Hey everyone!I deserve everything you are mentally throwing at me right now. I've been really busy and thanks to a recent reviewer, just recently realized I haven't updated.
Natalie froze, hidden by a chair as the man snored again. Though she was originally cautious about entering the room unarmed, she was disgusted to find the sole guard asleep on the job. She crept around the room and moved to silently open a cabinet, and was thrilled to find weapons and other gadgets stacked on the shelves. She made sure to leave the cabinet opened a crack before continuing her examination of the room.
As she neared the security screens, she realized why the alarm didn't sound at their escape. The alarm was manual, and the guard would have to be awake in order to press the button. She glanced at the screens and saw that the other group and Ian were all gathered by the room, talking. She decided it was probably time to join them, as there was nothing left to search.
She did glance around one more time before returning to the cabinet and opening it. She carefully grabbed five of the tazers and three tranquilizer guns. She grinned, relaxing now that she was armed.
She quickly retreated into the hall, and pushed the weapons into Hamilton's arms, ignoring their curious looks. She took a tranquilizer gun from the stack and returned to the room. She reopened the cabinet and grabbed some headsets before reaching for the bulky black backpacks that lined the bottom shelf. She knelt in order to start unzipping the backpacks, but as the zipper moved, the guard stirred. She froze, her hand hovering over the bag, and waited until his snoring resumed. She grabbed four of the backpacks and lugged them out of the room. She would have to open them later.
Amy waited until Reagan was out of sight before she started to rise. However, she quickly dropped again as she heard a voice.
"Still here, huh?" She tensed, ready to strike as the figure came closer. As he stepped into the light, Amy realized it was another guard and relaxed as she realized he wasn't talking to her. She listened closely as he continued. "That stinks. Guard duty is terrible. After all, it's not like those Cahill brats are getting out. Hopefully, the new V1 will be more successful in getting the clues from the kids than the last one. I'm glad that I'm not in those kids' shoes." The guards laughed at this, and the new guard started to leave.
"Oh, I forget to tell you. Your replacement will be here in an hour, and once you're ready, V2 wants us to take one of the vans to the Californian headquarters." Amy's eyes widened at this. How far away had they come from Massachusetts? As she was thinking, the man left, leaving the door guard resigned to boredom. She took one last look around before getting up and stealing away.
"Shoot!" Hamilton growled, rubbing his head. He turned to see his team snickering as he strengthened up. "Do you guys want to try?" he snapped. Sinead composed herself and looked at him with a completely straight face.
"I don't think rest of us are tall enough to hit our head on a door frame," she replied innocently. He saw Dan and Natalie trying to hide their grins. He rolled his eyes before beckoning to them.
"Let's go find Amy and Ian. We can show them the stuff we've found," he suggested, lowering his voice. Everyone nodded, and they carefully began making their way back to the cell. Luckily, the building was reasonably small, so the trip was short. However, halfway there, they encountered an obstacle.
"Going somewhere?" They all spun around as they heard a voice behind them. They turned to find a group of guards appear from the doors behind them with guns already out.
"That's weird," Natalie murmured under her breath. "Those are tranquilizer guns, not real guns. Why don't they have decent weapons?" The head guard interrupted.
"Speak up kid. We all want to hear your last words," the man said mockingly. As the men behind him snickered, Hamilton felt Natalie draw nearer to him. She reached into his coat pocket, took something out and pressed it into his hand. As she pulled away, he realized she had given him his tazer. He smiled at her.
"What are you smiling at boy? You won't be smiling when I'm done with you," the man snarled. Hamilton tensed slightly as the man came at him with his fist raised, and at the last second, thrust the tazer under the man's arm, making contact with his chest. The man froze before crumpling to the ground. Hamilton leaned over his unconscious body.
"I'm still smiling," he said before stepping over the body to help his team. He quickly realized he wasn't needed however, as Natalie had pulled out her tranquilizer gun and dropped the four remaining men.
"Let's go," Sinead said, her voice shaking slightly. The others followed and they ran towards the cell, leaving the men unconscious behind them.
"Where is she?" Reagan asked, pacing back and forth. "She said she was right behind me!"
Madison sighed from her vantage point leaning on the wall. Amy had not returned, and no one dared to look for her, in case she was undiscovered and they blew her cover. Reagan was upset because she left Amy alone, and Ian was getting paler by the minute.
She straightened and started across the room. As she reached Reagan however, Hamilton burst around the corner with Natalie, Sinead and Dan close behind.
"We got some supplies," Hamilton started while the others attempted to catch their breath behind him. "We should get out soon though. We were just attacked. They are unconscious, but once they wake up, we're busted." As he was talking, a figure slipped behind the group and slumped against the wall.
"That was close," the figure said. The group spun around.
"Amy!" Reagan cried. Ian crossed the room and pulled her up into his arms. He held her as she relaxed. That is, until Sinead yanked Ian away.
"Wha-" he choked as Sinead grabbed his shirt collar and twisted it.
"How dare you hurt my best friend, and then pretend nothing's wrong? If you ever touch her again, I will rip you into a thousand pieces, throw the pieces into oil, and light it on fire. I'll..."
"Sinead," Amy interrupted. "It's ok. I talked to him." Sinead dropped Ian to the floor as she groaned.
"You forgave him? Seriously? Why do you deny me my fun?"
"I'm sorry. Maybe another time. Anyway, what have we found out?" Amy asked, changing the subject.
"We have weapons and headsets now," Sinead offered, focusing once more. "We also have backpacks, but we haven't looked in them yet."
"We can look later," Amy replied, waving it away. "How many headsets do we have?"
"Six."
"Perfect. I was listening to the two guards' conversation. They don't know we're gone yet, so we have surprise on our side. I so found out that they have vans out in the parking lot. A new guard is coming in an hour, so we should move before then. Remember, they are Vespers. Their goal is to get us to give them the clues, and they will go any lengths to do so. That means no one is left behind. Got it?" Everyone nodded, and they started to plan their escape.
"Here's the plan," Amy started. While she talked, Ian felt himself relaxing slightly. Though he knew she was capable, the thought of losing her for good was hard to bear. He gently touched the back of her hand, and she turned to smile at him briefly.
"Basically the plan simplifies into hit and run. Once we push through the guards, the Starlings are in charge of getting us a car, and Dan is flattening the wheels on the other cars. Sound good?"
"Who's driving?" Dan asked. "Cause I'm totally willing to volunteer."
"Sinead is driving. I'm not letting you get behind the wheel of a car after the incident with the stunt driver. You have no idea the damage that caused."
"That wasn't my fault," Dan replied, sulking once more. Ian grinned. He seemed to be doing that a lot.
"What happens if someone is hit?" Ned asked nervously.
"Hamilton and I can take care of that," Ian responded easily. "Hamilton can carry him, and I'll cover them."
"Sounds good," Hamilton said, agreeing.
"Everyone ready?" Amy asked after a moment of silence. "Let's go." They crept silently until they were all in their positions along the wall, hidden from sight. Ian slightly shifted so he was able watch as the guard shifted once more, obviously bored. He slowly released the tension from his body as he prepared for the signal. After all, they are just going against one person.
He watched as Sinead stole forward, hiding behind the boxes. She put up three fingers, and slowly lowered them until one was left. Everyone leaned forward unconsciously as she paused before lowering her last finger.
Then chaos broke loose.
They all ran forward, expecting no resistance from the lone guard. They were shocked as a small group of about four converged from either side of the attackers, pressing in. Hamilton recovered quickly, and started to fight back. He turned and started wedging his way through the enemy. As he tuned out everything but his immediate enemies, he realized the fight was unfair. Their enemies were hopelessly outmatched.
He had just tazed a Vesper when he felt his hair stand up on his neck. He leaned forward and felt a savage wind just pass him. He turned around to find an opponent also armed with a tazer. Hamilton straightened warily, watching his opponent. Then he struck suddenly, and his opponent crumpled to the ground, leaving an open path to the door.
"Let's go! We can get out this way!" He turned to run out, when a girl let out a scream. His blood ran cold as he realized who it was. He started fighting his way to her.
"Sinead!"
Dan turned as Hamilton pushed his way to Sinead. He watched in stunned belief as Hamilton grabbed the guy that was reaching for Sinead's unconscious body and threw him until he made contact with the wall. He gently picked up his girlfriend, and holding her close, ran outside once more. This time, everyone followed him.
Dan darted quickly along the line of vehicles, watching around him as he used a spare knife one of the Vespers had dropped to let the air out of the wheels. He was just completing the last car as the first Vespers burst out of the building.
"Dan!" Amy called. He turned as Hamilton drove the van towards him. He slowed down but didn't come to a complete stop, leaving Dan no choice but to grab Amy's hand so she could yank him in. Once Hamilton saw he was safely in, he gunned the engine and took off.
"Ow," Dan muttered, rubbing his shoulder. "You'd think a guy's sister would try to refrain from breaking his shoulder." Amy didn't respond, as she was already leaning over Sinead.
As Dan looked around, he realized they were sitting in a rather unconventional van. The front of the vehicle was identical to normal cars, although it was slightly more high tech. However, there were no seats in the back, just random boxes lying around, along with pillows. They probably were for long trips, Dan decided.
Ian was helping Hamilton navigate up front, in the only extra seat. The Holt girls were lying down with their heads against the wall, seemingly oblivious to the cars bouncing. In the corner across from them however, Ned was having the opposite reaction to the bumpy ride, looking slightly green and mumbling to his brother, who was attempting to comfort him. Dan was still by the door watching as Amy tended to Sinead on the floor, with Natalie nearby and unfortunately, Natalie had overheard his previous comment. He winced as she clapped her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure you'll be just fine," she remarked, grinning at his discomfort. Her grinned faded as she turned back to Sinead. "Amy, is she going to be ok?" Amy turned, rubbing her eyes and sighing.
"She should be, yes. As far as I can tell, it was just a tranquilizer dart. Her pulse is regular and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. It's likely she is just unconscious," she said. She paused for a moment as Hamilton ran over yet another bump, sending them all tumbling. She continued as they settled down a bit. "However, the dart will need to come out soon, and I can't do it here without risking hurting her." She quieted, looking at Sinead. Dan knew she was upset, and started to go comfort her. Before he made it there, Hamilton swerved, throwing him against Reagan.
"Hamilton, you did pass the extreme driving class right?" Ned called, looking nauseous. Hamilton paused a moment before answering.
"Almost."
"Oh, that's reassuring," Ian muttered, turning the map in his hands. "Why are you driving again?" Hamilton glared at him.
"Maybe because our driver and my girlfriend is unconscious." Ian shrugged.
"Next time, I'll drive," he said obstinately. Hamilton opened his mouth to reply to this obvious slight to his driving, before Amy interrupted him, much to Dan's disappointment. Arguments always made car rides more interesting.
"Hamilton, at the next exit, we need to get to town. We can get a map from a gas station and find out where we are," she said, carefully standing and walking towards the front.
"On it," Hamilton replied cheerfully as he sped up, sending them all bouncing once more.
Ted winced as Ned shoved him aside in an attempt to get out of the car. After another excruciating half hour Hamilton finally found a small town with a gas station. While Dan was getting food (which seemed like a bad idea, as Dan's idea of a good meal was a candy bar) and Amy getting a map, everyone was taking a moment to get out of the van, excluding Hamilton, who insisted sitting by Sinead. As Ted emerged from the van, he saw they were in a very small town, surrounded by grassy hills and a very blue sky. Basically, it was one of those clichéd country sides, where everything seemed perfect. Unless of course your sister was unconscious in a van. That kind of ruined it.
It took about a half hour to purchase enough food for seven kids and three Holts and get everyone resituated in the van. Everyone had slowly migrated inside the small store and the cashier's face paled as Madison and Reagan fought over a bag of chips and Dan began chasing Natalie around the store. That is until Natalie pulled out her tranquilizer gun, and Amy started to yell at them. Ted pitied the poor woman, having to deal with a hyper Dan and an irate Amy. Finally, Ian had calmed Amy down and started directing everyone back towards the van until everyone was in their original spots, though Ted had to spend awhile convincing Ned to get back on what he called "that horrid death trap."
Amy was now in the front with Ian, poring over the map that Amy had grabbed from the brochure rack. Amy was obviously tense, but she smiled at Ian as he took her hand and lightly kissed it. Strangely enough, Ted didn't mind seeing them together, unlike Dan. He respected Amy and was nervous seeing her with a guy who caused so trouble during the hunt, but he saw Ian change through the year, and decided to not question Amy's decisions.
Ian folded up the map and they stood and made their back, sitting next to Hamilton and Sinead, who still hadn't stirred. Dan spoke after a brief silence.
"So what's the plan?" He asked expectantly. Everyone watch them as Amy took a breath.
"We found a public park where we can hide out and treat Sinead. After that, we will take turning driving back to Massachusetts."
"Back to Massachusetts?" Madison asked, her voice edged with disbelief. "Where are we now?" Amy sighed.
"Montana."
The silence stretched for a moment.
"Excuse me?" Ted asked. "Did you say Montana? How is that possible?"
"Apparently, they decided that Montana was secluded enough to have a Vesper stronghold. It's definitely going to be hard to get back, but we'll figure out what to do when we stop at the park. Hopefully Sinead will wake up soon. She'll know what to do." Ian squeezed her hand as she leaned against him.
"You'll figure out something love," he said quietly. "Don't worry." She gave him a halfhearted smile before focusing back on the group.
"Anyone need anything else before we leave?"
"I do! I need a solid gold mansion, ten billion dollars, a genius computer to do my homework..." Dan exclaimed, rambling on until Natalie interrupted him.
"Daniel, just because you can say something stupid doesn't mean you have to," she said dryly, breaking the tension in the room. Everyone laughed as Amy and Ian made their way to the front and started up the van.
How was it? I hope you enjoyed it. Any CC would be amazing, and compliments are always nice to receive. Sorry for any spelling errors, as I wanted to get this posted. Please PM or review, it really means a lot! Ta-ta for now! -kahillkid5