"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Blake was screaming even after they had stopped falling.
"Blake, shut up!" Robin yelled. The pain from the fall wasn't anything compared to the shock of it, and the shock of it couldn't compare to how long it was. "I think I hit my head one to many times on the ceiling."
"Why'd you untie the rope?" Blake said getting off the ground and brushing himself off.
"Don't ask me stupid questions!"
"Both of you shut up." Jay intervened. "Come help me with the door."
"I think it's another sliding door," Blake observed as Jay and Robin started pushing the door.
"Oh," Jay said changing to pulling. The door opened immediately when he pulled it by the handle. "That was surprisingly easy."
"How does that even work?" Robin asked completely dumbfounded.
"Well, you just pull and the do-"
"Not that. The rope." Robin interrupted.
"What rope?" Jay asked.
"The one he untied," Blake answered.
"Please stop talking." Robin rolled his eyes angry.
"Sorry," Blake said sincerely.
Jay took a step out of the elevator to look around. "This elevator looks really old. Actually, everything down here looks old."
"Like you." Robin laughed.
"Haha, Robin," Jay said looking like he had just tasted something bad. "I'm not that old."
"Aren't you like in your 40's?" Robin asked.
"Anyway, we should get going," Jay said cheerily changing the subject. Robin folded his arms disappointed, and Blake followed silently. The hallway they walked through had walls of dirt, and what looked like nothing for miles. They soon found out that was just an optical illusion. The hallway was actually really short. Jay bumped into the wall in front of him thinking there was more to it, and both Blake and Robin followed suit.
"I say again, why me?" Robin whined.
"At least it's not a brick wall," Blake said.
"At least you weren't in front," Jay complained pushing the other two back. He paused to look around for a moment. "Ironically there are two different paths. So, this is where we split up. I'll go left you guys right."
"Whatever," Robin said. Blake in turn nodded.
Jay tapped Robin and Blake on the shoulder and looked at both of them. "If you run into Shou Shi run. Got it?"
"Got it," Blake assured him.
"Got it?" Jay asked turning to Robin.
Robin stood still for a moment aggravated, but after a minute gave in. "Got it."
"Good!" Jay said satisfied. "Stay safe." He turned and made his way down the left path. Blake watched his Uncle disappear and turned to go down the right path with Robin.
"Why couldn't we fight Shou Shi?" Robin complained.
"We did once. That did not turn out well." Blake said simply.
Robin scowled at him and didn't speak anymore. Blake felt the tension and decided it would be best to be quiet anyway. This time the hallway was extremely long. No tricks or illusions. There was nothing notable about this hallway either. There was just dirt as far as the eye could see. As they continued to walk in silence, they finally came to the end of the hallway. In front of them was a large metal door. Robin put his hand on the door and shivered from the cold. As he opened the door, he was met with an odor so bad it made his eyes water. "What's with the smell?" Blake coughed covering his mouth with his shirt.
"How am I supposed to know?" Robin said annoyed.
"Hey! Hey!" They herd someone to their left scream. It was so dark it was impossible to see anything around them.
"That could be a guard or something," Blake whispered.
"Run!" Robin yelled. He bolted straight ahead of him and Blake followed.
"Wait!" They heard the voice scream, but that didn't stop them. Robin came to a sudden halt as he ran straight into a rail stopping himself from falling with his hands. He sighed in relief just as Blake bumped into him from the back, and he found himself falling. Unable to see anything around him, Robin screamed in panic. He thought he felt his life flash before his eyes before Blake quickly grabbed onto his ankle. Blake pulled him up with all of his strength knocking them on the floor.
Suddenly they heard a dry cackling laugh. "You idiots must be new recruits or something. Although Shou Shi doesn't often do that. What's your job anyway?"
"Huh?" Blake asked winded and confused.
"Ummm... Yeah. We're new recruits. What's it to you?" Robin said.
"Like I thought. You're idiots." The voice said again.
"I am a highly regarded member of this Shou Shi society." Robin frowned. Not that anyone could see him.
"Ha! There are only a few people Shou Shi highly regards. None of who we know, but you definitely aren't one of them." A different voice further in the distance said. "Anyway, it doesn't make any sense for you to be new recruits. Who are you guys?"
"Like I told you. We're recruits." Robin said hoping he could get away with it.
The second voice laughed. "If you're afraid we're gonna do something to you, don't be. We can't, because we're all prisoners here."
"Prisoners?" Blake asked.
"Yeah." The first voice rasped. "Prisoners."
"Why aren't there more voices?" Robin asked.
"They're either dead, or they've lost their will to live." The second voice said softly.
"Or we're not dumb enough to interact with the guards." Another voice chimed in.
"Or that." The second voice said. "If you don't believe us, walk backward till you reach the door. There should be a torch there."
Blake did as he was told before Robin could protest, and found the torch. He tried to lift the torch off of the wall only to find it was firmly attached to it. Without thinking he lit the torch with his power, and the room slowly lit up. The light spread all across the room in a zigzag pattern revealing rows and rows of cages.
"You idiot!" Robin yelled. "What if they were lying?"
"Well, we weren't ya moron." The first voice said. "So, you're just two kids. Huh! How'd you two get down here?" They turned to see a scruffy elderly looking man partially shielding his eyes from the light.
"More importantly, how did you light that torch?" Said the man with the third voice. He was hard to see, but could be described as the "calm, cool, and collected" type just by his stance.
"Uhhhh..." Blake started trying to find a reason.
"Elemental Masters?" came a women's voice from the cage beside the old man.
"Don't tell me you fools have powers." The scruffy old man said.
Blake awkwardly shook his head and attempted to lie, "No. Of course not."
"Look, that doesn't matter," Robin said. "Right now, I'm looking for a Cole Hence."
"That would be me." The second voice said. They turned to his cell and saw his powerful figure. As they walked closer, they got a better view, and also a better whiff of what a man who hasn't bathed in years smells like. They both coughed and covered their mouths as they took a mouth full of the polluted air. "What?" Cole asked.
"I know you've probably had to be like this for a while, and no offense cause it's not your fault, but-"
Before Blake could finish his sentence, Robin said, "You reek dude!"
"I admit I stink, but it can't be that bad," Cole said sniffing himself.
"Oh, it's bad," Robin said trying to breathe without smelling.
"That doesn't matter right now." Cole shrugged. "Why were you two looking for me?"
Blake stared at him getting a good look at his features. This was definitely Cole Hence, the black ninja. He was a tall muscular man with overgrown hair that overshadowed almost all of his features, but his presence was what really amazed Blake. His presence told you that he was more than just physically strong, it said that he was a man who had endured a lot.
"You're really the black ninja? Cole Hence?" Robin asked.
"Do I have a reason to lie?" Cole raised his hidden eyebrows at him.
"He's got a point," Blake said.
"So, you gonna let me out?" Cole asked. Robin stood for a moment in thought. "Do you really have time to stand around and think about this? The more time you waste the more danger you both are in."
"Fine." Robin rolled his eyes. He pulled the bars of the cell, and nothing happened. Robin sat wide-eyed in amazement.
"What?" Cole asked.
"I can't believe it." Robin laughed.
"What?" Cole asked again. This time with concern in his voice.
"We don't have a key," Robin whined. "We've been standing here all this time, and we don't have a key." It was that Cole stuck his neck up to the bars of the cage.
"What're you doing?" Blake asked concerned for both of their sanity.
"Can you break this collar?" Cole asked pointing to his neck. "It suppresses my powers. If you can break it I should at least have enough strength to bend the bars."
"How are we gonna reach it if we can't break the bars?" Robin asked annoyed.
Cole shoved his neck to the bars "You can reach it now can't you?"
"How am I supposed to break it?"
"Do you always ask so many annoying questions?" Cole asked backing away from the bars. "I mean really. All you've done is whine."
"Well, I don't have to help you." Robin retorted.
Cole backed away from the bars and frowned. "Then why are you here?"
"Ummm..." Robin stood in thought for a moment.
"He has a good point, Robin," Blake said.
"You shut up!" Robin turned to him angrily.
"I can melt the lock on the collar!" Blake said excitedly.
"Then get over here kid," Cole said once again shoving his neck up to the bars. "It's here." He pointed. Blake walked to him and created a small light on his finger. Trying his best not to hurt Cole, he burned a hole where the collar connected. Once that was done Cole was able to pull the prison bars apart. "Now we can release the others," Cole said
proceeding to go to each cell and open the bars.
"We don't have time!" Robin said pulling him away. "Your old pal Jay's here and he's about to go head to head with Shou Shi."
"What?" Cole turned.
"Exactly what I said!" Robin yelled. "Why is everyone here def and stupid."
"Bolobo, do you think you can get everyone out of here?" Cole said opening his cage and breaking the collar around his neck.
"Leave it to me." The man with the exceedingly long beard said.
"Come on!" Blake yelled standing by the exit. Cole ran over to where Blake stood, Robin, following close behind him.
"You guys do know how to get out of here right?" Cole asked.
"We're not morons," Robin said offended.
"Really? Hard to tell." Cole mumbled. "Lead the way." They ran down the halls trying to find their way back to the crossroad where they split up with Jay. Suddenly they heard an explosion over top of them.
"You don't think?" Blake stopped afraid of what that explosion might've meant.
"Let's go!" Cole said running to the elevator that brought them down there. "How do you get this thing to work?"
"I think it'll go up if you pull that rope," Robin said remembering how they fell.
"Got it!" Cole pulled the rope, muscles bulging from the strain.
"We're moving!" Blake observed.
"What did you think would happen?" Robin asked.
"Not now!" Cole grunted. It took a while, but Cole finally managed to pull them to the top floor. Another explosion almost made him lose his grip. "Get out!" Cole commanded. Both Robin and Blake jumped out of the elevator.
"Tie it to that pole. It'll keep the elevator in place." Blake said. Cole did what Blake said, and hesitantly let go of the rope. The elevator stayed in place as Blake said it would to Cole's relief. He stepped out the elevator very carefully and managed to get out just before the thing crashed down due to the shock wave of another explosion.
Jay came flying through the warehouse stopping when he hit a beam. Shou Shi came in after him with a smug look on his face. "So, you've come to join us, have you?" Cole ran at him fist prepared to hit him hard. He never made it close to landing the punch. He was blown back by a blast, his body hitting one of the warehouse's main supporting beams and breaking it. Blake blasted him with fire not thinking twice about burning the man alive. Shou Shi absorbed the power and shot it back at him. Robin managed to knock Blake to the ground before the blast could hit. The warehouse was on fire.
"Kid don't use your powers!" Cole yelled.
"Sorry!" Blake said.
"At this rate, the whole building will collapse." Jay groaned getting up. Shou Shi walked up to Robin and grabbed him by his shirt. "Leave him alone!" Jay yelled shooting a bolt of lightning at him. Shou Shi deflected it, and Jay barely managed to dodge in time. The bolt hit the beam he was using to support himself, and the ceiling started to collapse.
Shou Shi turned his attention back to Robin and said "Thank you for falling into my trap."
"Thank you for falling into mine!" Robin exclaimed taking the hidden dagger from his side and stabbing Shou Shi in the stomach with it. He released Robin and reeled back.
"You little brat!" Shou Shi yelled taking the dagger out. Cole tackled him from the side wrestling the dagger out of his hand. Shou Shi blasted him making his body hit the ceiling and more debris came falling from the ceiling. Cole groaned in pain as Shou Shi stood over him. Jay shot another bolt of lightning that once again was deflected. He was fortunate enough to once again doge.
"Stop blasting him!" Robin yelled.
"Do you have a better plan?" Jay asked. Shou Shi turned his attention back to Cole. He picked him up by his throat and violently slammed him down. Jay picked the dagger off of the floor and stabbed him with it again. Shou Shi kicked Jay away from, but Jay came back hooking his arm around his neck. At this point, half of the building was on fire, and the place was coming down fast. "Cole take the kids and get out of here!" Jay yelled.
Cole managed to pull himself off of the floor. "No!" his voice barely came. "I can still fi-" he was cut off by a coughing fit.
"Cole do it! Please! I'll hold him here while you guys run." Jay said.
"You really think you can do that?" Shou Shi chuckled.
"Trust me if I'm going down, you're going with me," Jay pushed the dagger deeper into him.
Cole looked at Jay and saw a fiery determination in his eyes. He knew he wouldn't take no for answer. The longer stood there thinking the more the blazing building was collapsing around them.
"Uncle Jay we can't just leave you here!" Blake said determined not to leave.
"He's right." Robin said, "We can't just leave."
Cole picked Blake up throwing him over his shoulder and holding Robin by his pants. "You don't have a choice." He said. He managed somehow to dodge all of the falling debris and could hear a faint "Thank you" from Jay. "He really cares about these kids." Cole thought to himself. They escaped the warehouse as the building collapsed. As he heard the building collapsed his heart broke knowing that he had just lost a friend, a friend he had been separated from for 15 years, and would never have the chance to talk to again. He looked back thinking maybe he wasn't really dead, but the raging fire would've killed him if the collapsed building didn't.
Coming out of his thoughts his brain finally registered Robin screaming put me down. He put both boys on the ground. Blake looked exactly how he felt, numb. Robin got up and pushed Cole. "How could you?" he screamed.
"There was nothing I could do," Cole said.
"That's not true!" Robin pointed. "You could've done something. Something instead of leaving him!"
"That's enough Robin!" Lloyd said running up to the three of them.
"I'm sorry Lloyd." Cole put his head down in despair. "I-"
"Cole..." Lloyd hugged his friend. He was happy to see him but hurt knowing he just lost one.
Sally came behind him running to them as fast as she could with Zachery and Terry in tow. "Are we too late?" She asked.
"Is that?" Cole asked. Lloyd nodded. Sally looked around for a moment, and as if he had read her mind Cole laid a hand on her shoulder and said "I'm sorry kid. He was truly a hero."
Sally backed away from him. "You're lying." she shook her head. "Mr. Lloyd please tell me he's lying!" she grabbed him and hoped that he would tell her what she wanted to hear."
"I'm so sorry Sally." was all he could say. She broke into a million pieces at that moment and cried in Lloyd's arms.
"Are you Cole?" Terry asked Cole.
"Yes, I am," Cole said. "Who are you?"
"I'm Terry. Your daughter." She said pulling him away from Sally and Lloyd.
Cole's jaw dropped in surprise. That was his daughter?
Robin felt someone touch his back. He turned to find Zachery behind him. "I know what you're gonna say."
Zachery sat beside him on the ground. "Are you ok?"
"It's all my fault." Robin despaired.
"Robin..." was all Zachery could say. They sat there for a moment in silence. "Its..."
"Don't you dare tell me it's ok," Robin said distraught. "It's not."
Zachery looked at his brother. He couldn't remember the last time he'd looked so sad. "I know."
"Then what?" Robin asked.
"Its been a long day." Zachery sighed. "Let's go home. All of us."
"I hate how we always end up with the hard jobs."
"Stop complaining and dig."
"Fine, fine."
NNMoS Trapped Coming Soon ~