Chapter Nine: Escape Route C

Susan and Sarah dashed through the empty transfer tunnels that led to the facility highway; Mongers men had nicknamed it the Monster Motorway. Crowe's soldiers had all evacuated the area to deal with the rampaging Esqargantua, there were empty crates and disused vehicles lying about everywhere, Susan was careful not to step on them, remembering what happened last time.

Matt held onto Sarah's hair as he sat on her shoulder, the passing wind as they ran was trying its best to blow him off. He pulled strands of golden hair round him like a harness; Sarah was too big to feel strands of her hair being yanked as she followed Susan.

"Are you sure it's this way?" Sarah asked her.

"Positive, I went this way when I first tried to escape!" Susan called back. She then took a right to another tunnel and at the other end was an entrance to a familiar road. "There it is, the motorway!"

The girls ran onto the motorway, its wide lanes ran the whole length of the facility, miles and miles through the deep caves. The cave itself was vast, you could put two Butterlyosaurus' on top of one another and still have plenty of headroom.

"Right, the missile silos are a few miles down the motorway, once there we just head straight up!" said Susan.

"What if there are some of Crowe's men still around?" asked Matt, brushing loose strands of Sarah's hair off of him.

"We can run faster than they're vehicles," explained Susan, "The only thing I had to worry about the last time was that giant robot that chased me all the way!"

"Giant robot!" said Sarah, worried.

"Don't worry, Link destroyed it," Susan reassured them, "it's perfectly safe now…"

MONSTERS DETECTED! ANNIHILATE! ANNIHILATE!

The trio looked at the far end of the cavern, coming down a large ramp was an enormous robot the size of their overgrown butterfly friend. Susan went as white as a sheet, it looked exactly the same as the Avenger robot that Monger sent after her, only this one had a Mk2 on the side of its head.

"Scratch that, it isn't perfectly safe, run!" cried Susan.

The girls took off down the road as Matt clung on for dear life, the Avenger Mk2 followed parallel to them down its ramp. It then rolled underneath the motorway and began punching through the surface, its large robot hands trying to grab them.

"It's using the same techniques as before!" called Susan.

"Know any more of its tricks?" asked Susan.

The Avenger Mk2 appeared alongside the motorway again and raised its hands, one glowing red and the other green.

"Yep, JUMP!" shouted Susan.

LASERS CHARGING! FIRING LASERS! The Avenger Mk2 bellowed.

Red and green lasers shot out of its hands, Susan and Sarah jumped over the red laser and then ducked under the green laser, the behemoth bot turned to look at the monsters running down the highway, away from it.

TARGETS LOCKED! MISSILES ARMED! The robot called.

Susan suddenly stopped running, her sneakers skidding on the tarmac and making skid marks. Sarah quickly stopped next to her, "What is it? Why have you stopped?"

"This is our chance to get it off our backs, get ready!" Susan told her, she positioned herself as if she was about to kick a football.

The Avenger Mk2 leaned forward and fired three missiles out of its back, the missiles buzzed through the air at first but then they changed direction and began coming down of the giantess'. Instead of running away, Susan ran straight towards them. Just before impact, Susan jumped up and swung her massive leg at one of the missiles, the hit caused it to fly back again and hit the Avenger.

Sarah quickly followed her lead, she let the second missile get close to her then quickly she jumped aside and grabbed the missile's casing, swinging it round she then released it and the missile collided into the robot.

"Sarah look out!" called Matt, she looked round and saw the last missile coming straight for her, she dived for the ground as the missile shot overhead. It circled back where Susan swung her fist into it and it spun wildly into the robot, the robot took all three missiles to the chest, its midsection now black and broken, sparks fizzing out of the holes.

The Avenger Mk2 stumbled back and forth, the damage clearly affecting it, DAMAGE TO INTERNALS! POWER CELLS AT NINETEEN PERCENT! FALL BACK!

The robot turned and went down another cave, the rumbles of its tracks getting fainter and fainter until it was gone. Susan sighed with relief, Sarah picked herself off the floor and plucked Matt off her shoulder, "Thanks for the save," she smiled.

"Don't mention it, gorgeous," he smiled back, "Can't have that oversized bean tin messing that pretty face of yours."

Sarah brought him to her lips and kissed him, Susan felt awkward watching the two of them, "Erm, if you two have quite finished? We're not done escaping yet!"

Sarah placed her boyfriend back on her shoulder and the trio continued down the highway, keeping an eye out for any of Crowe's goons. The rest of the journey was eerily quiet, the road was clear and there was no sign of troops, tanks, choppers or giant robots.

"This is starting to seem too easy now," said Susan. Then her radio crackled and a voice tried to come through, she picked up her communicator and tried to listen but the words were incomprehensible, "It sounds like Monger but I can't hear what he's saying!"

"Either we're too far away or there are mass metallic alloys around blocking the signal." explained Matt.

"The only metal substance that would be that dense would be the ones used for the missile silos!" said Susan.

"We're almost there," said Sarah, "Look!" she pointed down the road, it was long and straight and at the end was a massive metal door that shined in the dim light.

"The silo doors!" announced Susan, "Once we've get those open we can make our way straight to the surface!"

The trio made their way to the large metal door; it was the size of the Avenger. There was a small space between it and the floor, large enough for the girls to slip their hands under and lift. The door was a lot heavier than it looked, even with the two giantess' the door only inched slowly up.

"It must be magnetically sealed!" said Matt.

"Ugh, we have to keep trying otherwise we're trapped down here!" Susan told him.

"I…can't lift…anymore," grunted Sarah, "It's…too…heavy!" her face was as red as her clothes as she let go of the door and dropped to her knees.

The girls slumped to the floor, they were defeated, there was no other way out and just when they thought it couldn't get any worse:

MONSTERS GINORMICA AND TITANA DETECTED! ADVANCING!

The Avenger Mk2 had reappeared at the other end of the highway and was slowly rolling towards them, its hands glowing green and red, ready to shoot.

Sarah held Matt close to her as she closed her eyes, tears starting to form, "I love you, Matt."

Matt held her cheeks, "I love you too Sarah." He said softly to her.

Susan just stood there, looking down the highway at the robot, her mind was racing with different feelings, some with terror at the approaching machine and others with frustration that they had come this far and were beaten by one metal door.

Her mixture of emotions suddenly kick started something inside her, it was the same feeling inside her that she felt when she was captured by Crowe, only she wasn't feeling half as angry as she had been back then. She felt the feeling build up like there was a volcano in her chest; she raised her shaking hands to her face as she dropped to her knees in pain. The energy wouldn't stop, it just kept building, she closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind.

"S-Susan?" stuttered Sarah, she and Matt were both staring wide eyed at her.

Susan opened her eyes and turned to her sister, "You're…glowing!" said Sarah.

Susan looked at her hands again, they were glowing a bright green, the same glow when she grew at her wedding. The difference was that she wasn't just glowing; she was also emanating a light green mist, "Wha…? What's happening to me?" she cried.

"I don't know," replied Sarah.

TARGET IN RANGE! FIRING LASERS!The Avenger fired its lasers at Susan, she shielded her face as the green and red beams hit her and she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, electrical bolts seeping through the smoke like a lightning storm.

Sarah reached for her communicator and tried to call for help, "Help! Anyone? Can you hear me? It's Susan; she's…she's…"

"Still standing!" Matt cut in, pointing to the clearing smoke.

An outline emerged through the smoky blackness and then the green glow appeared, finally the smoke lifted and there stood Susan, standing in the exact same place and completely unharmed. Susan looked at herself, her body was still glowing but otherwise she was completely fine. She looked back at her sister and Matt; they were both as scared and confused as she was.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked her.

"Yeah, I feel…fine. Brilliant in fact." She said to them.

The rumbling of the Avengers tracks snapped them back to the advancing machine, it drew closer and closer until one of its tracks was almost on top of Susan. Susan still didn't move, she simply raised her arms in front of her, and the result was a surprise.

Susan only intended to slow the advancing machine down so they could escape off the highway but instead the minimal effort in her push sent the giant robot hurtling back down the cave. It crashed into the ceiling, breaking off numerous stalactites and broke into a thousand pieces as it hit the other end of the highway.

There was a brief pause as everyone remained where they were, speechless at what just happened. Susan turned to look at the others; there was no way, even at her size and strength, that she was capable of throwing a 350 foot robot half a mile. "Wha…how…did I just?" she struggled to find her words.

"Yeah, you totally owned that robot," said Matt, "Do you think you can lift the door now?"

"I'll try," said Susan, she placed her hands under the door again and started to lift. The door felt lighter this time, like she wasn't holding anything at all, the magnetic seal still put up a fight and Susan ended up creating a huge bend in the door as she lifted it up. Sarah and Matt stood amazed as Susan hoisted the door up as high as it would go.

"Way to go, Susan!" cheered Sarah.

Susan staggered forward, suddenly she felt exhausted and drained, she began to topple forward but Sarah caught her. Susan looked at her hands, they were no longer glowing or misty, she was her normal self again.

"Ugh, what was all that about?" she said groggily.

"I don't know, we'll figure it out later. Right now we have to use the missile platform to get to the surface, can you stand?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." Said Susan.

Sarah punched a control on the side of the silo and the whole platform began to rise up towards the bright light above, "Let's just hope Butterflyosaurus wasn't delayed otherwise we could be in trouble!" said Matt.