Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 12:

At this time of year everything north of the 70th parallel was in perpetual shadow as the Northern Hemisphere moved deeper into its winter season. Despite the darkness Cindy managed to pilot the Strato XL to a smooth if somewhat nerve-wracking landing, aided in part by Wade providing instructions through the remote unit and Ron using Jimmy's lantern for a landing light. Once down Ron and Cindy scrambled out of the rocket onto the frozen ice field, shivering from the arctic chill. Ron was the first to speak.

"You know, I really don't think you should have called that Air Canada pilot an air hog," he commented to Cindy.

Cindy was in no mood for criticism. "Hey, he was lumbering along at 400 knots and cut me off without signaling. What did he expect me to do?"

"Well, I admit that I'm no expert on aeronautics," Ron replied, "but I don't think they have turn signals on airliners."

"They should have," Cindy grumped. "I think poor Rufus fainted when I banked so hard to avoid a collision."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Rufus squeaked.

Ron shone the lantern in various directions but saw nothing of particular interest in any of them. "Wade! Any suggestions on where to head now?" he said to the remote in his other hand.

"No problems," Wade replied. "I'm tracking you on GPS and you're about half a mile geographically south of Target Zero. Turn to your left and head straight from there."

"Are you sure that's Target Zero?" Cindy asked as they began walking. Thanks to the cold the going over the surface was fairly easy as the snow and ice was frozen hard with no soft spots to sink into or wade through.

"I can't be absolutely certain," Wade answered. "But the sensors are picking up some faint electromagnetic signals. If we get closer we might be able to communicate with Kim. Assuming she has the Kim-municator and hasn't given up on reaching us."

Ron scoffed. "Kim giving up? That'll be the day." He suddenly shivered violently. "I didn't think it could ever be this cold," he said, pulling the jacket he had brought along closer about him.

"It would be worse with a wind," Cindy observed. She was dressed only slightly more heavily than Ron and she was shivering as well. Walking was helping keep them warm, but she knew that they needed to get out of the cold soon as neither were properly attired for prolonged arctic exposure. "Hopefully we won't have any problems getting inside Drakken's lair, and –"

"I think I can promise you that," a voice ahead said. "In fact, I'd say you really don't have much of a choice." Into the circle of light cast by the lantern in Ron's hand walked Beautiful Gorgeous, wearing a parka and wicked smile. "Unless, that is, you want to stay out here and freeze to death."

"There's another choice," Cindy spat. She suddenly somersaulted over Ron and began a vicious combination and kicks and punches against Beautiful. Although surprised by the onslaught Cindy's intended target quickly recovered and blocked or dodged all of Cindy's attacks. After a short time Cindy fell back, panting from the exertion of her valiant but futile efforts. Beautiful relaxed her own stance somewhat and nodded in grudging admiration.

"Not bad," she admitted. "But there's a couple things you need to know."

"And those are?" Cindy asked, waiting to get her second wind.

"First, I know anything you do about hand-to-hand combat in the martial arts, so you and your monkey kung fu friend together couldn't even hope to beat me."

"And second?"

In answer Beautiful put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Like malevolent genies from some hidden lamp ominous forms with lethal-looking weapons materialized from the darkness. As Ron and Cindy re-evaluated their situation Beautiful smiled. "Not that I'd personally care if my trigger-happy cohorts decided to take care of things their way, but Daddy and Drakken said that they want the buffoon and Neutron's girlfriend brought in unharmed."

Ron was irked by the reference. "I am not a buffoon!" he snapped.

Beautiful cooly arched one eyebrow. "So you're Neutron's girlfriend?"

"Buffoon it is," Ron conceded unhappily.

Cindy thought furiously as Beautiful and the henchmen accompanying her prepared to take her and Ron into charge. Her idea was only a chance in more ways than one, she knew, but under the circumstances she didn't have many options. "Nice one, Ron," she said bitterly. "Leading us into a trap in this remote place." She emphasized the last two words slightly.

Ron looked puzzled. "What? I didn't –"

"Just drop it, okay?"

Ron looked puzzled at Cindy's outburst although their adversaries showed no reaction as they began securing Cindy's hands behind her. Remote place? Drop it? he thought as Cindy stared silently at him. Then the words came together and his eyes widened slightly. As the henchmen moved towards Ron to tie his hands as well, he turned slightly to move the hand holding Wade's remote out of sight and flipped it into the blackness behind him. He couldn't be sure where it would land or how well the darkness would conceal it, but took hope in the fact that all the light sources were in front of him and that everything behind him was in shadow.

After Ron and Cindy were securely bound Beautiful nodded in satisfaction. "Back to the base," she ordered, and the group began moving in the direction that Wade had directed Cindy and Ron to go. As they walked Cindy wished that she could somehow speak with Ron, but their captors were taking no chances. She had made sure to separate them so that several henchmen were between the two as they walked, making any private conversations impossible. She could only hope that Wade had been monitoring the situation and was already contacting the authorities now that Drakken's and Calamitous' location had been confirmed. Or had it?

"Nice place for a hideout," Cindy, who was closest to Beautiful, commented.

The woman shrugged. "Not my choice. This is where Drakken and my father wanted to set up their big project."

Bingo! thought Cindy, although she showed no reaction. She hoped they were still close enough for Wade to hear. "If this is where there big project is, why capture us? Why not just get rid of us – like you tried to at that laboratory?"

Beautiful sounded amused. "Are you complaining that we didn't and are bringing you in alive instead?"

"No, no," Ron put in quickly. "No complaints. Alive is good."

"Maybe. Apparently the two big brains are planning some tests and need some live subjects. It might have been easier for both of you if we had shot you down with that missile on your way in."

"Tests?" asked Ron. "What kind of tests?"

"Not really sure," Beautiful admitted. "Apparently this is the first time a magnet this powerful has been built and both Drakken and my father are curious as to how it and what they do to the Earth's magnetic field with it will affect people." She sounded almost thoughtful. "I wouldn't mind seeing that myself. I wonder if the test chamber has an observation deck or something."

As Beautiful finished speaking they came to a ramp cut into the ice and snow that sloped gently downward for some hundred yards before ending an imposing set of steel doors secured by a keypad. Beautiful removed her thick glove to work the small buttons with her fingers and the doors slid open before her with a slight hiss, releasing a flow of warm air that engulfed them all. Despite their dire circumstances Ron and Cindy hurried into the warm environs, glad to be out of the frigid air. It was only when the massive doors shut behind them with a clang that the oppressive weight of the situation again settled over the two. As Ron and Cindy looked at each other a single thought crossed their mind: Could Wade help them in time?

Outside Wade had been working on just that as soon as the group had begun to move away from the remote, but as he activated the device's mobility circuits even he was surprised to discover he had unexpected help. A familiar chirping filled the speakers of his communications link.

"Rufus!" Wade called. "Is that you?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh!" the naked mole rat squeaked back.

"It sounds like they got the drop on Ron and Cindy. They need help and fast, right?" Another affirmative from Rufus came over the speakers. Wade's fingers immediately began to fly over his keyboard. "Okay, then. Let's see what kind of cavalry we've got here." After a few seconds of frenzied typing he let out a groan of disappointment.

"Trouble?" Rufus grunted.

"'Fraid so," Wade replied. "There's plenty of help to send, but you're so far away that it will be at least a couple hours before any of it can arrive." His voice took on a dismal tone. "It looks like we're the cavalry this time. And if we can get the remote inside the base, the shielding will cut me off from communicating with the remote like it did with Kim and Jimmy. You'd be on your own unless you can somehow manage to hook up with the others. It doesn't sound very good."

Rufus didn't waste a second in deciding. He leaped on the remote and straddled it like a horse, pointing in the direction Ron and Cindy had been taken. "Charge!" he squeaked.

End of Chapter 12