Chapter Ten
Leaving the room I released the breath of air I didn't realize I was holding. The meeting went worse that I would have thought it would have gone. I knew our plan had some major loop wholes in it but we didn't have the time to finalize it. And those three shot it down before we could truly take it anywhere. It just wasn't fair.
"How frustrating." I muttered before smacking me head against the nearest wall. "Ouch, that hurt."
"Well what did you expect?" A voice behind me asked. I smiled at that.
"Hey Stoner." I said as I turned around to the other clarinetist.
"Hey Cheryl. What's the matter? You look pretty down in the dumps." The young woman asked with a concern look on her face.
"The meeting didn't go so well." I told her as I nudged my head towards the room I had just left.
"I'm sorry."
"They didn't like my plan to capture the Cornick Brothers."
"Really!" She cried, looking completely surprise at this. "Must have been really bad if they turned it down. The last bad plan you had was the time you thought it would have been great to bring back Disco."
"I know!"
"So what was the plan?"
I leaned against the wall behind me and told her exactly what I had said to the three leaders earlier, minus Lauren's interruptions of course. When I had finished she was staring at a blank look and me with wide eyes on her face.
"That's basically it." I finally finished off.
"Cheryl, that has to be the WORST plan I have EVER heard you come up with." Katie yelled at me once she was able to get her voice back. "What were you thinking?"
"It just had a couple of loop wholes in it." I muttered as I looked away from her.
"A few?" She cried sharply. "Cheryl!"
I smiled at her whine and turned back to her. She had her hands on her hips and was staring at me accusingly. I laughed softly.
"Okay, maybe it was a little out there but it was the best the two of us could come up with at such short notice." I said with a large smile on my face.
Katie laughed at this and shook her head. "Cheryl you are one of a kind."
"Yes and a good thing too. Can you just imagine more of me running around this place?"
"I try not to. It's a scary though. Besides, one of you is enough to keep those three leaders of ours on their toes."
"Thanks a lot Stoner." I muttered sarcastically. "So what's the real reason for being here?"
"Besides teasing you to no end?" She asked innocently and I rolled my eyes. "I wanted to show you the new invention we just completed."
"Really? Wow, you're actually done and want to show me? That's great! Let's go!" I yell out excitingly.
The two of us turned and left the hallway to make our way back to where Stephanie and hers lab was. It was on the other side of the tower because that allowed them to work without any of us complaining about noise or smells. As we walked Katie started talking again.
"Now just to warn you, this is still in the developing stage and we don't know if it will work all that well yet." She told me as we arrived at the door.
The door was a strong metal plate with a key pad on the side. Katie turned to the key pad and punched in her six digit code that allowed her to enter any of the rooms. The door opened with a swishing sound and the two of us entered. I looked around for anything new, but all I saw was the typical test tubes and electrical mechanical stuff that was normal for the lab. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary that would have Katie dragging me here to see.
"Where is this grand invention?" I asked, looking around again.
"It's in the center of the room." Katie said proudly as she watched me walk in that direction.
"I don't see anything in the center of the room." I complained to her.
"You have to get closer to see it." She told me with a smirk on her face. "Trust me Cheryl; you will love what you will see."
Sighing, I made my way over to the spot she pointed to. In the middle of the room there was a large open space that was lit up brightly to an almost gleaming level. I headed towards that spot, my eyes looking around for anything that was out of the ordinary. Suddenly I ran into a large solid object and fell back on my butt in surprise. Looking at what I hit I was amazed to see that nothing was there. The area was completely blank. Standing up I turned back to Katie to get her reaction. She just smiled at me and motioned with her hands for me to continue. Reaching out a hand I attentively reached out in front of me. My hand brushed against a solid object and I gasped in surprise, seeing as my hand seemingly rested on nothing.
"This is incredible!" I cried out in shock to her.
She smiled smugly at me and walked over to one of the computers. Typing something in there was a soft buzz before silver Mercedes appeared in front of me, my hand resting on the door. The car was small and had no roof to it, but it obviously was powerful. I gasped in excitement.
"Invisibility!"
"Yes this is the first car that we got it to work for." She explained as she walked towards me. "We just finished up the last of the kinks today and I thought that maybe you would like to be the first one to go for a test drive. And I can also show you more of its features."
"Really?" I asked, my face taking on the look of a child who was told Christmas was coming early this year.
"Sure," She replied with a laugh. "And if you are real good I'll even let you drive it home."
"Really? Awesome!" I cried excitingly. Grabbing her hand I quickly dragged her to her side of the car as I ran around to jump in the passenger's seat. Laughing she got in her seat and started up the car when I noticed something that was going to put a damper on our drive.
"Um Stoner, how are we going to get out of here? We are on the second floor and in the middle of the tower." I looked at her curiously.
"We don't need roads where we're going." She told me as she pulled a pair of sunglasses out and put them on. Reaching towards the dash she pressed a red button and sat back. The car gave a loud rumble as it shook and slowly rose of the ground.
"It can fly?"
"Yeah, added feature." Katie told me with a smirk.
"Katie you and Stephanie are amazing!"
"Why thank you Cheryl." Katie replied with a smile as she started to press buttons. "Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking. I want thank you for joining us today for this demonstration. Please keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and enjoy the flight."
At this moment the roof and wall in front of us slowly opened up. Katie brought the car into the air and gracefully drove it out of the large opening. Soon we were out and flying around in the bright blue sky. It was interesting, we could see everything outside though the car window, and the inside of the car at the same time. Outside a person wouldn't be able to see anything.
"This is absolutely amazing!" I told Katie as I looked out the window at the passing birds. "You and Stephanie really outdid yourselves this time."
"Well it's only a prototype, but we think it's a hit." Katie explained as she looked at the dashboard. "Would you like one?"
"Really? Totally! I'll take this one if it's ready." I told her ecstatically.
"That's great to hear that you really like it. I'll show you more than."
"There's more?"
"Yeah tons more." Katie smiled at my excitement. Reaching towards the dashboard she began to press various buttons as she explained them.
"This one brings up your radar, and this one allows you to put in coordinates on your radar. The blue one here leads to headquarters if something is amiss and the car is stuck somewhere, or if your lost. This compartment has tracking devices and snakes and drinks, a spot here for the holding your gun, and a CD player."
"All of that are necessities."
Katie laughed and started to point to other things. I was listening but something caught my eye outside of the car. Turning my head I held up a hand to silence my friend as I looked around.
"What's wrong?" Katie asked, noticing the serious expression on my face.
"I saw something shinny over there." I told her pointing.
'It was probably a lake or something." She reassured me.
"No what I saw was defiantly metallic. It was also very large. We need to check it out."
"What?"
"Bring the car over in that direction." I told her pointing west. "If it's nothing than I apologize but still…"
"We need to check it out." Katie finished for me. "All right, I'll bring the car around."
The two of us were quiet as we drove our invisible car towards the metallic object I saw shinning earlier. Looking at Katie I could tell that she was very tense and scared about the whole thing.
"Don't worry Stoner, your probably right and its nothing." I told her with a grin.
"I'm fine," She said as calmly as she could but I could tell she was lying.
"Come on, it will be great."
"Speak for yourself." She snapped and looked away. "You live for this excitement. I use to but now I rather be working on more inventions."
"If it's anything we won't attack. I just need to see what it is and decide the best approach."
Katie didn't respond as she drove the car closer. I leaned out the window and squinted my eyes as I looked around. A bright and out of place flash happened suddenly and I pulled my head back in the car.
"Okay takes the car over there." I told her pointing.
"What do you think it is?" She asked me.
"Well it could be a small base of the Trumpeters or a base of the Soprano Clan or it could just be some metal satellite."
"A satellite that big?" Katie asked nervously."
I followed her gaze down and gasped in surprise. It was a large satellite, that was connected to the top of a huge fortress there were guard towards all around and a large complex in the middle. Who ever this belonged to wanted something down there to stay a secret. Now the only question was…
"So is this a Trumpeter or a Soprano Clan place?" Katie asked my unspoken question.
"I don't know, we need to get closer."
"Um, cant."
"Why not!" I snapped at her.
"We are out of gas." She told me with a sigh as she pointed to the gas gauge. "The first thing to go will be the invisibility."
Right as she said that a red bulb on the dashboard began flashing red. Katie swore loudly, something I have never heard before, and quickly began to turn the car around. Pushing buttons and looking at dials she groaned loudly.
"Oh no, we only have two minutes before we become visible again." She told me.
"Katie, did you just swore?" I asked the only thing on my mind.
"Cheryl, is this really the time for that?" She snapped at me. "We are minutes away from falling in the hands of an enemy and all you care about is me cussing?"
"But I've never heard you swore before." I told her. "It was a surprise."
Katie sighed again and drove the car away from the large dome fortress. I looked back and was able to see a glimmer of one of the towers and the banner that flew on the top. I smiled suddenly at what I read and turned around with a pleased look on my face. Katie brought the3 car down and drove through the trees so that it blocked our view. I soft buzzer went off and she sighed.
"We just lost our invisibility." She told me.
"How long until we stall and are stuck." I asked concern.
"Oh don't worry about that." Katie reassured me. "We have enough gas to make it back to the tower."
"Than lead the way Stoner, lead the way."
Katie looked at me curiously for a moment and nodded her head. "You know who that thing belong to don't you?"
I smiled at her and didn't say anything. Sighing in frustration she drove us back to our base. The rise was silent and I used the time to think of a plan to infiltrate the base that I have just seen. I was going to need a full group effort on this one if I wanted it to run smoothly. Katie and Stephanie's technology, Andy and Corey's military help and Laurens assistance. But most importantly I needed mike and Amanda's approval before I did anything. Maybe I should talk with Maria first. If she agrees with me than the others would easily follow suite.
"We're back." Katie told me, breaking my thoughts.
I jumped at the sound of her voice and looked around. Sure enough went were in the surroundings of the girl's lab equipment. Katie smiled at me and got out of the car to stretch. I followed her example and raised my arms in the air.
"Well I better get going Katie." I told her with a smile. "I will see you at dinner."
Katie nodded to me and made her way back to the car and began to work on it. I watched for a moment before I stepped out of the room and began walking. The first person I bumped into was Maria. The Queen of England smiled at me and offered a greeting.
"Cheryl, how are you?" She asked me with a grin.
"Good, good. But we need to talk."
"What's the matter?" She asked me in concern.
"I know the whereabouts of the Soprano Clan's headquarters."