Chapter Twenty-Eight – "Invasion of the Newbies"
Previously: Things did not look peachy keen in the Big Black Building for our Heroes. Before Tad could find another wire to cut in his continuing attempt to diffuse the bomb, Ethan appeared and tied up as many people as he could, as Di tried to interest him in relocating to another Soap. Back in the meat locker Gina kept the hostages at gunpoint while a seemingly doomed Zendall comforted each other as best they could. Greenlee and NuGreenlee traded insults but were interrupted by Ryan as the Invasion of the Newbies began.
Newbies, Recasts, Veterans and Police poured into the Big Black Building in search of Ethan, Zach, Kendall, Tad, Di, Aidan, Erin, Simone and Greenlee. They were more than fearful of what they'd find, having heard gunfire coming from inside more than once that morning.
The first thing they found was an empty ballroom.
"Let's split up," Derek directed. Erica, Jack, Lily, Jonathan, Ryan and four Policemen went through the door on the left, which led them into the meat locker. Derek, JR, Babe, Amanda, Adam, Krystal, Brooke and four Policemen went through the door on the right which brought them into the room with the ticking bomb, where they discovered Tad, Di, Aidan, Erin and Ethan. And the ticking bomb.
"You're under arrest," Derek greeted Ethan.
"I'm going to Salem," Ethan replied with a big smile. "It's the answer to everything!"
"It is?" a bewildered Amanda asked.
"Derek, get his gun," Adam directed.
"I don't take orders from you, Chandler," Derek replied automatically. "Ethan, where the hell is your gun?"
In his joy over having found a new career direction, Ethan had put away his gun and untied Aidan, Di and Erin. Now at Derek's request, he reached into his pocket and handed over both his gun and the gun he had taken from Zach.
"Tad, are you okay?" a concerned Brooke asked him.
"I found the blue wire," Tad reported proudly.
"Well, I don't know what that means, but we're glad you folks are safe and sound," Krystal said for them all.
"Good job, mate," an untied-up Aidan breathed to Tad. "Better hurry though. We're down to 6 seconds. And I still say it's the red wire."
"Tad, what the hell is Aidan talking about?" JR asked.
"He's talking about a red wire," Babe said. "But I can't imagine why. JR, what's that ticking sound?"
Tad cut the blue wire, and the ticking stopped.
"There's a bomb?" Derek yelped, seeing the whole picture at last. "Cambias, you planted a BOMB?"
"It's okay, Derek," Di told him. "Ethan helped us deactivate it."
"No, he didn't," Tad said.
"Well, he untied us, Tad, and he didn't tie you up and that helped deactivate it," Di reasoned.
"I'll let the Prosecutor know," Derek mumbled, leading Ethan away. "That might fall under extenuating circumstances. Especially in this town."
Amanda begged Derek to wait a moment before he hauled Ethan away.
"Ethan, was my Mom involved in any of this?" she asked him haltingly.
"Your Mom?" Ethan asked. "Oh, Janet from Another Planet. The Recast who was the Original." He smiled at Amanda. "No, Amanda. This was my Show. I kidnapped the Veterans. I left "This Land Is My Land" on the voicemails of the Veterans I abducted. I hired Zendall and Taiden. I scrawled the lists of the Already Vanished and Vanished to Come in invisible ink on Myrtle's walls. I wrote the Script. I planted the bomb. I did it all and I stood tall and did it my way!"
"I'm so glad!" Amanda cried out, awash in relief.
"This Land Is My Land?" Di asked, confused. "That wasn't 'You Are My Sunshine'?"
"Why would it be 'You Are My Sunshine'?" Ethan asked her.
She smiled, knowing that any doubt she had left about Dixie's involvement in this nightmare had been expunged.
"Hey, if I stay in Pine Valley, my trial could be a great storyline!" Ethan realized suddenly.
"Go to Salem!" Tad, Di, Aidan and Erin chorused.
--
Meanwhile, in a chillier part of the Big Black Building, NuGreenlee was pointing a shaky gun at Ryan, while Erica, Jack, Jonathan, Lily and four Policemen lingered outside the open door, none of them wanting to make any sudden move that might set Gina off.
"If it isn't Dynamite Kiddo," Greenlee said softly, looking up. "Good to see ya. Be careful, Ryan. I don't think Imitation Me is too tightly wrapped."
"You okay?" he bent down to whisper quickly.
"Are you for real?" she whispered back. "I'm bound hand and foot. A giant Maxi-Me is pointing a gun at me. How could I possibly be okay? Now stop jabbering and get that witch!"
Ryan nodded and straightened up. "It's over, Gina," he told her carefully, taking Greenlee's words of caution to heart. "Give me the gun!"
"OVER?" Gina howled. "How can it be over? You don't understand! Ethan is going to come back for me and we're going to return together to Pine Valley in triumph and take it over as soon as this building blows up!"
"As soon as this building blows up?" Ryan echoed, a trifle taken aback.
"Yeah, we really should continue this conversation outside," Greenlee said, struggling with her ropes.
Erica could linger outside the door no longer.
"Kendall are you all right?" she screamed, bursting into the meat locker and running to her daughter. "Has Zach hurt you?"
"Mom, I'm fine," Kendall assured her "Or at least I will be fine as soon as somebody gets the gun away from that looneytune and cuts us down from here. Zach isn't the one who hurt me. Zach will never hurt me. Zach does nothing but save me. He loves me. I love him. We're married. Get used to it."
"Hi, Mom!" Zach greeted her.
"Gina, give me the gun," Ryan was begging her. "Nothing bad will happen if you give me the gun. Nobody has to get hurt, Gina!"
"Why are you calling me Gina?" Gina screamed at him. "I'm Greenlee, Ry! You know that!"
"She's Greenlee, Ry," David repeated, hoping Ryan would be smart enough to play along, although he had his doubts.
"You know that, Ryan!" Simone piped up. "We all know that. If there's one thing we know, it's that she's Greenlee."
"Look, Jonathan!" Lily said happily. "There's the real Greenlee on the floor, all tied up!"
"No, that's Greenlee over there pointing the gun at Ryan," Jonathan said, having gotten the drift. "I don't know who that tied-up lady on the floor is, but she looks kinda mean. And definitely not like Greenlee!"
"Okay," Lily said, not understanding, but trusting Jonathan anyway because she knew he would never lie to her.
Gina's head had begun to ache. "Are we okay, Ry?" she asked weakly, aiming the gun straight at his forehead.
"We're swell," he told her, praying she'd believe him. "Give me the gun, Green Butterfly!"
"Nice touch," Greenlee murmured.
--
"Tad," Di said, as they began following Derek, JR, Babe, Amanda, Adam, Krystal, Brooke and Ethan out of the nightmare.
"What, Watson?" he grinned, happy to have a reason not to hate himself because he loved her. "You really came through before with Ethan, convincing him to try another town. Like "Days of Our Lives" would ever give him a tumble! Ha!"
Di was staring at the bomb.
"Tad, why does it say 666 again?"
The ticking resumed.
--
"Greenlee, Ethan isn't coming back," Zach felt it important to tell Gina.
"Zach's right," Kendall confirmed. "If Ethan were coming back, he'd be here already. But they're here. The Police, I mean. They wouldn't be here if Ethan were coming back. Try to put it together. This isn't rocket science, Gina."
Gina felt bathed in an icy calm. This was her moment. She might never have a moment like this again. She stood her tallest and did her best to radiate poise and conviction. Every line had to be said perfectly. Every gesture had to be gestured perfectly.
"All my life I've wanted to be a Soap Star," she revealed dramatically, keeping the gun aimed at Ryan's forehead. "All my life! Being a Soap Star is all I've ever wanted!" She paused to let that sink in. "Nothing else has ever mattered to me. Nothing else matters to me now. It's the only dream I ever had."
Her words hung in the frozen silence of the meat locker. Hostages, Police and Posse stared at her, feeling an unhappy mixture of horror and pity. Worse than that, for one millisecond in time everybody there identified completely with her.
"Say something," Greenlee murmured to Ryan, snapping out of it. "Answer her fast! She's gonna kill me, Ryan. I'm the one her delusional brain figures is standing in her way."
Ryan scowled in thought. Greenlee, the real Greenlee, was in more danger than any of them. He had to protect her. Or die trying.
"Your dream can come true!" he told Gina, making it up as he went along. "It's feasible! Every single day people are becoming Soap Stars. Actually, there's a Show on Cable called "So You Wanna Be a --".
"I failed the audition," Gina admitted miserably, tears stinging her eyes. "Three times!"
"Why does that not surprise me?" Greenlee cracked.
Gina pointed the gun at her.
"At least I can take down one of you before you all get me," she said, cocking the trigger. "Say your prayers, Smurf!"
--
"Maybe you missed one of the blue wires?" Di was whispering to Tad.
"There was only one damn blue wire," Tad said, trying to keep his temper. "And I cut it. All we have left is a yellow wire, an orange wire, an aqua wire and a violet wire." He squinted. "And the red wire. It was hiding behind the yellow wire. I knew I didn't trust the red wire." He stopped a moment to mop his brow, which was doing nothing if not perspiring. "Cutting one of these has got to deactivate that damn bomb for good. Unless it sets it off. Derek, isn't there anybody on the Pine Valley Police Force that detonates bombs for a living? I'm only a talented amateur."
"The Bomb Squad is on its way," Derek answered tensely. "But odds are they won't get here in time."
"Okay, it's too crowded in here," Tad decided. "Everybody out. That includes you, Watson."
"I'm staying, mate," Aidan said at once. "Erin, go home. I'll call you later."
"There may not be a later," Erin said, having no intention whatever of leaving her First with a ticking bomb.
"Cut the orange wire, Tad," Di said steadily. "I believe in you. We all believe in you."
"Cut the red wire, mate," Aidan urged.
Tad cut the yellow wire, the ticking stopped, the detonator went back to 666 and the ticking started again.
"It's like that freakin' computer on 'Lost!'" Di realized. "Every six minutes, six seconds and six-tenths second another wire has to be cut! Tad, are we going to stick around to cut the next wire? And the next wire? And the next wire? Until we cut the wire that blows us up?"
After one solid second of intense reflection, everybody ran out of the room, leaving behind the still ticking bomb to wait for the Bomb Squad, which probably wouldn't get there in time.
--
Not knowing the bomb had started ticking again, Brooke and Adam had left the Big Black Building to find out if anybody had found Zendall. Nobody seemed to know.
"Brooke, I overheard what you said back there," Adam said quietly.
"You mean about Krystal stealing my storyline?" Brooke asked him.
"About me being the one man you've always loved," he said. "Am I, or was that only something you said?"
Brooke considered that. "It was only something I said," she said.
Adam's face fell.
"But you are," she finished. "I love you, Adam. Please don't ask me why!"
He brightened.
"Wanna fool around?" he asked hopefully. "On a regular basis?"
"Cheat on your wife?" she gasped. "Have an illicit affair?" She laughed out loud. "Sounds like a storyline to me!"
--
"I coulda been somebody," Gina was telling her captive audience, still pointing her gun at Greenlee. "I coulda been a contender!"
"Sure you could have," Greenlee muttered. "But on your best day, you couldn't have been ME!"
"You're not helping!" Ryan whispered to Greenlee.
"She sure as sugar isn't!" Gina agreed, taking careful aim.
"What are your plans if my son doesn't come back for you?" Zach asked, hoping to take Gina's mind off of murdering Greenlee.
"And he won't come back for you," Kendall added. "None of us will ever see Ethan again!" At least she prayed none of them would. "You're not gonna be a Soap Star, Gina! You're gonna be a Convict!"
Gina took the gun off Greenlee and aimed it squarely at Kendall.
Erica Kane had about enough. Her beautiful, talented, brilliant daughter, who was tied to a meat hook next to a man she could never accept as her son-in-law, was about to be shot to death by a Soap Star Wannabe. None of that was remotely acceptable.
"Whoever you are, Miss, I think you better drop that gun!"
Gina was about to laugh scornfully, at which point Erica high-kicked the gun clean out of her hand. It flew far, far above them all, as if in the slowest of slow motions.
"I was a showgirl in Vegas for a brief time last year," Erica explained to the cheering Meat Locker Hostages, as the gun began its slow descent.
"Vegas," Greenlee said thoughtfully.
Not taking his eyes off the gun for an instant, Ryan raced to where he estimated it would land, reached high with both hands, dove for it and caught it on the fly.
"I played semi-pro ball a few seasons," he admitted shyly over the ensuing applause.
"Ry, I love you!" Gina cried out as Police surrounded her, cuffed her and led her away. "How can you let them do this to me? I'm an actress! I live in a world of make-believe! I never would have actually shot anyone! I was only playing a part!"
"NOW she tells us!" Kendall laughed, as Police cut her and her husband down from their meat hooks.
"How goes it with you, Lovely?" Zach asked, when she was safe in his arms.
"Never better," she told him, ignoring her aching shoulders and bruised wrists. And it was the truth. She felt safe, she felt cherished, she felt incredibly grateful to be alive and in love.
"Folks, there's a bomb about to go off in the next six minutes, six seconds and six-tenths second!" Derek yelled from the door. "EVERYBODY OUT!"
"Derek, is my son all right?" Zach shouted, as hand-in hand, he and Kendall ran along with everyone else from the Big Black Building. "Did he give himself up without a struggle?"
"Is he dead?" Kendall asked hopefully.
"Ethan's in a squad car on its way back to Pine Valley," Derek reported to Zach's immense relief. "Although for some reason he keeps saying he's going to Salem."
Six minutes, six seconds and six-tenths second after the last person had run for his/her life out of the Big Black Building, the bomb finally blew up. The last people out of the building were thrown high into the air from the sheer force of the blast. One would assume that some would have been hurt, killed or both. Amazingly enough, nobody was even injured. In the not inconsiderable panic and confusion that ensued, a handcuffed man and woman evaded the shocked and bewildered police and made their joint-escape to parts unknown. (Some said to Salem, but that could not be immediately substantiated.) Meanwhile, debris fell as far away as Llanview, where a section of the roof knocked out a beautiful young attorney named Evangeline Williamson, who had lost her sight not long before in a hideous accident. Amazingly enough, when she regained consciousness, she could see again. The massive explosion was heard throughout Pine Valley, where windows should have been broken and power lines should have come down. Amazingly enough, none of that happened. In fact, nobody paid much attention to the enormous roar, except for Jamie Martin, who woke up at the sound, then turned over and went back to sleep.
--
Please come back for our Saga's final chapter, wherein we shall discover exactly who gets their oh so richly deserved Happy Ending and who doesn't!