They had indeed found enough evidence to know where to go. Hot Wheels City. Which was exactly why they were traveling across an expanse of desert, towards highway 35.
Once on the road, they began traveling to the abandoned cube. From there, Kurt would start up the portal by using all of the crystals. That would take them to their destination without having to go through all the realms.
"So, tell me again why we're going through this portal, instead of the Wheel?" Rebekah asked.
"They highway 35 portal hasn't been opened in at leas two years. At least, not since the Wheel's portals have been opened by Tezla, and the Drones. No one would suspect us entering that way."
"Oh. Since this conversation couldn't possibly be even more incredibly boring, did you know that in the eighteenth century, a woman was considered an old maid at, I think it was twenty-two, or twenty-three?"
"Hmm. That's interesting. In that case, Babushka? Are you sure you can carry on with this mission?"
Rebekah stiffened, and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "Babushka? Babushka?! YOU LITTLE-"
"Here we are." Kurt cut her off, with an overly cheerful, sing-song voice.
Both Drifters sped up, even though they ere already going well over 300 mph, when the portal opened. They entered on a track that rose above a huge body of water. The city ahead of them, black and green. The sky above them, dark and foreboding.
Rebekah smiled, "Ah, yes. The classic bad guy home. I love these places."
They drove on, until they came to the edge of the city. They pulled into an alley, and Kurt pulled up the schematics of the metropolis.
"Looks like the holding cells are on the west side. Turn on stealth mode; let's not make a big entrance.
Rebekah sighed tiredly, "I thought we were already avoiding that by entering through the other portal."
"You know what I mean, "Kurt said, glaring at her car.
"Whatever. Let's just go."
"Weren't we going to anyway?"
"Shut up."
The cars seemed to disappear, and the engines quieted. The only sound was the whisper of the wind. The only thing one could see of the cars, was the occasional flicker of the wrong building, as they adjusted to the surroundings.
In a few minutes, they pulled up to a plain building.
"Is this it?" Rebekah asked.
"This is it."
"Looks like it."
"Well, it is."
"I know, you've already said so."
"Then stop asking."
"Fine."
By this time, they were both out of the cars, and looking for a way in.
"They've got an alarm system on the windows," Kurt pointed out.
"Yippee. Hmm."
"What?"
"The door doesn't."
"It doesn't?"
"Well, I can't see anything, and the computer's not picking up anything."
"How 'bout cameras?"
"Yeah. There's one above the door."
"I'll deactivate it."
Kurt got on his computer, and hacked into the camera. Inside, he saw three guards, and it looked like a couple of large cells. He thought he saw people in one of the cells. Zooming in, he recognized them as Silencerz. Then, he turned the camera off."
"Yep. They're definitely in there." He announced.
"Good. Wanna go through the door?"
"Yeah. Confidently though. Like we're supposed to be there."
"Like, no charging. No stealth."
"Exactly. We walk calmly in, kill the guards-"
"You sound like a psychopath."
"What?!"
"It was the way you said it."
"Let's just do our thing."
"Okay. Let's go."
They walked up to the door, and opened it.
Those poor guards. They looked up, thinking their replacements had come early. The last thing they saw was a man, and a woman, pointing guns at them.
In the cell, they watched as the guards fell, dead. But, how? They didn't hear any gunshots.
Alan smiled. He'd been waiting for this day. "Drifters!"
Dan, who hadn't moved, called out, "Hey, you've got a fan club."
"A fan club?" A female voice called back sarcastically, "I love fan clubs!"
Dan winced visibly. "Rebekah," he muttered under his breath.
"Dresdan?" A familiar voice asked, making the street racers sit up.
Dan allowed himself a small smile, and stood up. Kurt and Rebekah walked up to the screen.
"Dan!" Kurt cried out, with evident joy in his voice.
"Hey Kurt! You didn't think I was dead, did you?"
"Of course not! 'They're not dead 'till we find a body,' Right?" he said quoting an old Drifter motto. "Besides, I had a fifty dollar bet with Anderson that we'd find you. But all these computers mess with the chip. Its signal was going wacky."
"Excuse me," Rebekah cut in, with exaggerated politeness, before any talk could continue. "But we have a job to do."
Kurt just nodded slightly, and started taking off his right glove. He then held the ungloved hand on the keypad next to the door. He felt a slight tingling sensation, and a short burst of heat. The screen disappeared.
When he turned to go back in, he noticed that Vert was lying on the floor. Jack was right beside the blonde, looking at his master. Kurt just looked questioningly at Major Wheeler.
The officer looked back grimly, "They stabbed him with a crystal."
"Which one?"
"Swamp."
"Anderson," Kurt called."
"Yeah?" She looked up, from looking through the guards.
"I'm going back out to get a crystal."
"Do you need me to babysit?"
He gave her a reproving look, and nodded toward Vert."
"Oh."
"Yeah." He headed for the door. "Here Jack."
The black dog bounded out, and dutifully followed its master. Kurt smiled. It was good to have the familiar fell of a dog by his side.
Outside of the building, he opened the car door. Getting in, he reached in the back, feeling for the silver brief case. Once he found it, he opened it. His eyes quickly ran over the contents, before he grabbd the correct cylinder.
He was getting out of the car when Jack emitted a low growl. Kurt looked around, before spotting the little spy camera in the sky. Why would that be there?
The key pad.
Of course!
He didn't enter the code! He just simply short-circuited it!
Kurt ran back into the building.
"Anderson! Find another exit!" he ordered.
"What did you do this time?" She moved out of the way, as he knelt down beside Vert.
"The key pad." He answered tersely.
IT took a moment before it finally dawned on her. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" She said to no on in particular. "Why didn't we think of that?!"
Kurt ignored her, as he bent over the injured teen. He removed the jacket, and cut away at the hole the crystal made, to make it bigger.
Some of the crystal was still in there. So, he carefully pulled it out. Vert softly whimpered, making Kurt pause for a second. When it was out, he picked up the cylinder, and took the crystal out.
It looked like it was made of stone, but it was slightly transparent. On the other end, it looked like snow, but was hard as ice.
Making sure it was sharp on one end, Kurt proceeded to stick it into the wound. After a moment, he pulled it back out.
"What realm is that?" Someone asked. He was concentrating too deeply to recognize the voice.
"Mountain. Anderson, med-bag."
"Here," She handed him the dark bag. From inside it, he pulled out some gauzes, and medical tape. After patching up the wound, he began to put the jacket back on. Vert began to wake up.
At first, everything was blurry. As it came in focus, he could make out two figures above him. It was his dad and…Kurt?
"Dad?" His voice sounded a bit weak.
"Right here son."
"Kurt?"
"Hey Surfrat."
"What are you doing here?"
Kurt smiled, "I'm getting you out of here."
They were interrupted by banging at the door.
"Who is it?" Banjee called out jokingly.
"Why don't they just come in?" Karma asked.
Rebekah smiled, "I hacked into the door's circuitry. It'll stay locked to the end of time."
"Is there another door?" Kurt asked.
"Yes," She answered. "Right over here. It also goes toward the wheel portal."
"Then let's go!" Monkey cried, heading for the door.
Major Wheeler was already helping his son up. Vert took a few unsteady steps, leaning on his father, before nodding; indicating that his was ready to go. Rebekah tossed the guard's guns to Dan, Major Wheeler, and Jerry.
Kurt and Rebekah went out first, making sure they could leave this way. Once sure, they waved everyone out.
Mackenzie glanced around furtively, "It sure is quiet." She said to Aaron.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Too quiet."
As if on cue, ten Drones appeared. The three Drifters took them out in minutes; but not before one got to Kurt. It grabbed him by the neck, and threw him to the ground. His head hit the ground hard, and he felts the robot's fist hit his torso. He heard bones cracking, as a sharp pain filled his chest. Before it could do something else again, Jack charged it, attacking with the ferocity of a pack of wolve's. No one messed with his master like that.
He closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. After a minute, he rolled over, and got up.
"You okay" Dan asked, concern etched on his face.
"Yeah." Kurt answered.
Rebekah looked him over, played the scene over in her head, and thought, Liar, liar, pants on fire, hangin' on a telephone wire. She smiled inwardly at the immature thought.
"Can we go before more Drones get here?" Monkey begged.
Rebekah turned and looked at him, "Why? The more the merrier."
The group walked on. They passed an area with sweepers in it. Another one had cars. Just passed those was the portal room. Freedom was in sight.
Okay, one more chapter. Because it's the last one, I won't say anything at all. So, this is my good bye to the story. Even though it has one more chapter left. I had fun. Hope you guys did too.
