The Team steals a jet from Brantford Airport.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Mr Vreeke?" Jake asked his new acquaintance.
"It's our best shot, Mr Coulson," replied Alex, clad in a airline pilot's uniform. "I work here; hopefully, the airport staff and security will let us through."
"And if they don't?" Jake enquired.
"Then we execute Plan B," replied Alex.
The two men approached the security booth which led to Gate 9. Alex had a flight scheduled for takeoff in about half-an-hour, and was relieved to see an old friend of his there manning the booth.
"Good evening, Rita," he greeted the security officer.
"Good evening, Captain Vreeke," replied Rita with some surprise. "How may I help you?"
"I've got a flight scheduled in 35 minutes and I need to be on board," explained Alex.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Rita ruefully. "Management's just announced that all flights are grounded until further notice. Your services won't be required tonight."
"Yeah, well, sorry, I wasn't asking," replied Alex ominously.
Before Rita could alert the airport authorities, someone suddenly shot her with a tranquiliser dart. It was Jake, who'd stealthily crept up behind her while she was talking to Alex. Within seconds, she was unconscious.
"She'll be out for about an hour," said Jake. "More than enough time for us to get airborne."
"Thanks," answered Alex gratefully. "Where are the others?"
"At Gate 9, just as you instructed," Jake replied.
"Good," said Alex, "because I won't be able to help them much with security."
Meanwhile, Spencer and Martha arrived at Gate 9, sweaty and out of breath.
"That was too close," panted Spencer tiredly. The two of them had just fought their way through dozens of airport security personnel to get to the rendezvous point.
"Yeah," Martha agreed. "I used up all my tranquiliser bullets early on. Thanks for coming to get me."
"No biggie," said Spencer dismissively.
"Sure was a good thing Fridge had that laptop in his backpack," remarked Martha gratefully.
"Yeah," panted Spencer. "If Bethany hadn't hacked the airport's systems with it, we may never have made it past the cops."
"Look!" cried Martha, as she spotted their teammates in the distance. "Here they come!"
Fridge, Grandpa Eddie and both Bethanys gave the couple a wave as they walked up to meet them. The old man had been given his briefing after returning home from Nora's himself, and had donned the avatar of Ming Fleetfoot once more. To avoid confusing the two Bethanys, he had decided to call the older one 'B1' and the younger, 'B2' after the Bananas in Pyjamas, an idea which the others had found most helpful.
"Where's Daddy?" asked B2 excitedly, thrilled to be allowed on one of her father's daily trips at last.
"He should be here about any minute now with Mr Coulson," B1 replied. "Look! There they are!"
Alex and Jake walked up to rejoin the rest of the Team. Of all the players, only the Vreekes had yet to change into a Jumanji avatar. Alex had hoped that using his real face would give them an advantage at the airport, while there weren't enough medallions for his young daughter. Still, with six grownups around to protect her, B2 was as insulated from the dangers of Jumanji as she could possibly be.
"Shall we go?" asked Alex, gesturing towards the open gate.
"Yes, Captain!" saluted B1 enthusiastically, drawing laughter from the rest of the crew.
Alex joined in the laughter himself. If he'd never been trapped in Jumanji as a teen, he would likely never have become a pilot, and he wouldn't be able to help the Team now. Instead, he was preparing to fly his friends to Rio de Janeiro on their craziest adventure yet. Slowly, everyone trooped into the large jet waiting on the tarmac, and Alex climbed into the cockpit for the preflight check.
After ensuring that the aircraft's systems were fully functional and that they had enough fuel to get to Rio, Alex took Seaplane McDonough's medallion out of his pocket. He knew that once he put it on, there was no going back. If he failed to complete the game, his little daughter Bethany would be orphaned, while Alice and Andy would stay dead. Still, he trusted the six people seated in the cabin behind him. All he needed to do was to get them safely to Brazil.
As the jumbo jet took off from the runway and began climbing high into the night sky, the cockpit filled with a magical green light.
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