Underdog 2
Chapter 9
No new reviews, nothing new to say. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to Underdog.
Underdog hovered in mid-air, frozen by indecision. Jack and Dan had been captured by the Electric Eel and Elizabeth was in the sewers beneath the city holding a bomb that was close to detonation. Underdog watched as Elizabeth continued to navigate the maze underground, wiping tears from her blurred vision.
"HELP!" she called again, and Underdog knew what he had to do.
"I'll be back for you", he said, and turned around in mid-air.
At the speed of lightning, he was on his way back to town.
…
Elizabeth tripped over a pipe in the sewers and stared down at the clock: Two minutes left. She turned left and right, trying to find her way out, but the sewers seemed endless.
"Help!" she said, breathing hard. "Somebody, please help me!"
Elizabeth tripped again and this time, she fell to the ground.
"AGH!"
She cried out as the palms of her hands scraped on the ground and the bomb slid out of her hands and across the floor. She quickly picked herself up and stared down at the clock: 1 minutes and 30 seconds.
"It's no use", she said, sinking down against the wall. "I'm doomed, no matter what I do."
…
Conrad Conger stared at his watch.
"Lizzie should be back by now", he thought.
He dialed up his goons, who were nowhere near the city.
"Where's my daughter?" he demanded.
"The heck if I know, boss", said the one who had picked up the phone. "Still down there, I guess."
"What?! You were supposed to accompany her on her mission! If she's down there and lost because of you, I'll-!"
Conrad growled and shot a bolt of electricity into the air before putting the phone back up to his ear.
"Get down there", he said. "Find my daughter and bring her to me, now!"
"Forget it, boss", said the goon. "She didn't make it back in time, and we're out of range of the blast."
Conrad's eyes lit up with electricity and the phone began to crackle in his hands.
"When I find you", he said, "I will KILL YOU for leaving my daughter."
CRACK! The phone was reduced to ashes, and Conrad angrily whipped them off his hand.
"The traitor", he muttered. "It was all supposed to work; he was never supposed to leave her down there."
"Listen to yourself, Conrad!" said Dan. "This is no one's fault but yours! If Elizabeth dies, it will be on you; no one else."
"SHUT UP!" Conrad yelled, lightning flashing from his fingertips. "This is not my fault! He left her there! He was NEVER supposed to leave her alone! And if I lose my daughter today-"
He extended a lit-up finger to Jack's chest, whose eyes went wide.
"YOU lose your son!"
…
Elizabeth sat with her head buried in her knees as the timer neared zero.
"I'm sorry, Mom", she whispered. "I'm sorry, Uncle Dan. I wish I could take back everything I said. But now I'll never get the chance."
BAM! Something crashed through the wall behind her, and Elizabeth looked up to see…
"Underdog! You're okay!"
"No time for sappy moments", said Underdog. "Let's go!"
"No! You have to get this bomb out of here, quickly! I can stand being down here while you get rid of it."
Elizabeth picked up the bomb and Underdog took it in his mouth. The timer was at 25 seconds.
"Go! HURRY!" she demanded, and he flew off.
As Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, she heard a faint hissing sound.
"Oh, no."
She turned to see a steady stream of vapor heading her way. She thought back to when she had tripped over the pipe earlier.
"I released a gas line!" she thought, and began backing up, but she hit a wall in the darkness. Elizabeth was trapped, with nowhere to go.
…
Underdog flew far and fast, navigating the underground maze of the sewers. Finally, he saw daylight and flew up into the sky. As the timer neared the final ten seconds, Underdog flew higher and higher, out of the atmosphere, and let it go. As he flew away in the opposite direction, BOOM! The bomb detonated harmlessly in the air.
"That was a close one!" he said. "I should probably get back to-oh, no."
A sequence of images flashed in his head and he saw Elizabeth coughing in the sewer and slumped against the wall.
"Lizzie!"
Underdog dove swiftly, trying to get back to the sewers where he had left her.
Elizabeth coughed and her vision swam as she tried to stay awake, but the fumes proved too much. The gas engulfed her, and she fell to the ground as Underdog came back.
"No", he breathed. "No!"
He grabbed the back of Elizabeth's shirt with his mouth and flew her out into the daylight. After setting her down gently in the grass, he nudged her hand with his nose.
"Come on, Lizzie", he said, "wake up. PLEASE wake up."
But there was no response.
…
Conrad heard the explosion even from outside of town and immediately turned on the news.
"...thanks to the heroic efforts of Underdog", a newscaster was saying, "once again Capital City has narrowly avoided a date with destruction. The bomb was originally set to detonate in the sewers, but is now just a harmless puff of smoke in the sky. The person who set this bomb down there is unknown, but may still be at large."
Conrad turned off the TV.
"It looks like Underdog found Elizabeth", said Dan, "and it's a good thing he did. Otherwise, you might have lost your daughter in more than one way."
Conrad turned to face him, eyes glowing.
"It's not over yet", he said, and disappeared with a crack of electricity.
…
Underdog continued to nudge Elizabeth's hand, searching for any sign of life.
"Lizzie, no, come on", he muttered. "Come back to me."
The girl remained motionless.
"No!"
Underdog began barking frantically, attracting the attention of a girl with her dog.
"Underdog?"
Underdog looked up to see a girl with short blond hair and a brown and white cocker spaniel.
"Molly!"
It was indeed Jack's old friend, back in town for a visit to her parents.
"Underdog, stand back", said Molly, kneeling down next to Elizabeth.
She searched for a heartbeat and frowned.
"She's not breathing", she concluded. "What happened to her?"
"Gas leak in the sewers", said Underdog. "I-I couldn't get back to her in time. It's all my fault, I never should have left her!"
Underdog whined.
"She needs CPR."
Molly set Polly's leash down and tilted Elizabeth's head back slowly. She began pressing down on Elizabeth's chest with her palms, silently counting to herself. After 35 compressions, she performed mouth-to-mouth and stopped.
"Come on", she said, and started chest compressions again.
She repeated the sequence twice more until finally, in mid-compression, Elizabeth's eyes shot open and she gasped for air, rolling on her side and coughing. Molly sighed with relief.
"It looks like she's gonna be okay", she said. "Who is she?"
"A victim of a dangerous criminal", said Underdog, "and he's got her family. I have to save them."
"I'll stay here until the ambulance arrives", said Molly. "I called them before I came over to you."
"How did you know to do all of this, anyway?"
Molly smiled.
"I graduated med school and became a doctor."
"Well, you're great at your job."
"Thank you. Now go do yours!"
Underdog nodded and flew away. Elizabeth dry-heaved. Her mouth felt like acid. She tried to speak, but all that came out was coughs.
"Hey, it's okay", said Molly, putting a hand on her back. "Try not to talk. Ambulance is on its way."
Elizabeth nodded weakly and sank down in the grass, letting her eyes close.
I cannot sleep at night; therefore, a tale I write; but the problem's the same, I feel my stories are lame, and so the ideas seem stupid; am I right?
-A limerick by Me
Ugh...seriously, I find it very hard to sleep at night. It's after 5 am here and I haven't slept since I woke up around 2 pm yesterday. I have got to kick this habit of staying up all night, somehow...Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my new chapter. Sorry that it differs from my original idea on how to end this story, but 1. You don't even know what I was going to originally write, so I guess it doesn't matter; 2. I feel like this ending will be better and 3. The original idea was lost when I switched phones and discovered my memos app didn't transfer over. I so HATE that! I had an idea for a movie that came to me in a dream (not to mention updates for current/future projects) and now it's just...gone. Maybe I'll remember it someday. I'd better go; I'm so tired, I'm starting to treat this author's note at the bottom like a journal entry. Till next time!
-Imagigirl20