Daddy's Girls: Chapter 21
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The two agents rushed down the halls with their daughters in their arms, but once they reached the hallway's interception point their escape was halted. They could hear a group of solider heading in their direction. The two men looked around for a place to hide, but there was nothing but long corridors in each direction
"What is it with bad guys and having a maze full of endless tunnels under their compounds with no place to hide?" Matt asked with humor in his tone.
"I don't know you got me, but speaking of long tunnels. How about we make this one longer for them. Hocus Pocus on!" Brad projected an image of a wall in front of them. "As long as they don't touch it we'll be fine."
Lester Sludge made his way down the corridor with several Contra World soldiers following behind him. "Unbelievable! I can't believe you lost a sick guy who can barely walk and two little girls. And my uncle says I'm incompetent."
One of the soldiers limped down the hallway rubbing his head, "Wait til I slit that little red head throat. I ain't gonna let her get away with this!"
"Yeah well Mayhem gonna slit your throat if you don't find her. We're suppose to be evacuating, and we're wasting valuable time by search for them." Lester halted at the interception and looked around, "That's funny I could of sworn their was another hallway here that lead to the infirmary?" He starred in a complete daze, as his eyes remain transfixed upon the wall. He moved closer ready to touch the wall, as if he thought it was an illusion.
Both Matt and Brad could hear their hearts pounding loudly with fear that they wondered if Lester could hear it as well. The anticipation of being caught continued to run high the closer he got to the false wall.
The soldiers glanced to one another thinking Lester had lost his mind. One of the soldiers spoke up. "You lost sir?"
"No I'm not lost private," He allow the confusion to drift from his face, and he turned around to face his men taking a more commanding tone, "You men get moving and search every high and low spot there is. I want them found!" After the men took off he just remain there dumbfounded. He pace back'n forth as though something wasn't right, "I know I came down this way I can't be losing my mind. We'll Unc' did tell me to lay off the coke, but I've been clean for almost 12 hours."
The two MASK agents remained still and watch nervously as Lester continued to bicker about his own sanity, behind the holographic wall. It gotten to the point that Lester had given up on his memory and took a few steps forward, until he heard a small groan.
Matt's attention drifted downwards towards his daughter as she tighten her grip around him and buried her head into his chest. Deep down he knew it hurt the tears flowing down her face had told him everything. The next thing he knew she was biting down hard on his uniform not to utter a sound, but a few muffled grunts escaped her lips that she couldn't conceal.
"Whose there?" Lester jump to attention after catching the faint sound. His eyes shifted back to the same wall that drew his suspicion. Pulling the gun from his hilt, he cautiously approached the wall.
Matt and Brad knew they could take Lester with no hesitation under normal circumstances, but their daughters rested in their arms. Neither was willing to let go of their little girl for even a second.
Lester raised his voice even if he wasn't sure his hunch was right, "Drop the illusion! I know your there somewhere if I have too I'll shoot all over the place 'til I hit you."
By Matt's nod, Brad dropped the illusion to reveal their secret.
"I knew it! See and Unc' said I wasn't smart to catch one of ya, but I caught two," He quickly regain his composure to sound more professional, and held the gun directly on Brad.
"Alright Lester you caught on to our little trick," Matt humbly commended, "I doubt we could talk this over and be rational about the situation."
"Rational? Those two are Contra World property that you're stealing. I'm gonna get a hefty promotion for bring you two in."
"They don't belong to Contra World!" Brad snapped back with anger, "Cause their our daughters, you have NO RIGHT TO TAKE THEM FROM US!"
"We're Contra World we take what ever the hell we feel like it! Turn around and get moving!"
"You know Lester we wasted enough time as is, so your going to let us by or face the consequences."
"Oh please what the heck do ya think your going to do to me, your arms are full and my gun on your buddy. Your not stupid enough to risk that."
"Your right Lester," Matt said with disappointment, "Spectrum ON!" A laser beam erupted from his mask spectrum and hit the gun.
Lester instantly dropped his gun as his hand felt like it was on fire, "OUCH!"
"Next time I'll go for a leg," Matt threatened in a dark tone. Lester's eyes widen and he rush off down the corridor. "We better hurry it won't take long before he brings back up." Without another word exchanged between them, they both made haste towards the exit.
There was a light at the end of the corridor that brought hope to a clean escape. Soon the exhausted girls would be resting peacefully in their own beds, under the protective watch of their fathers. But that assumption came up short, once the sounds of battle outside grew louder.
"They mustn't not been able to push VENOM back any further," Matt replied a bit disappointed.
"That isn't good," Brad noted halting before the manhole exit, "It's too dangerous to be dancing around like chickens on the battlefield, especially with more then one life at risk."
"Agreed," Matt gently set Roxanne on the ground, "I'm going to take a peek." The moment Matt poked his head up out of the manhole he couldn't believe his eyes. All the smoke had disappeared from early to reveal the chaos on the battlefield. Both Thunderhawk and Firefly were overtaking Switchblade.
"Blast it! I can't do anything with these two hot heads chasing me all over this blazing sky." Mayhem grumbled as he hit his control panel
"Don't worry about it Mayhem, sir I got it taken care of," Nash responded. "One fish on a hook coming up." The moment Firefly passed over head Outlaw, Nash launched its grappling hook onto Firefly's right wing. The rocket glider got violently yanked back by the force giving Julio a bad case of whiplash.
"What was that?" Julio looked around as his vehicle started to lose altitude and fall towards the ground.
Bruce did a quick 360 in Thunderhawk, once he noticed his friend was snagged on a line in his rearview mirror, "This is one fish you cannot have." The Camero's wing blasters fired upon the thick cable. A few shots missed the line, but only one shot was all he needed to snap the line. Even thought Outlaw no longer had its grip on Firefly, the rocket glider was falling at such force that Julio had no choice but to transform back into a dune buggy.
Sly Rax figured this was the perfect opportunity to strike. The driver would be too busy with the sudden transformation; he'd be unaware of his new surroundings. "Ya snapped the line...guess I'll have to chase after my fishing bate," Rax commended as Piranha's machineguns fired directly on Firefly.
"Maybe you should be reflecting about who is whose bate," Gloria retorted as she sped Shark up and rammed right into the back of Piranha.
The distraction of Shark's direct hit to Piranha gave Firefly enough time to cooperate from the surprise attack and transform back into a rocket glider and take flight.
"Hey now that isn't nice," Cliff Dagger noted as his reciprocating cannons hidden behind the drop down front grill starting figuring at Shark.
The chain of events continued to thicken the battle especially when Dusty's daring stunt driving kicked in, "Hold on darlin' this cowboy gonna save ya!"
Before Gator could make a move towards Shark and Jackhammer. Stinger's claw grabbed a hold of Gator's roll bar in a tight grip.
"Where ya think your going little man, I ain't finish with you yet!" Bruno shouted in between his wicked laugh. The claw lifted the orange jeep a few feet above the ground with its tires squealing like crazy. Dusty was still in the driver seat, but he appeared to be unconscious or maybe pinned to the seat. Either way he wasn't moving.
"Oh my god! DAD!" Jess scream from Rhino, "Alex we have to do something!"
"Already on it! Sit tight," Alex replied
Rhino attempted to aid Gator, but was blocked by a wall of missiles coming from Outlaw. "You think I'm going let you stop my buddy from turning your friend into last week trash, you got another thing coming," Nash giggled in a nerdy tone, as thought he was playing a video game from his control station.
"How bad is it?" Brad asked.
Looking back down the manhole Matt replied, "Its not looking good at this point. I'll signal to Bruce to come down. Spectrum on!" A bright light shot from Spectrum and straight into the sky.
"It's the signal," Bruce replied over the radio as he was being chased by Switchblade. Thunderhawk started to lose altitude.
"Don't worry I got Mayhem taken care of," Julio responded to his friend.
"Where the heck does he think he's going?" Mayhem mumbled with annoyance. "You can't get away from me that easy." Mayhem armed his rockets to fire, but before he could fire them he felt a powerful jerk to his plane from the back. Firefly was firing its tripod laser ray directly at Switchblade boosters. Once Mayhem regained his composure by the surprise attack, he couldn't tell where the red Camero went.
Thunderhawk landed just a few yards away from the manhole. Matt and Brad raced up across the desert with their daughters in their arms seeking shelter in Thunderhawk.
"Are they ok?" Bruce asked the moment he saw an unconscious Annie and deathly ill Roxanne.
"They'll be fine if we get them out of here," Matt hastily replied helping Roxanne into the back of Thunderhawk.
Once the girls were secured in the back Matt looked to Brad and forced the two vials into his hand, "Get in and get going. I don't want this car to turnaround for anything!"
"What where are you going?!" Brad jump back slightly surprised.
"Dusty's in trouble."
"Oh so you weren't going to mention that to me?" Brad replied slightly hurt his friend kept such vital information from him. "He's my friend too, I'm not going to sit here..."
"Brad you're the best man to ensure our girls get out of here. I'm not going to leave as long as I know my men are in jeopardy. I won't be able to live with myself leaving without even attempting to do something. I plan to pay Gorey a little visit, that should shift the luck on the field."
"I don't like it, but good luck," Brad pat Matt on the shoulder and got into the passenger seat of Thunderhawk.
Before Matt left he could hear his daughter whimpering in the back seat. More tears drifted down her face, "Don't...don't leave...me.... dad." A shaking arm reached out towards him trying to grab hold of him.
Matt ran his hand over her face to wipe away her tears, "Your in good hands. I'll see you back home. I promise. I love you darling, just stay strong for me."
Roxanne starred at him with glassy eyes. She understood what her father was doing, but she still wish he wasn't leaving. She closed her eyes still thinking of her father's words. I'll see you back home...stay strong...I love you.
Brad turned around to take one final look at Annie before he steeled himself to get down to business. She lay curled up in the blanket he'd wrapped her in, still unmoving. He leaned over the front seat to find her pulse still beating steady although she looked deathly pale. He gave her cheek a gentle caress before directing his thoughts back to the problem at hand.
"Get moving NOW!" Matt ordered as he started to run towards Outlaw.
"Will do, take care Matt," Bruce replied as he lift Thunderhawk into the air, "A little cover?"
"You got it," Brad replied not so enthusiastic about Matt staying behind. "Hocus Pocus on!" None of the VENOM agents noticed the MASK vehicle getting away. In fact all they saw was a moving cloud.
