Chapter 11
Mission Accomplished
"You still don't have a plan?"
Numbuh One didn't answer, but he instead shot the dark hound that had appeared in the middle of his path. The creature whined at the hit, and Sector V's leader made sure to soothe its pain with a kick that got it off of the route. Thus, him and Mac resumed their escape in the hallways, with the heavy steps of the giant smilodon still correctly audible.
"No, I don't! Gimme some more seconds!" Numbuh One eventually said while he gave a quick look behind. When he saw the pair of white, vicious eyes was still keeping them under its sight, he quickly refocused on his front. He wouldn't have said that out loud, but he had no idea at the moment how to solve this situation with something that didn't imply the devouring of himself and Numbuh Two-Hundred-One.
"Well, I do have one!" Mac said, still running like he never did before "That monster is big, so we'll slow him down if we pass through the smallest passages of the house. We should find a secondary spiral staircase that'll led us to the floor below us shortly, follow me!"
Mac sprinted forward, overcoming Nigel and leading him to one of the doors on the sidewalls. When they reached their target, Mac literally burst through it as they had not the time to open it normally.
In fact, the two kids had begun descending through the stairs only five seconds ago when the Dark One reached them and with a simple blow of his front paws disintegrated the wall that separated them from him. The passage was however smaller than him by a long degree, so the beast was forced to literally dig into the concrete to follow the two kids.
Mac's suggestion therefore made the two fugitives gain some additional seconds.
"Well, now?" Numbuh One asked when they exited from the bottom of the staircase and they resumed running.
"We're heading for a big chamber we should see on the right. There we'll have more space to use when that monster arrives, and we won't be caught in the dead ends Foster's is awfully full of."
"How can you be so sure it'll instantly knew we have…"
A crash was heard, followed right after by a loud, furious roar.
"Nevermind, RUN!" he finished as the both of them increased their speed.
The Dark One was not pleased to see its prey away from it, so it didn't waste more time in idling. The fast footsteps of the monster were able to make the area around it tremble and creak.
Numbuh One wasn't looking forward to have a face-off with the smilodon. He hoped that by now the Kids Next Door were already inside the house looking for them, because he sure would have liked some additional firepower at the moment, leaving alone the fact that he had previously found out his SPICER had depleted.
He continued to run, following the short kid in front of him, when Mac suddenly made a fast turn in another hallway. When Nigel reached the above mentioned place, he was momentarily surprised to see no one in the area.
"Here! HURRY UP!" Mac called. He was hiding in what could be called as… an air vent? Numbuh One wasn't completely sure about exactly what that little metal tunnel was, but it decided to accept it as it was, considering the heavy noises made by the Dark One approaching him. He ducked down and entered the vent quickly, then he closed the entrance behind him and followed Mac deeper into the vent. He carefully listened to the footsteps of the giant smilodon coming to an end behind him, and the beast itself growling in annoyance.
He heard sounds of walls being cut through like party paper as the Dark One tried to locate them in the nearby concrete. He and Mac both quickened their pace and stopped only when the noises stopped.
They heard a final lament of protest, after which the entire mansion, at least from their perspective, fell into an utter silence.
"Turn off the flashlight. I think we are safe… for now" Mac whispered.
Numbuh One raised an eyebrow at the command: "I should be the one giving orders here…" he pointed out, though he did turn off the light on his SPICER.
"Umph, like I had not just saved your butt…" Mac grumbled.
"Let's keep this argue for another moment. I'm out of ammo, I guess you're in a similar situation…" Numbuh One said.
"You guessed right. We may as well drop these here…" Mac confirmed as he examined the weird magazine inserted into the spice gun.
"Right, but let's keep the flashlights. They can be helpful in case we end up in another escape."
Mac grunted in response but didn't say anything else while he took apart his gun, waiting for Numbuh One to continue his speech.
"So… we're near a big room now? Like the one we were in before?"
"Mmmh-mmmh" Mac answered "It's one of the stages that are used during parties like birthdays or special events. This passage opens up on the other side on one of the side platforms that circle the area."
"You think that the monster is in there as well?"
"I don't think of it, I'm fairly sure it is there waiting for us. Let's just hope he can't smell like some type of dog…"
"What? Haven't you visited this house daily for months, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One? You should know a lot about imaginary friends."
"That's true, and I can also say I've never seen something like that in all that time" Mac replied.
"…just great. All right, keeping in mind that returning from where we came is out of the question, we may as well get out of here and see what's the situation in that room."
Mac suddenly turned his head to watch Numbuh One "Huh? What about waiting for the reinforcements?"
"That's exactly what we're doing, but in case we have a chance to flee we must exploit it and find a safer location, far from this area. That beast is probably looking for us now, and he may be able to find our hiding place if we wait here. Lead the way."
Even though he would have decided otherwise, Mac thought that Nigel's reasoning was good, so he accepted the order and crawled towards the other bottom of the vent. Their speed decreased to a slow pace when they were near to the exit.
There, Mac stopped and listened. The silence was almost complete… if it wasn't for the eerie, long breaths of the Dark One and his light but still audible steps as he paced around the chamber. The creature eyes weren't visible, and judging from the sounds' extent Mac concluded it was at the moment on the opposite side of the room. No source of light was present, with all the lights turned off and the windows blocked by covers outside.
Slowly, Mac opened the grate and lightly put it on the surface of the floating walkway. When he was sure he had not been heard, he carefully exited the vent and stood up. He afterwards waited for Numbuh One to do the same.
"There's another vent like this one at the end of this platform. If we manage to reach it, we'll be able to escape the room and leave that monster to himself" Mac informed.
"I'm curious about how you know so much about these vents…" Numbuh One whispered curiously. Their voice was so light it was hard for both of them to listen to each other, but that was needed if they wanted to remain undetected.
"Me and Bloo use it to enter when-…wait, this isn't the right situation to ask something like that!"
Numbuh One allowed himself to smirk, even though he wasn't sure he could be seen in the darkness "Sorry, I had to. Let's get the heck out of here while we can…"
Mac left the mutters for another moment as he and Nigel began walking cautiously, following the walkway path. While the platform was made out of metal, they were able to pass through half of it without doing enough noise to alert the smilodon.
Suddenly, the monster roared, visibly mad for the loss of its prey. Mac and Numbuh One did their best to stay unmoved and wait for some type of reaction from the giant, but eventually the creature resumed its monotone pacing.
However, when Mac made another step towards their ticket out of the frying pan, he noticed the Dark One suddenly stopping his regular breath.
Something had taken his attention.
And when the boy saw two white eyes looking at him from the distance, Mac knew they were probably doomed.
"RUN FOR IT!"
The platform emitted loud noises as the two kids began running for their lives on it, while the smilodon went after them instantly.
Despite their efforts, the beast was able to precede them and reach the last part of the platform before the two kids did. Here, the Dark One, who alone was taller than the platform itself, swung his claws at it, piercing through it like a knife on butter. The platform therefore started to collapse to the floor, a section at a time.
"Watch out!" Numbuh One shouted when the walkway under them began falling. The two kids grabbed the edge of the platform and kept themselves attached to it while they fell. However, their fall was stopped when the collapse of the platform came to an end, probably due to the recovery of a second equilibrium in the half-destroyed structure.
The two of them knew they weren't safe: the Dark One should already have been on them by that moment, but it wasn't what happened. While they haughtily climbed down what remained of the walkway, Numbuh One turned on his flashlight and he realized along with Mac that the smilodon was momentarily blocked. A part of the ceiling had been separated from the rest of the house as a consequence of the demolition of the walkway and had fallen right over the monster.
The Dark One was at the moment angrily trying to free himself from the collection of metal bars and concrete chunks that blocked a good part of its body, including its powerful claws. It was the occasion they needed.
"Go, go, go!" Numbuh One yelled as they ran through the chamber towards the immobilized nightmare. They moved past the beast, furious for being unable to capture them, and they made a beeline for the second entrance. However, lady luck had already stopped to be keen on helping them.
Suddenly, a pack of dark hounds exited from the exact double door they were heading for, growling at them. They were numerous, far too much to handle for the two of them. Fifteen, maybe even twenty.
"Oh, DANG!" Numbuh One shouted angrily as he desperately tried to think of another way to get out of the place or scatter these additional annoyances out of the way.
Yet, his time ran out when he heard another cry of war coming from behind him. When Nigel saw the Dark One oh so slowly coming towards them, he considered the possibility to just surrender to his destiny. They were surrounded, and using his boost boots would only have made him a better target for the huge beast, especially now that it wasn't distracted.
"Uhmm… This looks like the end, isn't it?" Mac said with a strangely quiet tone.
"Ugh, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One… I shouldn't think negative, there's always a second plan, a way to get out of a situation, no matter how extreme it is. But the only thing I could think of now is hoping for a miracle…"
"We'll, let's hope then while we wait to be sliced to bits…" Mac continued. He watched the ground helplessly as the Dark One approached them and made sure they were able to see his entire set of fangs. The dark hounds, reluctant to join their superior version, stared at them from a distance.
"…I'm just happy to know that my friends are safe…"
"I could say the same for my friends too, Mac…" Nigel said. Mac eyed him, surprised to hear his own name from the KND operative: "…We're more similar than I expected. You really have some leader aura around you."
"Well, I was leader of Sector IF back then, after the previous one turned to the teen ninjas. How ironic…"
"You don't have to blame yourself, Mac. Now I really understand your reasons and I can't really think about anything to criticize your decision. I only wish we could have showed the others…"
The leader of Sector V was going to face the end face forth, so he observed the Dark One while he raised his right claws. That did not prevent him from noticing a lone tear falling from Mac's eyes.
"…I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Bloo..."
…
…
Then, the electrical lights of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends came back on in their entirety.
Mac and Nigel didn't even have the time to process the new event: the dark hounds as well as the smilodon began screeching and whining in pain the exact instant the lights had returned.
The two of them exchanged a quick glance before eventually turning on their heels and dashing away from the growling smilodon. They passed though the group of dark hounds easily as they were both stunned and dazzled by the sudden light.
The fact was, it was still only electrical light, so there were as well some creatures that began pursuing them as soon as they recovered the ability to use their legs.
Mac and Nigel burst out of the entrance and run through the now illuminated hallways. Behind them, eight dark hounds struggled to follow them.
"The electrical light is slowing them down! We may even be able to make it!" Mac said, feeling hope rising inside him. However, that feeble emotion was soon forgotten when the two of them saw the Dark One destroying its way out of the previous chamber and coming after them, too. While he was indeed slower than before, the beast didn't seem to be too much affected by the electrical light. If anything, it was madder than ever.
In fact, the two of them were frightened by the sight of tendrils similar to the ones used by the previous stage appearing on the smilodon's back. These tendril were then shot by the creature like hedgehogs' spikes towards the ceiling over Numbuh One and Mac. Soon the two kids had to escape through a fall of chunks of concrete and wood.
"Agh!" Mac shouted when a rock missed him for a centimetre "I don't think we can stand this way forever!"
"Let's look for an opened window! Those reinforcements should have already got into the house by now!" Numbuh One suggested.
"I sure hope so!" Mac replied before avoiding a rock that used to be a part of the ceiling. The dark hound behind him wasn't so lucky and was splatted instantly. The smaller beasts that were chasing them were now, to be precise, escaping with them from the common threat of the Dark One.
"All right, brace yourself! I'll try get us outta here!" Numbuh One announced. Without even explaining his current plan, he activated his boots-rockets and grabbed Mac's arm, who became the one to be carried away by a flying kid much like what happened with Bloo before.
The dark hounds were easily left behind, but the Dark One wasn't letting them get away that easily. With a roar of utter madness the beast began leaping in the hallways instead of running, crashing numerous times on the walls and splatting various unfortunate dark hounds under its feet. That way, the creature, though damaged, was able to continue to follow them throughout entire floors and series of stairs without losing them, until the fuel that operated Nigel's special boots finished.
"That thing does not surrender, doesn't it?" Mac said as they landed on the floor of another, lower floor of the mansion.
"Let's think about it later!" Nigel cut off before they resumed they race. It was in that moment that they saw what seemed like an area with more light than the others, as well as what seemed like… voices?
"Bingo! We're almost there! GO!" Numbuh One shouted as they made a final sprint. They soon entered a second node chamber slightly smaller than the one where the monster had been created first… where a group of Kids Next Door operatives was trying to open the side windows.
The group was at first confused by their appearance, but Numbuh One made sure to briefly tell them about their current problem "Enormous monster arriving! Prepare for defence!"
"Numbuh One!" a female voice called.
"MAC!" another female voice as well as a Portuguese-accented male one shouted.
"MONSTER! KILL IT!" a series of different voices cried at the sight of the smilodon making its epic appearance.
The Dark One was not pleased. He had suffered constant burning from the lights unitl that moment, and now he was under heavy fire from laser rifles. Yet, the only thing this new addition managed to do was to make it completely lose its mind.
The beast roared before leaping at the centre of the chamber, its claws ready to slash a group of operatives in one, lethal swing. However, it soon realized that the action was going to be more complicated than he expected.
One of the large side windows of the node chamber was abruptly opened, and the sun, though almost under the earth and near to set, sent its last rays to illuminate the room and therefore who was inside, including the Dark One.
The monster made a loud, terrible lament before losing control of its legs and falling to the floor. Its body was already dissolving, but nonetheless the smilodon began to crawl towards the operatives in an attempt to catch them.
"KEEP FIRING! DON'T LET HIM HAVE A SECOND TO REST!" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two ordered while she shot another ration of her SPICER towards the creature.
"It works! Open the other windows, fast! We need as much sunlight as possible!" Numbuh One. He and Mac had been the ones to open the first window: a group of three operatives accepted the suggestion right away, while at the same time Goo and an almost passed out Eduardo went to do the same thing with another window as well.
The beast roared in pain when these two windows were finally opened. It moaned and growled, but it was still moving and trying to catch the Kids Next Door nearby. The SCAMPPs weren't enough to put an end to its existence.
"Numbuh Twenty-Five! Where's the heavy weaponry! USE IT NOW!" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two called.
"I'm on it, Ma'am! Give me five seconds!" the mentioned operative answered. He had dropped his SCAMPP in favour to something… definitely a lot bigger.
Kids Next Door: R.O.C.K.E.T.-L.A.U.N.C.H.E.R.
Raging Object Creates Kemically Empowered Tacos
–
Landing And Unmerging Nonchalantly Crushes Henchmen Eradicating Ribs
The new 2x4 weapon was indeed of the heavy kind. And Numbuh Twenty-Five had the chance to show it when, after managing to keep it steady, he triggered the shooting mechanism of the arm. Over the 'bazooka', six different rockets appeared, rockets that actually resembled huge propelled tacos. The weird explosives were activated and zapped away at once, heading for the monster.
These rockets were a bit more powerful than standard KND rockets, like the ones, for example, installed on their space vehicles. And the Dark One was able to experiment it on its own body.
Parts of the creatures body were sent around the chamber, scattering the floor with various black puddles. The smilodon had suffered heavy damage, too much even for a being of its size, and the sunlight that was illuminating him burnt the last remnants of its body. At first it seemed to be dead but, unexpectedly, the beast reopened its white eyes and stared at Mac and Numbuh One with a look full of hatred. He tried to push itself towards them with the only paw he had left, and drew out its claws.
"FIRE!"
A set of ten laser rifles shot towards the Dark One, scoring a direct headshot and raising a little cloud of darkened dust. When the cloud cleared, the kids realized that they had just disintegrated the Dark One's head, making the monstrosity disappear from reality once and for all.
"We… we… destroyed him?" Mac stuttered, finding it hard to believe what they had just achieved.
"Looks like it, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One…" Numbuh One confirmed "Now I can finally say it… Mission Accomplished."
Soon the two kids were overwhelmed by questions and cheers from the members of the rescue group they had encountered. Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two bombarded Numbuh One with a request after the other, eager to know everything she could from the operative about the details of the mission's outcome. Goo and Eduardo were curious to know what had happened during their time outside, too, but they all knew that they couldn't spend all the time in telling the entire story.
There was a full platoon of operatives as well as almost all the imaginary friends of Foster's waiting for them outside, not to the mention the need to discover if the other group had made it to the foyer. So, with Mac trying to stop the flood of words from Goo and reassuring Eduardo that the beast was gone forever, Nigel getting compliments from the operatives and telling the Supreme Leader the most important moments of the mission, and Rachel keeping a suspicious eye on Mac, the group left the chamber, leaving alone the dead body of what used to be the Dark One.
Next one is the final chapter of this story. Should be published within the end of the month.