Chapter 6: Bangarang!
Kara was very hungry as she knew others must be as well, though no one had said a word. Thanks to Mike's calculator wrist watch, she knew it had been a day since Barry and Eve had returned without a scratch on them, only a little shaken. They told Kara and Mike about the ransom and that in a day something will happen. The anticipation had caused food not to have any priority. Mike had tried to convince them to come up with an escape plan, but Barry was hopeful that the Park's security team would come to their aid sooner or later and decided it was best if they didn't do anything risky. They barely talked anymore after that. Drifting between awakens and sleep, Just waiting.
The door finally opened again, showing their triplet masked jailers. They pointed their rifles at them, forcing them up to their feet and leave the room. They walked in a line down the short corridor that reached the lab. There they met Maxwell Lord's not to happy face, watching the work of another man – Brainy, Kara assumed – who was typing vigorously. He was shorter than Max, with wild white hair and a skin as pale as if it had never seen the sun. He looked more like a ghost. Ghost of a person struck by lightning to be more precise.
"The money has been wired fully. According to my calculations, there shouldn't be any unforeseen loopholes to withdraw it." Brainy stated very fast.
They all clearly heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. "They're here." Lord clapped his hand and motioned to one of his disciples who pushed Barry and Eve to move towards the exit. He then turned his head to the other two cohorts and ordered. "Get them ready."
From somewhere, they had found a shirt with the park's logo on it and forced Mike wearing it. Obviously, it wouldn't look appeasing for them if his wounds were on display. Under the threat of the barrels of the guns, Kara and Mike got tied to the same chairs Barry and Eve had been, facing a camera with their mouths shut by wide tapes.
They couldn't do anything but listen to the sounds and muffled conversation coming from the outside. It was hard to understand what was happening. Most likely the DNA samples had been traded with Barry and Eve's freedom. It didn't take long until Max returned, carrying a big silver suitcase. Brainy came to stand behind the camera and pushed a button that caused a red dot next to the lens to turn on, showing that they were on the air.
"I see we understand each other perfectly now. It wasn't that hard, was it?" Lord spoke brightly to the invisible audience. "And now we can move to the second part with these two unfortunate wanderers who came knocking on my door. I call it fate." He laughed like a psychopath. "Let's make another trade. I want a chopper landed on the west side of the Stegosaurus sanctuary in two hours and I will let this man go right here." He pointed at Mike who was giving him death glares. "And when I get to a safe place, you can come pick her up." He nodded towards Kara.
Kara's heart dropped in apprehension once again. They were going to separate them and she didn't want that at all. She turned her head and met Mike's equally worried eyes. They refused to look away from each other through the rest of the recording and held their gaze on one another.
Alex looked over the beautiful green scenery stretched in every direction with a heavy heart. She had an almost confirmation where Kara was thanks to Winn's skills in infiltrating Maxwell Lord's perfect firewall. He had managed to turn on the lab's computer webcams without Lord noticing.
They hadn't been able to see any of the hostages, however, their conversation had occasionally included their plans for four people. The other unknown two being a man and a woman, Alex just knew they had to be her sister and Mike Matthews. After a heated discussion with director Jones and proving her more than sufficient capability to deal with hostage situations as an FBI agent, Alex was chosen to be the person who would deliver the ransom.
As for formatting the servers and blocking Lord's access, Alex, John, and Lena had convinced Lillian that they should go along with Lord's demands and wait until all the hostages were safe, in order to not to tip him off so early on and risk lives. The older Luthor didn't seem particularly concerned about the lives involved. Now Alex knew whose side of the family Lex had taken to. The money transfer was done with Winn's promise that it could be redone and the DNA samples were all placed in a suitcase and ready for transport.
From her place on the helicopter, Alex couldn't spot any of the hungry dinosaurs lurking around down there. They had lost track of the too. Each dinosaur had a tracker they could locate them with, but with the system down, it wasn't possible.
Alex heard the pilot shouting that they were getting closer to the drop point. She yanked on the straps around her waist, attached to her tactical suit and checked them one last time, before reaching for the big suitcase. The aircraft started lowering and she saw the short building more than 15 yards below. She threw out the rope ladder the moment they started hovering and started slipping down from the rope like a professional SWAT agent. The helicopter stayed where it was, ready for the two promised hostages and Alex to get back on it. She had less than two minutes before the deadline.
"I thought you'd never show up." Alex heard a man shout and saw Maxwell Lord himself standing in the doorway. She raised the hand that wasn't holding the case with and showed it empty to gain his trust.
"Where are the hostages?" She yelled over the still too loud sound of helicopter blades slashing the air.
Lord stepped outside and behind him, Alex saw the two scared scientists in white lab coats. She was relieved to see them unharmed.
"Put down the suitcase and take ten steps back." Lord ordered her.
"Let the hostages come outside first!" Alex demanded.
"You're in no position to bargain with me!" He rejected sternly and Alex gritted her teeth and obeyed begrudgingly because he was right. All she wanted was to put a bullet in his head for keeping her sister and these people hostage, but she couldn't. Not just yet anyway.
One of Lord's masked guards in black outfit walked over and picked up the heavy case. Alex waited and watched impatiently as he trudged back the same way he had come and only when Max had the samples safely in his hold did he nod to his second bodyguard to let the hostages go. The two jogged towards Alex with bowed down heads.
"I'm watching. If you don't leave in less than three minutes, I will order them to shoot the rest of the hostages." Max Lord threatened and shut the heavy door.
Alex prompted Barry and Eve to climb the rope ladder quickly first before starting to climb herself. When the two boarded safely, she ordered the pilot through her radio to move even though she hadn't reached the helicopter yet. The pilot didn't question and flew back towards HQ. The moment they got far enough, Alex disengaged the buckles on her jacket and cut herself loose from the ropes, bracing for a rough landing. There was no way in hell she was going to let her sister and Mike stay in the clutches of that narcissistic maniac.
It didn't take long until the base contacted her. John Jones yelled at her for good measures before telling her about the second video and Lord's plans for Mike and Kara. Her heart dropped. She had to do something. Finding the direction of the north with the help of the sun, Alex headed back towards the building where Maxwell Lord was, careful to avoid all the cameras which she knew Lord's computer guy, Brainy, was watching closely.
Later on, when Alex had to escape some dinosaurs, she realized she hadn't really thought this through, but there was no turning back now.
After the recording, Kara and Mike were thrown back into that storage room. Mike kept pacing back and forth, his eyes glued to the ground, making Kara even more nervous.
"Mike please, can you stop?" Kara finally complained weakly, her head throbbing with a pain she knew was partly result of not eating anything for almost two days.
"I'm sorry." He immediately stopped and came to sit across Kara, crossed legs. "Are you ok?" He asked when he noticed her massaging her temples and put his hands over her knees, brushing with his thumbs.
"Yeah, it's nothing." She shook her head to discard his worry and added dizziness to the pain instead. "Maybe… Maybe someone's coming for us." Her thoughts wandered to her sister Alex not for the first time. If the FBI was handling this, Alex must have heard and knowing her sister, Kara knew she must be flying over there right now if she wasn't already here.
"I'm not going to just sit here and hope the help would come. I tried to wait it out like Barry wanted, but not anymore! We have to do something!" His eyes turned serious again.
"Like what? He has three men with guns!"
"I know, but they seem stupid. We can come up with something to disarm them."
Kara wanted to point out he was still injured and it would be too risky, yet she simply nodded and they both fell silent, deep in their thoughts.
The two hours deadline came to an end much quicker than they had expected. By the time they heard footsteps coming towards the room, both had merely few seconds to get into positions on the two sides of the door according to their plan.
When the door opened, Mike shoved a Nitrogen capsule into the stomach of the first one who entered. He doubled over with a grunt and let go of his gun. The second man got attacked by a pipe Kara had found. Sadly it wasn't as effective or as hard as the capsule Mike had used, but it bought them enough time for Mike to get hold of the fallen gun and pointed it at the still standing man. The only problem was that the second guy had a gun of his own as well.
"Drop it!" Mike shouted.
"You drop it!" He yelled back.
"You can't shoot us! You need us!"
The masked man stared back stupidly. That was when the third guard decided to come and see what was all the noise about and Mike knew he couldn't win this.
"NOW!" He shouted at Kara and she threw a can on the ground, and Mike shot it instantly.
A yellow stinky fog blinded everyone's sight and their eyes started burning.
"UGH! What the hell is this?" one of the men shouted, but no one was feeling up to answer it while coughing.
Mike grabbed onto Kara's hand, while still holding the rifle in his other hand and used the chance and pushed at the bulky disoriented man in the doorway and opened the way for them to escape. They ran with their eyes blurry and short of breath. That Ammonia gas hadn't been the best idea since they were affected by it too.
They found their way to the exit door with racing hearts. Seeing no one else blocking their way and the feeling of a breeze of fresh air touching their faces, made them both smile and quicken their steps. They rushed out of the building and stopped dead when they saw Maxwell Lord and Brainy next to a white mini truck container that hadn't been there before.
"We're leaving Lord!" Mike claimed authoritatively and pointed the rifle at him.
"I knew this would happen." Max shook his head in disappointment and quickly, he snatched a colt out of his coat and aimed at Kara. "First they tamper with the samples and, and then we find them spying on us the whole time. I don't have time for this. She's coming with me, but if you don't drop the gun, I will shoot her."
There was no time to react when the guards caught up to them and one of them grabbed Kara from behind.
"LET ME GO!" Kara squirmed and kicked at the man holding her. She wasn't strong enough and Mike couldn't take on two armed men at the same time. They beat him until he succumbed and took away his gun.
Their plan had failed miserably. They tied their hands behind their backs.
Max Lord looked enraged. "Take him to the back and finish him." He ordered one of his men who was holding a beaten up Mike. "This should tell them who they're dealing with."
"NO!" Kara screamed and when she didn't stop, they shut her up with another piece of gray tape.
She looked at Mike's bruised face unblinking, with tears pooling in her eyes and he stared back. There was no way out of this anymore. Trembling, they watched the other getting farther and farther away helplessly until Mike and his executer disappeared behind the building.
Kara was dragged into the back of the truck against her will with tears streaming down her cheeks and whimpering. Lord and one of the men in black went to take the front seats while Brainy and the rest took the empty space behind the truck.
A loud clear gunshot ringed in the air and Kara sobbed harder against the wide tape covering her mouth and her hands twitched and pulled at the rough restrains on them. It didn't take long before a man reappeared, running towards the truck. But it wasn't the man she had hoped against hope to see. It was the man wearing all black.
He wordlessly jumped into the truck, joining the rest of them and closed both truck doors behind him. The vehicle speeded away immediately, impatient to get them to that promised chopper.
Trapped in her grief and shock, Kara didn't care about what was happening around her anymore. How could this have happened? It was all her fault. She should have stopped Mike, from forming this stupid escape plan when she couldn't even handle a pipe. Kara looked down at her tears dripping and staining the floor one after another.
"HEY! WHAT THE FUCK YOU THINK –"
Kara whipped her head up, just to see Mike's killer, the man who had been sitting across from her this whole time, knocked the other masked man next to her out cold with the hilt of his rifle. He then turned around and winked at Kara. She sucked in a quick breath, blinking repeatedly, completely awestruck. That couldn't be, but she recognized those kind stormy eyes. It was Mike in those clothes! He was alive!
He pulled off the ugly mask, showing his bright smiling face, and gorgeously tousled dark brown hair.
"Bangarang!"
Mike shouted gleefully, his eyes sparkling mischievously, and gave Kara a Megawatt grin. Kara couldn't remember being ever this happy to see someone in her life. He cut her restraints and peeled off the tape from her mouth gently.
"MIKE!" Kara instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and in the heat of the moment and the joy of seeing him back alive, she kissed him sweetly on the corner of the mouth.
Mike froze, his hold growing tighter around her waist to prevent her falling through the bumpy ride. A few seconds later he pulled away with a giggle and a little flustered.
"Are you ok? They didn't hurt you, did they?" He asked then with a concerned expression, regarding her red wet eyes.
"No, I'm- I'm ok. I'm just s- so happy you're not dead." Kara stuttered, blushing profusely. She had almost kissed him on the lips right then.
When Mike made sure Kara was okay, he turned to the only other conscious occupant, Brainy, who had been crouched in a corner like a cat, clutching his laptop to his chest and his eyes filled with fear.
"Give me the laptop!" Mike demanded as he approached Brainy, stretching out a hand.
"No! Lord will kill me!" Brainy held the object tighter, shaking.
Kara had no idea why Mike wanted the laptop and only watched and tried to keep her balance in the constantly shaking truck. Mike grabbed the edges of the laptop and yanked hard, but the pale hacker wasn't letting go of it so easy. When Mike showed him his gun, he squeaked. "Please don't kill me!"
"I'm not going to kill you, but I will get that laptop!" Mike poked Brainy in the ribs unexpectedly hard and he yelped, his hold on his precious device loosening.
"No!" He wailed when Mike took the laptop away, nevertheless didn't defy.
Mike moved back to the truck doors. "We gotta go! Kara, Come here!"
Kara went to him, still completely puzzled. "How're we going to escape? You're not saying we jump out of a 100 miles per hour moving truck, are you!?"
"Not exactly, but I got us another ride!" With that said, Mike kicked the doors open to reveal a Jeep chasing the truck closely. Kara gasped at seeing the driver behind the wheels, with her short auburn hair waving wildly by the wind caught in them and the dark sunglasses reflecting the green leaves that passed by rapidly.
"ALEX!"