Chapter 12
"We gather here today to celebrate the union of LazyTown's greatest hero and first niece. I appreciate everyone being here on such short notice and in such weather but I know that the happy couple appreciates it. I'll keep things short as we've all been waiting for this for a long time," the justice of the peace, Judge Jenkins, said. A few chuckles rippled through the crowd and he quickly began the ceremony.
While that was going on, Sam met Spinelli at the rendezvous point and the FBI agent quickly explained the dilemma.
"In the manhole huh? Any chance to see if the cover is wired to blow?" Sam asked.
"It probably isn't. Would seem like a waste of time since no one would be doing manhole work in the middle of the wedding," Spinelli offered.
"Yes well you wouldn't think that IEDs were made with milk cartons yet plenty of my buddies came home with new appliances for legs," the former Marine pointed out. Spinelli nodded.
"All right I want a bomb robot at that manhole on the double. Everybody back as far as they can without disrupting the ceremony," the agent ordered. Quickly the bomb robot was deployed.
Chief Dooright caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw what was going on. He hoped that no one would panic or at least they would think it was part of the ceremony although he had his doubts how much longer they could hold it before mass panic set it.
"So do you Sportacus of the Island to the North, take Stephanie, the pink, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Jenkins asked.
"I do," the hero smiled.
"And do you Stephanie take Sportacus to be your lawfully wedded husband and hero?" The judge wanted to know.
"I do," she replied.
"Than by the power invested in me by the state of…" Jenkins never finished as the robot attempting to diffuse whatever was in the manhole exploded. A larger secondary explosion soon followed rocking the wedding guests to the ground. Sportacus immediately jumped and covered Stephanie as shrapnel flew everywhere. Agent Patterson dove on top of Robbie and quickly the group took stock.
"Anybody hurt?" Sportacus asked.
"I don't think so. Time to get to the safe house!" Dooright ordered.
"Sounds like a plan," Robbie said. As soon as his words left his mouth, bullet started to pepper the tent. People who hadn't already begun to run and scream started to.
"Get these people to safety!" Dooright ordered. He removed his side arm from his coat and ran to join his men along with the FBI agents.
"We have to help these people!" Stephanie shouted as some of the guests fell bleeding. Patterson got on his phone and called for medical assistance. Sportacus scooped up a woman who had a nasty shoulder wound and raced toward the fire station where fire fighters were triaging the wounded.
"How many?" He asked, ignoring the blood on his tuxedo.
"So far half a dozen. No one too critical but I have a bad feeling it's about to get worse," the Fire Chief said. Sportacus shook his head and ran back into the fray. As he headed for the tent, he saw Stephanie trying to help someone who'd been shot in the leg. He raced toward her when suddenly his crystal blared. The fact of the matter was it had been blaring but its sudden change in tone made it more noticeable as Stephanie collapsed to the ground; the injured man she was helping went with her.
"Stephanie!" Sportacus shouted.
To Be Continued…