"Simple, I had Munchie put the trackers on them. You should be grateful that I had him do this. We need to act now if we want to help the three of them." Alfonso said slowly trying to deescalate the predicament.
Maxie, still not satisfied with his answer, kept his gun on him and brought it to Alfonso's temple.
Alfonso then discreetly pushed a button on his tracker that sent a distress signal to Slingers tracking pad.
"Whose side are you on?" Maxie gruffly said.
"Have you not been paying attention?!?! I have been on your side the whole darn time. Cool down man, we are wasting time. I am just trying to help out." Alfonso yelled trying to buy time for Slinger to get to his location.
"You wanna help out? Good. Stay still so that I dont miss."
Then shot rang out.
As it turned out, Slinger came just in time to shoot Maxie in the neck with a tranquilizer dart through the open car door window.
Alfonso, relieved now that he didn't die, said to Slinger. "I am in your debt, I thank you. Back to business now. I guess we can always ransom off Maxie as a Plan B. Now take Maxie back to the brig and have the rest of the Nugenerans make sure that the freaks back at the ship are secured in the brig too. After that, send the whole squad of our Nungenerans to bring the three hooligans back to us."
"Sounds like a plan," Slinger said, totally planning to sell out Alfonso and as many of his accomplices as possible when he revealed his true loyalties. "I'm gonna call the Institute real quick. Be right back." Slinger then turned and shuffled back to his invisible speeder, where he'd left his comlink. He saw that he had a message from Aericole.
"THE NUGENERANS HAVE GONE ROGUE! THEY'VE TAKEN THE SHIP! GET BACK HERE AT ONCE! Over."
Slinger sighed as he climbed into his invisible speeder (the Slingmobile, he called it) and jetted away. Alfonso was waiting patiently, unaware that Slinger had just temporarily abandoned him. Suddenly, Maxie's hand grasped at Alfonso's neck.
You know what? Maxie's voice pulsed through Alfonso's head,
I've decided you might be of some use to me.
"W-what!?" Alfonso choked confusedly. Maxie was still completely unconscious, yet his body was moving. His free arm awkwardly made its way to the keys to start the ignition, and from there shifted the car out of park and began steering. It was though his limbs were being moved by something else, like some sort of puppet.
Buckle up, bucko. I haven't driven with my eyes closed in a while.
The car skidded away, barely avoiding crashing into pedestrians, streetlights, and stop signs.
"What in tarnation is going on!?" Alfonso squealed, "How are you doing this!?"
If you come back from the dead, I'll let you in on some of my tricks.
Maxie then crashed the car into a very sturdy trash can next to a bench near a conveniently-placed payphone. His body dragged itself out of the car and slumped over the bench like a homeless ragdoll.
Follow my orders if you want to live, he 'said' to Alfonso the same volume that he did when he was right next to him,
Get out of the car.
Alfonso slowly stepped out of the car.
Got a quarter? You'd better. Munchie, in Alfonso's pocket, found a quarter and handed it to Alfonso.
I want you to find a number in the yellow pages. There should be a phonebook in a compartment next to the phone. Alfonso held the quarter between his teeth as he opened the book.
Find me the number of Boba Fett.
Alfonso snorted with uncontrolled laughter, until he saw the unconscious Maxie raise his gun. Reluctantly, Alfonso flipped through the pages until he inexplicably found the number of a bounty hunter for hire named Mr. Boba J. Fett.
Now call him, and repeat exactly what I say.
Alfonso put the quarter in and dialed the number.
"Hello?" asked the man who was apparently Boba Fett.
My name is Alfonso de Lafonso.
"My name is Alfonso de Lafonso," Alfonso repeated, wondering how Maxie knew his full name.
I represent one of the governments of the planet Earth. I have put out a bounty for a group of alien invaders headed by a wanted criminal known as Slinger.
Alfonso repeated all of this. "How much is the bounty for?" the Oceanic accent asked in return.
As much as you want. We are in desperate need, and are willing to cause a recession to bring these villains to justice.
"Right then. I'll find 'em. Where do we meet once I have 'em?"
Maxie's sleeping face smiled.
Area 51, Nevada.
"I see," Fett replied, "Well then, I'll see you there."
Fett hung up. Alfonso still couldn't believe any of this was happening. Keep in mind this guy hangs out with an incredibly intelligent and highly competent mouse. Suddenly, Maxie jolted awake.
"Finally! My emergency caffeine reserves kicked in. Now then, Fett will deal with Slinger and company, and if he somehow doesn't, then I can throw you under the bus when it all goes sour."
"Well, that's all well and good," Alfonso began, "but I'm just now realizing something about this phonebook..."
"What? What is it?" Maxie asked unhingedly.
"Well, right above the number for Boba Fett, there's a similar number for a guy named Bob Fett."
"
Bob Fett?" Maxie asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Same area code and everything. And, well..." Alfonso scratched the back of his neck. "The names and numbers were so similar, and..."
"And what?"
"I think I called the wrong guy."
After a few hours at the motel, Zerris had decided to head to a store to get some supplies while Cayde and her clone remained in hiding and hopefully didn't get kidnapped or anything. He was browsing the canned foods aisle when he caught a couple Nugenerans out of the corner of his eye. They were headed his way. He turned to run, but was faced by someone who was arguably more out-of-place in your average retailer. He was clad in a welder's mask, several layers of coats and vests, bulky boots and gloves, and a very large backpack.
"Get down," he commanded his Oceanic accent.
Zerris dropped to the floor. The masked man pulled out a shotgun and fired it, one-handed, at the Nugenerans. The force of the blast caused a massive recoil, which caused the gunman to fall backwards onto the ground. As if it couldn't get any worse,
he missed.
"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" he shouted as he wobbled about on top of his backpack like a turtle flipped upside down. The noise of the blast had scared off the creatures, but had also caused quite a panic. Zerris got up and grabbed his 'savior' by the underarms and started dragging him out of the store.
"Who are you!?" Zerris asked, trying to stay calm and not shout too loud.
"I'm a simple man making his way through the galaxy," he said nonchalantly.
"More like making his way across a tiled floor," Zerris retorted before finally stopping to help the man to his feet. Security had just found the shotgun they'd left behind. "Seriously, who are you?"
"My name is Bob Fett," said Bob Fett, "I was hired to neutralize an alien invader by the name of Slinger."
Zerris sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I have information you might find useful."