Chapter 5
Being knocked out cold is never fun and neither is waking up afterwards.
"Hey guys, Jessie's awake and she seems okay." Max said, standing nearby.
"Awake, yes. Okay? Not so much. Why do I keep getting knocked out?" I asked with a groan, struggling to sit up on whatever I was lying on. Looking around the room I noticed Kat was standing not too far away and she walked over.
"You might want to think about not trying to take on the Elementor on your own." Kat said and I nodded.
"Or maybe just start wearing a helmet from now on." Max commented with a laugh. I frowned at that as a sharp pain in my head and back flared up.
"Hilarious. So what have I missed since I've been lying here?" I asked and that's when I noticed that Kat and Max were avoiding looking me in the eyes. "Umm is something wrong?" When they both didn't answer, I started to get worried so I climbed down.
"Okay. I want to know what you're keeping from me and I want to know now." I said, my voice getting louder.
"The Elementor has him." Steel told me and my eyes went wide in shock. Stunned I watched on in silence as Forge walked into the room.
"Any sign of him?" Kat asked him and when he shook his head, I sighed.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked Forge and he shrugged. Frustrated I felt like punching the walls. "Man I feel so helpless! It's my entire fault."
"How is it your fault exactly? Did you set the Elementor on him?" Forge asked me and I shook my head, looking down at the floor. "Then why are beating yourself up?"
"Because he's in trouble and I want to do something other than stand here twiddling my thumbs." I replied and he nodded. It was at point that Jefferson ran into the room holding something in his hand.
"Hey is that..." I started to say before Steel cut me off.
"Yes and with it we might be able to track Berto." He answered and I smiled.
"Awesome! But wait, how will it help?' I asked him.
"Since Berto's armband and tablet are linked, we might be able to hack into his tablet. Then we should be able to track his location." He explained as Jefferson placed the tablet on the table in front of him. As I watched he used one of his arms to type on the tablet. Pretty soon the tablet lit up and Steel moved it over to the computer. Moments later a screen popped up on the computer and I took a step back as an unfamiliar face showed up onscreen.
"Miles Dredd." I heard Forge say behind me.
"Well hello Forge. How have you been?" Miles asked and I realized he could see and hear us.
"Can the pleasantries, Dredd. What do you want?" Forge answered and Miles laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh; truth be told it freaked me out.
When he stopped laughing, Miles looked straight at Forge. "Always straight to the point. As you already know I have one of your employees with me. To get him back I want you to bring me Max Steel." He said and Forge frowned at him.
"You dice, Dredd. Max isn't going anywhere. We don't negotiate with terrorists." Forge answered and I stepped forward.
"I'll go instead." I told them and Forge turned to look at me.
"No, it's too dangerous. The answer is no." He said but I moved over to the computer screen.
"I offer to go in place of Max." I said to Miles before anyone could stop me.
"Why would I want you? You're not from N-Tek so you're of no use to me." Miles replied. I shook my head and said the only thing I could think of.
"I know the secret identity of Max Steel." Everyone just stared at me in amazement. Miles scratched his chin, thinking then looked at me.
"Is this true?" He asked me and I nodded. After a moment he nodded at me. "Agreed. I will hand over my hostage in exchange for…" I gave him my name.
"Jessie. Then you will tell me the identity of Max Steel. I will send the coordinates as soon as I sign off. Meet me there in two hours. Come alone." Miles said and disappeared off screen. Seconds later a map appeared along with what I guessed were latitude and longitude. The instant Miles was gone Forge glared at me.
"Are you out of your mind? It's called a secret identity for a reason!" He yelled at me. Instead of backing down, I stepped forward and got in his face.
"Excuse me but I'm not giving away Max's identity. I just said that so he'd let me take Berto's place. I did have a plan after all." I told him and Forge raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"What are you talking about? What plan?" He asked.
"To rescue Berto. Duh." I replied and told everyone present my plan. When I was done even Steel was impressed.
"It's a pretty good plan. I just hope we can pull it off." He said and I sighed.
"Me too. For Berto's sake.