MASK: Legacy Saga 3: The Fallen
Chapter 10
Author's Notes: Hello, loyal fans, we are back (finally) with another chapter in the latest MASK saga. I apologize for the late updates as of late…once again Reality has sucked deep into our lives. I really think someone needs to invent a "Fantasy Check" to prevent things like this from happening again. At any rate, here is the latest installment, and hopefully it will please our newest fans and existing readers alike. Enjoy and keep those reviews coming! They're the closest thing to a "Fantasy Check" we can get!
Annie still couldn't figure out how VENOM had managed to get wind of their presence so fast, and she didn't exactly have much time to ponder the matter. As far as she knew, Rhino was still chasing phantom radar signals, home base was under attack by Piranha and Vampire, and her mother was surely and gleefully riding donuts in the air around Julio and her father. She had the fleeting thought that a few VENOM vehicles were still unaccounted for, but it was lost as she accepted her father's somewhat redundant, yet accurate advice and concentrated on operations along the ground.
"Computer, this is user Phoenix. Activate remote up link to Boulderhill, radar/tracking system and remote communications link, all vehicles, secured channels. Close communications only on voice request from myself or user Hunter." Hopefully that will keep whatever's out there out, and the rest of us in touch.
"Affirmed. Tracking system and open communications online. All vehicles, secured channels."
At least something's going right, Annie thought as she hit the accelerator and headed toward Hurricane's current position. "Hurricane, what's your current situation?"
" Jacques and I are leading Jackhammer on a wild goose chase, but still taking quite a beating. That help you offered would be pretty useful."
Hondo's anxious reply hit the radio at the same time Phoenix hit the 60mph mark, the lowest target speed for Fire-Flight. "Give me thirty more seconds, Hondo, and this firebird will be ready to give Dagger a taste of his own torch."
"I hope so, because Volcano, she is about to go dormant," Jacques noted with a slight touch of humor.
"Well then you better back off if you don't want to explode," Annie sent back as she concentrated on the task at hand. "Computer, ready Fire-Flight mode. Target vehicle: Hurricane. Engage auto-pilot and notify user Striker of the five second countdown."
"Affirmative…Incoming Vehicle Alert in 5…4…3…2…1…"
Annie activated Firewall as the jet of flame exploded from her tailpipe, nearly doubling her speed in the process. She tightened her grip on the handlebars of the bike as she felt familiar jolt of Fire-Flight kicking in the auto-pilot. What she wasn't prepared for was the sensation of Phoenix grinding to a complete stop midway to her destination. The momentum of such a sudden stop at such a high rate of speed sent Annie flying over the front of the bike, landing in a crumpled heap almost 30 feet away.
"YEEEHAWWW! Look at that varmint go!" Dusty hollered at the top of his lungs as he chased after a fleeing Piranha in Gator. When he hadn't heard a word from his co-pilot, he turned his head towards her wondering if she was still awake. "Am I boring, you that much darling?"
Dusty's daughter Jess Hayes crossed her arms and smirked under her mask, "Naaa…just looks like your having enough fun for the both of us."
"How can you not be enjoying this? This is just as exciting as roping a bull at the rodeo. We got VENOM on the run and what more could you ask for?"
She glanced around curiously, "Something just doesn't feel right. Almost like something is missing from this picture."
"Ahh you worry too much. When you've seen as much action as I have, you know when the cattle running scared."
Despite her father's faith in the battle's outcome, she still had this unease feeling in her gut. The attack at the oasis, MASK temporary base of operations, had taken them by surprise. They were huddled around in a circle talking to pass the time, until Vampire and Piranha appeared over the horizon and started to open fire. Oddly enough neither vehicle registered on their radar, so they never saw them coming. Without hesitation each agent ran to their vehicles ready to face their attackers. But there were still details that didn't make any sense. Back when she and Scott were investigating an ore mine VENOM was excavating, the first thing taken out of commission was their abandon vehicle. Yet when Floyd fired the first shot he shot at the ground in front of Raven. She couldn't help but wonder was it on purpose or does he really have bad aim? Jess halted her pondering when she saw Shark and Raven driving alongside. Gloria used her hand to signal to Calhoun and Dusty and both men nodded their head understanding.
"What's going on dad?" Jess asked curiously.
"We're gonna try to box Rax in using 3 cars."
"Has that ever been done before?"
"There's always a first, but the size of Piranha makes it the perfect test subject." Raven and Shark speed up to be alongside Piranha, while Dusty took the rear.
Sly Rax turn his head to both sides to glance at his blind spots and noticed MASK was gaining up on him. He then checked into the side mirror, and Gator was still following close behind. "Oh for crying out loud! How the hell does she expect me to get out of this one?" he complained, "Our fearless leader doesn't know anything about planning a battle. She deliberately set this up knowing we'd be outnumbered! This isn't a battle it's a suicide mission straight to hell!" When Sly Rax and Floyd Malloy were given orders they were told to keep a few MASK agents left behind some company. What peeved Rax was the lack of intelligence given by their new leader Roxanne. She failed to mention there would be 4 agents to deal with, and Switchblade was to be left behind. Maybe it was a poor excuse to blame the bad outcome of the battle based on the numbers. They had always been outnumbered in the past. What made this battle any different from the others? Yet if Switchblade had been here, the firepower would be more than enough to even the score. "Can I get some backup before I get crush here!" Rax shouted slightly nervous over the radio to Floyd Malloy.
Vampire flew overhead, but was too busy dodging Thunderhawk's laser fire to pay any attention to what was happening on the ground. "Will you STOP complaining!" Floyd responded irritated, "Some of us are trying not to get their wings clip."
"Yeah well you only have one to deal with I got three!"
"Rax," Roxanne responded over the radio in a demanding voice, "you done tying up the airwaves or do you need somebody to hold your hand?"
"How else you do expect me to react?" he sneered back. "You told us to ambush MASK, but from the looks of it we're the ones taking all the heat not them! Is this how you plan to wipe us out!"
"Quite yapping that flap of yours and dive Pirhana into the Oasis." She ordered.
"WHAT! That's insane. You want me to dive into a little fish bowl knowing I have no way out. They have 3 water type MASK vehicles. What the hell do you expect me to do find an underground cavern and hide!"
"You either do it or you turn yourself in…you has been."
Sly Rax gritted his teeth in anger, "I'll show you has been." His eyes switch back'n forth between Raven and Shark closing in the space between him. "Just a little bit closer…come on….now!" Suddenly, Sly Rax slammed on the breaks and sharply spun Piranha 180 degrees using every muscle in his entire body.
"WHOA!" Calhoun replied completely shocked by Rax's unexpected move. He hastily jerked the wheel in the opposite direction hoping to avoid a collision with Shark, "I don't think I can stop her. Watch out Gloria!"
Gloria was quick to respond having several years of training as a racecar driver. She slammed hard on her breaks and spun the wheel causing the car to do a complete 360 until it came to a complete stop. Instead of a direct collision, Raven gazed Shark stripping the paint from both vehicles.
"That was a close call!" Calhoun spoke with relief.
"You should stop by the track sometime I could give you a real crash course in driving."
"No thank I've seen your driving class…I think I'll just stick to my horses." Calhoun Burns joked.
Sly Rax wasted no time catching his breath, since he still had one more vehicle to bypass. "Stiletto Fire!" He shouted as he stood up over the bike's windshield to fire two stiletto darts into Gator's windshield. As Rax predicted, the driver of Gator had such acute reflexes that he jerked the car just enough to open an escape route for Piranha.
"Those little darts didn't even puncture the glass." Jess laugh at her father sudden move.
"My reflexes just got the best of me. Besides you'd do the same thing if something was coming directly at your head." Dusty lecture slightly embarrassed.
By the time Gator turned itself around to pursue Rax, Piranha was submerged into the oasis and both Shark and Raven were jumping into the water after it. Dusty was temped to follow, but as he looked up at the sky he noticed Matt was still tangled in his own one on one battle with vampire.
"Are we gonna just sit here or join the fight?" Jess starred at her father wondering what he could be thinking so hard about.
This was almost like the fight that took place about 10 years ago in France. Dusty got stranded in the middle of the lake; while he was forced helplessly to watch Switchblade shoot down his best friend and leader Matt Trakker. By the time he and Jacques reached an upside down Thunderhawk, Matt had already been captive by VENOM. The memory was still strong in Dusty mind, and he knew what he had to do, "I won't let history repeat itself. We'll let Gloria & Calhoun go fishing for Rax. We'll stay right here incase Matt needs backup or the snake decides to pop it's head out of the water."
"Alright you're the one driving," Jess shrugged, " I can't complain."
"Hahahahahahah…whawahahaha…hahahahahahaha."
Annie's head perked up at the sound of laughter. She had just been thrown several feet away from her bike and didn't find it that amusing. She knew very well who that laugh belonged too. That only made her more alert and paranoid of her surroundings. Annie groaned slightly as she picked herself off the ground, but she didn't let her aching muscles drop her guard. Her head turn in every direction expecting her nemesis to pop up and stab her in the back. "Come out and show yourself ROXY! I know you're here!" Annie cautiously moved towards Phoenix, wishing she had a rifle in her hand and trying not to panic as every step she took brought her closer to the maniacal sound. It then suddenly dawned on her the laughter was coming from Phoenix's radio.
I thought we pulled Chameleon OUT of the comm channels! Annie thought wildly. She quickly yanked Phoenix upright, burning her hands in the process since the bike didn't show any signs of cooling down from Fire-Flight.
"Aw did wittle Annie have a little boo boo?" Roxanne sneered. "Better be careful little Phoenix or you'll fall into the ashes."
Annie narrowed her eyes in anger, while still searching the scenery around for some sign of Chameleon hidden nearby, continuing the banter in the hopes of provoking Roxy into showing herself. "And then I'll rise up again to throw you back into the Rift of Hell you came from. Especially if the best you can do is throw me from my bike."
"It's not the best, but it was a good start…and I have you personally to thank for it. I would've never dreamed of infecting some of those old fossils wasting away in the garage until you pulled those old geezers out of the mothball. "
"What…" Annie completely froze as she pondered what Roxanne meant by the word 'infect.' How could she have known…?
"Oh you'll see or should I say hear soon enough," Roxanne teased over the airways.
"This is Annie Turner turn off your vehicles now! Roxanne infected the systems!"
"Who are you talking to?" Roxanne mocked so boldly, "Nobody can hear you except for me."
Annie pressed every button conceivable on Phoenix and nothing would activate. She tried one last ditch effort to prevent the others from receiving whatever Roxanne put in the systems. "Computer, shut down all vehicles. Emergency override from user Phoenix!"
"Did I forget to mention I shut down your entire bike, except for receiving incoming transmissions?" Roxanne noted with saccharin sweetness, deepening Annie's growing sense of despair. "You have nowhere to go and nobody to warn. You're a sitting duck whose about to lose her entire team and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."