Arriving on the scene, Michael looked up at the building. "So, Sam, what can you tell us now?"
"The woman's being held somewhere in the building, where I don't know. The only thing I do know is this is the entrance." Sam gestured to a rather large set of metal double doors. "That's the only way in. I managed to take some soundings. Te wall is a full five feet tck all around, and reinforced. is is the only possible entry point."
"We'll just have to take care of that, then," Fiona said, popping the trunk.
"So, Michael, how are we getting in to save the girl?" Sam asked.
"Fiona's way," Michael responded, catching the semi-automatic Fiona tossed him, as well as the other weaponry she had for him.
"Great," Sam said, catching the other weaponry. "Guns blazing. That always works so well."
"Oh, don't be such a baby," Fiona said, shouldering the rocket launcher. "It could be fun."
She took aim, and fired. The rocket blasted the doors off their hinges, and they charged in.
As alarms blared, they ran down a corridor and found themselves confronted by a few guards, which they took care of quickly and non-lethaly. As they passed several side passages that didn't go anywhere, they spotted strange markings on the walls, looking like a crimson, twisted S. There were also a few pentagrams drawn in blood.
"Great," Sam commented. "It seems we're dealing with Satanists as well."
Then they came to a series of winding corridors that seemed to twist and turn randomly. After a while, they stopped. "Michael," Fiona spoke up, "This is a maze. We'll never find our way through in time without help."
"We'll keep looking," Michael said fiercely. "I'm not letting Melvin and her brothers down."
"Caw!"
They turned to the sound. A raven was perched on a light bracket preening its feathers. When it saw they were looking at it, it cawed again and flittered to another light bracket down another corridor, and made a beckoning motion with its wings.
Sam blinked. "What's up with the bird?"
Fiona moved to follow. "Timmy said the animals would help, and we've got no better ideas."
Shrugging, Michael followed.
The raven flittered just ahead of them, from bracket to bracket, always staying in sight, plainly leading them. Eventually the came to a room in the center of the labyrinth, where they saw a young woman with black hair and blue eyes chained to a wall, chains at her wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, waist and throat, giving her just enough room to step a little away from the wall.
"Mrs. Logan?" Michael spoke out, as the raven landed on the woman's shoulder and began to preen her hair.
THe woman looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What took you so long?" she said blandly. "Get these chains off me, and get me out of here."
Fiona ran forward and began breaking the chains with carefully aimed bullets. "We'll deal with the manacles later," she said. "For now, we need to get you out of here."
"No problem," Mrs. Logan said. "The collar is trapped, anyway. If you open it without the key, it injects me with lethal poison."
"Who has the key?" Michael asked.
"The one in charge here," she responded. "And call me Rachel. I'm a little surprised Garfield's not here with you."
"I'm afraid your husband was injured when you were abducted, and he hasn't woken up since," Michael informed her.
The raven continued to preen her hair. Looking at it, Rachel nodded. "I see. Who's taking care of my kids?"
"My Mom," Michael said. "We'll get you to them right away."
Taking off, the raven proceeded to lead them out of the maze. As they reached the outside door, the raven suddenly made an about face and landed on Rachel's shoulder, cowering.
"Something tells me it's a trap," Sam said as they walked through the last door.
Using a labyrinth as a security system has its good and bad points. The down side is you and your people need some way of knowing the safe path, which infiltrators can get away from you. The up side, though...if you know where the exit is, more often than not you don't have to go looking for intruders. They'll come right to you.
Michael stared at the force arrayed in his path. Several vehicles were arrayed around with military grade hardware primed and ready. At least 50 heavily armed and well trained troops stood in a semi circle, weapons pointed right at them. Standing behind them was a man in a blood red robe, obviously the one in charge. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and to all intents and purposes, out of luck.
Rachel cursed. "I was afraid of this when I saw the writing on the walls."
"What?" Fiona asked.
"They work for my father."
"I thought they were Satanists," Sam asked, confused.
"Same difference," Rachel mumbled.
"Any last words?" the red robed man boomed out in a hollow voice.
Michael whispered to Fiona. "Whatever hapens next, I'm going to feel really stupid. But it's the only chance we got." Clearing his throat, he yelled three words.
"Get 'em, Bobby!"
Suddenly, one of the cars went flipping through the air over the troops, landing on another car in a fiery explosion. The troops turned their weapons towards where the car had been sitting, and were flattened by a light post that had somehow uprooted itself to be hurled at them.
The head honcho started to do something, but Sam had gotten there as soon as the unexplained events started and delivered a solid right hook. About to do more, he was surprised when a giant teddy bear appeared out of nowhere and sat on the robed man, grinning from ear to ear.
Michael stared, then pointed. "Bobby?" he asked Rachel.
"Mmm-hmm," she nodded.
"I thought he was Melvin's imaginary friend."
"Just because she imagined him, doesn't mean he isn't real," Rachel piped up, laughing to herself.
Michael shook his head. "Strangest rescue mission ever."