Planetary News: Fineass & Furb Org, Winston Limited, Tyler & Co, Hunters Bureau, One Hunt Union, Call Me Mommy Shopping Mall, Victoria's Lies, For The Rich Daddies Store, and Vag & Ina Agency, have all withdrawn their offers to set up their businesses at the proposed New Dino Park in Neptune after Cleopatra's threats. This is a victory for the natives as they have been fighting The Baston Corporation who have been hunting the dinosaurs, intending to put them in the park.

Zorro gave Wolf a combat suit to wear before they left for Deadland Egypt. It would protect him from the toxic air outside the city. It was rather tight, forcing Wolf to tug at the rear and crotch when he walked.

Wolf got out of the elevator and went to the food hall. He was the last one to check out of his room, and he feared he had missed breakfast. Entering the hall, chatter filled the room. Light blue walls enclosed it like a box, and it had over thirty tables and chairs.

Scanning the room, Wolf spotted The Rocketeers and went to them. The four wore their combat suits, looking more comfortable in them than him.

"Hello, everyone," Wolf greeted them.

"Hello to thee, Wolf." Zorro bowed.

Chichi nodded. "'ello."

"Like, thank god you're here." Lola smiled.

Bentlee crossed her arms. "Good morning, I suppose."

Wolf went to the long table with a lot of food and drinks, making him salivate. He stacked his plates—he took three since it was a buffet—and returned to the others. Sitting down, he pulled an empty glass from the middle of the table, grabbed the jar of juice beside him, and poured it in.

The others were glued to their wristtabs: Chichi scrolled through a fashion page, Bentlee was on Sahara.com adding elemental weapons to her cart, Lola was reading a gossip blog on recent celebrity scandals, and Zorro was on RaisedBrows.com checking out an article on the legendary war between Gang Rat and Spider Web.

"How many times have y'all been to the Deadlands?" Wolf broke the silence.

The others glanced at each other.

"As a team?" Zorro asked.

"Mhm." Wolf took a bite out of a piece of toast, closing his eyes and enjoying the crunchiness. If there was a heaven, then this was as close as it got.

"Like, Wolfie, I didn't know you were this hungry," Lola said. "First, you're like, superstitious. And now, you like, eating too much. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're like... I don't know, you're you." She shrugged.

"When you live the way I do—"

"Reckless, I suppose?"

Wolf glanced at Bentlee. "No." He turned back to Lola. "When you live the way I do, you savor every moment you get to eat good food."

"Like, I get it. I remember, like, the first time I had a fried egg. It was, like... stupendous."

"Good for you."

"Like, thanks." Lola smiled.

Wolf looked at Zorro and cleared his throat. The Gentleman looked up from the holo-screen, his mouth open in an O-shape.

"I asked you a question," the coyote said.

Zorro smiled. "Right, mine apologies." He turned off the wristtab. "We has't been hither moo than twenty—"

"Thirty-three," Chichi corrected him.

"Yes, dear." Zorro put his hand on top of hers and smiled. "We has't been on Earth thirty-three times as a team. Half of the time we hadst raided tombs, and the other half we wast looking for The Lost Lands."

"The Lost Lands?" This was the first time Wolf heard about them.

"The map and shape of the Earth used to beest different a long time ago. The oceans swallowed most countries and islands. It's hard looking for lost lands when the merpeople wanteth not to dive with us, fearing what's in the oceans."

"Like, they said if we keep searching for The Lost Lands, we would, like, wake up something monstrous," Lola chimed in.

"But why are y'all doing this?" Wolf asked.

"We doth all aspects concerning treasure hunting."

"So The Rocketeers is a group of treasure hunters?"

"And other things." Zorro smiled.

"Does it pay well?"

"Tomb raiding?"

"Everything you do."

Zorro spread his arms. "How else would we beest able to afford a luxurious hotel like this?" He rubbed back his hair with his hand. "Wherefore the sudden interest in what else we doth?"

"All I've known my whole life is bounty hunting. This is the first time I've taken a job outside of it. I've missed out on a lot by keeping to myself and not exploring the entire system."

"I understandeth. After we findeth The Coyote, we will assess thy performance and decideth if we wanteth to maketh thee a freelancer for us."

"What's a freelancer?"

"Someone we calleth upon at which hour we're a member short, or at which hour the job needeth moo hands and feet."

Wolf smiled. "I like the sound of that."

"I kneweth thee would." Zorro pointed at the food on Wolf's plate. "Finish up, so we can wend rescue The Coyote."

"Yes, sir."

In the few days he had known The Rocketeers, Wolf had grown fond of them. Yes, they were weird. But that made him fit in with them. They embraced their weirdness, not hiding from it. Wolf wanted to embrace his weirdness too. But first, he had to know what made him weird.

"So, what's the plan?" Wolf asked. "We never discussed it. Or maybe you did, but not with me."

Before Zorro answered, Chichi raised her hand, and he nodded in reply.

"We don't know wot 'appened ter The Coyote because 'is cameras and drone were destroyed before 'e entered the tombs. The tracker shows 'e's still in there, somewhere. We 'ad sent a drone ter investigate, but it never returned. Sumfink destroyed it."

"Mutants?" After leaving the Aliens Are Real meeting, Wolf watched the news on his way to his room. The South African Alliance and East African Society had sent armies to Deadland Algeria to deal with a horde of mutants. It wasn't looking good for them. The mutants were too strong, cutting down the armies' numbers fast. If it persisted, the two countries would have to ask for outside help. And that came with many debts and future favors, which Earthers didn't like.

"I 'ad asked muckers o' mine on SaidThat who 'ad flown over Deadland Egypt recently, and they said there were no mutants. It's sumfink else we're dealin' wiv 'ere, and it's 'idin' from us."

Wolf chewed his bottom lip. He didn't want to ask this, but he had to, as no one else had brought it up. "What if The Coyote's dead?"

The three women looked at Zorro for an answer. "We findeth his corpse and taketh to his home for his family to bury," he said.

Wolf respected that. It was an honorable thing to do. "Let's hope that's not the case then."

"That's the spirit." Zorro stood. "It seemeth we're all done with breakfast. Let's leaveth."

They went to the reception hall where their luggage was before returning to The Gentle Swinger and leaving for Deadland Egypt in their shuttle.

Wolf had a grim feeling about this, making his stomach sink and bury its organs along with it. Something didn't sit right with him. If their previous missions had gone without a hitch, why didn't this one? And why now? That gut feeling of his told him to run as far away from Deadland Egypt as possible. But he couldn't do it. For the first time in his life, he had a team that relied on him—even if it was temporary. He wouldn't leave because the unknown scared him. No. He would fight for them until the end.