Off-duty Shane Gang

Returning the Favour

Nightfall stretched across the Eastern Caverns, encompassing the region in darkness. Vertical rows of city lights provided the only illumination for miles. Residents slept soundly in their homes with their slugs nearby. The same could be said for the Shane Gang, though sleeping in a secret hideout equipped with top-of-the-line security usually provided more peace of mind than your average citizen's house.

Countless times before, attempts by enemies to catch the Shane Gang off-guard, have been thwarted by the high-level tech. Unfortunately, every security system, even the best ones, has bugs in their defenses, allowing for those skilled enough to slip in.

Inside the hideout, Pronto happily hummed to himself as he was hunched over and peering into the fridge. Like most Molenoids, his circadian rhythm differed from his peers and always seemed to be changing. Tonight was no different, as he was the sole member of the Shane Gang not in the process of REM sleep.

"Ahh perfect," he said with a satisfied grunt as he pulled out his concoction from the fridge and placed it on the kitchen island. Sitting before him was a variety of meats, slices of tomatoes, sauces, and cheese, all squished in between two slices of bread. "Sometimes Pronto's culinary skills even surprise Pronto," he said with a grin as he carefully carried the towering sandwich, which was almost half his height, into the living room.

Once there, he glanced at the clock and excitedly grabbed the TV remote and leaned back into the beanbag chair. He made sure to place the volume down to its lowest setting, not wanting to wake the others, especially Kord. "How does someone that size, be that much of a sensitive sleeper?" thought Pronto to himself.

One of the unexpected advantages of having such a strange sleep schedule, was that he would usually be able to make it in time for 'Love Blossoms', a romantic and cheesy comedy, featuring one of his favorite actors. The show was a guilty pleasure of his and one he usually engaged in private. He made the mistake once of watching the previous season finale infront of Trixie, she couldn't understand the complex nature of the show's appeal, and also didn't let him live it down for two weeks when he shed a few tears at the ending.

Banishing the negative memories away, he lifted the sandwich cautiously with his hands, but just before he was about to take a bite, his eye caught movement in the corner. It's as if time had slowed down and he was motionless for an hour, though in reality it was just his brain playing catch up at the illogical sight before him and was at most a few seconds.

Shadows whipped around as black vapor engaged in a cycle of swelling and collapsing in itself, eventually speeding up until Pronto was looking at what resembled a whirlpool of black smoke in his living room. His eyes were lost in a trance focusing on the still expanding whirlpool, until he saw something...someone emerge.

The first thing he noticed were the fully armed bracelet blasters that were present on both of the intruder's arms, followed by a set of stalking eyes, hidden behind some sort of vision tech. Despite the darkness, Pronto was used to working in low light, and compared to the tunnels he grew up in, his pitch black living room seemed lit to him, with ease he was able to watch the intruder's movements.

Suddenly a chill ran up his spine, as he noticed that despite the darkness...the intruder could see him clearly as well, and was staring straight at him. Except instead of a face, smooth black metal took its place.

At the highest decibel he could muster, he let out an ear shattering scream, hoping to wake the others. Suddenly, the intruder's hands shot up next to their shoulders, as if Pronto's scream was more shocking than a masked intruder.

"ProoOoNnNtOo," whispered the intruder, adding on to his fear and sending him into a frenzied state of fight-or-flight. Soon enough he was clawing out of the beanbag chair and throwing anything he could find, cushions, the TV remote, even his prized sandwich at the enemy.