Saving Her: Chapter X
Summary: Carter knows this is a good idea. She really does, because she's going to be saving Rosie, and anything after that just doesn't register. CarterxRosie
Author's Note: Ugh I hate this chapter. XD Hey everybody, sorry for not updating sooner!!! I kind of hit a roadblock with this fic, and it's almost finals time, but I think I'll be on time with my updates now. I'm excited for the next chapter though, it's gonna be interesting! Thanks for sticking with me guys! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Rosalinda/Rosie Gonzalez, Carter Mason, or Princess Protection Program and all affiliated characters and environments. They are the property of Disney in conjunction with Annie DeYoung :]
"Are you sure that this is alright, Ed?"
"Relax Rosie, I promise it's fine."
"But we are 'breaking and entering,' I believe it's called."
"It's not breaking and entering when you have a key."
"But it is still trespassing…"
"Rosie—do you want to save Carter or not?"
"………"
"Okay then, let's go."
Rosie fiddled nervously with the strings on one of Carter's old, beat up hoodies, burying herself deeper in the leftover scent of her best friend while she watched. Ed was busy with the padlock on the double doors of the Lake Munroe High science building, flipping through the several silver keys that hung on the large ring in his hand.
It was about noon the next day, and the two anxious teens had snuck off as soon as they were sure the Majour was gone, headed off to town for the day. The night had been restless for everyone. Rosie hadn't recovered after her nightmare, lying limply with her ear pressed heavily into Carter's pillow, burrowing her nose in the sheets as she cried. The room was too big and too empty without the other girl, and Rosie knew she wouldn't be getting any rest until Carter was safely back in her arms. She sighed.
'If only she had ever been in my arms…'
Ed let out a sound of triumph, effectively snapping her out of her thoughts as the key in his hand turned without resistance, tumblers falling out of place to free the bar on the padlock. It clicked open and the chain slithered through Ed's fingers and to the ground. He grinned at Rosie, snapping the keyring back onto his belt loop as he pulled open the double doors, gesturing her in with a sweep of his hand.
"After you, m'lady."
Rosie shook her head, offering a small smile as she stepped into the building. It was dry and cold, a stark contrast to the muggy humidity of the day outside. She craned her neck forward, peering down the dark hall, only to startle backwards as rows of florescent lighting flooded one by one down the stretch. Her eyes watered.
"Opps, sorry." Ed gave her a sheepish smile. She shook her head, wiping away the sudden water building in her eyes.
"In which room are the cameras?"
"Ah yeah, they should be right down here…" Ed walked forward, mumbling to himself as he led the two of them down a couple corridors and to the right, coming to a stop in front of a big set of doors, the faded and peeling stickers on the windows reading 'A.V.'
The room was dark, and this time Ed left the lights off as he wandered over to a wall littered with small convex monitors. Rosie took her time as the tall boy began tinkering with the large panel of controls, a few of the screens lighting up and giving her a better view of the room. Each wall was lined from floor to ceiling with large black columns, filled with hardware that blinked furiously back at her. The room was cold; to keep the computers from overheating, but it wasn't the temperature that gave Rosie chills. She crossed the room briskly, coming to stand behind the chair where Ed had settled, typing away at a large keyboard.
"Okay." He said as all the screens in front of them flashed to life, crackling with white noise. "So these are all the cameras that are wired to the gym." The first two rows of screens blinked, and several images of both the inside and outside of the gymnasium popped up into focus. Ed tapped a few more keys, mumbling something Rosie couldn't quite hear before the last two rows lit up and he spoke again. "And these are the surrounding areas around the gym. The pool, the hallway, the courtyard…"
Rosie stepped up next to him. "I do not see any people."
Ed nodded, pressing a few more buttons on the controls. "That's because it's showing you real time footage. I should just have to enter the time and…" There was a slightly bigger screen in the center of the wall, and Rosie watched as the green cursor moved when Ed typed in a few commands and pressed enter. Every image jerked and crackled for a few moments, and then Rosie's eyes grew wide as the screens filled with video from homecoming. She smiled wide.
"You did it, Ed!"
He grinned at the praise, and it fell silent as the two teens' eyes flickered in between each monitor, hoping to catch a glimpse of their missing friend. The screen of the courtyard was empty, and then suddenly there was a helicopter touching down on the space, and Rosie's heart jolted painfully as the choppy yet unmistakable image of General Magnus Kane stepped down from the door. Rosie's fingers dug into Ed's shoulder as she steadied herself. His head snapped over to the screen.
"Oh my God…" He breathed, pressing pause. The image jerked to a stop.
"I was right." Rosie's voice was weak, and shook almost as hard as her hands. "I was right…"
Ed stood quickly from the chair, ushering the princess into it as her body gave out from shock. He kept one arm around her as he kneeled next to the chair, jamming his finger into the play button.
Suddenly several screens were filled with the image of Carter. Rosie's weary gaze found her best friend near the entrance to the gym, Kane and his men behind her as he whispered something in her ear. She watched as he gripped her arm, hard, hauling her away as their images drifted off the screen and to another. She watched as Carter was pushed down the hallway outside, her eyes jumping from screen to screen until finally they found the courtyard again. She watched as they stopped just before the door to the big, whirring machine, the blades spinning faster and faster as his men moved forward and clamped a cloth over her mouth. She watched as Carter's body gave out, and she was thrown into the back doors.
She watched.
The helicopter rose back into the air, and the dust settled back onto the ground, and then the image of the courtyard was still once more.
Rosie sat unmoving in the silence, unable to speak either out of wild disbelief or the cotton in her mouth. Her mind buzzed; she couldn't seem to fathom what she had just seen. She couldn't process it, or wrap her mind around it, or understand it. Why did they take her? Didn't they know that wasn't her? Did they think it was? Why would they think that?
Then it hit her.
"You always said to call Mr. Elegante in case of an emergency…"
Elegante. The dresses. He was the only one that knew.
She felt sick.
"He has betrayed me…"
Ed turned to her, brow knit. "Who did?"
Rosie swiveled in the chair, trying and failing to swallow the lump in her throat. "Ricardo Elegante. He is my dressmaker and closest friend back home." Her eyes wandered away wearily; her world spun for a moment as the fatigue seeped into her bones. "Carter contacted him to craft our dresses for the Homecoming dance. He was the only one who knew my whereabouts. He must have deceived Carter's confidence and sold my location to General Kane. I cannot believe…he has betrayed me, Ed."
Ed's heart clenched at the broken look in the princess's eyes. He patted her tightly clasped hands that rest in her lap. "But that doesn't really make sense. Wouldn't he have known that wasn't you by your dress?"
"Carter…" Rosie whispered wearily, a clear 'why' in her tone. "She must have purposely switched them. I should have guessed that she would not have let me go so easily. It is not in her nature."
Ed nodded, a contemplative look on his face. "She was acting kinda weird all week." He chuckled. "She was being way too nice."
Rosie's head fell into her hands, but then her eyes turned hard, and her jaw clenched. "It is of no matter. Elegante has proven to be most disloyal. I will spare him no consequence; he has hurt my Carter and for that I hold no forgiveness." Ed smiled at her admission; Carter was always hers. He rose from the floor then, ducking over to a nearby shelf and grabbing a cylinder of white CDs. He gently wheeled her chair over a bit, inserting a disc into the drive underneath the controls.
"What are you doing?" Rosie asked quietly.
"We need to get this footage over to Carter's dad." He said as the machine began to whirr. "It's more than enough proof for them to get up off their asses and find her."
Ed put the freshly written disc around his finger, smiling.
Tentatively, Rosie smiled back.
"Majour Mason!" "Mr. Mason!"
Joe looked up at the sound of hurried feet pounding down the dock toward him, confused at the harried expression on Rosie and Ed's faces.
"He did take her!" Rosie exclaimed as they came to a stop in front of the man. "General Kane has Carter! He does!"
Mason sighed. "Not again, kids, we went over this already." He shifted the pails in his hands. "Look, I went down to the station today and asked the police to keep an eye out for her. It's the most I can do right now unless you have proof—"
"But we do have proof!" Ed nodded eagerly behind her, waving the CD in the air. The Majour's eyes snapped to the thin square object in the tall boy's large hands, following it.
"What is that, Ed?"
"Just come inside sir, please, and watch it. Rosie was right all along, and we have to hurry."
The Majour hesitated only for a second, before the buckets dropped to the planks with a splash and he ushered the two of them into the house.
The video cut off and fizzed on the screen of Ed's laptop, and the two teens watched anxiously as Mason sunk wearily into his chair, his eyes wide and face pale. He let out a breath, running a hand over his cropped chestnut brown hair.
"My God…Carter what the hell were you thinking…" He mumbled to himself, his head cradled in his hands. Rosie and Ed exchanged a sad look before the princess placed a small hand on his shoulder in comfort.
Joe looked up, and Rosie's heart clenched at just how lost the Majour looked. "I am sorry, Majour Mason."
He shook his head, patting her hand in between each of his own before standing up.
"It's not your fault, Rosie." He sighed. "She's always so reckless…" And then the fire took over in his eyes, and Rosie could literally see him switch into work mode. "We need to get that disc to headquarters right now. Ed, guard it with your life, do you understand me?"
Ed nodded, standing up. "Yes, sir."
"Maybe you should stay here. Things could get dangerous and I can't have you getting hurt."
"With all due respect Mr. Mason, there's no way in hell I'm going to just sit here while Carter's in danger." Ed was determined. "She's my best friend sir, and I want to help."
Joe looked him straight in the eye, before nodding, an almost proud smile on his face. "Go home, pack a few things; let your parents know you're staying here for a few days. Come back within the hour, you hear?"
The tall boy nodded, gathering his laptop and all but running out the door.
"Majour Mason."
Joe turned around to face the small princess, surprised at the fiery look of anger in her eyes.
"I am coming as well. Carter is willing to give her life to protect me, and I will do the same. I refuse to sit on the sidelines and watch her get hurt on my behalf."
It was quiet for a moment as Mason read the emotions radiating from the other girl's hard features. Something inside his mind clicked as he noticed the small amount of softness swirling in her russet brown eyes. Love. He smiled, mentally shaking his head. He should have known.
"Go get ready, pal. We're leaving in an hour."
Rosie broke out into a smile then, nodding as she rushed up the stairs with none of the grace of a princess and all the passion of a young woman in love.
The smile slipped as Mason's stomach churned. His little girl was in danger.
'Just hang on Carter. I'm coming.'
Rosie's hand was covering her eyes; she couldn't bare to watch it a third time as the large flat panel in the conference room displayed the tail end of the fuzzy video for the Director and her assistant. She peered through a crack in her fingers, sighing with great relief when the screen blinked into black.
The Director's eyes were serious as she stared into the blank screen for a few tense moments. Mason and the two pensive teenagers sat with baited breath, awaiting her response.
Without a word the curly haired Russian leaned over and pressed a button on the intercom embedded in the desk. "Agent, please come inside for a moment."
The sleek silver door to the room opened with a quiet whoosh, and a tall Asian man gave her his respect. "Director?"
"Please 'alert intel to surveillance on Costa Luna; we 'ave a 'ostage situation. Any abnormalities are to be reported to me at vonce, clear?"
"Yes ma'am." The agent immediately fled the room, and the Director looked back at her apprehensive guests.
"Now, 'ow did you come across thees tape?"
Mason clapped Ed on the shoulder. "It was Ed's idea. He thought to check the security footage from the school."
"That is good, very good." The Director hummed, a contemplative smile pulling at her thin lips. She squinted at him.
"Edvard, is it?"
"Um, Edwin, actually…"
"Ah yes, Edvin, vat a lovely name." She leaned into her forearms. "'ave you ever considered a career with the agency, Edvin?" She turned to her assistant. "'E vould be good with us, I think."
Ed ducked his head as her assistant nodded, scribbling down a note about him on the clipboard tucked into her arm.
"Ma'am, please…"
"Yes!" She clapped her hands together once. "Majour, I assume you vill be taking this assignment."
"Yes ma'am."
"This is a low intensity mission. Take a shufti vile you are out there, but do not, I repeat, do not take offensive action unless in defense against attack or ambush. Anderstand, Majour?"
"Understood ma'am."
The Director peered at the two teens beside Mason.
"Now, Princess Rosalinda, I can place you ander another agent vile the Majour is away—"
"No."
One finely trimmed brow rose on the Director's thin face. "No?"
Rosie shook her head, that same, determined and fiery look entering her eyes. "I mean no disrespect, Director, however Carter Mason is in danger because of me, and I will be there to take her out of it."
"Princess, your safety is of utmost importance. You do not possess the skills—"
"I have weapons training. My father thought it important to possess combatant skills. A princess cannot be helpless in the world today."
The Director's mouth quirked in an impressed smile. "Very good. Well eet iz settled then. Majour, 'ave your teem assembled and ready at 0400 hours. Clear?"
Mason nodded. "Yes ma'am."
She turned then, flicking her hand. "Dismissed."
Author's Note: I may post Carter's Interlude next, not quite sure yet. Anyhoo, feedback is always appreciated! :]