by Joy
NOTE: Okay, I've got an idea with what to do with Leia now! Thanks to Poofiemus for giving me some input on the little problem I've been having with Leia. ~_^ In the sequal, I will bring her back, but there will be more of her and more interaction and depth to her personality. Their romance might still diminish in this one, but in the sequal I'm thinking about heating it up again and making it more interesting. Look for more info and tidbits concerning the sequal once the last chapter of 'Winds of Change' is up.
By the way, C-chan said he/she liked Leia's last name - Kawaii. Thanks! She is supposed to be cute, that was the general idea in the concept of her last name. *grins* Neat little fact: Leia means 'flower' in Hawaiian and Kawaii is usually associated with the word 'cute'. ~_^ Oh yeah, and I thought this song fit in with my story pretty well and it has Randall's thoughts and personality written all over it. . .
Got to fight another fight - I gotta run another night
Get it out - check it out
I'm on my way and it don't feel right
I gotta get me back - I can't be beat and that's a fact
It's okay - I'll find a way
You ain't gonna take me down - no way
Don't judge a thing until you know what's inside it
Don't push me - I'll fight it
Never gonna give in - never gonna give it up - no
If you can't catch a wave then you're never gonna ride it
You can't come uninvited
Never gonna give in - never gonna give it up - no. . .
You can't take me - you'll see
Why did it all go wrong? - I wanna know what's goin' on
What's this holding me?
I'm not where I'm supposed to be
I gotta fight another fight
I gotta fight with all my might
I'm getting out - so check it out
You're in my way
Yeah, you'd better watch out
- "Can't Take Me" by Bryan Adams (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron Soundtrack)
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Chapter Ten - The Rescue Operation
"Wazowski, speed up," Randall said boredly, resting his head on one of his hands while the other three had ahold of the steering wheel. The truck was going barely past five miles an hour.
"I'm just making sure you don't run us off any cliffs, Lizard Boy," Mike replied.
"I'm not running us off any cliffs," Randall reassured him calmly. "I've got four arms for Pete's sake. Now speed up! The sign says 'seventy' not 'seven'."
"Okay, you're the big, scaly boss," Mike said with a roll of his eye. He then pressed down on the accelerator and they quickly sped up. "But if we fall off a cliff, you're in big trouble before we hit bottom."
"Stop fighting, guys," Caylin urged. "Firstly of all, because you're driving me nuts. And secondly, it'll take a week to get there if you keep this up."
Randall laughed at Caylin's comment as the scientist's warehouse came into view over the hill. The entrance to the underground lab was beginning to be visible too. They got bigger as the vehicle approached and Randall pulled off the road into a grove of trees.
"Slow down, Wazowski," he instructed as they pulled in. "Now stop."
Mike followed his instructions carefully and they slowed safely to a stop. He crawled out from under the dashboard and peeked out over it to see the forest around them. "Uh, Randall," he began. "Why'd you park us in a bunch of trees? There's a parking lot out there." He pointed towards the area behind the lab building.
"We don't want them to suspect anything," Randall explained, pulling the door handle and hopping out. "It would be way too obvious to put this thing out in the open where everyone can see it. Even if it IS those humans' truck. We don't want to take any chances - especially with one of them tied up in the back."
The crisp, colored leaves crunched under his four feet and Caylin's as they made their way around the back to check on the others. Mike hopped out after them and picked up his pace to catch up.
"So, what exactly is your 'plan' for getting our fellow monsters free AND keeping those scientist guys from coming back again?" Mike asked critically as Randall began to untie the flap that covered the back opening.
Randall sighed and glanced at Mike. "Look," he began. "Just shut that big mouth of yours and help me out."
Mike blinked for a moment then shrugged and began to help him. "Okay. But only cuz you saved our butts back there," he muttered, pausing. "Er, thanks."
Randall untied his side and glanced over to the green ball of monster skeptically. "You DO know you're thanking ME, right?"
"Well, duh, Lizard Boy," Mike replied, untying his side. "You're the only one here. So, yeah, just don't get too used to it."
Randall half-grinned and hoisted himself into the back. "Well then, you're welcome, Wazowski," he said simply. "First time I've ever heard nice words concerning me come out of your mouth."
"Like I said, don't get used to it unless this hero gig is becoming a full-time job," Mike replied, hopping in after him.
"Hey, Mikey!" Sulley greeted. "Hi Randall."
"Hiya, Big Guy," Mike replied. "So, how was the ride?"
"Bumpy," he said with a chuckle, turning to Randall. "So, Randall, any plans yet on what we should do with him?" He jerked a thumb towards the caged poacher.
"How about we just leave him here?" Caylin suggested. "It's not like we need the scaredy-human ratting on us."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Randall agreed, looking around to make sure everyone was let out of their cages. "Now, here's my plan. They want to prove the existance of monsters, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"But, if they don't have any monsters to prove this theory with then nobody will believe them. They'll be labelled as a bunch of loonies and be sent to the asylum. I'm sure they'll continue jabbering on about us until the end of time, so they'll never be freed because everyone thinks they're as crazy as they come. Get the picture?"
Sulley face lit up as the plan dawned on him. "Ohhh, I get it," he said. "So, we call the asylum and report these guys in while someone else frees the rest of the monsters, right?"
"Bingo," Randall said. "While one of us sneaks inside and gets ahold of a phone, the rest go and free the monsters they've got in the warehouse and march them back out the door they came from. I'm pretty sure they have all of them in there and they've obviously snatched a door from the factory."
"And I'm assuming the rescue crew is us," Leia added.
"Right. While you guys do that, I'll sneak inside and make the call," Randall said. "No use in the rest of you risking your lives, when I'm the one with the blending ability."
Caylin grinned. "Is this the dawn of a new Randall?"
Randall began to climb out the back as the others followed. He landed in the grass and made his way towards the laboratory building, glancing over his shoulder. "It matters what your definition of 'new' is," he said with a sly smile. "By the way, Sullivan, make sure the scientists don't spot you guys or this little adventure might take a turn for the worse. Who knows what they want to do with us."
"Right, we'll be careful," Sulley said.
Mike saluted him. "You can count on us! Yes, safety is our number one priority."
Once Randall had left, Caylin began tugging on Sulley's fur. He pointed in the direction of the warehouse and was motioning for them to start heading over there. Sulley nodded and the group of fifteen monsters made their way over to the old building. The large doors were still left open by one of the more absent-minded scientists. They slowly snuck inside, each searching for a scientist, but when they found none they continued on to help their fellow monsters.
"Boy," Mike said, taking the keys off of a nail in the wall. "These guys really aren't into high-security are they?"
Caylin chuckled, taking the keys and distributing them to the monsters. "Probably never heard of the word," he said. "Now, we free our fellow monster world residents! Go, go, go! Whoever frees the most in three minutes gets the highly-esteemed prize of a lifetime supply of free chicken feed!"
Looks of disgust could be seen one very monster's face. "Yechh. ." Leia muttered.
"Just kidding! But think speed guys," Caylin added as the monsters dispersed. He gave a quick glance towards the lab and a shiver ran down his spine.
"I just hope you come out okay, buddy," he muttered with worry, soon getting back to work on the cage locks.
Meanwhile, inside the underground lab building, Randall was blending into the walls and slowly slinking through the corridors. He peeked in a few door windows, looking for a phone of some kind. He knew they had to have one somewhere. Didn't every human building have one? A few scientists passed by and he remained unnoticed, thanks to his blending abilty.
"C'mon, where is it?" Randall muttered under his breath, peeking through another window.
Inside that room, he could see the shapes of a scientific worktable and a light hanging from the ceiling. Then another familiar shape caught his eye. It was a phone! It didn't look like anyone was in there, so he slowly turned the handle and slithered inside.
It wasn't dark inside - they had the lights on - but he didn't like the feeling he got being in there. It looked sort of like a doctor's surgical room, scary-looking instruments, utensils, and bottles of formula sat on the counters. But it also looked like something his dream could have worked off of.
"Okay," he whispered to himself. "Just make the stupid call and get out. No one will be the wiser."
Taking one last look over his shoulder, he went over to the phone that was setting on the end of the counter. It was then that he realized that he'd need the asylum's number. Grumbling about the little miscalculation of plans, he began looking through the drawers for a phone book. If he was lucky, he'd find one.
He opened one drawer to find a bunch of different colored formulas in test tubes, some even glowed as if they could have been radioactive. His eyes widened and he quickly shut it again. This place always seemed to give him the creeps, in his dreams or otherwise. In fact, his worst nightmares were being in places like this - except for the fact that this wasn't a dream. It was all too real for his liking.
He opened another drawer and was relieved to see nothing but some used notepads, pencils, and paper inside. Out of curiosity, he picked up one of the notepads and began to look through the pages. It was full of previous experiments that they had recorded on animals and Randall shivered, putting it back in the drawer. But he paused. At the bottom was a phone book! He dropped the notepad and quickly grabbed it. He set it on the counter, flipping through the pages looking for the local asylum.
"Aerobics. . .Airports. . .Astronauts. .Oh, come on," he grumbled, when finally he found the number. "Asylums! Perfect."
He kept his finger on the number while he brang the phone over with two of his other hands. He picked the phone off of the cradle and began dialing the number. Outside the door, a couple of scientists were talking, Randall waited for the other end to pick up. He stuffed the phone book back in the drawer as the silhouettes began to get too close for comfort. The door handle began to turn and he grabbed the phone, diving behind the steel worktable.
"Aw geez, stupid humans, how many rings does it take to get to a phone?" he muttered, finally hearing the other end pick up with a click.
"Hello. Rose Springs Asylum. Who is this?" the lady asked.
Randall cleared his throat. "This is Randall Boggs from. . .er, out of town," he began as footsteps came into the room. He lowered his voice a bit. "Okay, see, I've met these loony scientists who claim they have seen monsters." He gave a fake laugh. "Can you believe that?"
The lady on the other end laughed. "Monsters? That's a new one."
Randall chuckled. "Yeah, isn't it?" he agreed, feeling nervous as the scientists got closer. "They've been raving like madmen about this, you wouldn't believe the stories they're telling. You'd think they were still two-year olds."
"Well, we have plenty of room here," she said. "What's the address, sir? We'll send a van to pick them up right away."
The two scientists began to get out syringes and filled them with a pink liquid, edging ever so close to Randall's hiding place. They finally loomed over him on the other side of the worktable and set a tray of the syringes and tools on top.
"Oh, uh, well, just give me a minute to find it here," he stammered, pressing his back against the cold metal base and trying to be silent. He knew if he disappeared they would find him. He still had the phone in his hand, so he didn't bother to try.
"Sir? You still there?" the lady asked over the phone.
"Uh, yes," Randall whispered, quickly giving her the address.
"Thank you, we'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Okay, bye," he said quickly, gingerly putting the phone back on its cradle.
The slight clicking noise of the phone caught the scientists' attention and they glanced at each other suspiciously. One went over towards where the noise had come from and looked over the worktable. Nothing.
Invisible, Randall slithered towards the door and snuck out. The bewildered scientists stared at the door. It seemed to open and shut by itself. Outside, Randall pressed his back against the door and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He then ran out the back door to tell the others about his accomplished mission.