The young woman known as Nightcrawler sighed as she walked through the abandoned warehouse in the middle of the German forest. The place had been picked clean; in fact the only thing that Rouddim and his crones had left behind was dust and a few rats.
I'm surprised he didn't take the rats with him, she mused as one ran across the room and disappeared into a side office.
A male scream and curse followed, and Crawler smiled to herself as the rat led her to John Wells. He was kicking a piece of wood against a hole in the wall, trying in vain to keep the rat from reentering the room.
"Looks like you made a new friend." Crawler leaned against the doorway.
"Please tell me you found something out there," he stated, backing away from the wall.
"Besides a lot of dust and a few more of your friends, there's nothing left."
"Not that I'm surprised, mind you," Wells continued. "I've learned never to trust anyone who isn't one of us."
"And just what do you mean 'one of us'?" Crawler asked.
Before Wells could answer, there was a knock on the main door, followed by a long screech as it opened. Crawler instantly pulled her blaster out and aimed it at the intruder standing in the doorway.
"Mistress Nightcrawler?" a male voice called out, but it belonged to nothing human.
"Bob?" Crawler replied, tucking her blaster away.
"You know him?" Wells asked, lowering his gun but not putting it away.
"Yes, he's my . . . partner. Bob, what's wrong?"
Bob walked forward, trying his best to act human. "Crack Man just called. He wants you to respond ASAP."
"Crack Man?" Wells chuckled. "That's got to be a fun code name."
"It suits him sometimes," Crawler replied, and then turned back to Bob. "Did you tell him I'm kinda busy?"
"I did, but I don't think that was the answer he wanted to hear."
"Never is." She sighed and turned to Wells. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Take your time," Wells replied, waving her away. "Not like we're going to get any information from this place past interrogating the rats."
Crawler nodded and followed Bob away from the warehouse and into the woods. "How did you get the Bomber this close without me hearing?"
"I landed by the waterfalls, and flew around the warehouse as so your friend would not have a chance to see me."
They reached the clearing. Crawler smiled at the Bomber sitting beside the waterfall. Memories from a few days past came to her mind, however, and she wiped the smile away. "Did Cracken say what he wanted?"
"No, but from the tone of his voice, it wasn't anything good."
They boarded the bomber and took off, taking the ship into the earth's shadow from the Luna orbital base of the Terrans. She pulled out her hypercom and called back to her base of operations.
Cracken answered almost immediately. "What in the nine Corellian hells do you think you are doing, Agent?!"
She knew that he had to know the whole story of why she was here, so it would be of no use to make up a story to hide the truth. "I originally came down on the request of General Antilles to locate Cheriss and then found out of a threat to the security of the planet and chose to follow up a few leads and stop it from happening."
"Don't you think I would have had that in control? I do have a group that is specifically for problems on Terra, if you might recall."
Crawler growled. "I recall all too well, General."
"And they are on the case now, so I am ordering that you return back to headquarters this instant."
Crawler bit her lip. "But sir, I have - "
"I don't care what you have, Agent. This is a direct order."
"But this is my world-"
"Special Agent Alison Sky-Danziger Fel, you may have been born on Terra, but I am your superior. You will follow my orders now and without complaint, or I will send people after you to bring you back for trial on the count of treason. IS THAT CLEAR?"
Nightcrawler, known to friends as Alison Sky, and an inner circle as Alison Sky-Danziger Fel, cringed as Cracken used her full name. She knew that Cracken was mad, but to speak like a father scolding a disobedient child let her know that she had crossed his patience line. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Your ship takes 3 days to make the jump from Terra back here. I expect you to be in my office in 75 standard hours then. Cracken out."
Alison sighed as she turned off the hypercom. "Plot a course home, Bob," she told the droid, defeated.
"Yes, mistress Nightcrawler."
"I'm not on the mission anymore, Bob. You don't need to call me by the call name." She leaned her chair back, closing her eyes.
"Sorry Mistress Fel. What about Mr. Wells? Will you want to say goodbye?"
"Why?" she asked coldly. "What has he ever done for me?"
"Very well." With that, Bob turned the TIE bomber around and aimed it back into the hyperspace lane for Coruscant.
John Wells waited until sunset for Crawler to return. When she didn't, he walked into the wood following their footprints in the mud. He found that waterfall field after losing the trail only twice. He saw the footprints walk towards the falls, then disappear where a long line was indented into the soil.
"Where did she go to?" he thought aloud as he examined the rest of the field. But soon it dawned on him that Nightcrawler was gone, and deep down in his guts, he knew that she wouldn't be returning this time.