Author's Note: I'll answer your obvious question in a short and simple-like manner: Author's block. Yep, the cursed creativity disabler attacked my mind and raged a furious war against my imagination. My God, it was epic. Limbs were flying, explosions were everywhere and the bloodshed was brutal. However, those won't happen in this particular chapter because if it did, I have to change the rating so the kiddies won't read it. Enough ranting, just read this stuff I made and enjoy it.
Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.
Chapter 21: Escape
"LET ME OUT! LET-ME-OUT!" Rhonda shouted angrily as she banged the door repeatedly with her fists, "Don't you even know who I am? I'm a Lloyd, and I deserved a better treatment than this! Let me out now or I'll… I-I'll sue you!"
"Can it Rhonda!" Helga shouted irritably, "They won't entertain you, so shut the hell up!"
"HEY! At least I'm trying to get out!"
"Oh yeah!" she retorted back, "Like your annoying whining and shouting would be of any help!"
"Well, I don't see you do anything, you lazy ass!"
"I'm thinking about it! But with you screaming like a dumbass how am I supposed to think a way to get out from this mess?" she shouted vehemently.
"THAT'S IT!" Rhonda then jumped on Helga, and proceeded to fight in the small confined space of the little room with a large window above them that they couldn't reach, and thusly making their escape impossible. Sounds of smacks and slaps, slamming against walls, knocking down of buckets, rusty tools and other stuff could be heard outside the room by the guards clearly. They were seemed to be amused by it, a whole lot.
"What do you think the both of them are doing inside?" one of the guards asked the other.
"Fighting, duh." The other one replied back calmly.
That guard dude frowned at him, "Man, there's must be away to watch them."
"Yeah… to make sure they aren't doing other things and stuff…" said another. "You know… to-make-sure…" he reiterated giddily.
Then suddenly the room went silent, suggesting that the girls inside had stopped fighting.
"Damn!" cursed one of the guards, snapping his fingers, disappointed that the fight was over.
Back inside the room, Rhonda and Helga sat leaning back wearily on each opposite of the room, with their eyes looking at each other murderously. Both of them were wheezing for air and fight scars could be seen on their faces. Sweat ran down from the skin. The cold murderous look continued for a quite some time before one of them started to speak.
"Just like old times, huh?" Helga teased jovially, panting for air.
Rhonda scoffed back, "Shut up…" turned away from looking at Helga.
"So what are we going to do?" Helga said, "Submit our fate to those morons who holds us as captives? Resume our fighting? Or find a way to get the hell out of here?"
"You know, Helga. If you could just change your sarcastic and insulting tone, people would like you more."
Helga replied back with a soft sweet tone, "Well, okay. Maybe you are right Rhonda. Maybe I should change my tone and forget all the bullshit that we are both in right now." which was sarcastic by the way, just to ire Rhonda.
"God… you're impossible." She replied back, muttering.
"Boo-hoo. Cry me a river." Helga replied back. "You know, you should stop being all arrogant and egotistical all the time too. There are tonsof reason why 90 percent of the girls at school hates you, you know."
"What are you talking about? Unlike you, people like me. I'm smart, I'm pretty, I always help people out—"
"Help? Haha. That made my day. You know, every time when you help people you also shot them down as well?"
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did. Here's me quoting you when you helped Sid, which I still remember 'till this day, 'Sid, I know you're dirt poor and your mom barely has the money to support you, so here's some money to help you and a mp3 player.' And, how much did you give?" she asked rhetorically, "20 bucks. Yeah, like that would help him. You know, he felt insulted more than grateful you know. And what the hell the mp3 player is for? I suppose he could listen until money comes out of it."
Rhonda felt silent and guilty about it. She needed a good comeback to combat Helga.
"What about you? At least the whole school isn't against me. Why don't you try and be nice for a change, instead of mocking and insulting people at every opportunity given? Your sarcasms are hurtful. Even Phoebe told me she was quite annoyed with you sometimes because of that attitude of yours."
Helga was startled. The words really struck her hard. "Wow, that's just like the pot calling the kettle black." She tried to retort back.
"Unlike you, I'm terrible at insulting people. At least I'm being friendly. I'm being friendly because I want to dispel the ever popular rich girl myth and stereotype from me. Yes, there is still work to be done before I could throw away all the known generalization affiliated with me, but at least I try."
"And with that remark does it make you feel any better about yourself?" Helga asked.
After a long pondering, "Yes." She replied softly. "That's why I joined this thing. Not because I'm feeling insecure or feeling so almighty amongst all of you, but to prove people like you wrong that not all people like me are spoiled, arrogant, and self-conceited."
Helga snickered softly, "Somehow, I'm 'partially' convinced." She said, "You're still good friends with Nadine, even though the social gap between you two is wide. That's a good thing. You don't treat her like dirt."
"I can't do that to her. She's too great of a friend of me. Of course, she's weird and all with those creepy insects collection, but still, she's okay."
They then both smiled.
"What about you Helga? What is your reason joining this?" Rhonda asked.
"Sibling rivalry." She gave a direct answer, smiling. "That's the only thing that made me join this agency."
"See? Is it that hard to be nice just for once?" Rhonda said complementally, "Still jealous of Olga, huh?" she then chuckled softly.
"Not necessarily jealous, mind you. I've been in her shadow for years and it's about high time that I must show the world that I can be better than her, that Miss Perfect, that Miss Flawless, that… Olga."
"Whatever, it's still jealous to me."
"That's because you have no sibling, Rhonda. That's why you'll never really understand what it is really about." Then both of them went silent, thinking and contemplating about the words that their rivals just said. Maybe the both of them were right: they need to change their attitude a little, somehow. As Helga slouched down her seat, she sighed loudly and had her head pointing upwards to the ceiling, which hada gaping wide space between her and the ceiling. Near the ceiling, it had an open window. A large open window that could fit a person if one would crawl through it. In between the ceiling and Helga there were two steel bars, sturdy enough to for one person to jump on. She looked at Rhonda. She was ugly looking. But next to her, there was a rope, a pleasing view. A crazy idea suddenly popped in her mind.
"Hey," she flailed her hand at her, "Hey, hey, hey…" Fat Albert would be proud of her, "I think I just found a way out."
"Huh? What?"
"You see that window above us?" she pointed it to Rhonda. "It leads to the roof. It's our way out."
"Okay… great." Rhonda said uninterestingly, "How do you suppose we'll go up there?"
"Well, you of course. Didn't you hold the best in gymnastic skills amongst us? Listen, you bring this rope with you, and you flip your way all the way up there, and then, toss me the rope so I could climb up. It ain't rocket science, Rhonda."
"Who do you think I am, the Prince(ss) of Persia?" she snapped back.
"Look, you want to get out of here or not? That window is our ticket out of here. I know you can do it, Rhonda. And this comes from someone who hates you. Please."
With the somewhat pleading and hopeful look from Helga, Rhonda caved in. She grabbed the rope and fastened it on her belt. She let out a breath and said to Helga, "If I managed to pull this, you owe me an apology for all the crap you've put me through." Rhonda left her, as Helga gazed back with a scowling look. Rhonda climbed up a concrete slab and faced the first bar in front of her. She rubbed her palms on the ground so the dirt could ease the friction when she on the bars. She cracked her knuckles and her neck. She stood still, and after a deep breath, she jumped.
She successfully grabbed it. She let a sigh of relief. But she was not over yet. She swung back and forth to gain momentum. She did this about five times or so until she managed to do a complete 360º spin. Confident enough that she gained the right momentum, she jumped on to the wall, kicked it and she managed to grab the second bar. Rhonda laughed softly at her accomplishment. Somewhere deep inside Helga's conscience a soft "yes!" was being shouted, before it got pounded viciously by her other feelings for cheering for Rhonda. Rhonda then performed the same move again, and she finally made it onto the open window. She crawled out to make sure she was safe from falling.
"Good, Rhonda! Now throw me that rope!" Helga shouted whisperingly, so the guards outside couldn't hear her.
"Hah, you wish! See you later, sucka!"
"WHAT!" Helga shouted angrily.
"Heh," she chuckled, "Just jest with you." And then she threw one end of the rope down, after she tied the other end around her waist whilst grabbing a hold of it. She could feel herself pulled by Helga's weight as she tried to rappel up the rope.Helga did it swiftly and easily, thanks to her training. She finally made her way up on the roof, only to see Rhonda, again, gasping for air.
"Don't you realize… that you… weigh a ton?"
"Hey, at least I ain't Linda… or Patty." She replied as she curled the rope around her arm. "C'mon, let's go find the others."
After Rhonda finally caught with her breath, they proceeded to the window next to them. From above, they could see some of their teammates as they too tried to escape by looking for a way out. Among them, it was their team leader, Elsa.
"Psst… guys. Hey, guys!" Rhonda shouted with a low voice. Everybody turned upwards, and they were delighted at the sight, "Rhonda? Helga? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Keep it quiet you guys. We're gonna bust you out of there!" Helga then threw one end of the rope down. Rhonda on the other hand, left her for a while to scout around the roof. "Only one person for a climb. I don't think this rope is strong enough for two."
"Where are the others?" Elsa asked.
"Hey, Rhonda. Find anything?" Helga asked her.
"They are inside these two rooms." She pointed to the two similar windows.
"We found them." She said to Elsa, "As soon as we get you guys out, we're helping them!" she then turned back to Rhonda, "Rhonda! Help me out will ya!"
Without the slightest of sound, and without the slightest of commotion, they managed to free all of the captives from the temporary cell. Either they were lucky, or the guards who were supposed to look after them were just plain stupid. All of them grouped together again on the roof, to hear the briefing again.
"Man, I'm so going to kill the guy who grabbed my ass!" someone said angrily to herself.
"Just calm down, okay Frankie? We'll get our revenge after this." Elsa said back, "Okay," she said to the group, "We'll try this again. We follow the same plan, but this time, we sneak behind the enemy, and disarm them. Since our weapons and equipments are with them, we've to engage them in a close range combat, and expect a fight." Everyone nodded. "I'll confront the guy with the gun. The rest of you, go crazy with the others." She smirked at them, and they returned a devious smile.
"Helga and Rhonda, I need to ask you to call the base as soon as possible and tell them we're all right."
"Aw, come on! We want beat the shit out of those guys too!" Rhonda whined.
"You will, but if only if you call the base first. Okay? I promise." Elsa then said to all of them, "After we beat them into submission, we'll call the cops and get our asses out of here as planned. Okay? All right then: let's go!"
---
"Look through the keyhole and see if he's still there." Nadine said to Phoebe as she nodded. She peered through it and saw the guard was still standing in front of the door.
"I don't think he's going anywhere." Phoebe replied, sighing. She looked back at Nadine, "This is ridiculous. This door is actually locked from the inside and yet we can't do anything to escape. So what are we going to do now?"
"What else? We have to wait until they let us out."
Phoebe narrowed her eyes in disbelief, "Negative. We need to find a way out."
"Phoebe, look around us! This room is practically sealed! The door is locked, the window in the bathroom is again, locked, and even if we managed to climbed out of the balcony those guard dogs down there will tear us apart!" she argued back.
"Are you suggesting that we just give up Nadine?" Phoebe shouted back, "I expect better from you!"
Nadine frowned back, displeased with Phoebe's hurtful retort, and yet, she was right. She gave up too easily. "Look, Phoebe…" she said with a soft voice, "I'm sorry. Y-You're right. I shouldn't be like this. It's just…" she sat on the bed in the middle of the room, "that I can't find a way out of here… I give up…" she voice weakened and she started to break into tears, "Oh God… I'm so scared…"
Phoebe felt sorry for her. As much as she hated to admit it, there was no way they could escape right now. She then took a seat next to Nadine and comforted her by giving her a hug. Nadine didn't resist and she embraced it. She felt better a bit. Suddenly a flush was heard from the bathroom and out came Lila. She looked at the two hugging girls with a quizzical, yet shocked look.
"Um… am I missing anything here?"
"No…" Nadine answered back, releasing herself from Phoebe. "I'm just…" she looked at Lila. Behind her, it was the toilet. A crazy yet insane idea suddenly popped in her mind.
"The toilet!" she yelled, and she ran into it.
"Um… if you want to use it—"
"No Lila." Nadine said, "I think I just know how are we going to escape!" she said as she wore a pair of rubber gloves. Curious, Phoebe went over to them.
"Pheebs, try to find a small box, or a container somewhere!" Nadine said as she rummaged through the bathroom cabinet, searching for something. Phoebe didn't know what exactly Nadine's plan was, but trying wouldn't hurt. Phoebe found a small box on top a cabinet containing bars of soap. She threw it all away and asked Nadine:
"Would this be adequate enough?"
"A little big, but it'll do." She said as she poured some cleaning chemicals into the sink and mixed it together. They produced a mild foul smell.
"Uggh…" Phoebe said in disgust, "Just what are you trying to accomplish with this?"
"This, girlfriend, will serve as a roach bait." Nadine said, smiling.
"Roach… bait…?" Lila said in horror.
"Yeah, hopefully I get enough of them so they could scare off the guards." She scooped the mix out with a glass, while drained the rest of them out. Hopefully the roaches will trace the scent up to the sink. A few minutes later, after a nerve-wrecking wait, one, two and three of them vermin scurried out from the sinkhole. Lila and Phoebe squirmed in disgust but Nadine seemed to have no qualms about it. With her hands still wearing the glove, she picked them up one by one and put it into the box.
"Eww…" Lila said, grossed out by it, "How could you do that with a straight face, Nadine?"
"I'm puzzled with your reaction as well." Phoebe said as though she wanted to throw up, "How could you?"
"My dad has some in the house for research proposes. When I'm bored and stuff, I usually play with them."
Phoebe and Lila widened their eyes in shock and horror. People nicknamed her 'The Ladybug', not sure whether it was a compliment or not, but seeing Nadine in action like this ultimately convinced them that Nadine was out of her mind, to even think that she actually had a bond of some sort with these vile creatures. Lila almost wanted to barf. Phoebe turned her head away so she wouldn't watch the extraction process. Nadine then casually put the black clog on the sinkhole after washing the whole thing up. With the box in her hands, she said to them:
"There are nine roaches inside this box. Now I need a way to get into the ventilation shaft." She said as she pointed to the shaft above them, just enough room for one person to squeeze through it. So the girls stacked up some miscellaneous items on top of each other just high enough for Nadine to climb in. "As soon as you guys heard a scream, come out off the room." She said to Phoebe and Nadine. She removed the grate, shoved the box in and finally she climbed inside. The vent shaft was large enough for Nadine to barely fit through and dark but was lit by the lights in the room and hallways. She made her way through and arrived at the hallway and could see the guard through the grate. Slowly and carefully she lifted the grate up and put it aside. Without hesitation, she opened the box and dumped all of it's contains onto the poor unsuspected dude.
"Ugh… arrgh! Eeeekk! Icky bugs!" he shouted in horror as he frenetically tried to get the roaches off of him, which already invaded the inside of his shirt, pants and unmentionables. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" The three guys who were on guard duty put their guns down on a table near them and quickly came over to aid their friend. At the same time, Phoebe and Lila burst through the door and attacked them as Nadine dropped down from the shaft and joined the foray. They enemies were overwhelmed greatly, andfinally unconscious.
After the scuffle was over Phoebe, Nadine and Lila went over to the rooms the guards were guarding and was greeted by joyfully by their sisters in arms.
"It's payback time!" somebody said excitedly.
"We're not in the clear yet." Their team leader Jasmine said back. "Someone go and destroy the guns, right away! Okay guys, our equipments are with them, so we have to catch them by surprise. My best bet is that they are at the room when we got caught earlier. I think it's time for a little visit to thank them for their 'hospitality'." She said devilishly, "Let's go!"
Silently, they made their way up to the room where they were caught earlier. As they walk through the hallway passing doors, doors and more doors, suddenly somebody stopped in front of an unclosed door and saw their stuff.
"Guys! Guys!" she said to them, and all of them stopped, "I've found our equipment!" she said, pointing to the room. And everyone rushed into it, and saw their equipment neatly placed on a table.
"Where are the guys guarding them?" one of the agents pondered.
"Who cares! At least we have our stuff now!" somebody replied back, wearing her utility belt. "Hey… somebody should call the headquarters and tell them we're safe!"
"I tried, but I can't get through." An agent replied, after trying to call them with her communicator.
"Me too." Another one said, "Something is wrong."
"My PDA!" Phoebe said in relief. She tried to switch it on, "And it still works!"
"My cellphone!" Nadine said happily.
"Nadine, try to call them with you phone." Jasmine ordered her.
She obliged and switched it on, but it was the same, there was no answer from the headquarters.
"What about the phones in this house?"
"I think I cut the phone line before we raided this house." Someone from team Zeta said embarrassedly.
Jasmine slapped her forehead. "Terrific. Now I can't do anything but to send a runner back to the headquarters. Nadine, Phoebe and Lila, go back to the base and report to Bridget."
"But we can't just leave you guys!" Phoebe reasoned back. "Do not discriminate us just because we're new to the organization!"
"Please." She begged, "I know you are capable, but right now we need you to help us."
"Come on, Phoebe…" Lila said weakly, "It's pointless to argue. Let's just go do what we've been ordered to."
Still defiant, Phoebe reluctantly did as ordered as she, Nadine and Lila ran outside from the mansion. From the street, they could see a car coming straight to them, slowing down. It was Gerald's car, and Sid and Stinky was with him.
"I told you, you shouldn't take the 405! But noooo! You said it wasn't congested!" Sid argued back at Gerald.
"All right! All right! My bad, happy?" he snapped back. "At least the girls are still okay…"
"Yeah…" Sid said, "Hey guys, hop in. We think Bridget is in trouble…"
---
Back with Helga and Rhonda…
"That's strange… nobody answered…" Helga said to Rhonda. Suddenly they heard a car coming at them. Helga could recognize the car.
"What the hell is Olga doing here?" she said to herself as she slammed the phone down. The car stopped, and the both of them were shocked at the passenger Olga brought with her.
"Gino?" they both shouted in shock.
"No time to explain, get in." He said, "Bridget is in trouble."
"But we can't just leave them there." Rhonda said, pointing to the warehouse.
"We have to." Olga replied back, "or else LESwill bedestroyed."
"Olga?" Helga asked back, "Why are you wearing your old spy outfit?"
Don't ask where the hell I got that roach-bait thing, it's just something that I concocted in my imagination. If you actually tried to do it, then you're an idiot. But since this is my world I'm writing, I can do whatever I want. Haha! Just like Mr. Lucas! Oh yeah, I'd like to apologize because in the last chapter I promised the the updates would be a lot faster, but unfortunately, it just didn't. Sorry. So, I thank you for reading and please leave a review.