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Down in the safe room the group was terrified“What do you think is going on out there?” Ash asked as she squeezed Johnny’s hand tightly “I have no idea.” Johnny said pulling Ash into a gentle embrace “Probably pirates or rebels maybe even those cultists we’ve heard rumors about!” Ash said nuzzling in close to the Gorsai’s chest“Oh goodness, I hope Norman and the kids are ok.” Rosita said in a slight panic as she fumbled with her phone but was not getting any signal“Ok, everyone calm down!” Buster called out “Panicking is not going to solve anything. We need to stay calm.”Everyone turned their attention to the koalan.“So what do we do?” Mike asked angrily, “Just wait here like tuna in a can?”“Basically, yes!” Buster said, “We need to just stay here and let the army and security do their jobs.”“I hope my Ferdinand is ok.” Gunter mumbled from the back corner of the safe roomMeena gently patted the usually upbeat porskal’s shoulder, “I’m sure he’s ok, he probably got to one of the safe zones.”Eddie was seated on the floor, “How long do you think we’ll be in here?” he asked Buster sat down next to Eddie on the floor and took the Shepai’s hand in his and squeezed, “I have no clue, the safe room is connected to the same speaker system as the emergency system so if they give the all clear, we’ll hear it.”After a few hours of sitting in the safe room Mike was getting antsy, “Ugh, I should be out there with my Nancy!”“Just stay calm, Mike.” Eddie said, “I’m sure she’s fine!”Mike just huffed and crossed his arms in annoyance.“Hey, Gunter why don’t you tell us about Ferdinand.” Meena proposed, “You never really talk about him.”“Oh, well I guess I could tell you a little bit about him.” Gunter said smiling just thinking about Ferdinand“That’s a wonderful idea. We’d all love to hear about him.” Buster said smiling and scooting in close to Eddie who put an arm around him“Well he works for the colony, as a high ranking security officer, his full name is Ferdinand Grousmire.” Gunter said his cheeks flushing a little bit, “Security is his first love but he also loves to dance too! He is really good at it too, we dance all the time.”“Wait! Grousmire! Was he that Felkin cop who got me for littering just outside the theatre last week!?” Mike asked suddenly interested and a little bit angryGunter laughed, “Yep that was him!” the porskal pointed a finger at Mike, “Next time don’t litter!”Mike grumbled and glared at Gunter with his arms crossed, like a child sitting in the corner.“How are things with you and Norman, Rosita?” Buster asked, hoping to keep everyone calm with conversation, “Since we’re in the vein of relationships.”Rosita smiled, “Great, couldn’t be better.” She said with a wide grin, “Norman asked for fewer hours to spend time with his family and they approved.”“That’s awesome!” Meena smiled“Me and Norman have taking salsa lessons, he’s actually really good.” Rosita said with a blush“Maybe he’d like to join your act.” Eddie said jokingly“Oh no, he has massive stage fright.” Rosita said with a smile, “It’s kinda cute.”“Hey Mike? How are things between you and Nancy?” Meena asked politely “Things are just fine!” He barked, “Just a few money troubles here and there.”“Are you gambling again?” Rosita asked going into mom mode and putting her hands on her hips“W…what? No, just bills and things, that’s all.” The mousan said refusing to meet the mothers gaze“Mmhmm, right.” Rosita said letting the subject dropEddie and Buster had to keep themselves from laughing at the exchange.“Guess our date tonight is canceled, huh?” Buster said with a slightly sad smileEddie sighed, “Yea, and those reservations were so hard to get.” The shepai shrugged “well at least this didn’t happen while we were eating, that would have been so much worse.”Buster nodded, “Nothing ruins a fancy dinner more than uninvited guests.” The Koalan laughed slightly “Since when are you two a couple?” Mike asked completely clueless“For a while now, Mike.” Eddie said laughing, “You didn’t know until now?”“Nobody tells me anything around this place.” Mike grumbled“I take it you don’t know that Ash and Johnny are dating too?” Buster said with a small smileJohnny and Ash were in disbelief, “you know?!” Ash exclaimed “You’ve known this whole time?”“We all knew,” Rosita said with a motherly smile“How?” Johnny asked completely confused“It was mainly how you would always look at each other.” Meena said with a chuckleMike just grumbled about being left out of the loop but said it to quietly to be completely understood.“Well ok then,” Johnny said “Since you already know, yea we’ve been dating.” The gorsai rubbed his neck, his cheeks a bright redAsh blushed as well, “It didn’t start as anything serious. But it certainly is serious now.” She smiles and gives Johnny a soft kiss on his chin“I remember when me and Nancy first met.” Mike said his grumpiness completely gone at the thought of Nancy, “All kisses and champagne and good music.”“You never talk about Nancy.” Ash said suddenly interested, “What’s she like?”“She’s like fire!” Mike exclaimed his eyes lighting up with emotion, “Beautiful, entrancing, and warm but also dangerous and feisty.” The mousan sighed dreamily, “In short, she’s perfect.”“Aw,” Ash said with a smile, “Who knew you could even say nice things about anyone.”Mike ignored her, “Nancy is my everything and if anything ever happened to her…” he paused and closed his eyes as the very thought was horrible, “I’d end myself then and there.”“Woah Mike that’s a little heavy.” Johnny said a little surprised “Well love is heavy stuff, Big Top!” Mike exclaimed, “you go all in or not at all, that’s my motto for love.” The mousan puffed up his chest and proudly jabbed his thumb to his chest as he spokeEddie couldn’t help but smile at how in love Mike was, after all that’s how he felt about Buster.“Um is there another way out of this safe room?” Meena asked as she listened at the sealed and locked door“Yes I believe there is an emergency exit at the very back that leads out to the ally.” Buster said “why?”“Cause it kinda sounds like someone is trying to…” Meena was cut off by a shower of sparks as something made it all the through the thick metal door causing Meena to scream in surprise “Johnny open the exit please we will be needing to make a hasty retreat.” Buster said backing away from the door alongside MeenaJohnny opened the emergency exit as fast as he could and everyone started to make their way through the passage way which was just barely big enough for Meena to fit through. They emerged out into the dirty alleyway behind the theatre with an armored Gorsai raider pointing an energy rifle at them.“Well look what I found.” The gorsai said with a gap toothed grin, “Ya’ll look like you’ve got some money on ya, hand it over and I’ll only hurt ya a little.”Mike quickly grabbed an empty glass bottle off the ground and hurled it as hard as he could at the raider. The bottle shattered against his face causing him to stumble and cry out in pain as glass shards sliced up his face, making him fire a burst of energy above the groups head. “RUN!” Mike yelledThe group ran in all directions panic taking over. Johnny and Ash took off together pushing past the raider. Eddie scooped up Buster and they took off alongside Meena down a side alley. Mike ran as fast as he could the opposite way of the raider by himself. Rosita and Gunter tried to follow after Mike but lost him when they took a wrong turn down a connecting alley but they couldn’t go back they had to keep going. They were now separated in a space raider occupied Calitonia colony, this really wasn’t turning out to be a good day for the group.