Chapter 11 - Endgame
The Past-
Dr. Quest stepped out of the Dragonfly onto the tarmac that he'd landed on and wondered how mad Race was about now.
After the argument that they'd had, Dr. Quest had turned back to the code that Peter had given him, and tried a few more things he knew in order to break it. After adjusting IRIS to allow for what he knew, the code was easily broken, and what he saw shocked him.
The code revealed a dozen names. According to the list and what Dr. Quest could cross-reference, they were FBI agents who had penetrated Peter Maximoff's organization. Considering what he knew and what information Jessie had brought from the future, he was pretty sure that Peter wanted these threats eliminated.
And he used me to try and do it.
For some reason that realization burned more than the thought of what Peter wanted to do, but he wasn't about to allow anyone to be killed by his former friend's actions.
After putting forth a few changes of his own to the code, Dr. Quest contacted Peter to let him know that he had decoded the information and that he was willing to meet. Peter seemed all too eager to impart his coordinates, which made things all the more strange.
The coordinates had led him to a strange island nearly five hundred miles off of the coast of Maine. The strange thing was that it wasn't on any maps. Dr. Quest's mind had boggled at the possibilities as he'd circled around it before spotting the tiny lights framing the landing strip at the center of the island.
After landing and securing his craft, Dr. Quest looked around. When he had circled the island above it'd looked huge, but now that he had landed he realized that the island wasn't that much bigger than an average city. The buildings surrounding the runway seemed massive in the near darkness, but one detail he spotted chilled him to the bone.
In what looked like a massive hangar, a group of black helicopters sat silently.
Dr. Quest felt a chill as he remembered future Jessie's chilling description of helicopters taking out the compound. This was getting way too close for comfort.
A new sound distracted him from his discovery. Turning, he saw a pair of headlights cutting through the darkness up the length of the runway. From the sound of the motor he surmised that a jeep was coming his way. Moments later his suspicions were confirmed when a military grade jeep pulled up beside him. In it, he recognized Peter Maximoff, but Dr. Quest had never seen the driver before.
Peter was sitting in the back seat, and beckoned him to get inside the vehicle. "Come, Benton. Let me show you to my humble abode."
Every instinct told him not to do it, to try and keep this transaction on his own terms. He had his own ways of fighting, but Dr. Quest had a purpose to this visit: he wanted to see just how deep this organization went.
Against his best instincts, Dr. Quest climbed into the jeep, keeping his expression as guarded as he could.
"Benton, relax," Peter chided with a smile. "All we're going to do is go back to my place so we can talk, that's all."
Dr. Quest looked at the smiling man and couldn't help but feel like a fly that had just walked into the spider's parlor.
In the prototype Quest Jet II, Race Bannon urged the craft on at top speed, but knew that even with the extra power that they would be arriving at their destination well after Dr. Quest had. Jonny sat in the copilot's seat and looked out the window through the open water. His thoughts were going a mile a minute and none of them were good. Jessie and Hadji sat in the seats behind them and wondered what they would find when they arrived.
Jessie was the first to break the tense silence in the cockpit. "Jonny, are you sure about these coordinates?"
His voice was subdued. "Yeah, Hadj and I heard it straight from one of the hired thugs."
"Well, according to the basic maps, there isn't supposed to be anything out here in the open water for miles," Race chimed in, "but where this case is concerned, I'll believe it when I –see it. I think we have our proof and it's out the window."
Jessie looked out the window as Race banked around, and that was when she saw it. "An island that isn't on any maps? Dad, you're saying they've made this island?"
"At the least, it means that Maximoff's organization has been a busy one," Race commented grimly. "If they have the means to engineer an island, I can only imagine what we'll encounter down there."
"Not to mention the firepower," Hadji added. "We saw the effects in the future."
"We know enough," Jonny declared. "Dad's down there."
Shaking his head, Race set the autopilot on quickly before turning to address all three teens at once. "Ok, listen up: Don't make me regret bringing you three along. I have a call in with Phil, and he has mobilized his I-1 forces along with a few extra surprises, but it's going to be an hour at least before we see any signs of them. Until then, we're on our own."
Jessie looked back out the window at the island below. "We aren't just going to wait on I-1 to get here, are we?"
Race shook his head. "No. We're going in, but I want promises from each of you. One – the three of you will stick close to me. Two – you guys will do what I tell you to do, and three, if something happens to me and Dr. Quest, I want all of you back here and on this plane taking off."
Jessie couldn't believe her ears. "But dad, you can't mean that."
"I mean every word, Ponchita," Race replied earnestly, "All three of you have had simulator training and basic instruction from me, and so I know if it comes down to it, all of you could handle this craft. You, Jonny and Hadji are very inventive and quick on your feet, but this opponent is very dangerous. Along with that, we don't know what kind of trouble Dr. Quest is in."
Jessie sobered at her dad's explanation. For him to be so concerned about what this guy could do- Jessie didn't want to think of the possible outcome. "I promise."
Jessie watched as Race extracted similar yet reluctant promises from both Jonny and Hadji.
Race then turned around and disengaged auto-pilot. "Now that we have that clear, let's go see if Peter Maximoff is home, shall we?"
Dr. Quest watched in fascination as the jeep sped across the darkened runway and onto a dirt road that meandered through numerous groups of trees. What was even more interesting was that they seemed to be going up in elevation. "For a man made island, this is something."
"It wasn't easy," Peter replied, gesturing outside. "I had to play my connections to the hilt. It was all in the name of operation Cocytus of course. All of the dirt, all of the equipment – the FBI provided it all to me. They must have thought I could keep this organization busy and keep them out of trouble."
That wasn't what he had meant, but since the man brought it up, Dr. Quest decided to ask the big question that was on his mind. "Why turn on your own country, Peter?"
Peter chuckled. "Oh please, spare me. Sending me undercover into this operation was to have been my last with the FBI. Seems some of the bigwigs thought all of those years of meritorious service meant nothing to them."
Dr. Quest shook his head. "But to go to this extreme- this is madness."
"Madness?" Peter mocked. "Try eye opening. My own government, the one I swore I would defend, turned its back on me. It is an imperfect system, ripe for someone to take hold of, to shape and mold into the perfect utopia."
He was mad and there was no doubt about that. Dr. Quest grew silent as he saw the outline of a large house loom in front of them in the darkness. The headlights of the jeep did little to allow him to see any of the detail of the house at all.
The driver turned onto a paved driveway, and seconds later came to a stop in front of the front entrance of the house. Peter then turned around and pointed a pistol at Dr. Quest. "Of course you came here willingly and all, but I'm not going to take any chances. Out of the jeep, Benton. Now."
Race managed the landing of the Quest Jet II with the maneuvering thrusters, allowing him to vertically land the craft on the landing strip of the island. After he shut down the engines, he reached under his seat and grabbed for the Taurus .357 that he kept stashed there.
"Hadji, get the scanners going," Race requested. "We need to know what's out there."
"Right away, Race."
Hadji swiveled his seat around to face the sensor panel. After adjusting a few settings, he studied the results on the monitor.
"There are a few buildings around the landing strip, but there is no sign of anyone around. About five miles from here and at a higher elevation is a big house. Whatever is in there is very well protected- the scanners are not able to penetrate the outside of the house."
"Swell," Jonny groused, "we'll be going in blind."
Jessie listened to the exchange idly as she watched the darkness out of the cockpit window. Listening to Hadji read out the scanner readings, an idea began to form in her mind, but for what it would entail – her father would shoot it down in a heartbeat, she was sure of it.
"Jessie?"
Her father's voice shook her out of her train of thought. Looking over at him, she decided to voice her idea. "Dad, I think I know a way we can at least get two people in there. Jonny and I could distract the guards long enough for you and Hadji to get inside."
She saw a look of doubt cross his face before Race protested. "Oh no, we're going in together or not at all."
Hadji tried to interrupt. "Race-"
Race waved him off and said, "We have a better chance of taking this guy heads on since we don't even know how many people are in that house on the hill."
Hadji's voice was more insistent this time. "Race!"
Jessie was going to try and argue her point when she heard a loud noise and looked around, noticing that one of their party was missing from the cockpit. "Where's Jonny?"
Hadji shook his head. "That was what I was trying to tell you two."
Race muttered as he got up quickly. "Damn, I had two hover bikes in the cargo hold."
He rushed out of the cockpit only to return moments later. "Correction, we now only have one hover bike and the cargo hold is open," Race informed. He slammed his hand against the wall of the cockpit in frustration. "We don't have time for this. Hadji, since the hover bikes can only carry two people at a time, I need you to stay behind. Stay in the plane and monitor the communication channels. I was going to check in with Phil's I-1 forces myself when they came into range, but time is short. Can you do this for me?"
Hadji nodded curtly.
"Good," Race replied. Turning to Jessie, he prompted. "Ok, Jessie, we're going."
Peter led Dr. Quest into the house at gunpoint. Lights were ablaze everywhere and Dr. Quest knew in the back of his mind that he should be more concerned about how to get out of this trap, but he couldn't help but to be fascinated how Peter could power such a massive structure on an isolated island.
He felt the barrel of Peter's pistol dig painfully into his back. "As much as I would like to give you a tour Benton, you have something I want. Go down this hallway here until you reach the room at the end of the hall."
Jarred back to the task at hand, Dr. Quest did as he was told, taking the nearby hallway that his host had indicated. It was long, narrow, and lined with lights, but little else. He slowly walked down the hallway, peering at the doorway at the end of the hall. As he got closer, he could see machinery of all shapes and sizes.
Peter prodded him on inside the room, and that was where he truly gaped. Radar stations flanked one side of the room, while on another wall sat various computer systems tuned into different computer sites and camera feeds.
It was one of the camera feeds that had Dr. Quest in a panic. There was Quest Jet II sitting on the runway only a few feet behind the Dragonfly!
Different men were stationed at each monitor, and when Peter came into the room behind him, he called out to his men. "Status report please."
One of the men looking at the monitor of the airfield called out. "Sir, we have seen three people leave that jet. We were waiting for your orders."
Peter chuckled. "I should have known. The family is never far behind, is it Benton?" He then pointed his pistol right at Benton's head. "The Game is over Benton, and you know what? You are about to lose."
Ok, remember when I said this would be the last chapter? My muse wouldn't shut up. The final chapter will be uploaded shortly.