Emily and Hanna go in pursuit after they find Paige and Caleb have infiltrated A's secret lair.
A/N: I'm working on the next chapter of "Friday Night, Saturday Morning", but it's going to be a while, so I'm digging through the vaults again and found this, possibly the most ridiculous story I've written. I wrote it ages ago and never finished it, but I've always had vague intentions of writing some more.
Warning for some violence.
Emily was having a quiet night at home when the call came from Hanna.
"Em, they've done it," Hanna was saying, frantically. "They've found it and they've gone in."
"What are you talking about?" asked Emily.
"It's all here," Hanna replied. "The maps, the plans, they have everything."
"Hanna, slow down," said Emily. "What maps? What plans?"
"I'm over at Caleb's," Hanna explained. "I wanted to drop in and surprise him, but he's not here. On his kitchen table there's a map of Rosewood with A's lair marked on it, and there's floor plans and everything. And Caleb's katana is missing. Paige isn't with you, is she?"
"No," replied Emily.
"They've gone in Em," said Hanna. "They've gone in."
"Just a moment," Emily said. She put Hanna on hold and called Paige. No answer. She switched the call back to Hanna.
"I'll be there in four minutes."
Exactly four minutes later Emily's motorbike screeched to a halt in front of Caleb's house, and Hanna jumped on the back.
"Head towards the lake," Hanna shouted as Emily set off. "The entrance is a trap door in the old cabin behind the airstrip."
The two of them were in their ninja uniforms, midnight blue with only their eyes showing. Both had their katanas strapped to their backs.
Emily cut the engine and the lights as they approached the cabin, gliding along the path silently. Her hopes of gaining the element of surprise were short lived, however, as within seconds two throwing stars came out of the darkness at them.
Hanna leapt off the back of the bike and span through the air, landing some distance from the path, katana drawn. Emily ducked under the oncoming missiles and slid the bike into the dirt.
A volley of darts flew at Emily. From her prone position she executed a reverse backflip and the darts passed above her. As she landed she threw two bo-shuriken in the direction of the darts. She heard a dull thud as each hit their target.
"Urgh…" came a voice, then the sound of a body collapsing.
Hanna meanwhile was set upon by four attackers, coming at her from all directions. She charged at one to allow herself the first attack and effortlessly dodged his parry to impale him with her sword. He fell awkwardly, however, pulling her weapon from her grasp.
As his comrades pressed in on her she fended off their blows with her scabbard. She knew this would not last long, though. She let loose a series of kicks to give herself some time, then drew a pair of kusarigama. She swung the chains of her new weapons around her, landing a number of heavy blows on her assailants. Now she could move in for the kill.
Emily was in more open ground, and her katana swung freely. Fountains of blood sprayed over her as her opponents went from five, to four, to three, to two…
Her final enemy stood facing her and snarled. He charged, sword raised, but has he swung to strike her down she vaulted over him, spun in midair and decapitated him on her way down.
"Come on Hanna," Emily called. "We don't have much time."
Hanna grabbed her katana and headed off after Emily.
They stopped at the doorway.
They were inside the cabin now, peering into the back room. It was a simple room, with just an old wooden desk, a run down chair, an old wardrobe, and a life-size statue of a lion. The trap door was clearly visible in the centre of the floor, but the both knew better than to proceed.
Emily threw one of her hira-shuriken at the trap door. As soon as it landed a burst of flame came out of the mouth of the lion, which would have incinerated anyone standing there.
They paused for a moment.
Two darts shot out of a hole in the wardrobe, directly towards them. Hanna and Emily both dropped to the ground, but only just in time to avoid the darts. As they did they heard a whirring noise beneath them and rolled away as a circular blade came out of the floor where they had just lain.
Instinctively they both sprang up and leapt backwards. Sure enough a shower of liquid rained down in front of them. As it hit the floor the wood hissed and a thick gas rose up. It was time to retreat.
They were outside the cabin again before they stopped to talk.
"There must be a way," said Emily.
"Yeah," replied Hanna. "A way to become tomorrow's roast meat."
"This is the only entrance according to the map," insisted Emily.
"Well they must have a hell of a recruiting problem," countered Hanna.
"We need to think," Emily said, looking back towards the cabin. "There has to be a way in, and it has to be fairly simple or it wouldn't be practical for them to use."
As she was speaking Hanna tossed a grenade through the window.
"HANNAAAA!" screamed Emily as they both ran from the cabin and dived into bushes.
The cabin exploded just before they landed, sending them flying an extra few feet to a hard landing. Moments later pieces of charred wood were falling on them.
As they lay prone with half the cabin falling on top of them, Emily gave Hanna a look harsher than any grenade, but Hanna just smiled.
"Blame Spencer," she said. "She's the one who suggested I use hand grenades."
"She didn't suggest…" Emily began, but trailed off once she saw the look of pride on Hanna's face. "Let's just go in."
Paige and Caleb peered over the rock shelf. On the other side of the chasm were two guards, standing very casually at attention.
"So they know about this entrance," Caleb whispered.
"But they obviously don't expect anyone to use it ," Paige replied, in similarly hushed tones, "or they would have more guards."
"Well, it's not on any of the maps," Caleb added. "We're probably the only two people in Rosewood who know about this. Any one else would try to go in via the cabin…"
"And wouldn't last five minutes," concluded Paige.
They paused for a moment, surveying the cave.
"Do you think you can take them out?" asked Caleb.
"No problem," answered Paige.
Paige grabbed her short bow and two arrows. She drew the string back and sent the arrows speeding towards their targets. Both guards were hit in the chest. They instinctively grabbed the protruding part of the arrow, let out a low moan and fell forward, plummeting down the chasm. After some time a splash could be heard, then another.
"OK," said Paige, "now for the hard part…"
She took out another arrow, one with a grappling hook on the front and a thin rope attached to the tail. She loaded the arrow and drew the bow. She scanned the ledge where the guard had been standing and soon spotted a suitable target. There was a crevice in the rock which would be perfect.
The arrow flew across the chasm, rope trailing behind, and lodged in the crevice. Paige tugged on the rope twice, then again a third time, to make sure it had caught, and it held fast. They quickly anchored the rope on their side. They now had a way across the chasm and, more importantly, a way in to A's lair.
Paige clipped her belt on to the rope as a harness, then proceeded to crawl across. Within a minute she was on the other side, with her feet planted firmly on the ground.
Caleb followed suit. When he was half way across, however, there was a loud noise above them. An explosion.
"Hanna!" they both cried under their breath.
Caleb tried to move faster but the earth around them shook and chunks of rock fell down, one snapping the rope just near the ledge. Caleb held on to the rope as he swung down crashing in to the rock wall. He cried in pain as he hit the rock, then again as he bounced and swung back into it, but he was able to keep his grip on the rope.
He was now hanging by one hand, twenty feet beneath the spot where they were minutes before. The ledge where Paige stood was still on the far side of the chasm to him.
There was a commotion behind Paige. She turned to see a group of at least twenty A minions in the passage, running towards her.
"I'll take care of these," she called to Caleb. "You do what you can."
"OK," he called back.
Emily and Hanna peered down the shaft.
"Well, you opened the door but destroyed the ladder," Emily observed.
"Hey, all the traps are gone," Hanna responded.
"And instead we have a fifty foot drop," Emily countered.
"Oh come on, Em, we do this sort of thing every day," Hanna replied.
"True," Emily agreed. "Just wait a minute. They're probably waiting down there for us."
"Which is why I have this," said Hanna, holding up another grenade.
"Don't…"
Hanna dropped the grenade down the shaft.
Paige grabbed her bow and quickly fired off a volley of six arrows which took down the front three ranks of her opponents. Now they were closing in on her, though. She noted the width of the passage. It was two narrow for her katana, so she drew two short swords and stood ready to face her enemies. Only two of her opponents could attack at a time, but it would still be a hard battle.
As they reached her the first two attacked. One swung his sword down on her, which she blocked above her head with one sword. The other stabbed at her, which she parried so that it passed harmlessly by. She then kicked the first attacker away, used her now free sword to stab the second, then swung back to slash the first.
Caleb meanwhile was pulling himself up the rope. He now had two hands to use, and his legs were wrapped around the rope, so he was making good progress. He could see Paige fighting A's minions, and hear the clash of steel on steel. She was holding her own but wouldn't be able to last forever.
When he was just a body length from safety there was another explosion. Closer this time. The walls shook violently. Rocks were falling down on him. He made a final surge to try to reach the top but was knocked back by the stones raining down the rock face. He tried to cling on to the rope but could feel his grip slipping.
Paige had both swords raised above her head, holding off her opponents attacks. She knew what the explosion meant. With all of her energy she threw her attackers back and turned to see Caleb. He had just let go of the rope and was falling. Silently. She knew he was already unconscious. In an instant he disappeared into the darkness of the chasm.
As she looked on helplessly she felt a sharp blow on the back of her head. The world around her turned black.
To be continued…