Out Think, Out Smart, Out Gas
Part 3
Hey everyone! Welcome da Part 3! At your own time and appreciate your reading!
A Get Smart Fan Fiction
By Resurgent-class
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY GET SMART ORIGINAL SERIES CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 1
The monstrous, seemingly triumphant roar of the battering ram, forklift prong armed Metro van almost drowned out their ability to hear each other. Max and 99 darted glances right behind them through the rear windshield. It unfortunately conveyed an increasingly bleak prognosis as the tank truck parked right in line with the vertical arm of the junction grew increasingly large with each second.
Max palmed the horn hoping to alert the driver. 99 realised they could barely hear the horn at all with the noise they were drowned in but she hoped it was apparent to the gas station.
Inside the gas station, seated behind the counter in the convenience store with his feet up and back to the entrance, the cashier, his uniform cap pushed back on his curly hair yelled at the black and white image on the t.v set on the counter.
"Oh come ON! Are you fighting with your EYES closed?!"
On the screen, the 2 boxers in the ring hammered and pounded at each other. The tank truck driver, a burly man in a white t-shirt and denim overalls stood, elbow on the counter and back to the glass wall of the convenience store watching the fight as well.
"I feel like I'M in the ring just watching this loser!" the driver swore.
Tossing his hands up, the cashier remarked.
"Why get in the ring at ALL if you're just gonna let the other guy win?!"
Max kept his palm pressed to the horn while he and 99 both kept looking at the ever nearing gasoline truck, both praying for some kind of response.
"Ninety-Nine!" Max yelled still pressing on the horn as their Sunbeam continued to surge backwards towards the junction at the monstrous force of the black van. "You know what I've just about had enough of on this case?!"
"What's that Max?!" 99 yelled her inquiry and Max shook his head as he stared at their impending combustible death and swore through tight, thin lips.
"Gas stations and GAS!"
"Did you hear something?" the driver away from the T.V and stared about the store.
The cashier looked up and listened for a second before alarm crossed his wry features.
"Oh my GOD!" he exclaimed swinging his shoes off the counter to land with a loud clomp on the floor as he sprang to his feet.
"What's wrong?!" the truck driver exclaimed looking about.
"It's the coffee!" the cashier yelled, dashing almost head first into a back room.
"Make sure it's strong enough da stand without a cup!" the driver yelled as he kept his eyes on the T.V. "I gat three more stops da make before two AM!"
Max lifted his palm from the horn and kept his foot jammed on the gas pedal. The smoke from the rear tires billowed darker and thicker as the acrid stench of burnt rubber became over whelming even inside their vehicle with the windows up.
"Ninety-Nine!" Max yelled. "Hold the wheel!"
Once 99's brown cotton gloved left hand gripped the steering wheel, Max reached into his sports jacket and drew his 5 inch barrelled Colt Official Police from it's shoulder holster and swung out the cylinder checking to see that it was fully loaded while he explained.
"I have an idea!—You hold the car steady and I'll shoot out the van's tires!"
In the cab of the black Metro van, keeping the steering wheel steady as he kept it charging down the road with the Sunbeam held captive against it's battering ram and on it's prongs, Nighthawk 2 pulled open the driver's side sliding door. Then reaching down to the floor of the van's cab, next to his seat, his left black leather gloved hand came up with a Walther MPL sub-machine gun with it's thin steel tube side-folding buttstock closed. The KAOS agent reached out the door with the weapon, bending his arm at the elbow to bring it to bear at the Sunbeam's windshield.
Max inched the Sunbeam's door open and the Walther MPL blazed and droned, raining 9mm Parabellum shells against the left end of the Sunbeam's windshield spreading white scratches over it and drumming on the Kevlar soft roof of the convertible.
It sent Max jerking back and yanking the door shut before raising a finger to announce.
"I have ANOTHER idea."
Having cut off his quarry's escape, Nighthawk 2 cackled maniacally nearly matching the continual roar of the Walther MPL as he kept blazing wildly, strafing the windshield and the roof sending sparks raining off and keeping the CONTROL agents cowering inside.
"Oh Max!" 99 realized looking backwards again. "This is it!"
The distance closed to less than a hundred feet and as the tanker truck expanded beyond the width of their rear windshield, 9mm Parabellums from the Walther MPL continued chewing away at their bullet proof windshield and roof.
The gray Metro van charged onto another junction and swerved onto the left arm so fast its right side wheels temporarily lifted off the road. But the sound of it's engine was nearly drowned out by the blaring of several sirens as 5 MPDC squad cars now surged after it, executing the same left turn, each one swerving sharply.
"…to despatch!—" the officer in the lead car barked into the microphone. "—Suspect vehicle now travelling east on Leonard and second!"
Nighthawk 2 continued cackling with bloodthirsty glee, his boot keeping the accelerator on the floor keeping the black Metro van's battering ram fused to the Sunbeam's front bumper as it kept pushing the smaller vehicle back down the road. Despite his grip on the steering wheel, the KAOS agent managed to lock a new magazine into the MP before cocking the bolt, just as the beady eyed agent tried again to open the door to bring his revolver to bare. Reaching out the door again, Nighthawk 2 squeezed the trigger and the MP sent a stream of ballistic deterrent hammering against the windshield, turning it nearly completely white at that end with scratches and making the agent duck back in, foiled again.
"Now that we're CERTAIN that's not gonna work—" Max declared before reaching for the armaments panel and jabbing the button labelled "Anti-Hand Grenade Mechanism".
99 stared at it for a moment before asking.
"Do you think?"
"If we're nice about it!" Max shrugged.
At the centre of the Sunbeam's hood, right behind the cannon, another, longer vertical rectangular panel wider than the one for the cannon slides apart and the silvery anthropomorphic, five fingered robotic arm unfolds from it's storage, its circular rotor-hub like elbow joint pointed forward and palm facing up.
Staring at the unfolding mechanical arm, Nighthawk 2 sat up straight in his driver's seat swearing.
"What zhis town coming to?!"
The mechanical arm's rotors whined as it swivelled about, it's hand aimed at the battering ram, mashed against the Sunbeam's front bumper before it moved to 'look' at the cannon in front of it and then swivelling around it faced it's palm backwards at the stationery tank truck that they were being hurtled towards.
99's eyes widened as the mechanical hand made a fist and shook it at the windshield at Max before pointing at the cannon furiously.
Max rolled his eyes and yelled.
"THAT'S what you're ANGRY ABOUT?! We're about da go ass FIRST into a gasoline truck set on WELL DONE and you're angry bout the CANNON taking up your space?!"
99 stared incredulously as the arm shook it's fist again at Max and kept pointing at the cannon.
"What about all the extra time I spent applying extra WD-40 to your joints?!" Max declared at the windshield as he gesticulated at the mechanical arm. "TWO bottles! You know how long that took?! You should know, you were there! THREE hours! I'm a very busy Secret Agent you know! I have secret documents and formulas to recover, scientists to rescue….WHAT?!"
99 looked on in awe as they continued hurtling backwards towards the gasoline truck and the mechanical arm put up 3 fingers.
"THREE?!" Max exclaimed, eyes wide. "You want THREE cans of WD-40?! You know how much they cost?! Professor Windish has cut me off already!"
The mechanical hand again put up 3 fingers and pointed at the cannon.
"You want THREE cans of WD-40 AND the cannon removed?!" Max hollered through the windshield. "You're an ARM and a HAND not an entire ROBOT! How much space do you NEED?!—" Max whirled to 99. "—I SWEAR Ninety-Nine, if I EVER get so chummy with a machine again, please just SHOOT me! I've had KAOS agents I put in jail for TWENTY years express more gratitude and they were trying to KILL me!"
"Max PLEASE!" 99 pleaded gesturing with her gloved hands behind them. "We're running out of TIME!"
"Alright! Alright!" Max swore throwing up his hands and yelled at the windshield again. "THREE bottles of WD-40, TWICE a week AND—the cannon STAYS! You JUST gadda make friends!"
At that, the shiny mechanical hand gave an A-OK sign with it's fingers.
"Ninety-Nine," Max asked wearily as the lights from the gas station behind them lit up the inside of the Sunbeam. "Would you mind sparing a few hours or—an entire WEEKEND and polish im for me? I have a date you see…"
99's blue eyes narrowed at Max with an intensity that would burn through his beady eyes.
The mechanical arm extended it's telescopic struts making up it's humerus and forearm and lunged at the up at the windshield of the black Metro van.
"Arrrrrrgggghhhh!" Nighhawk 2 hollered as the mechanical fist punched right through the driver's side pane of the van's split windshield like it was made of tissue paper, showering the KAOS agent with glass.
Nighthawk 2 pressed himself back into his seat to stay clear of the mechanical invader. The anti-hand grenade mechanism reached through the hole in the windshield and down to the steering column. Before Nighthawk 2 could react, the mechanical forefinger and thumb pinched the ignition key and turned it in the opposite direction.
Instantaneously, the entire Metro van cut into absolute silence as the roar of it's engine stopped and it's momentum plunged almost to zero.
Nighthawk 2 roared in fury as the mechanical hand yanked out the key and pulled itself back out the hole in the windshield with it and tossed the key away.
Max jammed on the brakes with a nerve wrenching scream from the rear tires and both vehicles finally slowed to a stop with the Sunbeam's bumper and quarter panel sliding out onto the major arm of the T junction.
The driver's side pane of the Metro van's split windshield exploded outwards under the assault of the Walther MPL, raining glass onto the Sunbeam's hood and windshield.
"Idi k chertu you glupyy, mekhanicheskiy slaboumnyy!" hollered Nighthawk 2 over the continuous roar of the sub-machine gun while it's blazing muzzle threw flashes off the mirror lenses of his round framed glasses.
The mechanical hand shook as sparks burst and fountained off it's titanium-tungsten alloy construction for a few seconds before it lunged forward again through the shattered half of the van's windshield and grabbed the blazing Walther MPL, snatching it out of Nighthawk 2's gloved hands.
As Nighthawk 2's hidden eyes popped behind his mirrored lenses, the mechanical hand squeezed, producing a high pitched squeal of warping of steel as the stock and barrel of the weapon caved inwards and bent inside the mechanical fist. The barrel and stock ended up twisted upwards slightly before the mechanical hand tossed it aside.
"KAOS can KEEP it's six week convalescent lif!" Declared Nighthawk 2 as he lunged for the open door of the cab.
However, the mechanical hand grabbed hold of his jacket collar and dragged him yelling and kicking out the shattered windshield.
As Max and 99 gaped at the sight, the mechanical hand tossed Nighthawk 2 in mid-air for a second and as he fell back down, caught him by his outspread hand and palm at the small of his back.
"Put me DOWN you klazy masheeen!" Nighthawk 2 yelled with his shoes pointing up to the black sky and his arms stretched out to the side.
Then as Max and 99 continued to gape in bewilderment, the mechanical hand began rotating at the wrist without any limitation, spinning like a propeller and in turn sent Nighthawk 2 on it spinning as well like a mad, human top.
"Aiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" went Nighthawk 2 as he spun so fast, viewed from below, he appeared as a black disk with an outer ring of white from his platinum blond halo of hair.
Finally, the mechanical hand heaved again, tossing the spinning KAOS agent into the air. Max and 99 ducked, afraid he would land on the soft roof of the convertible but luckily Nighthawk 2 arced over it to slam down on the truck, shaking the Sunbeam before rolling off.
Nighthawk 2 struck the asphalt with a loud slap and continued rolling nearly 5 feet before coming to a stop on his belly.
"Okay great job!" Max praised. "Now help get us loose!"
The mechanical hand's rotors whined softly as it gave a thumbs up and next reached forward to grasp the battering ram of the van and pushed down on it. Max and 99 grabbed for support as the Sunbeam's fender tilted further upwards freeing the chasis from the prong's underneath with a long scrap of metal. The mechanical hand then pushed at the battering ram and the Metro van rolled backwards a few feet till it's prongs were out of reach of the Sunbeam before lowering the car's front wheels back to the asphalt.
Swiveling back to the black Metro van, the mechanical hand now reached into the cabin again through the demolished windshield, took hold of the steering wheel and yanked. The entire steering wheel tore free of the steering column with an explosion of bolts and metal joints while hydraulic cables trailed after it before snapping as the reached their limit. With a careless flick of it's wrist, the mechanical hand sent the steering wheel frisbeeing through the air and disappearing into the dark beyond the rows of buildings on the right.
"That's my boy!" Max yelled as he seized the steering wheel and applied the gas.
"Good work hand!" 99 cheered, clapping her gloved hands as the Sunbeam backed up before speeding off, veering round the Metro van as the mechanical hand gave the A-OK sign again before retracting itself back into it's storage.
As the Sunbeam surged down the road towards the turn which their quarry had taken, sirens wailed through the air as 3 MPDC squad cars arrived, rotating beacons flashing on their roofs. As Nighthawk 2 groaned, they pulled to a stop on either side of him, uniformed police jumping out.
"Alright pal! On our feet!" one of the cops ordered as 2 of his colleagues dragged Nighthawk 2 upright. "You're under arrest for disturbing the peace with a mechanical limbed vehicle!"
"Wait minute!" Nighthawk 2 protested as handcuffs were slapped around his wrists.
As they dragged him to one of the squad cars, the KAOS agent kept protesting.
"It not my fault! I just killing stupik CONTROL agents, minding own biznezz and klazy metal hand ARTUCK ME! It self-defense!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" the lead cop tossed a careless hand as he headed back to his car. "You think we never heard that one before?!"
Max wrenched the steering wheel to the right, executing the turn smoothly. As the Sunbeam plunged down the dark arm of what they realized was a Y junction, their hopes soon fell.
"They're gone Ninety-Nine!" Max declared looking left and right for side roads.
"They couldn't fit into any of these alleys." 99 thought.
The Sunbeam in no time reached the end of the road they were on and pulled to a stop at the junction they arrived at.
Max threw up his hands before slamming them back onto the wheel, declaring.
"That's it! Long gone!"
"Max. Try the radio." 99 suggested pointing at the dashboard.
Max screwed up his face as though he was given a silly suggestion by a 5 year old child.
"Ninety-Nine! This is no time for music!"
"No Max! Your onboard multi-wave transceiver!" 99 exclaimed pointing feverishly at the device. "If you can scan the police band, maybe the M-P-D-C might have caught them or are still in pursuit!"
"Good thinking Ninety-Nine."
Flicking on the device on the dashboard, Max slowly rotated the tuning knob. A few seconds of multi-toned shrills emitted from the device interspersed with static before they found the right frequency.
"…all units all units, repeat. Suspect vehicle from four-fifty-nine at National Museum now westbound on Friedman and Burns. Repeat, suspect vehicle from four-fifty-nine at National Museum now westbound on Friedman and Burns. All units respond…."
99's face lit up as Max stamped on the clutch and accelerator to send the Sunbeam surging forward and twisting into a sharp turn down the right arm of the junction.
"Friedman and Burns is pretty far Max!" 99 worried.
"Don't worry Ninety-Nine!" Max declared confidently. "I happen to know that part of town inside OUT! I know a couple short cuts that'll get us there in a minutes!"
"How do you know that area so well Max?" 99 inquired looking intently through the white scratches covered windshield for the route that 86 would take.
"They have the best bur…" Max stopped short as 99's face whipped back to face him, her blue eyes wide.
"…ni-shing…" Max recovered in a way he thought was smooth before grinning stupidly. "…Yes! Burnishing! They got the best burnishing shops there and you…you know how I like my copper utensils…uh…shiny!"
99's eyelids narrowed as she turned to face the windshield again though her blue pupils continued to blaze sideways at Max who suddenly hooked a finger into his collar to try to loosen it around his neck.
The gray Metro van blazed down Friedman and Burns with several MPDC squad cars closing in on it. As the van roared towards another junction, a police car sped out onto the road about 100 yards ahead from a side street from the right, blocking it's path. Instantly, the Metro van swerved to the left, it's wheels dragging sideways for a few yards before it managed to move forward again, now down a side street on the left. The squad cars roared in pursuing it relentlessly.
The Sunbeam's engine purred smoothly as it darted through street after street, negotiating turns and junctions sharply.
"…CR-83 to all units! Suspect vehicle now southbound on Burns and third! Initiate road blocks at all intersections from 3rd to Belkin! Repeat, initiate road blocks…"
"That's it! I know how we can cut em off!" Max declared slamming the gearshift.
99 braced her gloved hand on the dashboard as 86 put the Sunbeam Tiger through a series of turns through various side streets that left her hair swept over her face and eyes. It took her a second to pull them aside enough to see that they were now shooting down an alley flanked on both sides by high buildings. As brick walls flashed by on either side, the end of the alley grew in the windscreen. They could see cars cruising by casually in the intersecting road.
"This is it Ninety-Nine!" Max announced. "They should be heading down that road in about TEN minutes!"
Sirens slashed through the air and with about 20 yards separating them from the end of the alley, the Metro van flashed by in blur of gray.
"Would you believe—" Max quantified. "—a very—SHORT ten minutes."
"Max quick! Here's our chance!" 99 urged, bouncing slightly in her seat.
Max stamped the accelerator and the Sunbeam blasted out from the alley onto the road sending the oncoming squad cars screeching, horn blaring and swerving about to avoid him.
The Sunbeam arced across the road before managing to align itself correctly and blast forward. They could see the gray Metro van's rear bumper less than a hundred yards ahead.
Max poured power into the engine and the Sunbeam sliced away the gap, veering past various vehicles easily, closing in on it's target without interference finally. The flashing of red and blue beacons on the squad car roofs lit up the rearview and side mirrors of the Sunbeam as the Metro van grew larger and larger in their windshield.
"And-here-we-GO!" Max announced as his finger stabbed the fire button.
The cannon muzzle spoke it's singular word of white smoke coupled with a deep boom. The rear bumper of the gray Metro van erupted in a ball of fire as it disintegrated, the remnants of the rear doors were ripped free from the blast and sent flying to either side of the road trailing an arc of smoke and fire with it. The rear tires, swathed in flames followed the same directions as the doors and the flaming lower edge of what remained of the Metro van's rear bumper smashed down onto the asphalt sending forth a fountain of sparks as the front tires continued dragging them along.
Flaming fragments from the fender and rear doors struck the hood and windshield of the Sunbeam with bursts of sparks and fire before being extinguished by the speed and wind. Smoke belched out from the van's rear nearly cutting off Max's view.
Fortunately, the sparks flying from the dragging rear of the Metro van ceased rapidly as the vehicle veered off the road and finally slammed over the curb and came to a halt. Max pulled the Sunbeam to a smooth stop at the curb just a few feet from the smoking van.
"I'll get the back Ninety-Nine! You get the driver!" Max stated as they jumped out of the Tiger.
"Right Max!"
99 with her over-under double barrel Derringer in her gloved hand, ran towards the driver's side of the van's cab while Max, his Colt Official Police's 5 inch barrel leading the way approached the smoking rear of the van's box which rested at a downward angle on the road, minus it's rear tires.
99 took hold of the sliding door's handle and pulled it aside, aiming her Derringer inside. Immediately, her blue eye narrowed and she almost did not register the arrival of the MPDC squad cars, their sirens giving a final wail before stopping as the vehicles pulled to a stop around them, cordoning off the damaged vehicle.
99 lowered her weapon for there was no one inside the van's cab. Instead, she confronted a myriad of multi-colored wires trailing from the steering column just beneath the steering wheel going down to the floor. Leaning in and gazing up, 99 saw mounted to the ceiling of the cab, where a rearview mirror usually was in a car, some form of metal bracket, bolted in place holding a rectangular black box with a circular lens pointing forward out the windshield. She realized it was some form of closed-circuit camera and this too had wires trailing from the rear of the box dangling down to the driver's seat and continuing to the floor. Crouching, 99 examined the floor of the cab as she heard Max shouting.
"Government agents! Government agents! Our Chief was in contact with Inspector Clayton!—Would ya mind—taking the shotgun OUT of there—I need my nostrils to BREATHE!"
99's blue eyes followed the trailing wires from steering column and closed-circuit camera all the way down to some form of larger, silvery paneled box, bolted to the floor of the cab which blinked and flashed with various indicator lights and covered with rows of switches and dials. All the wires connected to ports in the side of the box along with various wires that trailed from the brakes, clutch, accelerator and the gear shift. Even as she took all this in, the flashing lights on the box suddenly blinked out.
She sprang to her feet and hurried towards the rear of the van where several police officers were now milling around while others redirected traffic around the disturbance. Max was just coming around to the side to meet her, his revolver holstered.
"There's no one in the back Ninety-Nine. What about the driver?"
99 shook her head in alarm sending dark brown hair flying.
"Max! We've been tricked! The van is rigged with some kind of remote control mechanism!"
Max hooked his thumbs into his vest pockets as he pulled his lips in and sneered.
"The ol-remote-control-van trick!"
"Agents! Over here!" came a voice from the inside of the van.
Hurrying to the back, Max and 99 bent slightly to look inside the van's box body. There were 2 police officers inside, standing on the slanting floor. One of them crouched and pulled at something on the floor. 99 gasped as a large rectangular section of the floor seemed to follow the police officer's hand up and they found themselves looking through a corresponding hole in the floor right down to the asphalt beneath the vehicle.
"It's a trap door Max!" 99 breathed out, her eyes closing tiredly. "They must have slipped out at some point when they were out of everyone's line of sight! Probably into a manhole!"
At that moment, a loud ringing sounded causing every police officer to frown as they looked around them for they were outside with not a phone booth in sight.
"Your shoe's ringing." One of the police officers pointed
"It must be the Chief, Max." 99 pointed out. "He'll want an update."
"Yes." Max said lifting his right foot up to remove his shoe. "Funny thing bout' updates Ninety-Nine.—" 86 continued as he twisted the heel to release the lock and pulled off the outsole. "—You can't just go blabbering every single detail! It takes YEARS of training as a Secret Agent like me to be able to cut THROUGH the mundane, unimportant, insignificant, time-wasting details, to get RIGHT to the point!"
"Which details are those Max?"
With absolute confidence and a tight smug, lopsided smile as he flipped out the round microphone over the rotary dial of the shoe phone, Max revealed.
"The details after—"Max, the back of the museum. Why don't we check out the back entrance and see what we can find?""
With that, Max happily put the round receiver of the shoe phone to his ear as 99 lets out an exhausted breath, leaned her head back and rolled her eyes to the side.
Somewhere else in the city in a deserted back street behind a row of abandoned factories, Gerd stood next to a turquoise LeSabre Custom Sedan parked at the curb behind a brown Volkswagen Type 1. He was now dressed in a white turtle neck and black pants topped by a denim windbreaker. In his hands he held a flat box about the size of a large humidor with a long antenna pointing upwards from one corner. Rows of buttons and switches covered the face of the box along with what looked like a miniature steering wheel a various large buttons next to it labelled "Clutch", "Brake" and "Accelerator". Indicator lights flashing in sequence above the controls now stopped.
"Zer van eez disabled!" he announced as he collapsed the antenna.
Walking round the back of the LeSabre, he tossed the remote control into the open trunk where it landed among his folded anti-chemical suit and GP-5 Gas mask. Slamming the trunk shut, Gerd almost walked to the driver's side before he remembered something and walked back a few feet along the curb to a manhole. The cover laid to one side of the hole and with his shoe, Gerd slid the heavy disc with a grinding of iron on asphalt, back into place over the opening. As he returned to the LeSabre, another trunk could be heard shutting.
Behind the Type 1, Kerstin now changed into a sleeveless, short-sleeved magenta turtle neck dress walked around the trunk, her kitten heeled white shoes clopping sharply on the road she headed to the driver's side of the car.
At the same time, SS-19 now decked out in a maroon bishop sleeved, shirtdress, black stockings and a matching draped turban from which her black veil flowed down, shrouding her face entirely, walked from the back of the Type 1 towards the fender of the LeSabre. In one black leather gloved hand she held her black clutch while the other stabilised the strap of the large back pack.
No sooner had she reached the LeSabre, then a third vehicle glided down the road to join them, larger and more powerful yet silent aside from the traction of it's large tires on the grimy asphalt. With a barely perceptible screech of it's brakes, the black Rolls-Royce Phantom V came to a stop next to the LeSabre.
Without breaking her stride, SS-19 walked towards the left quarter panel of the luxury vehicle as the driver side door opened and the chauffeur stepped out. He walked to the rear left door and opened it just as the lady arrived.
"Danke, Udo." SS-19 spoke, without out a flutter of her veil.
The distinctive cheek bones and jawline of the emerald eyed Udo was equally unresponsive as he nodded stiffly in acknowledgement of the thanks as SS-19 eased herself into the interior of the vehicle. Closing the door, Udo turned on the heels of his jackboots as smartly as a soldier marching in a parade and walked back to the door.
As the Phantom V moved off as silently as it had arrived, only then did Kerstin and Gerd who had been standing by their vehicles, get in and started up their engines.
Inside the Rolls Royce, the varnished wood panels and seals coupled with the finest automobile engineering siphoned out nearly the last trace of traffic noise. As the Phantom V cruised through the streets as smoothly as a Learjet in air-pocket clear skies, SS-19 pulled the backpack on her lap clear while holding onto it's content.
Pushing the empty pack into a corner of the fine black leather seat, SS-19 opened the black box that was left on her lap to reveal their prize within, resting safely within the velvet interior lining of the box.
Her leather gloved hands cradled the Palermo Shearwater carefully as she lifted it out of the box and handed it off to another pair of awaiting black gloved hands at her side.
"Exquisit!" Von Graf breathed out as he held the statuette in his hand while the feather shaped rubies and diamonds on it's wings reflected with flashes of brilliance in his monocle.
As his gloved fingers tilted it, the life like head of the shearwater moved causing the emeralds in it's eyes to shine green despite the dim interior of the Rolls-Royce.
"It's eyes are almost more brilliant zhan Udo's." SS-19 remarked through her unmoving black veil as she gazed towards the driver.
The Oberführer chortled happily causing the leather of his black SS tunic to creak and the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords to shake slightly at his collar, as he continued beholding their prize while Udo in the driver's seat turned his head slightly and gave a curt nod as his only acknowledgement of the compliment.
"Thanks to unscrupulous, cruel, selfish, rotten, heartless, scheming art collektors und zheir kind, pure generosity, zhis vill fetch a great price for KAOS." Von Graf grinned handing the Palermo Shearwater back into SS-19's gloved finger tips.
As SS-19 placed the statuette back into it's velvet lined safety and shut the box, the Oberführer squeezed a gloved fist in the air so tightly that the leather creaked and his tendons clicked as he shook it.
"Vell DONE Nineteen! Vell DONE! Zer financial reapings of zhis bounty PALES in comparison to your flawless die Magnifizenz! Your tactical genius und strategic precautions for tonight's operations were perfect! Und—" Von Graf paused to punctuate his emphasis with a raised gloved finger before continuing. "—zhat is due to only an insiknifikant contribution on my part! I mean zhis Nineteen!"
SS-19 bowed her head slightly, allowing the bottom edges of her veil to rustle against the fabric of her shirt dress.
"Vielen Dank, Oberführer. Az alvays, you are most kind." Came her breathless reply. "However, owver success tonight is overshadowed vy great cost. Owver profits effectively cut in half vith the loss of all zer uzzer artefacts from zer museum. Und also, owver entire robbery unit captured or dead."
The Oberführer pouted angrily as he nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath which swelled his chest and stomach making the leather of his tunic creak again to their limit.
"Ja. Ja. Und all because of Maxvell SHMART! Zhat ungeschickt dummkopf!" Von Graf's gloved fist slammed down on the door handle with a resounding thump that nearly rattled the wood panel interior.
Calming himself almost instantaneously von Graf turned to SS-19 focusing his gaze on her, his monocle turning black as it reflected her veil. "You ver vise not to confront Shmart tonight vith so much at stake. He haz a habit of BUMBLING his vay eento victory und success against all odds!"
SS-19 acknowledged with a nod as she added.
"Oberführer. Zhere are too many unknown variables. Even zhough zer captured men have no knowledge of zer next target, eet vould be vise to postpone zer final operation."
"Nein! Nein! Nein!" Von Graf shook his head and his baton as well in his right hand causing the endcap to transform momentarily into a streak of silver. "Mister Big vill never accept zhat! Everzing ees een place und time ees of zer essence."
"Jawohl." SS-19 nodded. "However, een order to proceed, owver losses must be replenished und zer new men prepared for zer operation."
"I shall see to zheir replacements." Von Graf assured with a shake of the baton end-cap. "Vut eet eez up to you, Kerstin und Vollmar to get zhem veady. Und now—Udo! Home! I've vecorded Dean Martin und zheir are bottles of Eisbock lager vaiting in zer fridge for us!"