After hearing that cold voice, everything for the team went black.
When everyone finally came to, they found their hands tied behind their backs, their weapons gone, although they still had their armor which was odd, but perhaps their captors didn't know of the armor's potential, and their feet tied to rings in the ground. Zack looked up to see a man hidden in the shadows.
He got up from where sat in the shadowed, unlit part of the room and spoke in the same cold tone they heard just before the passed out, only it was more familiar to them now, "Ah, I see you're all awake, excellent, because now I can tell you why you are here and that your plan is dust and echoes now. Fallen to shambles. So, you're all here, I'm sure you have realized, as prisoners of the Tipton Troopers and the Tipton family. You have tried to foil their plans, conspired against them, fought them, and killed one of the Tipton's own." At the end of his statement he began to ramble off crimes like another certain person the twins and Bailey knew, but could not name at the moment. Just then, the three of them gasped in horror and astonishment as the man walked into the lit side of the room where they were tied up, "Mr. Moesby! You- but- how- damnit." Zack, Cody, and Bailey stuttered together.
"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't think of me first, but alas you always were bumbling bumheads. Aaah, no matter, you shall be dealt with soon enough. Sergeant will be here with his men within the hour to execute you."
While Moesby was rambling, Ryan, from his position on the floor right next to Cody, whispered to him, "Cody, I think I can wedge my knife out of its sheath in my boot. I can tell that it's there so they must have missed it when they searched us. Once I get it out, grab it and cut your ropes. Then nod your head, I'll say 'Go' softly to you and you spring up and take down Mr. M. you'll need to knock him out so we have enough time to all get untied and get our gear. Ready, I got the knife out." Cody grabbed the knife and cut his ropes off. When he was good and ready, he nodded.
"And we have also found your bombs. Based on our standards, they're barely can-openers. We shall have them deactivated for good soon, and then we will never be stopped," Moesby continued to ramble.
"Go," Ryan whispered. Cody jumped up and in one fluid move, had Mr. Moesby pinned to the floor desperately trying to say uncle through gritted teeth. Cody got off of him, only to deliver a jaw-breaking punch to the face, which left Moesby laying there mouth wide open, eyes slack, tongue sticking out, but still breathing, although somewhat heavily. Cody closed Mr. Moesby's mouth with a groan from Mr. M. "Don't leave your mouth open, you could catch a fly, oh wait we are the flies on this wall," Cody snickered at Mr. Moesby with so much malice in his voice, he sounded inhuman. Almost everyone flinched at the tone but agreed with the comment.
"Ok, here's the plan. Cody, escort Bailey to the bridge. Use the ship-wide intercom to alert everyone that there is an engine breakdown that is extremely dangerous and that everyone needs to calmly and quietly evacuate the ship onto the docks. Zack, Jessica, climb up to the crow's nest. Find a good angle. Give us cover fire. Only shoot Troopers. You'll know because the scope will color-code them with a red outline. Civilians and friendlies are blue. Don't shoot them; it would only make matters worse. I'll go with Noel to the engine room; we'll clear it out, reactivate the charges, and add some new toys to the mix. Maybe shake things up a bit. Grab your gear before you go. Ready...BREAK!" Ryan instructed. Everyone grabbed their gear out of the locker located adjacent to where they had been tied up.
When Zack and Jessica got up in the crow's nest, Zack spilled his heart out in a way, "Hey, Jessica. Um, I was thinking, if we don't make it through this alive, I just wanted you to know that I've never met a girl like you. You're definitely not a frufru little girly girl, you love what you do for a job, if this counts as a job, you are just awesome. I think I kind of love you, you know? So just in case we die, I'll be safe knowing I got that off my chest. Hello, you there, I just spilled my heart out for you. You could at least respond." Jessica had grown tense and quiet. She did many things all at once almost. First, she kissed Zack on the lips, then pulled away, put a finger to her lips to be quiet, then un-holstered her sidearm, took aim, and shot a Tipton Trooper who was sneaking up behind an unsuspecting Zack full in the head.
She then replied, "Semper Vigilans. Living to fight another day is our job," and with that she lay prone and tensed up, preparing to kill evil without remorse.
Zack was astounded by what had just happened, but nonetheless, got in position to target anything that moved and was red in his scope. He and Jessica sealed their helmets to the stealth armor, activating the stealth function and giving them access to a motion tracker built-in to the suit, the comm., and a helpful night-vision and infrared VISIO system changing the view in their helmets.
"All right Ryan, we're in position, since Jess has the special rail driver thing, she'll cover you and Noel on the lower decks, I'll cover Cody and Bailey on their way to the upper decks where targets are more easily seen and shot with conventional weapons." Zack reported in over the walkie-talkie-like built-in communication system they called TCS, the acronym standing for Team Communication System.
"Roger that Zack, but we've got problems of our own down here. The death squad Moesby mentioned, yeah they decided to crash the party. We took 'em down, but Noel's hurt. Change of plans. I'm going to go rewire the explosives while Cody protects Bailey while she fixes up Noel. I want both of you to cover myself and Cody's position. After that, I'll return to Bailey and Noel, Cody will get to the bridge to alert everyone, and you two do the same thing you did for me. After that, we make a break for the docks. Our way to Boston, plus resupply, refit, and repair will be waiting for us about a mile inland. When you get to shore, no matter what happens, get to the Superdome. That's the rally point and one of our safe houses. We'll be able to get fresh, un-destroyed armor, more ammo, and we've got other necessities you'll find useful soon. Ryan out." Ryan replied in a pissed and unhappy tone, meaning this engagement was about to go sour, fast. Zack and Jessica took down targets with unseen grace. Zack, normally, would spot targets through his scope, alert Jessica, and she would take them down through the walls. Ryan made it to the engine room almost untouched. He successfully rearmed the explosives, also adding a few new toys to the mix. On his way back, he encountered some trouble in the form of a pissed off Mr. Moesby, who was eventually downed by Jessica after several shots to the chest, meaning he had some very powerful body armor on. He was accompanied by two bodyguards, who Ryan made short work of with a shotgun blast to the head of one then jumping on the still falling body, spring-boarding off and landing on the other's shoulders. He then dropped a grenade down the other guy's pants and ran off around a corner. The bodyguard didn't stand a chance. Ryan finally made it back to the storage room and Cody began his journey to the bridge. Along the way, he killed several Tipton Troopers on his own, with little support from Zack and Jessica. Once at the bridge Bailey called in, "We've got Noel patched up, we're going to head tot eh bridge to support Cody. It's probably infested with Troopers. Zack, Jessica, draw a close- or medium- range weapon, other than your rifles, and head down here. We're gonna blow the charges after we're sure most of the people are off. Over."
Zack and Jessica quickly drew an assault rifle and a .45 respectively (A/N Zack has the assault rifle, Jess the .45 just thought I'd point it out).The way to the bridge was simple, mostly because the crow's nest was directly above it and so they climbed down and prepared to blow the hatch on the top of the bridge to provide supporting fire for the team at the main entrance.
Over the TCS, Ryan gave the all clear and everyone busted through the door at once.
There weren't many people in there, and they were all dead Tipton Troopers by the time everyone was inside.
Cody went to the controls and gave a status report, "It may take a few minutes, but I can alert everyone on board and possibly overheat the engines which would give us just enough time to escape and ensure that the charges blow on time. ATTENTION PASSENGERS, THERE HAS BEEN AN ENGINE MALFUNCTION AND WE ARE TELLING YOU THAT YOU MUST LEAVE THE BOAT IMMEDIATELY! IF YOU DO NOT DO SO, YOU MAY BE KILLED! THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN, SO PLEASE SAVE YOURSELVES!" Cody blared his prerecorded emergency warning over the ship-wide intercom and they heard people running for the gangplank to get to shore. He played on a loop to keep reminding anyone who had not heard it.
About 5 minutes later, Cody had finished with the engine, "Ok guys, it's about that time where we make a grand exit. We have five minutes before this puppy goes up. If we don't get a safe enough distance away even if we're off the ship, we run the risk of getting incinerated. Let's go!"
They ran at breakneck speed staright out the bridge and onto the upper decks. They had to reach the gangplank on the lower decks with 4:12 on the clock. On the way they ran into several search-and-destroy teams of Tipton Troopers, but Ryan would just drop an explosive and they would keep running, blowing up the baddies before they could react. The timer kept ticking down, 3:01, 3:00, 2:59, but they were still too far away from the docks.
They were about 20 yards of climbing through different ladders and corridors when the time showed 30 seconds left.
: 15
: 14
: 13
: 12
: 11
: 10
: 09
: 08
: 07
: 06
: 05
: 04
They were almost there, just 3 yards to go.
: 03
: 02
: 01
: 00
And the world went up in flames.
Dont' worry, this is kind of a spoiler but everyone lives through this story. I can't make any promises about the next, although I can say that it will pick up directly after what you just read. At first, I didn't think this story would turn out so great, even though I really thought it was a sweet idea. I currently cannot think of a title for my next story in the trilogy. I was thinking possibly The Boston Massacre since it is going to take place in the Boston hotel where the twins used to live. If you have any ideas, any at all, please review but be nice about it, nobody likes a critic. Sorry about the cliffhanger, couldn't resist. I'm thinking about another story, possibly the three friends get sucked up into a rebel army within the United States during the Second American Civil War (modern day of course). Again review if you like, review if you don't. I can't make a good story better without support from readers and fans like you guys.
Thanks
-The Pie Guy-