Chapter Seven: A Brush with the Law

The group ran quickly for the stairwell hoping to make it out before the tunnels started collapsing. Judging by the noise of falling debris that was growing louder by the second they did not have much time left.

The sun must have been completely below the horizon because there was no light indicating the end of the tunnel. The only illumination they had at all was the dim glow of two flashlights which bounced light across the walls as the group ran frantically for the exit.

Linka and Wheeler made it up the stairs first followed a moment later by Courtney and Kyle. The others were close behind when Gi's foot caught on some unseen obstacle, causing her to trip and fall in the near darkness.

Gi cried out in surprise as she hit the ground hard. She had instinctively reached out her arms to brace herself as she fell, causing pain to shoot through her wrists to her elbows when she landed.

Kwame froze when he heard Gi's startled cry. She sounded as if she had been hurt. "Gi! Are you ok?" he called out anxiously, turning back to check on her.

"I'm fine," she answered as Kwame and Ma-ti knelt next to her to help her up. Her ankle hurt a little when she stood on it, but she did not think that it was too serious. "I can make it out of here. Let's go," Gi said resolutely.

"I would feel better if you let me help," Kwame replied, wrapping his arm around Gi's waist without giving her a chance to respond.

Gi did not protest even though normally she would oppose getting any sort of special treatment from her teammates. She figured she did not have time at the moment to determine just how injured she might be. Besides that, the most important thing at this point was getting above ground before the imminent collapse of this underground structure.

Gi wrapped an arm around Kwame's shoulder and allowed him to guide through the corridor. As they were getting close to the exit they were thrown off balance by a sudden powerful tremor which caused a substantial part of the ceiling to collapse on top of the stairwell. Ma-ti used his flashlight to survey the damage and quickly determined the stairs were almost completely blocked.

"How are we going to get out of here now?" Gi asked, her voice shaky.

"I think we should call Captain Planet." Ma-ti replied nervously. There was no time to try to dig through the rubble. "Quickly."

"Are you guys ok down there?" they heard Wheeler yell from the top of the stairs when he realized they were no longer right behind him.

"No, we're trapped, the stairs are blocked," Gi yelled in response.

"Well what are you waiting for? Come on Kwame, it's time for a team beam!"

"Let our powers combine!" Kwame yelled quickly, raising his hand into the air. "Earth!"

"Fire!"

"Wind!"

"Water!"

"Heart!"

"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!" Captain Planet emerged from the ground in a bright flash of light. "Go Planet!" the Planeteers yelled in unison.

Courtney and Kyle just watched, mouths slightly agape. "Holy crap," Kyle said finally.

"And I thought all that stuff on TV was just a bunch of hype…" Courtney said in amazement.

"Oh no, it's quite real," Linka said, slightly amused by their responses. "A little unbelievable, but real."

Captain Planet changed his form to stone so that he could dig through the ground to rescue the stranded Planeteers. "I hate to do all the boring work, but people just take me for granite!" he exclaimed before spinning his body rapidly and drilling into the earth.

Kyle groaned. "Does this guy always make such bad jokes?"

"Always," Wheeler said with a nod.

Captain Planet quickly made his way into the sealed off tunnel. He scooped up Kwame, Gi and Ma-ti at once and brought them back up to the safety of the surface. The three thanked him, grateful to be rescued yet again by their hero.

"What are you kids doing out here in the desert?" Captain Planet asked.

"We were checking out this factory," Wheeler explained. "It belongs to Plunder… or his family or something."

"His family?" Captain Planet asked curiously.

"Well it has not been used in decades. It must have belonged to his father or grandfather," Kwame said.

"Well be careful Planeteers, he's a dangerous man to mess with. It's probably safe to assume the rest of his family could be dangerous as well." Captain Planet replied sagaciously.

"I agree," Linka said. "We should be very careful with this situation. There are a lot of strange things happening."

Captain Planet nodded in agreement. "Well since you kids are safe now, I think I'm going to get some sleep. Digging through all of this bedrock reminded me that it was past my bedtime… Remember, anytime you need me, just give me a ring!" he said with a cheesy grin. "The power is yours!" he yelled before vanishing, the power returning to the Planeteers' rings.

"Well, what do we do now?" Courtney asked after a moment of silence.

"I guess we get out of here, and get Eric to a doctor," Wheeler answered, turning to head for the Geo Cruiser.

As Wheeler looked out toward the road leading away from the factory he noticed flashing blue lights quickly approaching. "Oh, great…" he muttered. Someone must have noticed all the activity happening at the abandoned factory and called the police. He was not looking forward to explaining what they were doing there, or why they had an injured teenager with them.

A moment later several New Mexico state police cars arrived, the officers cautiously getting out of their vehicles and surveying their surroundings. The sun had completely set now and just the faintest traces of light lingered at the horizon. Most of the officers had flashlights in their hands.

One of the officers turned his flashlight so it shone directly into Wheeler's eyes. Wheeler immediately raised his arm to cover his eyes and turned away from the officer. However he reacted a little too quickly for the officer's comfort. "Hands in the air, now! Keep them where I can see them!" The officer ordered sternly.

"That goes for all of you!" another officer added.

Of course the Planeteers and their newfound companions immediately complied. They all realized that they were already in trouble; there was no need to make the situation any worse.

After a few minutes had passed the officers had searched them, confirming that they were unarmed and most likely just teenagers out snooping around the old factory. It was a common occurrence; however this particular group of teenagers had managed to cause more trouble than most. The cave in of a portion of the tunnels had left several large cracks in the ground and caused a few of the already unstable buildings to collapse.

The officer who seemed to be in charge was named Ryan Burke. He was in his late thirties, in good shape and spoke with a clip, military tone. He addressed Courtney and Kyle first.

"You two live around here?" he asked, shifting his gaze between the two of them.

"Y… yes, sir," Courtney answered nervously. "I'm Courtney Adler, this is my brother Kyle."

Officer Burke nodded. "I want you two to go with Officer Ramirez here. He will escort you back to the local police station where your parents can come pick you up."

Reluctantly Courtney and Kyle followed the officer back to his car. They knew they were going to be in trouble for a long time.

"And what about you kids?" Officer Burke asked, turning to the Planeteers. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"We are the Planeteers," Gi explained. "Our goal is to help protect the environment. We believe that there could be toxic chemicals in that facility. We just want to investigate."

Officer Burke narrowed his eyes, giving Gi a suspicious look. "Hmm. Well that sounds fine, ma'am, but this is private property. I would have to contact the owner and get his permission to allow you to stay here."

"Good luck with that…" Wheeler muttered, folding his arms across his chest.

As Wheeler was speaking another officer walked up to Burke and handed him a slip of paper. "This is the owner's name and contact information."

Burke scanned the paper quickly. "You kids stay here while I call the owner." He punched the numbers into his phone as he walked away from the Planeteers.

The Planeteers listened intently, trying to overhear the conversation. The pieces they could make out did not sound too promising. A minute later Burke walked back toward the group, still speaking on his phone.

"Yes sir, Mr. Plunder," Officer Burke said. "Thank you for your time. That is all I needed from you right now. If you need anything else, please call me."

The Planeteers watched as Burke finished his conversation. As he hung up his phone he noticed the group watching him eagerly. "He doesn't want you on his property," Burke explained curtly.

"But we need to investigate what is going on…" Linka argued.

"I'm sorry ma'am," Officer Burke said firmly. "This is private property, we have to abide by the owner's decision. If I catch you kids back here again I'm going to have to arrest you for trespassing. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, we understand," Wheeler said bitterly. "Come on guys, let's get out of here. We need to go check on Eric anyway."

The group followed Wheeler silently back to the GeoCruiser. They saw the flashing red lights of an ambulance approaching quickly. Another officer must have called for one while Burke was trying to contact Plunder. Within moments the paramedics were treating Eric.

"How long ago was he injured?" one of the medics, a slightly overweight middle aged man, asked.

"This morning, maybe around ten or eleven," Gi answered.

"This morning?" the other medic asked, sounding annoyed. She glared at Gi. This medic looked like she was about ten years younger than her partner.

"Why didn't anyone call us earlier?" the man asked irately. "Do you have any idea how serious chemical inhalation can be?"

"I've been taking care of him," Gi replied defensively.

The female medic studied Gi for a moment. "And you have some kind of medical training…?" she asked, her voice harsh.

"Well, no, not exactly…" Gi answered, feeling rather intimidated now.

"No, of course not," the man muttered. "Come on, let's get this kid in the truck."

The Planeteers watched as the medics loaded Eric into the back of the ambulance and sped off into the night, red lights flashing.

"Well, now what?" Gi asked.

"Well we can't stay here, I guess we should go to the hospital and make sure Eric is going to be ok. Then we can head back to Hope Island and see if Gaia has any information that can help us," Wheeler responded.

Gi gave her American teammate a curious look. "You mean you're not going to try to sneak back into the factory to look for more clues?"

Wheeler laughed a little. "You guys really think I'm that stubborn?" The others stared at Wheeler silently, their opinion obvious. "Oh boy," Wheeler continued. "Ok, I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. As much as I hate to admit it, Plunder has the law on his side this time. Us getting arrested won't do anybody any good."

Linka had to smile slightly at Wheeler's response. "It is good to hear you thinking logically for once, Yankee," she teased.

"For once?" Wheeler said, trying to sound like he was highly offended. He turned quickly and pretended to storm away.

The others just followed him back to the GeoCruiser, wondering how he could always manage to joke about every situation.


A/N: Does anyone else have a terrible time writing Captain Planet? Many thanks to mudget for helping me come up with some puns. :) (And also for harassing the crap outta me to get this chapter posted. That's what I get for starting a story during my busy season at work… And also, see look I really posted it this time! :D) And thanks again to everyone who reviewed, sorry this chapter took so long.