So again PeggsterLover pushed me to make sure this came out... Where would I be without you darling? XD Please enjoy some of the whump on characters (there isn't a ton but still...) and the horrible cliffhanger I live you with! ^^"
Jane broke out of unconsciousness first, groaning at the sharp blossom of pain that begun to bloom along the right of her forehead. She managed to pull herself together and realize that she was still strapped into her seat in Ethan's car, but upside down. Her hair was in messy coils, hanging down to the ground with blood from some sort of head wound trickling down them.
Looking over, she found Ethan in a half conscious state. He was falling out of his seat and bleeding heavily from a nasty looking head wound given to him from impact with the windshield. What was worse was that she could see a shard of glass deeply embedded in his arm and signs that his oddly twisted leg could be at least fractured.
The hissing of cooling metal and leaking gas was brought to her attention. She knew she had to move herself and Ethan out quickly before they went out with a bang. Quite literally. Jane un-strapped herself from the car and grabbed the bottom of the seat to help herself down. Once she had successfully done that, she undid Ethan's seatbelt and pulled him down with caution. She dragged him out, careful not to further damage his arm, and laid him on the sidewalk once they were far enough away from the wreckage.
"Sierra, Whiskey, this is Juliet. Echo and I are okay for the most part, but we're going to need a trip to the hospital. We didn't catch them…" She sighed, admitting defeat in letting their kidnappers get away with their teammate. "It's up to you two and Bravo now."
-l-
Benji cursed under his breath at himself thoroughly as he held the ice pack to the back of his throbbing head. He let the bad guys get away with the girl cared about. His head wasn't the only thing that was throbbing by now. How were they going to catch the kidnappers without Jane and Ethan? This was going to be impossible.
He knew he wasn't the only one worrying about how this would end. Brandt was pacing around the room, no longer watching over Julia because she was now under protective custody. The situation had become pretty bleak in his eyes. Two of their team was injured and needed to stay out for medical assistance and one was in the hands of some obviously devious baddies.
This situation was just looking more and more charming every minute.
"There's no way we can do this." He sighed, turning to Benji. "We're just gonna have to wait 'til some ransom call is made and then figure out what to do from there. If we can do anything at all."
"This is my fault." Benji threw the ice pack to the floor in frustration. "I'm a complete fool. And everyone takes advantage of it. None of this would've happened if I were you or Ethan."
"Benj, we need you to be you." Brandt sat beside him on the couch. "Who else is going to be our expert on everything technological? And able to adapt with it when things go south? The rest of us aren't as well trained with it as you are. Not even Sheri. You still need some training, sure. But we all did in the beginning."
"I guess." Was the depressed reply. "But can I shape up enough to fix all this? And save Addie?"
Brandt couldn't give him a definite answer. How were they going to get her back? Was there even going to be a ransom call?
Would they even keep her alive?
The sound of a shrill whistle caught both men's attention to see Sheri standing in front of them with a firm expression on her face.
"Stop that." She snapped.
"S-Stop what?" Benji replied, suddenly feeling nervous under her stare.
"Being as depressing and sullen as you are. Cut it out right now." She ordered. "The two of you have no right to be negative. We are going to fix this. We are going to stop our kidnappers. And we are going to bring back Addie."
No way in Hell she was just going to let them think this mission was down the hole. Doubts needed to be erased and pessimistic tendencies had to be thrown out the window now. Things were far from over.
"This mission is not impossible, despite your thinking, and it is certainly not over. We're going to rectify any and all mistakes. Starting now." Sheri looked to Benji. "She was still wearing her mic when she got taken. Think you can track it, Benji?"
"If they haven't broken it or anything, sure." He replied, getting up and going to his computer. Someone acting as the authority, acting like Ethan, suddenly made him feel reassured that things could make a complete 180.
Brandt felt like he had just gotten a smack to the face from Jane and an evil glare from Ethan at the same time. The authority and seriousness emitting from Sheri was close to frightening. She had taken on the role of Ethan for the time and from what anyone could tell, she was scary good at it.
-l-
Hushed mutters reached Addie's ear as she stirred. With a couple tired flutters from her eyes, she focused in on a clearer picture of her surroundings. Gray, dirt-smeared concrete flooring was the first thing she saw. Lifting her head slowly, she saw a vast space between her and her captors, who were standing at a table and examining the microphone and earpiece she had been wearing earlier. The sun peered over the windows above her and shined its protective light upon her bound figure.
'Tied to a chair in a warehouse. How demeaning.' She mentally sighed.
One deep breath for oxygen told her that she was near the ocean. The smell of sea salt was almost intoxicating to the point that she wanted to puke. 'Rotten sardines.' Addie crinkled her nose in disgust. 'Must be some sort of shut down warehouse used for storage.'
"My my, it seems Ms. Adelaide has awoken, boys." A familiar voice flitted into the room. Expensive Italian shoes could be heard stepping toward her from behind. Jonathon Richmond appeared with a hand on Addie's shoulder and deceivingly professional smile.
"You." She glared. "You're the one who was threatening the senator, huh?"
"Yes. That was me. I'm the one who wants the new weapons system he's working on. But after that stupid guitarist made his move, I had to resort to other means. I found out IMF was in the area by watching you and your group interfere with the kidnapping attempt. I remembered that there was an IMF agent also involved in my little prize; Ethan Hunt. I figured that snatching one of his friends would bend him into getting me what I want." Richmond chuckled as he stepped away to face Adelaide, hands in his pockets.
"So you came up with this whole competition just to lure out his daughter?"
"Oh no. I simply took the host's place. No one really knows Jonathon Richmond so I simply just kind of took his identity for my own. For now anyway." He chuckled, turning to the two kidnappers with a quick frown. "What are you two messing with? What's that?"
"We got a microphone and earpiece off of her. We were—" Richmond interrupted the man.
"Get rid of it! Trash it now!"
The second man took it from the first and threw it on the ground, stomping on it. "Was that supposed to be a tracker, sir?" he asked.
"You'd better hope not. Or you'll be more than fired." Richmond snapped with a venomous glare.
'Please, please let that have tracked me here. Let them have found me.' Addie prayed in her head.
"Now, why don't we contact our IMF friends, hm?" Richmond turned back to Addie with a growing smirk.
-l-
"Got it!" Benji cried in success at the computer screen.
"You've triangulated a location?" Brandt asked, walking over with Sheri to look at the screen.
"Yup! Old warehouse for a bunch of chain restaurants along the coast about half an hour from here. Should be easy enough to get to from he—Whoa!" Benji pulled his hands away from the computer, watching it fritz and glitch sporadically. "Someone's hacking my computer! I've lost control!"
"Well who the Hell's doing… This…" Sheri trailed off when web cam interface was connected and Jonathon Richmond's face popped up on screen. "You."
"You sound exactly like Ms. Woods did, Ms. Hunt." Richmond gave the woman a devious smirk as he moved slightly to the side to reveal Adelaide bound to a chair, sending a devil's glare into her captor's back.
"Addie!" Benji blurted out at the sight of her. Her grainy form in the background turned toward the camera and somehow locked eyes with him.
"You'll get the lovely young lady back when I get the codes for access to the resource lab where the IMF's new weapon is being developed. Give me those and I give you her. You have three hours."
And with that the image blinked out.
"Now what?" Brandt threw up his arms in frustration.
"Leave this to me. I have an idea." Sheri put in with a small smirk of her own.
-l-
Addie could do nothing but watch as she sat attached to the chair while Brandt and Benji approached Richmond from the entrance of the warehouse. Both remained stoic and professional as they stood before the head of the kidnapping operation.
"I take it those are my codes?" Richmond gestured to the briefcase in Benji's hands.
"Might be. We'd like our teammate first." Brandt gave the man a steely-eyed glare, crossing his arms.
"Of course, of course." He waved for his two men to come over.
They pushed Addie along, the barrels of their weapons practically breathing down her back. She shot Richmond an evil glare as they shoved her into Benji's arms. He caught her with ease and communicated through his bright blue eyes that everything was under control.
Brandt took the case from Benji and tossed it to Richmond. "There. Done and done."
Evidently pleased, he opened the case and sifted through the codes inside. He closed it and sneered at the trio. "I'm surprised Ms. Hunt didn't join us for our little transaction. She upset that I got her brother into a car accident?"
"Oh she's here. No one ever said she wasn't a part of the party." Brandt retorted confidently.
A bullet whistled through the air, impacting with the back of the first minion. Once he was introduced to the floor with his face, another bullet made contact with the second man's head and his blood splattered across the concrete in strangely flower-like form. Richmond whipped around and before he could emit any sort of noise, a third bullet collided with his shoulder and stuck there. His once powerful figure crumpled to the floor while he clutched his shoulder. Benji ran over and snatched up the briefcase, running back to Addie and Brandt. Sheri jumped down from the grating of the fire escape above them, sliding down the ladder with a panicked expression.
"We gotta run now!" She told them hurriedly as she got off and began to sprint towards them. "This whole place is lined with explosives and I don't know where the detonator is-!"
Her eyes locked with Richmond's form on the ground. He had propped himself up and held some small item in his hand. His grin made her uneasy, echoing a face of the devil as he pressed the button in his hand.
"RUN!" She shrieked as explosions began to detonate overhead.
Benji took Addie's hand and ran towards the entrance without hesitation. Brandt, however, ran to Sheri and grabbed her hand and yanked her along. The warehouse had crumbled down on Richmond and his men long ago. Sheri, in a moment of desperation, shoved Brandt out of the house of cards first.
He stumbled and when he turned to see where she had gone, part of the concrete smacked him upside the head harshly. Brandt yelled and fell back onto the ground, finding his world suddenly black.
Benji and Addie bent by their friend's unmoving form and watched as the rest of the warehouse was demolished. There was just one problem.
Sheri wasn't among them watching as well.
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