Chapter 5 : Hostage
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"Julian! Julian!" The redheaded boy turned around as his friend Ikiko came running towards him, her pink kimono trailing behind her.
"Hey, Ikiko! I'm surprised your brother let you come outside today!" Julian knew that her overprotective brother had kept her holed up in their apartment since the explosion.
"Well, he can't keep me locked up forever!" She giggled, and the two children began to walk together along the cracked sidewalks.
"What d'you think the explosion was?" Julian asked, as they stopped to swipe some apples off of an overturned market stall.
"I don't know. What do you think it was, Julian?" Ikiko asked, turned to look at him as they walked.
"I don't know, either. Maybe it was another monster... or aliens!"
Ikiko began to giggle again. "Julian, you're so silly!" By now they had reached the outskirts of Meridiana, and were gazing across the spooky grounds before them. "Well, this looks like the end of the road- maybe we should mmph!" Her words were muffled as Julian put his hand over her mouth.
"Shhhh!" he hissed. "I hear someone." He pulled her behind a large piece of crumbling wall, and removed his hand, signalling for her to be quiet.
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"Boss?" Techno 19 handed a large cardboard box to Jose. "This is all we could salvage from the wreckage of the lab." Jose snatched the box from the Techno and greedily began to sift through its contents.
"This is mostly sustenance, you idiots! Didn't you find anything use- Hm, what's this?" Jose's eyes lit up as he opened up the small book. "You!" he snapped, looking up at the Techno. "Where did you find this?"
The Techno stood thinking for a minute. "I believe it was between the walls of part of the labratory... The explosion cracked the wall and we were able to see and retrieve it."
"Do you realize wht this is, you idiot? This is the recipe for sustenance!" Jose flipped excitedly through the worn pages. "Of course, I have no idea where we can get half of these ingredients... but Cybersix doesn't know, either."
Techno 19 spoke up. "Boss... what if we could use the recipe as bait? Chances are Cybersix will end up trailing us to the labratory, anyway. If we could capture her at the lab then we'd be killing two birds with one stone- and we could start setting up there, and finish your father's work."
Jose rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Excellent idea! I'm glad I thought of it!" he exclaimed, ignoring the confused look on the Techno's face. "19, find those two Fixed Ideas and find a boat or a canoe. We're travelling to the labratory by boat, since I don't trust any of you with something with the ability to fly."
"Yes, Boss. . but the idea about the-"
"Be QUIET and do as I say!" snapped Jose, and hopped onto a large block of cracked masonry to keep an eye on his minions. Success will mine at last... he thought. I'll prove to Father that I am better than him, by catching Cybersix! He stretched and shifted to find a more comfortable position... and felt the wall began to shake and crumble.
"HELP! You idiots! I'll be crushed!" he screamed, as the well crumbled to the ground, and found himself landing hard on his behind in dust and pieces of rubble. He growled, stood up, dusting pieces of rock on him... And then, he spotted Julan and Ikiko, freeing themselves from the debris. "Hey, you! Stop right there!" He grabbed Julian by the collar of his shirt, and yanked him towards him.
"Ikiko, RUN!" shouted Julian, and the black-haired girl took off into the town, after a moment of hesitation.
"Well, well. if it isn't the brat from the streets," chuckled Jose, still holding onto Julian's shirt. "It seems we have even more bait for Cybersix... You're coming on a long boat ride with us, brat."
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"Old McDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o... And on this farm he had a cat, ee-i-ee-i-o..." Techno 19 stared to warbled the lyrics to "Old McDonald" as the old canoe had started to float down the river that would take them to the jungle, where the labratory was.
"Shut UP!" screamed Jose from Julian's lap. The midget clone had been forced to sit in Julian's lap, since the canoe was only a four-seater. "Shut up or I'll be forced to gag YOU as well!"
As the singing ceased, Julian grunted something from behind the gag in his mouth.
"what was that?" teased Jose. "I can't hear- AUUGHHH!" Julian had succeeded in shifting his weight so that Jose toppled off of his lap and into the murky, weed infested water. Jose started to flail around madly. "Help! I can't swim! You idiots, get me out of here!" Fixed Idea 61 bent over and plucked the dripping wet, weed-covered boy from the water, and deposited him on the floor of the canoe.
"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round..." The Techno started to sing again, accompanied by the grunts of the Fixed Ideas. Julian sighed and curled up on the hard wooden seat of the canoe.
I hope Ikiko's safe... Maybe she found Cybersix and told her about Jose... Julian groaned as the sound of the singing monsters grew louder. And I hope these guys lose their voices soon...
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