Blood and Water: Chapter 6
By Lisa Leonard
Eight hours have gone by since Gloria last saw Shark, being driven away by a couple of teenagers. She slowly walked along the railway using Aura's night vision, to find her away thru the dark. Her eyes felt heavier and her pace slowed down at every passing moment. She was overcome by the tiredness of her body, yet she was determine to press on. Gloria stumbled over her two feet and fell to her knees. She was always physically fit, but the chase had drain so much out of her mentally that she was ready to pass out. She took Aura off and rubbed her eyes, "Got to keep going. Those kids need me. If I fall asleep now I'll never forgive myself." Gloria then pulled herself up and continued to walk forward, "What I need right now is some of Dusty's singing, that always managed to annoyed the crap out of me." The thought made her laugh slightly, "He always tried to prove he could sing better then Brad." Gloria halted again once she heard something coming up from behind. She turned around and saw several headlights in the distance. Gloria attempted once again to send a message to her teammates, "This is Gloria calling MASK. Please tell me your getting this."
Alex replied, "We're reading you loud and clear Gloria. Are you ok?"
She waved her arms in the air smiling, "Just exhausted, nothing a good night rest couldn't cure."
The vehicles halted in front of Gloria, and each driver walked out to greet her. Dusty practically jumped out of Gator, before setting the breaks, to be at her side first. He gave her a quick hug and looked her over, "Ya sure your ok darling?"
Gloria reassured her friends, "All I need is some rest. How did you find me?"
"Roxanne told us your location," Brad answered, "She also said you had a message?"
"Yeah, she told me that Matt's being held in Salzburg, Austria. She kind of stole Shark from me, in the process of delivering that message," Gloria added with a hint of shame.
Bruce concluded, " All we have to do is to tune into Shark's tracking signal. It won't be difficult to discover the exact location."
Gloria looked at her watch, "They're at least a half a day ahead of us. To make matters worst they believe they can break Matt out. It wouldn't surprise me if they were captured or even worst hurt."
Dusty said in an irritated tone, "Far as I'm concern, if Roxanne gets a bullet to her heart she had it coming."
Gloria was appalled she had never seen her closest friend filled with so much hate and anger. She put her foot down as she look among her comrades who shared similar feelings, "Lets get something straight gentlemen! Matt would of wanted us to watch his children as if they were our own. We've all known Scott since he was a baby and have yet to know Roxanne, but I'll be damned if I let VENOM hurt either one of them. Just so you know Scott isn't innocent in Roxanne's plan." She searched around as she considered the right words to describe the moment, "I lost Shark because of Scott." Gloria showed great anger in her voice, "He has never lied in the past, but he always tried to find ways around the truth. Scott faked his injuries to let his sister steal Shark from under my nose. Those two think they can do what ever they want with no consequences, well I fear their in over their heads. Roxanne looking to repent for what she did, and Scott going to make sure she succeeds."
"She can't seriously think all can be forgiven like that! She tried to kill Matt!" Dusty shouted in an outburst.
Buddy crossed his arms understanding, "I don't think she'll care what we think."
Hondo looked among the angry and confused faces, "Can we quick bickering. If we don't hurry, we could lose all three of them."
"Then that's it," Alex started to take control again, " Right now we focus on our rescue mission and save the three of them. We can place her into custody afterwards. Time is not on our side. Gloria you'll rest up in Rhino computer room. Let's move out!" The team returned to their vehicles and headed forward towards their final destination.
Back outside the castle grounds, Scott dug thru Roxanne's bag of goodies she salvaged from Shark. T-bob spoke with reason, "Why can't we just wait for the others?"
Scott was getting tired of arguing, "Cause then it will be too late! We got a grappling hook, a flashlight, and some flares," He looked up at T-bob, "What do you think?"
T-bob answered, "I think I'll use the rope on the grappling hook to tied you up to a tree and use the flairs to alert MASK."
Scott smirk, "Oh that's very funny. T-bob do you remember when we use to play flashlight tag?"
He replied, "Remember? How could I forget, you shut down my night vision so I wouldn't cheat, and you always forgot to turn it back on afterwards. Then I ended up falling down the stairs in the middle of the night."
Scott took that as a yes, "Well I need you to get the attention of the guards, but you're going to have to stay out of sight. Meanwhile, I'm gonna climb up the wall on the opposite side."
T-bob grabbed Scott's arm, "And let you go in there by yourself?"
Scott didn't give him an option, "Either you help me out, or else I'm gonna get caught." He handed T-bob the flares, "Do what ever you have to, to get their attention. They should investigate since you'll be near the same spot Roxy was picked up."
"I can't believe I'm doing this. Your dad surely gonna sent me to the trash compactor this time, " He cried.
"Give me 5 minutes before you start," was the last thing Scott said as he made his way around the castle.
T-bob waited in the forest with his arms crossed, "I feel like this is the Blair Witch Project all over again." T-bob started to run around in circles in the woods letting his metal feet crunch every leaf and stick in sight. He turned his flashlight eyes on and lighted the flares in his hands. To add to the effect, T-bob also amplified his voice making pathetic ghost sounds.
Two guards looked towards the direction of the strange noises. They could make out some faint lights coming from the woods. The first guard said, "It could be more teenagers."
The second guard radioed the ground force, "We have some suspicious light and sound coming from the east end of the wall. Send a group to round up the perpetrators."
The first guard pulled out a sniper riffle and looked thru the eyepiece, "Hey, I think I see it."
"Who is it?" ask the second guard.
The guard replied a bit appalled, "What the hell is that thing? It's a white thing-a-ma-bob with torches."
The other guard shrugged, "Eh go ahead an shoot it. The ground force will pick up the mess."
The guard smiled as he glanced at his pray, "Got a shot and I'm gonna take it."
T-bob stopped as he notice a little red light on his chest, "What's this?"
The sniper made a direct hit at T-bob and caused him to fall over, "See told ya I'd get it!"
T-bob pulled himself off the ground, "I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! Look at the hole in my beautiful metal exoskeleton!"
The guard blinked twice, "Ya got to be kidding me. It just got up!"
The other guard smirked, "And you call yourself a sniper maybe you missed." He took the gun from his hands and aimed at T-bob who was still too busy gripping about the bullet. He fired the gun and the bullet hit T-bob in the side.
T-bob jumped, "Flashlight tag just got too dangerous. AH!! They're firing on me! MOMMY! " T-bob started to run, yet this time there were several other snipers on the wall and ground guards shooting at him. Each was puzzled as to why the thing would never die.
Meanwhile on the west end of the wall, Scott fired the grappling hook and started to climb up the wall. He pulled himself slowly up the rope and constantly glanced upward, to see if anyone was peeking over the wall. "Well this isn't too hard this is just like the rope in gym class," he then glanced down for a moment, "except there is no spotter." He gulped at the thought of falling to his death, since he was already half way up the wall. Scott continued up the rope focusing more on his dad and sister. A little height wasn't going stop him. About ¾ of the way up, he nearly lost his grip as he heard rapid gunfire. It rattled his nerves thinking of his friend, and what the guards would do to him if he were caught, "Oh I hope T- bob is ok." Once Scott reached the top, he peered over the edge to see if any guards were still watching. Each guard on the wall was too preoccupied with shooting at T-bob to notice him. He pulled himself over in haste and drop the grappling hook over the wall. He was about to move towards an entrance, when he saw Mayhem, Vanessa, and Rax appear. He ducked low along the wall and waited for an opportunity to present itself.
Mayhem shouted, "What the heck are you idiots shooting at?"
Scott looked at the door, it was a do or die situation. The guards were too focus on Mayhem that he could just squeeze thru the door unnoticed. While mayhem was rambling on, Scott stayed low and raced for the door without looking back.
The guard saluted, "Sir there is some unidentifiable thing out there that won't die."
Mayhem grumbled, "That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!"
One of the guards step forward, "Sir, I've shot at it many times and it still manages to get back up."
"I don't have time for this!" Mayhem grabbed the guy's shirt, "Stop playing duck hunt and investigate down there, NOW!"
Scott mange to slip thru the door, yet before he could move any further he could hear Mayhem booming voice coming closer from behind. Scott headed towards the closest room and shut the door behind him. He then rested this ear against the door listening.
Mayhem tried to maintain his temper, "You believe them? Their suppose to be Contra World's finest and their shooting at ghost. All that gunfire probably gonna attract the local authorities."
Vanessa hated having to control her bosses temper, "Don't worry about it. I'll just tell them we came across a couple of drunk hunters and took care of the problem."
Mayhem snorted, "I'm glad somebody around here uses their head."
Nash Gordy approached them, "Mayhem sir, I got word from headquarters. Both prisoners will be picked up at 11:00 hours."
Mayhem grumbled with dissatisfaction, "That's still not good enough. Every hour we wait MASK will be gaining ground on us."
Nash looked at him puzzled, "But didn't you tell Trakker that his teammates weren't coming."
Mayhem started to think he was the only one with a superior intellect, "You dolt! If Roxanne found this place, the rest of the MASK team can't be that far behind. Rax make sure the vehicles are ready for battle. We might need to hold the fort down long enough for the transfer to take place. They may be short a leader, but that's just gonna make them more aggressive." He then threw a questionable look to Rax, "Where the hell is Lester?"
Rax just shrugged, "Last time I saw him he was guarding the prisoner in the dungeon. He kind of figured you'd want a closer watch on him."
Mayhem stood their a bit shock, "What the hell happen that kid grow a brain over night? Tell him I want to see him, I have a job for him."
"Yeah no problem. I'll let him know after I check up on the vehicles," He walked away still thinking about the beating he had just given Lester, and how Mayhem was going react to that.
Scott looked at his watch, "There's still time to spare, but this would be a lot easier with MASK here. Hmmm Rax mention a prisoner in the dungeon. That's got to be Dad or Roxy, except Lester is down there. Well what choice do I have, I'm sure I can handle one person. At least I can put those karate lessons Gloria gave me to good use." He open door slightly and peaked thru, "The coast is clear." He cautiously walked down the hallway looking for stairs heading downward.
Once he found the stairs, he crept down the stone steps slowly and halted just before reaching the final step. Scott peered around the corner to get a glance at the dungeon. All he could see was his father chained to the wall, in a cold filthy dungeon. It did bother him that Rax had mention Lester being present, but it appeared nobody was guarding his father. He shrugged off this worry thinking Rax just made up some bogus story and continued walking towards his father in a carefree manor. Yet once he took his first step forward, he tripped over something and stumbled to the ground. Scott turned his head and noticed Lester sitting up against the wall asleep. Scott stayed perfectly still watching Lester closely, yet he didn't even flinch.
Matt woke up from the sudden noise, to see a boy lying on the ground waiting for Lester to stir. He whispers as he noticed Lester was still knocked out cold, "Scott? What the hell are you doing here?"
The boy pulled himself off the floor and pressed his face against the bars, "We came to save you dad."
Matt looked at him confused, "We?"
Scott explained, "Yeah me and Roxy, but it looks like I'm the one doing all the rescuing at the moment."
Matt was grateful for his son's intentions, yet angry that he'd endanger his life, "Leave me and get out of here!"
Scott protested, "I'm not going to leave you here. You and Roxy are the only family I have."
Matt calmed his voice and tried to speak some reason into the boy, "Listen to me. Scott you wouldn't make it very far dragging me around. I only have one good leg. I know there's a chance we may not see each other again, but what makes me stronger is knowing my children are far away from this hellhole as possible. I love you Scott, but if you truly love me as your father you will get your sister and get out here immediately."
Lester put a hand on Scott's right shoulder, "That's right kid you should of just stayed on the outside. You want to go give your daddy a one last kiss goodbye," he snorted.
Scott just looked into his father's eyes and didn't resist Lester's grip. He then elbowed Lester in the gut, "oohhhh that's still a bit tender." While Lester bended over in agony, Scott grabbed Lester's hand from his shoulder and twisted his arm behind his back. He then pulled the gun from Lester's hilted, stepped back, and aimed the gun directly at him. Lester turned around and looked at him, "Hey now give that back!"
Scott replied in a serious tone, "DON'T MOVE! See dad we do have a chance to escape."
"One gun isn't going to get us thru the front gate alive," Matt replied
"But can't we take him hostage?" he looked to his dad for answers.
Lester laughed, "Oh yeah daddy can we please take him hostage? Kid you're too stupid to pull the trigger." With that remark, Lester made an attempt for the gun, but Scott put both his hands on the gun to keep it steadily aimed on Lester.
"You've taken away the only family I have, and if it means I have to shoot you to save them, then I will. Now where's Roxanne at?" Scott shouted.
"Why am I gonna tell you that? Talk some reason into your brat Trakker." Lester pleaded uncertain if the boy was serious or not.
Matt looked at this determine son, "Your talking to a boy who's about to lose everything he loves. What can I do? I'm chained to the wall."
Lester was sweating as he saw Scott's hand playing with the trigger finger, "Alright, alright I'll take you to her. Not like you'll actually be able to get out of here anyways."
Scott waved the gun indicating that Lester should go first. He then looked to his father, "I'll be back dad. I'm not leaving without you."
Matt knew his words wouldn't change his son's mind, "Just what ever you do don't sink to their level."
Lester led the way, with Scott following closely behind. "This kid stupid. All I have to do is lead him into a room full of agents," Lester smiled wicked as he plotted in his mind. He looked ahead and notice the dinning area was just around the corner. "Were almost there, just around that corner," he said trying to ensure him that he was leading him in the correct direction. Lester then stood at the door for a moment collecting his thoughts.
He opened the door and Scott followed in behind him. Lester shouted, "Hey guys look who I've caught." Scott stood there holding the gun firmly, yet was terrified with the number of agents and Contra World soldiers in the room. Rax, Vanessa, Cliff Dagger, and Bruno all left their seats and surrounded Scott.
Scott shouted thinking he was still in control with the gun, "TAKE ME TO ROXY OR I'LL SHOOT HIM!"
Rax said with his arms cross, "Eh go ahead and shoot him. He's practically worthless."
Vanessa added, "You know he tried to rape your sister. He doesn't deserve to live."
Bruno insisted, "Why can't I shoot him instead?"
Cliff Dagger smiled, "His stereo is mine."
Lester said with anger, "Hey guys!"
Scott said furious, "You told me you take me to Roxy. Your useless!" With that final word he fired the gun, and Lester's body fell to the floor.
"Are you trying to be useless on purpose?" Scott said still holding the gun to Lester's back.
Lester shook his head from his horrible daydream, "Uh on second thought, let's not take the short cut thru here. You'll get caught." Lester's smile faded thinking, "I have better chances of everyone else shooting me, then this kid." Lester lead Scott up a couple fleet of stairs towards Roxanne's room, "Ok kid here we are." He stepped into the room and noticed nobody in the room, "Shit she's not here did she escape?"
Roxanne was up against the wall holding a lamp her hand. She then charged Lester from the side and hit him over the head with the lamp. The lamp shattered as he fell face first into the ground, "You were warned to stay the hell away from me." She became startled slightly as she noticed there was somebody behind Lester.
Scott entered the room and shut the door behind him, "Surprise to see me?"
"SCOTT! Oh my god!" she had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her bother giving him a hug, "I heard gun shots from outside and I feared." She let go and wiped her eyes, "How did you manage to get in here?"
Scott smiled, "Well the old fashion way. I used T-bob as a diversion, it works every time."
"Well I have to admit you were right I was wrong," she confessed as she sat down on the bed.
Scott stepped over Lester and joined his sister on the bed, "We have to rescue dad now. They're sending a transport at 11 to pick you and dad up."
Roxanne looked down hopeless, "What's the point it's too late. Dad told them everything," She looked up and sighed, "What can we do?"
"Not give up hope and don't just assume dad told them everything. We have to try. Now there have to be something we can do to delay them, until MASK gets here," Scott insisted.
Roxanne ponders, "MASK.my mask it might be here. I can't imagine Mayhem leaving something so powerful behind. If I just shoot the transport plane, it won't even get off the ground."
Scott smiled, "That sounds like a good plan, but this castle is pretty big. That's a lot of ground to search."
Roxanne looks down at Lester, "Not unless he tells us."
"Hey I had a hard enough time trying to get him to show me the way with this," he showed her the gun.
Roxanne smiled as she took the gun from Scott, "Well knowing my history. He knows I'm not afraid to shoot a gun. I have a good reason to be asking for some payback."
Roxanne took a glass of water and splashed it over Lester's face, "Time to wake up!"
Lester shook his head of water, "Ah that's cold!" He was going to get up, but realized he was now tied to the four corners of the bed. He pulled at his restraints, yet failed miserably, "Oh come on sweetie pie this isn't nice, untie me."
Roxanne raised a brow, "What I thought you were into this whole bondage thing? I really thought you'd enjoy same kinky experience I had just a few hours ago."
"Oh yeah," Lester sounded interested.
"Yeah," she said in a seductive voice and sat on his chest, " Now where is my mask."
Scott stood in the corner out of Lester's sight rolling his eyes in disgust.
"That's gonna cost you another kiss," He puckered up.
Roxanne pulled the gun out and jabbed it under Lester's chin, "You were saying?"
"I'll scream," Lester manage to squeeze out.
"Oh go ahead scream like a little girl. Then who's going to respect you now? I'll shoot this bullet right thru your head, before one sound echoes thru your vocal cords," she threatened. "Where is it?"
"Mayhem has it in his office," Lester confessed.
"Where's the office at?" she continued.
"The room that belongs to the duke, on the second floor right wing. Can you ease off the gun, " Lester said in a scared voice sweating under his brow.
Roxanne jump off the bed and onto the floor, "Alright Scott let's get going."
Lester protested, "UNTIE ME!"
"Are you nuts?" Scott grabbed a piece of cloth and gagged Lester.
"Don't worry Lester somebody will be here shortly to undo you," she snickered. "After they beat the living shit out of you for coming in here and letting me escape."
Lester tried to scream thru the gag, "I'll get you for this!" Yet very little of his words could be made out.
The sun was coming up over the horizon. The quite town of Salzburg, Austria was rumbling, by the sound of MASK vehicles coming down the road.
Bruce indicated, "The tracking signal for Shark is just a mile ahead."
Gloria sipped some coffee as she sat in between Alex and Bruce, "I hope it's in one piece."
The vehicles halted once they reached Shark, which was parked outside the local pub. Jacques remarked, "Well this is purely appropriate? What are the odds we find them both inside drunk?"
Brad shook his head, "I'd rather find them in the bar, instead of VENOM's hideout. Let's go in and ask if anybody seen them."
Both Brad and Jacques headed into the bar, to check with the locals regarding the missing teenagers; meanwhile Buddy, Gloria, and Bruce were checking around Shark for possible damage or sabotage.
Buddy commended, "So far it doesn't look like she left another thank you gift in the car."
"No but she did manage to leave my car unlock, with the keys still in the car," Gloria replied in a disapproved tone, as she open the car door. She sat down in the driver seat and started her computer up, "Computer run full diagnostic on Shark." She tapped her fingers impatiently on the stirring wheel, while she waited for the scan to complete. Her attention flew to Jacques and Brad as they returned to the group disappointed; from the looks of it none of the locals knew anything about the two teenagers. She then noticed a brochure for a museum on the dashboard and examined it closely. After reading the brochure, Gloria looked straight ahead and noticed the castle/museum was only a few miles ahead from their location. She jumped out of Shark, "Hey guys they left us another clue."
Dusty insisted, "I'm getting sick'n tired of these run-around games."
She insisted, "Look ahead gentlemen that's our fortress we need to conquer."
"How can you be so sure?" Jacques asked with uncertainty.
"I can't imagine they left to go site seeing," She replied as she held up the brochure of the museum.
"I'll go gather information and blue prints of the castle from Rhino's computer," Alex said as he headed for Rhino's computer room.
Hondo shook his head, "It's a shame that such a historic marvel is going to get caught in the middle of this."
Brad put a hand on Hondo's shoulder, while looking at the grand castle in the distance, "Just don't tell you students you destroyed a part of history."
While the agents waited for Rhino's computer to retrieve information, what was left of a medium size white robot came up the road. Gloria put her hand to her mouth, "Is that T-bob?" T-bob had several bullet holes in his exoskeleton, exposed wires that were sparking in several places, and one working eye. He was slowly hobbling down the road with a flat tire.
"T-bob do I dare ask what happened?" Bruce kneeled down as he took a closer look at T-bob.
"I now know how Swiss cheese feels like," T-bob said grumbling, as he sat on the ground removing his feet and dumping several dozen bullets on the ground.
Buddy insisted, "Where are the kids?"
T-bob looked down disappointed, "Inside. After Roxy let herself get caught, I wasn't going to let Scott do the same. He wouldn't listen." T- bob put both his metal hands on his head cowering in shame, "Why.why wouldn't he listen? It's all my fault."
"No my friend. It's not your fault," Bruce remarked, " With or with out your help Scott would of chose to follow his heart."
T-bob looked up at Bruce, "You will save them right?"
Alex answered as he approach the team, "We sure the hell will try old chap."
Eight hours have gone by since Gloria last saw Shark, being driven away by a couple of teenagers. She slowly walked along the railway using Aura's night vision, to find her away thru the dark. Her eyes felt heavier and her pace slowed down at every passing moment. She was overcome by the tiredness of her body, yet she was determine to press on. Gloria stumbled over her two feet and fell to her knees. She was always physically fit, but the chase had drain so much out of her mentally that she was ready to pass out. She took Aura off and rubbed her eyes, "Got to keep going. Those kids need me. If I fall asleep now I'll never forgive myself." Gloria then pulled herself up and continued to walk forward, "What I need right now is some of Dusty's singing, that always managed to annoyed the crap out of me." The thought made her laugh slightly, "He always tried to prove he could sing better then Brad." Gloria halted again once she heard something coming up from behind. She turned around and saw several headlights in the distance. Gloria attempted once again to send a message to her teammates, "This is Gloria calling MASK. Please tell me your getting this."
Alex replied, "We're reading you loud and clear Gloria. Are you ok?"
She waved her arms in the air smiling, "Just exhausted, nothing a good night rest couldn't cure."
The vehicles halted in front of Gloria, and each driver walked out to greet her. Dusty practically jumped out of Gator, before setting the breaks, to be at her side first. He gave her a quick hug and looked her over, "Ya sure your ok darling?"
Gloria reassured her friends, "All I need is some rest. How did you find me?"
"Roxanne told us your location," Brad answered, "She also said you had a message?"
"Yeah, she told me that Matt's being held in Salzburg, Austria. She kind of stole Shark from me, in the process of delivering that message," Gloria added with a hint of shame.
Bruce concluded, " All we have to do is to tune into Shark's tracking signal. It won't be difficult to discover the exact location."
Gloria looked at her watch, "They're at least a half a day ahead of us. To make matters worst they believe they can break Matt out. It wouldn't surprise me if they were captured or even worst hurt."
Dusty said in an irritated tone, "Far as I'm concern, if Roxanne gets a bullet to her heart she had it coming."
Gloria was appalled she had never seen her closest friend filled with so much hate and anger. She put her foot down as she look among her comrades who shared similar feelings, "Lets get something straight gentlemen! Matt would of wanted us to watch his children as if they were our own. We've all known Scott since he was a baby and have yet to know Roxanne, but I'll be damned if I let VENOM hurt either one of them. Just so you know Scott isn't innocent in Roxanne's plan." She searched around as she considered the right words to describe the moment, "I lost Shark because of Scott." Gloria showed great anger in her voice, "He has never lied in the past, but he always tried to find ways around the truth. Scott faked his injuries to let his sister steal Shark from under my nose. Those two think they can do what ever they want with no consequences, well I fear their in over their heads. Roxanne looking to repent for what she did, and Scott going to make sure she succeeds."
"She can't seriously think all can be forgiven like that! She tried to kill Matt!" Dusty shouted in an outburst.
Buddy crossed his arms understanding, "I don't think she'll care what we think."
Hondo looked among the angry and confused faces, "Can we quick bickering. If we don't hurry, we could lose all three of them."
"Then that's it," Alex started to take control again, " Right now we focus on our rescue mission and save the three of them. We can place her into custody afterwards. Time is not on our side. Gloria you'll rest up in Rhino computer room. Let's move out!" The team returned to their vehicles and headed forward towards their final destination.
Back outside the castle grounds, Scott dug thru Roxanne's bag of goodies she salvaged from Shark. T-bob spoke with reason, "Why can't we just wait for the others?"
Scott was getting tired of arguing, "Cause then it will be too late! We got a grappling hook, a flashlight, and some flares," He looked up at T-bob, "What do you think?"
T-bob answered, "I think I'll use the rope on the grappling hook to tied you up to a tree and use the flairs to alert MASK."
Scott smirk, "Oh that's very funny. T-bob do you remember when we use to play flashlight tag?"
He replied, "Remember? How could I forget, you shut down my night vision so I wouldn't cheat, and you always forgot to turn it back on afterwards. Then I ended up falling down the stairs in the middle of the night."
Scott took that as a yes, "Well I need you to get the attention of the guards, but you're going to have to stay out of sight. Meanwhile, I'm gonna climb up the wall on the opposite side."
T-bob grabbed Scott's arm, "And let you go in there by yourself?"
Scott didn't give him an option, "Either you help me out, or else I'm gonna get caught." He handed T-bob the flares, "Do what ever you have to, to get their attention. They should investigate since you'll be near the same spot Roxy was picked up."
"I can't believe I'm doing this. Your dad surely gonna sent me to the trash compactor this time, " He cried.
"Give me 5 minutes before you start," was the last thing Scott said as he made his way around the castle.
T-bob waited in the forest with his arms crossed, "I feel like this is the Blair Witch Project all over again." T-bob started to run around in circles in the woods letting his metal feet crunch every leaf and stick in sight. He turned his flashlight eyes on and lighted the flares in his hands. To add to the effect, T-bob also amplified his voice making pathetic ghost sounds.
Two guards looked towards the direction of the strange noises. They could make out some faint lights coming from the woods. The first guard said, "It could be more teenagers."
The second guard radioed the ground force, "We have some suspicious light and sound coming from the east end of the wall. Send a group to round up the perpetrators."
The first guard pulled out a sniper riffle and looked thru the eyepiece, "Hey, I think I see it."
"Who is it?" ask the second guard.
The guard replied a bit appalled, "What the hell is that thing? It's a white thing-a-ma-bob with torches."
The other guard shrugged, "Eh go ahead an shoot it. The ground force will pick up the mess."
The guard smiled as he glanced at his pray, "Got a shot and I'm gonna take it."
T-bob stopped as he notice a little red light on his chest, "What's this?"
The sniper made a direct hit at T-bob and caused him to fall over, "See told ya I'd get it!"
T-bob pulled himself off the ground, "I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! Look at the hole in my beautiful metal exoskeleton!"
The guard blinked twice, "Ya got to be kidding me. It just got up!"
The other guard smirked, "And you call yourself a sniper maybe you missed." He took the gun from his hands and aimed at T-bob who was still too busy gripping about the bullet. He fired the gun and the bullet hit T-bob in the side.
T-bob jumped, "Flashlight tag just got too dangerous. AH!! They're firing on me! MOMMY! " T-bob started to run, yet this time there were several other snipers on the wall and ground guards shooting at him. Each was puzzled as to why the thing would never die.
Meanwhile on the west end of the wall, Scott fired the grappling hook and started to climb up the wall. He pulled himself slowly up the rope and constantly glanced upward, to see if anyone was peeking over the wall. "Well this isn't too hard this is just like the rope in gym class," he then glanced down for a moment, "except there is no spotter." He gulped at the thought of falling to his death, since he was already half way up the wall. Scott continued up the rope focusing more on his dad and sister. A little height wasn't going stop him. About ¾ of the way up, he nearly lost his grip as he heard rapid gunfire. It rattled his nerves thinking of his friend, and what the guards would do to him if he were caught, "Oh I hope T- bob is ok." Once Scott reached the top, he peered over the edge to see if any guards were still watching. Each guard on the wall was too preoccupied with shooting at T-bob to notice him. He pulled himself over in haste and drop the grappling hook over the wall. He was about to move towards an entrance, when he saw Mayhem, Vanessa, and Rax appear. He ducked low along the wall and waited for an opportunity to present itself.
Mayhem shouted, "What the heck are you idiots shooting at?"
Scott looked at the door, it was a do or die situation. The guards were too focus on Mayhem that he could just squeeze thru the door unnoticed. While mayhem was rambling on, Scott stayed low and raced for the door without looking back.
The guard saluted, "Sir there is some unidentifiable thing out there that won't die."
Mayhem grumbled, "That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!"
One of the guards step forward, "Sir, I've shot at it many times and it still manages to get back up."
"I don't have time for this!" Mayhem grabbed the guy's shirt, "Stop playing duck hunt and investigate down there, NOW!"
Scott mange to slip thru the door, yet before he could move any further he could hear Mayhem booming voice coming closer from behind. Scott headed towards the closest room and shut the door behind him. He then rested this ear against the door listening.
Mayhem tried to maintain his temper, "You believe them? Their suppose to be Contra World's finest and their shooting at ghost. All that gunfire probably gonna attract the local authorities."
Vanessa hated having to control her bosses temper, "Don't worry about it. I'll just tell them we came across a couple of drunk hunters and took care of the problem."
Mayhem snorted, "I'm glad somebody around here uses their head."
Nash Gordy approached them, "Mayhem sir, I got word from headquarters. Both prisoners will be picked up at 11:00 hours."
Mayhem grumbled with dissatisfaction, "That's still not good enough. Every hour we wait MASK will be gaining ground on us."
Nash looked at him puzzled, "But didn't you tell Trakker that his teammates weren't coming."
Mayhem started to think he was the only one with a superior intellect, "You dolt! If Roxanne found this place, the rest of the MASK team can't be that far behind. Rax make sure the vehicles are ready for battle. We might need to hold the fort down long enough for the transfer to take place. They may be short a leader, but that's just gonna make them more aggressive." He then threw a questionable look to Rax, "Where the hell is Lester?"
Rax just shrugged, "Last time I saw him he was guarding the prisoner in the dungeon. He kind of figured you'd want a closer watch on him."
Mayhem stood their a bit shock, "What the hell happen that kid grow a brain over night? Tell him I want to see him, I have a job for him."
"Yeah no problem. I'll let him know after I check up on the vehicles," He walked away still thinking about the beating he had just given Lester, and how Mayhem was going react to that.
Scott looked at his watch, "There's still time to spare, but this would be a lot easier with MASK here. Hmmm Rax mention a prisoner in the dungeon. That's got to be Dad or Roxy, except Lester is down there. Well what choice do I have, I'm sure I can handle one person. At least I can put those karate lessons Gloria gave me to good use." He open door slightly and peaked thru, "The coast is clear." He cautiously walked down the hallway looking for stairs heading downward.
Once he found the stairs, he crept down the stone steps slowly and halted just before reaching the final step. Scott peered around the corner to get a glance at the dungeon. All he could see was his father chained to the wall, in a cold filthy dungeon. It did bother him that Rax had mention Lester being present, but it appeared nobody was guarding his father. He shrugged off this worry thinking Rax just made up some bogus story and continued walking towards his father in a carefree manor. Yet once he took his first step forward, he tripped over something and stumbled to the ground. Scott turned his head and noticed Lester sitting up against the wall asleep. Scott stayed perfectly still watching Lester closely, yet he didn't even flinch.
Matt woke up from the sudden noise, to see a boy lying on the ground waiting for Lester to stir. He whispers as he noticed Lester was still knocked out cold, "Scott? What the hell are you doing here?"
The boy pulled himself off the floor and pressed his face against the bars, "We came to save you dad."
Matt looked at him confused, "We?"
Scott explained, "Yeah me and Roxy, but it looks like I'm the one doing all the rescuing at the moment."
Matt was grateful for his son's intentions, yet angry that he'd endanger his life, "Leave me and get out of here!"
Scott protested, "I'm not going to leave you here. You and Roxy are the only family I have."
Matt calmed his voice and tried to speak some reason into the boy, "Listen to me. Scott you wouldn't make it very far dragging me around. I only have one good leg. I know there's a chance we may not see each other again, but what makes me stronger is knowing my children are far away from this hellhole as possible. I love you Scott, but if you truly love me as your father you will get your sister and get out here immediately."
Lester put a hand on Scott's right shoulder, "That's right kid you should of just stayed on the outside. You want to go give your daddy a one last kiss goodbye," he snorted.
Scott just looked into his father's eyes and didn't resist Lester's grip. He then elbowed Lester in the gut, "oohhhh that's still a bit tender." While Lester bended over in agony, Scott grabbed Lester's hand from his shoulder and twisted his arm behind his back. He then pulled the gun from Lester's hilted, stepped back, and aimed the gun directly at him. Lester turned around and looked at him, "Hey now give that back!"
Scott replied in a serious tone, "DON'T MOVE! See dad we do have a chance to escape."
"One gun isn't going to get us thru the front gate alive," Matt replied
"But can't we take him hostage?" he looked to his dad for answers.
Lester laughed, "Oh yeah daddy can we please take him hostage? Kid you're too stupid to pull the trigger." With that remark, Lester made an attempt for the gun, but Scott put both his hands on the gun to keep it steadily aimed on Lester.
"You've taken away the only family I have, and if it means I have to shoot you to save them, then I will. Now where's Roxanne at?" Scott shouted.
"Why am I gonna tell you that? Talk some reason into your brat Trakker." Lester pleaded uncertain if the boy was serious or not.
Matt looked at this determine son, "Your talking to a boy who's about to lose everything he loves. What can I do? I'm chained to the wall."
Lester was sweating as he saw Scott's hand playing with the trigger finger, "Alright, alright I'll take you to her. Not like you'll actually be able to get out of here anyways."
Scott waved the gun indicating that Lester should go first. He then looked to his father, "I'll be back dad. I'm not leaving without you."
Matt knew his words wouldn't change his son's mind, "Just what ever you do don't sink to their level."
Lester led the way, with Scott following closely behind. "This kid stupid. All I have to do is lead him into a room full of agents," Lester smiled wicked as he plotted in his mind. He looked ahead and notice the dinning area was just around the corner. "Were almost there, just around that corner," he said trying to ensure him that he was leading him in the correct direction. Lester then stood at the door for a moment collecting his thoughts.
He opened the door and Scott followed in behind him. Lester shouted, "Hey guys look who I've caught." Scott stood there holding the gun firmly, yet was terrified with the number of agents and Contra World soldiers in the room. Rax, Vanessa, Cliff Dagger, and Bruno all left their seats and surrounded Scott.
Scott shouted thinking he was still in control with the gun, "TAKE ME TO ROXY OR I'LL SHOOT HIM!"
Rax said with his arms cross, "Eh go ahead and shoot him. He's practically worthless."
Vanessa added, "You know he tried to rape your sister. He doesn't deserve to live."
Bruno insisted, "Why can't I shoot him instead?"
Cliff Dagger smiled, "His stereo is mine."
Lester said with anger, "Hey guys!"
Scott said furious, "You told me you take me to Roxy. Your useless!" With that final word he fired the gun, and Lester's body fell to the floor.
"Are you trying to be useless on purpose?" Scott said still holding the gun to Lester's back.
Lester shook his head from his horrible daydream, "Uh on second thought, let's not take the short cut thru here. You'll get caught." Lester's smile faded thinking, "I have better chances of everyone else shooting me, then this kid." Lester lead Scott up a couple fleet of stairs towards Roxanne's room, "Ok kid here we are." He stepped into the room and noticed nobody in the room, "Shit she's not here did she escape?"
Roxanne was up against the wall holding a lamp her hand. She then charged Lester from the side and hit him over the head with the lamp. The lamp shattered as he fell face first into the ground, "You were warned to stay the hell away from me." She became startled slightly as she noticed there was somebody behind Lester.
Scott entered the room and shut the door behind him, "Surprise to see me?"
"SCOTT! Oh my god!" she had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her bother giving him a hug, "I heard gun shots from outside and I feared." She let go and wiped her eyes, "How did you manage to get in here?"
Scott smiled, "Well the old fashion way. I used T-bob as a diversion, it works every time."
"Well I have to admit you were right I was wrong," she confessed as she sat down on the bed.
Scott stepped over Lester and joined his sister on the bed, "We have to rescue dad now. They're sending a transport at 11 to pick you and dad up."
Roxanne looked down hopeless, "What's the point it's too late. Dad told them everything," She looked up and sighed, "What can we do?"
"Not give up hope and don't just assume dad told them everything. We have to try. Now there have to be something we can do to delay them, until MASK gets here," Scott insisted.
Roxanne ponders, "MASK.my mask it might be here. I can't imagine Mayhem leaving something so powerful behind. If I just shoot the transport plane, it won't even get off the ground."
Scott smiled, "That sounds like a good plan, but this castle is pretty big. That's a lot of ground to search."
Roxanne looks down at Lester, "Not unless he tells us."
"Hey I had a hard enough time trying to get him to show me the way with this," he showed her the gun.
Roxanne smiled as she took the gun from Scott, "Well knowing my history. He knows I'm not afraid to shoot a gun. I have a good reason to be asking for some payback."
Roxanne took a glass of water and splashed it over Lester's face, "Time to wake up!"
Lester shook his head of water, "Ah that's cold!" He was going to get up, but realized he was now tied to the four corners of the bed. He pulled at his restraints, yet failed miserably, "Oh come on sweetie pie this isn't nice, untie me."
Roxanne raised a brow, "What I thought you were into this whole bondage thing? I really thought you'd enjoy same kinky experience I had just a few hours ago."
"Oh yeah," Lester sounded interested.
"Yeah," she said in a seductive voice and sat on his chest, " Now where is my mask."
Scott stood in the corner out of Lester's sight rolling his eyes in disgust.
"That's gonna cost you another kiss," He puckered up.
Roxanne pulled the gun out and jabbed it under Lester's chin, "You were saying?"
"I'll scream," Lester manage to squeeze out.
"Oh go ahead scream like a little girl. Then who's going to respect you now? I'll shoot this bullet right thru your head, before one sound echoes thru your vocal cords," she threatened. "Where is it?"
"Mayhem has it in his office," Lester confessed.
"Where's the office at?" she continued.
"The room that belongs to the duke, on the second floor right wing. Can you ease off the gun, " Lester said in a scared voice sweating under his brow.
Roxanne jump off the bed and onto the floor, "Alright Scott let's get going."
Lester protested, "UNTIE ME!"
"Are you nuts?" Scott grabbed a piece of cloth and gagged Lester.
"Don't worry Lester somebody will be here shortly to undo you," she snickered. "After they beat the living shit out of you for coming in here and letting me escape."
Lester tried to scream thru the gag, "I'll get you for this!" Yet very little of his words could be made out.
The sun was coming up over the horizon. The quite town of Salzburg, Austria was rumbling, by the sound of MASK vehicles coming down the road.
Bruce indicated, "The tracking signal for Shark is just a mile ahead."
Gloria sipped some coffee as she sat in between Alex and Bruce, "I hope it's in one piece."
The vehicles halted once they reached Shark, which was parked outside the local pub. Jacques remarked, "Well this is purely appropriate? What are the odds we find them both inside drunk?"
Brad shook his head, "I'd rather find them in the bar, instead of VENOM's hideout. Let's go in and ask if anybody seen them."
Both Brad and Jacques headed into the bar, to check with the locals regarding the missing teenagers; meanwhile Buddy, Gloria, and Bruce were checking around Shark for possible damage or sabotage.
Buddy commended, "So far it doesn't look like she left another thank you gift in the car."
"No but she did manage to leave my car unlock, with the keys still in the car," Gloria replied in a disapproved tone, as she open the car door. She sat down in the driver seat and started her computer up, "Computer run full diagnostic on Shark." She tapped her fingers impatiently on the stirring wheel, while she waited for the scan to complete. Her attention flew to Jacques and Brad as they returned to the group disappointed; from the looks of it none of the locals knew anything about the two teenagers. She then noticed a brochure for a museum on the dashboard and examined it closely. After reading the brochure, Gloria looked straight ahead and noticed the castle/museum was only a few miles ahead from their location. She jumped out of Shark, "Hey guys they left us another clue."
Dusty insisted, "I'm getting sick'n tired of these run-around games."
She insisted, "Look ahead gentlemen that's our fortress we need to conquer."
"How can you be so sure?" Jacques asked with uncertainty.
"I can't imagine they left to go site seeing," She replied as she held up the brochure of the museum.
"I'll go gather information and blue prints of the castle from Rhino's computer," Alex said as he headed for Rhino's computer room.
Hondo shook his head, "It's a shame that such a historic marvel is going to get caught in the middle of this."
Brad put a hand on Hondo's shoulder, while looking at the grand castle in the distance, "Just don't tell you students you destroyed a part of history."
While the agents waited for Rhino's computer to retrieve information, what was left of a medium size white robot came up the road. Gloria put her hand to her mouth, "Is that T-bob?" T-bob had several bullet holes in his exoskeleton, exposed wires that were sparking in several places, and one working eye. He was slowly hobbling down the road with a flat tire.
"T-bob do I dare ask what happened?" Bruce kneeled down as he took a closer look at T-bob.
"I now know how Swiss cheese feels like," T-bob said grumbling, as he sat on the ground removing his feet and dumping several dozen bullets on the ground.
Buddy insisted, "Where are the kids?"
T-bob looked down disappointed, "Inside. After Roxy let herself get caught, I wasn't going to let Scott do the same. He wouldn't listen." T- bob put both his metal hands on his head cowering in shame, "Why.why wouldn't he listen? It's all my fault."
"No my friend. It's not your fault," Bruce remarked, " With or with out your help Scott would of chose to follow his heart."
T-bob looked up at Bruce, "You will save them right?"
Alex answered as he approach the team, "We sure the hell will try old chap."