CHAPTER SEVENTY
Stranger watched the Slig guards patrol back and forth down the hallways in the cell area, memorizing their strategies with the keen eye of a hunter. He had always been a hunter, whether it was a bounty hunter tracking down Outlaws for moolah, or as the unmasked Steef pursuing Oktogi for his personal vendetta. Now, as a renegade bounty hunter helping a Mudokon escape from prison, his hunter instincts were pumping full flow.
He hated industrialists – not just for their overly cranky attitude, but for what they had done to Oddworld as a whole. They had turned once-pretty Grubb lands into dry wastelands, turned Mudokon realms into industrialist dumping heaps, and enslaved many people who would rather do the land a favor than control it. Now, helping Nature’s greatest hero escape from jail, he figured he had finally found his true side in life.
He had finally chosen his side. Bounty hunters had no side, working either for one side or the other as long as they got money. For a time, it seemed he had sided with the industrialists, and thought all Mudokons and Grubbs were fools to serve Nature –
But now he knew better. Now, he was about to set off a chain of events that would bring down the Glukkon empire once and for all.
He moved out of the shadows, waving a hand. “Hi there.”
The Sligs turned toward him, raising their rifles. “Whatcha want here?”
Stranger motioned to the nearby computer desk. “Need to…get some data downloaded.”
“Make it snappy,” one of the guards ordered roughly, and gestured for them to resume their guard duty.
With a nod, the Steef moved past them to the computer and immediately began punching in buttons with his large but amazingly nimble fingers. He only glanced over his shoulder once, making sure that the Sligs were not watching what he was doing.
It only took him a few minutes, due to his expert computer skills, to slice into the Glukkon security mainframe and punch in a few tricky codes he knew. There was no choir, no little tinkle of bells and unfortunately no wave of light to sweep over the area as the security turrets deactivated.
Stranger heaved his bulk up to his full height. It was time to get down to the business of freeing Abe and destroying the empire.
He whirled around, already placing a Boombat in his crossbow and yanking back on the trigger. Before the startled Sligs could respond, before they had even begun yanking up their rifles, that Boombat was flying across the room. Before they could pull on their triggers, that Boombat had exploded and sent all three BigBros flying.
“Now, Abe!” Stranger roared, slapping a Stingbee hive into place. “Now!”
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