Beyond What's Known

Chapter 9

Eli's shoulders sagged. He watched Alana fire her Arachnet again, dragging a third boulder away from Trixie's mecha.

"What did I do?" he groaned.

Alana paused and glanced down at him, frowning.

"You didn't do anything," she insisted. "The Goon tried to attack Gateway. It didn't end well. He seemed pretty frustrated with you. You held him back a lot. You made him desperate, and I don't think he's used to not feeling completely in control."

"I'm glad I was able to do something, then," Eli mumbled bitterly.

"Hey," Alana said sharply. She picked up her Lariat. "Don't be like that. You did plenty. If you had just let him take control, I don't think we would have stopped him. You bought us time to rest up after yesterday and get the Goon to make mistakes."

She fired again. Her Lariat dragged a fourth boulder away from Trixie's mecha. It tilted forward and the two front wheels hit the ground. Trixie tried revving the engine again, and after a moment, her mecha lurched forward. It pulled itself free from the remaining boulders.

"Yes!" Trixie cheered. She climbed out of the mecha and dashed over to Eli, sliding down and giving him a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Eli was clearly glad to see Trixie, but he winced when she hugged him. Alana tapped Trixie's shoulder and gestured for her to back up.

"Maybe hold off on the bear hugs. He's taken a beating these last couple days," she said gently. "Can I have Mage?"

"Oh, sorry, E," Trixie said. She sat down next to him and passed Mage up to Alana in a slug tube. "Here you go. I never had a good shot to use her on the Goon, but it was nice to have the option."

She frowned and glanced around.

"Hey, where is the Goon?"

Alana sighed, keeping her eyes on her blaster as she loaded Mage. How many times was she going to have to confirm that she'd failed to capture the Goon Doc? At least once more to Kord and Pronto, and surely other Slugterrans would want to know what happened to the ghoul that had turned their Shane against them.

"He got away," she said bitterly. Tears pricked the edges of her eyes again, and she frustratedly willed herself to not cry. "Probably into those little tunnels the slugs use to get around. I don't feel his energy anywhere. He's long gone."

An apology sat at the tip of her tongue, but she didn't say it. Alana knew Trixie would just tell her not to apologize anyway.

Trixie nodded, looking up understandingly at Alana. She clearly could see how frustrated and disappointed Alana was, but she didn't mention it.

"Well, we got the most important thing done," Trixie said simply, nodding to Eli. "Now he gets to be part of the search for the Goon. And he'll get a chance to get back at the little pest, although I'm not holding back. If I find it, it's on sight."

"Oh I definitely want to be a part of that," Eli agreed. "It's gonna be payback time."

Alana couldn't help but smile at the two's comments. It was almost like an hour ago they weren't fighting for their lives. Of course, they all still looked the part, patterned with a mix of dried blood, soot, Jellyish goo, and who knew what else.

"Well, no one's doing anything until we get patched up," Alana said, loading Mage. She thought about the Eastern slinger, lying unconscious in the King of Sling's mansion. "And even then, there's a lot to sort out. One step at a time."

Eli raised an eyebrow when the accelerator on Alana's blaster whirred to life.

"No offense, but is this the time to experiment?" he asked carefully. Alana tilted her head, confused, then realized - Eli didn't know that Mage had learned to megamorph when she had healed the gang and the Eastern slinger in the King of Sling's mansion.