THE BIG BANG
Back at the bridge
Axel and the others were still perplexed by the previous chain of events. No one could think strait. And how could they. They had had some serious threats send their way over the years, but this was different. This was as real as it would ever get. King and Garret were brain storming a way to get the damn bomb defused. Despite Lee's word, both men were determent not to give up. Time wasn't on their side. Hawk and Shark on the other hand were circling around King like wield animals, begging to hear some good news (or words they could actually understand…). Axel and Lioness were leaning on the railings close by. The girl couldn't take her eyes off that bloody device ticking away. It was as if it was mocking them. Every passing second was like a stab to the heart. Her mind was racing but going nowhere. She gazed up at Axel and wished with all her heart this was just a bad dream. Axel had remained completely silent since they arrived. No one knew what was going on in his head, himself included.
"Yes!" Garret's voice sounded over the line, "I've detected a signal being transmitted to the bomb. It seems to be feeding coordinates to it. That's great!
"What's so great about it?" The pilot asked scratching his head.
"If we could intercept the signal we can change the bomb's trajectory!" King cleared up the spark returning to his eyes.
"Have my bike sent just in case," Axel said joining closer to the group. Garret continued tapping away.
"I had a feeling you would say that. It should be arriving as we speak!" Not a moment later a giant automated truck pulled up next to them. The storage door opened and inside much to the team's amazement, was almost every gear they could actually think of.
"Wow, Garret, you are starting to look like an overprotective mom, you know." The pilot's little comment was politely overlooked as there were more important matters at hand.
"I'm in!" Garret's excitement was short lived when his monitors lid up in red. "What?!"
"What, what happened, Garret!" Axel stepped in.
"There's a code guarding the signal. Great! Just like Lee."
"Do you think you can crack it?"
"I'll try, but I've never seen anything like this." All of Garret's monitors were covered in a pool of letters. "What is this?"
"Hey, maybe I can be of some help. Feed me a visual." King said preparing his alpha con for receiving the data.
"O..ok, I'm sending it to you right now." The team was baffled by what they saw.
"Maybe you have to put the letters into words, or something," Hawk made a completely clueless suggestion.
"Dude, this makes no sense, there are like only four letters. What word can you write with those?!" The surfer's observation seemed to make things in Garret's head click into place.
"Four letters… A, T, G, C! Yes, that's it! That's it!"
"What's it?"
"A human genome!" Garret and King said almost simultaneously. Sensing the rest of the team's confusion, Garret decided to clarify.
"A human genome is the sequences of all the bases of a human DNA: A-adenine, T-thymine, G-guanine, C-cytosine. Now, all that's left is to put them in order." The idea was outrageous, but it was something.
"Are you able to do this?" Axel's asked what everyone was unwilling thinking. Garret took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses.
"I don't know... But what I do know is I'm not going to let Lee just win like this. He might be a genius, but he's still human." The team leader couldn't help but admire the determination of his young friend.
"Ok, so now we wait," the raven head said pulling out the small console. 19 minutes left.
(at the bridge, 5 minutes before blast)
The tension was mounting up. Garret hadn't spoke in the last 5 minutes and the only sound was that of his frenetic, inhumanly typing coming over the apha con. King was almost holding his breath in anticipation, while Shark and Hawk were back to their frantic passing. Those last few minutes were going to be the death of everyone if something wasn't done. Finally, the most dreaded of all things happened. The numbers of the tiny display turned red.
"Garret?!" Axel quickly spoke as a rush of adrenalin invaded his system.
Garret stopped typing and slowly dragged his hands away from the keyboard. "I…I can't decode it…" He choked on the worlds. Axel's voice died on the other side as well and his hand dropped down by his side.
"He… can't…, it can't be diverted."
"What?!"
"I failed, I'm so sorry…" The young boy was sobbing at this point. "I'm so s..sorry!"
"You tried your best, that's what matters!" Axel said as calmly as he could. "Thank you!"
Axel lifted his head and looked at his friends. They were a mess. A nervous smile escaped his lips.
"So this is it then, ha?!" The four team members surrounded their leader.
"Then, we do it together! As a team! It is how it started; let it be how it ends!" King spoke out trusting the rest felt exactly the same way.
"It's a team effort!" Shark smirked giving the thumbs up.
"We're not letting you go there alone! We're coming with you!" Lioness roared in determined.
"N..NO!" the leader let out clenching his fists. "This isn't something meant for the whole team to do! There is no reason for all of you to die too! Think about it, if all of us are gone, there isn't going to be anyone left to stop Paine and Lee!"
"But Dude! You know we don't stand a chance without you!" Shark protested immediately with Hawk nodding along with him.
"You do! I know you do! I believe in you!" The raven head placed his hand on the surfer's shoulder. He couldn't believe his own luck of having found such friends. If him dying meant they'd be speared, that was enough for him.
The console started making a beeping sound announcing that time was running out. King could feel Lioness gaze on Axel so he wrapped his arms around Shark and Hawk's shoulders and turned them around so the pair could say their goodbyes in privacy. The girl's eyes started to tear up despite her best effort to suppress her emotions. She didn't want for him to see her like that for the last time.
"Axel I…I… please don't go…" she let out weakly. The boy wiped the tears which made their way down the girl's cheeks then pulled her into a kiss. The two shared a brief, but yet soft and gentle first and last kiss. Axel pulled away and starring deeply into Lionesses green eyes he caressed her cheek yet again. A soft smile escaped his lips as he pulled away and headed for his bike. Lioness tried her very best not to grumble but the emotions brought her to her knees. King ran to her aid immediately.
"I'm leaving the rest to you!" Axel gave them a final smile and took off.
Back in the control room, Garret sprung back into action like a man possessed. He heard nothing, he saw nothing but that dreaded puzzle with no end! He was not going to give up, he could give up. His mind was storing away while his tears were now soaking the keyboard beneath him. He didn't notice nor did he care.
(3 minutes before the blast)
Hawk stared at the vehicle which was getting smaller and smaller then lowered his sight to Lioness who was now crying uncontrollably against King's chest. The big guy's eyes were covered in tears too, and so were the ones of the surfer sniffing at their side. Something inside him snapped. "Damn it!"
The pilot ran to the back of the truck and geared up as fast as he could. It only took him two seconds but his erratic behavior had caught the attention of the team's surfer.
"Hey, dude! What are you doing in your mecasuite?!" Shark asked running towards him. The red head was caught off guard. How could he explain something he didn't quite understand himself?
"You know, Axel was right. This isn't something meant for all of us to do, but it isn't something meant for him to do, either." Shark didn't like where this was going.
"Yo, Hawk, you're not making much sense here you know…" Hawk's grip on his helmet increased. The spark of determination in the pilot's eyes made a chill run down the surfer's spine.
"Let's just say I lost all my senses tonight!" The red hair then walked over to Shark and slipped his alpha con from his wrist before handing it over to his friend "You take care now…" he mumbled out and ran off. It took the surfer a moment to digest what had just happened.
"Hey Hawk wait! Hawk! HAWK!" The blond shouted but the pilot showed no signs of stopping. Placing his helmet on the way Hawk jumped off the bridge and disappeared from sight for a brief second before soaring up. The blond stood frozen.
"Shark! What was that all about?!" King's voice brought the surfer back to reality.
"Hawk, he… took off!"
"W…what do you mean?" Lioness asked trying to wipe her already swollen eyes.
"He said something about Axel and him not being the one to do it and, and he took off!"
"If this is one of his little tricks...!" King growled out.
"Something tells me he's dead serious," Shark swallowed showing the alpha con he was just given.
(Meanwhile in the sky)
Axel had the target in sight. In those last moments the only thing he could think of was his father. The boy bit his lip in frustration. How could he die without knowing what had happened to him. He felt as though he had failed, but it didn't really matter anymore. Maybe they would meet soon? The boy was so overwhelmed with thoughts; he hadn't noticed he was no longer alone.
"Hawk!" Axel yelled out in pure shock, "What on Earth are you doing up here?!"
"Just had one last thing to say!" the red head smiled.
"HAWK, this is NO time for a chat! Get out of here! NOW! This place is too dange…" before Axel could finish his bike stated going hey-wire. "Wha..." Hawk used the distraction to swoop in and snatched the console from Axel.
"Uh, uh, what on Earth do you think you're doing?!" Axel growled through his teeth.
"Sorry Ax-man, but the sky was meant for the birds!" the pilot said smiling and threw some cables at Axel, which the boy recognized as belonging to his bike.
"HAWK!" the raven head yelled at the top of his lungs, desperately trying to regain the control of his vehicle.
"And don't forget to stick the landing!" Hawk added giving the salute to his friend who had started making an unwanted descent.
(Back on the bridge, 1 minute before the blast)
King was focused at the spot the duo had disappeared. "I think I see something!" The animal lover did indeed see something and that was the rear end of their team leader plummeting towards him; crashing on top of him to be exact, his bike already making its way to the bottom of the ocean.
"AXEL!" the group shouted simultaneously. "WHAT!?"
Axel sprung to his feet like an animal before the confused gaze of his teammates.
"What happened up there?" Shark was the first to ask, helping King up.
"Get me a ride NOW!" The raven head ordered, not even bothered to answer his friend's question "I'm going back up there! I can't let him…!"
"STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"
Before Axel had a chance the finish, the group found themselves surrounded by a fleet of army trucks all of which had their spotlight directed at them.
(The bomb, 30 seconds before the blast)
Hawk stared at the slot designed to fit the small console he was now currently holding. What was he doing! He never wanted to be a hero! WHY was he doing this? All he wanted was to be a successful actor and how could he do that if is dead! On the bright side, they might even make a movie about this! God help them if they didn't find someone good to play him! Oh, who was he kidding like he'd ever match up to his dad's acting achievements. Wait, match up? Was that the reason he was into acting? Well his dad was the one who introduced him to it in the first place, but he never gave it a second thought until now.
"Great time for an epiphany there Hawkster…" The red head said to himself. "Like it matters now…" The pilot took off his helmet and felt the cold air of the sky he loved so much caress his face for the last time.
(10 seconds before blast)
9
Axel tried to navigate his way in the sea of light, only to be pushed to the ground by a group of soldiers. The lights diminished and a man in a mayor's uniform jumped from one of the vehicles.
8
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!"
7
Axel grinded of teeth "Get off me! I must go! There is no time!"
6
The man looked at him irritated. King stepped in but was immediately pushed back at gunpoint.
5
"You are not going anywhere before someone explains to me what's going on here!"
4
Shark and Lioness exchanged a look of despair.
3
"I need to go!" The raven hair begged, tears building up in his eyes.
2
"Go to where, exactly? Answer me!"
1
"If I don't…." Axel's voice cracked.
0
A blinding light turned night into day and second after an explosion shook the ground beneath them. Its force was so big the whole town stopped in its tracks.
To be continued….
