The elevator came to a stop and the group parted ways, with Matt's group headed for central command and the remainder of Razgriz Squadron headed towards their Nine-Breaker hangers.

As they headed down the hallway, they came across Jared once more, who was talking to a young, dark-skinned woman clad in an officer's uniform. She was an unusual sight, sporting long, pale-green hair and vibrant red eyes. She laughed a bit at a joke Jared was telling them, before the two of them spotted the group.

"Hey, guys," Jared raised a hand in greeting.

Matt immediately noticed the girl. Ah-the officer that talked to them after Alasea nuked all the demons in the base. Up close, her features were stranger than expected. But hey-she had a nice rack.

"Hey," Alasea said with a wave and a smile. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Kaile," he said, introducing them to the woman. "She works out in the command center."

"Its a pleasure to meet you in person," Kaile said with a smile. "I've heard a lot about you from Jared."

"Really," Alasea said with a grin. "I hope he hasn't told you too many bad things about us."

Kaile laughed. "Not at all."

"So, where you guys headed this morning?" Jared asked.

Edited by RisingDragon on July 29, 2009 at 9:19:54.

"We're going to talk to the General about the Essence download," Hugo said. "If it's done, then we'll be heading out."

"Hmm, I'm not sure where the General's at right now," Jared mused, rubbing a chin with a black metal hand. "I suppose he'd be either at his office or the command center."

"I last saw him with Colonel Patterson at the Command Center, so you should try there," Kaile suggested, then turned towards Jared. "I need to go file this report, so I'll talk to you later, Jared."

"Alright, Kaile. Take care of yourself."

She smiled and nodded, and left with a short wave, heading down an adjacent hall. Once out of sight, Alasea nudged the cyborg in the side.

"She was pretty cute," she teased.

"H-hey, watch it, 'sea," he admonished.

"You certainly know how to pick 'em." Matt curved his hands through the air, in the rough shape of an hourglass. "Ba-ZING!"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Jared said with a sigh. "Anyways, shouldn't you guys be looking for the General?"

Alasea smirked. Jared never did handle teasing well, so it didn't surprise her in the least to change the subject on them. "Alright then."

Hugo started walking again. "Let's stop pissing around, then."

"Right behind you," R.D. said, following after the Mettaur.

Alasea entwined her fingers behind her head. "Mmm, I didn't think Jared would find himself another girl with all this going on," she stated aloud.

Nope! Matt wasn't going to make a comment. Oh, sure, he COULD. In fact, he had already figured out quite a few things to say. But that would draw Alasea's contempt. Even though it would be so easy, he had to refrain. Nope, he wouldn't say a word. Not at all.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Aube's Central Command. It was already a flurry of activity in here, with various officers and technicians working at the consoles, getting the day shift crews prepared in case of emergency.

Sitting at his desk at the top of the room was General Dagenais, and they made their way up to them.

"Good morning, father," Alasea greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, everyone," he replied, nodding to them.

Right. Let's cut to the chase. "So I heard that the download's finished on the Omega Essence," Matt said. "Or close to finished, at least."

"That is correct," Patrick stated. "I have been informed that the download shall be completed in the next couple of hours. I have already begun the necessary preparations."

"Is that why this place is in an uproar?" Alasea asked, looking back at the main section of Central Command. Her father nodded.

"The rest of you should get ready to escape as well," he said.

"We are," Matt said. "I'd like to see how things go, but we've got our own business to handle, and we can't wait around."

"That's understandable," the General said. "For the meantime, I'll need you to find your friend Helena and await further instructions. I have a bad feeling about today."

It's a good day to die, said the quote that ran through Matt's mind right as the General spoke. "Sure."

"She was last spotted by the hangers on Level C," the General said. R.D. nodded, and everyone began to leave, but Alasea lingered behind for a moment.

"Are you feeling all right, father?" she asked, looking at him. "You don't look so good."

"I'm old, dear," he said. "I'm not as strong as I used to be. I'll be fine, though. You should get going."

Alasea hesitated for a moment, then nodded, turning to catch up with her friends.

They walked a bit before something occured to Matt. "Hold on. How'd the General know where Helena was at?"

"We're a group of superpowered beings," Hugo said. "If we came into your base, you'd want to know what we were up to."

"He's got a point," R.D. said. "Besides, they're paranoid about the Omega Essence and she's got a piece within her, like you and Ileyna. She'd be pretty easy to track with their sensors."

Ileyna seemed to think so too. As she walked, she closed her eyes briefly, and then after a second or so, her hair flashed blue as a chime rose through the air, causing everyone to look at her.

"Okay, I know where she's at now," she said, as she easily discerned the differences between the stored Essence and the one Helena was harboring.

"She's like a GPS device, I love it." Matt said.

Ileyna only grinned at the comment, pleased that she could be of some use. Since she knew the direction Helena was in, the girl moved ahead of them, taking the lead.

Rounding the corner, though, she stopped and stared at the two creatures walking down the hallway. They were as tall as an adult human, but their bodies were covered in green-gray skin, and they wore no clothing. Their heads slumped forward, and had faces that were dominated by the single large, crimson eye centered in their face, surrounded by smaller "eyes" that were actually just flaps that exposed more of the same eye. Their ears were slightly long tubes extending from the sides of their heads, and small teeth jutted from their mouths, at the bottom of their face. Their arms were much longer than a human's, ending in hands with two, very long fingers. A third, shorter arm jutted from their chest, held close to their bodies. Their legs were shorter, but bent back slightly beneath the knee and ending in hoof-like feet.

They seemed unmindful of Matt and the group, talking in a strange, unearthly language as they walked past. A third one walked past, but this time it was in the company of another soldier. Both were talking amiably, but in tones too low to discern.

"What..." Alasea started, watching them walk past.

"... the hell?" R.D. finished for her, looking utterly confused.

"Just keep walking and pretend everything is normal," Matt said. He kept on going, fishing out a pack of peanut butter crackers to eat.

Matt was right, they shouldn't stare. They hurried along.

"You didn't seem too surprised to see those creatures," Alasea said as they walked. "Do you know what they are then?"

Matt tore open the cracker package, and as the plastic crackled, he tossed a cracker in his mouth. "Alasea," he said with one cheek occupied, "I've met a catgirl, fought a giant dragon, and I travel around with a grumpy robot. After a while, you just accept it."

"Alright then," Alasea said, shrugging. "I just wondered if you know what they were."

"Too bad we can't just do a Core Search to find out," R.D. said.

"Core Search?" Ileyna asked, looking back at them. "What's a Core Search?"

"Well, back when I had the Omega Core, I had access to every single piece of information in the Multiverse," Matt said. "'Core Searching' is just looking it up. But that takes a while."

"Wouldn't it be possible to do that with the Omega Essence though?" she asked, still looking behind her. "Its from the same thing, after all."

"Hey... the girl's got a point there," Alasea remarked.

"Matt can't hold on to a piece of Omega Essence, though," R.D. said, shaking his head. "He tried to hold on to a piece, and it went after another person in the room almost immediately."

Matt ate another cracker. "Hold on...Ileyna may be onto something. We don't have to hold onto the Essence..." He raised his right hand. "But I've still got one right here. I'll just use this to do a search."

"You probably won't get all the information you're looking for, since we're dealing with a fragment of the Core," Hugo said.

"I know. But I'll try it and see what I can get."

Matt closed his eyes and clenched his fist in front of him. He imagined himself returning to that same dusty library in his mind, pouring through books and reading them by the pale sunlight spilling through the glass windows. Nothing...nothing...nothing...hold on!

As Matt opened his eyes, Hugo said, "What'd you find?"

"They're called Vortigaunts," Matt said. "...and they aren't to be confused with Vorticons. Whatever the hell those are."

"So, you can still try it with your own Essence," R.D. commented. "That'll come in handy."

"Its only one piece, though," Alasea pointed out. She noticed that Ileyna had lead them into an elevator, and the girl was looking at the panel. After a moment's hesitation, she pushed a floor button and the door closed, before the elevator began taking them upwards towards the hangers.

She then turned around. "How do you do a Core Search?" she asked Matt, her beret slipping as she cocked her head to the side. Absently, she pushed it back up into place.

Matt made a face, rolled his eyes to the side in thought. "You, uh...you think about doing research. I just make a mental image of me in a library looking through books, and something comes up."