A/N: There are spoilers to my fic 'Asazi' in this story. In this chapter, up to chapter 26 (which hardly anyone has read); just so you know.
Wastelands…
Chapter 2
Amnesia
The sudden flash of light below him startled the famed Alex Mann for a split second but after he recovered, he saw an unconscious body covered by his shadow below, his body hurtling toward it.
"What the—," he didn't have to time to finish as chose a quick solution. Swinging his legs up and over his head and then whipping them back around, he caused himself to gain more momentum in midair and fly over the body that had appeared from no where. He had flung himself away. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, a crew moving out to the skateboard arena, obviously to take away the two bodies.
The crowd cheered loud and hard, thinking that it was part of the show. Action Man was just wondering what had happened. He realized that he was slowing down and had to keep the crowd cheering. He gained speed, skating towards a loop in the arena. He knew that he had to top off the save he had just made if he wanted the crowd to continue the cheering. Just before he hit the loop, he hit a button on his left arm, which activated small rockets on his skates.
With a huge burst of speed, Action Man sped forward, hit the loop, and popped out the other side to find a ramp a few feet in front of him. Uh oh! Don't remember that! Action Man hit the ramp and flew a good forty feet into the air. His legs flinging himself into a flip, he tried to quickly figure out how he was going to land without crashing. He saw another ramp, approaching him fast. He calculated for a second and then gave the rocket-skates a quick two-second boost, which propelled his legs out in front of him, causing him to land parallel with the top of the ramp.
He skated down the ramp, went up another to wrap up the day and took off his helmet, waving to the crowds. The clapping, screams, cheers, and camera flashes didn't seem to end for quite a while…
§ That night…
Alex sighed as he finished the magazine, gently throwing it onto a counter across the room. He was tired, sore, and still pondering how that guy came from nowhere and appeared right below him, and who he was. He had watched the sports news but nothing came, just the success of the day. It seemed that the media thought it was all part of the show too. Grinder was right about putting the skate-rocket stunt on today instead of next week.
Alex took a sip of ice-cold water from a small bottle on a nearby shelf and swallowed it slowly, feeling the chill go down his throat and into his stomach. He was alone for the night; he had another stunt performance scheduled tomorrow and the rest of Team X-treme was out at a promotion at the moment. Fidget was selling her second tape of the A-Man series, Ricky was promoting the new soft drink that was sponsoring the team and Grinder was there to promote the company that made Big-Air.
Alex wasn't scheduled to be there so he said no at making a surprise visit.
Way too tired.
He got up, walked through a couple rooms and stepped outside into the brisk, night air. His watch read a digital
Everyday, a performance, a promotion, little sleep, fast food because we're always late, same people, same MasterDome, same Big-Air, same thing, over and over and over again… He sighed and quit griping. He remembered what an old buddy in school used to say. "Just be thankful for what you have…you never know what another child is suffering from right now…"
Asazi said that. Back in school. Alex remembered a huge crush he used to have on her, smiling about it. If only I'd a known what she was going to become…and how we would become… Alex grimaced at the sudden memory of it, followed by many more of what happened not more than three months ago… The pain and guilt that he felt hadn't ceased, and he only wished he could've gone back to stop it…to stop himself from losing his temper…
Alex shook his head and tried to control his emotions. What happened, happened. Nothing can change it, there is no second chance…at least X is gone… It hadn't happened the way it should have. Nothing did except for one thing; X wasn't to return. Ever.
§ The next morning…
MNMNNMMNMNNMMN.
The groan came from Fidget as her alarm clock suddenly blurted to life, disturbing her secret and quite passionate dreams of Grinder… She sat up, the alarm still screaming at her. She blinked a couple times, smacked her lips…and whirled her fist at the alarm with a yell of anger. The alarm didn't take it too well; it's little electronic chips clamored out, broken to bits.
And all was quiet.
Then it hit Fidget; I was dreaming about Grinder?! YUCK!
§
Grinder awoke to Fidget's sudden yell and smiled, glancing at his timekeeper. He didn't even set one anymore; Fidget was better than one because she shut herself up after a couple seconds. Grinder reluctantly pulled himself out of bed and sleepily returned back to his typical daily routines. Later, something that day, Fidget would come to him with her broken clock and ask if he would fix it…he would, just the heck of it.
Ricky awoke to Grinder's getting up (they shared a room on Big-Air) and groaned in disbelief. "It is already the morning of the fourteenth and…," he unintelligibly muttered, still half-asleep. "Good morning Ricky," Grinder said as he walked out of the room and into the conference room. He saw the coffeepot almost done making a new pot of coffee; Grinder had set it to automatically do it the night before.
He poured himself a cup of coffee and started to actually wake up. Ricky came in a few seconds later, rubbing his eyes and his feet dragging a tightly wrapped blanket around his leg. Grinder almost laughed but he knew he had to say it before Fidget would come in. "Ricky, I know you're tired and all, but don't you think you might want to get out of those pajamas before anyone else comes in."
His pajamas were almost rags; they had holes everywhere and the shirt was missing the whole left sleeve. "Oh, yeah…I guess…" He blinked, trying to widen his eyes… Grinder frowned. Ricky tried to widen his eyes again and Grinder saw that Ricky's pupils were dilated. Grinder's eyebrows shot up and he said, "Ricky, you feeling okay this morning?"
"Not particularly," he replied as he stumbled back into the room to change.
Grinder took that in for a second and then thought, perhaps he should take the day off. "Hey Ricky," he called.
"Yeah," Ricky replied, his voice a little muffled by the now-closed door.
"I think you should take a day off, mate. You aren't looking too good. I think you're a little sick or something." Grinder took another sip of his gently steaming coffee.
"I feel like all our sponsors told us they were quitting," Ricky replied.
Grinder almost dropped his coffee. Ricky must definitely be feeling bad.
"WHERE THE—OW!" Fidget's voice suddenly filled Big-Air and Fidget's door whirled open, revealing Fidget clutching a bleeding hand. Blood dripped onto the floor and Grinder immediately gave her assistance…or tried to. "Whoa, Fidg, I'll go get you some stuff. Put—''
"I know how to take care of a little cut, Grinder," Fidget unhappily replied, still not being able to get over the fact that she had been dreaming of him the night before. And someone said that you could control your dreams; I'm now completely sure.
Grinder returned with a small first aid kit and Fidget took her other hand away from the wound…she had greatly misjudged the size of her wound. It wasn't a 'little cut'. It was a gash that started at the top of the ring finger and stretched all the way down to the base of the palm.
How did I not notice this until I saw it, Fidget thought. She hadn't even felt it until she saw the blood streaming down her arm. One of those stupid things about this miserable life, she concluded.
The morning slowly continued, Alex getting up last. The day seemed to slowly drag on until Grinder took Big-Air into the skies, flying toward the MasterDome. The next-to-last day of Action Week. Seven days of insanely suicidal stunts and events that would all lead up to the last day.
It was decided that Fidget wrap up her hand and arm, and even though she complained, she knew it was the right thing to do… The day dragged on, even while Alex was performing. Nothing exciting, just a few skateboard stunts, plus whatever else was on the schedule that made MasterVision profit…
…
§
The midnight blue helicopter landed on the hospital's helicopter pad, INTERCEPT painted across one side of the helicopter. Two men in black suits stepped out after the blades had stopped their whirling, and then a woman stepped out. She glanced up at the tall, twenty-story hospital. The large white building seemed to stand out, even if it were in the middle of a bunch of buildings its height. I guess that's just the way hospitals are, she thought.
Diana was a highly successful agent of INTERCEPT, well known and popular among her partners. She wasn't the person that she was when she was around the famed Action Man. Then she was just doing her job, showing affections for him but she didn't think she'd ever become 'popular' with him like she was with most of her partners.
A few people in the INTERCEPT bureau thought she was a…well, thought she was a slut but really, she wasn't; at least, that's what she thought. Diana usually just laughed when people talked like that about her. She wasn't because you gotta understand life; you have to fun while you're on the job sometimes. Some people laugh and say things like "your partners always request their next assignment to be with you, even if it's their first one". Yeah, it was true. But that was because she'd been working for over ten years for INTERCEPT. Ever since she was seventeen. She only started sleeping with her partners in the tenth year of her career. Had to spice up the missions in some way.
She eyed the buff, strong man that flanked her left side. Diana smiled as she walked his muscular shoulders move with each relaxed step. Geez, an assassin could pop out of the bushes over there with an assault rifle and he would just shoot him and move on…probably without even blinking. He's definitely mine… Diana smiled even bigger at more thoughts of the fun that might happen that night.
They reached the hospital and Diana's thoughts immediately shifted over to the task at hand. Work now, play later. She stepped up to the lobby's main desk, pulled out her INTERCEPT badge and showing it to the lady. The receptionist didn't say anything, just wrote 'Floor 9, room's 929, 930'. Diana nodded and turned to the elevators.
She was there to investigate the two people that had magically appeared out of nowhere at the MasterDome the day before. INTERCEPT wasn't near as stupid as most of the media; they could tell my Action Man's reaction that it wasn't part of the show…and seeing how there were images of trilibugs swarming the two bodies as they appeared, INTERCEPT figured that this might be connected to the supposedly dead Dr. X.
You see, the two figures appeared out of nowhere, glowing dark, misty green and there were images of large trilibugs crawling on them. After a second or two, there was a dull flash and they appeared to be humans. Judging by how they seemed to be acting, they were dazed and unconscious, awake for only a moment after they had appeared.
Diana's first thought was that they were assassins for supposedly deceased Dr. X. They might've been part of one of his new projects before he supposedly died. A teleportation project and now they were mad because X was dead and they were seeking revenge. Simple but…it didn't seem to fit. Asazi had also been killed, that was for sure; Tempest disappeared after the final conflict and anyone else that was anywhere near the battle that was involved with X, had to have been killed…so, theoretically, the Council of Doom and X were now both gone, hopefully never to resurface… The battle…
Diana had been there when the battle took place and…well, to say the least, Action Man suddenly wasn't the comedic, enjoyable star he used to be… Now it seemed like his light blue eyes were dark, his muscular shape villainous and his voice sinister…no, things wouldn't be the same. But he's still a great guy, Diana concluded as the elevator doors opened, revealed to her the ninth floor.
She glanced at the nearest door, a number saying '901' on it.
"They're in the last two rooms," she said, then lowered her voice and continued, "keep your weapons handy and your eyes looking for anything suspicious. Take no chances."
Diana readied the gun she had hidden in her waist without anyone noticing and started walking down the bright, white hospital hallways. There was a nurse here and there, a small living room area in one part of the floor…929 and 930 were at one corner of the building, far from any patients; there were just custodial closets nearby.
Diana's two assistants checked the closets and the rest of the nearby area, seeing no one. Diana stepped into 929, leaving her assistants outside the door to guard. The girl, say mid to late teens, was lying on her bed, asleep. She thought about waking her but decided against it. Might as well check the other one…if he's asleep, I'll just come back in here and wait till she wakes up.
She went into 930, closing the door behind her and saw that the boy, probably twenty to twenty-five years of age and very attractive, was also asleep. Great…another waiting mission. She smiled though, thinking about the young man asleep. He was quite attractive and—
A sound filled her ears and a green, phosphorescent light filled the room. Diana held a hand up to cover her eyes and tried to see the boy and—WHOA!
Diana dove to the right, pulling out her Glock as she was in the air, and as she landed, took aim at the huge trilibugs that were swarming the young man's body. They seemed to appear from nowhere and then scatter out of nowhere…they're just images…this is what happened at the MasterDome! Diana lowered her gun and stood up, her eyes adjusted to the light. She could the see him, still sleeping, and then there was a flash of light and…
Diana closed her eyes because of the light but when she opened them…
Clothes lay on the bed. As if the owner had disappeared right out of them. The shirt was right where the man's chest was and the pants right where his legs had been…what the…
Diana darted out of the room and into 929 before her partners could ask her what was going on. The girl's body was gone too, the clothes still arranged as if she had forsaken them with out moving…
The two were gone. They had disappeared right before of Diana's eyes…and it was quite obvious that Dr. X, the thought-to-be dead scientist, wasn't as dead as everyone had hoped…
Author's Note
Getting better?