Slugterra: The New Shane

Chapter 14: Betrayed

//Thank you to anyone who's commented, hearing people wanting me to update really makes my day! :)//

Alana's POV

I raced along the edge of a tall cliffside on Midnight. I was trying to keep track of a speeding train down below as it snaked along the valley. It was dark gray and red, and it had admirable speed. As I raced along, pushing Midnight to her limits, my slugs squeaked with joy. The ones on my bandoleer stuck their heads out of their canisters and sticking their tongues out. I could even hear the ones in my backpack squealing, and I couldn't help but smile. Some hair whipped around my face, but it wasn't too bad. I'd been ready and had gotten most of my hair into a tightly woven braid for the ride.

The communication device I had on my wrist beeped. I brought it up closer to me. There was a slight buzz of static, then Eli's voice.

"Can everyone read me?" I heard Pronto, Kord and Trixie call in. Then I spoke into it. "We're good to go, Eli." Excitement was building up in me- this was, by far, the biggest heist I had ever pulled. Breaking into the Blakk Industries Citadel seemed like a little thing now. This could put Dr. Blakk out of the ghouling business for good.

So, yeah. No pressure or anything.

There was a pause, then Eli called in again. "Okay. Then let's go steal ourselves a train."

This is gonna be fun.

~~~~~~~~

24 Hours Earlier

We all stood around a circular table. A map of Slugterra was out, along with small models of the Slugterran Express. Loki was playing around. I was leaning up on the table, looking at it intently, my mind buzzing.

"Here's what we know." Eli was going over the intel we had gathered, with the help of Twist. "Tomorrow night, a shipment of dark water is being taken to a secure facility. This isn't your average mark. Blakk's not taking chances. We're talking armed guards, private train, the works."

I frowned. "We hit Blakk less than two days ago," I noted doubtfully. Trixie nodded. "Shouldn't he be regrouping?" she asked.

Eli glanced at Twist, who nodded. "The opposite. If anything, Blakk's stepping up his game. You guys cut off his supply when you took out the Deadweed mine. But he's still got plenty." I wished that wasn't the case. We could only do so much. Blakk had a lot of dark water stored, and he already had a ton of ghouls. But hopefully, this plan could put an end to it.

Eli continued. "Twist's intel suggests that dark water is being moved from Blakk's fortress to a depot in the outer caverns." Trixie nodded. "Don't blame him. I wouldn't wanna be living on top of that stuff." I nodded in agreement- I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would be like. Eli and I would already have to work hard to get me a secure spot in the mission. We weren't sure what being around so much dark water would be like for me. Even while I had been successful with blocking out dark energy the past few days, we didn't want to take any chances, and I really couldn't argue with that.

"This is it, guys," Eli finished. "We pull this off, and we put Doctor Blakk out of the ghoul business for good." We all cheered and gave high-fives. I was having mixed feelings- I was nervous as heck, I mean, this operation would be huge, we could get the upper end here. But mostly, I was just excited. It would be difficult, sure, but hey, we had the opprotunity to hit Blakk where it really counted. This would be great.

Loki was riding one of the small model trains around the map. Kord places his hand down, blocking the slug's ride. He looked off- his mind definitely wasn't here. "Kord?" I asked. No response. Eli looked at the cave troll, concerned. "Kord!" Kord jumped up, looking startled. Eli gave a small smile. "Are you listening?"