"Maybe we should just call Captain Planet," Gi suggested, her eyes darting doubtfully over the crowd surging below them.
"Yeah, but how much help is he going to be with all these fumes in the air?" Wheeler asked. "He goes any higher than our heads and he'll drop like a stone."
Kwame nodded. "That is what I was thinking. I think we need to shut down that machine, first."
Wheeler clenched his fist. "A little fire power?"
"And maybe a short circuit or two with some water leaking in?" Gi grinned at him.
"Let's go, Hydro," Wheeler said.
"And we will find Skumm," Kwame murmured. "I think we need to find out exactly what this drug is doing to people."
"Be careful," Gi warned. "If he manages to slip any of that stuff to us..." She let her sentence trail off, and everyone felt a jolt of nerves.
"Nyet, we will stop him," Linka said suddenly. "But we must hurry."
Wheeler winked at her when he slipped past with Gi, and she smiled before turning to follow Kwame and Ma-Ti, their eyes searching the darkness for any sign of Skumm.
The place was huge. Tunnels led in every direction and the lighting was poor – a few sputtering lanterns here and there, the main cavern being the only area linked up to electricity, as far as they could tell.
"It would be so easy to get lost in here," Linka said nervously.
"I was just thinking the same thing," Ma-Ti answered. "I hope the crowds in here stick to that main room. I would hate to think they are wandering around getting lost."
A loud boom from the main factory area distracted them, and they turned back, facing the direction they had come from, their hearts beating rapidly.
"Do you think that was Wheeler and Gi?" Ma-Ti asked anxiously.
"You tell us, Ma-Ti," Kwame whispered.
A loud roar came from the crowd. It was a roar of panic and confusion, and Ma-Ti hastily held his ring to the air. Heart.
"It wasn't Wheeler," he said, his eyes widening in a panic. "The machine is still going, but there are trucks... trucks in the southern tunnel, to take the barrels away. There has been a collision..."
"Come on!" Linka said, sprinting away and back to the main room. She stopped short when she reached the mouth of the tunnel. The crowd was in a panic. The conveyor belt continued to roll out the barrels from the contraption in the next room. She could see Wheeler and Gi standing together, confused, in the shadows in the far corner. Smoke billowed from the southern tunnel, sending the people into a panic.
"Outside!" Linka cried. "Get outside, now!"
They were deaf to her, trembling with fear but not able to leave without Skumm's permission – without his approval.
"Skumm is coming!" Kwame said, waving at Wheeler and Gi to hide and tugging on Linka's arm. He pulled her behind an untidy stack of barrels and crates.
"I can't reach them," Ma-Ti panicked. "There are too many fumes. I need to go back down the tunnel and send a warning."
"I will go with you," Kwame said, not wanting Ma-Ti to disappear into the dark alone. "Linka, keep an eye out for Skumm?"
"Da, I will," she said, somewhat nervously.
Kwame hesitated. "Unless you would rather –"
"Go, Kwame!" she cried. "There is no time for this!"
Just as Kwame and Ma-Ti disappeared back into the tunnel, Skumm emerged from a doorway, snarling.
Linka shuddered in disgust, her skin crawling at the sight of the mutant creature stalking past her.
He gave a high whistle. "Back to work!" he cried, a dangerous growl in his voice. "You will work until those conveyor belts stop, do you hear me?"
A shudder of relief seemed to pass over the crowd, and the screams died down. Panic was replaced by order at the sight of their master.
Too late, she heard Ma-Ti's warning sweep over the crowd.
Everybody – please, get out of here. There are dangerous chemicals. The smoke can suffocate you. Please, everybody, get out...
Skumm had not heard Ma-Ti's message, his mind and his heart too heavy with hatred and pollution to notice it. He did, however, notice the sudden hesitation in his workers.
"What are you doing?" he snarled, cuffing a nearby woman who was gazing up into the air, her mouth open with horror.
"The message," she mumbled. "The message to get out, Mr. Skumm."
"What message?" Skumm's eyes were narrowed and he bent over the woman. On the other side of the room, Linka could see Wheeler and Gi emerging from the shadows, their eyes searching the crowd nervously for a sign of what was going on. She watched as Gi tried to convince a few of the nearby workers to flee, but they were too anxious, their eyes darting between Skumm and the barrels still rolling out along the conveyor belt.
You will work until those conveyor belts stop, do you hear me?
The conveyor belt. They had to stop the conveyor belt. She risked it – she cupped her hands around her mouth and called across the crowd, hoping Skumm's distraction would serve her a little further.
"The conveyor belt!" she cried over the hum of voices and the machinery. "Wheeler, stop the conveyor belt!"
He turned, understanding suddenly, and shot a dart of flame towards the machinery. There was a crack, and a plume of smoke, and the belt stopped, the barrels suddenly stationery.
"It's stopped!" Linka cried, backing into hiding again, not wishing Skumm to notice her. "The conveyor belt has stopped – get outside, now!"
Skumm had frozen, his eyes darting left and right, trying to spot her, a look of vague recognition and anger on his face. Skumm, however, was not the only danger in the room.
"Nice move, blondie."
She spun around, but too late to react. Bleak threw his fist upwards, connecting with her chin, and she flew backwards, hitting the ground heavily. She laid there, dazed, blood trickling from her nose.
She gasped when she felt him tugging her ring from her finger, but she was too dizzy and disorientated to do anything about it. Bleak heaved her up and slung her over his shoulder, the quick movement making her world spin and finally fade to darkness.
Wheeler threw his shoulder against the door again and the wood finally splintered under his weight, smashing open to reveal the churning, smoking mass of pipes and cogs, fumes billowing into the air.
He choked, his arm across his face, tears springing to his eyes, and turned to Gi. "I can't do it," he coughed. "It'll explode, there are all sorts of gases in here."
She nodded, and pointed her ring to the muck swiftly flowing past, hoping there wasn't so much pollution and filth floating in it that her ring wouldn't work.
"Water."
She soaked the control panel, which flickered and sparked dangerously, before the machine whined and started to slow, the noise cutting off immediately, the foul liquid ceasing to spill out of its tubes. Now that the noise had stopped, they could hear Kwame and Ma-Ti shouting and pleading for everyone to get outside.
"Planet pests..." Skumm hissed, glaring at both Wheeler and Gi as they spun around to face him. "This isn't the end."
"You have to tell these people to get out of here, Skumm," Gi choked. "Order them outside or they're all going to suffocate in this smoke."
Skumm chuckled and shook his head. "Why would I do that?" he asked slyly.
"We're gonna kick your ass if you don't!" Wheeler snapped, his patience breaking cleanly in two like a delicate thread.
"Plunder will take care of it," Skumm said, edging away. "He's the legitimate businessman, after all. It's his name attached to all this." He chuckled with delight, still creeping towards the shadows.
"Get everyone out of here now!" Gi screeched at him.
Skumm hissed a chuckled through his teeth. "Sayonara, Planeteers."
"I'm Korean, jackass!" She hollered after his retreating form, borrowing a term she'd overheard Wheeler use.
Wheeler grinned and grabbed her arm, steering her back towards the door. "No time, danbi. We have to get out of here."
The crowds were milling around in confusion, weeping and panicking at the disruption in their routine and the fact Skumm was no longer there to help them out of it.
Wheeler put his fingers to his lips and blew, a piercing whistle causing everyone to look at him, eyes wide with fear.
"Skumm is outside," he called in a clear voice. "We'll go and find him and sort out what we need to do. Okay?"
At the mention of their leader, and with fearful glances back towards the smoke still drifting in from the machine and the southern tunnel, people began to move rapidly upstairs, the Planeteers following them and ensuring nobody was left behind.
It wasn't until they were in the cool air of the night, and sirens were drawing closer, bringing fire hoses and authorities to help them, that Wheeler noticed Linka was missing.