Did you miss me? I've been rather busy of late, and haven't had much of a chance to write. In fact, several events occured which got me rather down, and I had considered ending the story where it was. Then, I happened to read the reviews, and was immediately cheered by the devotion some readers have to my story. So, I cast off my depressive funk, and sat down to write this, the next chapter in the continuing story that is "A Tale of Two Dimensions." Enjoy.
I don't own Invader Zim, Tak, or any corporation or entity depicted herein except for my OC's. Common sense, lawyer scum!
CHAPTER 5: Rescue
They say "all's fair in love and war". This was both. They also say that fear gives men wings. I was afraid, I admit. Mr. Fowler had taken the being that we had all come to love. That I had come to love. To piss with the bloody consequenses, I had to get her back.
"Ana." I said, as the three of us walked into the main lab area. "Get on the grid. See if you can locate where they've taken her." Ana nodded dutifully, and drooped into a swivel chair in front of her computer, and began typing furiously at the keyboard.
"Ashton." I said grimly. "I'm still pissed at you, just so you know." He nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry, Doc." He said quietly. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I'll do anything to get her back." Ana looked up at him angrily from her computer, then began typing again.
"Good." I replied coldly. "Because we're gonna do anything to get her back."
"Found it!" Ana exclaimed. "CenTex BioScience research center. They just logged in a new specimen marked "unknown" a few minutes ago."
"CBTS. Fowler's little personal science project warehouse." I said. "Can you hack the main security, specifically clearance codes?"
"On it." Ana muttered. I turned to Ashton.
"I want you to load up the EMP gun, some medical supplies, tools, and everything we have in the weapons cabinet into three duffel bags." Ashton silently went about his orders. I walked to Ana's station. "Got it?"
"Just about...and...yes, we're in."
"Get me the codes for every security checkpoint we'll have to get through." Ana brought up a screen with a set of numbers.
"I'll do one better." She said. "This is the skeleton key. This code will unlock any door in the place." Ashton came limping up, burdened by the fact he was dragging three loaded duffel bags. We each slung one of the weighty bags over a shoulder.
"The Batmobile?" Ana asked.
"No." I replied. "We're taking my car." We exited the lab, and loaded the bags into the trunk of my beloved black 1977 Trans Am (Yeah, you know the one, Bandit's Car. I like Smokey and the Bandit, so what?). Ashton slipped into the back seat, while Ana climbed into the passenger side. I dropped behind the wheel, and turned the key. The car's powerful engine roared to life, and I took out half of the wooden "employee parking" sign on my way out of the parking lot.
The guard at the front gate of the CTBS facility gave us little trouble, once he saw our I.D. cards. Apparently, Fowler hadn't told him to revoke our access. Screw up on his part. He waved us through as he lifted the too-standard yellow and black striped bar, and I drove through.
Entering the parking lot, I parked as close to the front door as possible. If you've never tried to be up to something, without looking like you're up to something, then I wish you luck. We unloaded the duffel bags, I typed in Ana's enchanted code, which thankfully worked, and we entered the lab on our clandestine quest.
My heart dropped when I saw her. Tak was in a small laboratory room marked "Biohazard". We entered the room, which at the moment, was free of any researchers.
"Tak?" I said softly. She sat in a small cage, her knees pulled up to her chin, her eyes closed. She rocked gently back and forth. She had been stripped of all of her clothing, and I could see signs of recent "research" on her body in the forms of needle tracks and scrapes on her body from small tissue removal procedures. She didn't respond.
"Tak." I said, worried. Her purple eyes opened, and she looked at me sadly.
"Drake." Her voice sounded weak and hollow. She slipped a shaking hand through the bars of her cage. I grasped her small green hand in mine.
"My god, Tak." I sighed. "What have they done to you?" Tears filled her eyes, and she looked away.
"They..." She quaked. "They strapped me down. They...god, I was still...conscious. I think they wanted to know everything...you know, about my body. The scientists...I don't know what all they did. I'm so...c...cold." She began sobbing lightly. I turned to the others, tears in my eyes.
"Get it open." I said angrily. Ashton pulled a small set of bolt cutters from his bag, and cut the lock on the door of the cage. Ana opened the door, and I reached in, picking up Tak like a small child. She weakly put her right arm around my neak, and buried her head in my neck, crying.
"What now?" Ashton asked. "We can't walk out like this, I think somebody'll have a problem with it." I gently lowered Tak to her feet.
"Can you walk?" I asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I'm...good, Drake." She said softly, attempting to regain her composure. "I'm alot better now that you're here." I smiled and knelt in front of her. I kissed her gently on the forehead.
"We're getting you out of here, love." I said. I reached into my bag and retrieved the shotgun, tucking it under my labcoat (No, I never take it off, happy?).
"Tak!" Ana called. "I found your clothes!" She held up a clear, vaccum-sealed bag she'd retrieved from a counter. She hurried accross the room, opening the bag, and quickly helped Tak into the garments. Now fully dressed, Tak seemed to be in slightly better spirits. Ana hugged her tightly. "I missed you so much!" Ana exclaimed. "Oh, I was so worried!" Tak struggled out of Ana's bearhug, and placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
"I missed you too..." Tak said, smiling. "Sister."
"What the hell?!" A voice shouted. I turned to see a scientist standing in the doorway. He reached for his radio, and I quickly brought out the cannon from underneath my labcoat, and the labcoated researcher froze.
"I wouldn't do that, mate." I said seriously. "Not unless you have plans on being the bloody headless horseman for Halloween." There is a good reason why scientists aren't action-movie stars, you know. "Step in." I said. The scientist slowly raised his hands, and stepped into the room.
"You won't get away with this." He said fearfully. "This facility is full of armed guards. You'll be caught before you make it to the main doors. You..." A flying centrifuge hit him in the head, and the scientist fell to the floor, knocked out cold. I turned to see Tak smiling evily accross the room.
"That was the sick human who was so curious about my reproductive system." She commented angrily.
"Unidentified flying lab gear...bravo." I said, smiling. "Let's go." We left the room, and walked casually down the hall. This plan lasted about ten seconds.
"Hey, you!" A guard called from down the hall behind us. We broke into a dead run. There was a gunshot, and a chunk of wall exploded next to us.
"They're shooting at us!" Ashton yelled. "They're really shooting at us!"
"Did you think this would be a walk in the park?!" I called. We rounded a corner and kept running. Just as we reached a small cove inhabited by vending machines, two gurads appeared ahead of us, armed with automatic weapons.
"Bloody shite!" I yelled. Lovely british take on the word. Fits the bill in just such an occasion. We dove into the shallow room as a burst of gunfire errupted on the tile floor. I stuck the barrel of the shotgun out around the wall, and fired a a round, just to show that I meant business as well. At least it would hold them off for a while.
"What are going to do?" Ana asked from her tactical position, curled up next to a Pepsi machine.
"I dunno." I replied. "Looks like they very well have us dead to rights." Tak looked around, her eyes locking on a ventilation duct on the ceiling, just above the snack machine. I followed her gaze, and read her mind.
"Can you do it?" I asked. Four metalic legs sprouted from her pack, and she climbed on top of the vending machine.
"Buy me a few seconds." She said soldierly. I fired the shotgun blindly down the hall twice. The guards answered with another spray of bullets. "Drake!" Tak called. I looked to behold the grate falling to the floor, cut like a plasma cutter had been used. I saw the tips of two of Tak's spider legs glowing white. And I thought she was going to unscrew it.
"Leave the bags! Ashton, Go!" I yelled, and fired again.
"There gonna catch us. We're so screwed." Ashton whined.
"Get up in the damn duct before I wear your face like a sodding halloween mask!" I ordered.
"I hate small spaces." Ashton mumbled as he climbed upon the machine, and into the duct. "Probably hasn't been cleaned in..."
"Ana, you next!"
"I...I can't." Ana sobbed, still balled up in the corner. "I can't." Bollocks. Tak lept from the machine and put an arm around Ana.
"You have to." Tak said calmly. "It's going to be okay, Ana. Do you trust me?" Ana nodded. "Good. Then you have to get into the duct, okay? I'll be there with you." Ana slowly stood, and Tak helped her onto the machine. She looked back at Tak, the crawled into the duct.
"Drake, come on!" Tak yelled. I fired the last round, then dropped the shotgun, and moved quickly to the machine.
"You go first, Tak." I said.
"You go first, Drake." Tak argued. "GO!" I quickly surmounted the snack machine, and entered the duct. It was larger than I anticipated, and there was actually room to turn around, which I did. Tak began to enter the duct, then yelped in terror as she was nearly pulled back out. I moved over to her, and grabbed her arms. Below, an angry Mr. Fowler gripped Tak's right leg with both hands.
"You'll not get away from me!" He bellowed. "Friends or not, you're mine!" I pulled at Tak as she fought against Fowler's hold. She looked into my eyes fearfully.
"Tak," I grunted. "Your spider legs." She closed her eyes, and a single spider leg extended from her pack, and plunged into Fowler's shoulder. He roared in pain, and let go of Tak. I hauled her into the duct, and we began crawling. Despite the semi-darkness, I could see Ana up ahead.
"Ana?" I whispered.
"You and Tak all right?" She asked.
"Yeah, we just ran afowl of Fowler back there."
"Ha. Ha." Ana said dryly.
"Could you go, please?" I retorted. We began slowly making our way through the ventilation system. After nearly a minute of crawling, the parade stopped.
"Ashton!" I quietly called. "What the devil is it?"
"The duct ends here." Ashton whispered back. I did a quick calculation in my head.
"Good." I said. That means were near the front door. All we have to do is..." The duct groaned. "Oh fu..." The bottom of duct gave way under our combined weight, and all four of us fell ten feet to the floor. I caught my breath, and slowly stood. "I'm alright, We're..." I then saw the ten knightstick-armed guards standing between us and the door. "In a really bone spot." The others and I drew in close, and I pulled Tak behind me like a herd of cape buffalo ready to defend their young. If they wanted Tak, they'd have to...well, they looked like they wanted to do it.
"Release the...thing," The leader of the group of guards stated. "And step away with your hands up."
"You nazi posers want her," I sneered "then come and get her." The commander gave a hand signal, and the guards began advancing toward us.
"Here we are now." Ana muttered. "Entertain us." As the first guard moved in to attack, Tak pushed me aside. She lept into the air, and delivered a powerful kick to the guard's chin. He stumbled backwards and fell. Two more guards lunged forward. Tak dove from between them, and they collided comically, yet painfully. Tak siezed their batons, and twirled them expertly, hitting both guards in the head. Ana kicked a guard in the stomach, doubling him over, and I finished him by delivering a knee to his face. Tak parried a blow from another guard's stick with one of hers, then brought the other against his skull. She then struck him in both shoulders, and he collapsed onto the floor.
Ashton had backed away from the fray, watching anxiously. A guard grabbed Ana by the throat. I attempted a chokehold on the guard, which resulted in him letting go of Ana, but also throwing me over his shoulder onto the floor. Pain. He raised his nightstick ominously, when I heard an ungodly shriek. Ashton, screaming like a banshee, speared the guard, sending them both to the floor. Ashton began punching the guard.
"Yeah!" He screamed as he hit the guard. "Not so...tough...without your...club...huh?" He lept to his feet, and screaming his bloodcurdling shriek, charged at two more guards. Tak was engaged in a stickfight with two guards. Their two weeks of training were no match for her lifetime of combat expertise, and soon she had both guards on the floor bleeding. We stopped to watch as Ashton dodged a guard's baton blow, and retaliated with a solid punch to the guard's nose that would've made Muhummad Ali proud. Ashton then headbutted the guard, who fell. The last guard pulled his pistol, but before he could use the weapon, Tak launched a baton like a missile, hitting the guard between the eyes. Unconscious, he slumped to the white tile.
"Bleedin' Hell, Ashton," I laughed. "I didn't know you had in in you. He smiled and shrugged.
"It's kind of like Vader's redemption, you know?" We all looked at him questioningly. "What? You know, like at the end of 'Jedi'? Vader ends up saving...What?" We exited the building, leaving the guards moaning on the floor.
"Tak!" I exclaimed in the parking lot, picking Tak up in a hug. "You were spec-frickin-tacular in there! The legs and the grate, and the baton fight like a bloody highlander, and the..." I kissed her on the lips. She put her arms around me, and the kiss became a deep, intimate expression of a trillion and one unsaid words. We broke the connection, and stared into each other's eyes, smiling.
"Aww," Ana said sweetly. "You two are so good for each other." Loveable Ana. There was a click from behind us.
"How sweet." A familiar voice commented coldly. We turned. Fowler. He stood, still bleeding from the wound in his shoulder, but holding a small handgun, which was leveled at me. "And I thought you scientists weren't supposed to get emotionally involved with your experiments."
"She's not an experiment." Ana said through clenched teeth. "She's our friend."
"Well," Fowler said sarcastically. "Pardon the hell out of me. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm taking back what's mine. Dr. Drake, put her on the ground. Don't make me kill you." Tak and I looked at each other sadly.
"It's okay." Tak whispered. "I'll go." She smiled evily and winked. I slowly sat her to the ground.
"Now, get back!" Fowler commanded. I stepped back, raising my hands. Fowler walked to Tak. "Now, greenie, you come with me, and I won't have to shoot your boyfriend." He smiled at me. "Now, doctor. My advice to you: walk away."
"For the head of a bunch of scientists." Tak said to Fowler. "You aren't too smart." She flipped into the air, and kicked the gun from Fowler's hand. It skittered accross the pavement. Tak glowered angrily at Fowler. "Now I'm gonna do to you...what you did to me." Her four metal legs extended from the pack, and, in an instant, had completely shredded Fowler's clothes from his body. He backed away, whimpering in embarassment.
"You...rabid monster." Fowler said. "Just wait. You'll not win this. All I have to do is give the word, and I'll have the army, the CIA, the FBI..." He locked eyes with Tak. I saw the white flash move across Tak's eyes. Fowler stood silent for a moment. "Potatoes are my friends." He said. "I swear, there are beans in my food. Hahaha."
"What did you do?" I asked, smiling, as I knet beside Tak.
"I just convinced him that he was insane. I don't think anyone is going to believe him now." She embraced me in a hug. "Serves him right. Nobody messes with the Irken elite." I leaned in, and kissed Tak on the cheek.
"What were you going to tell me earlier?" I asked. "Back at my lab?" She smiled lovingly, and placed her forehead against mine.
"Drake," Tak whispered. "I love you." We kissed deeply.
"I love you, too." I said. "Now let's get out of here."
"Yeah, there's a crazy guy here, alright." Ana said into her cellphone. "You'd better come right away, he's acting really..."
"Beetlebugs, beetlebugs," Fowler sang
"Wierd." She hung up the phone. "So, where we goin', Dr. Doom?" I looked at Tak. She flipped the switch on the tube, assuming her human form.
"Anywhere we want."
I'm sorry. It stinks so bloody bad! It...it's horrible! This is why I only write tragedies, I am terrible at happy endings! Anyway, review, so that I may know how bad it really is. I may do another chapter, just for closure, if enough people so desire.