And here we go, only a little late but not to shabby. I'm on vacation, so if there are some grievous errors I am very sorry!
No Soundtrack, but there's one for the next chapter! (Yes I know I said that last time, but I thought I was going to get to that part and I didn't)
Chapter Six: The Roller Coaster Ride From Hell
"This is a terrible idea, we don't even know if the tracks are safe!" Dick frowned. "Let's just walk them."
"Well how many got out last time Demon?" Jason asked.
"One."
"Good enough for me, let's get this on the move on; I want to get home before the weekend." Jason hopped into one of the mine carts, looking at them expectantly. Dick still didn't look like he approved the mode of transportation.
Tim came around the bend of the tracks, expertly commandeering a pump car to serve as a way to get the carts on a roll. The wheels squeaked and whined but ran fairly well given their age.
"Track ahead looks good enough for me, get in."
Dick frowned as Damian shrugged, then hopped into the cart behind Jason. Seeing he was out numbered, Dick doubled checked to make sure all their carts were still connected before sensitively boarding the last cart. Tim gave a mighty heave pushing down on the pump, and they began to move.
Tim gripped the handles tight, pushing the carts quickly up what almost felt like a hill. Damian and Jason both leaned forward out of their carts to see into the shadows ahead.
"Damian, please sit back." Dick warned, clutching the side of the metal cart.
"Hey, I think I see something ahead!" Jason called.
"If it's not daylight, then I don't want to know!" Dick responded but leaned forward to see over Damian's head.
"Uh…No, it's not daylight." Jason suddenly turned with a wide look, pushing Damian down into his cart. "We're in deep schist."
And then, the carts lurched forward and took a nose dive, the tracks heading down like a roller coaster. Speed picked up as Dick was thrust back into the cart with the wind, the lights scattered about the track giving him only moments of sight. He heard Tim give a gasp and he stopped pushing, choosing instead to cling on for dear life.
They entered a huge mining cavern, the tracks branching in various directions, running on steel supports suspended in midair. The sheer momentum kept them hurdling down, snaking and looping through at a dizzying speed.
"I wish there were seatbelts on this damn thing!" Jason shouted, clinging to the cart with a tight grip.
"You're worried about seatbelts now Todd?" Damian cried incredulously.
The carts hit the bottom of the hill and took a sharp turn to the right, turning them all to a forty-five degree angle. A low ceiling with some sign flew past, and Tim barely managed to duck from his standing position in the rear.
That's when Dick saw the track ahead.
"Tim!"
"I know!" Was the reply and suddenly, Dick jerked from the force of Tim's platform slamming into his. Tim pushing like crazy to gain more speed.
The track ahead was broken, and the fall below had no end. It would be a horrible death.
"Pull the brake! Pull it!" Jason screamed, staring at the track with equal horror. Only Damian seemed to be against the plan, instead turning back.
"Faster, Drake!"
"Damian!" Dick cried in disgust.
"He's right!" Tim called over the sound of the wheels clacking on the rails. "If I pull the brake now we'll never stop in time. If I get us going faster-"
"That's suicide!" Jason replied.
Tim leaned forward, focused, ignoring the cries of the two older males ahead of him. The drop getting closer as they rounded the bend.
And then, they we're airborne, flying off the rails and crashing towards the other side of the tracks. Dick gripped even tighter, the prospect of falling to his death at this height a little too close to home. A slew of indistinctive words came from Jason at the front.
Then, they hit.
Dick opened his eyes in shock as they landed on the tracks once more, Tim still pushing for speed from behind. A small whoop escaping from him as adrenaline pumped.
"Sweet Lord!" Jason exclaimed.
They hit a three way fork, their carts had broken apart during their free fall, and suddenly they separated. Jason went up and to the left, Dick down whilst Damian and Tim headed to the right and up.
"Everybody hold on!" Dick called out, watching as his two youngest brothers shot away in the opposite direction and Jason heading above him.
Dick pulled the lever in front of him thinking is was the break, but instead the back door flew open. Startled the oldest Wayne pulled it shut, pulling the lever next to it instead. The cart began to whirl about, as if he was in the spinning tea cup ride at Disney.
He could hear Jason snickering from above.
Dick's stomach lurched as he managed to get the cart back into control and facing straight once more, spinning coming to a stop.
He looked up to see if Jason was heading in the same direction when he saw the warning signs flashing ahead. Red lights warned of the track ending abruptly, and Dick panicked.
"Jason! You're track ends! Jump!"
"What?" He snapped, looking down as they continued to move quickly, gaining speed.
"Jump into my cart! Now!"
Jason looked down again and then back at his track. The final warning signs beginning to pass, the younger began to hike himself up, placing a boot on the rim.
"You let me fall, so help me-"
"Oh my God, Jason just jump!" Dick snapped. He took one last look down, and then leapt, landing unfortunately right into Dick's frame, knocking them both down to the bottom of the cart. Jason sat up first, looking back at his track and cursed heavily.
His cart slammed into a rock wall, smashing heavily and tilting over the edge. It fell down for good while before the light of the cart disappeared, the sounds of it echoed through the mine. Dick had saved his life. At least he thought before he turned to look ahead.
"Dick, your track ends too!"
"You're joking!"
Jason suddenly spun Dick around beginning to rummage through his bag, unzipping pockets like a mad man as he searched. He pulled out a length of rope, and then from the floor of the cart a spare piece of rusted iron that seemed to have fallen. They were picking up speed.
"What are you doing?" Dick asked as Jason spun him back around and began to hook the rope through their safety clips of their bags.
"Saving your worthless ass."
"Can I help?"
Knotting the rope around the spare metal Jason flung it back onto the track. A wall of solid rock approaching merely yards away from impact. The yellow and red signs growing more frequent as the end of the path came closer. Jason then pulled Dick in like an unwanted hug, checking one last time to make sure their rope secured them together.
"Hold on!"
The iron got stuck underneath the track, pulling the rope taught around them. The sheer force of it lifted Jason and Dick straight out of the cart and backwards on the track. Somehow, Jason landed first with the older man landing hard on his stomach.
The cart slammed into the wall ahead, crashing hard enough to cause several pieces of rubble to fall from the low ceiling. The cart itself crumbled under the sheer force of impact.
Jason groaned, whilst Dick rolled off, sounding equally in pain. The rope still kept them attached by the hooks on their bags.
The sound of two carts came around the bend, and Damian and Tim rolled to an easy stop on a joining track. Both of them looking winded and wide eyed from whatever journey they had gone on.
"Tt, what happened to you?" Damian asked, hopping out of the front cart as Tim stumbled down from his rear platform.
"Ugh, don't ask." Jason grunted as he sat up. Tim raised an eyebrow at the scene, noting the crashed mine cart ahead.
"Cutting it close?" Was all he said before heading over to help them up. They stood in a tangled mess while Tim tried to undo Jason's hastily made knots, Dick rubbing his head from impact.
"Check this out; this could be our way out!" Damian sounded from down the track near their crashed cart. A large crunching came through before he had moved the cart.
"There's a hole in the wall." Dick stated looking at the site.
"He might be right," Tim stated sourly, before heading over to the youngest. Jason and Dick followed in a daze, studying the small hole that seemed to lead to a new room within the mine.
"Rubies," Damian stated, holding a flashlight to the new formed wall. "And Emeralds. The miners never got to the riches, but they certainly came close."
"Feldspar." Tim commented at the other remaining rocks, just as Jason and Dick entered the small circular room.
"Don't forget the diamonds." Jason added impressed, heading over to the opposite side and beginning to pick at the valuable gems. Dick pulled out his own flashlight and aimed it up towards the ceiling only to find there was none. He turned towards Tim, ignoring Damian and Jason's rock collecting.
"Say, aren't crystals normally formed and found in high temperatures provided by…volcanic tubes?" Tim looked up with him, staring in surprise at the long tunnel up.
"This will lead us back up to the surface, right?" Dick asked.
"Yeah." Tim nodded.
"We're not that far from the surface, right?"
"Yeah." Tim agreed.
"When we get back up, I'm buying whole ton of nice stuff. Starting with a mansion to rival Wayne Manor." Jason stated holding up a diamond to inspect it.
"Money is not the only thing that matters Jason, people matter too." Dick commented, still looking up the volcanic tube.
Damian snorted, moving towards where Jason stood as they switched places.
"Not for Todd."
A low creak echoed through the shaft, and all of them froze.
"Did you hear that?" Tim whispered. Damian bent over suddenly, looking at the floor with a horrified expression. He looked back up at them when he ran his hand over the stone.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." Tim looked at Damian. "Muscovite?"
"Muscovite." Damian solemnly nodded.
"What's muscovite?" Jason asked, still frozen against the wall at their dark expressions.
"Well," Tim began. "Muscovite is a very thin type of rock formation. So thin that even the slightest change in weight and pressure could… cause it to shatter. And we're standing on a lot of it."
Jason began to move back towards the door.
"Stop, stop moving Jay." Dick warned as the rock shuddered beneath them. The creaking and groaning continued for a few seconds before finally falling silent.
"Okay, it stopped. As long as we walk back exactly the way we came in, we should be just fine. Start with Damian since he's the furthest out."
Damian took a single step forward, his feet spread apart as if he was walking on ice. Dick and Tim slowly reached their hands out to grab him just in case, ignoring the scowls they got in return. Something shifted behind him, and a diamond fell.
They all sucked in a breath as they watched.
Once that diamond was free, another stumbled. Then another. And then multiple rocks.
Nothing.
"Must be thicker than I thought."Tim breathed a small laugh.
The creaking started up again, and Dick's heart fell in his chest as he saw spider thin cracks begin to form in the floor. He reached out and grabbed Jason by his jacket, then Tim by his sleeve.
"Damian, grab onto one of us."
Damian stretched out his hand reaching for Dick when the weight finally gave; the ten year old abandoned all caution, throwing himself at the others just as the muscovite finally shattered.
All four fell with varying screeches and curses, plunging into the dark chasm below, their flashlights flipping in the air before following them down. The wind pushed against them as they tumbled, whipping harshly through their hair and clothes as the platform they stood on slowly disappeared above.
There you have it! Cliff hanger. Sorry! Don't kill me!
Reviews help vent anger on cliff hangers and help me in improvements :)