Wow! I didn't realise how close I was to the end of this fic until I checked my plan. Only five more chapters to go and only four of them are the real story (I thought I might do a kind of classification thing like I did at the end of the Trio, but telling you about something different about the Trio's lives).
This chapter should be a fun one. I certainly had fun writing it.
Realised I haven't done a disclaimer in a while. I don't own MI9. But do own the Trio, Jessica, the Professor and Alex so keep your mitts off my characters.
Alex paced the line of SKUL agents. He hadn't picked them, and if he had had the choice, he wouldn't have picked them. But a smart SKUL agent was rare these days. Anyone in SKUL with any brains had either been promoted above Alex, or been caught.
Take Jade for example. Alex had never gotten on well with Jade, but they had coped. He disapproved of her; it was on her suggestion that SKUL hired and lost Sally, but he disapproved on her mostly because of her obsession with getting her son to join. Alex had realised early on that Oscar was not going to join SKUL. A reason why he had kidnapped him and locked him up, something that Jade would have been outraged at. But Jade was behind MI9 bars at that point, not in a position to criticize Alex's ways.
But if all went to plan, maybe the Grandmaster would allow Alex a few moments with Jade to persuade her. It would be pretty easy if he could…
Alex was awoken sharply from his daydream by a loud sneeze. He rolled his eyes and turned to glare murderously at the immediately apologetic agent. There goes our element of surprise, Alex thought furiously, if we actually had one with know-it-all Oracle inside.
There was a small thunk as the SKUL agents breaking open the doors managed to remove the rock Lizzie had been using as a barricade that had been wedged firmly between the doors. Easy, Alex grinned nastily, now for the fun.
On his signal, the SKUL agents crept forward as quietly as possible. They entered the main hall and lined up inside as planned. Alex entered last.
There appeared to be no sign of resistance. Alex was momentarily confused. Maybe they weren't expecting us, he thought (almost hopefully) as the first wave of SKUL agents pressed forwards.
Several twangs filled the air and the room was suddenly filled with a green gas substance. The room was instantly filled with shouts, coughs and the sound of someone choking. The rest of the SKUL agents, without thinking or waiting for instructions, rushed forwards. Many of them were tripped up after taking no more than a few steps. One was hit by several pellets filled with something. Everyone was choking in seconds. Alex took a deep breath in order to bellow at the idiots rolling about the place and gagged. The smell was terrible.
'Stink bombs?' he said in bewilderment, 'they're attacking us with stink bombs?'
There was a cry and an agent to Alex's left was knocked sideways as a chunk of the pillar exploded outwards, swinging on invisible strings and smashing into a line of SKUL agents before colliding with the opposite wall. Alex found himself calling for the retreat before he had registered it in his brain. He hated his tongue for betraying him, but could think of no other option.
Beaten, the SKUL agents left the main hall.
'They're retreating,' Carrie mentioned to Oscar from the top of the stairs. The pair had their hands over their noses and was watching the SKUL agents stumbling around in the smoke.
'Good idea, the stink/smoke bombs,' Oscar said, 'that really confused them.'
'They'll be back, won't they,' Carrie muttered.
'Yeah, let's get into position,' Oscar agreed and they moved away from the main hall.
Alex watched the straggler emerge from the castle. He turned and examined the agents sitting around the area outside the castle who had, before the first wave, been eager and filled with stupid excitement. Now they were slumped and coughing, many still couldn't believe what had happened.
Alex strode to the edge and checked the position of his silent team. This consisted of a team of the quietest, most skilled SKUL agents he had with him. They were climbing along the steps his men had created earlier, leading to the lower level. Alex permitted himself a smile. They'll be trapped between the two gangs until they have no alternative but to surrender. The silent team were halfway along the steps, moving as quietly as climbing allowed. Alex turned back to the group still with him.
'Line up for the second assault,' he barked. The SKUL agents groaned and many of them crawled into a line. Alex's temper raised several notches. SKUL agents should not groan and mumble at their commander's order. But he had no time to scold them.
Alex walked the line, relieving some agents who simply could not continue due to injuries. How they could have obtained such injuries from a few stink bombs, trip wires and a moving chunk of wall, he wasn't sure. But one thing was certain; no agent could continue with broken bones or blinded eyes. Alex had a suspicion that many of the injuries were obtained from fellow agents although none of his men said so.
The uninjured SKUL agents watched the badly injured hobble off jealously. They wished they didn't have to go back in.
'Second assault,' Alex commanded, and the SKUL agents moved forward with him. They lined the hall once more and this time took more care when moving through the hall. Occasionally one would trip, one agent triggered a sack of bombs to drop down on top of him, but the agents moved forwards before the smoke and smell could stop them.
Alex signalled for the group to separate. A majority started to ascend the stairs to hunt out where the teenagers were staying. Alex stayed with the minority whose priority was breaking into the lower levels. Alex's smile turned to a frown as something that he been bothering him for a while rose to the front of his mind. The teens clearly knew they were coming, so where were they?
Another problem arose for Alex as his men struggled to break the doors to the basement down. 'No matter,' Alex said to them when they looked round at him fearfully, 'we'll wait and the silent team will let us in. at least they won't let me down.'
The leader of the silent team was reaching for the penultimate rung. They were nearly at the end and with still a couple of metres to go before they could reach the open side of the castle. This was where it started to get more difficult.
The leader reached the last rung and studied the rockface before him. There were simple hand and footholds that he could see, but they were all at least half a metre out of his reach. Glancing down, he spotted a way across. It was a long shot and a bit risky, but it might work.
All his men were already attached by cords in case one fell. Now those ropes would become more important as they scaled the bare rockface. The leader ordered the last man to stay on the final rung no matter what, until he was inside the castle. Then, carefully, he began to descend.
The rock was slippery, the edges were sharp, but the SKUL agents were prepared to scale any rock wall. They had been hand-picked by the Grandmaster, although they hadn't mentioned that to Alex. They were some of the best climbers within SKUL. Their leader prided himself on being the best.
The leader could see the rim of the stonework that marked the opening into the castle. This was it. They were so close.
The leader's hands reached over the stonework and his face rose high enough for him to see into the basement level.
The first thing he saw was his boss's sister standing confidently in front of him, waiting for him. And in her hands was a gun larger than the leader had seen in training or in his five years in SKUL. It had a large bulbous section at the handled end and a mean spiky barrel. Behind him, he could hear his men starting to mutter.
Lizzie pumped the gun and then pointed it in the leader's face. 'Do like my gun?' She asked innocently.
The leader went cross-eyed as he looked down the barrel. He nodded. His men were really complaining now.
Lizzie stuck her head over the side. 'Can you keep the noise down?' she shouted, 'we're trying to come to an arrangement here!' They immediately went quiet. Lizzie returned her attention to the leader. 'So,' she said, 'what are you going to do now?'
The majority of the SKUL agents inside the castle had gone up the stairs. Poor unfortunate souls...
Several hours earlier, five teenagers sat around a table, planning.
'I'll take the basement,' Lizzie announced, pointing to a sketchy "map" on the table.
'I'll stay with you,' Jessica and Oscar volunteered as soon as the last "t" had left Lizzie's lips.
'No,' Lizzie said slowly, 'I want you, Oscar, to be with Carrie on the second floor. Stop SKUL for getting hold of the upper levels. Jessica, I want you and Rose to fend off the SKUL agents from the first floor.'
'Why the first floor?' Jessica whined, 'why Rose?'
Lizzie sighed as Rose glared at Jessica. 'The first floor because if SKUL find their way down the secret passage and into here, that's it. Game over. And Rose, because I have to make the fighting even.'
'What do you mean like that?' Rose asked.
Lizzie groaned. 'There are five of us,' she explained, 'and three floors to cover. Naturally the best fighter should be by themselves and our best fighter is me, not that I'm being boastful. I'm taking the basement floor because then it stops me using the height advantage and dropping a massive rock on Alex's head.
'Then, to make the fighting even, it is clear that the second best fighter should be with the worst and the two middle-y ones should be together. I suppose, judging by what happened earlier this year that Jessica is second best as she was only beaten by me.
'I would put Carrie in the middle, no offence, but that is her role in your team and so I am presuming that she must be pretty good at what she does.
'Which leaves me with Rose and Oscar and I would place Oscar over you, Rose, mainly because I know he has the experience. I don't mean to be rude, but when I think of you, I know you are the brainy one and that automatically makes me think of Max. I make the assumption that you are like Max in fighting ability and we all know that without his time-stopping ability, Max is about as useful as wet spaghetti in a fist fight.'
Rose nodded with this logic, 'Alright.' Jessica was torn with looking pleased that Lizzie considered her a better fighter than the MI9 spies and still being displeased about being paired with Rose.
Now that her sister had stopped verbally complaining, Lizzie assigned them to their different floors. Here, Jessica started complaining again.
'You are on the first floor for Rose's sake,' Lizzie told her, 'if the battle gets too hard on her, she can slip down the secret passage. It will be easier for you. You can have water whenever you need it hidden in that passageway. Carrie and Oscar will have to be careful about the water they use.'
The SKUL agents reaching the first floor stopped at the sound of footsteps. Jessica rounded the corner ahead of them. 'Hello,' she said brightly, 'do you like it?' She raised the gun to eyelevel. 'I've a good shot you know.'
Her first shot took out the leading agent, knocking down men behind him like a couple of dominoes. Her second took out the men behind them; the third was to keep the men on the ground down. After that, Jessica threw the gun to Rose, who tried to hold it like she knew what to do with it, and got to work with her hands.
The SKUL agents who were aiming for the second floor didn't get such a warning. No sooner had a SKUL head come into view then Oscar and Carrie were aiming at it. Their opponents realised early on that the teens were manned with water guns, but Carrie made swift work of them.
Alex was still waiting patiently for his silent team to open the basement doors when a series of thuds above him and a quick round of gunfire warned him to the fact that things might not be going so well above him. Ducking out from under the stairs he watched the previously armed SKUL agent come bouncing down the staircase and roll into the main hall with a long groan. Four teens appeared in each doorway leading to higher levels. They were all armed. On the stairs, most of his men lay, defeated.
'Sir!' one of the SKUL agents cried as they heard bolts moving in the door. Alex grinned, he hadn't been let down. But one thing was puzzling him. Where were all the other teens? Unless…
Just as Alex realised what was about to happen, the doors were thrown open and Lizzie stepped through them.
'Evening, Alex,' she said coolly and fired at them.
The guards ran from the jet of water. Alex started forward when he realised what it was, accompanied by some of his braver, or more foolish, men. Lizzie lifted her little finger on her left hand which had been resting gentle on the bottom of the opening of the barrel. Ice hit the men and now they were running. Sharp shards pieced their leather and they ran from her. Lizzie fired until her targets were out of sight and then, shutting the basement doors first (it pays to be careful), walked through the staircase in front of her.
Oscar's foot stopped on the step above as she walked through.
'Another second and it would have made contact,' he joked.
Alex had stopped in the middle of the hall and was glaring at the teens, totally soaked. 'You wait!' he bellowed, 'I will succeed. More SKUL agents are on their way. When they arrive, we're taking this castle and the formula!'
'Brilliant,' Lizzie said, 'MI9 are on their way too. We can get together, have a little fight and send you scurrying back to the Grandmaster with your tail between your legs.'
'We're not afraid of water pistols,' Alex said confidently.
Lizzie rolled her eyes and pointed her gun at the nearest SKUL agent who flinched but stood his ground. Idiot, she thought as she pulled the trigger. As soon as the water hit him, Lizzie raised her little finger. The water froze.
'Do you think he can breathe?' she asked as she broke her gun away from the jet of frozen water that stretched from her to the guard who had been frozen midway through protecting himself.
There was a gunshot. Lizzie sighed and looked down at the bullet which had come within a metre of hitting her. 'Pathetic,' she said to Alex as he reloaded his gun.
Alex growled and aimed the gun again. Lizzie sighed and pushed at the air in front of her. The bullet rebounded seconds after leaving the gun and hit Alex in the arm. 'Get out of here before I really hurt you,' Lizzie said seriously.
Alex snarled and headed for the door. 'This isn't the end,' he roared, slamming the door behind him.
'Lizzie,' Jessica said as the sound of the slammed door reverberated down the hallway, 'what are we going to do with all the unconscious SKUL agents?'
Lizzie examined the stairs and the guards strewn here there and everywhere. 'Bring them down and dump them in a heap by the door,' she ordered. 'Who has the most water left in their gun?' Carrie did. 'Carrie, I have a special job for you. A team of SKUL agents tried to sneak in via the basement open wall. Go and make sure that they aren't coming back.'
Carrie nodded, pleased not to have to drag a load of smell unconscious SKUL guards down a long flight of steps. She was stopped by Lizzie, who put her head around the banister and said, 'and can you keep a note on how Alex is sulking? I just love listening to his tantrums.'
I should be updating soon as my exams are practically over. :D
