A/N: I couldn't finish it. I tried, but I just couldn't finish it. I...I...the next one, okay? It'll be a sort of epilogue, I guess. I need a siesta...
"Report! Report, Artful Dodger! Damn it, Monkey, answer me!!"
He answered, "Roger that, Magic Man. We're okay, but we're mice in a maze here. Any options you can see?"
Dennis pulled up the schematics, checking for alternate routes, but they were all obstructed. "Negative. All corridors are blocked off."
"Well, that's just great," Vert muttered. In one day, he'd been drugged, threatened, held at gunpoint, kidnapped, rescued, and now he was trapped like a rat.
"The only way for ye to go is to the auxiliary control room in the subbasement."
"Auxilary control room?"
"Someone's in there settin' the automated weapon systems and I can't override the commands. Whoever it is, they want you to come to them, and there's nothin' we can do about it."
Monkey nodded and moved forward, keeping his claws out as he walked. The Wheelers followed.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jack asked impatiently.
"We got no other choice, Major; we're gonna run the gauntlet."
"But that's exactly what—You idiot! We're being baited! Can't you see this is a trap?!"
"You gotta give the people what they want, he said. "He wants a war, we'll give him a war."
He didn't want to, but the Major agreed; this madman needed to be stopped.
"No, no, no!" Stryker cried indignantly. "Why won't you die?!"
Things were not looking good for Dr. William Stryker. The mysterious redhead with the claws was on his way, and leading the Wheelers right to him. Naturally, the father and son would want revenge on Stryker, and he didn't even want to think about what that freak could do.
Still, something in his memory stirred; was he perhaps the legendary Wolverine of the X-Men? His heart caught in his chest. What was it the article in Time Magazine had said? That he couldn't be killed by conventional means? That his claws and bones were plated in an indestructible metal?
Then he remembered that Wolverine was only five-foot-three; this lanky kid was a cheap imitation. Though the claws certainly fit the bill…
He shook himself, refusing to give up. "I don't care, I don't care, I don't care," he said, though it was more to convince himself than anything. "I don't know who you are. You don't matter. All I have to do is keep you busy enough so that you can't protect them. After that, I don't care."
"Any sign?"
"Nothing," she said, the worried look on Nolo's face tearing at her heart. "But that's good, okay? He wasn't here, he made it out. Vert's alive."
Nolo didn't answer her, but he gave her a weak smile. Mel put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't give up hope. He's out there.
"You know, Kurt, I used to worry about what Karma, Nolo, and Vert would think about…us…"
Kurt cast his younger boyfriend a quick glance, concerned. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Shirako answered. A box of chicken wings and a bottle of hot sauce rested in his lap. "But after awhile, I realized, so what? If they didn't accept us for who we are, then they weren't really our friends in the first place. Why hang out with people like that? You're the only one who matters to me, Kurt."
His eyes practically twinkled. "Aww, Shi-kun, that's so sweet," he said.
Shirako smiled at him, slipping his hand into the older boy's. "But everything turned out alright in the end. They're cool with it, Kurt; we got out our fairytale ending. I just hope Vert's okay…"
"I'm sure wherever he is, he'll be fine."
Shirako kissed him on the cheek, and they continued towards the patch of desert where the others were waiting.
They made another turn, only to find one more adamantium door blocking off the path. Annoyed, the three doubled back and continued down the clear way. They all knew they were being led into a trap; Vert and the Major worried about each other, as well as themselves, but Monkey's only concern was how he was going to keep them out of harm's way and still fight off whatever Stryker had in store for them.
"This is stupid," Vert said. "This guy's trying to kill us! Why are we going right to him?"
"I told you, we don't have a choice," Monkey answered. "I can't make a door because the walls are adamantium and every time we make some progress—"
As if on cue, another door slammed down behind them, promising they wouldn't make it out the way they came. Monkey sighed, unsheathing his claws, preparing to fight again. More laser cannons, and more spinning saw blades, Vert and the Major stayed low, and Monkey got the rhythm right very quickly. This time, it only took him seven minutes to take down the security. Catching his breath as the Wheelers got off the floor, he punched the wall.
"This guy is seriously starting to tick me off," he said.
"It's that bastard Stryker," the Major answered. "If anyone has control of systems like this, it's him. What say we wrap this up?"
Monkey smirked. "Fine by me."
"Crap," he said, listening to the audio from the bugs in the hall. This was very very bad. Grabbing a machine gun he kept under his desk, Stryker fished a keypass out of his pocket and headed to the far side of the lab. He spoke in a reassuring but firm voice as he opened the crate.
"This is it, Duke," he said to the obedient Doberman that gazed intently up at him. "You be a good boy and protect your master. There will be some men coming to get us, but we're not going down without a fight. Right?"
Duke barked, as if answering Stryker, and they prepared.
Monkey, Vert, and Major Jack stepped towards the final door; they'd had to out maneuver more laser cannons and spinning saw blades than you could shake a stick at, and they weren't at all happy about it. Who could blame them? In any case, it had been a long day and they badly needed something to take out all their anger on. Or, more to the point, someone…
"We're here," Monkey whispered; this was definitely it. All they had to do now was get in.
"Dude, knock and say you're the pizza guy," Vert joked, but Monkey took him seriously.
"How blonde are you? He's not gonna fall for that!"
The two quarreled, and Major Wheeler rolled his eyes, taking a keypass from his pocket; he'd grabbed it from an unconscious guard, along with a Desert Eagle and extra ammunition. The Major slid the pass through the reader and punched in his passcode on the keypad, and the door opened.
Behind a corner of the control room, Stryker clicked the safety on his M-16 into the off position, and peered discreetly around the wall. Monkey sniffed the air, his ears twitching, and he knocked the Wheelers to the ground, taking five bullets to the chest. He fell to his knees, and Stryker took that opportunity to release his hound.
"Sick 'em, Duke!"
Duke the Doberman charged at Monkey, barking and snarling, and Monkey held it back by its studded collar, growling right back. He rolled with it on the ground, knowing that it was just a dog and not wanting to hurt it too badly. The smell of the blood on his shirt aggravated the Doberman even further, and he certainly was a vicious little thing.
A few yards to his left, Jack and Vert were holed up behind an upturned desk, exchanging fire with Stryker. Fortunately, all furniture on the base was designed to be bullet proof just in case of this type of situation. The repeating rat-a-tat-tat of Stryker's M-16 rang out through the control room, Vert and Major Jack staying low, only peeking their heads up just enough to aim their pistols at him.
"Conserve ammo if you can, son!" the Major yelled to his son over the gunfire. "He's panicked now! If we keep him going long enough he might run out of bullets!"
Vert nodded, it was good advice, but the Major stood up to far and a bullet grazed the area of muscle between his neck and shoulder. It only just grazed the outside, but he reeled back, hitting the ground and hissing from the pain.
"DAD!!"
Oh, no, now he really screwed up. Monkey threw the dog off of himself, and it hit the wall with a yelp, growling as it staggered to its feet, and he extended his claws and snarled back at it. Duke stopped growling, staring at Monkey in confusion, looked back to his master, and then to Monkey again.
"That's right, think about it," he snarled. "Do I look like somethin' you wanna mess with?"
The dog's head and shoulders sunk in shame, as if he knew he had done something stupid, and he stalked back to his crate with his tail between his legs. Monkey smirked; at least the dog knew better.
"Dad!" he said, trying not to cry. "Dad, please answer me!"
"AH! Don't touch that!" the Major hissed, putting a hand over his wound. "I'm fine, it only grazed me."
"Are you sure?"
Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry, son, I've been hit way worse than this. Just take him down. We can't let Stryker win."
Vert nodded, reloading the Desert Eagle he'd been handed just a few hours before, and keeping silent.
Why had they stopped shooting? Had he killed them? Cautiously, Stryker peered around his corner, but he didn't see a single blonde hair sticking up over the desk. He laughed, standing up, and carefully stepped out from behind the corner.
Seeing his opportunity, Vert shot the crazed doctor in his left leg, and he fell to the floor with a scream. Even if he hadn't been in too much pain to fight back, Stryker wouldn't have been able to reach his gun. The fight was over.
"Aw, jeez, Blondie, you shot him," Monkey said, shaking his head, and he sighed.
"Yeah, but I didn't kill him," he said. "Besides, it was self defense! You saw what he was doing. Or were you too busy playing with that damn dog?"
"Would you just shut up?" the Major said, rolling his eyes. The boys stopped fighting, but Stryker kept crying. "You too, you bastard; you deserved a lot worse than that."
Vert helped his father to his feet, and Monkey called his superior officers.
"Yo, Magic Man," he said, cheerily. "Stryker's down, mission accomplished. Any way outta here?"
"There should be an escape tunnel in the back, kiddo. See ya soon."
The door to the tunnel opened, Monkey whistled for the dog, and they made their way out. As they walked down the tunnel, Monkey holding the unconscious Stryker over his shoulder, Vert watched his father for any sign that he was in pain, but found none. Like the Major had said, he'd been hurt worse before, and he was able to keep the pain on the edge of his mind. Major Wheeler gave his son a reassuring smile, but an alarm sounded just as they reached daylight.
"This is SHIELD Agent Dennis Liam McClurg. We regret to inform ye that the prestigious Area 51 is scheduled for demolition. The process will take place in t-minus two minutes, so ye had better get a move on. Thank ye."
This really lit a fire under them, the Maniac mechanic quickly passed off the unconscious Stryker and Duke the Doberman, and they made a run for the jet Monkey had arrived in. Other planes and a few helicopters had arrived to accommodate prisoners and Shannon thought it best to go with the troops, but Monkey and the Wheelers ended up in the original with Monkey's Dad. As they strapped themselves in and prepared for takeoff, a medic attending to Major Wheeler's wound, Dennis made his way up to the cockpit.
"Holy crap! Dennis the Menace?!"
He looked back as he buckled in, and grinned. "Glory be, would ye look at that! They said ye was Jack Wheeler, but tha's just such a common name, I never figgered they meant you Jack Rabbit. How ye been, Jacky?"
"I've been worse," he said, noncommittally, introducing his son, and they took off. Jack kept talking, trying to ignore the medic.
After a moment, Dennis said, "Hate te interrupt ye, Jack, but this is important." He paused, turning on the PA system. "The base is about ta detonate! Brace for shockwave, one and all!"
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
There was a terrible ghastly noise.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
Their jet coasted away into a lovely partly cloudy afternoon.
A/N: See, I'm so tired I stole some lines from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Like I said, the next one is the last one, I promise; it'll be a pretty uneventful sort of epilogue, but an ending is an ending, and there's always the sequel. Cheers. I'm gonna go take a nap.