Disclaimer: I do not own Action Man.
Rising Storm
Chapter One: The End of the Beginning
The two figures carefully stalked down the pitch-black hall. The only thing guiding them to their destination was a faint slit of light, radiating out under a worn and torn steel door. Still a good 200 yards away from the door, the one of the figures stopped dead. "Alex, what's wrong?" The second figure asked anxiously. "Fidge, I want you to leave." Alex replied. "WHAT?" The temperamental red head all but screamed. "Alex, I came this far, I'm not letting you have all the fun." She shifted her weight to her left leg and smiled. "Fidget, this could be very dangerous-" "So? I don't care. Besides, I can help. I'll create a distraction or something." "No, no, no that won't work. If X and the others see you, they'll figure that I'm here as well." "Then you distract them and I'll go shut that darned machine down". "You don't know how" "I can figure it out". Alex thought, long and hard. Silence loomed over the couple for a good ninety seconds, though it was hardly noticed by the persistent young woman. Anticipation flooded her mind and she thought 'Fidge, whacha worried about, he'll say yes. And if he doesn't, well, he can't REALLY make you leave. You've never willingly left Alex, and you not about ta start now!'. It was true, Alex would have to physically remove her from the air-ship if he really her to leave, and since they had limited time, she was pretty sure that she would be sticking around. All this and more had run though the athletes mind as well, but he still felt permitting her to come would be a very stupid thing to do. "No, go back". "But-" "No, just listen to me, okay? If your there, it's just one more thing for me to worry about". Her jaw dropped, "So that's what I am? Just another 'thing'? You know Alex, I can take care of myself, I don't need you to protect me." "Fid-" "NO, I don't even wanna go with you! It'll just be the same as it always is, you'll be the hero and pull me away from 'danger' just as it's getting fun. So I'll just go back to my plane and leave you here." She turned and began walking back to the hanger. "Fidget", Alex spoke, "I might need you to pick me up". "Yeah, well", She replied, putting her hand up like she was going to wave, "Let me know how it turns out".
*
"Tempest!", the voice boomed though the large room, the Council or Doom "Headquarters", although the two members of Doom wondered why Dr. X insisted on calling it that. Being as all three of the Doom members lived on the blimp, there really was no point for there to be any headquarters. Asazi and Tempest called it "the control room", which better suited it, but X still called it the Council or Doom headquarters. "Tempest, is it ready yet?", The obviously annoyed man asked. "Almost!" The young man snapped back. "If you want this thing to work right, you have to give me some time." "We will be over the stadium in ten minutes, it better be ready by then." "It'll be ready in five". "Good" Dr. X turned to the microphone that stuck out of the primary control console. "Asazi, make sure to find our dear friend Mr. Mann, we don't want him to miss this." "Don't worry Dr. X, I'll find him." "Perfect", Dr. X turned back and looked at the machine with admiration. 'A lightening machine, how simple' He thought, 'but the results should be quite deadly'.
*
Fidget stomped up the stairs, pissed as hell. "Stupid Alex" she mumbled, "thinks I'm some little kid". She reached the door and flung it open, making a huge 'bang'. She winched but then figured no one was around to hear it. Little Air was just a few feet away from the 'mouth', which was perfect for her. She had a plan.
*
"It's ready Dr. X" Tempest called out, "Should I started it up?". "Yes, get it ready, we'll be there soon" Dr. X smiled, "Nothing can stop us now!"
*
"Nothing can stop us now!". Alex grinned and pulled his head away from the door. "You shouldn't be so cocky, X" he said. "Poke poke" someone said behind him and Alex felt two sharp pains in his back. "Well, if it isn't Superman. Turn around slow please.". Alex did as he was told, and he found himself face to face with a familiar assassin, and a loaded crossbow in the gut. "Where's Lois Lane?" Asazi asked, walking around him and pulling off his glider pack. "Don't worry about Fidget, she's not here" "Uh huh, so it's just us then? Well, well, well, I think you should come with me" She smiled, removing his gun from its holster, "Got anything else I should know about?" she spoke with a sultry, sarcastic tone. "You wish, Asazi." "You bet I do" she said, jabbing the arrow in to his back, "Come on now, you know the way".
*
The door opened, and Dr. X and Tempest turned to see Alex Mann, hands raised up in the air, and the green clad woman behind him walk though. "Look what I found" Asazi said. "Wonderful, Mr. Mann, I'm so happy you could join us!" "Yah, well, sorry I forgot to RSVP, I lost the phone number" "Hahaha, that's sooo funny, action-jock. X, can I fry him?" Tempest raised his wands, waiting for X's answer. "Of course not Tempest, is that any way to treat a guest? Now, Mr. Mann, please step over this way" "Like I have a choice" Alex said as he was, yet again, jabbed in the back with the arrow, pushing him towards the windows. "See what's down there, the MasterDome, where hundreds of thousands of fans are piled in, waiting for you, Action Man. But you are not going to show up there today, how sad. But look at the dome itself; it is design is so flawed, something as simple as a bolt of lighting would be catastrophic. The antenna that receives the broadcast of an event far away has a cable that connects to the Master-Vision screen, but it also has a cable that runs to the control rooms and the studio, and there is one more cable that runs to another antenna that sends the broadcast out. The wire to the second antenna runs under the bleachers, against the pylons. Which are made of metal, the benches, the floor, the rails, it's all metal." "So?" Alex stated, "The cables are covered". "Oh, but there not" Tempest said, "Nick Masters wanted to get that dome done as quickly and as CHEAPLY as possible." Alex began to get nervous, he had figured that machine to his left was the machine Simon Grey had told him about, but now he had to figure out how to destroy it with Tempest, Asazi and X standing around him. He was starting to wish he hadn't sent Fidget away.
*
Fidget pushed with all her might, until Little Air stood on the very edge of the 'mouth'. "Okay" she said, "Time to rock and roll.". She climbed on to the wing, grabbed her parachute out from the back and started turning on the plane. '"If you distract them, they'll figure I'm here too", yeah, or not'. She thought. "Well, it definitely is a lot easier to start this thing when you're sitting in it". She laughed. She set the autopilot so that Little Air would start landing five seconds after the engine was on. "God, I hope this works" she said as she started up the engine and hopped off the wing as the plane flew out of the ship. She stood up, smiled then darted for the stairs.
*
Alex looked down at the dome; his stomach sank as he saw Big Air sitting in the parking lot, Rikki and Grinder were most likely inside, covering for him. "As always, I expect a 99.9% of life loss, but," X babbled on,"the survivors of the will have proven themselves worthy. Ten seconds after the shock, I will drop a "bomb" into the center of the dome, which will release five thousand trio-bugs that will seek out the survivors and attach themselves, and well, you know what happens then.". Alex turned to face him. "You know something X, your really sick." "No, Mr. Mann, I'm just a man with a dream." "You're not even really a man, you're just a freak in a stolen body!". Dr. X's arm sheathed over in metal armor and he slammed it into Alex's chest, knocking him down to the floor. "If I didn't want you to see all those people die because of you, I'd kill you now!" X screamed, grabbing Alex by his neck and smashing the side his face into the glass. X held Alex's neck so tight; his thumb was crushing his trachea, cutting off his air passage. Alex's neck was stiff, head shaking, eyeballs bulging, mouth open wide. Alex was certain it was the end for him, until Tempest shouted, "Dr. X, we've got company!", and he was released, face against the glass, he slid down to the floor, but he could still see the out the window. He was dizzy, and he vision was a little blurry, but he could still make out a plane, flying right in front of the ship. 'Fidget' he thought. "Shoot it down" X ordered. Tempest did as he was told and it seemed that the second the lightening left the barrel of the gun, Little Air smashed into the ground. It only took the plane a few short seconds to fall out of the sky, and it took less time for Alex to decide X's fate. "You psycho!" Alex screamed, slamming the palm of his hand into the glass. "She never did anything to you!", he shouted, as he pushed himself onto his feet. "She never hurt you! She did nothing! You didn't need to kill her!". He charged Dr. X, grabbing him and pounding him against the lightening machine, his palm pressed so hard on X's chest, he probably could have crushed his rib cage if he had wanted to. "It was totally pointless! She didn't need to die! So why did you do it?! Huh? Why?!" "I---I don't-t know" X stammered. Alex could tell this man was scared, but he didn't care, he was to enraged to care about X right now. "You don't know?! That's no excuse at all!" Alex yelled in X's face, then he began pulverizing this man, the man who had just taken one of his best friends away, and now he was trying to kill off everyone else he knew. Alex wouldn't let it happen.
*
Fidget sprinted down the hall, thinking that perhaps she had made a mistake, and now they had no way off the ship, except the parachute on her back. She reached the door and hesitated to open it. 'I hope I'm not making a mistake' she thought, and rested her ear on the steel door. She could hear someone yelling something, it sounded like Alex, and it sounded like he had problems.
*
Both Tempest and Asazi stood frozen, stunned, even astonished that Alex was capable of doing what he was doing to X. But only Asazi noticed the door slowly creak open and she didn't hesitate to grab the person about to enter.
*
To Alex, there was nothing there, except Dr. X and him. Alex didn't know if he wanted to kill the human being he had at his mercy, but he know he did want to make him suffer. Then suddenly, he heard someone cry, "Ale-", and he snapped back to reality. "Hey, Superman, it's not too late to play hero" Asazi yelled to Alex. He blinked and looked at beaten, bloody, semi-conscious, half-dead man at the end of his arm. Then Alex looked at his own bloodied knuckles and gasped, he turned to Asazi, who was holding Fidget with one arm and holding a knife to her throat with the other. "Well, I admit" Asazi said, "A slit throat is a little crude, but it gets the job done. So, you wanna let go of my boss, or should I actually make her dead?". The second Asazi finished talking, Dr. X was on the floor. "Okay, Asazi, he's on the ground. Now just let Fidget go." He took two steps toward the girls. "No, I think she's fine right here, you take one step closer, and she dies." Asazi said, pressing the knife harder on Fidget's neck. Alex opened his mouth to reply, but before any words could come out, he was lifted up into the air, and brought back down hard. The wind was knocked out of him. He looked up and saw Tempest, he heard some call his name, most likely Fidget, and then he heard a very quiet, labored voice say, "Go on with with the plan". Alex hopped up, just in time to see Tempest about to the carry out the plan. He ran, hit Tempest and knocked him away from the weapon and to the ground. Fidget saw her chance and swung her elbow back into Asazi's face. Asazi yelled out and wiped the blood away from her nose, only for more to pour out. "You little bitch, you broke my nose!" "Hey, I'm sure you can get the good doctor to fix it for you" She smirked. Fidget spun around and ran in the opposite direction of Alex and Tempest, and sure enough, Asazi followed her. Alex and Tempest rolled around on the floor, each getting a few good hits on one another. Eventually Alex managed to get on his feet, and he got Tempest to chase him around for a while. "I swear to God, when I catch you, I'm gonna kill you!" Asazi screamed as she ran after Fidget. "Yeah" Fidget turned her head, "IF you catch me!". When she turned her head back, she saw a chair, right in front of her, and in less than a second, she was on the ground. Before Fidget had time to get up, Asazi grabbed her forearm and pulled Fidget around onto her back. "Caught ya" Asazi grinned and plunged the knife deep into her chest. Fidget opened her mouth to scream, but before any sound could come out, Asazi's hand slapped down over her lips. "Do you really wanna scream, and pull Alex away from saving the day? Get all those people killed? Huh?". Fidget's eyes opened wider with pain, terror or both, until they glazed over and she went limp. Asazi removed her hand from Fidget's face and smiled. "I didn't think so" she said and yanked the knife out of the motionless body. Alex ran into the controls of the machine, Tempest was directly in front of him, screaming and flickering from normal to transparent-blue. He held his wands tight in each hand and rushed at Alex with them extended out before of him. Alex stood his ground until Tempest was no more than four feet from him, Alex dove to the side, Tempest had no time to even think about stopping and he rammed the machine head on, his wands easily penetrating the thin layer of metal covering the hardware. Tempest's energy surged through the machine and the machine's energy surged through Tempest. Tempest screamed in pain, so much that Alex almost felt sorry for the poor soul. But, it wasn't to long before the energy from the machine and from the boy became too much and the weapon exploded. All the windows blew out and Tempest flew across the room and smacked into the wall, as did Alex. Pieces of metal and other debris flew at Asazi, knocking her to the ground and covering her and Fidget. Dr. X had still been against the machine, and when it blew, his life ended.
*
For everyone in the MasterDome, it looked like there had been an explosion in mid air, as the ship was invisible to them, but Rikki and Grinder knew better and they headed off to Big Air.
*
Alex opened his eyes, to his surprise, he was alive. He stood up and called out for Fidget. When there was no reply, he found he had to search for her by hand, he figured she was just unconscious. Rummaging through the pieces of metal and such, he found Tempest and Asazi, but no Fidget. He was getting worried that maybe she had been blown off the ship, until he saw an arm sticking out from under several bits of metal and a chair. He began lifting everything off of her, reassuring her that it was okay and she would be all right. He lifted the last piece away from her and saw the blood gusting out of her, and saw that she had been stabbed right under her collarbone, above her left breast. He automatically checked her pulse, and he was relived to know she was still alive.
*
The aircraft trembled vigorously, in view of the fact that Grinder was attempting a helicopter-style take off. "Why is this taking so long?!", Rikki screamed and clutched his seat's armrests. "Chill out, mate" replied the pilot, "I couldn't very well make a quick take off in a parking lot full of cars, could I?" "No, but this is just taking to long" Rikki yelled back. "Don't worry about it, Rik, we'll be there soon."
*
"You said you could take care of yourself", Alex whispered to Fidget before picking her up and holding her against himself with one arm wrapped around her stomach and his hand pressed firmly against her chest, trying to stop the bleeding. Small fires still burned in various places around the room, and Alex felt that the windows would be the best way out. He looked down at Fidget, she was still sporting her parachute, good for her. Unfortunately, Alex had lost his glider pack. And because Fidget was small, her chute was small as well, Alex doubted it could hold both of them. He made his way over to the window frames and carefully leaned outside. The wind howled and whipped his hair back, the ship was still moving. 'Crap' thought Alex, if only Fidget had grabbed a head set from Little Air. 'Okay, think Alex, how are you gonna get out of here? You can't drop with Fidget, you can't drop her by herself. What are you gonna do?' . It all seemed hopeless, it seemed like they were suck. Alex sighed, and then it hit him. 'You drop with Fidget, pull her rip cord, then let go, you'll die, but Fidget wont.'
*
Asazi opened her eyes bit by bit, she sat up and saw Alex hanging out the window. 'Fool' she thought as she stood up and quietly crept over to her next victims.
*
By the time Big Air was in the air, the blimp had long since passed the Master Dome. "What about that explosion! Huh? What if they fell out of the ship, what if we're too late?!" Rikki said. Grinder clenched his hand into a fist, he was fed up with all of Rikki's whining. "Don't you ever shut up Rikki? I got this plane up in the air as fast as I could. Now, will you please just shut up and sit down!?". Ashamed, Rikki did as he was told.
*
"Okay", Alex said as he stepped out onto the ledge, "This is it". He stepped forward and..
*
"FREZE", Asazi shouted to Alex, "Put both your hands up". Alex raised his right arm, and held Fidget in his left. "I said put both your hands up" she said, putting one foot out on the ledge. "You know I'm not gonna do that, Asazi" Alex replied. "Oh yeah" Asazi said, putting her other foot over but it hit the bottom of the frame and she stumbled into Alex.
*
The only going thought Alex's mind was that he was falling, and. he hit the ground, no, it wasn't the ground, it was the ledge, he was still on the ledge. Alex laughed, but soon stopped once he realized he was the only one on the ledge. Asazi clung to his right arm and he held Fidget's Parachute strap in the left. Asazi saw the opportunity and took it, reaching out and digging her fingernails into Alex left hand. He screamed out in pain, the strap slipped though his index finger, then his middle finger, and his ring finger and his pinkie and Fidget was falling. Without thinking, Alex slid off the ledge, propelling himself towards Fidget. Asazi screamed as she too fell, almost parallel with Alex. He got to be a few feet above her, inching towards her zip chord, he grabbed it, pulled it and her body jerked away from him as the chute opened. Alex smiled, closed his eyes and though 'This is the end', before..BAM. What he hit? The ground? Was he dead? Where was he? He weakly opened his eyes, he was still in the sky, on.. Metal? Alex laughed, he had landed on Big Air, or maybe Big Air had caught him, most likely the second one. He found he was too drained to move, but in front of him he could see a flesh colored blob, then some green and, it was Asazi, trying to pull herself up. 'Shit' Alex thought, but then, the blobs were gone, she fell. Alex felt relieved, but also guilty, in a way, he had left her die.
Rising Storm
Chapter One: The End of the Beginning
The two figures carefully stalked down the pitch-black hall. The only thing guiding them to their destination was a faint slit of light, radiating out under a worn and torn steel door. Still a good 200 yards away from the door, the one of the figures stopped dead. "Alex, what's wrong?" The second figure asked anxiously. "Fidge, I want you to leave." Alex replied. "WHAT?" The temperamental red head all but screamed. "Alex, I came this far, I'm not letting you have all the fun." She shifted her weight to her left leg and smiled. "Fidget, this could be very dangerous-" "So? I don't care. Besides, I can help. I'll create a distraction or something." "No, no, no that won't work. If X and the others see you, they'll figure that I'm here as well." "Then you distract them and I'll go shut that darned machine down". "You don't know how" "I can figure it out". Alex thought, long and hard. Silence loomed over the couple for a good ninety seconds, though it was hardly noticed by the persistent young woman. Anticipation flooded her mind and she thought 'Fidge, whacha worried about, he'll say yes. And if he doesn't, well, he can't REALLY make you leave. You've never willingly left Alex, and you not about ta start now!'. It was true, Alex would have to physically remove her from the air-ship if he really her to leave, and since they had limited time, she was pretty sure that she would be sticking around. All this and more had run though the athletes mind as well, but he still felt permitting her to come would be a very stupid thing to do. "No, go back". "But-" "No, just listen to me, okay? If your there, it's just one more thing for me to worry about". Her jaw dropped, "So that's what I am? Just another 'thing'? You know Alex, I can take care of myself, I don't need you to protect me." "Fid-" "NO, I don't even wanna go with you! It'll just be the same as it always is, you'll be the hero and pull me away from 'danger' just as it's getting fun. So I'll just go back to my plane and leave you here." She turned and began walking back to the hanger. "Fidget", Alex spoke, "I might need you to pick me up". "Yeah, well", She replied, putting her hand up like she was going to wave, "Let me know how it turns out".
*
"Tempest!", the voice boomed though the large room, the Council or Doom "Headquarters", although the two members of Doom wondered why Dr. X insisted on calling it that. Being as all three of the Doom members lived on the blimp, there really was no point for there to be any headquarters. Asazi and Tempest called it "the control room", which better suited it, but X still called it the Council or Doom headquarters. "Tempest, is it ready yet?", The obviously annoyed man asked. "Almost!" The young man snapped back. "If you want this thing to work right, you have to give me some time." "We will be over the stadium in ten minutes, it better be ready by then." "It'll be ready in five". "Good" Dr. X turned to the microphone that stuck out of the primary control console. "Asazi, make sure to find our dear friend Mr. Mann, we don't want him to miss this." "Don't worry Dr. X, I'll find him." "Perfect", Dr. X turned back and looked at the machine with admiration. 'A lightening machine, how simple' He thought, 'but the results should be quite deadly'.
*
Fidget stomped up the stairs, pissed as hell. "Stupid Alex" she mumbled, "thinks I'm some little kid". She reached the door and flung it open, making a huge 'bang'. She winched but then figured no one was around to hear it. Little Air was just a few feet away from the 'mouth', which was perfect for her. She had a plan.
*
"It's ready Dr. X" Tempest called out, "Should I started it up?". "Yes, get it ready, we'll be there soon" Dr. X smiled, "Nothing can stop us now!"
*
"Nothing can stop us now!". Alex grinned and pulled his head away from the door. "You shouldn't be so cocky, X" he said. "Poke poke" someone said behind him and Alex felt two sharp pains in his back. "Well, if it isn't Superman. Turn around slow please.". Alex did as he was told, and he found himself face to face with a familiar assassin, and a loaded crossbow in the gut. "Where's Lois Lane?" Asazi asked, walking around him and pulling off his glider pack. "Don't worry about Fidget, she's not here" "Uh huh, so it's just us then? Well, well, well, I think you should come with me" She smiled, removing his gun from its holster, "Got anything else I should know about?" she spoke with a sultry, sarcastic tone. "You wish, Asazi." "You bet I do" she said, jabbing the arrow in to his back, "Come on now, you know the way".
*
The door opened, and Dr. X and Tempest turned to see Alex Mann, hands raised up in the air, and the green clad woman behind him walk though. "Look what I found" Asazi said. "Wonderful, Mr. Mann, I'm so happy you could join us!" "Yah, well, sorry I forgot to RSVP, I lost the phone number" "Hahaha, that's sooo funny, action-jock. X, can I fry him?" Tempest raised his wands, waiting for X's answer. "Of course not Tempest, is that any way to treat a guest? Now, Mr. Mann, please step over this way" "Like I have a choice" Alex said as he was, yet again, jabbed in the back with the arrow, pushing him towards the windows. "See what's down there, the MasterDome, where hundreds of thousands of fans are piled in, waiting for you, Action Man. But you are not going to show up there today, how sad. But look at the dome itself; it is design is so flawed, something as simple as a bolt of lighting would be catastrophic. The antenna that receives the broadcast of an event far away has a cable that connects to the Master-Vision screen, but it also has a cable that runs to the control rooms and the studio, and there is one more cable that runs to another antenna that sends the broadcast out. The wire to the second antenna runs under the bleachers, against the pylons. Which are made of metal, the benches, the floor, the rails, it's all metal." "So?" Alex stated, "The cables are covered". "Oh, but there not" Tempest said, "Nick Masters wanted to get that dome done as quickly and as CHEAPLY as possible." Alex began to get nervous, he had figured that machine to his left was the machine Simon Grey had told him about, but now he had to figure out how to destroy it with Tempest, Asazi and X standing around him. He was starting to wish he hadn't sent Fidget away.
*
Fidget pushed with all her might, until Little Air stood on the very edge of the 'mouth'. "Okay" she said, "Time to rock and roll.". She climbed on to the wing, grabbed her parachute out from the back and started turning on the plane. '"If you distract them, they'll figure I'm here too", yeah, or not'. She thought. "Well, it definitely is a lot easier to start this thing when you're sitting in it". She laughed. She set the autopilot so that Little Air would start landing five seconds after the engine was on. "God, I hope this works" she said as she started up the engine and hopped off the wing as the plane flew out of the ship. She stood up, smiled then darted for the stairs.
*
Alex looked down at the dome; his stomach sank as he saw Big Air sitting in the parking lot, Rikki and Grinder were most likely inside, covering for him. "As always, I expect a 99.9% of life loss, but," X babbled on,"the survivors of the will have proven themselves worthy. Ten seconds after the shock, I will drop a "bomb" into the center of the dome, which will release five thousand trio-bugs that will seek out the survivors and attach themselves, and well, you know what happens then.". Alex turned to face him. "You know something X, your really sick." "No, Mr. Mann, I'm just a man with a dream." "You're not even really a man, you're just a freak in a stolen body!". Dr. X's arm sheathed over in metal armor and he slammed it into Alex's chest, knocking him down to the floor. "If I didn't want you to see all those people die because of you, I'd kill you now!" X screamed, grabbing Alex by his neck and smashing the side his face into the glass. X held Alex's neck so tight; his thumb was crushing his trachea, cutting off his air passage. Alex's neck was stiff, head shaking, eyeballs bulging, mouth open wide. Alex was certain it was the end for him, until Tempest shouted, "Dr. X, we've got company!", and he was released, face against the glass, he slid down to the floor, but he could still see the out the window. He was dizzy, and he vision was a little blurry, but he could still make out a plane, flying right in front of the ship. 'Fidget' he thought. "Shoot it down" X ordered. Tempest did as he was told and it seemed that the second the lightening left the barrel of the gun, Little Air smashed into the ground. It only took the plane a few short seconds to fall out of the sky, and it took less time for Alex to decide X's fate. "You psycho!" Alex screamed, slamming the palm of his hand into the glass. "She never did anything to you!", he shouted, as he pushed himself onto his feet. "She never hurt you! She did nothing! You didn't need to kill her!". He charged Dr. X, grabbing him and pounding him against the lightening machine, his palm pressed so hard on X's chest, he probably could have crushed his rib cage if he had wanted to. "It was totally pointless! She didn't need to die! So why did you do it?! Huh? Why?!" "I---I don't-t know" X stammered. Alex could tell this man was scared, but he didn't care, he was to enraged to care about X right now. "You don't know?! That's no excuse at all!" Alex yelled in X's face, then he began pulverizing this man, the man who had just taken one of his best friends away, and now he was trying to kill off everyone else he knew. Alex wouldn't let it happen.
*
Fidget sprinted down the hall, thinking that perhaps she had made a mistake, and now they had no way off the ship, except the parachute on her back. She reached the door and hesitated to open it. 'I hope I'm not making a mistake' she thought, and rested her ear on the steel door. She could hear someone yelling something, it sounded like Alex, and it sounded like he had problems.
*
Both Tempest and Asazi stood frozen, stunned, even astonished that Alex was capable of doing what he was doing to X. But only Asazi noticed the door slowly creak open and she didn't hesitate to grab the person about to enter.
*
To Alex, there was nothing there, except Dr. X and him. Alex didn't know if he wanted to kill the human being he had at his mercy, but he know he did want to make him suffer. Then suddenly, he heard someone cry, "Ale-", and he snapped back to reality. "Hey, Superman, it's not too late to play hero" Asazi yelled to Alex. He blinked and looked at beaten, bloody, semi-conscious, half-dead man at the end of his arm. Then Alex looked at his own bloodied knuckles and gasped, he turned to Asazi, who was holding Fidget with one arm and holding a knife to her throat with the other. "Well, I admit" Asazi said, "A slit throat is a little crude, but it gets the job done. So, you wanna let go of my boss, or should I actually make her dead?". The second Asazi finished talking, Dr. X was on the floor. "Okay, Asazi, he's on the ground. Now just let Fidget go." He took two steps toward the girls. "No, I think she's fine right here, you take one step closer, and she dies." Asazi said, pressing the knife harder on Fidget's neck. Alex opened his mouth to reply, but before any words could come out, he was lifted up into the air, and brought back down hard. The wind was knocked out of him. He looked up and saw Tempest, he heard some call his name, most likely Fidget, and then he heard a very quiet, labored voice say, "Go on with with the plan". Alex hopped up, just in time to see Tempest about to the carry out the plan. He ran, hit Tempest and knocked him away from the weapon and to the ground. Fidget saw her chance and swung her elbow back into Asazi's face. Asazi yelled out and wiped the blood away from her nose, only for more to pour out. "You little bitch, you broke my nose!" "Hey, I'm sure you can get the good doctor to fix it for you" She smirked. Fidget spun around and ran in the opposite direction of Alex and Tempest, and sure enough, Asazi followed her. Alex and Tempest rolled around on the floor, each getting a few good hits on one another. Eventually Alex managed to get on his feet, and he got Tempest to chase him around for a while. "I swear to God, when I catch you, I'm gonna kill you!" Asazi screamed as she ran after Fidget. "Yeah" Fidget turned her head, "IF you catch me!". When she turned her head back, she saw a chair, right in front of her, and in less than a second, she was on the ground. Before Fidget had time to get up, Asazi grabbed her forearm and pulled Fidget around onto her back. "Caught ya" Asazi grinned and plunged the knife deep into her chest. Fidget opened her mouth to scream, but before any sound could come out, Asazi's hand slapped down over her lips. "Do you really wanna scream, and pull Alex away from saving the day? Get all those people killed? Huh?". Fidget's eyes opened wider with pain, terror or both, until they glazed over and she went limp. Asazi removed her hand from Fidget's face and smiled. "I didn't think so" she said and yanked the knife out of the motionless body. Alex ran into the controls of the machine, Tempest was directly in front of him, screaming and flickering from normal to transparent-blue. He held his wands tight in each hand and rushed at Alex with them extended out before of him. Alex stood his ground until Tempest was no more than four feet from him, Alex dove to the side, Tempest had no time to even think about stopping and he rammed the machine head on, his wands easily penetrating the thin layer of metal covering the hardware. Tempest's energy surged through the machine and the machine's energy surged through Tempest. Tempest screamed in pain, so much that Alex almost felt sorry for the poor soul. But, it wasn't to long before the energy from the machine and from the boy became too much and the weapon exploded. All the windows blew out and Tempest flew across the room and smacked into the wall, as did Alex. Pieces of metal and other debris flew at Asazi, knocking her to the ground and covering her and Fidget. Dr. X had still been against the machine, and when it blew, his life ended.
*
For everyone in the MasterDome, it looked like there had been an explosion in mid air, as the ship was invisible to them, but Rikki and Grinder knew better and they headed off to Big Air.
*
Alex opened his eyes, to his surprise, he was alive. He stood up and called out for Fidget. When there was no reply, he found he had to search for her by hand, he figured she was just unconscious. Rummaging through the pieces of metal and such, he found Tempest and Asazi, but no Fidget. He was getting worried that maybe she had been blown off the ship, until he saw an arm sticking out from under several bits of metal and a chair. He began lifting everything off of her, reassuring her that it was okay and she would be all right. He lifted the last piece away from her and saw the blood gusting out of her, and saw that she had been stabbed right under her collarbone, above her left breast. He automatically checked her pulse, and he was relived to know she was still alive.
*
The aircraft trembled vigorously, in view of the fact that Grinder was attempting a helicopter-style take off. "Why is this taking so long?!", Rikki screamed and clutched his seat's armrests. "Chill out, mate" replied the pilot, "I couldn't very well make a quick take off in a parking lot full of cars, could I?" "No, but this is just taking to long" Rikki yelled back. "Don't worry about it, Rik, we'll be there soon."
*
"You said you could take care of yourself", Alex whispered to Fidget before picking her up and holding her against himself with one arm wrapped around her stomach and his hand pressed firmly against her chest, trying to stop the bleeding. Small fires still burned in various places around the room, and Alex felt that the windows would be the best way out. He looked down at Fidget, she was still sporting her parachute, good for her. Unfortunately, Alex had lost his glider pack. And because Fidget was small, her chute was small as well, Alex doubted it could hold both of them. He made his way over to the window frames and carefully leaned outside. The wind howled and whipped his hair back, the ship was still moving. 'Crap' thought Alex, if only Fidget had grabbed a head set from Little Air. 'Okay, think Alex, how are you gonna get out of here? You can't drop with Fidget, you can't drop her by herself. What are you gonna do?' . It all seemed hopeless, it seemed like they were suck. Alex sighed, and then it hit him. 'You drop with Fidget, pull her rip cord, then let go, you'll die, but Fidget wont.'
*
Asazi opened her eyes bit by bit, she sat up and saw Alex hanging out the window. 'Fool' she thought as she stood up and quietly crept over to her next victims.
*
By the time Big Air was in the air, the blimp had long since passed the Master Dome. "What about that explosion! Huh? What if they fell out of the ship, what if we're too late?!" Rikki said. Grinder clenched his hand into a fist, he was fed up with all of Rikki's whining. "Don't you ever shut up Rikki? I got this plane up in the air as fast as I could. Now, will you please just shut up and sit down!?". Ashamed, Rikki did as he was told.
*
"Okay", Alex said as he stepped out onto the ledge, "This is it". He stepped forward and..
*
"FREZE", Asazi shouted to Alex, "Put both your hands up". Alex raised his right arm, and held Fidget in his left. "I said put both your hands up" she said, putting one foot out on the ledge. "You know I'm not gonna do that, Asazi" Alex replied. "Oh yeah" Asazi said, putting her other foot over but it hit the bottom of the frame and she stumbled into Alex.
*
The only going thought Alex's mind was that he was falling, and. he hit the ground, no, it wasn't the ground, it was the ledge, he was still on the ledge. Alex laughed, but soon stopped once he realized he was the only one on the ledge. Asazi clung to his right arm and he held Fidget's Parachute strap in the left. Asazi saw the opportunity and took it, reaching out and digging her fingernails into Alex left hand. He screamed out in pain, the strap slipped though his index finger, then his middle finger, and his ring finger and his pinkie and Fidget was falling. Without thinking, Alex slid off the ledge, propelling himself towards Fidget. Asazi screamed as she too fell, almost parallel with Alex. He got to be a few feet above her, inching towards her zip chord, he grabbed it, pulled it and her body jerked away from him as the chute opened. Alex smiled, closed his eyes and though 'This is the end', before..BAM. What he hit? The ground? Was he dead? Where was he? He weakly opened his eyes, he was still in the sky, on.. Metal? Alex laughed, he had landed on Big Air, or maybe Big Air had caught him, most likely the second one. He found he was too drained to move, but in front of him he could see a flesh colored blob, then some green and, it was Asazi, trying to pull herself up. 'Shit' Alex thought, but then, the blobs were gone, she fell. Alex felt relieved, but also guilty, in a way, he had left her die.