A/N Hi guys! I'm back with the next day! I hope you guys enjoy!
As Always, R&R!
Chapter 9: Meeting The Collector
"I will admit, you've really proven yourselves," The old man began to pace the room, the soft sound of his feet and cane filling the air. "But alas, I doubt you'll be able to get out of this at the moment," He stopped and shook his head.
"Nuh-uh! My sisters are coming to get us!" Lily took a fighting stance. "They always come to our rescue!" Lincoln promptly pulled on her, forcing her to stand behind him.
The old man began to laugh. "You honestly believe you'll be able to escape me before I get what I want?!" He turned to his guard. "Alex, you know what to do."
The man nodded and raised his rifle. "You really shouldn't have thrown that boiling pot of water in my face," He paused for a second. "Heck, who carries one of those around anyways? It's ridiculous!"
"Enough," The man turned back to the trio. "Check your ammo."
In reply, Alex unclipped the magazine, before reloading. "Full sir."
Lincoln stepped back, pushing his arm in front of Lily and Jordan. "What do you want with us? We don't even know who you are!"
"You two have been quite the hard ones to capture. My men saw you at the site of an important artifact for myself and we wished to simply question you about what you had done or witnessed," He shook his head. "Yet, you had to run away, you had to attack one of my most trusted men," he stepped forward and leaned in, pushing Lincoln back. "And then I found you at the ruins of an abandoned town in a secret room. Now I believe you know something we don't."
The young man grit his teeth.
"Oh, of course," He pulled back. "I know you won't spill the beans immediately," Before beginning to rummage through his pockets, pulling out what appeared to be earplugs, before shoving them in his ears. "That's why I'm going to motivate you."
Alex then aimed at the ground and fired.
The bullet ricocheted off the floor, bouncing before hitting the nearby wall, while sending out a massive shriek through air.
"G'ahh!" The trio cried out, shoving their hands against their ears to protect them.
"Now, I want to know everything!" His voice filled with poison, before he slammed his hands on his cane. "Tell me it all! And maybe, I'll consider forgiving you for attacking my men! And attempting to overtake this facility!"
Lincoln turned to Jordan, fear filling their eyes.
With that, he turned back and let out a breath. "We don't know much, but this stuff is supposed to lead to a treasure of sorts. It's an old legend or something, and us opening that treasure chest was an accident. Someone had dug a hole and we decided to investigate…"
He stared at them in reply. "You seriously expect me to buy that obvious lie? That notebook you left contained too much information to be of coincidence. The fact that you were even able to follow us to the first point further proves that you're lying. Now if you wish not to end like the previous occupants of your position, tell me the truth!"
The young man glanced down at Lily, the young girl's gaze still headstrong. Despite the odds, she didn't seem willing to give in, while Jordan stood behind him, pushing forward slightly.
"I swear! I don't know anything else!"
The old man stepped over once more and stared down upon Lincoln. "Then how did you activate the seal! Tell me! Give me what I want and I might let you live!"
Slowly, Lincoln let out a breath and reached into his shirt, pulling out the key. "This allowed me to activate it."
He snatched it, before holding it up to the light. "I see, and this was what broke the seal. My scientists attempted to open it themselves but to no avail," He put on a sinister smile. "Thank you," before he stepped back. "And goodbye,"
Alex raised his rifle. "With pleasure!"
*Boom!* The sound thundered across the room as the ceiling caved.
"Bout time!" Lily shouted, before she jumped at the old man.
A moment later, a rope fell from the sky, before a familiar young woman came down swinging. "Haha! Good job Lisa! No other guards!"
"Stop!" Alex raised his rifle, only for Lincoln to rush and tackle him to the ground. Jordan followed up by kicking him in the crotch, just for good measure.
"Great timing!" Lincoln rushed to his feet.
"No problem!" Lynn offered her hand. "Come on! It's time to get the heck out of here!" She then stared at Lincoln. "You are in so much trouble when we get home!"
"Not the time, Lynn!" He jumped up, grabbing hold of the rope. "Lily! Come on!"
A moment after that, his baby sister rushed over and jumped into his free hand, while Jordan grabbed on. After that, Lynn gave a thumbs up, prompting the operator to pull them up, before they flew off.
Lincoln and Jordan wasted no time falling back into seats after that.
"Thanks for the save," Jordan whispered, allowing her head to fall back in exhaustion. "I don't know what would've happened if you didn't come when you did."
"Well, most likely, you would've been tortured and executed by treasure hunters," Lisa stepped over and began to examine the duo. "Though from the looks of it, your captivity was short enough to not warrant much in the way of full examination."
Lincoln let out a breath. "Well, I guess that's good to hear…" he paused for a moment. "You used your tracking devices to find us, didn't you?"
"Of course!" Lisa put her arms behind her back. "My prodigal brother and his partner were in danger! It would be remiss of me to go without providing aid in their rescue!"
"Yeah! We all pitched in!" Lana jumped on his lap, while Lola jumped on Jordan's
"Do you know how hard it was to get a helicopter?!" Lola waved her finger in Jordan's face. "Just because Chuck knows a guy who knows a guy doesn't mean it's easy!"
The young man paused. "Well ok… but who's flying?"
"Who else?" Lori spoke up. "Mom's flying lessons are finally paying off," before she leaned the copter, pushing it on their way. "Glad to see you two again."
"Yeah! Now we can finally talk about how to get ready for the baby!" Leni tucked in in excitement. "I was thinking either blue or pink shirts! Do you think they'll like socks?!"
The helicopter went silent after that, with all eyes focused on the young woman.
"Err, Leni, what are you talkin' about, Mate?" Luna turned around and tilted her head in confusion. Nearby, Jordan and Lincoln's faces went red as they looked away.
Leni looked on in confusion. "What? I thought everyone knew already!" She scratched her head. "Like, I saw a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom after Jordan left one night! And I remember overhearing Lincoln and Jordan talk about having a plan to take care of babies!" She then motioned with her hands. "And then they ran away together like in the movies! She collapsed her hands together as if daydreaming. "They're like, totes a couple or something!"
Slowly, the siblings' turned to face the duo.
"So, care to explain?" Lucy appeared at their side. "And don't try hiding it, or else Leni's just going to start spilling more of your dirty laundry."
"Well, Lucy, I wouldn't put it like that," Luan cut in. "After all, it's more like 'soiled laundry' than dirty!" before she threw her head back in laughter.
"Heh, soiled," Lana chuckled along, while Lola recoiled in horror.
"Anyways," Lynn turned to the duo and shook her head. "Care to explain yourselves you two? And why the heck were you out here dealing with some armed goon?! You almost got yourselves killed!"
Lincoln and Jordan turned to each other once more, before sighing in unison. There was literally no way of getting out of this, was there?
And so, Jordan reached into her bag and pulled out the orb. "We sort of decided to try looking for buried treasure."
Lincoln rubbed the back of his head. "Remember those stories that Pop Pop used to tell us when we were going to sleep?" He looked around at his sisters. "We decided to try and find out if it was real or not… and I guess we got into a little bit of trouble along the way…"
"A little?!" Lori's voice cut through the air. "We were all worried sick! You almost got shot! We heard the gunfire! And you did it just for some stupid treasure hunt?! You're not kids anymore! You're supposed to be adults! Jordan's pregnant, so guess what, you've got at least six months to get a job and prepare to put food on the table!"
"But, this one is real!" Lincoln spoke up, though hesitated after. "But it's not worth much now…"
"Why do you say that?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.
Jordan tossed the orb slightly. "Remember the key your grandpa gave Lincoln? It reacted with this orb thing and showed a map and points that we're supposed to visit or something…" She shook her head. "But, then that collector guy took it while we were waiting for you."
"No he didn't!" Lily beamed in excitement, before pulling the key out. "I managed to take it from him! He wasn't that tough!"
Lincoln blinked. "How weak do you have to be to lose to a six-year-old in a fight?"
"Doesn't matter," Jordan took the key and held it to the orb, allowing its map to appear once more, its glow illuminating the helicopter.
"Whoa," Lisa took it in her hands. "I have to analyze this!" before she pulled out a computer and began to work. "This is a beautiful piece of technology!"
"Err, how long do you think it'll take you to look that over?" Lincoln tilted his head in curiosity.
"Oh, I don't know, a few hours or something?" She motioned with her hands. "Why don't you tell us how you decided to go on this odd trip anyways? It'll take me time to figure this out."
Lincoln and Jordan looked at each other for a moment, before shrugging. "I guess it couldn't hurt much… now that you know."
Jordan then took a breath and started. "Well… i guess this began when we met a few years ago…"
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A/N That's another chapter under my belt! Man, these are going to be a bit harder to write because of personal family stuff, but I won't give up! See you tomorrow!
Review Replies (C8):
Guest: I didn't even know there was a Marvel villain named that lol.
DreadedCandiru2: Probably eventually lol.