Chapter 2

Disclaimer: (forgot to do this in the first chapter) I don't own the boys in blue. It's as simple as that.

Scott's cries echoed through the elevator shaft as he fell towards the base of it. He had almost completely forgotten about the bloodied chef that he had just seen; his mind was dominated with the fact that he was probably about to die. Yes, that's right; they would hear his screams and then find his broken body at the bottom.

Suddenly Scott felt someone (or something) grab hold of his uniform, and he came to an unexpected stop, dangling in midair. His head was spinning and he hoped that whoever (or whatever) had hold of him would be able to keep their grasp.

"Scott, hold on!" He looked up and saw that it was Virgil who had saved him. He was stood on top of the other elevator; one hand grasping the cables, while the other held desperately on to his older brother.

"Virgil, help me!" Scott shouted desperately. He could already feel Virgil begin to slip out of his grasp.

"I am! Try and reach for the rim of the elevator, and I'll pull you up."

Reaching up, Scott tried to grip the edge of the elevator's roof. The first time his hand gripped it he slipped off again. But the second time he kept his hold, and attempted to pull himself up.

Virgil grimaced as heaved his older, slightly heavier brother, back on to the roof of the elevator. Both brothers fell to their knees, panting in relief for the near miss they had had.

"Scott what happened? I climbed onto the top to see how you were getting on, and then you screamed and started to fall." Virgil hugged his one and only big brother, glad that he was ok.

Scott shivered slightly, as the image of the mad chef (he had to be mad since he had tried to kill Scott) forced its way back into his mind. "I don't know Virg, I was checking to see how we could climb out, and suddenly this guy appeared. He was covered in blood, and before I could stop him he cut the cables. It was lucky you were there."

Virgil couldn't believe what he was hearing. His brother had almost been murdered! Well wait until he saw that man; he would cut his cables!

Scott must have been noticing the expression on his brother's face, because he put his hand on his shoulder and smiled shakily. "Forget about it, he's probably gone by now. I expect he thinks I'm dead, and sees no reason to stick around."

"But why did he do it?" Virgil asked, not understanding how anyone could allow someone to almost fall to their death.

"Virg, you didn't see the guy. He had this smile that sent chills up my spine, and his uniform was covered in blood. Believe me Virgil, the guy was mad. If we don't see him then I'll let the authorities know."

"I think you should ring Dad though," Virgil suggested. "He needs to know what happened."

Scott nodded in agreement, "you're right Virg." He raised his watch. "Scott Tracy to base."

Nothing. Not even static.

Scott stared at his watch and gave it a little shake to see if it was still functioning. "Scott Tracy to base. Can you hear me Father?"

Silence.

"Let me try," Virgil said and raised his own communicator. "Base from Virgil Tracy. Base from Virgil Tracy."

Zilch.

"That's funny," he frowned. "The communicators should still be working, maybe there's a bad signal or something."

Scott thought for a moment then called down to Gordon and Alan who were still in the elevator. "Are you're communicators working guys?"

"Scott!" Alan cried out, ignoring the question. "Are you ok? We heard you scream."

"Yeah what happened?" Gordon added. They both climbed onto the roof of the elevator.

"I'm ok; I just had a bit of a close call that's all." Scott reassured them. "Are you're communicators working guys?"

The two youngest brothers looked at each other and shrugged. "Yeah they're working fine. Why?" Gordon asked.

"Well ours aren't working," Scott replied. "Maybe Virg is right and there's a bad signal. Let's get out of this shaft and try them again."

"Good idea big bro," Alan said. "There's just one problem: how are we going to get out?"

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"W-w-well John, I don't see what else could be w-w-wrong with it." Brain said as John finished checking the locator program. "We'll just have to w-w-wait until S-S-Scott and the others get b-b-back."

"Ok Brain, thanks for your help." John cut the communications and stood staring at location program, wondering what on earth could be wrong with the system. He had checked it through over a dozen times now and was certain that everything was in order.

So what was the problem?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The problem was trying to get out of the elevator. Scott's mode of exit had crashed to the bottom a few minutes before, though he was glad that he wasn't part of the wreckage.

'Come on Scott, think." He thought to himself, while noticing that his brothers were patiently waiting for him to come up with an idea on how to get them out. But the last thing he wanted was to fall again.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do: we'll use the cables as support and climb out that way. I'll go first to make sure it's safe, Virgil you follow, and you two come up after."

His younger brothers watched as Scott shimmied slowly up the, occasionally slipping now and again. He eventually managed it and then leaned over to help his brothers up.

Virgil was the next up, followed by Alan then Gordon.

Once they were al out of the shaft they took a look around. A narrow corridor ran the entire length of the floor, with at least twenty rooms on each side. The doors were made of oak and had brass handles.

"Well at least we made it to the top floor," Alan pointed out, indicating the first room on his left: 1500.

"Ok, we'll search up here and then make our way down, understood?" Scott commanded.

His instructions received a chorus of "yes sir", and they began to walk down the corridor.

They hadn't gotten very far when eerie laugh echoed from behind them. It made the hairs on their necks stand on end.

"Well, well, well, look who's here. Finally got our message then?" An almost breathless voice came from behind them. Whoever was speaking sounded as if they were being strangled.

As one the brothers turned around, and let audible gasps at what they saw.

Standing no more than two meters in front of them was a man dressed in a gray suit. That wasn't so bad….apart from that it was in tatters, and covered in dirt.

His skin had a blue tinge to it, almost as if he was suffocating. The worst part was thick hangman's noose tied tightly around his neck, the end of it trailing along behind him.

The figure opened his mouth, baring his yellow teeth in a cruel leer. "Welcome to the Tranquility Hotel. We're sooo glad that you could join us!"