Alexandra eventually was allowed to black out. She woke to the smell of cooked food. It was perhaps better food than what even Goro allowed her to have though that was not saying much. It seems the drawings happened every day. The one who helped before apparently was sent down there again. Hopefully they will do a bit better with the generators working and the supplies they found before.

The rest of her day was nothing but menial tasks. It could be worse. At least she was not servicing the guards or something equally degrading. When it was dinner time, the other captured agent approached and sat with her. Alexandra looked over at the woman at the mention of telling the others. Seems the woman recognized her afterall. Unfortunately it would not do much for her in the end for a number of reasons.

"I won't be here much longer," she replied, shaking her head, "I do not know where I will be afterwards..." With Goro living from his ship, they could be anywhere once she is picked up. The end of the second day was approaching. She should be picked up in another day or so. Any longer and the withdrawals will kick in and eventually kill her. She was trapped.

“Then I will tell them where you have been,” that ended the discussion for there was little more to be said. She obviously did not know all the particulars but at least she could point the right people in the right direction. Alex, if all went according to plan, would be the first one out of here no doubt.

Agent still had a number of things to do herself after all given Ortix's curiosities … dangerous curiosities though help could be close at hand it would be doubtful that the cavalry would show up in time.

“How long do you have?” A day, yeah, Alex would be gone much sooner than her as she continued to work this case. Still she could pass along the information, what little she had anyway with the hope that someone else could assist her.

Day three started with the usual lottery and she proved to be unlucky once more. Survivor and Agent had been unlucky yet again though perhaps in Agent's case it was a measure of sleight of hand … or was it something else? She could have sworn that the ball she drew had been blue but as it was fully revealed that was not the case … psionic ability? Altering perceptions to affect the entire room.

In any case it had been the pair and four other slaves that were transported to the hospital on the moon again. “Safety is a big thing, assuming the generator has not been damaged or cut off I think we should get some place safe … I got a few things to do and will have to brave the city, exploration and defense against these creatures, the shadows are probably going to be the least of our worries."

“Creatures?”

“Who died and left you in charge?” Already the decension began.

“If there are creatures wouldn't it be best to stay in pairs at least ...”

It was just her luck that day three caused her to pick up a red ball. That meant that it would have to be day four before she gets picked up unless they come to the moon. There were six of them again and at least one felt like she did not need to follow orders. Hopefully the generator was still functional. With that, surviving the night would be a non issue.

"One died last time we went..." Alexandra answered, "I don't know the point of this but our master sent us here to be hunted by creatures. It travels through the shadows and hates light. As long as you stay in the light, you will be fine. We should see if the generator has been moved and ensure it is working while we still have a bit light left. I agree though, we should go in pairs if we do need to split up." But for now, there was no reason to split up. It was obvious the ADD agent was going to try and find more information which was risky to say the least. They just needed to survive today and then she would be taken away from this hell.

“Light … creatures ...” One woman was trying to wrap her head around all this. Another simply sighed seeing no choice here but to stay together.

“Agreed, first things first we check on the generator like Alex said.”

One woman just rolled her eyes, one of the newbies that resented authority it seemed. “Fine.” They checked and the generator was left as is. Either there were few or no hounds left or getting around such a vulnerability had been left up to the shadows as part of their training, that had been unknown.

When that had been seen too the agent looked towards the women. “Seeing that we are to remain in pairs I'm going to grab a few weapons, who wants to look with me?”

“I thought the creatures stayed in the light ...”

“Most of them, there are others, the bugs aren't impeded by the light.” A lie, Alex knew. There was only the captured Queen last time though there were plenty of corpses of the bugs that lent the words some strength. Not all of the woman were new but they were mixed up often enough where not one of them experienced every ordeal that happened. Fortunately no one questioned this. “You, want to help? I'm going to grab anything that looks like we can use for defense too.” Agent selected Alex of course, probably since she knew she had gone through basic training at least or to prevent a less capable woman from volunteering.

"Shouldn't we just stay together?"

"Does no good with the bugs if we can't fight them off when they find us. I'd feel more at ease if I were armed at least. During the day the bugs are a non issue they seem to be nocturnal."

The agent fabricated some reasons for everyone to stay here while they searched for weapons to fight back with. It was unknown why Survivor even followed along with this. Perhaps she only cared about staying alive and did not care what the two other slaves did.

"Umm... Sure, I guess..." Alexandra tried to sound reluctant to avoid too much suspicion, "All of you should be safe here for the time being. Just keep an eye on the generator and keep other light sources nearby should anything go wrong. It the power goes out, I will come back here to see about repairing the generator." With that, Alexandra would follow the other ADD agent. What was the woman's plan now? Was she trying to find more information? They already pushed their luck before. They both know that there were other aliens here in the lab downstairs.

She had been right about Survivor. Survivor saw the her survival first and if the other girls wanted to push their luck well she had not been about saving everyone save for those that wished to be saved.

The advice given about the lights and generators the two agents had been off. Agent escorted her about the hospital at first though there was no worrying about Shadows or other creatures though she kept clear of the areas that had hidden cameras in them.

There were plenty of Ashlyn bodies that they passed, empty husks indicating that there had been some time before they had attacked. Clearly they did not under take rescue missions for the captured Queen or might have tried … perhaps the Queen was the last survivor of her hive and the others fought to the end to free her, it was tough to say just how they operated.

Agent lead her outside the hospital though. The air was crisp and it was cool. “There are other things here, that is not a lie though nothing we need to trouble ourselves with.” She announced though she lead Alex on to a short distance to the ruins of a building.

“The old labs were here. The bugs destroyed most of the place ...” She was seemingly picking amongst the stones of the yard of the place as she spoke. “There's another lab at the missile silo from what we uncovered at the hospital, I'm assuming you looked at those files. The missile silo I don't have a clue to the security at all but this place … well it is nearly empty and does have what I'm looking into. Why are you here? What are your goals?” Turning over a loose stone she did a little digging and drew out a pistol, checked the blaster then produced a knife as well, both of which she kept for the time being and a key card that she tucked into her top.

“Are you a good shot? We – I have to look into this matter before they move things to the new lab, if they move them but given the damages here I am uncertain why they haven't yet. Perhaps they suspect if something goes wrong they wouldn't be out much?” She shrugged at that.

Alexandra followed the woman into the ruins. Seems she was going to help out with the agent's mission. It was the least the russian woman could do after her many failings and capture due to Goro's addicting scent.

"As well as any other agent..." she answered. She had some additional training by the Adda so she should at least be caught up there even as a science agent. "My current owner wants me to look into Ashlyn tech. As far as I am concerned, I have completed that requirement and am just waiting for retrieval... I do not know where I will be after that..." Alexandra did not want to talk much about her situation. There was nothing the other agent could do to save her unfortunately. She needed to get back by the next day or so else she will start suffering the withdrawals her brain was currently being tricked into ignoring.

“Here,” she turned over the pistol. “I can barely use it. Knives though ...”

Hand to hand she had been far better with. Most of the time she had to infiltrate places silently so her training with blasters and firearms had been slack. She was going to be picked up soon though not soon enough. Her mission was nearing completion after all and at this stage she was just crossing the t's and dotting the i's.

The ruins had been easy to infiltrate. Areas where explosive devices had been tripped were evident by scorch marks, more rubble or the like.

Agent knew where the cameras were and how to avoid them, the timing to get by others that rotated and other blind spots making it evident that she had been through her often enough. There were a few sentries that they had to get by, automated ones for the most part and many had been damaged due to the attacks against them. It was clear that this work wasn't a huge priority though it was still protected marginally.

They got to a room underground that had a few computers, some were damaged in the attack that had occurred here though pulling up to a working one she accessed some files and skimmed through them quickly.

“Good … there no closer ...” she saved the info on a hidden drive then after that was done they returned to the spot to hide the flash drive and pistol though scrounged for a few weapons on the way back ending up with some spanners and poles and the like.

“They're trying to open up a portal. It relates to some of the Ashlyn – Ashen stuff but as far as I can tell they have only been able to manufacture those hounds that exist between our dimensions from what I can gather. They abducted a key scientist that had opened a portal by accident and brought him here at one stage to assist with the opening of that portal or so our intelligence was lead to believe though another group abducted him from the first a few months ago. Ortix apparently has some knowledge and was recalled back to this operation … all this is probably meaningless to your mission though.”

When they got to the room with the other women they had an uneventful time for the most part. There was no danger at present and it wasn't until the dead of the night after withdrawal symptoms were setting in that she heard the engines of a ship somewhere overhead on more than one occasion.

All the women woke. The engine sound was close at times, a fighter? Perhaps. It sounded like a smaller craft. By the window she could see a dark humanoid shape descending from the heavens and descending towards the earth landing nearby.

“What was that?”

“I, I don't know.”

“Should we do something?”

“Like what?”

“I dunno ...”

The woman chattered just before all the lights went out casting them in utter darkness ...

Their little adventure was much like the one they did last time. They snuck around until the ADD agent found what she could before finally returning to the others. The details about the Ashlyn mattered little to Alexandra in her current state. If she were free, she would love to spend time learning about this new technology. But now, anything she learns could be used against the ADD. The less she knew, the better.

Alexandra woke to a throbbing headache and the loud sound of an engine. The russian woman was already sweating as her heart pounded hard in her chest. The effects of the drug had worn off and now she was crashing hard. Things only grew worse as the lights suddenly turned off. Thankfully, the group was prepared and flares were lit. The flash of light burned into Alexandra's eyes, sending stabbing pain through her skull. "Nngh..." she groaned and took one fo the flares and tossed it near the door to hopefully keep any shadows at bay.

"S-Someone hold a light for me," she stammered, "I need to look at the generator..." She was not sure how a portable generator was hit. Perhaps it was an EMP? She will just look and see if anything is fried. At the very least, she needed to get lights on in this room. Whoever landed nearby was taking a big risk with the shadows. Alexandra could not think much on it as she was too busy trying to keep her hands and breathing steady as she worked on repairing the generator again.

Shit, the generator had been fried though with the right parts it could be fixed. It had looked as if it were an EMP pulse. From the ship out there? Another source? This was certainly not the work of the shadows for they didn't seem to possess any more intelligence then an animal as far as she could tell.

The other generator was off and though she had cannibalized it before there were still some parts that could be salvaged from it. If the EMP was from the ship she could only assume that the person or persons out there did not know about the shadows.

It looked as if they would have to get to the roof again for more parts and the women had to decide who was going to risk it. Alex knew what they needed and Agent could provide some muscle should it be needed. They were to work in pairs at least after all.

The two were able to make their way to the stair well in an approach to the roof with a flare gun and flashlights. Around the fourth floor though they heard faint movement, not a fierce growl but it sounded like a humanoid creature.

Then silence other then a click, such a sound as a weapon's safety being thumbed off. Listening revealed nothing further though they could discern that they were not alone and that something between the third and fourth floor hand been there.

It was dark, though whoever was there had to have witnessed the sporadic use of their flashlights that guided them onward. For the time being it was a tense ordeal, Agent gazing at her though she was a darkened shape there in the stair well and even hand signals were near useless at this stage save for conveying the most basic of things like the clenched fist Agent held up for halt and the pointing above to indicate that there may be something there. Agent then pointed back down the way that they had come melting back to the second floor so they could at least whisper to each other about what to do or go to the second floor and look for an alternate route.

There was little they could do. They did have a good supply of portable light sources so the group should be fine. But, there was the matter of their new visitors. Was it Ortix's men adding more 'challenge' to this little game? The only other possibility was that these intruders knew of the lab below and sought to disable it with an EMP. In any case, Alexandra needed to at least try and restore the generator for future slaves. It was doubtful these people would have very many opportunities of having someone so skilled with tech and engineering.

Naturally, the other Agent volunteered to lead the way to the roof. Alexandra followed as they slowly and quietly crept in the dark. Until the shadow creatures arrived, they would be fine.

Hearing the sound of weapons getting readied, the two could only fall back and try to decide what to do next. They had no real weapons and their opponents were unknown. Fighting was not a viable option. "If they landed on the roof, we won't be able to get there without being noticed..." She said quietly, "What are these guys looking for?" Alexandra rested against the wall, a hand coming to her temple. The headaches were getting worse. She would soon be in far less condition to fight much less have any clear thoughts. Her body was starving for that sweet musk. Just thinking about it sent shivers up and down her spine.

“I doubt they're here for the bug downstairs … info on the shadows, maybe the portals?” Agent did not know though if an EMP was used perhaps it was even to get at a scientist or two, she did not know. Seeing that they were unlikely to proceed up this stair well they had to get out of it and had to try another way though she pondered as they went.

If they ha landed on the roof it could be bad though she had yet to realize how bad it truly was seeing that she could not really see what was happening to Alex all that well. New plan … “We proceed to another stairwell on the second floor, proceed to the sixth floor where you can hide in the room that we were using as a sanctuary the first day we were here. I'll go scout out the roof, if they did land there then perhaps we can come up with a distraction if they left anyone up there or brave this pseudo city and get parts elsewhere.

“If they are here for us though we might be better telling the other girls and abandoning this place altogether. We still have to come back for pick up tomorrow though so I can check it out, the roof that is to see what we're dealing with.”

She didn't think it was Ortix's people since they should know about the shadows though she did not dismiss the fact that these could be hired guns hired to deal with them but kept in the dark about matters.

"I am not going to wait in some empty room..." Alexandra mumbled, "I will scout with you." She had one guess on who these were. Part of her hoped she was right while the other hoped that she was wrong for the other agent's sake. Once ready, she would follow the other woman on another route to the roof. If there was any moon or stars, perhaps they could finally see whatever caused all this trouble.

There was no time to argue about the matter, Agent had nodded as they picked their way though the second floor on their way toward the other stairwell. She could have sworn that midway to the other she heard movement again, something or someone may have been following her, then again it could have been all in her head given that Agent had not responded to the matter. Nor had their been any sounds in the second stairwell as they ascended to the roof.

They had got to the doors leading out to the roof when again Alex heard something behind them, half a floor down – something had followed them! There was even the discharge of an energy weapon this time, the blue arc unmistakable since she had been well versed in the stun rifles of the Adda at this point.

The discharge lit up the stairwell briefly allowing her to see an Adda for a split second though of more immediate concern was the fact that Agent was struck going down and convulsing there on the floor for a moment before halting, stunned by the weapon.

“Emi,” a familiar voice called to her, barely above a whisper ...

They were almost to the roof. So far so good. But the two had pushed their luck too much at this point. The crackle of energy came and there was nothing Alexandra could do about it. The other agent was stunned and an Adda was before her with a charged weapon. It was what the agent had hoped and feared. Her master wanted his pet back.

"R-Ri?" she called before looking to the ADD agent, "We need to move her into a room with some light... Those shadow things are around this city. Your ship disabled all the lights. I... I just need to make sure she is safe then I can go... Please..." Alexandra swayed weakly as she tried to pick up the woman's body. If she could get the woman into another room and light some flares, that should be enough to keep the shadows away until she comes to. She did not want to leave and have this woman left for dead.