STORM FURY - PART X

Max Steel was thrown down the basement stairs. He tumbled and hit a concentrate wall with a loud thud. The two guards that were down there aimed their rifles at him, but he did not move. He was unconscious or that's what it appeared to be, but actually he was faking. And with his eyes closed and no discernible cry out after that fall he had convinced Vitriol and his merry minions into leaving the basement. The only serious threat against their plans was unconscious they had no reason to leave guards.

"We don't need to watch them anymore, there's no place they can go, and their savoir is out for the count," Vitriol had said, and the guards retreated upstairs leaving the prisoners alone.

As soon as the basement door had slammed shut Max Steel opened his eyes and sprung into action.

His back ached from the tumble down the stairs, but he ignored the pain and got to his knees and wobbled over to Dr. Sykes daughter and grandson. They were tied with ropes made of straw and fiber, different than what this Swat team was handcuffed with. Vitriol probably thought they were no threat and tied them up with the cheapest thing he could find. He had noticed this before he went to fight Vitriol and had already concocted a plan in motion. He had waited for an opportunity to get his hands on something sharp but small enough for which he could fit in his mouth to bring down to cut the ropes. He had such an object.

He spit out a piece of glass that he had mouthed when Vitriol had kicked him in the head in the dining room upstairs. Blood also spattered from a cut lip. "Ms. Devonshire," Max called her by her married name. He knew this from the records he got from the investigation report Dr. Sykes, her father, told investigators when they interrogated him about his role in the disappearance of Kat at Corinth Memorial Hospital. "I need you to grab this shard of glass and try to cut your ropes with it. Forgive my blood on it."

"Mr. Steel, are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about," he said reassuringly.

Ms. Devonshire inched to the piece of glass on the floor covered in Max's blood. She was a little grossed out by the sight of all that blood on the shard of glass, but tried to put the image out of her mind as she turned her back and felt for it with her hands. She pricked her hands and felt her blood as she grabbed the shard, but was not concerned with it. Wiggling her hands into a suitable position she managed to position the shard of glass to touch the straw rope tying her wrists together and started to inch back and forth in an attempt to cut her bindings. Max watched her progress and coached her on all the way.

"By the way, Ms. Devonshire, sorry about your dining room table," he said. But from the look on her face it seemed to be the last thing she was worried about. "And the wall to your dining room. It's sorta, well, not there anymore." That got her attention and she accidentally cut her finger. "You okay?" She nodded and continued to cut away at the rope. And then about a minute and a half later she was free.

Ms. Devonshire unwrapped the rope and then cut away at her son's taking about a minute. Her hands were covered in blood when she was finished and her son said, "Mommy, you hands. . ."

"I know, Tommy. But don't worry about mommy. I'll be okay." She went over to Max. "Mr. Steel. . ."

"You can't break the device around my hands, Ms. Devonshire," he said. "It must be released by a remote key that only Vitriol has. See if you can free the others." But their locks were similar in design and could not be released. "They must be tamper proof. Any attempt and an alarm will sound."

"What should we do then?" she asked.

Max thought for a moment, and then looked at her son. "Tommy, c'mere for a minute," he said. Tommy went over to him. "Now I need you to do a big favor and you can decline it if you feel you're too scared." Tommy nodded. "I need you to go upstairs where the bad guys are and see if you can find a key that will fit this lock." Referring to the device around his arms. He wished he could just snap it off, but he needed to Turbo up for that and he could not reach his wrist controls. "Can you do this Tommy?"

"You want me to go up there?" Tommy said nervously. "But those men will hurt me."

"You can't ask him to do that, Mr. Steel," Ms. Devonshire said. "I won't put my son in danger."

Max took a breath. "I know it's dangerous Ms. Devonshire, but as soon as whoever it is who's gonna come and collect me to take me to who-knows-where you all quickly become very expendable. And since Tommy is the smallest here I think he can maneuver around the house unnoticed."

"Expendable?" She said with a gasp, finally grasping the concept of the word. "You mean they are going to kill us? But that man with the hard looking face said once this is all over he will let us go?"

"He lied, Ms. Devonshire," Max said. "He does that for a living. And he will have no reservations in killing you or his son when this is all finished. We have an opportunity to prevent that. I understand that this is a scary time for you and your son, but this is the only chance you and my friends over there have."

She looked at her son, and Tommy was shaking his head no. Max could see he was really scared and seriously did not want to do this. "Please Tommy," she said. "Mr. Steel is right. You have to be brave for Mommy and find this remote key that unlocks this device, honey." Then she had a thought and turned to Max to express it. "Once Tommy gets the remote key what are you going to do?"

"Leave it me and I'll get everyone out and back home safe and sound."

All except Johnson.

Tommy looked at his mother and then at Max Steel and then at all the rest, and sighed. "Okay Mr. Steel," the ten-year-old boy said. "My heart is pounding and I'm really scared, but I'll do it!"

Max Steel smiled. "What's your favorite sport, Tommy?" he asked him.

"Baseball."

"Who's your favorite player?"

"Alex Gonzalez from the Tampa Bay Rays. I wanna be a baseball player when I grow up. If I grow up."

"Don't think like that, Tommy. Things are gonna be okay. Tell ya what. After we get outta 'ere and I take care of a few things, how 'bout you and I and your mom and dad go see Alex Gonzalez in Florida? He owes me a favor from a couple years back and I'm sure he'd like to meet his biggest fan. Whadda say?"

Tommy's face lit up and he smiled elated. He looked at his mother and his mother smiled back. She figured that Mr. Steel was lying, but sometimes a little incentive helps. She did not want to lie to him but this was very important and she also had to be brave if they were to come out of this alive. "That's right, Tommy," she said. "We'll all go and see Alex Gonzalez together if you go and get that remote key for Mr. Steel." Tommy nodded, and got to his feet. He went to the stairs and started to climb. "Be careful," she added, and her son nodded with a smile before he reached the top of the stairs and disappeared out the door.

Ms. Devonshire started to cry. "Don't cry, your son will be fine," Max said. "And even if he does get caught they won't kill him. They'll bring him back down here. But let's hope for the best."

Tommy's heart was racing like a horse that had just run a furlong and a half, but he was keeping his cool and managed to sneak by the one guard who was standing beside the basement door as he looked the other way. Tommy hid behind the kitchen wall that intersected with the main hallway. Lucky no one was in here and he could relax for a moment.

The kitchen was a mess. The bad men had made themselves at house and home and completely trashed the place. There were dishes everywhere: in the sink, some smashed on the floor, cabinets opened, frozen food sitting out thawing in open air. Were they expecting his mother to clean all this up after they left? No. They were not. They were not planning to keep them alive. Mr. Steel said they had planned to kill them. So they could make as big a mess as they wanted and it would not matter. He was not going to let that happen. He had to get that remote key and free Mr. Steel so he could take care of them.

He did not like being trapped here as their was only one entrance in and out of the kitchen but seeing all the food out there he suddenly got hungry. The bad men had not fed him since they stormed into the house almost a day ago, so he quickly took some bread and made a peanut butter sandwich. But in the process he dropped a knife on the floor and it made a loud noise. He heard footsteps coming and went to hide. He liked to play hide and seek with his dad and often hid in the bottom cabinets underneath the sink so that's where he went carrying the sandwich in his mouth. He closed the cabinet door a moment before one of the bad men came into the kitchen. He could not see the man, but he could hear him as he entered.

Then another man joined him. "What was that?" one man said to the other.

"Don't know," the other man said. There was a pause before the man spoke again. And he sounded closer this time. There was a scraping just inches beyond the cabinet door and Tommy was scared. "It was nothing," the man said. "Just a knife that fell on the floor. Probably leaning too far off the edge." Then it sounded like he threw it into the sink because Tommy heard a loud clanging sound and metal hitting dish.

"Man, this place is a mess," the other man said.

"Doesn't matter," the second man said. "Once Max Steel gets shipped out to the boss Vitriol's gonna blow this house sky high, he's already planted explosives all around the perimeter. After that I doubt the mess of this kitchen is gonna bother the authorities after all the dead bodies they're gonna find."

"So tell me again why did the boss tell Vitriol to come here and kidnap the Sykes family? I mean coulda been anyone's family and Max Steel or N-Tek woulda come to their rescue, right?"

"Yes and no," the first said. "But the Sykes was specifically targeted because of Dr. Sykes step-son, George Devonshire. The boss had him kidnapped on his way to a company convention in Orlando, Florida. Dread's got him locked up at the base in Arizona. Devonshire specializes in cloning technology I think. That's all I know."

"Oh man, can't wait to see this little humdinger blow! Like seeing fireworks at the Fourth of July again."

The first man agreed, and Tommy heard laughing fading as the two men left the kitchen. He waited a moment until he did not hear them and slowly opened the cabinet door, seeing no one in the kitchen. In the minute he had his sandwich in his mouth it had gotten soggy, but he gobbled it all up and left the kitchen to look for the remote key. But where would the remote key be? With that scary man with the green arms? He looked like he was in charge of the rest, but Tommy had to be absolutely sure this green arm man had it or risk going after it when someone else actually had it.

He slowly ventured the hallway on his way to the living room where he figured the green arm man was. But in order to get to that room he would have to pass the basement door and there was a guard standing there. So how would he get past him? He would have to take him out as his favorite action hero Bruce Willis would say. He was too young to see his movies, but his father had let him see them because he believed if you were exposed to T.V. violence at a young age it will not be so influential at an older age and you will be able to handle it better. Tommy was not sure what that meant, but trusted his father. What he did today too was also for his father who was in the hands of their boss. And he had to save his father. Or Mr. Steel would save him after he found the remote key to unlock his hand device.

But all of sudden he felt an urge to use the bathroom. He had not gone in over twelve hours and all this moving around was making his bladder feel full. So he backed away from the guard who had not seen him and made his way the main floor bathroom that was down another hall and off adjacent to the dining room. And as he passed the dining room he saw the destruction that was caused by what looked to be a fight. He peaked in and saw a large hole where the back wall once stood, and their glass table was smashed. That is where Mr. Steel got the glass that his mother used to cut their ropes. It was from the top of the table.

He left the sight of the destruction of the dining room and entered the bathroom. Here he locked the door and began to urinate. After he urinated he decided not to flush because the bad men would hear him. And even though it was unhygienic and his mother always insisted that he wash his hands after going to the bathroom he did not do that either because the running water would attract unwanted attention.

He had learned to do this from T.V. from all those action dramas his father allowed him to watch. In his mind he thanked his father for all the wisdom he passed down to him. But his father always said he was a smart boy, and smarter than average. His teachers even thought so too and wanted his parents to enroll him in a higher grade, but his father forbid it and wanted his son to enjoy life, to have fun with his friends, and not be stuck homebound with too much homework. He was only ten-years-old after all.

Tommy opened the bathroom door and to his shock and dismay one of the bad men stood in the doorway looking directly at him. He froze in fear and it looked like the man in a red and black uniform with armor was just as surprised to see him too. "Hey kid, what are you doing 'ere?" he demanded to know, his voice muffled, yet somewhat amplified at the same time by the mask he wore. It reminded Tommy of that man who wore the large mask and cape in those sci-fi movies, but without the heavy breathing.

Tommy did not know what to say. His mouth moved but there was no sound was coming out.

He was trapped.

To Be Continued. . .