18. Breaking Out

"Urgh," Alex complained to himself, attempting to reach the handcuff without much success. He cursed- no one was going to yell at him for doing that now. He had managed to get a small amount of zit cream on his fingertips, and he was attempting very unsuccessfully to reach far enough to free himself. Unfortunately, his left hand was better at this than his right, but he didn't have much say in the matter. He'd learned to get the cream on his fingers before he got handcuffed- a lesson hard learned from his first mission.

If his hands had been cuffed in front of him, he could get this done with so much more ease. But his hands were behind him, and he had to feel his way around. He knew that Alex Meyer and Vivie had no way out- once again, it was all up to him. That realization was the only thing that let him have the fuel to keep going.

Finally, Alex managed to rotate his wrist (and almost break it) so that his finger touched the metal. Even though it hurt, he kept rubbing and working it until his right hand was free. After he squeezed out just a little more, he got his left hand free. He took a quick look around the room.

The door- which looked very like a set of bars- couldn't be opened from the inside. Alex paced the cell- he had never encountered anything like this before. That was the annoying part- his hands were free, but he was stuck. For some reason, a random idea hit him- could he climb the door and get out?

Alex grunted, flexed, and lifted himself upward, planting a foot onto a horizontal bar. He was about halfway up, but there weren't any more horizontal bars until he got to the top. There was plenty of room for him to climb over if he could just get over. He latched onto the vertical bar, mustered all his strength, and pushed downward to propel his body upwards. He slid his hands up as he managed to gain distance. The gap began to close, and he wrapped his feet around the bars, shaking his shoes off. Luke wouldn't miss them- Alex had seen his closet- and finding a pair of shoes that actually matched had taken him fifteen minutes. He just hoped that they didn't happen to be a favorite of his- Alex wasn't coming back here if he didn't have to put his feet allowed much better grip than the shoes did.

He held on tightly when he managed to grab hold of the bar, then flipped himself over as he released his grip on his feet. His body clanged against the metal and his hands seared with pain as he slid downwards. He rubbed his hands together, then took a look around the dark area. Where had he come in? Oh- the entrance was all the way on the other side of the room. He wondered what time it was and wondered if Alex Meyer had a watch. It was so strange having someone else to depend on. Alex wasn't sure if he quite liked it- but he didn't exactly dislike it. It was just hard worrying about two other people.

"Meyer? Vivie?" he inquired softly, tiptoeing past the rows of cells. So much for Texans not having basements- as far as he knew. Andrew must have built it himself. Apparently, so had Aaron Yzcheck- maybe the brothers were more alike than Alex knew. He should have asked Vivie and Alex Meyer more questions- but there wasn't much that he could do about it now.

"Rider?" Alex recognized Alex Meyer's voice easily now. "You got out?"

"I never said that it was easy, but yes, I did that. Are you and Vivie together?"

"Together? Rider, I'm not sure that you want to take a look."

"Why not? It can't be that bad… oh…"

"I told you," Alex Meyer reminded him. Alex nodded.

"It's a good thing that she's not chained like that with Luke," Alex remarked, knowing that this could become a very interesting conversation.

"You know about me and Luke?"

"Don't you mean 'Luke and me?'"

Vivie ignored that and glared at him. "Alex Roderick Meyer…"

"Oops."

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"It's okay, Alex said the same thing," Vivie reassured Alex Rider. "I just… he didn't need to know that!"

"Vivie, you tense when you're stuck with Farrior. Rider did notice, so I told him."

"I wasn't mad, Alex." She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Alex Rider. "Zit cream?"

"Yeah…"

"How are you going to get out?"

"I'll make a way… I'm not sure if I can get you guys out, though, I don't have enough left." He checked the tube. "I'm going to make one of those things… do you have more paper clips, Meyer?"

"In my pockets… why?"

"If you guys have gum, it can take the place of rope and combine the metal…"

"A grappling hook?" Vivie helpfully suggested.

"That's it! I'll have to play around with this… I remember this one lady from my second mission that would come in really handy here…" Alex Rider checked the zit cream tube again. "You know what? I'm getting you two out." He began working on the door.

"Vivie, what are you doing?"

"I'm feeling a connection…"

"A connection? Like the one that you used to have with Aaron?"

"I don't know… it's more like I pressed this one on him than the other way around," she remarked.

"Interesting… try to figure out what he's thinking. I'll help Rider."

"What's the 'connection?'" Alex Rider inquired as he unlocked Vivie's handcuffs, which were closer to the door.

"Oh- it's like she can see into his mind, but he can also see into hers. They can speak to each other through their thoughts, and they can eavesdrop on each other unnoticed if they don't think while they're doing it. I think she's trying to get into it now- leave her alone."

"Sure." Alex Rider unlocked Alex, and he emptied out all his paper clips onto the ground and started connecting them together. Alex Rider, on the other hand, was applying zit cream to the metal bars.

"Do you really think that's going to work?" Alex asked uneasily.

"Come on, Meyer, don't you trust me?"

"Very funny, Rider. How are you going to bend the metal?"

"I guess that Vivie's going to help me…"

"Who said that I can't help you?" Alex indignantly asked.

"Are you a black belt too?"

"No, but Vivie's taught me some of the moves…"

"Well, you're better than nothing. Just make that chain first… oh yeah, could you get some gum?"

"Right. I've got some, don't worry." Alex grabbed the entire gum supply, glad that he had often jacked gum from people throughout middle and high school. "Ready to play tug of war?" Alex Rider had cut up three pieces of metal, and now he handed one over. By working together, the two guys managed to make crudely shaped "teeth." Alex Rider did more of the work, of course- Alex wasn't used to this kind of thing.

"Impressive, Meyer, I didn't expect you to do that."

"Hey, I'm not that weak!"

"You're not that strong either."

"Whatever… hey, Vivie, are you home?"

"Yeah- he's about to start the broadcast. Come on!"

Alex Rider and Alex worked together to get the make-shift grappling hook to catch on the tiles, and Vivie went up first (as agreed on by all three of them) so that they could, for lack of a better, less-cliché expression, save the world.