Hey everyone! CJzilla here with an update. In this chapter you will meet Annabelle as the Saturdays try to rescue a critically injured Dr. Miranda Grey and out run the energy monster. Enjoy.
As CJzilla stomps all over this city, alls I have to roar is this: R&R! Love... Hate... Review.
AN: CJzilla will do a "dear reviewers" next chapter.
Chapter 3
Annabelle
Doc's hands hovered over the keyboard, a question burning in his mind and now in his fingertips. Dr. Miranda Grey has a daughter? What his son had said about the physics expert: she hated kids; she could barely stomach Zak, who was for the most part, a good kid. What was Miranda doing with a child and why did he not know about this?
Then another incoming message chirped, tearing Doc's mind off of his question.
/This monster eats energy. If you land your airship here, it will be a beacon for this monster; an all-you-can-eat-energy-buffet! The monster will attack any strong signature of energy and consume it on site. Awaiting suggestions on how to extract Dr. Grey and me./
The snowmobiles had an advanced energy cell that powered them. With an energy eating monster on the surface, was that such a good idea? Doc's face creased. As of right now… snowmobiles were the ONLY option.
We are about fifteen minuets still from you. Be ready for a fast extraction. Remain calm and stay smart. We will be with you shortly.
Doc sent the message and sighed. This was not going to be easy.
/Roger. Annabelle standing by./
The Saturdays' problems were just beginning; an injured scientists, her secret daughter and the monster an experiment created. Doc sighed again. Then he felt a nudge on his arm. Looking up, he saw Zon, staring at him with those big pink eyes.
"You better get comfortable, Zon. You're not going to fly or function much in this weather." The tall black man stroked the female Ornithocheirous's mane. Zon purred in return before Doc went back to the scanners.
Less than fifteen minuets later, the Saturdays were hovering over the decimated remains of Dr. Grey's laboratory. Zak, Fisk, Zon and Komodo had their faces pressed against the glass of the zeppelin's windows, looking at the icy landscape below them. There were no trees, no bushes, no grass, no green thing to be seen; just a never ending panorama of white. Dr. Grey's research station was situated between two icy hills that jutted out of the white landscape. But as of today… the quality of visibility was only thirty feet.
"I can't see a thing, dad." Zak admitted. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see the laboratory. "We could be over a Las Vegas light show and I still couldn't see it."
Doc said nothing, just keeping a straight face.
"Doc, we have high winds on the Arctic surface. Our visibility isn't going to be so great." Drew called up to her husband. The man looked out over his family. "Are you sure we can't land? The added stability on the ice would keep the airship grounded longer. If we don't land, you might have only a small window to extract Dr. Grey before the winds blow the ship away."
"I know. But we were told not to land. We'd be even more useless if that monster destroyed the airship." Doc replied. Then his eyes got sharp with seriousness. "Our mission just got complicated. That the last message I received informed me that Dr. Grey is seriously injured."
Drew's face fell as Doc looked straight at her.
"Drew, you are to remain here and prep the medical station. If Dr. Grey is as injured as Annabelle says she is, then we're going to need be prepared for it." The super-genius spoke.
Everyone gave him a funny look.
""Annabelle"?" Zak scrunched his nose. "Who's Annabelle?"
"Dr. Grey's daughter. She is the one sending those distress transmissions." Doc answered. Still, his family looked at him funny.
"Miranda doesn't have a daughter." Drew said stupidly. "Or friends! That creepy robot is her only assistant down there!"
Her husband shrugged back.
"We'll only know once we get down there." Doc turned to Zak and Fisk. "Fisk, Zak; you two are with me. We have to move fast. The monster Dr. Grey created eats energy. So the longer we're on the surface, the longer we're exposed to attack."
Zak glanced at Fisk. The gorilla-cat shrugged.
"Drew, keep your ears open for the equipment, especially energy spikes. I'm hoping that's a telltale sign of this monster." Doc added, pointing to his wife. Then he gestured to Zak and Fisk. "C'mon. We're taking two snowmobiles, one will have a med-cart attached to it. The winch has to be ready to hoist up Dr. Grey and the snowmobiles. I don't want this monster to catch us off-guard."
With that Doc, Fisk and Zak trotted toward the cargo bay.
"Annabelle said that she and Dr. Grey are inside of a safe-house eight kilometers from the original base." Doc voiced, giving Fisk and Zak a rundown as they slipped into their snowsuits.
Fisk popped on a pair of snow-proof goggles and stood alongside Zak, helping the boy get into his gloves.
"Kilometers? We're going metric, dad?" The eleven-year-old quipped. Doc smirked at his boy.
"No. But Dr. Grey is from Great Britain; they use the metric system over there. I'm guessing Annabelle has been taught the same thing." The tall man returned, flicking up his hood over his head as he straddled the snowmobile. Then he glanced between Zak and the second snowmobile. "Fisk, you drive."
Zak groaned loudly as Fisk cheered. The gorilla-cat somersaulted to the snowmobile and sat on it, making engine noises. The eleven-year-old followed and sat behind his furry best friend, pouting.
"Now you follow my lead, Fisk. Whatever you do, don't get separated!" Doc added before he looked over at his family. "You ready?"
Zak and Fisk gave a thumbs up. Doc nodded and hit a button on his wrist controller. The platform underneath them suddenly jerked before it began to slowly descend. Instantaneously fast and icy Arctic winds whipped through the cargo hold, blowing loose items into the air. The platform lowered further and nothing but only white could be seen. Then came the blinding, stinging snow-flurries. Zak gagged, snow flying into his face, down his parka and into his underwear where he felt it collect and slowly melt into his pants. The eleven-year-old groaned but was careful to keep his mouth closed lest he get a mouthful of snow. Antarctica: home of penguins, loads and loads of ice and one very irritable physics scientist. This was going to be a blast.
Finally they all felt the platform come to the ground. Doc took a quick glance at his wrist controller to find out which way was north-west. The reading finally came out. Gunning his engine, the super-genius moved off to the right and into the direction of Dr. Grey's safe house.
Visibility was zero and they could no longer hear the engines of the airship over the screaming wind. Wind-whipped snow rushed at them head-on so advancing was slow and careful. Doc kept glancing at his wrist device, which alerted him if he was drifting off course. Finally, after five minuets of getting pounded in the face by heavy head winds, the boys got around the general vicinity of the eight kilometer safe-house. Doc looked around but immediately frowned. NOTHING could be seen. It was just like Zak said: they could be on top of a Vegas light show and still couldn't see it.
Suddenly, a flash of orange light shot out of a huge snowdrift making the boys jump. It was a survival flare. The wind caught the orange flare and threw it into the snow, dousing it. But Doc had a lock on where it came from. Motioning for Fisk and Zak to carefully follow him, the tall man rode over to the snow drift. The three of them pulled to a stop in front of the drift, eyeing the immediate visibility in front of them. Suddenly another flare was sent into the air, this one whizzing dangerously close, barely missing Doc's head before hitting the snow. The super-genius snapped his eyes to the source of the flare. They all saw a faint green glow from inside the cloud of wind-blown snow. It was a glow stick, being waved back and forth. Doc pulled the snowmobile to the left and rode toward the green light. Within fifteen seconds, the boys could make out a dark hole in a snowdrift and a small shape standing at the entrance waving a glow stick.
Hopping off of his snowmobile, Doc ran to unhitch the med-cart from his vehicle. Fisk helped Doc push the med-cart into the hollowed out snowdrift. Zak gathered some medical supplies from their snowmobile before running after his dad and best friend into the hole in the snowdrift. Their eyes were still adjusting from the white, white expanse of outside to a dark man-made hole in the snow. Fortunately for them, the person holding the glow stick moved in front of them, guiding them through the darkness. Doc, Zak and Fisk followed. Before long they were led to a big metal door, which opened.
The four of them, Fisk, Zak, Doc and their glow-stick-holding-helper, walked through the door. The portal shut and instantly, everything was silent; no more screaming winds and no more snow in the face. Doc and Zak shook off the snow from their clothes while Fisk gave a really good shake. Sweeping off their hoods, Zak and Doc could now see where they were and who they were with.
They glanced around and saw the other person, whom Doc supposed was Annabelle Grey, stand in front of the metal door. She was standing straight and silent and looked as if she was listening.
"Are you Annabelle?" Doc asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulders. The girl spun and took off her hood.
The Saturday boys were surprised. The girl before them had to be about fifteen with her thick red hair formed into a floppy twisted bun, leaving her bangs and few locks of her hair to play around her face. Her eyes were dark but big, speaking a thousand words before she even opened her mouth. Her face was heart-shaped, graceful but still maintaining an adolescent look. Zak blinked at her, surprised to see someone so pretty in such a icy wasteland.
She carefully studied the man in front of her. Her eyes went from his white and black hair, his height and finally his scar and his silver eye.
"Yes." Another shocker. The girl's voice, though even and natural, had a robotic ring to it. "Are you Solomon Saturday?"
Zak and Fisk just stared, but Doc remained focused.
"Yes." Then the man pointed to his son and the family fur ball. "This is my son Zak and the Fiskerton Phantom. Please take us to Miranda."
Annabelle nodded and jogged toward the long and dark hall in front of them.
"This way!" She still held that glow stick, the only light source. The Saturdays ran after her, pushing the hovering med-cart.
Annabelle and the Saturdays ran through two more heavy metal doors before coming to one. This one was truly barricaded and huge. But there was no power reaching this door. The fifteen-year-old girl placed her hand on her ear and spoke out loud.
"Cniks, restore power to Blast Door number four. I'm here with Solomon Saturday." There was a pause as everyone kept their eyes on the door. The powerful door suddenly powered up before it opened.
Annabelle ran inside a room illuminated with lanterns, glow-sticks and one small generator. Doc, Fisk and Zak walked in with the med-cart and glanced over the room made out of snow. Boxes of food, water and survival gear was packed high to the ceiling. Doc glanced down at his wrist; his communications device wasn't receiving.
"Insulated." He grumbled. Concern nipped even more at his mind; if the monster came, they wouldn't get the radio warning from Drew.
"IsmisGreysur!" Fisk pointed. Doc jerked his head up and saw Annabelle standing aside a medical station.
Then he saw the unconscious Miranda Grey lying on the cot, her body hooked up to several machines. Doc and Zak rushed over to Miranda. The man immediately assessed the woman's injuries.
"Wow. She looks dead." Zak voiced looking at Dr. Grey's pasty completion and shallow breaths. Annabelle's face fell even more to anxiety as she held in a gasp.
Doc snapped a glare at his son. Zak gave a goofy, apologetic smile.
"How long has she been like this?" The man checked the woman's eyes. They were dilated, a sign of head trauma.
"About five hours." Annabelle answered, gulping hard, her face falling fearful. "I don't know how much energy the monster drained from her but we got her away as quickly as we could."
""We"?" Doc quirked a brow. "I thought you were alone down here."
The fifteen-year-old gestured toward one of the big emergency computers, currently not receiving power. Sitting quietly on the console was a short-haired yellow tabby cat with a fluffy tail and mischievous sandy eyes. Fisk yelped like a little girl and jumped onto the med-cart, totally freaked out at the small, weird-looking creature in front of him.
"Whoa!" Zak awed at the cat. "An actual ordinary domesticated house cat! Cool!"
For the eleven-year-old, this was a big deal. Since he dealt exclusively with cryptids and rarely ever got a glimpse outside of pictures of ordinary people's domestic pets. Zak moved over to inspect the cat, but it hissed dangerously, arching its back. He jumped back as the tabby dropped to the floor and rudely moved over to Annabelle.
"I've been snubbed." Zak glanced at Fisk as the tabby jumped onto a medical monitor next to Annabelle. The gorilla-cat was still cowering inside the med-cart.
Doc finished scanning Miranda with his wrist device and he didn't like its evaluation of her injuries.
"She won't last very long like this. We gotta get her up into the airship." The man looked over to Zak and Fisk. "Zak! Fisk! Get that med-cart over here and help me load Dr. Grey onto it."
Zak over-zealously pushed the med-cart over to Miranda's cot, knocking it into a stack of boxes in the process. Fisk nearly flew off of the cart and barely missed creaming Doc. The eleven-year-old blushed and gave a bashful smile.
"I… uh… meant to do that." Zak fumbled, clearing his throat as his father shot him a glare.
"Help me get Dr. Grey situated. But BE careful!" Doc ordered. Fisk hopped out of the med-cart while Zak moved over to Annabelle's side and helped steady the cart as his father and best friend gently set the injured scientist onto it.
The boy tried to ignore the curious look the girl was giving him before she moved out of the way. Annabelle rushed around, gathering all the blankets she could find and placed them onto her mother. Doc strapped the unconscious woman onto the cart. The fifteen-year-old girl gulped as a safe and climate-controlled plastic dome went over the med-cart and over her mother.
"We gotta go now, Annabelle." Doc voiced, setting a hand on her shoulder. Annabelle jumped under his touch but nodded.
"C'mon Cniks!" The girl called, turning to the tabby cat. The tabby jumped off the medical monitor, ran to the girl and leapt into her arms where he curled and glared at Zak.
Zak raised his eyebrows at the obedience of such a snotty animal. Doc and Fisk pushed the med-cart, leaving Annabelle and Zak to run ahead to open the doors. The eleven-year-old held to a glow-stick as he ran alongside the girl. The preteen looked over at the older girl and saw the look of worry on her face. What was her problem? This kinda stuff happens all the time to him and his family so why was she stressing.
"Hi!" Zak blurted out as they ran along. "I'm Zak!"
Annabelle was snapped out of her anxious thought pattern and she looked over at the boy. With all that had happened over the past five hours, she really didn't acknowledge the magnitude of visitors here. Zak was the only flesh-and-blood boy she could REMEMBER seeing. What did her mother tell her about other people? Oh yeah; NOTHING!
"I'm Annabelle." She blinked at him. The boy laughed.
"You look like you just swallowed something." Zak observed. "Relax! Me and my family are professional adventurers! You can't be in safer hands Annabelle. We've handled all sorts of dangerous missions! Like there was that time with the Amazon that we faced down a whole pack of these nasty cryptids while fighting V.V. Argost and Munya. Or that time I nearly became Owlman food! I get my family into a lot of pickles. Speaking of pickles, I half-expected you to be a popsicle since you live here! But you're a GIRL!"
The eleven-year-old had a bad case of motor-mouth and he kept blurting out things before he thought them through.
"I mean, you're no popsicle, but a GIRL! That's funny." Zak gave a big smile. Annabelle gave him an uncomfortable, pity smile before she looked forward, ignoring him.
Zak then realized he'd just made her uncomfortable. He face-palmed and accidentally poked himself in the eye with the glow-stick.
"OW!" Zak growled as he dropped the glow-stick to the ground. He stopped to pick up the glow-stick before his dad and Fisk ran him over with the hovering med-cart.
Doc and Fisk didn't realize they ran him over until the eleven-year-old popped out at their feet.
"What are you doing?" Doc questioned, brow quirked. Zak pulled his face out of the snowy pathway and spat.
"Counting snowflakes, dad!" The eleven-year-old snapped. He jumped to his feet. "You ran me OVER!"
Fisk chuckled at his best friend but Doc was less than amused.
"Zak, this place is insulated from all radio waves. That means we have no way of knowing if the energy creature is sitting on our snowmobiles waiting for us!" The tall man voiced. "So hurry up and stop playing in the snow."
Zak frowned but marched ahead with the glow-stick. But that time he realized that they were at the last metal door and that Annabelle was standing motionlessly in front of it again; quiet and still, like she was listening.
"Open the door, Annabelle!" Zak called to her. The fifteen-year-old girl jumped and flipped up her hood before opening the door.
Icy Arctic winds blew through the ice hallways. Wind-blown snow hit everyone and made moving that more difficult. Annabelle was the first to run out with her cat in her arms. Zak ran after her followed by Fisk, Doc, the med-cart and the unconscious Dr. Grey. They saw the dark outlines of the snowmobiles now caked in wind-blown snow. While Fisk and Doc hooked the med-cart to the back of Doc's snowmobile, Zak jumped on the other snowmobile. The eleven-year-old dug through one of the saddle bag before he pulled out the Claw a.k.a. the Hand of Tsul'Kalu.
"Hey Annabelle!" Zak called to the girl, waving his specialty cryptid weapon. "Check this out!"
Annabelle turned to the boy and her eyes softened with curiosity as she saw the odd device in his hand. Zak smirked and flicked his wrist. The weapon's tether shot the three-fingered claw to the snow. The Claw closed over a bunch of snow and with another flick of his wrist, Zak threw the snowball. The winds caught the snowball and boomeranged it. It flew and beaned Fisk in the side of the face. The Fiskerton Phantom yelped in surprise, falling on Doc. Zak was in stitches but Annabelle was less than amused, try close to horrified.
"Saddle up!" Doc pushed Fisk off of him. "Annabelle! You're with me!"
The fifteen-year-old girl ran over to the man. Doc took the controls but sat Annabelle and her cat in front of him. As soon as Fisk and Zak were on the other snowmobile, Doc gunned the engines and took off toward the airship. Suddenly Doc's wrist communicator crackled back to life.
"DOC! Thank heavens you're all right!" Drew's image was seen on the small holographic screen. Though she saw a girl and a CAT she's never seen before, Drew started calling out warnings to her husband. "We have a MASSIVE energy reading coming from RIGHT IN FRONT OF-!"
Static. Something was messing up communications!
"Drew! Do you read me, Drew?!" Nothing. Doc growled.
Then he heard Annabelle gasp. The fifteen-year-old jerked the snowmobile's controls out of Doc's hands and craned them over to the right. The man seized the steering wheel and straightened them out before the hitch of the med-cart shattered.
"Annabelle!" Doc barked at her over the wind and snow. But Annabelle grabbed the accelerator and yanked it back.
The snowmobile, med-cart, two people and one cat went screaming forward; Fisk and Zak following their lead. Once again Doc grabbed the controls.
"WHAT are you trying to pull?! You could have tipped us!" He reprimanded. Annabelle wasn't even listening to him; she was looking over to the far left.
"It's out there! We were driving right into it!" The fifteen-year-old went for the accelerator again but she couldn't break Doc's firm grip on it. "We have to get out of here! It's changing course!"
Suddenly Doc's communicator's frequency was restored.
"Doc! Come in Doc!" Drew's face appeared again. She saw that Doc was all right. "Get out of there! The HUGE energy creature is chasing you! Get back to the airship as fast as you can!"
"Roger." The man nodded. Doc looked over his shoulder to Fisk and Zak and motioned for them to follow.
Gunning the engine, Doc took off into the white-out in the direction of the airship.
They were nearly there when the hitch to the med-cart shattered after all the high-speed jolting. The med-cart with the unconscious Dr. Miranda Grey inside fell off of Doc's snowmobile. Doc and Annabelle felt the jerk of the damaged hitch before the glanced back and saw the hover-med-cart floating off in the wind. Doc and Annabelle gasped. Fisk and Zak saw the med-cart being blown away. Zak spun in his seat and fired the Claw. The tether hooked onto the med-cart and stopped it from floating away.
"Go Fisk!" The preteen called to his best friend. The gorilla-cat nodded and took off back over to Doc and Annabelle.
Zak held his Claw and held onto the snowmobile with his legs. The med-cart and winds were threatening to pull him off! Not a second too soon, Doc, Annabelle, Fisk, Zak, Cniks and injured Dr. Grey were at the airship rendezvous point.
"Drew! We're in position! Come back down to us!" Doc called to his communicator as Zak and Fisk pulled up next to them with the med-cart. Not even a second later, the wind shifted around them and a huge dark mass descended from the sky.
It was the airship.
"Lower the platform, Drew!" The man called to his wrist over the wind. He felt Annabelle grab his wrist.
Looking down, he saw the frightened girl point over his shoulder. Craning around, Doc looked into the wind-blown curtains of snow. There was something advancing on them. As the snow hit the unseen thing, it immediately melted, sending wave after wave of sparks off of the mass. In that second, Doc saw something through the curtain of wind-blown snow. The outline of some huge mass about fifteen feet high and ten feet across could be seen in the sheets of wind-blown snow. It made a horrible humming sound that grew so loud, it sounded like a metallic scream.
"Doc! The energy creature's right behind you!" Drew warned.
"I know! Lower the winch and the ropes! We don't have time for anything else!" Doc barked back. He jumped off of the snowmobile as the airship above them lowered the winch and four ropes. "Everyone off the snowmobiles! Leave them!"
The winch lowered and Doc and Fisk attached it to Dr. Grey's med-cart.
"Fisk, Zak! Get upstairs!" Doc ordered grabbing a rope. "Annabelle! Come here."
Annabelle ran over to Doc. The super-genius grabbed her and her cat with one arm as Fisk grabbed his rope with his free hand and Zak with his other. Doc, Fisk, Zak, Annabelle, Cniks and Dr. Grey began to ascend to the airship. But just then a huge gust of Arctic winds whipped and tossed everyone like yoyos.
"Hang on Annabelle!" Doc shouted to her, his grip beginning to give. Annabelle let go of her cat, which scrambled on top of Doc's head.
With her cat safe, the girl held to the man's jacket. Doc's arm was free and he could grip the rope with both hands. The wind blew and but everyone held strong. Just then Doc's coat shredded where the Annabelle handholds were. The girl fell fast and hit the snow hard.
"Annabelle!" Zak gasped as he saw the girl lie still. Everyone else made it safely into the cargo hold.
Fisk dropped Zak and both ran to the cargo bay doors. They saw the outline of, what they guessed, was the monster coming right for Annabelle. The girl got to her knees only to see the energy monster advancing on her.
"I need a rope!" The eleven-year-old boy blurted out to the Fiskerton Phantom. "She's gonna get creamed!"
They were about to move when they heard something strange. Looking down to the ground below, they both saw Annabelle open her mouth and scream. What left her mouth rattled the airship and stopped the energy creature cold. Annabelle's "scream" hit a decibel that no normal human scream could. It made the entire area tremble. But then she closed her mouth and the sound stopped. Zak took that moment to grab a rope and drop down to her.
"Annabelle!" The preteen called out. The girl looked up and saw Zak descending toward her.
Zak dropped to the snow and he and Annabelle grabbed the rope. The rope carried both of them to the cargo hold, just as the monster moved to where they were once standing. The two kids were pulled into the cargo hold.
"Everyone's in safe! Go Drew!" Doc called on his comm. Everyone felt the ship lift.
They held their breath for a few long seconds before they were sure they were out of range of the energy monster. Zak helped Annabelle to her feet. The fifteen-year-old girl gave a shy smile before her cat jumped into her arms.
"Is everyone all right?" Doc questioned looking over his family and their guests.
Everyone nodded. Doc breathed a sigh of relief. That was TOO close.
R&R! LONG LIVE ROCK!
