Kate trots past a few soldiers catching up to Kyle in the corridor. As she approaches his side, she remains silent for a moment sensing his tension and frustration--unsure how much of it is directed at her.

"I can see Theresa leaving. She's an opportunist, but Enrique? He might as well slashed me in the gut while I was asleep while he was at it." Kyle kept his eyes straight ahead as they walked.

"Kyle, one of the ships is confirmed missing," she interjected.

Kyle stops dead in his tracks and turns to her in disbelief and is enraged ready to unleash a torrent of shame upon her. He blows out hot air instead of a verbal onslaught. He turns his head away from her unstable, anxiety-reddened eyes.

"If you had come to me right away."

"We were monitoring them. I didn't think they would get past us," she confesses faintly.

The sudden sounds of alarms and the jarring reflections of red cascading lights on the walls shake the two of them awake out of their self-centered blame and guilt dance.

"What the?" Kyle said loudly as soldiers nearby pick up their pace immediately. "We better get to the Comm Center. Go on ahead of me and get me synced into Wichita."

Kate nodded and ran on ahead suppressing the dread that she had now been moved from her role as compound physician to some kind of liaison for Kyle's service. She liked being the caretaker of people's health and physical well-being and being out of all aspects of the war. Am I now going to be his next Theresa or Enrique? She couldn't think about it. If that was the case, that would be a conversation for later. At least for today, she wasn't about to protest his commands after the disaster she allowed happened.

Over the San Deigo Skyline

An aircraft barely visible to the naked eye momentarily glimmers in the light of the morning sun reflecting the blue sky. It is as though clouds travel in and through it. The craft barely makes much of a sound as it turns to even itself out.

Inside this aircraft is an off-white interior made of soundproof walls from ceiling to floor. Some paneling is black and the flight instruments are black. Enrique and Theresa fly the plane at the front and Devin Richardson sits behind them.

"Enrique, let's get your friend Olivia on the line. Do you think we can talk with her again? Get her to do you another favor?"

Enrique clears his throat, rolls his eyes slightly, and sits up straight, "She'll do what can she for me. What are you thinking?"

"Getting us into a residential area without being noticed."

Enrique looks back at him as if he was crazy, laughs a hearty laugh, and shakes his head, "She may be able to, but it would be a small window at best, me amigo!"

"All I need is a foot in the door. Let's get a hold of her."

"I hate to be the one to re-state obvious here," interjected Theresa momentarily cracking her neck a little, "But don't you think they will be expecting you to come for your wife? There could be a trap waiting for you."

"My bet is that they know I'm too smart to make such a move, which makes it the very best move. If I get caught, they will bring me to her and I'll find a way to get us out."

Theresa looks back at him eying him up and down as if to see if he is suited for a boxing match, "You may get us all caught, are you thinking of that?"

"No one is going in but me. If I don't signal for a pick-up, then that means it's not safe and you both get the out hell out here. No harm, no foul."

There was silence. Theresa and Enrique momentarily exchange glances and Enrique shrugged his shoulders. Theresa grimaces and keeps her eyes on the flight path making no response. She is suddenly struck with the sense of how stupid her choice is to have come on this mission rather than to have remained under the protection of Kyle and the bunker. We're all gonna die up here

Comm Center

Kyle Kelly stands watching the news on the big screens as do the rest of his staff. On all the screens is a video of jet fighters and orbs underneath them all in a V formation heading toward Mission Bay.

"Damn it," Kyle growled to himself.

"Maybe they will just fly over for a scan and that will be that," Kate interjected hopefully. Nobody met her eye.

"Not with those probes," replied Todd, another staffer.

"Yeah, those probes will inspect every nook and cranny of this resort," Kyle echoed, "Todd how much longer do we have until they are in the area?"

"At most sir, 5 minutes."

Kyle pulls down on his cheeks with his fingers. "Okay, everyone out! I have to commence lockdown procedures now! Out!" He furiously starts shooing people out with his long, big arms. Kate and Todd are among the first to go knowing what this shutdown means. As soon as everyone is out, Kyle goes over to the diamond orb and presses down on it with all his might. It begins flashing red. Kyle stands back with a sense of horror as though he set off a nuclear bomb. He never thought he would see the day when he would have to see that diamond orb turn red. He stood there stunned. He thought he might have to call for someone to help him move until he started to see the cylinder start descending into the floor. Knowing what this meant, that he would be trapped here if he didn't move immediately, he leaves the Comm room for what he fears may be the last time.

The Skies Over Paradise Island

The blue skies above appear like the bright, blue waters of the Florida Keys and that makes it even more violating when the sharp edges of the fighter jets and the orbs with their probes follow suit underneath in a V formation. The shadow of their formation reaches over the waters of Mission Bay Blvd and to the edges of the island.

Like the points from a blade straight from Hades, they pierce the holy blue sky. As quickly as they arrive over the resort area, the crafts and probes start to leave formation and descend upon the large citadel and its remains of the old Paradise Island.

Deep Underground

Kate runs trying to balance herself with the steep decline down the tunnel hallway leading to one of the bunkers. Soldiers wearing more sturdy footgear move past her with more speed and skill. Kyle Kelly waits by a large metal door holding a tablet. Each soldier waves his palm over the tablet he holds to check themselves in. Kyle's eyes dart back and forth from the tablet to others making their way down. He appears to be suppressing a scream of anxiety to make them run faster.

"For Pete's sakes, I hope this was the last of them," he remarks as Kate approaches."

"It is, I'm sure of it."

He looks her over enjoying the flushness of her skin and the slight desperation in her eyes. He hated that they would part. Would they ever see each other again? The odds weren't good unless she stayed but that wouldn't be good for her. It would be doubtful any of them would survive.

"It will be a miracle the orbs haven't already detected we are down here by now," he grimaced as a few remaining soldiers approached, "Move it, soldiers, move it!" They picked up speed and went into the bunker and Kate went to enter; however, Kyle blocked her with an arm across the door entrance.

"What are you doing?"

"You aren't staying here."

"What do you mean, I'm not staying here?"

"I need you to go after them, Richardson. If we survive this, but they capture them, Enrique and Theresa know too much."

"There is no way I can get out of here now without being seen. The System is all over the place! It's too late for that, we have to get inside." Kate pressed against his arm as if it wasn't there but Kyle didn't let up. Kate sighed and gave a look at him that said "really?"

"Take one of the mini-subs and jet out of it when you're safe-"

"Kyle, I won't leave you here by yourself-"

"Kate this isn't a suggestion, it's a command."

"I'm not yours to command, I am contracted," she balked.

"Then I guess you don't get my protection and can go on your own," he stiffened but lightened up when he saw her alarmed expression, "Kate, I don't have time for this and the longer we argue the more at risk we both are in, please go. I need you to go find them."

"Fine, you're crazy," she turned sharply and then turned back again, "I may get caught on my way there." She looked for a sign of hope in his face but didn't find any.

"I know you better than that, you won't get caught," he looked at her and her gaze caught the compassion and grief in his eyes, "Thank you, Kate."

"For what?"

He unhinges the lock on the metal door and started closing it but stops to look at her one last time, "For trusting me." They stand in each other's gaze for a moment and as Kate takes in what she needs from Kyle, she lowers her head and turns to begin ascending up the hallway. She tries her best to ignore the sound of the metal bunker door sealing shut and the impending silence that then engulfs her.

Inside the bunker, Kyle spins the wheel on the bunker door until the full rotations are complete. He turns around to find Todd and his humanoid Stephanie standing there watching him. He feels a brief chill from the number of humanoids looking about the room and the ceiling as if something might crash through at any moment. Soldiers sit on crate boxes and furniture covered in plastic. They speak in hushed tones. Stephanie looks above to the ceiling and Kyle follows her eyes wondering what is drawing her gaze.

Inside The Sleeper Plane

An image of Oliva at her desk hovers in the air in Infront of Devin, Enrique, and Theresa who are watching while the plane is on auto-pilot.

Oliva is finishing a bite out of a salad and then takes a few big gulps of chocolate chip shake, clueless that she is being observed. After the gulps, she sighs with delight, burps, and adjusts herself. It is then she finally notices the dinging from her computer screen from behind her. She scoots into an ergonomic chair and turns to see that she is being watched.

"Oh, I'll be! Enrique! But how did you-"

"Hola, mi precious Olivia, I need another favor, my love."

Olivia remains subtly unmoved and starts eying the room.

"I bet you do. Where are you? Who are these people with you? Oh wait!" she starts chuckling, "Eww nelly, I recognize that one. You were on the news! Boy, Enrique, what were you thinking?"

"It was a close call dear Olivia but necessary. Thank you for your help."

"Anytime, hot stuff, anytime!" she smiled with a suggestive flare adjusting her skirt in her seat, "So what can I do you for today?"

Mission Bay

Orbs of red and blue fly low above the water line heading toward the resort while underneath the water below Kate maneuvers a small submarine hoping against all hope that she is not detected. As the orbs speed along they make a humming noise like that of a bee, and their probes that stick out of their body armor twitch periodically in the wind.

On Kate's scanner, she sees the arrangement of about 50 dots representing the number of orbs in the area approaching the compound. "Damn it," she mumbles contemplating briefly about turning back to cause a distraction but knowing that it would be madness. Anger courses through her veins for Enrique bringing Devin Richardson here and exposing the compound. Flicking her hair back, she presses the sub forward with more speed, eager to get her hands on Enrique's neck.

A string of orbs reach the compound and enter through holes in the wall from war and disrepair. They hover in the air using beams of lights to scan and x-ray areas in hallways and rooms in which they enter. Two such orbs, one red and blue descend upon Kyle Kelly's patio villa. The blue orb cuts through the patio glass door with a laser and enters inside. The red orb examines the patio furniture but picks up nothing unusual so it heads toward the inside. On the way toward the door, it stops as it notices a discoloration on the cement floor near the door. It uses a small intense red beam on the stained area on the cement.

Through the bright eye of the orb, an imaging device outlines the shape of the stain perfectly and seemingly lifts the stain off the ground but in reality, it is simply the pattern of the stain itself and its chemical make-up. Chemical equations start scrolling across the orbs eye rapidly and then an end summation:

BASE READ: WATER, CAFFEINE, SUGAR, LACTAID, METAL (SEE CHART)

ORIGIN: BEVERAGE TIME: 4 HOURS

With renewed vigor, the red orb joins the blue org inside. When they meet, they exchange data and start scanning the rooms in the area more furiously. They use other rays to lift, shove and turn items over. The blue orb swings itself around and enters what once was Kyle's bedroom. It begins blasting furniture into shreds rather than moving it or turning things over. Once the dust settles, the orb uses its scanners to look for anything the System may need. Nothing. The orb faces some shelving and blasts it. Once torn down, a pattern in the wall reveals an outline of a door. The orb backs itself up, glows a very bright blue, and sends out a charge creating a huge explosion that carves out a big hole in the wall. It waits for the dust to settle expecting to see a secret passageway. Instead, it finds another empty room with a red orb waiting on the other side.

Orbs of all kinds fill the darkened hallways of the compound like small, mechanical children gone wild. Blasts are heard echoing throughout the halls. Some explosions are coming from above ground rattling the higher levels of the compound as jet fighters release bombs to level part of the resort. It is a massive display of destruction.

Three orbs enter the Comm Center at a gentle speed. Like thieves in a high-stakes bank heist, the orbs immediately begin scanning the room, which is now empty of the contents it once had. Computers, Large Screens, chairs, desks, and diamond orb are all underneath the ground. One of the orbs scans the wall of metal that used to be all glass revealing the garage.

Inside the bunker, some of the soldiers become alerted to the sound of explosions that rumble the earth above them. All the humanoids, in almost complete unison, look upward. Todd stands up next to Kyle who is picking his teeth with a toothpick. Kyle senses the young man's fear.

"Don't worry, kiddo. They aren't going to find us and if they did there's no way anyone can enter this bunker."

Todd swallows, nods, and sits back down just as another explosion goes off, and Kyle's eyes shift upward.

SLEEPER PLANE

Devin charges up to the cockpit with a sense of urgency in his steps, "Why are we turning back?"

"There's a plane tailing us, migo."

"What? Isn't that impossible?"

"It should be," Theresa interject flatly looking at Enrique who looked back at her with an ungrateful look.

"Maybe we are just in the middle of the flight plan?" Devin suggested.

"That's why we are turning. To see if they follow us."

Devin nods anxiously and leans against the door frame as they finish the sharp turn. As they do, obstructions block Devin's eye. Black spots. He rubs his eyes and blinks but that only stops the obstructions for a brief second. Shaking his head, he turns away from the cock pit. He walks down the aisle slapping the side of his head hoping to jar whatever is going on his head loose. Then one of the small black spots becomes overwhelming and takes over his eyesight. Suddenly he finds himself within an auto dealership of egg-shaped transportation vehicles. Standing Infront of the lot of them is a man in a bright, blue, silk suit with a tie that glows in pulsating pink rhythms. His auburn hair is greased and shaped like a manicured shrub from a millionaire's front lawn. His gleaming white grin makes Devin feel uneasy though his aware by the man extending his open arms that he is supposed to feel welcomed.

"Mr. Dawson! Good to see you are in the area! Head on down to Dawson's Emporium for a huge sale on new and used vehicles."

The picture pulls away and another one from behind it approaches like a file behind a stack of files. Devin is suddenly stricken with the anxiety of how many files there may be that he won't be able to control taking over his brain. A lady wearing a green business suit stands behind a glass counter with perfumes and colognes.

"Cheerio, Mr. Dawson, San Deigo Beaches has a new fragrance we would like you to sample. Here you go now, dear. Tell us what you think!" The woman who had a small bottle tucked in her hand sprays it up at him, and Devin is surprised he can smell it. His olfactory senses are overwhelmed. He shakes his head and begins coughing.

Enrique grabs him by the shoulder, "Migo, you all right? What is going on?"

"These advertisements for some Dawson guy...they are coming one after another."

"Oh shit, they will flag us with him having a dead man's chip in his skull," Theresa hollers back from the cockpit.

"Yeah get us out of the city limits for now. Are we still being tagged?"

"Yeah...not only that." Devin bumps into Enrique almost knocking him over as he waves in the air trying to remove advertisements out of his eyesight. "They are hailing us on the comm," Theresa looks back with a deeply concerning look. Enrique almost trips and disconnects himself from Devin.

"That can only mean one thing. It's one of ours. Patch it through."

"If it isn't, we are done for."

"Patch it through!"

Theresa sighs and shrugs. "This is Theresa, who are you. What do you want?"

Theresa and Enrique listened to static and Devin approaches from behind listening. Enrique looks back raising his eyebrows to see him standing straight up and not flayling his arms.

"It's me. It's Kate."

They drop the small plane into a body of water after much consultation and a group decision that is not effective for long-distance travel let alone battle. As the others board the plane, Kate stands on the grassy meadow and looks out on the water watching the plane sink and Devin joins her. The woods surround them and it is a brief moment where the world and all its cares seem eons away. The pine furs of Mother Nature's coat encircles them and hushes their minds. It is not lost on Devin that this is his original dream. To just leave the entire fight behind and head to the outer reaches of the world. Get back to the basics of nature that people seem to not only forget, but paved right over with roads, buildings, and even his own technology from the sounds of things. He had lost sight of what mattered in his past life and nearly lost his life and those he loved. He isn't going to let that happen again, if he can help it, and maybe, just maybe, he could turn the tide of this war for others in the process. Nevertheless, if it came down to it, he would take what he can of his family and save them first before saving the world. The world could go fuck itself.

"Are you okay?" Devin asked.

"Oh me? Yeah," Kate gave a faint smile, "I just am worried about those at the compound."

"Mmm. Well, they are survivors like you say. If any group can pull through, it would be them."

"Is that why you ran?" Kate retorted.

"Come on, that's not fair. Our missions just aren't the same."

"More than you know, if you gave them a chance."

"We would all be stuck there right now."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm sorry Kate. I'm sure they will be all right." Devin lowered his head and returned to the ship.

She realizes she isn't really upset at Devin. It was like someone else was running her mouth just then. She is more upset with herself for letting them sink this plane and joining their mission. The visual of the plane sinking is a visual reminder of her failure to keep her promise to Kyle to stop them, the hope of the Resistance disappearing, and a burial of sorts for all the people that will most likely be killed in the System's annihilation of the compound. Her only consolation is a faint hope that perhaps Kyle sent her on a fake mission in an attempt to save her life. That in reality, he knew it would be a fool's mission to return with captives. Who would in their right mind return to a burial chamber taken over by the System? Should I have fought harder to stay? It was so hard to read Kyle. As she turns away to head back to the aircraft, she sees the sun in the distance and hopes that maybe they will have some kind of fighting chance or that at least Kyle will make out it alive.

Inside the Paradise Island Bunker

Soldiers both men and women scurry about the bunker as if to position themselves ready for an attack as another loud rumbling comes from the east side of the wall of the bunker. Additional sounds of rattling and fumes of dust come billowing forth from the ceiling. This creates the first visual sign of penetration into the bunker--something they were promised wouldn't occur--danger. The shuffling of feet increases and bodies move to other positions around the room.

Stephanie, with a strange look on her face, goes to approach Kyle, but Kyle enters the center of the room addressing the soldiers. She steps back as if curious to what he is about to say or do.

"Listen everyone. We just need to remain quiet and calm. They won't find us if we remain quiet. Even if they did, no one has the ability to penetrate this bunker. This metal is humanly impossible to penetrate."

Todd gracefully takes Kyle's arm to garner his attention before anyone else does.

"Sir, we have an additional concern I'm picking up on."

"What?"

"Even though the Orbs aren't inside the bunker, they are in close range," Tod says as he looks around the room eyeing the humanoids whose eyes don't look quite right and Stephanie who is making her way toward them. "I remember in our training learning that Orbs can access humanoids and control them from a certain distance." Tod looks back to check Stephanie's approach but she is no longer in eyesight and a shutter of nerves goes through him. He looks nervously about but doesn't see her anywhere. Kyle starts looking as he is but unsure what he is looking for.

"Even so, I doubt their signals could they penetrate these bunker walls?"

"I don't know but should we chance it? Their eyes. Something is off now that orbs are closer."

Todd and Kyle look around to get a closer look at some of them but now none of them seem to be within eyesight. Kyle has a momentary sense of foreboding come over him, a chill, as though an evil shadow is watching lurking at him from behind. At first, he chalks it up to nerves, but when the dark cloud doesn't go away, he turns to find Stephanie swinging at him with army issue knife. He catches her by the arm in a firm grasp but her metal fortitude within her feminine built frame is a formidable foe, and they are locked in a bit of a verticle arm-wrestling match. Todd gasps stepping back momentarily.

"Stephanie, put the knife down," Kyle growls rather mechanically knowing all the while she wasn't going to listen to him. He can see the change in her eyes and face. She is being controlled by something else. Something sinister, if not other worldly. However, maybe some kind of foolish hope within him thought his voice would trigger something in her to change, to stop and remember who he was. Like he had secretly hoped Kate would have done and not taken no for answer when he commanded her to leave the compound. Perhaps, it was for the best after all.

Todd comes around behind Stephanie and quickly snaps her neck. She falls to the floor like a human-sized doll. Kyle stands there looking down upon her in amazement and surprise. He wipes his mouth on the front side of his hand.

"Well Todd, whatever blunders you made this year, consider them erased. There are women but then are humanoid women," he shook his head. The two looked around at the ensuing chaos happening across the room that they lost sight of in the battle they were facing. Other humanoids were popping up like zombies among the throngs of soldiers going on the attack with whatever weapons they can find. Blood is being shot out like something out of squirt guns. Puddles of humanoid fluid start to stain the floor. In shock and horror, the two look on. They know the two of them can't take on a legion of humanoids and the rest of the compound is in shock as they are.

Nevertheless, everyone stops and freezes at the sound of metal colliding against metal. The large bunker door starts receiving indentations as if some ghost of a giant org was throwing its fist into it from the outside. Meanwhile, more explosions are occurring above, rattling the ceiling and sending down more fumes.

Kyle grabs Todd's arm, "Come on."

Todd, "Where-what are we-?"

Kyle replies, "Plan B, there's always a Plan B."