MASK: Legacy Saga 3: The Fallen
Chapter 9
Author's Notes: After a three month long hiatus, it's nice to be back in the posting stage! Special thanks to new reader Jehuty84 for the review that brought me/us back from reality, and long time fan Harry2 for the instant message to make sure I/we (meaning Lisa) were still alive. There were some unfortunate real life issues that slowed down the works for a while, but it's nice to be back in the fantasy world! We hope everyone had a great holiday, and still sticks with us and keeps reading! That's one of the things that keeps us going as writers!
Anyway, please enjoy the next chapter, and here's hoping it isn't three months in between the next!
Oh, and sorry for the dumb page breaks...
"You want another cup?" Jacques ask watching Brad leaning against Condor, as thought he was ready to fall asleep.
"Naaa…. I'm good…. just can't believe my daughter put me on stakeout duty."
"You're just jealous she ranks higher than you, mon ami," Jacques chuckled softly before adding, "You sure it's not the age creeping up on you? I haven't seen you this tired, since Annie was a little baby."
Brad glared back at Jacques, "I'm not getting old…in fact I feel younger."
"Uhuh…is it the little blue pill or the face lift making you feel that Mistier Turner?"
"Keep it up…I'll have you deported when we get back. Especially if Annie heard that," Brad smiled wickedly back, glancing briefly at Condor's radio to see if she was monitoring communications, breathing a sigh of relief to see it operating on it's normal mode. "Look at the time," he quickly glanced at his watch, "Security should be making it's rounds in 5 minutes. Whose turn?"
"I believe it's yours."
"I thought we agreed to flip on it."
"We did until you started to use a double sided coin."
"Alright wouldn't mine spicing up the image, but palm trees it is. Hocus Pocus on!" It had been at lease 8 hours since the stakeout began and scouting party headed out to await VENOM arrival. Sure they had the element of surprise, but how long could they wait this out. Once the black hummer marked security drove by their position, Brad removed his mask, "You think if I put a little animal in the image, he'll look our direction?"
"Are we wagering a bet?" Before Brad could reply back, they heard the sound of a saw in the opposite direction. Both men turned around to see a palm tree fall directly on top of the Black Hummer. The sudden turn of events forced Brad to act quickly. Without hesitation he placed his mask back on and sped up Condor in the direction of the disturbance.
"Wait Turner…we need a visual of VENOM, before we can pursue."
"A falling tree….is all the proof I need."
The two agents weren't the only ones to catch the show, "Annie, this is Julio. Somebody is doing some unscheduled landscaping near the president mansion. You want me to fly closer?"
"Negative, Dad…Jacques what's going on down there?" Annie replied over the radio, while scouting the desert terrain around the estate.
"This is Jacques. A tree suddenly collapsed while security was making it's round. Your father took off before I could reason with him. We heard a saw in the distance, but we have yet to see any signs of VENOM."
"Dad…this is Annie what's the situation…"
The palm tree was leaning against the driver side door of the Hummer and smoke was erupting from the engine. Brad brought Condor to a complete stop and glanced around for the source of the problem. He expected to find VENOM at the scene, but instead the surroundings were too quite. Brad rushed over to the vehicle and began to bang on the car to alert the driver, but his efforts seem useless since the driver apparently was knocked out cold on the steering wheel. Gas was leaking all over the place and it would only be a matter of time, before the whole vehicle caught on fire. "I can't use my lasers, but maybe…I can move the tree." He rushed back over to Condor and ignored his daughter's voice booming all over the radio with questions. A man life was at stake, which meant more then protocol. He raised his daughter to understand that, at lease he expected her to understand it. Brad activated Condor's anti-gravity cannon on the palm tree, within a matter of seconds the tree evaporated. Brad rushed over to the driver side door and pried it open. As Brad un-strapped the driver's safety belt, the man's eyes started to flicker open. Right in front of him was a man or something dress in yellow wearing a huge mask over its head. He only read of alien abductions in science fiction books, but never imagined he'd be a victim to one. He started to scream for his life and began swing his arms around in a frenzy.
"I'm trying to help you quit fighting," Brad shouted as he yanked the man out of the hummer. No matter how many times Brad reassured the man he was there to help, he continued to resist and fight. It was obvious the man didn't know any English and removing his mask would only cause more problems. The moment the man's feet touch the ground, he ran like hell in the opposite direction. Brad thought about pursuing the injured man, but changed his mind as he heard the sound of a saw cutting another palm tree. He looked around cautiously trying to figure out what direction the sound was coming from, then he heard an old familiar laugh that brought a sudden chill down his spin.
"HAHAHAHAH….TIMBER!"
"SHIT!" Brad shouted as a palm tree started to fall directly at him.
"Annie…a second tree has just fallen, what are your order?" Julio.
Annie heart started to race. What's going on dad? Why won't you answer back. "Check it out Julio…make sure he's not in any danger. Jacques I need you to stay put in case this is a trap."
"Talk about a close call," Brad grumbled on his stomach, he managed to jump out of the way just in the nick of time, with only inches between him and the fallen tree.
Iguana started to slowly pull out into the open. "My Hero….hahahaha." Lester taunted watching Brad get to his feet. "Now it's time for act 3…. the part where the hero gets cut in two hahahahaha! Mudslinger on!" Before Brad could make a break to Condor both legs were hit with sticky mud.
"Oh for crying out loud," Brad mumbled with this eyes on Iguana's forward mounted saw blade spinning in his direction. "Could this day get any worst?"
"Such a bloody muddy mess this will be! HAHAHHA!" Lester cried out like maniac in laughter.
"Your forgetting one thing…there's gas everywhere." Brad reminded as he pulled out a lighter from his utility belt.
Firefly swooped in low to get a visual on Brad position. "This doesn't look good Annie I see fire everywhere. I can't see anything below all this smoke."
"I'm heading that way right now! Jacques get moving," Annie ordered as she turned Phoenix around.
Just as Jacques started to move Volcano out of position, a giant claw from Stinger grab a hold of the back bumper. "Where do you think your going?" Bruno mocked from inside the armored GTO.
"I seem to be caught up by Stinger's greedy little claw," Jacques replies over the radio, "I'll be there as soon I can shake him off." The wheels on Volcano began to spin faster, but amount of pressure Stinger's claw was applying, cause the front end of the vehicle to lift up off the ground.
"Aaaaahhhh" Lester jumped off Iguana as the flames rose. He crouched his body in the fetal position expected the explosion to grow bigger with the addition of Iguana, but instead a pair of yellow feet stood in front of him.
Brad picked Lester off the ground by his shirt and uppercut him so hard his mask fell off his head.
Blood dripped down Lester's nose from the powerful punch. He couldn't help but shake in fear after seeing the man in front of him burst into flames a short while ago, "You…you…. were dead."
"That's what I wanted you to see, you son of a bitch," Brad replied in an angry tone as he landed another punch to Lester's face rendering him unconscious. He waved his arms in the air to alert Firefly that everything was under control. Or at lease it was until his daughter pulled up in Phoenix.
"Are you out of mind going off solo like that?" Annie began to lecture, "This was a trap and you played right into their hands. I…I thought…"
Brad crossed his arms, "Annie you know me better then that."
"You could of at lease waited!" She responded back in frustration. Makes me wonder if Scott feels the same way about me, when I charge head first into battle.
"If I would of waited a man would of lost his life. Besides I can still take care of myself," He turned around to show off the unconscious Lester in the background, but both Annie and him received a shock when his body was no longer where they left it.
"Over there!" Annie pointed as she saw Vanessa helping Lester get away.
"Hustle it up, I'm only doing this for charity," Vanessa grumbled while dragging Lester towards Manta.
"Uh...hahah...yeah…Owww," Lester replied in gibberish as he tried to regain his sense.
"Where you think your going, Vanessa?" Brad asked as he and Annie approach her.
"Where do you think rock star?" She remarked. Vanessa knew she couldn't out run both Brad and Annie, as long as she had Lester in the tow, so her eyes wondered around for some sort of diversion.
"I think to prison where you belong," Annie boldly stated.
"Ahhh that's sweet kid, but instead of us throwing words back'n forth for old time sake. How about we skip to the fireworks. Whip On!" Vanessa's mask generated an electronic whip. Instead of causing the whip to attack the two MASK agents who stood in her way, the whip touch the tip of the leaking gas still dripping from the Hummer.
Annie instantly grabbed her father in a bear hug, once she noticed the direction Vanessa was planning to shoot her mask. "FIREWALL ON!" The moment the gas and whip made contact a huge explosion could be seen for miles.
"Pretty sweet, I never knew you had it in you to burn your lover & your child together," Lester remarked, as Vanessa tossed him into the passenger seat of Manta. She didn't reply back, instead she got behind the wheel and converted Manta to flight mode.
Her silence wasn't going to stop him from pushing the matter further; "I didn't know you cared that much about me."
"Let's get something straight," She turned her head and looked him dead in the eyes, "you open that mouth of yours one more time, I'm gonna use that ejector seat and throw you back to the wolves."
Lester thought about opening his mouth to say 'yes ma'am,' but figured Vanessa probably meant it literally. Instead he nodded his head and looked back at the burning wreckage of the car.
"You ok?" Annie looked up at her father as she turned off Firewall, once the blast had died down.
"Yeah….I'd say that was pretty cold on her part, but the flames say otherwise."
"I can't believe she tried to kill both of us! We're lucky I activated Firewall in time!"
"She knew you would. Sometimes I think the woman is just asking to be chase. I better get going or Julio gonna steal my dance partner."
"How can you not be serious at a time like this?" And still defending her for that matter…
Annie's internal tirade was interrupted by Julio's radio signal. "Annie….Brad…this is Julio, everything alright down there?"
"Hey Julio," Brad replied first as he hopped on Condor, "Everybody's in one piece. You have a lock on Manta's position?"
"Yeah I see her and currently pursuing."
"K…I'll be up there shortly. Don't hog all the fun." He looked back at Annie noticing the scolding look on her face, "I'll take care of the air problem, you just manage things on the ground."
Annie rolled her eyes at her father's immaturity, but nothing she could say would make him consider otherwise. I'm starting to see what Matt must have went through all those years… But she dropped that thought process and started to ponder VENOM's sudden appearance. It was strange, how was VENOM able to pop up between their defenses? It was almost like they had a representative spying at her briefing, "This is Phoenix calling agent Hunter. We have VENOM popping up all over the place, we need backup assistance ASAP."
"Phoenix…we'd love to help you out," Matt Trakker replied, " but we have our own dilemma at home base. Piranha and Vampire decided to show up at our back porch. We'll regroup after we take care of our unwanted guest."
"Roger that keep me inform," Annie bit her lip after hearing more unexpected bad news. "What is going on? It's like my whole plan backfired in my face. Hurricane, Volcano, Rhino what's your position."
Hondo was the first to respond, "Well Volcano is still being dangled by Stinger like a prized fish, but we're working on the problem."
"This is Bruce, we are still using the sand vacuum for cover. We are picking up an unusual signal in the area, and we're going to investigate."
"Alright be careful, I'll be over in your position shortly Hondo to give a hand."
Stinger still had a solid grip on Volcano and was firing its retractable wheel guns at Hurricane. "I ain't gonna let go little blue," Bruno shouted out to Hurricane, "Might as well go home and cry to mommy, cause I ain't letting your buddy go."
"If you can loosen his grip," Jacques suggested to Hondo over the radio, "I should be able to get out of this mess on my own."
"Sounds like a plan to me," He replied back, "Just hang in there a few more minutes."
"Believe me I wish I had a choice in the matter."
"Who are you calling little punk!" Hondo shouted back as the hydraulic activated on Hurricane increasing the height to intimidate his enemy. A howitzer cannon emerged from the windshield and the sunroof opened up to a 90-degree angle to reveal two mini cutting lasers. The lasers were aimed at the claw arm slowly slicing through the metal, while the howitzer pummeled at Stinger tough armor.
"Oh you want to see who's got the bigger gun, check this out!" Bruno remarked with pride, as he aimed the front-mounted mortar at Hurricane. "This baby got more power, then your little engine that could."
Before Bruno had the chance to fire the cannon, Volcano started to transform into battle mode. The van split in two allowing high-speed lava launchers to emerge in the center. Dual red-hot sand blasters also appeared through the sunroof. The lava launchers focus on cutting off the attaching claw, while the sand blasters were shooting sand right into Bruno's window causing the controls to short out. Bruno slammed his fist on the controls in anger and slid out the side window to make a quick escape.
"Ah it's good to be free," Jacques shouted with joy.
"Yeah well if Bruce was here he'd give some sort of fish analogy." Before Jacques could reply back, Jackhammer speed out of nowhere firing both the reciprocating cannons and the cannons on the turret at Hurricane's passenger side.
Hondo quickly changed gears and tried to escape the heat Jackhammer was giving. "Take one down another shows up to take its place."
"I got your back Hondo," Jacques replied converting Volcano back into a van, "Let him follow you, and I'll surprise him when he lease expects it."
"I don't have time to argue with you, but I don't like running from a fight," Hondo turn hurricane around to make it appear like he was retreating. Sure enough Jackhammer took the bait, and soon after Volcano followed to offer support.