Dirty Tricks

Author: Angela
Summary: Mark's cousin Ashley gets kidnapped by Lord Fear.
Spoilers: 05 - There's No Place Like Home, 12 - Nobody's Hero
Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own Ace Lightning or the characters.

"Marky, Marky, Marky!"

Not what you want to hear first thing on a Saturday morning, Mark Hollander thought as he opened his eyes to see his cousin Ashley bouncing up and down beside his bed.

"Ash! It's too early," he sighed. "Let me sleep."

"I wanna go to the carnival and see Ace Lightning," she said. "I've been good and I haven't told anyone about him."

"That's nice, Ash, but I can't take you to the carnival today. I have to go out tonight," Mark told her as he sat up.

"With your girlfriend?" Ashley teased.

"Yes, with my girlfriend," Mark groaned, seeing no point in denying it. "We're going to the movies and I've already bailed out on her more than enough already." He'd only just gotten back together with Samantha and he didn't want to do anything to ruin it.

"Okay. But can we go tomorrow?" Ashley asked.

"Sure. I'll take you tomorrow afternoon," Mark said. Unless the world needs saving, he added silently.

Ashley seemed satisfied with the compromise. As she walked out the door she turned back and said, "It's not early. It's half past eight."

Mark flopped back onto his pillow. "Who cares?" he told the ceiling. "After saving the world a couple of times I think I deserve to sleep in late."

Mark's plans to sleep in were spoiled by his cell phone ringing. The call was from Ace, who wanted Mark to meet him at the Thunder Tower as soon as possible. Mark got up, got dressed, had breakfast and hurried to the abandoned observatory that served as Ace and Sparx's base. Ace had named it the Thunder Tower after his headquarters in the game.

When Mark walked in he found Ace and Sparx fussing over the Lightning Flash.

"It's not working!" Sparx groaned and stood up.

"What am I supposed to do about it?" Ace asked. "I don't know how to fix it. I don't even know what's wrong with it."

"This is your emergency?" Mark asked, getting annoyed. Sparx's vehicle breaking down didn't constitute an emergency in his books. He was surprised it didn't happen more, actually.

"Mark, we can't fix this stupid thing," Ace said. "Without it Sparx can't fly anywhere."

"And what am I supposed to do about that?" Mark demanded. He'd been envisioning a quiet weekend before Ace's call and he didn't like having it ruined for just a broken Lightning Flash.

"I don't know," Ace shrugged. "Ask her." He pointed at Sparx, who was kneeling down on the other side of the Lightning Flash, out of Mark's sight. She popped up to glare at Ace.

"It's not my fault," she said, and then ducked back down again.

"Look, I can't help with this and I don't want to be called if something does come up because I'm going on a date with Samantha tonight," Mark said. "I've stood her up enough in the past. I don't think she'll ever speak to me again if I do it again tonight."

"No calls, gotcha," Ace said.

"Good," Mark said.

"I can't believe this!" Sparx threw up her hands in disgust, having found the cause of the malfunction.

"What?" Ace asked.

"The battery's flat," she said.

Ace glared at her. "That's it?" he asked. "It took you a half an hour to work that out?"

"You didn't work it out either, genius," she reminded him.

"I didn't even know it had a battery let alone where it was!" Ace retorted.

Mark decided to leave before the fireworks started flying. Literally. Ace and Sparx really were a good team if you could get them to stop arguing but you didn't want to get between them when they were.

That night Mark met Sam at the movies. They were halfway through the movie and Mark was really enjoying it when his cell phone rang again.

"Mark! You're not even supposed to turn that on in here!" Sam snapped, glaring at him disapprovingly.

"I forgot it was on, okay?" Mark defended himself as he answered the call.

"You what?" he asked into the phone. "This had better be really important. Life and death important or I will kill you," he told the person on the other end, then ended the call.

"Look, Samantha, I have to go," he said. "I'm really sorry."

"Yeah. You're always sorry," she muttered.

"Sam - " Mark started, but she didn't let him finish.

"You promise you'll tell me about it one day," she said, beating him to it.

"Yeah," he said, knowing that his usual excuse wouldn't work this time. Sam had heard it far too many times in the past.

"Don't kid yourself, Mark. You're never going to tell me and we can't be friends if you're not going to be honest with me." Sam stood up and marched out of the theatre.

"I hate my life," Mark muttered as he followed her out of the theatre.

"Ace! What was so important that you had to interrupt my date? Sam's probably never gonna talk to me again!" Mark demanded as he strode into the Thunder Tower.

"Ah, well ... " Ace started, then looked at Sparx.

"I'm not going to tell him," she retorted. "You're the one who said that we shouldn't call him."

"What is going on?" Mark yelled, still furious about being called away from his date with Samantha and not in the mood to play guessing games.

"Your cousin's been kidnapped by Lord Fear," Ace said.

"Ashley? When?" Mark asked, forgetting about Sam for the moment. My parents are going to freak if they find out about this, he thought.

"Two hours ago," Ace said.

"Two hours ago!" Mark panicked. "And you didn't call me?!" The thought of his young cousin held prisoner for two hours by Lord Fear and his Evils horrified him. No doubt Ashley would be terrified. They had to get her out as soon as possible.

"You told us not to call you," Ace said defensively.

"I meant that you could only call me for real emergencies," Mark said. "My cousin being kidnapped by Lord Fear is definitely a real emergency."

"I didn't know that," Ace said.

"I suppose Lord Fear has taken her back to the carnival by now," Mark muttered.

"That was probably where they were headed," Ace said. "Sparx and I had to come back here and recharge."

"Let's go rescue her," Mark said, turning towards the door.

"Kid, wait," Ace said. "It's not going to be that simple. Lord Fear has had plenty of time to set up a trap for us. We have to be strategic about this."

"It's your fault he had plenty of time," Mark shot back.

"That's not fair," Sparx protested. "Ace really did try to save her, you know. She's your cousin. You should have been looking out for her."

"I can't watch her twenty-four hours a day," Mark said angrily.

"You don't have to. You humans sleep for twelve hours, don't you? So you only have to watch out for her for twelve hours of the day," Ace said.

Mark threw up his hands. "This is unbelievable," he said. "Why is this all suddenly my fault?"

"Okay, let's not fight about whose fault it was," Ace said. "Let's just rescue Ashley. Someone should stay behind in case the others get trapped."

"Not me," Sparx said.

"Yes, you," Mark said. "I can't do a whole lot of good storming in there on my own if you and Ace get trapped. Actually, I can't do a lot of good storming in there at all. I haven't got any superpowers to kick Lord Fear's butt with so I'll have to go in with either you or Ace."

"I'm going in," Ace said stubbornly. "You can come with me, Mark. If we don't come out for a while you can come in after us, Sparx."

"Fine," she said with her arms crossed, clearly not happy with the decision.

"Let's go save Ashley," Ace said, heading for the door.

When they got to the carnival there were loads of people there. Ace and Mark had to drop down into a secluded area and then sneak around to the Haunted House, which was Lord Fear's lair and no doubt where he was holding Ashley prisoner. Mark followed close behind Ace as he headed through the door and into the darkness.

"I want to go home."

Mark could hear Ashley's voice coming from somewhere ahead of him, but it was completely dark. He could only hope that Ace knew where he was going.

"Ashley?" he called.

"Mark?" she yelled back. "Mark, help me! The monsters got me!"

"I'm coming, Ashley!" Mark yelled, forgetting that he and Ace were supposed to be strategic. He ran towards the voice and felt a flash of pain as his leg slammed into the side of a table.

"Ow!"

"Mark, are you all right?" Ace asked from somewhere behind him.

"I'm fine. Hit my leg, that's all," Mark answered, sitting down in the hope of easing the pain. "Ashley!" he called again.

"Mark, it's dark! I'm scared!" she yelled back. "I want to go home."

"Shut up, you little brat!"

The lights in the Haunted House suddenly came on as Lord Fear stepped out of the shadows. Anvil's big, hulking form was behind him. Ashley was huddled in a corner of the room, terrified.

"Don't call her a little brat!" Mark yelled back. "And let her go. She's just a little girl. Kidnapping her was a dirty trick. She doesn't deserve to be involved in your sick games."

"Yeah." Ace backed up his sidekick. "Let her go."

"Or what?" Lord Fear asked. "If you don't give me the Amulet now, Anvil will crush her."

"No!" Mark yelled.

"You're just a big bully!" Ashley yelled at Lord Fear. "Mark's not going to give you the Amulet!"

"Kid, maybe you'd better," Ace said quietly. He wasn't sure how long it would take Sparx to realize that something had gone wrong and follow them in. One Amulet piece wasn't worth the risk of Ashley's life.

Mark looked at Ashley, then back at Lord Fear. He fingered the Amulet piece hanging around his neck.

"We can always steal it back," Ace reminded him.

"Don't you dare!" Sparx strode into the room, carrying her sword. She shot at Lord Fear with it. The bolt missed him and hit Anvil.

"Mark, get Ashley out!" Ace yelled, coming to Sparx's aid as Anvil launched himself at her. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Mark ran over to Ashley and helped her up. They hurried out of the Haunted House.

"Mark!" a voice called as Mark and Ashley ran out of the Haunted House. Mark turned to see his best friend Chuck Mugel walking towards them. He was eating a vanilla ice-cream.

"Hey, dude, what's going on in there?" he asked. "It sounds like a fight or something. You're limping. Are you okay?"

"Er, I'm fine. They're just testing out special effects or something," Mark said. "But I really wouldn't want to go in there. I mean, it's pretty scary. I'm a little busy now, Chuck. I have to get Ashley home. I'll see you later." He led Ashley into the crowd.

"Can we get an ice-cream?" she asked.

Mark stared at her in amazement. "After being kidnapped by monsters, you're worried about ice-cream?" he asked.

"Ace Lightning and Sparx are superheroes, aren't they?" she asked. "They'll kick the monsters' butts."

"I hope so," Mark said, looking back towards the Haunted House. He wished he could be as sure about that as Ashley.

"So, this is where you got to."

Mark turned to see Samantha standing behind him. She had her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"Hi, Samantha," he said. I'm in big trouble, he thought.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You'd rather be at the carnival than at the movies with me. I can't believe you, Mark."

"That's not it at all!" Mark protested. "My cousin was - " He stopped as he realized that it would sound ridiculous if he said that monsters kidnapped his cousin.

Luckily, Ashley came to his defense. "I was lost. Mark came to find me," she told Sam.

Mark looked down at Ashley in amazement. The little girl wore a sweet, innocent smile. Well, it was kind of the truth. Except that she hadn't been lost. She'd been kidnapped.

"Oh," Sam said. "Sorry, Mark. I guess I was a little rude before. But why didn't you just tell me that? I would have helped you look for her."

"I should've told you," Mark said. He felt bad about lying to Sam but he really didn't have a choice.

"Marky, I want an ice-cream," Ashley pleaded.

"Come on. We'll all go get ice-creams," Sam said. Ashley took her hand and they headed down the midway. Mark followed. Looking up at the sky, he saw Sparx zip by on the Lightning Flash. She waved as she passed. Ace flew after her, giving Mark a thumbs up as he increased his speed to catch up with her.

Mark grinned as he realized that everything had worked out for the best. Ashley was safe and Sam had forgiven him for ditching her yet again. Life as a hero might not be easy, but it wasn't all bad.

THE END