Dervish took one look around the abandoned factory and immediately knew something was wrong. He sniffed the air. Yes, definitely something was not right. "Val, something’s not right here…"

"What do you mean?" asked the hover-bike. "My scanner doesn’t show anything abnormal."

"No…it’s nothing tangible," Dervish paused for a moment. "It feels like…it feels like we’re being watched."

"Hmmm…Derv, I’ve noticed in the past that you have some of sixth sense about these things, like that whole Red Rocks business. You saw that trap coming from a mile away. Anyway, maybe we should get out of here. We can always come back and get the information some other time."

Dervish paused to consider Valkyrie’s words. "I don’t think we should wait on this one Val. The message from the Master asked for this factory’s data logs to be brought to him ASAP. This stuff must be really important. I don’t want to say that I backed out of getting it due to paranoia."

"I see your point," said Valkyrie.

"OK. I want this job to be over with as soon as possible. Val, shoot some smoke grenades in all the entrances and near all the windows. I wouldn’t want anybody peeking in on me with a sniper rifle, now would I? You stay here, primed and ready to get out of here. If anything odd pops up, tell me via radio. Got it?"

"Got it." The intelligent bike had already started launching grenades.

"Good. I’m heading out." Dervish took one last glance around the desolate facility before setting off. After only a few moments, a fine mist of smoke surrounded the Sheltie, and it made things all the more eerie. Giant machines loomed, casting gloomy shadows. The scurrying of a rat a few yards away created an odd swirl.

Dervish didn’t pay attention to the swirling gloom, for his mind was on the task ahead. Despite the pervading creepiness, and a feeling of danger that grew larger the closer he got nearer to his destination, he pressed on. He walked carefully up a flight of stairs, onto a metal platform that overlooked the entire facility. He noted that it was over one hundred yards to the main entrance and Valkyrie.

Dervish pushed the thought out of his mind and jogged over to the main computer center. He quickly picked the lock and walked inside. Surveying the various terminals in a quick glance, he chose to sit down at the one suspiciously in the middle of the wide room. He turned on the computer, stuck a special CD in the port, and started his work. After about five minutes of hacking, Dervish finally grinned widely and hit the ‘enter’ key.

He radioed his companion, "Val, I did it. All the files are being copied. Patch me through to the Master. I want to tell him how we’re doing."

In a moment, the wise voice of Professor William Shepard came into Dervish’s radio. "Yes, Dervish? Is there something I can help you with? It’s not often I get calls from you."

"Master, I’ve just about downloaded those files you asked for," Dervish said proudly. "We should be down there in a few hours."

"What files? I didn’t ask for any files…" Shepard sounded confused. Dervish was even more confused.

"But…but I got a message from you—" Dervish was abruptly cut off by the worried voice of Valkyrie.

"Derv…something weird is happening. Power levels are increasing all over the factory." Valkyrie’s voice suddenly rose in shock. "Now my scanners are being jammed! Derv, get out of there! You were right, this is a trap!"

The orange-furred hero slowly sat up, his face a mask of surprise. Out of the window in front of him, he saw many thin beams of red light revealed by the smoky haze. Then he heard a small mechanical noise behind him. Whirling around, Dervish saw an automated machine-gun slide out of a panel in the ceiling, one red beam piercing the gloom.

The Sheltie quickly glanced at the computer screen, and saw that there was still ten percent left to copy. His head shot back towards the beam of light. It was now training itself on his form. Dervish immediately bolted from his position, barely dodging a spray of bullets. Luckily, the gun pivoted slowly, and he had plenty of time to run from the path of the gun’s muzzle.

After running and dodging around the room for a minute, he saw his CD casually slide out of its port. But the screen of the computer had turned bright red, and Dervish saw that a timer was counting down.

He quickly shouted out orders over the radio. "Val! I need you to fire a couple chaff grenades to confuse these guns! Then I need you to get down this main hallway as fast as you can! We need to get out of here, fast. There’s a timer going down right now, and I figure it wouldn’t be a good thing to be in this place when it gets down to zero. We’ve got about a minute to get out of here, so hurry!"

Dervish wasted no time waiting for a response. He hurriedly picked up a chair and hurled it through the giant window leading outside. After that, he sprinted to the computer, snatched his CD, and then ran and dove out of the shattered window. Landing hard on the metal walkway, he quickly shook his head to get the cobwebs out. In doing so though, he noticed two more machine-guns training themselves on his body. Eyes widening in shock, the Sheltie dashed towards the end of the walkway. Knowing he couldn’t risk taking the stairs, he yanked out his whip. With a flick of his wrist, he had attached it securely to the railing. Without slowing, Dervish launched himself over the railing.

Because of the whip’s grip on the rail, the hero swung down to the bottom floor. With another quick flick of his wrist, Dervish detached his weapon from the bar. He knew that he couldn’t waste any time, and so darted out from the relative safety of his position. Fortunately, Valkyrie’s chaff grenade had done its job. The sensors on the remote guns couldn’t focus on one target. Unfortunately, this had made the guns fire blindly everywhere. He felt one bullet tear a hole in his leather jacket. Shortly thereafter, another bullet grazed his arm.

Grimacing but not slowing, Dervish finally saw Valkyrie pull out from a side hallway in front of him. The hover-bike slowed down just enough for Dervish to jump onboard, and then accelerated. The passenger hunched down below the glass shield as the bike rammed itself through the main doors.

Only seconds thereafter, the factory became a raging fireball. The concussion from the explosion ripped the building apart, slammed Dervish off of the bike, and sent the bike flying into a nearby grove of trees. Stunned, the Sheltie tried to push himself up. After taking such a beating though, his body failed him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Dervish was awakened hours later by the gentle pushing of a battered and dented Valkyrie. He groaned and slowly sat up. "Oh man…Val, did you get the plates of that freight train that hit me?"

"I’m afraid not, Derv. It hit me too," replied the bike.

"Hoo boy…well, mission accomplished, I guess. Go in, get set up, escape a trap…it seems we’ve had quite the normal super-hero day, eh Val?" The Sheltie chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, what say we go home Val. I am in serious need of a shower."

"Good idea. But before we go, take a look at that tree over there." Valkyrie pointed himself towards a nearby tree. Dervish dragged himself up and staggered over to the tree. Nailed upon it was a Polaroid photo of Dervish and Valkyrie. Apparently taken from a distance, Dervish was set in the middle of sniping crosshairs. The Sheltie ripped the picture off of the tree and crushed it in his hand.

"Val, it seems we have some fans."