Chapter 6 – Hot Patootie
Will sighed with frustration as this little trivia game went on; the questions were relatively easy, but they just kept coming.
He looked up at the monitors.
Henry and Kate were standing, staring down the barrels of the guns sticking out of the wall, it was like a modern Indiana Jones scene, except, well, Henry was shorter.
Big Guy kept still but was glaring at the spikes threatening to lunge forward and snare him forever.
And Helen and Nikola had spent more time arguing with each other than actually paying attention to the vicious weapons pointed at them. From what Will could tell, Nikola was being an ass, as always.
Will sighed again as another trivia question came up.
He typed out the answer and the little "Correct!" resounded in his head.
Will rubbed his eyes, feeling tired and helpless.
But, instead of yet another question the 4th monitor flashed and said:
PRESS BUTTON
Will thanked whatever masterful deity was watching down on him and pressed the button and a hidden door opened up, and behind it was Big Guy.
The dangerous weapons gone back into their resting place, and a look of relief over the hairy man's face.
"Guh! Took you long enough!" he grumbled.
"You're welcome by the way," mumbled Will.
As Will stepped through the entrance behind him closed, trapping him and Big Guy back in the small chamber.
"Aw crap," muttered Will.
The music started up again through all the chambers.
"This is starting to get old!" yelled Will to whoever was the puppet master of this fun house.
Whatever happened to Saturday night?...
"Oh Meatloaf," sighed Helen.
"Seriously, Helen, now is not the time to be thinking of your stomach, if you were really that starving you could've brought money for popcorn," Nikola raised his hands in that annoying manner he did when ever he pointed out something he thought was obvious, like his genius. Of course he was talking out of his ass.
"No, that's not…nevermind," she shrugged him off and went back to examining the weapons pointed at her and Nikola; if they were at all weapons.
Nikola stepped close to one and it's mechanism started to turn.
"Don't get to close, Nikola! They don't look friendly!" she warned.
"Really? I thought they wanted to have tea with us!" he bit back sarcastically.
"Please, you've never drunk tea in your life, you've always been in the habit of depleting wine cellars," she carefully eyed the devices.
"And I always will! I will never succumb to your bland british sense of taste! You can keep your shepherd's pie and chips! To hell!" he said dramatically, almost making her laugh.
"You enjoyed shepherd's pie when living at oxford, I remember!" she accused him with a pointed finger.
"I tolerated it, there's a difference!" he gave her a pointed finger back.
"How did we get on to this?" she rolled her eyes, she's never argued about so many pointless things in her life.
"You were talking about meatloaf, another british delicacy I will never again shove down my throat so long as I live," he reached out to touch another device and it almost takes his hand off.
"Not meatloaf the food, Meatloaf the man, he's an actor/artist, he sings this song that our captor has chosen to torment us with."
"Oh, well that makes more sense," he dismisses the fact and goes back to examining the devices.
Hot patootie, bless my soul
I really love that Rock and Roll…
"I really hope there is a reason for all this," mumbled Kate.
"Why?" asked Henry.
"Cause it's either that or we are being tortured by a maniac and his obsession for cult classics for the heck of it! It's pissing me off! STOP IT!" growled Kate, raising her fist to some invisible force.
"Well, it could be worse, could've tortured us with the soundtrack of Hairspray…or Sweeney Todd," shrugged Henry.
"True…but still, this is fricking ridiculous! I am going to die to Hot Patootie!" Kate tossed something at the offending weapons and it was immediately disintegrated in front of her.
"Um…don't do that again," said Henry, his back pressed firmly against the wall.
"Gotcha…" said Kate moving next to him her hand bumping against his and grabbing it tightly.
Henry looked down at her hand in his, almost in a state of shock.
Kate followed his gaze and immediately let go and crossed her arms defensively.
"Sorry…I thought it was…my gun…my bad…" she shifted her gaze downwards and shuffled away from him.
Hot patootie, bless my soul
I really love that Rock and Roll…
"This is ridiculous!" cried Will.
"Guh! Guh!" Big Guy grunted in agreement.
"How do you expect us to win if you keep changing the rules!" Will shouted loudly at the 'puppet master' of this maze, feeling frustrated and pissed. "What is the reason? TELL ME THAT!"
A secret compartment opens revealing a screen with more instructions on it.
"Not again!" grumbled Will.
TO MOVE ALONG
SING A-LONG
"You have got to be kidding me," Will rolled his eyes and then looked at Big Guy. "You are doing it with me!"
Big Guy glared.
"Don't give me that look, I know you know the lyrics, you and Henry spent all of Halloween singing it! Who is watching?"
He grumbled but shrugged and relented.
"Guh! You owe me one!"
My head used to swim from the perfume I smelled
My hands kinda fumbled with her white plastic belt…
"Hmm…I kind of like where this song is going," smirked Nikola, he looked over to Helen suggestively.
"You're incorrigible!" she glared at him.
"You were thinking the same thing, don't deny it!" he grinned even wider and pointed a lean finger at her.
She rolled her eyes.
"You know, I bet that's why you dragged me along on this mission, in this outfit, you kinky little snake," he stepped forward, his eyes lingering on her chest.
Helen lifted a hand to push him and his gaze away, and was about to open her mouth to shoot him down once more, but he was quick, and grabbed her hand before she uttered a syllable and pinned her against the wall, his bare chest flush against hers.
Helen nearly lost her breath.
"Nikola! What are you doing?" she spurted out, trying not to get distracted by his proximity.
"Ohh, come on Helen, you've wanted me to do this ever since I kissed you, back in Rome!" he held her arms strongly.
"You are being ridiculous, this is not the time for you to get lost in your sexual depravity, we are probably being watched!" she squirmed a bit, but that just ended with her grinding against him, which wasn't a good thing at this moment.
He chuckled and lightly brushed his lips against hers, Helen found it hard to decide whether it should be counted as a stolen kiss this time.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she was pretty sure Nikola noticed, as his smirk just got wider.
"Oh, Helen, you are a vision in white…lace…" he added cheekily, his hands running along her slip.
Helen shook her head and kneed him in the groin.
He backed off immediately.
"Ooh, you siren," his grin still plastered on his face.
Helen moved away and composed herself.
"Would you please keep your hands to yourself, Nikola! Try to show a modicum of self-control!" she scolded him and he just smiled at her, if a little pained.
"Ohh, Helen, what would be the fun in that? Especially since you're curious of what I can actually do with these hands," he winked and straightened up.
"Well why don't you put them to practical use and help get us out of here!" she glared at him and he frowned.
"Fine, you minx, one day I will break through that wall of defenses, and…stroke your true nature…" Helen rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to slap him upside the head at his obvious euphemism.
"Please, you couldn't even break through a vase," Helen sighed and sunk to the floor crossing her legs so not to give Nikola a rather generous view.
"Giving up already?" he quirks an eyebrow at her.
"I'm trying to think, and these heels are hard to think in," she groaned and rubbed her ankles.
"You could always take them off," Nikola suggested.
"Already? It hasn't been thirty seconds since I shot down your last come on!" she glared at him again.
"I didn't say anything!" he raised his hands up defensively.
Hot patootie, bless my soul
I really love that Rock and Roll…
Will and Big Guy sang their best to the lyrics and suddenly something bleeped and another entrance opened up.
"Finally, I was going to lose my voice soon," mumbled Will, coughing slightly.
"Yah," grunted Big Guy and they walked through the entrance that, in turn, closed behind them.
They had entered yet another room with monitors, except instead of four, there was only three.
"You've reached a new level! Congratulations!" came an automated voice as they walked to the monitors.
"Yay for us," said Will sarcastically.
The monitors had the same footage as before, minus the room Will and Big Guy just exited.
The third monitor bleeped and another trivia question came on.
Before Will could even finish reading it Big Guy started typing.
The "Correct!" sounded.
"Nice one Big Guy!" smiled Will and they watched the monitors as the offensive weapons pointed at the rest of the team retreated back into their hiding places. "Real nice!"
Big Guy and Will high-fived before looking back to the third monitor.
The screen flashes to a close-up of the movie and the sound came through the speakers.
…It was a mercy killing…
Kate looked behind her when she heard an odd sound and suddenly heard a loud bang and looked down to see a bullet fully embedded into her arm.
Henry ran to her aid.
"Holy crap!" he cried catching her as her legs buckled beneath her. "That is so not cool!"
"Agh! Careful with the hands, or you'll lose them!" Kate winced as Henry lowered her to the floor. "Where is the son of a bitch, I'll give him a taste of his own medicine!"
She grinded her teeth as Henry surfed through his duffle bag for something to dull the pain, as well as ripping some cloth off his shirtsleeve to wrap around her arm to stem the bleeding.
"Uhh, that looks bad, damn I wish the Doc was here," said Henry as he found a small bottle of ibuprofen and handed her a couple of the pills.
"Thanks Henry."
"No problem, just don't die on me," he said wrapping the wound tightly.
"I've had worse!" she muttered as she swallowed the drugs dry.
"And people have died from less," Henry said matter-of-factly.
Kate leaned against the wall.
"Watch your back, I don't want you to end up like swiss cheese along with me," said Kate, her eyes scanning for any more surprises.
"Yah, good point," Henry looked behind him, just in case.
Whatever freak that was the controller of this rabbit hole had upped the stakes, for all of them.