(Disclaimer: A warning to those who continue.  This is a sequel to a previous story.  Both of these were written in the mid-1990’s.  While the first one was slightly edited and vanity press published, this one has not been touched in over 20 years.  I figure I should do something with it and people may get a laugh or fright from how I used to be.  Every author comes from somewhere, so this is part of my origin.  To that end, I am deeply sorry for whatever nightmares I will inflict on the literary world and the American English language.  Enjoy?)

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Twenty-nine miles outside of Earth’s gravitational pull is the space skimmer that carries the female guardians.  Currently, it is moving very slowly behind Tegam’s larger space shuttle.  Both of the ships are covered in deep dents and several burn marks are on their wings.

“I can’t believe you used the electromagnetic pulse gun on him.  You knew that it would have destroyed all of his engines and our internals.  That weapon has been untested for so long and now was not the time to test it.  I can’t fix all of this without my tools.  At this rate, we’ll get to Neptune in a week at least,” complains Hydrana, who is rerouting some of the undamaged electric wires.

“Does it look like I’m happy about it?  Tegam said to make it seem like we’re trying to disable his shuttle.  That’s why he shot down our overdrive engines and blew up our backup cells,” replies Miracle.  She is attempting to send a message to the other space skimmer, but the only thing she can get is annoying static.

“Sorry, but the communication system can only receive messages for now.  I can fix it in about ten hours if I start now.  But I’m trying to get the environmental control systems online.  It’s too hot in this thing.  What does the radar say about Tegam?”

“Why not use your new senses?”

“They’re a little busy helping me with all of these repairs.  So, stop wasting our time and answer my question before I zap you into the next millenium.  With all these mangled wires, a water blast can do some nasty damage.”

“He’s still a good thirty-two and a half feet ahead of us.  Another shuttle has just left Earth’s atmosphere with Cybro and Adriana.  It’s ignoring us and heading back to Pluto, so we have some good news.  I hope.”  A series of soft beeps, followed by a circuit board exploding, goes off behind Miracle and Hydrana.  The Neptune guardian gets up to look at a fist-sized screen.

“Infinity is trying to send a message to us.  But we have some interference from Tegam’s communication jammer.  Give me three or four minutes and I can pull it through the interference.”

“What do you think we’ll find?  On Neptune that is,” the ebony-haired immortal casually says.

With a smile, Hydrana answers, “A new Tegam and a very battered space shuttle.  Maybe a couple of pissed off aliens that he owes money.  Who can guess what’s waiting for us besides Tegam?”

“I guess.  But the Glebnoks live somewhere on Neptune.  He’s definitely going to them for help.  That’s a good thing in my mind.”

“You seem to have forgotten a small detail.  Those aliens hate all Earthlings for what happened to the original planet guardians.  The fact that we’re the new guardians means absolutely nothing to the Glebnoks.  After all, they’ve been avoiding all contact with us for over a year.  Our closest meeting was when they tested that heat shield and twisted our emotions doing our first week in the Sun Base.  And that was an accident on their part.  They are not going to enjoy us landing in their backyard without an invitation.”

“Aren’t you the optimistic one on this trip?”

“Somebody has to be.  Look, the Glebnoks are supposedly a peaceful race and don’t like dealing with war.  So we’re fine.  Yes!  There we go.  I can only receive the verbal part of Infinity’s message.  Let me put it through the speakers.”  Hydrana turns the sound on, but Miracle doesn’t hear anything except a low droning.

“When are you going to put the message through the speakers?” inquires the Venus guardian.

“I already did!  In fact, it’s so loud that I can’t understand a damn word he’s saying!” yells the redhead.

“You forgot about the magic ring, water sprite.  Change the enhanced sense you’re using.  Use taste or something.”

“What!”  In annoyance and desperation, Miracle creates a pair of chains and smashes the speakers.  To silently restate her previous comment, she whips Hydrana’s hand that has the ring on it.

“Oh, the ring.  I forgot all about this.  But since you just destroyed the speakers there is no way we can hear the message.”

“Watch and learn.”  New, and better, speakers appear in place of the old ones and Miracle simple presses the on button.  But she has to continually force the speakers to remain in existence once the sound hits them.

“This is Steve.  We know what has happened with Tegam and where you two are going.  But there are a couple of things on Earth that Eddie and I have to take care of.  So you two might be on your own for that adventure.  Fate is busy being mobbed by reporters and photographers, so that’s one problem we don’t need.  He’s promised to help fix the damages to the city with my help and Eddie also tried to explain what happened with you, Delila.  But I don’t know if it worked or not.  As for our other three friends, there are . . . mixed emotions between the two of us.  I’m happy that they’re gone while Fate’s depressed.  The best news is that Draveon. . .”

“Draveon what!  Where’s the rest of the message, Kelly?” asks Hydrana.

“Hold on.  Give me a minute to catch my breath.  I’ve never had to sustain any of my solid illusions for this amount of time.  It’s a major strain on my entire body.  Here’s the rest, but get ready to catch me if I faint.”

Infinity continues, “Draveon is dead and gone forever.  Fate and Adriana joined forces in order to take him down.  Cybro is still around, but will be out of commission for a couple of weeks.  And, Adriana. . .Gee, I don’t know how to say this, but I swear that it isn’t a joke.  You can compare her DNA and his DNA by using the skimmer’s library files.  It’s strange how some of our enemies are closer to us then we thought. . .”

“Take a break, Kelly.  I’m skipping to the important part.  I don’t believe this.  He goes on mumbling like an idiot for ten and a half minutes.  That boy definitely has a motor mouth at times,” laughs the Neptune guardian.

The message continues, “I have to go help with the repairs, so I’ll just come out and say it.  Fate is Adriana’s son, who she was forced to abandon on Earth for some unknown reason.  I know it sounds like a very terrible movie and book plot twist, but it’s the truth.  Have a nice trip.”

Silence fills the skimmer while Miracle goes to look at the DNA of Adriana, Fate, and Kilanus.  After twenty minutes of staring at the intricate strands, she transfers it onto the largest screen that works.

“He’s right.  This explains Fate’s genetic resemblance to Kilanus.  There was never any genetic manipulation like we were lead to believe.  It’s a natural similarity between siblings.  I think we were slipped a fake hair a year ago in order to stop us from figuring out their connection.  Adriana’s been reading way too many comic books to attempt that trick,” explains Miracle.

“I can’t believe we even fell for it.  Now that you mention it, there is a physical similarity between the three of them.  The blond hair, slender body, and perfect skin are seen in all of them.  Of course, whenever they met, neither of those three would stand still for too long.  They always had to jump right into the battle or something.  Are you okay?” questions Hydrana when she notices buckets of tears forming in her best friend’s eyes.

“Hunh?  I’m great.  Never felt better in my life.”

“Don’t even try to lie to me with that face, Kelly.  I can see those two waterfalls are preparing to fall down on your face.  Remember, if I know anything, it’s water.  So, spill it, tomboy.  And I’m not talking about the tears.”

“It’s about Eddie.  What if this causes him to switch sides?  Finding out who his real mother is has been his biggest dream.  Even bigger than what the future is going to be like for him and me.  Now, we find out that our leader, my boyfriend, is the son of our most dangerous enemy.”

“Give me a break.  Both you and Adriana know that Fate isn’t going anywhere.  He’s the immortal boyscout.  Besides, he made it through eighteen years without knowing the bitch.  It won’t change anything between them.”

“You’re wrong about Adriana and Eddie.  This new connection between them is going to make the war a lot harder for them.”

Hydrana starts to laugh before saying, “I can see how this is going to be hard for Fate, considering he has to kill his own mother in order to win.  Of course, I can’t even try to guess his reasons for loving the woman who abandoned him and has been trying to kill him.  I wouldn’t think twice about killing Adriana, but that’s just some of the left over psychotic attitude talking.  Still, Adriana can be ruthless and evil beyond the extreme.  Just because Fate’s her son, doesn’t mean that it will affect her,” explains Hydrana as she starts to work on another terminal.

Miracle gets to her feet and puts her hands on her hips before saying, “Have you ever read any of the reports Fate has made on Adriana and Kilanus?  If you did, Delila, you would know that Adriana always cares about her offspring.  Her actions are occasionally done solely to protect Kilanus and she gets very angry if that girl gets so much as a papercut.  I’m willing to bet that the same thing will happen every now and then with Fate.  Not every time, but it will occasionally occur.  Why are you smiling at me?”

“Nothing.  Only a funny passing thought that you’d kill me for having.  Forget I even mentioned it.”

“No chance of that happening.  Tell me.”

“Well, you know how some guys tend to fall in love with a girl that reminds them of their mom?  Usually, they don’t mean for it to happen.  Anyway, I was just trying to find any similarities between you and the immortal slut.”

“And you didn’t find any.”

“You wish.  The two of you are physically built in a similar way with your wild, and I think, unnatural figures.  No normal creature can have a body like that.  Both of you wear daily clothing that would make some strippers feel embarrassed.  The only real difference between you two is that Adriana is a human king-sized bed while you, my dear friend, are more of a human hammock.”

Miracle lightly backhands Hydrana into an empty closet and creates a couple of steel locks to try and keep the redhead in.  They start using their powers on each other for the next couple of minutes until the two female guardians think of one other important fact that they had previously missed.

“Hey, Kelly.  What will happen to Adriana when the other villains find out about Draveon and Fate?” asks Hydrana, who is locked in a colonial stock.

“I haven’t the slightest idea.  But she is definitely not going to like it once it happens.  Uh, can you please let me down?  I think my butt is frozen solid,” answers the Venus guardian who is frozen to the ceiling.