19. The Plug
"What are we going to do?" Vivie inquired when they were all free. She jammed Tree Frog Bottles into her pockets, and the others followed suit.
"Let's pull the plug."
"Oh, I'd love to, but which plug?" Alex Meyer demanded.
Alex Meyer certainly had a point- the room was a complicated mess of wires and none of them were exactly experts at this kind of thing. Suddenly, Alex realized something.
"Guys, do you have any idea where all the sunglasses are"
"I'll go look," Alex Meyer volunteered.
"Alex R, do you need me?"
"You can go with Meyer if you want to. Just try to make it fast."
"Thanks." Vivie shot Alex a thankful smile. They were all hidden behind a door. Now, Alex would have to venture in alone- and attempt to stop this.
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Alex and Vivie checked the rooms on the left separately. Of course, they didn't turn any lights on, so Vivie was poking around in the room furthest away while Alex utilized his cell phone. The rooms were so messy that it was difficult for him to not be reminded of Aaron's house- and the brief time in which he had been held prisoner because Jane had set him up.
"Alex? I found two pairs."
"They're not all in one spot?"
"Well, I can't move this stupid thing."
Alex hurried over to her room and saw what she meant- a huge TV was on top of the box. Vivie had evidently found those two pairs on the ground. "Wow… here, let me help." Together, Alex and Vivie lifted the TV and put it on the floor. Sure enough, the entire box was filled with sunglasses. Vivie discarded the girly pink ones like they had burned her, and Alex chuckled to himself quietly- he knew that Vivie detested the color pink, despite claiming that it was the color that she looked best in. of course, he knew that her favorite color was purple. For right now, however, they'd be better off sticking with all black.
"Come on, Viv, let's go!"
"I hear ya."
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No matter what plug Alex pulled, the broadcast kept going. How many backup systems could a guy make? Alex guessed that Andrew certainly wasn't willing to take any chances. He yanked out yet another plug and refrained from letting out a sigh of frustration. Even though he didn't need to be, Andrew was in the room. But this really was starting to get annoying. Alex would have cursed again, but Alex Meyer and Vivie had arrived, and he didn't want to risk making Vivie blow up again. After all, he wasn't stupid- and certainly not that stupid.
"Happy birthday, Rider."
"It's not my birthday!" Alex playfully snapped in a whisper. "Dang, why aren't any of these stupid plugs working? At this rate, I'm going to get myself electrocuted!"
"Trust me, Rider, it's not fun. I speak from personal experience." Alex Meyer made a face and flicked the hair out of his eyes. "Can a guy really have any more plugs?"
"You're telling me- I'm the one that's unplugging all of them. Help me, would you?"
"Right, sorry." Vivie had already gone to work, but she wasn't having much success either. There had to be at least twenty plugs.
"Crap," she muttered. "I think that I just gave us away."
"What makes you say that?"
"I just unplugged the coffee machine."
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The broadcast continued, but Andrew was making his way over to the area. Alex Rider swore, then apologized and swallowed heavily. "I see the main plug."
"Where?" Alex asked.
"On the other side of the room."
"Okay, Vivie, do you want to help Rider?"
"Alex…"
"Yes or no?"
"Sure…"
"Rider, I'll take care of the plug. You and Vivie need to distract him, okay?"
They both nodded, and Alex scampered off, wires slapping his back as he crawled in the direction of the plug. He yanked things out, sparks flying as he went faster and faster. Vivie was re-plugging things behind him- a wall to block him from Andrew's view. He had to admire the genius of his new friends.
Alex could hear voices- no fighting yet- and tried to work faster. But there was only so much that one person could do. There were so many plugs a guy could unplug in a minute. How urgent was this? How long did he have?
The clock in the lower right hand corner told him that there were fifteen minutes. A "K" flashed on the screen. What word was Andrew spelling? Suddenly, it hit Alex- and told him what Andrew was going to do-
KILL.
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"So you managed to get out," Andrew softly stated, his dark brown eyes steely as he studied Alex. Vivie had hidden- Alex could only guess why or where she was.
"Well, I am in here. I can't be in two places at once."
"Can anyone?"
"Not the last time I checked."
"I do not care about the details. I want you to tell me where the other two are!"
"What other two? I see two other jerks…"
"Where?"
"Right here." This time, Alex started the fight and nailed him in the place where no guy wants to be nailed. Although Alex hit the mark, Andrew grabbed one of his wrists with a smirk and yanked. Alex instinctively kicked and hit him in the chest. He knew that he had gone too far when Andrew drew a gun from his pocket and attempted to steady it at Alex.
Alex tackled him to the ground in the middle of the room, where there was more space. But he was at the disadvantage here. Andrew could pull the trigger at any moment, but he wasn't stupid enough to randomly open fire. He could hit something of importance.
What was Alex Meyer doing? This whole distraction deal was not working- Alex didn't need to get killed. He wrestled the gun away from Andrew, which extreme difficulty. He got to his feet and pointed it at Aaron, who chuckled that agitating, malicious laugh.
"You can't do it, can you, Alex?"
Alex's eyes subconsciously widened.
"You cannot kill me."
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Alex heard the fight that was beginning to brew and worked faster. He heard the clatter of a gun and felt his heart's pace quicken. The extra adrenaline that flooded him lent him strength as he saw the letter "I" flash out of the corner of his eye. He worked faster. Suddenly, he broke free, and he crawled quickly through the dim room. He didn't notice the main plug until he ran right into it.
The plug was thin, but when he tugged on it, he couldn't make it work. The letter "L" flashed on the screen. He didn't have time. The second L would set everyone off. In panic, he pulled harder.
"Alex?"
"Vivie! Help me!" He hadn't noticed that she had followed him, was okay. He hadn't noticed that she had followed him, but that was okay. He needed her assistance.
"Is that it?"
"Yes! Hurry!"
Vivie and Alex quietly to three, and just as the screen turned black to flash the second "L," they pulled the plug.
(A/N: Heh, these characters are great... anyway, hope that it's enjoyable so far...)
