Mind Games (Part 2)

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A/N: Part 2, enjoy!

***

Solar and Duri's bedroom door was locked and barricaded. The vent was blocked by a horde of venomous plants. Even the window had been boarded up.

Duri sat on the lower bunk, glancing anxiously every now and then at the small teleporter platform in the corner. Ice lay on the top bunk, trying but failing to fall asleep. Gopal sat at Solar's desk, transforming bits of scrap metal into food and nervously stuffing it in his mouth. Blaze restlessly paced the room.

All of them shared a thought: Solar was taking far too long.

Suddenly, the platform lit up, a figure forming within the circle as the room's occupants directed their attention to it.

As the light died down, Solar tumbled forward, almost faceplanting if it weren't for Blaze catching him at the last moment. Immediately, the others gathered around them.

Solar looked much worse than the last time they had seen him: his clothes were torn in several places, there were cuts on his face and arms and his cap was missing. To top it all off, he looked about ready to pass out.

"Hey, little lamp, what happened to you?" Blaze asked, more out of worry than confusion, as Duri helped him lift Solar onto his bed.

Solar shook his head weakly, "It's not good... The Admiral's being controlled. And Koko Ci, Sai, Shielda, Kaizo and all the Mop Aliens. I barely got away."

Ice inhaled sharply. Blaze didn't have to ask to know why; if the likes of Kaizo had been defeated, it was likely that everyone else had been too. They might be the only ones left unaffected.

"So what do we do now?" Gopal looked just about ready to enter full panic mode.

Ice leveled him with a glare; they couldn't afford to deal with Gopal's screaming and yelling at the moment.

"Now, we don't panic and figure out what to do," he said firmly.

"Oh, the second part's easy," Blaze butted in, "We find out who's behind all this, beat 'em up and get our friends back."

"Let me patch Solar up first," Duri piped up, "He's not going anywhere in this state."

"I'll help," Ice offered, taking up a first-aid kit sitting on a shelf near the teleporter.

When it came to first aid, the two worked together seamlessly. After a moment of watching them, Blaze pulled Duri's desk chair over to Gopal and sat down.

"So, got a plan?"

Gopal glared halfheartedly, "Me, a plan? Dude, do I look that similar to Ying and Yaya?"

"Well it's not like I can come up with genius ideas!"

"I can," Another voice interrupted. Blaze and Gopal twisted around in their seats to see Solar sitting on the edge of his bed, cradling a steaming mug. Blaze was relieved to see that a little colour had returned to his face.

Solar dipped a hand into his jacket pocket and took out a small object in a clear, sealed bag. It was the size of a fingernail and appeared to be made of some kind of alien metal.

Ice gasped, "Is that-"

"Yes," Solar glared at the object, as if it had personally offended him, "I found this on my way to mission control. I think it's the cause of the problem."

"What is it, exactly?" Duri inquired, peering at the metallic object.

"Some sort of microscopic chip. My bet is that it's connected to a computer somewhere."

Blaze was starting to understand the plan, "So if we can find that computer and shut it down-"

"We can stop the mind control. Exactly." Solar made his way to his desk, waving off his twin's concerns. He nudged Gopal out of the chair and sat down, "The hard part is pinpointing the computer's location. But with this chip, I think I can do it."

"How long will that take?" Ice asked, glancing nervously at the barricaded door.

"I'm not sure. With the equipment available, maybe fifteen minutes if the computer's close by."

***

"Aha! I found it!" Solar suddenly shouted less than ten minutes later, making everyone jump (and Gopal fall off the bed).

"That was fast," Ice commented after he recovered from the initial scare.

Solar ignored Gopal's groaning and pointed at the tablet he was holding, "That's because it's right outside the station!"

"Wait, what?" Blaze vaulted off the top bunk, "How?"

"It's installed on a spaceship hidden by some sort of cloaking device," Solar replied, inspecting an image of the unknown spaceship on his tablet, "If it weren't for the signals passing between it and our chip here, I probably would have missed it as well."

"Okay, so where is it exactly?" Blaze was already bouncing with energy.

"Near the hangars on the lower floors-"

"Great, let's go!" Blaze made for the door, but Solar grabbed him by the wrist.

"Hold up, hothead. We can't go marching through the station without some preparation."

Blaze scowled at the nickname and snatched his hand away, but didn't oppose his (temporary) leader.

"How do we prepare to face mind-controlled versions of our friends?" Gopal fretted, "Not to mention Kaizo and Tarung..."

"Well, first off, we need a way to effectively get rid of any chips sent our way," In contrast to Gopal, Solar still sounded completely calm, "Gopal, try to turn this one into food."

"What? Uh, okay - Food Transformation!" A flash, and a piece of chewing gum sat innocently on the desk.

"Good, it works. Now turn it back - thanks - and Blaze, melt it. And don't burn my desk, you hear?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'm not ten, you know, I can control my powers."

Melting the chip also worked fine, although during a moment of impatience Blaze accidently made the room grow so hot that Ice had to use his own powers to cool it down.

"Alright, here's the plan," Solar started when everything was back to normal, minus the melted scrap of metal, "Ice, Duri, you're on defense. Counter any attacks that come our way, but try not to hurt anyone. Blaze, I suspect there'll be plenty of chips on the floor, so it's your job to melt them. TAPOPS station's walls and floor can withstand very high temperatures, so it should be fine. Gopal, transform the chips on people's necks - Blaze probably can't do it without hurting them, but you should be fine since your powers don't work on living things. I'll lead the way with the tablet - I've activated a tracking feature - and hopefully get us to the computer we need without too much trouble. Any questions?"

When everyone shook their heads, Solar smiled briefly before jerking his head at the door.

"C'mon then, let's remove the barricade and get going."

Between the five of them, they made quick work of the pile of furniture. Ice unlocked the door, which slid open smoothly -

- To reveal Taufan and Yaya standing outside with blank looks on their faces.

***

A/N: Yes, a typical cliffhanger. Sorry, no action here. But at least they learn more about what's going on, right?

Two chapters down, two more to go. Part 3 coming very soon!

Lola, signing off!

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