Chapter Eight
The School Bus
Three days later, Joshua stood on top of a warehouse in his civvies, using binoculars to watch the warehouse across from him. On the street below, cars passed on their way to work, the drivers blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
Joshua looked back at General Kenpachi, who stood beside him with a sniper rifle. He nodded, and the general pulled out his radio. "All teams, check in," he said.
"We're all good here," Katie's voice said. Joshua spotted her head poke up momentarily on the building to the north.
"I'm good too," Dayton's voice said. Joshua directed his gaze to the street, where Dayton waved from behind a tree. Harriet Nixon crouched behind another tree nearby. "Ready when you are."
"I'm here too," Doug Cummins said. Joshua checked the building to the south, where the young cadet's round face popped up.
"Everyone's in position, Captain," General Kenpachi said. "We'll wait for your signal."
Joshua nodded. He pulled out his own radio and clicked it on. "How are things looking on your end, Anthony," he asked.
"Everything looks good here, Josh," Anthony's voice came through from headquarters. "We don't detect any movement."
"Good," Joshua said. "Keep me updated."
"Will do. Good luck out there, Captain. We'll stay connected to you while you're in there."
"Please do," Joshua said. "Over and out."
He switched off the radio and stepped up onto the ledge of the building. He tapped his morpher and within seconds he found himself inside the bright red suit once again, looking out through the blue visor. He raised his arm into the air so that his teammates could see him. With another step, he dropped from the building to the ground below, landing like he had merely taken a single step down.
He crossed to the street, Dayton and Harriet stepped out to join him. He could see Katie and Doug's teams approaching the building from the north and south. Joshua's team crossed the street and approached the warehouse's front door. Joshua nodded to Harriet and she stepped up to the door, placing a small charge on the door's frame.
"Good to go, Captain," she said.
"Thank you, Nixon," Joshua said. He gestured for everyone to step back. He tapped on his visor, checking to see if any enemy soldiers were hiding nearby. He held out his fingers to Harriet and counted down from three to two to one. Harriet hit the detonator.
The charge blew. A small explosion blew the door open. Joshua and his team waited a couple of seconds, waiting for gunfire.
None came.
Joshua stepped carefully to the doorframe, holding his gun at the ready and looking inside to see if anyone was coming. No one. That's weird, he thought. He stepped inside, waving for Dayton and Harriet to join him. The team stepped carefully down the corridor, keeping an eye out for anyone coming.
"Katie, Doug," Joshua said into his helmet. "How are your teams doing?"
"We're good, Captain," Katie said. "We just got inside on our end."
"We did too, Captain," Doug said. "I don't see anyone around. Are we sure this was the right building?"
"Positive," Joshua said. He and his team rounded another corner. Still no one. He tapped the side of his visor, switching it to infrared vision. The whole building seemed empty, except for one large cluster of heat signatures in the very center of the building.
"Wait," he said. "There's a large group there." He pointed in the cluster's general direction.
"That smells like a trap to me," Dayton said.
"What should we do, Captain?" Harriet asked.
"Keep going," Joshua said. "Be careful," he said.
They worked their way through the building, watching their every step and keeping an eye out for any traps. They checked each room as they went. Most of the rooms had been cleared out, the whole building seeming abandoned. Joshua kept his eyes on the cluster in the middle.
"Captain, come in," Katie's voice said.
Joshua touched his ear out of habit. "I'm here, Katie. What is it?"
"I think I've found the lab you and James worked in," she said. "I'm going in to check it out, see what I can learn."
Joshua was silent for a moment. "Alright," he said. "Be careful."
"Will do, Captain."
They rounded the next corner, and bumped right into Doug and his team.
"Hey, guys," Doug said.
"Hey, Doug, Joshua said. "Find anything?"
"Not yet, Captain."
"Let's keep going. Stick close to us for now."
Doug and his team fell into place behind Joshua, Doug and Harriet sharing a quick hug.
Joshua led them around a few more doors before coming to the door into the middle room. Up close, the cluster seemed strange, the individual heat signatures moving around erratically, seeming smaller than the average person. "Everyone stand back," Joshua said.
He balled up his fist and punched the door with all of his might, the heavy steel crumpling like paper and crashing to the floor.
Inside was a massive room, like a hangar or a parking garage, except with no visible exits anywhere. In the very center of the room, a single school bus had been parked. It was packed with small children, between the ages of five and ten, screaming, crying, and pounding on the windows while the two adults Joshua could see were doing their best to keep them all calm. The driver seemed to be slumped against the wheel, unconscious.
"A school bus?" Dayton asked. "What's that doing here?"
"I don't know," Joshua said. He tapped on his helmet. "General Kenpachi, Anthony, we've got a school bus full of kids here."
"What?" Anthony said incredulously.
"Did we receive any reports of missing kids?"
"Not that I remember," General Kenpachi said.
Joshua scanned the room with his visor, switching between his vision settings. It looked like wires had been laid all around the room under the floor, rigged up to explosives.
"This whole room is rigged to blow any second," he told his teammates.
Dayton, Doug, and Harriet all stared at him with wide eyes. "Why would someone do such a thing?" Harriet asked.
A second heavy steel door slammed into place in the doorframe behind them, trapping them inside. Secret doors opened up all around the room and thirty Black Cross soldiers filed in, surrounding them on all sides. Joshua's teammates packed in around him as the soldiers threatened them with their guns.
"What is all this?" Joshua demanded.
A peal of laughter ripped through the room. High on the opposite wall across from them, a large monitor clicked on and the gleaming golden head of the Golden Mask appeared, his artificial smile still as wide as it had always been.
"Well, well, well," he said, tilting his head to the side. "If it isn't my dear old friend, Joshua Cage. It's so nice to see you again. And look at that, you've brought your whole gaggle of friends to see me. Isn't that nice?"
"You?" Joshua said, clenching his fist. "You're still alive?"
The Golden Mask rubbed at his chest for a second, seeming to cringe in pain. "As you can see," he said. "I am still alive, no thanks to you. That suit of yours did quite a number on me, I must admit. But you didn't keep me down for long."
He spread his arms dramatically. "What do you think of my little present? I prepared it special, just for you, Captain Cage. I hope you like it."
Joshua looked down at the children locked inside the bus and the bombs lining the room. "What sort of game are you playing?" he demanded
The Golden Mask chuckled. "We knew you'd be back eventually, Captain Cage. So, I put together a little test for you, just to see how you would handle it." He fell silent, tilting his head back and forth as he studied Joshua's suit. "It truly is a marvelous suit your team has made. Much better than the old one. So, let's put it to the test, shall we? Let's see if you can get through all my men, save those kids, and get them all out of the building before the bombs go off, all without losing any of your friends here. You have about five minutes. Have fun!"
The monitor turned black and the Golden Mask disappeared, leaving Joshua and his team alone with the horde of Black Cross soldiers. Joshua clenched his fist, planning out his next moves.
"Everybody, get down."
Joshua moved with lightning speed, moving in a circle around his friends, taking down those soldiers nearest them with a sweeping kick and clearing a path. "Get to the bus!" he shouted.
The team ran for the bus, crouching the whole way. Joshua followed them, pulling out his blaster and sniping any soldiers who came near. At the door to the bus, Joshua scanned it, seeing that the door frame was lined with triggers to set off the bombs if they tried to open it. "Harriet, can you do anything about that?" he asked
"I can try, sir," Harriet said, crouching down to study the connectors running from the door frame. Everyone else gathered around her, shielding her and picking off every last soldier that came near. Thanks to Joshua's sharpshooting prowess, they were able to take down most without much trouble.
"I can't," Harriet said finally as Dayton shot the last one. "They're connected to every single bomb in the place. I can't even try to deactivate one without setting off all the others."
"Got it," Joshua said. "Thanks anyway."
Joshua considered the problem. He noticed that the bombs were only connected to the frame and not the door itself. He drew his whip and shifted it into its rapier form. With a series of swift, precise cuts, he sliced a person-sized hole in the door before changing his weapon back into its whip form and pulling the door free, leaving the door frame behind and the triggers untouched.
"There we go," he said.
He leaped over the door and into the bus. The kids screamed as he stepped up to face them, probably thinking he was another Black Cross mask. Joshua quickly pulled off his helmet, showing them his face. "Hey, it's okay," he said. "I'm a good guy. We're with EAGLE, we're here to help."
He looked to the two teachers on board. "There's bombs on the door here, so the kids will have to step over them. My team is waiting to help you."
The older of the two teachers nodded. "Come on, kids," she said, getting up and helping to corral her students. "Let's follow the nice man down the steps."
She and her companion ushered the kids one by one out of their seats and down the steps. Dayton and Doug stood on either side of the door waiting to receive them, lifting each of them up over the door and onto the ground.
"Doug, lead them back to the exit," Joshua said.
"Will do, Captain," he said. "Everybody, follow me and watch your step."
One of Doug's team stepped up to take his place. The kids filed out, kept in line by their teachers. Harriet worked studiously nearby, trying to figure out the explosives.
"Come on, hurry, hurry," Joshua said, hurrying each child past until the last one had been helped over the door, leaving just the second teacher who hopped over on her own. "That's everyone," Joshua said, checking the empty bus.
"Except the driver," Dayton said.
Joshua looked up, rememberign the driver still slumped over the wheel. "Right," he said. He turned and tried to shake the driver. "Hey, buddy," he said.
No response. He had been strapped down to the wheel and the seat with his head facing away from the door. Joshua switched to infrared to see that his body wasn't giving off any heat.
"I think he's dead," Joshua said. He tore the bindings tying the driver to the wheel and sat the body upright, jumping back and almost falling down the steps as he came face-to-face with the burned, decaying face of his brother. James's body had been dressed up in a blue, one-piece uniform, the chest left open to show that a large cross shape had been roughly carved into it and the edges of the wound burned black. Joshua fought back the urge to vomit and stared at his brother in horror.
His mind went numb. The whole world disappeared, except for him and his brother's mutilated body, dressed up and treated like a doll.
"Hey, Captain," Dayton said, pulling at his arm. "Come on, Captain. Captain Cage. Josh!"
Joshua woke from his stupor and looked down at his friend. "Are you okay, buddy?" Dayton asked, concerned.
Joshua forced himself to remember their situation. The kids who needed his help. "Yeah," he said. I'm okay. Help me get him out of here."
"Sure thing, Captain," Dayton said, grabbing the railing hoisting himself over the door frame. Together, they undid the bands lashing James's body to the driver's seat and hefted him onto their shoulders. They hopped out of the bus and rejoined the kids who were gathered around the heavy steel door with Doug and Harriet.
"Everyone, stand back," Joshua shouted.
The crowd parted, and Joshua handed off James's body to Dayton. He balled up his fist and punched it with all of his might, crumpling it. He punched it again and it flew into the hallway beyond.
"Let's go," Joshua said, ushering everyone through. "Doug, take the lead. Your entrance was closer."
"Yes, sir," the young cadet said.
The team ran through the building, Doug leading them back to the entrance. As they ran, Joshua kicked on his communicator. "Katie, what are you and your team doing?"
"We're just heading out, sir. I think we found something important."
"Well, get out of the building. Fast. The whole thing's going to blow in about a minute."
The door appeared before them. Doug barreled through it like a human cannonball and held it open so the kids could run past. The teachers stayed with the team to help check that every single kid was present and accounted for. Once all were through and the teachers had followed, Joshua and his team closed the doors behind them.
"Keep going," Joshua shouted. "Head for the street. Get out of the blast radius."
According to Joshua's visor, they still had forty seconds left. Thirty-nine. Thirty-eight. A tremendous explosion rocked the world, knocking everyone off their feet, an intense wave of heat washing across their backs. "Cover your heads!" he shouted. Joshua crawled to the nearest group of kids and covered them with his body, debris simply bouncing off his armor like it was nothing.
After a few seconds, Joshua raised his head, looking back at where the building had once stood, now a smoking pile of rubble. "Are you all okay?" he asked the kids he'd been protecting.
"Yeah," they nodded.
Beside him, Dayton had been covering a couple more kids, James's body still draped over his shoulder. "Are you alright?" Joshua asked.
"Oh, yeah," Dayton said, shaking himself off. "You can't keep me down." He looked back at the mess behind them. "What a blast."
Joshua looked back at the rest of the kids. Doug, Harriet, and their teams had covered a few more kids each. Everyone seemed to have come through just fine with only a few minor scrapes and bruises to mention.
"It went off early, right?" Doug asked.
"Yeah," Joshua said.
"Why?" Harriet said. "And why the kids."
Looking at James's body and remembering the Golden Mask's message to him, as well as the ease with which they dispatched the soldiers, he suspected it had all simply been to screw with him, but he didn't say that out loud. He tapped the side of his head. "Katie, come in," he said. "Are you and your team alright?"
"Yeah, we're here, Captain," her voice said. She coughed a little. "We're all fine."
Joshua breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are you?"
"Over here. On the other side of the building. Give me a second."
About thirty seconds later, three figures appeared through the dust cloud, rounding where the corner of the building had been. "Is everyone okay?" Katie said, running to them. Her eyes scanned the crowd of small children surrounding them. "Why are there kids here?" Her eyes fell on the mutilated body of James on Dayton's shoulder. It all seemed a bit too much for her to process at the moment. She looked at Joshua. "What happened?"
"It's a long story," Joshua said wearily. "You said you found something important?"
Katie glanced around at the group. "Yeah," she said. "I'll tell you later. Let's focus on getting these kids out of here for now."
Joshua nodded. "Good idea," he said. He tapped his helmet. "General, Anthony, we could use an extraction please."
"Coming right up, Captain," General Kenpachi said.