good side."

"Oh, people will be getting a GREAT look at my good side." Kreji laughed. "When I turn you in to Commander Shard and get the upgrade!"

"Replace you with me in that sentence, and then you'll be correct." A Shooter said.

As the Shade argued, Macy slowly snuck into the Conversion Camp, crawling through the vents with ease before peeking down and seeing...the bulky and green Shade that announced the invasion! Why did he stick around this city?

"Commander Shard!" A Shade cried as they ran in.

Shard sighed. "I hope you have all taken care of whatever that noise was."

"Yes, but as it turns out...it's the traitor."

Shard's head perked up and he grinned a small smirk before walking out. "Guard the capsules."

As all The Shade argued and even went to fisticuffs on whoever would win the upgrade, Talon just watched with disappointment as his own race argued and fought like idiots.

"You know," Shard said as he walked out, his very presence stopping the fighting. "We should be thanking this traitor."

Talon growled, clenching his fists. "Can...I just say something?"

"I don't think you're in ANY position to make requests. Or perhaps you are, considering it was your little high speed pursuit that lead us here, giving us initiative to expand our colony even further. So even though you're now against us, it's like your still helping us." He smirked. "And when you were one of us, you were one of the most determined soldiers in your faction. At least...that's what it says on your profile."

Talon growled. "That's a profile of PAST me! I'm sure you've made mistakes in the past as well!"

"You don't get upgraded from SLASHER to STINGER by making mistakes." Shard cackle as he showed his flying stinger like blades. "And to think, you could've gotten this upgrade if not for you and Kagin's treachery."

Talon's eyes twitched. "Don't say that name." He growled. "I don't need or want to be upgraded."

"Really? Cause according to your profile created by The High Council, you would never shut up about wanting to be upgraded."

"Past me." Talon breathed. "That's all behind me now."

Shard could see his talking was getting under his skin, like he was best at. "And according to your old faction, you were constantly trying to upstage them. The only friend you had was your siblings. You considered Kagin and former Commander Blade like your family. But let's face it, the only reason you ever befriended that Shooter was because you felt bad."

"I...was...a different person..."

"Commander Blade is now stranded on a dessert planet, very well forgetting about you. You were the most egocentric solider according to her and your previous commander before you killed her. Stabbing her over a hundred times in the heart."

"I...am...not who I was..."

Shard grinned even wider. "And speaking of killing, your kill count was over thousands."

Finally, Talon couldn't take it anymore and he unleashed his blades. "SHUT UP, YOU POINTY PRICK!!!!!!"