“Ugh, my back,” Nori groaned. She stumbled to her feet and looked around the shuttle. A flight-console hovered in the air above Nathan’s prone body. Nori looked at the young man as he struggled to stand up. “What did you do?”

Nathan ignored the question and grimaced as he slowly stood up.

“What was that crunching noise?” Lana asked, obviously shaken.

“Probably my spine,” Nori grunted. “Hey, you, guy, you alright?”

The man they had rescued looked disoriented. “What happened?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Nori said, looking pointedly at the young man.

Nathan gave her an apologetic look, then turned to Lana.

The woman’s eyes widened. “You dropped the shuttle on top of the Warped?”

Nathan nodded shyly and pointed at one of the screens. It showed the shuttle’s exterior, where the Warped’s crushed leg and head were the only things protruding from under it.

“Well, it could have been smoother, but overall, not bad,,” Nori said approvingly.

“What’s going on? Who are you people?” The man they rescued seemed to be getting his bearings. “Are you aliens? Did you come to abduct us?”

On the monitor, a tentacle started quivering on the ground.

“We’re humans, like you,” Nori said. “But explanations will have to wait.” She limped to the door and pounded on its control. Bulco was standing several meters away, looking at the ground below her apprehensively. “Nice move, kid, but it’s not dead yet.”

“It’s about to be.” She circled the shuttle and aimed the Disruptor at the Warped’s head. Its eyes suddenly flew open and it started to thrash and bite the air. Unflinching, Nori aimed carefully and shot. The beam bore a small hole, revealing a metal skull. The monster kept flailing wildly, trying to escape. Nori clenched her jaw and kept on shooting. Beam after beam burrowed into the monster’s skull until the fifth one punched through the other side, and finally, the creature stopped moving.

Nori shot it one more time for good measure. “About fucking time you die. You better stay dead if you know what’s good for you.”

Bulco chuckled. “Damn, girl, and they say I have a temper. Nice job.”

“Is it safe to come out now?” Lana asked from the shuttle’s doorway.

She got out, followed by Nathan and the man they had rescued.

Martin, Human, Level 0

“What’s going on? Who are you people?”

“Martin, right?” Bulco crossed his arms. “I think you know me.”

The man’s eyes bulged. “You’re that gang-- I mean, you’re Bulco, right?”

The big black man nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. These kids and I got ourselves an alien spaceship, and we were just taking it out for a test ride when we saw the Warped attacking your walls. Wanna fill us in on what’s been going on?”