The Cage...An Interlude
A row of flashlight beams startled them awake. They sat up and watched as several men grabbed the cage the two sat in and dragged it across the ground to a waiting crane. The men took an enormous chain, ran it through a metal loop on the top of the cage, and shoved the chain in the crane's hook. The crane then picked the cage up. They held onto the cage's bars as they swayed with the crane's movements. The crane then lowered them into a waiting truck. The cage was roughly dropped in the truck's bed and the men removed the chain. A canvass tarp with a frame similar to a tent's was pulled over the back of the truck, cage and all, and a flap was lowered and attached behind them. They were now in complete darkness. They heard the truck's engine start, then they began moving.
"This is not good." he complained.
She coughed as the fumes from the diesel engine filled the truck. "Well, if we're moving again, it can't be all that bad." she reassured him.
He tried again to break free from the cage. They had tried everything they could think of. Their laser eye beams were useless, they couldn't bend the metal, and their full force blasting off had only gotten them headaches.
"Boomer, give it up. We can't get out." Bubbles sighed.
Boomer plopped back down, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. He looked up at her. "So, how can this be good? You tell me."
Bubbles smiled. "You didn't hear them?" she pointed outside to the men hanging on the sides of the truck.
"Yeah, so? Didn't mean anything to me, I don't speak Spanish." he reminded her.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, they said we have to move to the next spot. Before they catch up!" she explained, her eyes wide with excitement.
Boomer stared at her. "Which 'they'? You're confusing me."
Bubbles leaned towards him, as if what she was going to say were the world's biggest secret. "Blossom, Buttercup, Brick, and Butch!" she whispered. "They're here!"