45 CH45:JACK THE PUPPET

[Time: High noon]

[Location: Somewhere on the planet Earth. Miles away from ArkVille.]

[Host's current state: Stable…for now]

Ace sat in the cage with his back against the hot metal bars. His body ached due to being dragged in sand earlier. His eyes were red from the dust that entered in them and the tears he shed, for a short while. His entire body was dirty from head to toe and he smelled bad too, thanks to sweating under this intense heat.

Luckily, he didn't suffer from hunger since he fed off some blood he stored in his blood bank, but the same could not be said for Sky.

Still unconscious but breathing, the girl's body laid still in a cage that was elevated for everyone to see. Ace looked on and worried for her, thinking she was going to eventually die from hunger due to the wounds she suffered from earlier.

"Rise and Shine, dipstick." The loud-mouthed man from earlier poked the boy's sides with a blunt staff as he relentlessly hit the bars like a wild animal. "Can't have my money maker starving."

He threw a bucket of green, fuzzy stuff that he called 'food'. The 'food' bubbled and released a small cloud of green gas that nearly made Ace puke whatever was inside his stomach.

"Augh, what the hell is this?" He asked while kicking the food away from him, sending it splashing on the loud man's face and entering his mouth. "Are you trying to poison me?"

"Shut your trap and eat up, idiot." He yelled back. "That's the best you spies deserve."

"For the last time, dipsh*t," Ace shouted back. "I AM NOT A SPY. SHE IS NOT A SPY. WE ARE NOT SPIES!!"

"Yeah right," The loud man scoffed as he pulled out a mirror with computerized words on it. "Smile for the camera, pretty boy." He took a picture of Ace and laughed greedily as he said, "Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Do you know how much you two are gonna make me once I sell you?" He asked while smacking his lips. "Gifted freaks are worth lots of money and your girlfriends' got a whole lot of power, making her valuable."

"What about you?" He glared at Ace. "What lousy gift have you got? What's your 'superpower'?" He asked while doing a silly dance to further antagonize Ace. "Let me guess. You're good at keeping quiet and watching your girlfriend fight while you hide in fear, coward."

As the loud man mocked Ace like the fool he was, two more men came over and said, "Boss, we've got to reinforce the base. We've got a lunar eclipse this night."

"Another one?" He asked with a stressed look on his face. "We just had one two weeks ago. How's this possible?"

"Those freaking aliens and their red gas did something to the Earth's core. Seems like we now rotate faster than usual."

"Alright. I hear you." He replied while walking over to Sky and taking a picture of her. "Have these two ready by sunset. I've got a buyer willing to pay good money for these suckers. Hehehe."

[Ding]

[Due to the planet's faster rotational process, you will experience your first Lunar Eclipse. The power of a blood mutant grows incredibly under the blood red Moon. Be prepared.]

[8:00 hours left.]

"So that's why I've not been able to use my power." He said to himself. "I'll be waiting then."

----

*Inhales*

[Time: Somewhere between 4pm]

[Planetary Conditions: Stable]

[Wildlife State: Soon to awaken for late night hunt.]

[Overall Safety procedures: 50% Safe to move out now. Take extra precaution.]

"Alright. The scan's complete." Murdock said after reading the report from his bio scanner. The sun begun her descent to the bottom of the horizon as octanal creatures headed to their nests, dens, burrows and other places they called home. The nocturnal creatures had but a few hours to wake up, making this a perfect time for the two aliens to make their great venture into the open, alien planet.

"We move out in five." Murdock said as he mounted his large battle sword on his back while making sure his gun was properly stocked. Huntress, on the other hand, remained sleeping on the floor with her tail fanning her body. Her thick, heavy armor made her sweat a little so she needed to cool down.

"Make haste, Huntress," Murdock spoke. "A day comes to an end and we still haven't gotten closer to finding the boy and the girl."

Huntress groaned angrily and quickly got up, carried her gun and put the inside of her circular blade around her neck. She angrily run out from where they took rest and moved none stop, not even bothering to wait for Murdock.

"Haha. No wonder Grim chose her to come." Murdock said to himself as he slowly followed her. "Her true potential comes out in the night."

Together, the two moved past ArkVille and headed west. However, Murdock's bio scanner picked up on a strange, foreign signal which he managed to tap into while Huntress was asleep.

"Ey!! What have we here?" On his scanner showed two pictures of the exact people he was looking for. Although their hair was cut and their facial features were soiled, they still matched with the reference images he had.

"What's taking you so long, Murdock?" Huntress asked. "Quit looking at that screen and follow me."

"Not so fast." Murdock replied while motioning for Huntress to come closer to him. When she did, he showed her the two pictures of the exact people they came for. The female Granian smiled intently as she said, "Looks like someone's already done the work for us."

"And according to this," Murdock continued. "They're only ten hours away from here. Someone has captured them and is offering them for sale."

"A species that sells their own for credits. How pathetic." Huntress ended. "Let's roll out. If we run, we'll be there before sunrise."

And so they went on. Two alien bounty hunters on a quest to find the one with the blood mutant system. Little did they know that they weren't the only ones looking for Ace and they both had eyes on them the whole time.

"Did you hear that, Jack." The golden red blood mutant spoke while reverting to his human form once more. "Those two are gonna lead us straight to Ace."

"Please," Jack, who was being held up by a blood tentacle, pleaded while looking dead into the eyes of his captivator. "You don't have to do this, Jim. You have new powers that can help. You're unlike anything we've ever seen before. I'm sure we can get you back to base and…."

"AND WHAT," Jim, the first foreign human Ace had contact with, had the unfortunate pleasure of becoming a blood mutant by force. Ever since then, he dreaded being a strange alien that depended on blood. Day and night, he dreamed of killing the one who made him like this and up until now, he knew exactly where he was…and he was ready.

"Take me back to become some Guinee pig? I don't think so, General. You and I are both going to find that boy, whether you like it…or not." Jim transformed into his blood mutant form and covered Jack's body with his sticky, bloody parts. Soon, Jack's body was inside Jim's and he no longer had control over it. "Now, let's see what happens when someone takes over ten serums."