A.N. Hi! ICBN here! What really happened in the sewers after Max and Dylan left? Here it is!
Chapter 2: Countdown
"I think so," I mused. "I can probably do it in about five minutes. I've always wanted to work on one of these." I absentmindedly ran mine fingers along the red, blue, and yellow wires that crisscrossed on the concrete sewer floor.
Angel spoke up, "I think Gazzy should stay. And I'll stay with him, to help. I'm not as good as Iggy, but I can do whatever he tells me to."
Fang was saying, "I'll stay. With three of us, we'll make it work." He turned to look at me, and we met each other's eyes. It was a moment of complete understanding. Fang didn't treat me like his kid brother at that time, more like a man, an equal…
***6 minutes left***
I began to carefully scoot over to the timer. "Angel!" I ordered, suddenly in nine-year-old-boy-saving-the-world-mode. "Take that yellow wire and begin stripping the rubber off. Fang, can you CAREFULLY move this block of explosive so I can get a good angle at the timer?" I began twisting, pulling, and stripping wires, and even bit wires in half with my teeth a few times. Progress was being made.
***5 minutes left***
Angel was busy stripping wires, Fang was slowly pulling tons of wires out of the explosives, and I was examining the interior of the timer box (which is the size of a huge concert speaker). It was so quiet, that even in the darkest hour of my short life, I couldn't resist a little toot. We chuckled, and put more energy into the work. I filled Fang in on our experience with the DGers (A.N. That's the Doomsday Group, by the way).
***4 minutes left***
I happened to glance at the timer's count, and my heart sped up. Four minutes left… Could I do it? We were still working hard, but a song suddenly popped into my head, one that I had heard Nudge sing perfectly in her bedroom at night sometimes. I began to flawlessly mimic Madonna's "Four Minutes"…
"Time is waiting
We only got four minutes to save the world!
No hesitating
Grab a boy, grab a girl-"
"Gazzy!" I heard Angel shout at me, giggling, "This isn't the right place or the right time!"
"Well, dear sister," I retorted, "when will I ever have this opportunity? When will we ever again in our lives have the chance to sing 'Four Minutes' when there's four minutes until a possible huge explosion? Huh?"
She sighed, and to my surprise, both she and Fang sang along…
"Time is waiting
We only got four minutes to save the world!
No hesitating
Grab a boy, grab a girl!"
***3 minutes left***
Though I didn't tell the others, I was freaked out. We really only had 180 seconds. 180 seconds! And I was staring in shock at the advanced circuitry. I bet Einstein would be scratching his head on this one. ARGH! Why couldn't I have learned electrical engineering at my brief time in school instead of stinkin' grammar? I pulled out a green motherboard that had literally fifty or sixty different wires of all kinds running out of it. I kind of wanted to cry in hopelessness, but I had to be brave for Angel. Even though she was probably already reading my mind right now. Great.
***2 minutes left***
"How are you doing, Gazzy?"
I was really close to crying now. I turned to them, shoving the timer away in frustration. "I don't think I can do it."
"Yes you can, Gazzy! Come on, what can we do to help?" Angel shook my shoulders and moved the timer to the center of the floor.
"We believe in you, Gazzy," said Fang. Let me repeat that. Fang SPOKE. And spoke with encouragement. That's reason enough to get anyone extra motivation. I dove back into the wires.
"Fang, pull that wire. Angel, yank that one towards the top. Here, Fang let's unplug that one and replace it with this one…"
***1 minute left***
I looked in my little sister's eyes solemnly. "I've done it. As much as I can, at least."
"Then let's go!" Fang grabbed our arms and yanked us to our feet. We began to sprint down the tunnel. I kept a countdown in my head, 57 seconds, 56 seconds, 55 seconds…
Angel tripped and fell, but yelled, "Keep going! I'm right behind you!" We continued to sprint. We reached the hole that led to the surface.
Fang shoved me up through the top, and I was airborne.
A.N. Couldn't resist a little humor. Of course, if my friends and I really were trapped in a minefield of plastic explosives, we wouldn't be singing "Four Minutes", but hey, this is the Gasman we're talking about. Things are going to get a lot more serious in the next chapter. A lot more serious. R&R please! I like to know that real human beings (or mutant beings) are actually reading this! R&R for one of Dr. Martinez's cookies!
