Carina paced rapidly as she stroked her round chin despite the fact that the body she copied was Micah's. “How am I going to extract a sample of his DNA without looking suspicious.” Carina pondered while she passed by the posters and infographics of the pandemic, social distancing and female empowerment. She looked up at one of the posters which reminded her of the Thornvirus outbreak. Purrfect. Carina thought as she gave a malicious smirk, not even the sudden shriek deterred her from her plan.

"Was that a banshee, or a screecher?" Stella asked, ending the argument.

"Screecher most likely." Micah responded as she tried to find the source of the noise.
"Let's go check it out." Stella decided.

A door opened as a shadow loomed near the aisles, as a short silhouette stepped forward. The usurper strode into the storage room as if she owned the place. Stubby fingers collected a face mask, scrubs, syringes, swabs, empty vials and a banner to make her plan come to fruition. After getting dressed for the part, she closed the door to the storage room as she used the face mask to cover her mouth.

Stella and Micah had searched from where the screech originated and they searched on each floor but whoever or whatever it was already left.

“It must've been a false alarm.” Stella said as she got down the stairs.

“Great, just like when we began scouting for the Space Babes on planet Horr. It was terrible. We had to search for a wild deformed screecher that was last spotted near the caverns of the Dingbahd jungle, before we found one of Dr. Helix's abandoned hideouts.” Micah recalled.

“I know, I was there.” Stella reminded her. “The screecher was one of the endangered species that Dr. Helix was searching.”

“Before we found out that he was the one doing the gene splicing.” Micah finished. “I just want to take a vacation from these missions. If I find something that even remotely reminds me of one of our previous cases. I'm dropping the case and going to a resort to the Brackmahs.”

“There's no screecher here.” Stella said convinced.

“That we know of, but it's for the best.” Micah commented.

“I'll be signing for the Redemption Round, do you want anything?” Stella asked her.

“A nice hot cocoa capuccino with macademia nuts to forget for a couple of minutes that we're on another wild goose chase in this massive stadium. And hopefully, leave this planet.” Micah requested in her semi-passive-aggressive tone.

“Ok, I'll get your cappuccino.” Stella responded, deliberately ignoring Micah's sarcasm as she headed to the lounge.

Logan hacked the stadium's security cameras, over one hundred of them recorded in that moment. The first one recorded the entrance of the stadium; another camera recording the reception, the receptionists and the caretakers walking down the halls with the carts full of cleaning products rolled in from one side of the hall to the other end. As much as he liked to snag a glance at a caretaker like Jayshree, he skipped the number of cameras to see which camera recorded which perimeter of the infrastructure.

He looked at the 12th row of the security cameras and spotted the destroyed drone that was on the ground floor, and 8 metres away from the drone were two robotic automatons that were part of the infrastructure camouflaged on the grayish white walls of the room. “There is my drone.”

“But how did it get destroyed?” Logan rewind the footage and played the recording at the minute Logan lost contact with the drone. The drone had gone past the electromagnetic field and lost signal before the A.I.D. had released a laser to shoot the drone down as it broke down upon impact to the slate floor.

Logan then typed to deactivate the A.I.D. but he didn't expect for the automatons to heighten its security and send an alert to the owners of the androids.

Natalie and Brandon received a notification; the host was nearly done eating the succulent codfish fritter as she checked for any anomalies. Brandon was on his computer when he received the notification on his dashboard.

Your Security System Has Been Hacked

All your actions on the device are tracked by a hacker.

Immediate action is required!

The host closed the page and ate the last of the codfish fritter as she rushed to her office.

A hacker has breached your defenses.

COMMENCING PROTOCOL

Brandon typed on the computer to track the hacker, altering the commands. Logan had already exited the labyrinth to find the damaged drone.

Stella stood in line to order Micah's cocoa cappuccino with macadamia nuts. She had no problem getting her coworker a cup of coffee, the only thing that annoyed her was the sarcasm. She understood that Micah was a fun sized sassmeister by nature, but she would get on each other's nerves. They cohabited in a spaceship for 4 human years. Which was 15 Amoebian years for Micah, and nearly 2¼ years for Stella. It was cabin fever mixed with intergalactic space travel on steroids. Her ruby eyes snagged on the menu board of the coffee stand.

“Your order.”

“One cocoa cappuccino with macadamia nuts, please.” Stella requested in her southern accent.

“That'll be 3 dollars.”
Stella took out her credit card.

“We only accept cash ma'am.” The cashier said.

“I only have credits.”
“Physical cash only.”
Stella narrowed her eyes at the employee before taking out her wallet from the inside of her jacket and opened it to reveal slate dollar bills ranging from 12000, 10000, 5000, 1000, 500, 100 with the Đ symbol as she picked three Đ1000 and one Đ500 and passed it to the cashier.

The Raptor Squad had walked down the hall as Rexy, Indy and Verdauga had gone to the foodstands while Shadow perched on a bench and had noticed Micah dressed in scrubs and a face mask, and saw medical supplies such as swabs, syringes, vials, and samples. The banner said FREE Vaccinations. Spino and Bary stood with Shadow, the trio untrusting. 

"I'm not sure about that stand," muttered Bary uneasily. 

"Yeah," agreed Spino, grabbing the "trash bin" he dug through it while the usurper was attending the clients, answering the questions related to the vaccine. Spino found a needle, smirking. "You've got the plan now, Ari." Spino asked.

The cashier passed the cocoa cappuccino with macadamia nuts as Stella took it after the daunting delay when the employees had registered the currency and its value. It had no monetary value within their jurisdiction, and with the complaints from the customers waiting in line. Stella had gone to another coffee shop that accepted credits, with a quick scan, she obtained an additional latte with fresh cookies. Micah already updated her mobile devices, replied on her social media which were mostly work related and took out a pocket book as Micah thumbed the page she was currently on with her gloved hand and read silently which emphasized how long it took. "Finally." Micah said as she held the coffee cup and blew the steam from the cocoa, then sipped.

"Enjoy your coffee. I'm on my break. See ya." Stella headed to the office to look for the host.

Stella entered the office when the host and Brandon were talking in person while they were trying to resolve the potential Wi-fi issue along with the security cameras.

“I already informed Erica and Penumbra about the security cameras. Only Erica hasn't called back yet.” Brandon stated.

“You know how she is, once she's questing with Clyde there is no stopping her.” Nat commented as a grin crept on her face.

“Yeah, using a rubber duck as a detective to investigate is as wacky as it gets.” Brandon commented.

“Quacky you mean.” She guffawed at the flimsy pun while he simply headed out the door.

“I'll be getting lunch if you need me.” Brandon said in a bored tone as he passed by Stella.

“Do you want some cheese with those quackers?” She teased, the only response she got from Brandon was the clicking sound of the closed door.

Stella saw the hostess laugh as she saw her sit down on the desk chair.

“Howdy, I'm here to sign up for tonight's round.” Stella spoke.

“Sure,” the hostess sniggered as she picked up the form for the Redemption Round and a pen as she passed it to Stella, “I hope you had fun in the tournament.”

“It was a rollercoaster, that's for sure.” Stella replied as she read the form.

“It's my first time hosting and I still can't believe how well it's going so far.”

“What's with the clause related to The Gauntlet?” Stella asked.

“That is where tonight's match will be held, you have to stay clear of some areas that could be hazardous.” The hostess warned.

“So that explains the clause for the  won't-be-responsible-for-any-deaths in the form.” Stella mentioned bluntly.

“At least there was a warning in the contract. Many of the competitors that have participated throughout the years throw caution to the wind.” The hostess mentioned from what she could guess.

“Not many shareholders are keen in showing transparency to their clients about their business since they're mostly concerned about making a profit or maintaining their interests.” Stella remarked absentmindedly, unable to tell that it was a warning or her usual response as she reread the form.

“That is what makes my team different from one of those giant companies. This project was built from a mutual bond, a common goal to create an experience. That's why the Collaboration Colosseum was a pitch to encourage fighters from different worlds to join together, not only to fight, but to make friends. It's like a community.” Before the hostess could ramble any further, Stella signed the form and gave it to her.

“It was nice knowing you, Mrs. Host.” Stella said out of courtesy, and to stop hearing the spiel that was probably rehearsed.

“Likewise.” The hostess smiled just as the Izarian space cadet walked out of the office. As Natalie looked at the signature, she spotted the doodled asterisk.

Well, she signed up at her own risk.

After not-Micah vaccinated Spino, the curious clients wanted turns to get vaccinated. The Raptor Squad, incredulous of how feeble minded the humans—and other species demanding to take the vaccine were. Baci Llus was drinking his beverage when he spotted the real Micah as she walked in drinking her cocoa cappuccino.

"I can't believe how stupid most of these humans are." Bary said.

"Tell me about it," Micah, the real one, commented before taking another sip of her cappuccino. “Those species survived for over 8 millennia and they remain as primitive as their ancestors.”

"Wait," Baci Llus came in, "if you're here, then who's the other one over there?"

"That's an usurper." Micah replied as she drawed out another sip.

"An usurper?" Spino bulged his eyes at the uncanny resemblance.

"Usually, I'd go over there and apprehend the imposter, but since I'm on my break--" Micah shook her cocoa, "--they're your problem now."

"Why?" Blue was confused.

Spino snorted, "It just makes s e n s e, doesn't it. Micah is an alien. RIGHT? They could pick anyone else but they picked Micah."

“For once, I agree with you. No one can replicate my genius self and get away with it.”

"I still think that's dumb," grumbled Blue.

“I can't believe I let that imposter inject me.” Spino said as he looked at the bandage where Carina injected him.

"Does that mean she can change into a ghast?" Blue was appalled that the imposter might gain her powers.

“If they collected a sample from the ghast, they might.” Micah replied.

Stella walked past the lounge and strolled by the stands, one of them was being held by a tall lady with a purple ao dai, an updo with some braids wrapped around it and two hairsticks stabbed through at the back as she introduced herself.

“Hello, fellow beings. I am Tantetra, Deity of Discipline, and I am here to give a lesson. Us deities and where we came from.”

Stella walked past the kiosk while some curious bystanders flocked to see if the Deity of Discipline would offer anything that could pique their interest.

The usurper didn't expect her objective to get derailed so quickly. She only opened up an abandoned kiosk for the sole purpose of extracting the genetic component of a powerful Venusian along with his powers to steal the gem under the guise of a vaccination and abscond from the stadium to power her spacecraft and to live on a planet off grid from the I.B.I.'s interference and colonization. As convincing as the tools and tests displayed to simulate a vaccination kiosk, she didn't expect to attract a number of curious critics. Those critics being random strangers, speculators, and bored passerbyers who had nothing better to do than watch.