WILDWING
None of us had left the station that night and Xena refused to leave. I had woken up on one of the benches to find Mallory already awake and staring out the window at the rising sun. I stepped around Grin who was asleep in his lotus position (Xena using his theigh as a pillow as she lay on the floor) to stand behind her.
"You ok?" I asked.
I waited a few seconds for an answer, she never responded. I tried again. "What happened to you?" Only then did she turn slowly and stare up at me. "Duke told me what you'd said to him outside the mall."
She let out a puff of air. "That's the last time I say something like that to Duke," she growled and we both turned as Kleghorn barged out of his office.
"We got the warrant!" he barked.
My heart lept as I turned around and shouted, "everyone up! We're going to get Drake!" Everyone was on there feet in a flash and running out to the Migrator.
DRAKE
I made my prisoner lead me out of the lab I'd been kept in and through rather large section containing many labs which were fortunately mostly empty at this hour. We walked the silent halls until we reached the first security checkpoint.
Keeping a tight hold of my prisoner, I glared over his shoulder at the people in the office through the plexiglas door with bars.
"OPEN THE DOOR OR HE'S DEAD BEFORE HE HITS THE FLOOR!" I shouted.
"IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN KID!" one beefy security guard said through the mike.
"YOU GUYS KIDNAPPED ME ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE. SO DON'T YOU FRIGGIN SCREW WITH ME!" I snarled back at him, tightening my hold on the frightened scientist.
"Open the door! For God's sake! Open the damn door!" the injured man nearly sobbed in pain and fear.
The two guards gave each other a significant stare then the first one that had spoken to him nodded and reached for something near the window I was staring through. A buzzing sound announced the door had been opened.
Wincing in pain the scientist opened the door with his bad arm. As we walked through the open door, a couple more guards in black fatigues came out of the back office carrying Tonfa Batons.
"GET BACK! GET BACK!" I warned pushing the doc forward. The men fell back but watched me tensely.
"Just take it easy kid," one murmured softly.
"THEN GET BACK! OR I'LL PUMP HIM FULL OF THIS!" I shouted. "DROP THEM!" I demanded. Reluctantly, they did, the batons hitting the floor with a clatter.
"BACK IN THE OFFICE...ALL OF YOU!" I ordered. They marched back into the office then turned to eye me watchfully. "FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR! NOT YOU!" I barked as most did as I demanded except the smallest man I'd warn to stay standing.
"GET OVER HERE! THE REST OF YOU CROSS YOUR LEGS! HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEADS!" I continued my orders as the small man waited. When everyone was safely controlled on the floor, I told the small man to, "GET OVER HERE!" He scurried to my side.
"UNLOCK THE OTHER DOOR!" I told him, jabbing my head at another locked door as I kept my eyes on the men on the ground.
He did as told. I turned my prisoner around and backing up pulled him toward the newly unlocked door and paused. "PICK UP THAT BATON!" I nodding to a nearby baton and the smaller guard went and picked it up and stared at me, waiting.
I opened the door and gave it a quick glance. "GET IN THERE! SMASH THE RADIO!" I ordered him and watched as he stepped carefully pass me to quickly destroy the radio equipment...sparks began to fly.
"GOOD! NOW ASSUME THE POSITION!" The man moved to lay next to his friends and did as commanded. At a sound behind me I swiftly kicked another guard coming up behind me hard in the chest and he fell back on to the hard floor to lay still, groaning and breathing hard.
My prisoner felt I was distracted enough for him to make a break but I showed him I wasn't that easily distracted and pushed the plunger in, sending all of the needles contents into him. He started to scream in pain. I shoved him back into the room as I leaned down and swept up one of the batons, stepped through the door, and closed it to slow their rush for me.
'Hope the guy likes water,' I said to myself as I heard my former prisoner screamed for assistance from the guards. Meanwhile, I tore down the hall gripping one baton in my hand by the handdle the blade running slong my arm.
At a corner, I skidded to a halt and peered around it and saw two guards running toward me from the other end. I ran down to meet them halfway.
The first one I met took a swing at my head. Ducking under it, I cut to the side, grabbed his shoulder and drove my knee into his gut. He doubled up then reared back as I brought my elbow up driving the baton blade up under his chin blood coming out of his mouth as I drove my elbow and the tip of the baton blade downward between his neck and shoulder feeling his collarbone shatter.
I turned facing the last man, throwing my baton, nailing him square in the face. He fell back holding his nose then charged me, swinging wildly with his baton. Sidestepping him, I grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm then elbowed him between his shoulder blades. As he fell to one knee, I twisted him around and head butted him.
As he fell, nose spewing blood, I darted away. Rounding another corner, I whipped the keys from my hip as another pair of doors came into sight, the sound of booted feet pounding behind me.
I skidded to a stop and fumbled with the keys. I found the right one just as the guards rounded the far corner. In a flash, I was through and just as I locked it behind me they slammed into it. I darted for the next set of bar doors and found the key quicker this time, threw it open just as the door behind me began to open.
I was through my door and slamming it closed and locked it, reaching through the bars to break the key off in it before they slammed into it arms reaching through the bars for me. 'How are you going to open it with a broken key in it,' I thought in amusement as I continued around the next corner, hearing their cries of frustration behind me.
This hallway had an elevator, much to my relief. I hurried over and pressed the button, keeping my ears open for anymore guards. The lighted numbers began to rise toward my floor when they froze suddenly. I cursed, "damn, why can't anything be easy." I made a beeline for the stairs at the end of the hall.
WILDWING
We pulled up to the gates in the Migrator with Kelgorn's Nissan, a couple of cop sedans, and a SWAT van arriving just after us. We waited for Kelghorn then walked as a group toward the guard house next to the gate.
"We have a warrant to search these premises! Open the gates and let us through," Kelghorn announced to the guards.
One of them eyed Kelghorn uneasily. "I'm sorry sir, but you're going to have to wait a moment while I..." he began to say.
I raised my com to my mouth and muttered, "assault mode," into it.
Behind us, I heard the Migrator shift into Assault Mode, the guards eyes went wide with shock and surprise.
"Now!" I growled as our battle armor appeared on our bodies.
DRAKE
I practically flew down those stairs, freezing on the last landing upon seeing them waiting for me below. As they charged up, I leapt in the air, kicking one in the face and sending him smashing into the others making them all fall backwards down the stairs. Wasting no time, I scrambled down the stairs and over the groaning heap of men, plowing through the door they'd come in and skidding to a sudden halt when more men were there waiting for me.
One of them, a man with greased back hair raised a rifle up and said, "where do you think you're going?" then fired at me.
I twisted with the impact of the dart as it pierced into my shoulder. 'Help me!' I barked in my mind.
I suddenly felt a new strength flow into me and I climbed to my feet and wrenched out the dart dropping it to the floor looking at them as they stared at me in shock and fear. Slowly I took a step forward then twisted as the man fired another dart into me. After wrenching it out I took another step and was shot again but kept going and was shot with a forth dart and I fell to one knee as my world started to go black.
GRIN
We burst through the door and there in the lobby was Drake, dressed only in a tight pair of shorts, charging a line of men with weapons raised and pointed at him. One was the man we'd met yesterday with a rifle raised and pointed at Drake, a smile of triumph on it.
Roaring in fury as I saw Drake begin to fall, I charged them while hearing Wildwing bark at Xena to stay back.
As I plowed into them. "You have seriously messed with my inner peace and tranquility!" I shouted, throwing some of them through the lobby window.
MALLORY
While the others charged the men, I went for grease head, tackling him full in the chest. Now on top of him, I plowed my fist into his face again and again. I paused, pulled him up by his tie and stared at him a second as he opened his now swollen eyes then hitting him again.
I slowly climbed to my feet and spinning jumped up and kicked one of the guards coming at me from behind.
DUKE
With my Ducksaber, I cut some of the men's weapons in half then spinning, kicked them in the faces. With them dropping, I charged the next group, saber raised high and kicked one coming at him from behind.
Dive came in low to the ground then twisted around me, firing his puck launchers close to my side.
"You think we've had enough payback?" I asked.
"Not even close," he muttered.
WILDWING
While every one fought, I charged down the middle, knocking a few aside in my drive to reach Drake who faltered and started to fall.
I caught him in my arms before he hit the ground. "Wildwing," he murmured as he passed out under the drugs.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT BEING HERE!"
I turned to look at grease head who was now all messed up as he held his nose, blood pouring from it.
"Actually they have every right," Kelghorn said, coming forward.
"And just who are you?" the man demanded.
Kelghorn pulled back his trench coat. "Lieutenant Kelghorn, Anaheim PD, and you, buddy, are under arrest."
"On what grounds," he demanded as Kleghorn twisted him around and snapped cuffs on.
"We'll start with kidnapping and go from there and, please, give me trouble because I'd love to have those boys take you and your staff in," he said jabbing his thumb at the SWAT team.
I couldn't help but smile as Kleghorn dragged him out and the other cops moved in to round up the others. As the rest of the team gathered around me, I picked Drake up in both my arms and we walked out of the lobby for the Migrator.
"How is he?" Xena barked running up to us Emily in tow.
"He got shot with another tranquilizer. He'll be out for a few hours, other than that he looks fine," I said.
She sighed and I saw Kleghorn come over. "Wildwing we gotta get him to a hospital…" he started when I interrupted.
"He's not going to the hospital," I said, firmly.
Kelghorn frowned. "He may need medical…"
"No, we have medical capabilities and will take care of him ourselves. He's been through hell in the past couple of days and he is not going to wake up in a strange place again. Right now, all he needs is rest and us. Thank you for your help."
Kleghorn sighed and nodded his head, bowing to our wishes then walking off to finish the clean up, leaving us alone.
"You need to go home as well, Xena," I told her gently.
"But…" she began to object.
"We'll let you know if there's any changes, but your parents must be worried sick," I said then carried Drake into the Migrator the others following close behind.
TANYA
Once we had Drake back at the Pond, we immediately took him to the medical room and laid him down on one of the beds. Immediately, I turned on the medical sensors and a beam of light started at his feet and slowly moved up to his head. Once the results came in, I quickly looked them over.
"How is he?" Wildwing asked, impatiently.
Letting out a puff of air I turned to them. "I'm not going to lie to you. Right now, he's very weak. Even without being shot full of tranquilizers, he'd probably would have gone down again. Whatever they'd done to him has left his muscles in a state of weakness I've never seen. It's like for the past couple of days his muscles have received no activity and have been laced with something that was meant to shut them down. Then something fired them up all at once and they took a pounding," I said.
"What does that mean?" Duke asked.
I sighed, my face falling into my hand as I looked up at him. "It's like an engine that ran out of oil but it's forced to keep running anyway. Eventually the gears and all the parts seizes up and the whole engine dies that is what he was close to," I said looking down at him.
"They probably saved his life, because I doubt his heart could have taken much more. But something gave him the strength to go as far as he did, and he almost won," I said in amazement.
At the Police Station
I walked into the police station, my eyes glancing about the buzz of activity. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Lieutenant Kleghorn," I said to a passing cop.
He pointed to a door and I made for it and after knocking opened it. Looking into the interrogation room, a man in a trench coat turned, looking annoyed. While a man with messy greasy hair and chained to the desk he was sitting at, stared at me, his eyes going wide.
"And just who in the sam hell are you?" Kleghorn demanded of me.
Smiling, I stepped into the room. "I'm this man's lawyer and I demand that I have a private moment with my client, Lieutenant."
The cop stared grumpily at me then with a grunt, stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Once he was gone, I frowned at the man in the chair as I removed my coat and set my case on the table.
"Sir I…" he started.
"Silence!" I snapped, interrupting him as I walked over to the camera and disconnected it.
"How did the boy escape?" I demanded, voice hard, as I returned to the table and sat down.
The man in front of me gulped. "Mostly on his own. He even put several of the security detail in the hospital."
"And how did he get out of the tank?" I asked, my mind racing.
"Before he broke out, doctors were sent in to… give him adrenaline… his heart almost stopped," he said in a shaky voice.
I blinked. "So he slowed his heart to a crawl, so that we would drain the tank and give him medical attention. Very clever, very clever indeed," I murmured, thoughtfully.
"I'm sorry sir. He escaped before we could determine whether he was the one," the man said his voice even weaker.
I looked at him and smiled. "On the contrary this proves he is the one and now you're done," I said.
He gulped. "What do you mean done?"
Smiling I reached over and put my hand on the side of his neck. "Done means done."
Smiling he gave a weak chuckle then toppled face first on the table, a spike sticking out of his neck. Soon I was out of the station adjusting my long coat as I went.
'So we have finally found him,' a voice in my mind said.
'Yes and this time he won't escape,' I replied.
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