MASK 2:The Next Generation

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The Taking of George Island

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AN:Okay, here's where I was going before I realized I was rambling. Here, we're going to see if the Foxes can pull off their raid on George Island.
One note to Mindforge veterans: the character Sven Ericsen was not based on or named after the Hitman, despite having the same nationality and a similar last name.
Well, here we go.

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Skull tried to catch his breath after Crossbones drove the Beluga into the river. "Well, the waterproofing seems to be holding." he said nervously.

"Hold on a second." said Crossbones. "Where's that switch? Here goes." He pushed the transformation switch.

The Beluga's rear split into three sections. The top half elevated, revealing torpedo launchers and a gantry crane. The lower half split into two more sections, each with a waterjet and a laser weapon. The front wheels rotated up to become directional propellers.

"Now, where is this place?" asked Crossbones.

"Okay, keep going upstream." said Skull.

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Hack and Slash raced towards the main gate at high speed. Knowing that the Ram could rip through the gate better than the Doberman, Hack let Slash go first. The two guards fired on the approaching vehicles.

"They're not slowing down!" said one guard.

"Take cover!" said the other.

The guards ran to the sides of the road. The Ram tore through the main gate a second later. The Doberman followed.

One of the guards grabbed his radio and said "We've got two vehicles in the base. A red Mustang and a silver Isuzu. They just took out the main gate."

"Copy, gate. Over." responded someone on the other end.

The Ram and Doberman came under weapons fire from guard towers, machine gun nests, vehicles, and soldiers on foot.

"It's getting a little too hot in here!" said Slash.

"I know!" said Hack. "Time to show off our party favors." He tagged the transformation button on the Doberman's control panel.

The Mustang's body rose as the wheels lowered. The rear section rose with the front end connected by way of a pair of rails. The front end retracted to the rear and revealed a pair of cannons. A missile rack was revealed on the front.

"Gotcha!" said Slash as he hit the Ram's transformation switch.

The Isuzu's rear section split open to become wings. Jet engines and a vertical stabilizer elevated into position. The front section split open to become horizontal stabilers and revealed a pair of guns. As soon as the wheels rotated under the Ram's bottom, it took off.

The base's guards fired upon the two vehicles some more.

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"I was afraid of this." said Gates as he looked out the window at the raging battle.

"It's Darwood, isn't it?" asked Julie.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is." said Gates, confirming his daughter's worst fears.

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Gates was so focused on the battle, he failed to notice the Beluga surfacing in the river right below him, just as Skull had planned.

The Beluga changed back into a plumber's van and drove up to the front of Gates' house. Skull and Crossbones exitted the vehicle.

"Skull, you were right." said Crossbones as he looked out at the battle. "Everyone's so focused on Hack and Slash, they're not even noticing us."

"Was there any doubt?" asked Skull as he walked over to Gates' front door.

Crossbones joined him and noticed the eletronic keypad next to the door. "I believe this is your department." he said.

"I gotcha." said Skull as he put on his mask and plugged in the control cable. He reached his right hand towards the door and said "Hacker, on!"

A red beam shone on the keypad. Skull saw a grid overlapping his hand. He moved to push a few switches on the "grid" until a chime was heard. The keypad's display showed the message "Access Granted".

"There, we're in." said Skull.

"Let's go." said Crossbones as he donned his mask and plugged in the cables.

Inside the house, and alarm sounded. Gates looked at the security monitor in shock.

"Someone is in the house!" he yelled.

"What? How?" replied Julie.

"I don't know." said Gates. "We have to prepare for them."

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"This house isn't too big." said Crossbones. "It shouldn't be too hard to find them."

"If my suspicions are right, we'll find them in the office upstairs." said Skull.

The two started for the stairs. After they reached the top, they found the office.

"I'll go first." said Crossbones. He jumped and kicked the door in.

Inside, Julie and Gates had their weapons drawn. Julie quickly aimed towards Crossbones, but Crossbones got in a shot first. He held his hands close together and called "Chi, on!"

A yellow ball of energy formed between his hands. He threw it at Julie and knocked her onto the couch. Her gun went flying.

"Julie!" called Gates. In his shock, he failed to notice Crossbones jumping towards him. In a second, Crossbones had knocked Gates' gun out of his hand. Another second, Crossbones had Gates' arm in a hold.

Gates struggled to get up. "One false move and your daughter gets it!" ordered Skull. Gates looked over to see Skull was ready to inflict serious harm on Julie.

"Okay, I give." said Gates. "What do you want?"

"Call off your dogs." said Skull as he pointed out to the battle at the base.

"Okay, okay." said Gates. "Just don't hurt my daughter." He pushed a button on the intercom.

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Hack found himself surrounded by guards. Slash was still dodging anti-aircraft fire.

"Surrender now and we'll make this painless." said one guard.

"What?" said the guard captain over his radio. "Okay, it's your orders."

"What's wrong?" asked a guard.

"Surrender to the invaders." said the captain. "They've got Gates' daughter."

"What?" asked the guard.

"Surrender!" repeated the captain. "That's an order!"

The troops lowered their weapons and mumbled epithets against Hack.

"Ha! You got off easy!" said Hack. He acted tough at that moment, but inside he was sighing with relief.

"We rule!" said Slash as he started to land the Ram.

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"I hope you're happy!" growled Gates.

"Better watch that tone." said Skull. "Don't want an accident, do you?"

"Skull! His cel phone's in use!" said Crossbones.

Skull walked over to the phone and saw that Crossbones was right. He quickly turned it off.

"Who'd he call?" asked Crossbones.

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The next morning in Los Angeles, Jeremy Sanchez woke up and went into his kitchen to make breakfast. He noticed he had a message on his answering machine. He checked it.

"Jeremy, this is Gates." came the message. "I'm in my George Island house with Julie. Darwood's men are attacking and I fear we're about to be kidnapped or worse. If you get this message..."

Gates was cut off by the door being kicked in by Crossbones.

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Within a couple of hours, Jeremy had the MASK team gathered at the new MASK headquarters in the Santa Monica mountains. He was replaying the message for them. The last thing they heard was Skull walking over to turn off the phone.

"That was from Gates." said Jeremy. "From the looks of it, Darwood has invaded George Island and taken Gates and his daughter captive. From what I can tell, he is most likely searching for something in the military base Gates was watching over."

"What kind of base is this?" asked Michael.

"It's a disposal yard for unusable weapons prototypes." said Jeremy. "That's where the military dismantles and melts down prototypes for weapons that are obsolete, impractical, or declared illegal by the Geneva Convention."

"Do we have any intel on the facility?" asked Max.

"Sorry, no." said Jeremy. "The facility is so top secret, most people have never even heard of it. There are no files on it, including floorplans, photos, or maps."

"There goes MY particular talent." said Liam.

"How are doing this?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, I didn't recognize the voices on the tape." said Caitlin.

"It's obvious the Foxes have some new personel." said Jeremy. "I think it's a good time to inform you that the new vehicles are ready."

"Yes!" said Laura as she made a fist and pulled it down.

"What about bringing in some of the other try-outs for alternates?" asked Wei.

"Yeah, how'd the request go?" asked Rocky.

"Not well, I'm afraid." said Jeremy. "My superiors asked me to justify bringing in some of the other candidates. I was able to get one operative for this mission. He'll be here shortly."

"He's here now." said Scooter as he looked out the window. He saw a young blond-haired man walking up the steps.

A second later, the man opened the door. "I was given this address and told to report here." he said in a Scandinavian accent. "Are you Jeremy Sanchez?"

"This is the place." said Jeremy. "Welcome aboard. Guys, meet Sven Ericsen, our spy photographer."

"Nice to meet ya." said Kenny.

"Glad you could join us." said Enzo.

"So, what's the big emergency?" asked Sven.

"You'll be briefed on the way." said Jeremy. "Come on, it's time to leave."

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A few minutes later, the agents reported to the hangar. The agents' vehicles, the Warhorse, Ferret, Lightning, Skyhawk, Bear, and Mammoth were parked off to one side while two large similarly-designed transport planes were in the middle of the room.

"I like this one." said Max of the blue and white plane. "It matches my jumpsuit."

"I'm glad you like it." said Jeremy. "That's the plane we're taking to George Island."

"I can see why." said Enzo. "Looks like it was designed for a water landing with this hull."

"George Island has a dedicated radar net." said Michael. "It would be impossible to enter their airspace without someone finding out."

"So, we land offshore and plan our infiltration then." said Caitlin.

"Sounds reasonable." said Max. "But if the radar net on George Island is so impenatrable, how are we gonna get in there? I don't think I can keep Whisper going that long."

"It's no problem." said Jeremy. "Enzo's driving in there with Scooter."

"I think now would be a good time to show off our new vehicles." said Enzo.

"I agree." said Jeremy as he pulled out a remote and pushed a button. "Take a look." he added as a door opened, revealing five more vehicles.

"The yellow one is yours, Enzo." said Jeremy as he pointed out a yellow Fiat Coupe. The grill had been painted white and the front clip was painted to resemble the face of a barracuda. The spoiler was designed to resemble a dolphin's fluke. "It's called the Marlin." said Jeremy.

"I hope this one's mine." said Michael as he looked over a white '71 Dodge Challenger. The car sported a red, orange, and yellow flame job and very mean-looking mag wheels. The car's hood had a hole for the supercharger to extend through and the exhausts ran down the sides.

"I thought you'd like it." said Jeremy. "Her vehicle code name is Wolverine."

"This must be mine." said Laura as she looked at an ambulance based off a Dodge Sprinter van. Not surprisingly, it was white with red stripes running down the sides, had a raised roof with red lights, medical symbols on the rear and side windows, and the hood was adorned with the word "ECNALUBMA" in reversed letters. Under the side stripes were the words "Transcon Medivac".

"It's called the Dove." said Jeremy. "Like it?"

"It should get the job done." said Laura.

"If the plate on this one is any indication, it's mine." said Chris as he leaned against a blue Ford F-150. The truck had off-road wheels and tires, a rugged brush guard, and tribal graphics on the sides. The license plates were for Texas and read "BANZAI".

"It's yours, Chris." said Jeremy. "We call it the Roc."

"So, who's left?" asked Wei as he looked at the last vehicle, an orange Mack Ultraliner with a box trailer. The trailer was painted with a mural of a grassland, complete with buffalo.

"That's Kenny's vehicle, the Behemoth." said Jeremy.

"Nice!" said Kenny.

"Wait, that's only five vehicles." said Liam. "There were six agents who didn't have rides."

"That's right." said Caitlin. "Who's left out?"

"Scooter." said Rocky.

"Ah, don't worry about it." said Scooter. "I'd rather have my hands on a keyboard than a steering wheel anyday."

"Where's Sven?" asked Chris. "Ain't he comin'?"

"I'm here." said Sven as he stepped off the elevator. He had changed into his combat outfit, a light blue jumpsuit with yellow stripes. "I wonder if this jumpsuit was modelled after my home country's flag."

"We'll be ready to leave as soon as the pilot gets here." said Jeremy. "Here he comes now."

A young man walked in and said "I'm Capt. Jeffries. I'm supposed to be your pilot."

"You're just in time." said Jeremy. "We're ready to depart. We're taking the blue and white plane. We've already performed the walk-around."

"Okay, saddle up." said Jeffries.

The cargo ramp at the back of the plane lowered, then the agents drove on. Jeremy was first in the Skyhawk. Next to him was Enzo in the Marlin. Rocky was next on the Warhorse with Caitlin next to him in the Lightning. Michael followed him in the Wolverine alongside Liam in the Ferret. Behind them were Max in the Bear and Laura in the Dove. Behind Max were Chris in the Roc and Wei in the Mammoth in single file. Kenny pulled in the appropriately named Behemoth behind Laura.

The hatch closed and Capt. Jeffries started the engines. Within minutes, the plane was in the air.

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Not long after that, Skull and Crossbones had returned to the base with Gates and his daughter. Hack and Slash were joining them in a mini-victory party.

"Let me go." warned Julie. "I mean it."

"If you don't shut that trap of yours..." warned Slash as he made a fist.

"Lay one hand on her and you're no longer safe here." ordered Gates.

"When Darwood gets here, we'll see how brave she is." said Crossbones. He was secretly worried about a sudden shift in power and getting overwhelmed by the base's soldiers.

"Here he comes now." said Hack.

The Firefox flew towards the base. It changed back into an Acura NSX and landed on the runway. It drove up to Gates, his daughter, and the Foxes and stopped. The driver climbed out and removed his mask.

Gates glared at the driver and growled "Darwood."

"Ah, Agent Gates." said Darwood. "You look well. Have you been working out?"

"What are you doing here?" demanded Gates. "Why have you invaded this base and taken me and my daughter hostage?"

"Those reasons will be revealed shortly." said Darwood. "My agents will be arriving as well. I decided to come now to personally assess the situation. I've also come to personally transport an old friend of mine to the island and introduce him to the battle against MASK. I believe your daughter is familiar with him, Agent Gates."

Just then, the passenger door on the Firefox opened and another man climbed out. Gates' jaw dropped in shock.

Julie fell back in stark terror. "You!" she screamed.

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AN:Okay, this time I'm leaving off for dramatic purposes, not to prevent myself from rambling. I think I gave enough information in the first few chapters so you can probably guess why Julie Gates is so afraid of Darwood's friend.
I was looking through the profiles of the first six chapters and I realized that I forgot to put in Rocky's profile. I'll rectify that right now. As a bonus, I'll give you Michael's profile as well.

Rocky Jackson

Allegiance:MASK 2

Position:Weapons Expert

Birthplace:Topeka

Mask:Safety (projects a beam that shuts down weapon systems)

Vehicle Code Name:Warhorse (custom Harley-Davidson/gunnery platform)

Bio:Rocky (allegedly his real name) served with the army in the first Gulf War. When he came back, he joined a biker gang and took off on the American highways. They rode together for over a decade until they encountered one of the Foxes. A gun battle ensued and Rocky was the only survivor. He now works with MASK out of revenge.

Michael Rainwolf

Allegiance:MASK 2

Position:Scientist

Cover Job:research scientist

Birthplace:Tulsa Mask:Heat (projects a heat ray)

Vehicle Code Name:Wolverine (Dodge Challenger/tower tank)

Bio:Michael is a research scientist who was given a proposal to join MASK, told he'd be working with science he'd never seen before. He was skeptical at first, but accepted anyway. When he saw vehicles that transformed and masks with seemingly magical properties, he was stunned. He decided to continue his work to further research this oddity.

Thank you for reading. We shall continue.