Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the movie Speed.

Author's Notes: I have had an odd bit of desire to write this chapter so I thought I would put it up. A little more action and character insight. Enjoy.

OVERDRIVE

Chapter Two- Pop Quiz

"Twenty-nine," Shikamaru supplied as he and Asuma reached the top of the twenty-ninth flight of stairs.

"Thirty," he said a moment later as the reached the top of yet another set. They were passing people as they jogged up the stairs. More officers were escorting people down the stairs, evacuating the building.

"Thirty-one."

"Thirty-two," he said as they both came to a stop in front of the door that opened to the thirty-second floor. He looked over at Asuma, who nodded and opened the door.

Shikamaru went through the door first, sweeping his gun across the hallway they entered, Asuma at his back checking the other direction. He moved forward, his gun sweeping the same path as his eyes. The area was clear, no signs of anyone else nearby.

Shikamaru walked along the side of the wall, lifting his fist and banging on the panels of the wall. He listened to the sound as he went from wall to wall, Asuma jogging down to the end of the hallway to check the end rooms for signs of anyone. Shikamaru passed another panel. He banged his fist against it and froze at the hollow sound it made. He felt the panel and lowered his weapon once Asuma had cleared the end of the hall. He pulled a small drill out of his pocket and began to unscrew the access panel.

He removed the screws from around the panel and pulled it away from the wall, leaning it against it. He picked his gun back up and leaned inside, his gaze taking in the sight of the unmoving elevator, about two floor below him. He leaned back out as Asuma brought over a chair. He placed it in front of where the panel had been and climbed through the hole and into the elevator shaft. Shikamaru followed behind him, grabbing onto the access ladder and making his way downward.

He could hear the people in the elevator calling out to them, panic in their voices as they tried to figure out who was there. He got down to the elevator and watched as Asuma moved over to take another look at the bomb. Shikamaru watched as he turned on the flash light that his gun was equipped with and examined the bomb and the wiring.

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Kohona City police department," Shikamaru said, finally addressing the panicked voices coming from the elevator. Again it was important that they remain calm so that Asuma could focus on the bomb. "There has been an elevator malfunction so just relax and we will have you out of there soon."

He didn't feel bad about lying to them. Worrying them further wasn't going to help them any. It was better that they didn't know that he and Asuma were standing up here staring into the face of a bomb.

The silence in the elevator was interrupted by the whine of what sounded to be a power tool somewhere above them. Ino looked up though all she could see was the top of the elevator. She glanced over at Sai who shrugged his shoulders.

"Hello," Shizune called out. "Is there anyone there," she asked.

There was no answer and again all of the passengers of the elevator found themselves standing there in silence. The echoing sound of what sounded like someone climbing down the ladder. Ino glanced at Sai, who shrugged his shoulders indicating he had no idea what was going on.

"Who's there," Yamato called out. "What's going on?"

Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Kohona City police department. There has been an elevator malfunction so just relax and we will have you out of there soon.

She heard the voice drift through the elevator and tensed. What in the world were the police doing here? Something wasn't right though for the life of her she couldn't be sure what.

"Please get us out of here," Moegi cried from beside Konahamaru.

"How come they sent cops here," Sai asked, voicing her own thoughts out loud. "Shouldn't they send repair guys," he said low enough so only she and Shino could hear. She noticed Shino nod beside her and she swallowed a lump in her throat. Something was very wrong. If there wasn't they'd be working on getting them out already.

"What do you think," Asuma asked, shining his flashlight on the rigged emergency brakes.

"You're the expert," Shikamaru replied though he was looking at the bomb. "I just work here."

While he certainly knew enough, far more than most new cops did on the subject, he didn't have Asuma's experience. In short he valued Asuma's opinion far more than his own. He knew he was smart but there were some things that experience trumped being smart every time, and Asuma was certainly no fool either.

"It looks pretty solid," Asuma said with a bit of a sigh.

"Anyone we know," he asked, mentally going through a list of known bombers that he had tucked away in his head. Some were pretty identifiable through their work.

"I don't recognize the work, but whoever he is, he's a pro," Asuma said as he shifted his weight back to the balls of his feet and glanced at his watch. "Man's he's cutting it close," he muttered.

"I don't like it," Shikamaru said finally, a frown working its way over his features.

"What's to like," Asuma answered back. "But Kakashi said we hold so we hold."

Shikamaru's frown deepened and he moved from his spot on the ladder onto one of the beams that ran across the elevator shaft. His gaze ran over the wiring and explosive devices that ran over the elevator only to come back to Asuma as he straightened and spoke to him.

"Alright pop quiz. Airport, gunman with one hostage. He's using her for cover; he's almost to the plane. You're a hundred feet away."

Shikamaru registered the question in his mind but by this time he was pacing the beam, his head cocked to the side slightly as he looked at the explosives again. He lifted his gaze upward, and looked up the elevator shaft, his mind going a mile a minute as it always seemed to do. He was in thought, the question Asuma had given him and the problem at hand were playing out in different ways in his mind.

"Shikamaru," Asuma said interrupting his thought process, wanting an answer to the proposed scenario.

"Shoot the hostage," Shikamaru replied his eyes never leaving the devices on the elevator.

"What," Asuma asked, disbelief clear in his tone.

"Take her out of the equation. Go for the good wound and he can't get to the plane with her. Then you have a clear shot," he explained. It made perfect sense whether it seemed logical or not. Sure it required shooting the hostage but in the end it would save her from being forced onto the plane and it also left the gunman with no cover. Still, while it might be sound strategy it certainly wasn't something likely to be appreciated by public affairs. Sometimes the best plan of action wasn't always the 'right' plan of action anymore.

"You are nuts. Shoot the hostage," Asuma repeated, still in disbelief, a chuckle escaping his lips. He shook his head still laughing in mild amusement over Shikamaru's answer.

Meanwhile Shikamaru was still focused on the device. Something about it, something about this whole thing wasn't sitting right with him. It was like a nagging feeling deep in his gut that something wasn't right. He could say for sure why he felt that way but he did and it was eating away at him. He needed to do something. He needed to think of something.

"Asuma this isn't right," he muttered quietly. "He's going to blow it anyway."

"What makes you say that?"

"Gut feeling I guess," Shikamaru supplied because really that was the only answer he could give. He wasn't sure why he was so certain that this bomber had every intention of setting off these bombs whether he got his money or not, but something told him that he would. Something just wasn't right. He needed to think. There had to be something he could do.

"Well Kakashi's orders outrank your gut feelings so we are staying put," Asuma supplied.

"How much do you think that elevator weighs," Shikamaru asked, choosing to ignore what Asuma had just said.

"Shikamaru come on," Asuma started. It didn't matter though. The wheels were already in full motion in Shikamaru's mind.

"Maybe we can do something out those hostages," Shikamaru said as he moved over to the ladder and began to climb up. Asuma hesitated for a moment before following after Shikamaru, his mind made up to go with whatever plan that the younger officer had come up with. Well every plan except one.

"You're not going to shoot them are you?"

Ino glanced back up at the ceiling, her blue eyes still wide with fear. She wanted to see her family again. She knew something was very wrong and she didn't want it to end like this. Yet from the sounds above her it sounded like the police officers were leaving. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing but a gut feeling told her that it was bad.

"Don't leave us," Matsuri cried out.

Ino bit her lower lip and pulled out her cell phone. She wished she could call someone just in case this was the end but to her dismay she got no service in this elevator. Instead she flipped to a picture of herself and her fiancé and looked at it with a fond smile.

"You'll see him soon."

She turned and forced another smile on her features for the kind words Shino had offered her. She mouthed a 'thanks' to him and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. She truly hoped he was right.

Asuma kicked open the door and Shikamaru walked through it and onto the roof. He swung his gun to the left, his gaze following it as he took a few steps in the direction he was moving. Behind him Asuma was moving to the right, making sure to clear the roof though neither of them expected to find much up here on the roof of the building. He cleared his side, everything was in one piece. There was nothing to be suspicious about. He turned back to Asuma, noticing that he had lowered his gun as well.

Shikamaru's gaze turned then to the small construction crane on the far part of the rooftop. He shouldered the strap of his weapon, swinging it around behind his back before moving quickly over to the ladder.

"Maybe we can take the hostages out of the equation," Shikamaru called out as he began to scale the ladder, his pace quick and fluid, something that often came as a surprise to some people. He reached the top of the ladder and moved across one of the support beams, not noticing from his position he could see the entire city of Kohona below him.

He managed to reach the crane without incident, and grabbed the hook at the end of the steel cable. He pulled on the cable, unraveling it from the cylindrical device it was wrapped around. He kept going, lowering the hook down to Asuma who pulled it over to a vent at the top of the elevator shaft. He fed the hook in between the blades the bars of the vent before calling over his shoulder to Shikamaru, who was now making his way back across the support beam.

"You sure this thing will hold?"

"It will hold," Shikamaru said as he began to descend the ladder. So he wasn't entirely sure if it would hold. There were too many unknowns for him to figure it out down to the exact pound. He was basing everything off of estimates but without exact numbers he couldn't be sure. Plus if the emergency breaks did go the extra strain put on the crane when the line went taught might just be enough to dislodge the thing. Still it was better than nothing and all the thing really needed to do was buy them some time. He just hoped that the supports on the crane were good enough.

"We've got six minutes," Asuma called out as Shikamaru placed both of his feet back onto the rooftop. There wasn't much time at all.

"I don't have any more time," Kakashi barked into the phone as he looked at his watch. They only had six minutes more until they reached the deadline. Six minutes to get together three million dollars. He didn't want these people to die at the hands of some madman. He wanted to get them out and yet he had hit a wall getting the money he needed. They wanted him to stall, but he couldn't stall if he couldn't even talk to the guy.

"He's not talking. I need the money now," Kakashi demanded, his hands gripping the phone tightly.

Shikamaru quickly devised a pulley like device between the supplies he and Asuma had on themselves and the support beams located in the elevator shaft. Now all that was left was for one of them to lower the other down and attach the hook to the elevator. Shikamaru glanced at Asuma, who grinned back at him.

"You're lighter," Asuma said, still wearing his smug grin.

Not a minute later and Shikamaru was hanging upside down while Asuma lowered him down the elevator shaft. The rope was tied onto his vest and Asuma held the other end. His life was literally in Asuma's hands. Still Asuma and his father were probably the only two people he would trust with that role. Suspended above an elevator rigged to explode by a rope brought a question to his mind, one he had asked so many times before.

"Tell me again Asuma, why did I take this job," he asked as he watched himself being lowered closer and closer to the elevator.

"Come on, thirty more years of this you get a tiny pension and a cheap gold watch," Asuma said as he lowered Shikamaru a bit further.

"Cool," Shikamaru said with a nod. Of course both of them knew the real reason that he had taken the job. For starters this had been his dad's job as well. His father had retired a few years ago from it, but it seemed that the career had called out to his only son as well. There was something about it that Shikamaru couldn't escape. It was like it ran in his blood. For as indifferent as he so often appeared to some, he had a strong moral compass. It was the kind that couldn't be bought, broken, or bended, which seemed to be quite rare these days. He had a strong desire to protect others and despite the fact that he claimed he was neither hero nor brave, he would willingly stand in the line of fire for others.

In all fairness he had been unmotivated without an ambition in life as a teenager. He had gotten so-so grades and made no real effort at anything. Yet somewhere over the years he had shaped up. He had gotten into this line of work and not a day went by when he slacked off at it. He was responsible and had a duty to do, not just for himself but because others were counting on him. He refused to let any of them down even if it meant putting himself into harm's way. He was no longer the uninspired teen he used to be, though he certainly had retained qualities from those years that he supposed he would never shake.

Asuma lowered him until he was just above the elevator and Shikamaru could hear the voices of the worried people in the elevator. They were mostly quiet now, obviously feeling a bit defeated as they were unable to do anything. Shikamaru studied the top of the elevator and looked for the most central location that would hold when he attached the hook. He choose his spot and looped the hook through, the metal against metal making a clang that seemed to echo through the elevator shaft.

He could hear the pulley they had devised squeak its protest as Asuma began to haul him back up. He imagined how the thing would sound if it was Asuma hanging from this rope. The thought was amusing but he didn't comment on it instead he focused his gaze on the top of the elevator, watching as he moved further away from it with everyone of Asuma's tugs on the rope.

He reached the top of the elevator and reached out to grab the top support. His gloved hand wrapped around the cool metal when the loud sound exploded from under him. He felt the hot air of the explosion blow past him, knocking lose his grip. Asuma made a grab for him and the elevator dropped.

Author's Note: Just another mention that I do not own Naruto or the movie Speed from where the plot is taken. The first several chapters will mirror the movie.