Chapter 14: Captured
As Ricky and Lenalee make their way to D-Lagoon Bar, Lenalee explained to Ricky, "I was originally from Shanghai, China. My parents were both Templars so they taught me some of their moves before they die. After I heard that the Templar army failed to defeat the Faction at DC and after the Faction invasion of my country, I immediately fled, all the way here to England."
Ricky asked Lenalee, "So Lenalee, if you were a Templar all along, why didn't you help Allen and the rest of the British Army?"
Lenalee sighed, "I fear that if I use my powers during the battle, the Faction will hunt me down every day, just like they are now hunting you." Tears start to form in her eyes. "And…I really didn't wish to hurt Allen's feelings…he's my friend…and I know his father die because I didn't help the army by using my powers…and I…"
Ricky puts a hand on Lenalee's shoulder. She turned to him as he said, "Hey, it's okay. We all make mistakes. And sometimes, when you make a mistake, just forget you did that and keep moving forward."
Lenalee smiled sadly as she wipes the tears off her eyes. "Thank you."
A while later, the two arrived at the entrance of D-Lagoon Bar. They both gasp when a door automatically slams shut behind them.
Powell smirked as he stares at the screen of his laptop. He sees that Ricky and Lenalee are at the entrance of the bar.
"That boy has finally arrived. I had thought I might have to waste more time and resources baiting another trap. And he's without a gas mask or anything to protect himself. How brave indeed. Looks like I'll just let the fumes capture him for us." Powell chuckled evilly as he then presses a key on his laptop keyboard.
Back at the entrance of the bar, a few turrets came out from the ceiling and blow out white poisonous chemical gases. Ricky starts to cough frantically while Lenalee quickly grabs Ricky's body before he could fall to the ground.
"Don't worry, Ricky. You can fight these gases." Lenalee said, who doesn't seem to be harmed by the fumes at all.
"How?" Ricky looked up at her.
"There is a Templar technique called Breath control. All you do is close your eyes and take a deep breath. Still your breathing and let the trace amounts of air in your lungs hold you." Lenalee explained as she now closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Ricky did the same.
A few seconds later, Ricky and Lenalee open their eyes and they were soon able to breathe normally through the chemical gases. "Wow, I kinda like this feeling." Ricky said as Lenalee lets go of his body and Ricky steadily stands up.
"This is an old technique. The Templars use this technique to hold their breath for hours, even days." Lenalee said. "Now let's go inside." Lenalee then pierced her ExCalibur sword into the doors and the doors automatically open up.
"Those two seem to be strong. Not even my gases can take them down!" Powell growled as he glares at his laptop screen. "Oh well, guess I'll just order some of my thugs to take them down."
Just then, Cedric came out from an elevator and walks over to Powell. "Powell, I've finished placing Will at the lower levels of the bar."
"Excellent, let's go down there while I'll let my thugs take the Templar down." Powell stands up from his table and he and Cedric heads over to the elevator.
Ricky and Lenalee now cautiously walk into the bar and enter the main room of the bar. Just then, ten thugs stormed into the main room, draw out their rifles and aim at them.
"Okay seriously, is that the best Powell can come up with? Mindless men with rifles?" Ricky said as he draws out his Carsomyr.
"Yeah, come on. Let's take them out." Lenalee said. The battle begins. The thugs fired their rifles but of course, Ricky and lenalee quickly leap out of the way. When Ricky land on the ground, he swings his Carsomyr like a boomerang and took down four thugs.
Three thugs charged at Lenalee but Lenalee quickly jump in the air and kick one of them in the jaw, sending him flying across the room. The second and third thugs tried to knock her down with their rifles but Lenalee quickly turn around and took them down with her sword.
The three remaining thugs tried to fire at Ricky but Ricky uses his thunderbolt technique and electrocutes the three.
The fight was over. Ricky and Lenalee then quickly run over to a door. They walked through the door and entered Powell's private lounge room. Of course, Powell and Cedric are nowhere to be seen. Ricky and Lenalee looked around the room until Lenalee spotted an elevator.
"Powell must have gone down." Lenalee said as she and Ricky walked up to the elevator doors. She then turned to Ricky and said, "Well, I guess you should go after Powell. And sorry but this is as far as I can go. I'll contact Allen and your friends about this. Good luck with Powell."
"Alright. And thanks for your help, Lenalee. You have been very helpful." Ricky smiled. Lenalee nodded and makes her way out of the bar. Ricky turned back to the elevator and pushes the button next to the doors.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the bar, Will woke up on a hard floor. She groans as she rubs her head. She then opens her eyes wide as she looks around. She's now in a huge circle room. At the top of the room was a viewing gallery room where people can watch the room through a huge window. But for what?
She looked on the hard floor she's standing on right on. She gasps in shock. There were corpses on the floor. She realized that she's in an arena room where people usually fight each other to death.
Just then, she noticed a figure entering the gallery room and the figure looked down at her through the window. Will frowns, knowing who the figure is. "Powell?! What are you up to and why did you bring me down here?!"
"Ah, Will. I'm glad you woke up at the nick of time. Now it's time for me to judge those who have crossed me…and a reward for those who served me." Powell said. Will turned to the door when she heard someone entering the room. "Will, I believe that you know this one…as he knows you."
The man entering the room was none other than Cedric, with his swords in each hand.
"Cedric, I've heard tales of how you ripped your targets in half, indulge me." Powell continued as Cedric now gets into a fighting stance. "I've left her armed…so I don't want her to die too quickly."
"Here, Will, we are far from the eyes of other bounty hunters. Now, I can finally have my revenge on you." Cedric smirked evilly at Will.
Will frowns as she draws out her rapiers and said, "That does it Cedric. I will not kill you. But I will if you don't get out of the way."
"Your threats mean nothing to me. You do not have the strength to kill, little girl. There is no one coming to save you. Your Templar friend is now making his way down here but Powell just locked the elevator's access to this floor. So there will be no way that your Templar friend will come all the way here alive. If you want your bounty, then go save him. But first, you must go through me! " Cedric then lunges forward at Will and Will quickly dodges his attack.
"Please Cedric, I do not want to fight you!" Will begged but Cedric ignored her and swings his swords at Will again and she quickly dodges them.
"Why?! Why did you leave?! I raised you! And took care of you! Why do you have to betray me?!" Cerid yelled. Will dodges Cedric every time he swings his swords at her. A while later, Cedric stops swinging them, allowing him and Will to stop and catch their breaths.
"I…left you…because…I hate the way you treated me! I know you raised me and took me in after my mother died but you never once thought how I feel. All our lives, we just go around, hunt bounties and kill them. You even once force me to kill someone in front of you, much to your delight and you always kill your bounties in the end, even if they were weaponless." Will was now overcome with tears and some tears roll down her cheeks. "So that is why I left you. Because I do not wish to see death in front of my eyes anymore. That is why till today, I never kill my bounties. I only hunt, not slaughter, just like the Templar. He too doesn't kill, and that's why I respect him more."
"You're forgetting your place. You are not meant to feel, you are meant to kill. That is all you're good for. You could never go into real life. You are little more than an animal that does as its master commands. You have no voice of your own, only me. Now return to me!" Cedric barked.
However, Will just wipes her tears off and glares at him with a determined look. "No, I'm never gonna return to you. Because I'm not an animal, like you."
With that, Will draws out her rapiers and charged at Cedric. She brought her rapiers down on Cedric, with him blocking and redirecting her blades to the side, throwing her off balance. He swung his swords, which Will just barely blocked. She leapt back, unable to hold up against the strike. Cedric struck again. This time Will was able to block it completely, their blades locked. Then Cedric's swords began pushing Will's rapiers back. She pushed his swords sideways, bringing hers down in an overhead strike. Cedric quickly blocked it, withdrawing it and striking back before she even had time to react. She leapt back, breathing heavily.
This was no good. She could not keep up with Cedric, she was just too weak. No, she can't be. She just can't lose to Cedric. She shakes her head and gets back to her fighting stance.
Cedric now charged at Will, preparing for a sideways strike, but Will swung her rapiers to meet with his swords at the exact moment to both stop him and execute a strike of her own. She cut at his shoulder, with Cedric barely blocking. Will pulled her rapiers back and struck again. Cedric barely could block her blows. Each time she struck, the vibration would go up his arms, making him tire.
Cedric gave a cry of battle and charged at her, his swords pointed straight forward for a stabbing move, but Will used a side swipe to both knock his swords away and give him a nasty cut on his upper arm. Cedric collapsed, clutching his arm.
But he's not gonna give up easily. Cedric grabs one of his swords and steadily stands up from the floor. However, before he could react, Will charged at him and stabs one of her rapiers through his stomach, making Cedric yelp in pain.
"I'm sorry…Cedric." Will whispered sadly. She removes her rapier from Cedric's stomach and blood starts flowing from Cedric's lips. Cedric then fell onto the floor on his knees and coughed some blood out from his mouth, before finally collapsing onto the ground face first.
Will turned around and hung her head sadly. She then looked up and glared at Powell as he clapped his hands mockingly.
"Well, that was really unexpected. It's unfortunate that Cedric lost to a girl like you. But at least now I can have the Templar all for myself. And I won't have to waste my money for Cedric's payment. I have other entertainment for you."
Just then, the room door automatically opens again and this time, Powell's pet houndooms enter the room, growling menacingly.
"Now then, I must make my leave and check on the Templar. I shall leave you here." Powell then leaves the gallery room.
The Houndooms growls and charged at Will. But of course, Will simply draw out her rapiers and easily took down both Houndooms with her swords and both Houndooms fell to the ground. She runs over to the room door and leaves.
"Sorry I can't stay there and help you, Templar. But I can help you unlock the elevator and help you get down here and face Powell." Will said to herself as she runs her way out.
A while later, Ricky arrived at the bottom floor of Powell's underground stronghold under D-Lagoon Bar. He walks out of the elevator doors and of course, the floor was swarming with more of Powell's thugs. Of course, thanks to his templar techniques, Ricky fought through all the thugs and continued walking through the hallways.
He walked through the hallways until he arrived at the door and enters it. He walks down a ramp and enters another door and he now enters the same arena room Will was in before. He sees Powell, standing at the center of the room, acting cool and making a mock smile at him. Ricky, of course, glares at him as he walks up to him.
"Ah, you have finally arrived. But much sooner, yet much later, than I'd hoped." Powell said.
"So you're Porter C. Powell. Want do you want, Powell?" Ricky stops walking when he is now a few feet away from where Powell is standing.
"Actually, I'm asking you if you would like to help me take out Carmine Falcone."
"What? Why would you ask me?"
"Giovanni, the man running the Refugee Sector, managed to send me a message, telling me how you and your friends easily took down my men at the sector and free all our slaves. I was impressed so I decided to ask you if you would like to join me. If you do, we can take out Carmine Falcone and together, we can bring London under the palm of our hands."
"Never. This city should be free of people like you. You guys have mercilessly capture refugees and force them to work with you and you have given the Royal British Army enough trouble. Besides, I work for no one, only my friends."
"How predictable. You're just like that Vandom girl." Powell smiled wickedly as six thugs then entered the room, armed with rifles. "Men, take down the Templar. Guess I'll just take him to Falcone after all."
The thugs then charged at Ricky. Ricky draws out his Carsomyr and gets ready to attack. However, Ricky looks stunned when the thugs just passed him. They didn't attack him at all. Instead, the thugs were charging over to Powell. The thugs now surround Powell and aim their rifles at him. Powell looks shocked at this display.
"What? What are you doing? I said attack him, not me!" Powell said. One of the thugs then handed Powell a comlink and when Powell took the comlink, a holographic image of Falcone appears before him.
"Hi Powell. It's me, your boss." Falcone said icily to him. "And yes, I have heard the rumors of you trying to betray me and take over my power. Of course, I can't allow that. Therefore, you are now an enemy to my mob and your thugs will no longer serve you. And while the Templar remains on London, my eyes shall watch him. Now then men, proceed to killing Powell."
Powell gasps in shock as he drops the comlink onto the ground and the thugs get ready to shoot him down. "No, please! You can't do this to me, Falcone! Just take the Templar, not my life!" He begged.
Ricky looks shocked at this as well. "No! Stop!" But it was too late. The thugs mercilessly shot down Powell and Powell fell to the ground.
The thugs then turned to Ricky and one of them said, "If you do not wish to have the same fate as our former second-in-command, you will come with us to see our boss Falcone."
Meanwhile, Allen, Ben, Wall-E and Saber met up with Lenalee at Canary Wharf pier. Lenalee has admitted to Allen that she, herself, is a Templar and has expressed her regret in not using any of her powers during the resistance.
"I'm really sorry for not being able to help you and your father. I know that you were my friend and I don't wish to hurt you but…" Before Lenalee could continue, Allen grabbed one of Lenalee's hands and gave her a smile.
"Hey, it's okay. I already got over my father's death anyway. And yes, I forgive you." Allen said. Lenalee smiled at him and they both hugged.
"Um…sorry to break the love but, your friend needs help." A voice spoke up, making Allen, Lenalee and Saber turn their heads. The voice came from Will.
"Hey I heard about you. You're Will vandom, right?" Allen said.
Will walked up to the three and said, "Yes, I am Will Vandom. But introductions later, like I said, your friend needs help."
"You mean Ricky?" Saber asked.
"Yes, the Templar. He has been captured by Falcone. We took out Powell but Falcone now has him…so that means no bounty for me."
"There must be a way to reach Falcone." Saber said. "How are we gonna get Ricky back?"
"There is no way to get him back. No one knows how to reach Falcone except Powell, and that guy just died at D-Lagoon Bar. I saw the whole thing through one of the bar's security cameras while I'm helping the Templar get access into the bottom levels of the bar. The only way we could reach Falcone was a Templar, but now that he has captured your friend, he doesn't have anybody else he wants to capture…"
"But I'm a Templar too."
"So what? All he just needs is one. And now that he has one, he doesn't need any more Templars."
"Wait, how does Falcone hides his ship?" Allen asked.
"He's got a cloaking device. Apparently, he's too afraid to show himself in public so he made all his orders and work to his gang from his ship. And to hide his ship, he used a cloaking device over his ship to camouflage it. Not even the radars could detect his ship. Trust me, if anyone knows how to track his ship, he'd have every bounty hunter and criminal on London gunning for it." Will explained.
"There must be a way." Saber said. "I say we hit the skies and start hunting."
"If you're hunting for Falcone's yacht, you would be flying blind. Unless you have one of his ship codes to access one of his mob's freighters."
"Ship codes?" Saber arched an eye brow.
"Yeah. Falcone hides all his secret ship codes in a computer, and then hid that computer in a secret place. He only lets people who work for him and bounty hunters he hired know of that secret location. And fortunately, I'm one of the bounty hunters who know where it is."
"Well, where is it?" Allen asked.
"It's at an old dock house at the Tower Millennium Pier. The only problems are, you have to be a droid to get into the dock house and you have to be a computer expert to access the computers."
Allen and Saber looked at each other for a moment, and then turned their faces to Ben and Wall-E, while smiling wickedly.
"Um, what's with the faces?" Ben asked as he and Wall-E shudder.
Later, at the said dock house at the Tower Millennium Pier, a man named Sam Witwicky was standing at the entrance of the dock house. He is obviously the bodyguard of the dock house.
Tsusaka Hiiragi walked up to the entrance of the dock house with Wall-E and a figure wearing cardboard boxes.
"Hi there, sir. I would like to sell these droids away." Tsusaka said kindly to Sam.
"Sure, no problem. May I know where you have acquired these droids?" Sam asked.
"I found them abandoned at an alley. I feel sorry for them so I decided to sell these droids to this dock house, hoping someone will buy them."
"Very well then. There should be no problems then. Here's 2000 pounds for selling these droids." Sam handed Tsusaka the money.
"Thanks, sir!" Tsusaka smiled brightly. She turned to Wall-E and the figure and said, "Good luck with your mission, guys. And please save the Templar. I still haven't forgotten what he has done for us."
"Wall-E" Wall-E nodded. Tsusaka then ran off while Sam opens the doors of the dock house.
"Okay droids, get inside and report to Auto." Sam said to the droids. Wall-E and the figure then slowly entered the dock house. After Sam closed the doors behind them, the figure removed the cardboard boxes off him, revealing himself to be Ben Tennyson.
"Why do I always have to embarrass myself?" Ben groaned.
"Wall-E" Wall-E said to him.
"Yeah, Wall-E. Sometimes I feel that I could do something big for Ricky and the group. All I ever do is help them do stuff and not get to help them fight the bad guys."
"Me too."
"Oh, you wish you could something big for the group too, huh? Then I guess that makes us even." Ben smiled. He and Wall-E high-fived before walking through the dock house. The dock house was filled with boxes everywhere and of course, there are various droids in various models working in the dock house.
Ben and Wall-E walked to a pair of huge doors. In front of the doors was a steering wheel droid programming a console. The droid has a single, HAL-like eye. His name was Auto.
Auto turned to the two and said, "What is it?'
"Hi, don't mind but we want to enter the back of the dock house." Ben said, as she scratches the back of his head.
"I am sorry. But only authorized droids and personnel are allowed in the back of the dock house. I cannot permit you to enter, due to sensitive cargo."
"But, can I just enter? It's really important."
"No. In fact, I don't have you two on my list. How did you two get in here?"
"Oh um…" Ben tried to think of something to say.
"Sold." Wall-E spoke up.
"Um, yeah. We were sold here." Ben said.
"I see. Well, I have no current use of you. I'll assign you to C-3PO. He needs the help to make up for his inferior programming."
"But…"
"If you do not comply, I would have to ask the guards to discipline you while your droid will be scheduled for a memory wipe and behavioral reprogramming." Auto said sternly. This causes Wall-E to immediately hide behind Ben, not liking what he just heard.
Ben sighed. "Okay fine."
"Good, now report to C-3PO. You two will be assisting him."
Ben and Wall-E then turned around and walked away from Auto while Auto gets back to his work. The two walked over to the other side of the room and walked over a droid with gold plating named C-3PO. "I certainly hope that rude Auto unit didn't send you over here. Those most recent models have no etiquette programming whatsoever." C-3PO said to the two.
"Tell me about it. He sounds like a pain in the-" Before Ben could finish what he has to say, Wall-E screeched. He knows that Ben shouldn't swear, especially for a 10 year old. "What? I was gonna say 'neck'."
"I think he should be replaced or shipped down to maintenance to direct droids there, but I cannot seem to convince my masters of the logic of the request."
"Yeah! He's now telling us to do some dirty work with you."
"That Auto unit absolutely infuriates me! Need help to do my job, do I?"
"Yeah." Wall-E nodded.
"Anyways, can you help us? We are actually here to access to the back of the dock house. But of course, who-know-who is guarding the damn doors." Ben asked.
"I'll be happy to help you two but as long as that Auto unit is perched at the doors, I can't. If he were to be disabled, I can take over his responsibilities because of his absence." C-3PO said. "And yes, I'll be willing to help you access to the next room of the dock house."
"Sweet. Then I guess it's time we have a little talk with Auto." Ben smirked. He and Wall-E make their way back to Auto.
When the two came back to the back of the dock house, Auto turned to them. "What is it?" Auto asked rudely.
"Wall-E!" Wall-E said sternly to Auto.
"You can't be serious! I am not in a need of deactivation! What are you talking abou…" Before Auto could finished what he has to say, Ben already sneak up on him from behind and disabled him thanks to his programming skills.
"What's all the commotion?" C-3PO walked up to the two.
"Threepio, Auto has now been disabled." Ben said to him.
"Oh I see. Well, that shall teach him a lesson! He was an absolute piece of junk anyways. Now then, let me help you gain access to the back of the warehouse." C-3PO walks over to the console. "The doors are locked with a code. But fortunately, all of us droids here at the dock house know what it is." He types in the code and the doors automatically open up.
"Sweet! Thanks Threepio!" Ben and Wall-E immediately rushed into the next room while waving good bye to C-3PO.
"You're welcome!" C-3PO waved back.
Ben and Wall-E looked around the back of the dock house. Of course, the back of the dock house is filled with more boxes, cargo and various stuff. The two searched around several times, but couldn't find anything. Just when Ben was about to give up, Wall-E yelled from the far corner of the room, "Ben!"
"What is it?" Ben asked as he walks over to the droid. Wall-E points at some stacked boxes. There was something behind the boxes. Ben went to inspect it. He shoved the boxes away, revealing a metal door. Ben then walks over to the door and tries to open it, but it didn't budge.
"I can't get this thing…" Ben looked down and saw Wall-E coming over to the door. He ejects his laser pistol from his head and makes a huge hole on the door.
"Ta-dah." Wall-E said, spreading his arms out.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you can do that laser thingie." Ben said. He walks through the hole and enters the room. Inside the room was a huge computer. "Well, this looks like Falcone's secret computer alright." He turns on the computer, hacks into the computer until he was able to retrieve the codes he and his friends needed. He connects his hard disk into the computer's systems and downloads the codes. Once he finished downloading, he disconnects his hard disk from the systems and leaves the room.
"We did it, Wall-E. We got the codes. Now let's get out of here." Ben smiled as he puts his hard disk into his pocket and carries Wall-E up. He walks his way out of the room but when he leaves the room, he and Wall-E gasped. Three men in black robes were standing in front of C-3PO. They were Itachi, Kisame and Deidara.
"Who are you? You guys aren't supposed to-" But before C-3PO could finished, the three men draw out their pistols and shot down the robot. Itachi turned to Ben, who dropped Wall-E onto the ground. Wall-E got up and quickly hides behind some boxes.
"So, you got the codes to one of Falcone's freighters." Itachi sneered.
"Well sorry kid, but if you're gonna go and take out Falcone, we can't let you. After all, we are working for him so anyone who tries to go after him will be shot down." Kisame added.
"You will give us the codes or we will have to take drastic action on you." Deidara growled.
"Wall-E!" Wall-E whispered to Ben from the boxes he's hiding behind. Ben turned to him and saw Wall-E waving at him. He winks one of his eye optics at him. Ben smirked,. He knows the droid got something in his mind. He turns back to the members of Akatsuki.
"Well, are you gonna give us the codes or not?" Itachi barked. Ben then looked at them with fake fear and feigned terror.
"Oh please. Don't hurt me." Ben backs away from the three men, sounding helpless. "Look, tell you what. Just let me go and I'll hand you the codes."
"You're trying to make deals with us?! We don't make deals with our enemies!" Kisame growled.
Ben then smirked wickedly at them when folding his arms. "Oh, that's okay. I'm not good at making them either." Wall-E and two droids named M-O and R2-D2 then pushed down the boxes and Itachi, Kisame and Deidara all gasped when the boxes and cargo fell onto them, causing them to fell onto the ground. The three men tried to get up but more droids in dock house quickly got over to them and stopped them from getting up. Ben and Wall-E then quickly run pass the three men and make their way out of the dock house. "So long!" When he and Ben run their way out, Wall-E waves good bye to R2-D2 and M-O, who both waved at him back.
When the two got out of the dock house, Sam walked over to them. "Hey you. What's going on? What's the commotion about?"
"Oh um, the droids gone haywire!" Ben explained.
"Oh really?" Sam scratches the back of his head. "Well, it's almost the end of their work time anyways. So, thanks for reminding me."
"No problem!" Ben smiled. He and Wall-E then ran off.
Later, Ben and Wall-E both returned to Canary Wharf pier and reunite with Allen, Saber, Will and Lenalee. "So, did you get the code?" Saber asked Ben and Wall-E.
"Yup, we sure did. And promise me you won't ask me to dress up as a cardboard bot again." Ben shudders at the thoughts of him dressing in cardboard boxes.
"Great! Now we can go back to our army headquarters, change the ID signature of one of our freighters and get to Falcone's yacht that way." Allen said, smiling in relief.
"And you guys can count me in." Will spoke up. "I wish to help you guys get your friend back."
"Yeah, right!" Saber said sarcastically as she folded her arms. "You were the one who wanted to sell him to Falcone in the first place!"
"Yes, and I don't like being cheated." Will frowned, now sounding icily. "Trust me, Falcone's yacht will be swarming with heavily armed thugs. You're gonna need all the help you can get."
END OF CHAPTER
Ryo: Looks like Will has joined the party as well. So now our heroes have to head to Falcone's yacht and rescue Ricky. But can they do it? Stay tune for the next chapter which is also the final chapter of the Carmine Falcone/London arc. Read and review!