The Lost Artifact Of Spode

20

"It's so nice to see you, Mr. Supervisor!" The Imperial chimes. She shows Mr. Adaway a large smile.

He didn't bother correcting her this time. "Where's my scientist?" He demands.

"Where's my money?" She asks back.

Mr. Adaway motions for someone. A large man steps forward, holding a silver briefcase in his hands. However, he stays standing behind Mr. Adaway, keeping the briefcase closed.

"I won't show you until I see you've brought me Dr. Yazzie. Alive and well," Mr. Adaway informs, stressing his last sentence.

Imperial Xia titters. "Well, he is alive and here." She turns behind her and waves to the guard holding onto Mel.

Finally, Mel is brought closer to the two. Closer to the humans, and closer to home. However, despite being so close to finally reaching safety, he was dreading his punishment for all this trouble even more, and still he struggled against his return.

Just like on the human's side, the soldier stops behind the Imperial, awaiting further instructions. For a split second, Mel meets Mr. Adaway's eyes. He quickly darts his head the other way to avoid his gaze, but keeps the scene in the corner of his eye.

Mr. Adaway cusses. "Imperial Xia, I told you to keep him unharmed!"

She folds her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry," she coos, not an ounce of remorse in her tone, "I just couldn't help myself."

"I shouldn't pay you in full just for this!"

Mel can't help but roll his eyes. "Didn't know I'm some broken product in a grocery store," he mumbles to himself. He couldn't believe even Mr. Adaway was starting to dehumanize him like this.

The Imperial shakes her head, slightly swaying her body with the motion and humming along with her actions. "It's all or nothing, Mr. Supervisor. He's too valuable otherwise."

"You can think of it as compensation for all of his medical bills youve given him."

She hums. "Well, if you're going to be like that, then..." with a snap of her fingers, the soldiers behin the drag Mel away once more.

Mel might have been afraid of the trouble he's going to get into, but he was even move terrified of going back to the Proximians. "Hey!" He shouts, somewhat coherent through his muffle. He digs his heels into the ground. For a moment, he actually gives the soldier something to fight against, but that didn't last long. The soldier is much larger and stronger than Mel, afterall. All he needed was an adjusted grip before Mel was another sack of potatoes to them.

"Wait, wait!" Mr. Adaway shouts after them. He growls. "Fine! Have it your way."

With those words, Mel was no longer being dragged back into the Proximians' ship. He let out an auditable sigh.

Mr. Adaway turns to the person holding the briefcase next to him, but keeps his eyes glued to Imperial Xia.

"The money, go on," he reluctantly orders.

The man holds the briefcase out for someone to grab, but he doesn't hold it out to anyone in particular. In fact, it doesn't seem as if he's even looking at anyone in particular.

A small Proximian steps forward and takes the silver case from the man. Without taking a step back, she clicks the briefcase open and examines the insides. Stacks of money lied inside the case. However, it's not a kind of currency Mel is used to. There's no way that's any kind of human cash.

"It's all there," Mr. Adaway announces. "Now give us back Dr. Yazzie."

Imperial Xia looms over the shoulder of the Proximian with the breif case. She closes the silver container, gives the Imperial a small nod, then promptly disappeares into the crowd.

"I think I should return to my ship and make sure you gave me the exact amount, first," she says, slowly turning as she walks away from Mr. Adaway.

"Excuse me?!" Mr. Adaway charges after her. A couple of his soldiers quickly stop him as he only makes it a step towards her.

"Careful, sir."

He yells after her, "You are not leaving here until you have filled your end of the bargen!"

Mel bites his tongue as the situation begins to unfold.

"It's not like I'm leaving!" She, almost innocently, rings.

However, the soldier who has Mel started dragging him back towards the ship again. He didn't need anything else to convince him more.

He started to shout so loud that he could be heard coherently through his muffle, "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IM NOT GOING BACK!"

His panic was the spark that lit the fuse of this tense situation.

All of a sudden, guns were drawn on either side, pointing at each other.

"Oops, we tried!" Imperial Xia chimes, waving to Mr. Adaway.

Mel was lifted off from his feet and hoisted over the shoulder of his soldier just as the firing of shots started.

"PUT ME DOWN!" He screeches, wildly kicking his legs around. By now, thanks to all of his yelling, the fabric that had Mel muffled has  fallen into his mouth and rolled itself into a thin line, making it completely useless as a muffle. "I'M NOT GOING BACK!"

Even with all of the noise happening around him, Mel's voice managed to ring through the area. If anyone didn't hear his screaming, they had to of been too focused on the conflict instead.

"I CANT GO BACK! I WON'T!" Mel squirms under the grip of his captor, desperately trying to break free. "I HAVE A FAMILY!"

Suddenly, a ship near them explodes. The soldier loses his footing for a second, but Mel remains on his shoulder, unscathed. The ship that had just exploded was the very one that Mel had arrived in, and the same one they were going to leave on.

"They could have killed me," Mel realised. Any sense of security he had remaining suddenly all left him.

The soldier quickly adjusts his path and beelines to the next ship, and Mel's fighting grows much, much worse. He wasn't just kicking the air anymore, but kneeing the soldier wherever he could reach. He attempted to roll off of his shoulder, or to even slip from off of his back.

"Put me down!" He demands. "PUT ME DOWN!"

The soldier suddenly stops fighting against Mel, letting him jump from his soldier and crash into the ground below. This should have been a small victory for Mel, but unfortunately, he was already back onto another ship.

And to make matters worse, Mel still couldn't figure out how to pick himself up from off the ground without using his hands.

With how often he's found himself with his hands tied recently, he really expected to have learned how to at least sit up without his hands.

"OK, get us out of here!" A familiar voice chimes.

Hearing The Imperial's voice sent Mel into a rage. He began frantically looking around the room for her. Once he spot her, her eyes met his, and he started yelling.

"Take me back, right now! You can't do this! You made a deal with him! What kind of snake goes back on their own deals?!"

But his words didn't reach her. It was all just noisy sounds to her.

"Why can I understand him?" She asks the room. "So loud too... Someone fix that."

"Don't just ign-!"

Suddenly, a nearby soldier grabs Mel and throws him into a hold, getting a sharp yelp out of him. Before he could make another sound, she wraps an arm around him and starts to choke him out. He couldn't do anything against her as he began to quickly lose oxygen.

"Be careful now! I still need the little doctor alive."

He barely heard the Imperial speak as the world completly left him.