CHAPTER 2
In Archer's office, Max turned his head to the right and grimaced at Specchi.
"You know Spech. I can HEAR you growling at me from Wisconsin!"
"Soon all you hearing iz my masheen gun blasting you ento oblio!" Specchi growled jabbing the muzzle of his Beretta M12 at Max before looking over at Kerstin. "How much longer?! I want to be the wan to uccidere dis stupido cane!"
"Vhen S-S-Nineteen SAYS Specchi. Until zen vee VAIT." Kerstin's warning tone backed the big KAOS agent down to continue growling through his mask, black eyes glittering madly behind the sealed glass eye pieces at Max.
"Ja." Hayler shrugged as he leaned his weight on one boot between Kerstin and Archer while cradling his MP 40 the crook of his arms. "Vhy zer bad mood? Veren't you an Alpini? I vould tink being een zhis mountain air vould make you slightly LESS murderous."
"I fight an KILL in mountains not mean I LIKE mountains!" Specchi declared tossing his cowl cloaked head forward at Hayler. "Alzough—" He looked up at the ceiling contemplating. "—I must admit, fighting an killing ANY-where ees pretty divertimento!"
"Zhere's no rush." Hayler suggested.
"You should listen to your former ally." Max nodded
Specchi growled again levelling his Beretta M12 at Max and 99 and jabbed a gloved thumb at his own chest as he declared. "I ALWAYS rushing! That how I FIRST man to break Soviet lines at Nikolayevka!"
"Please! Let me check on the Chief." 99 implored at Kerstin. "That looks like a VERY bad wound on his temple. You can't ransom him if he's dead!"
"Don't vorry yourself." Kerstin's full lips smiled without pity, reflecting the light with their moisture. "Even eef he dies, vee vill get zer money first.—" with that she turned to Hayler, jabbing her Hi-Power in 99's direction. "—Und Hayler you dummkopf!—" Hayler jerked back sideways shrinking from her and nudging an unmoving Archer who simply kept his service pistol pointed at the CONTROL agents. "—you bumped eento und looked STRAIGHT at her, und you thot she vas ME?!"
Hayler immediately cocked his cowl shrouded head and began stammering.
"Uh…uh…uh...eh…sh…sh…sh…she vas vearing zer HAZMAT suit you see vhich ees very…eeeeh…bulky…und makes it very hard to…to…to—" Hayler's blue eyes rolled up at the ceiling behind the circular glass pieces of his gas mask as he extended his gloved hands before him with the palms facing back towards his own chest. "—to gauge…eh…SIZE!"
99's blue eyes flashed against the greenish light in the office, her cheeks burning while her jaw dropped in a gasp of embarrassment at Hayler's highly visual and—with a small degree of envy, she had to admit— accurate description, based on her own observation of how well Kerstin's chest filled the bulky flight duty uniform.
"You NITVIT!" Kerstin hissed again at Hayler.
"Don't be mad at him. He's right." Max grimaced as he jerked a thumb sideways at ear level, towards 99. "Most of the time I'm thinking she's a skinny man with nice skin in a dress and wig."
99 gaped in horror at him, her snowy skin turning even redder.
"Max!"
Max scowled through the corner of his mouth with gritted teeth as he leaned his head towards 99.
"Ninety-NINE! If you don't MIND—I rather they not be MAD when they're EXECUTING me!"
"Zhere see?! I'm right!" Hayler exclaimed to Kerstin while he extended a hand towards Max before he turned to 99 and waved at her. "Es tut mir Leid! No offence! You are most beautiful!"
99 let out a slow breath, trying to get the blood flow to stop overloading her face and managed an acknowledging nod at the KAOS agent along with a weak smile.
"I'm talking about her EYES!" Kerstin yelled jabbing her HI-Power's muzzle in 99's direction again making the latter jerk back with alarm. "They're BLUE! Mine are GREEN! Vhich you vould know eef you looked anyvhere but DOWN vhen you're facing a voman!"
Hayler's deep blue eyes popped behind his GP-5's circular glass eye pieces as he lifted his shoulders and held his hands, palms out and fingers pointing down, before him in dismay.
"I vas a Fallschirmjäger! I spend my time parachuting to zer ground! DOWN ees vhere I LOOK! Veazer eet ees a field, road, vater or…" Hayler paused to swivel his eyes down at the impressive curves of Kerstin's chest for a second before continuing. "…MOUNTAINS below—ees not my fault!"
"Schnell! Zhat's enough! Park zer vest of zer forklifts out of zer vay!" SS-19 shouted where she stood about 20 feet behind the two W900's semis.
The gull-wing sides of Ireson and Leoni's red W900's fully loaded trailer were already closed, the rear doors locked and the motorized ramp being raised into place over them.
As SS-19 spoke, a forklift driven by Meisinger was loading a pallet of canisters into the matt-gray W900's trailer completing the second last row. As he reversed his forklift, sliding out the forks, another forklift with Barton at the wheel cruised into the space between the two trailers on the opposite side of Meisinger with another pallet to begin forming the last row. Three other loaded forklifts waited nearby with Lorenc, Marold and Rilski at the wheel. The rest of the forklift drivers along with Meisinger were driving their forklifts away but instead of parking them down the tunnel, they simply drove past the two W900s and just parked them sideways haphazardly in the 100 feet or so of space between the last revetments and the front bumper of the W900 tractor units, some right next to the revetments and a few in front of the passageway or space in between the 2 sets of revetments.
"Move zer Lund Rovers eento position for departure now!" SS-19 called.
Immediately, Drapikowski, Quittner and two other men who had parked their forklifts ran towards the parking lots to the right of the hangar doors at the north wall. SS-19 watched as Barton, Lorenc, Marold and Rilski worked on loading the last row of pallets into Mikhail and Yuri's box trailer. As the Land Rovers' engines started up, SS-19 raised her walkie-talkie.
"Wilde Jagd Leader to Jäger Scout Vun, komm herein."
Inside Archer's office, Kerstin lifted her walkie-talkie and mashed the PTT.
"Jäger Scout Vun to Wilde Jagd Leader send over."
"Jäger Scout Vun vee are near completion. Execute zer prisoners, fast und clean. Zhen bring zer Chief down to zer hangar."
The order caused Kerstin's succulent lips to twist into a delighted moist smirk and Specchi's growl increased in volume and excitement now, his gas mask powerless to muffle it any further. 99's heart pounded in her breast as she reached out and Max's big hang and fingers interlaced with her slender gloved one's.
"Jawohl." Was Kerstin's curt reply before she lowered the walkie-talkie and lifted up her Hi-Power, her eyes glittering like emerald circles as she turned her head slightly to the left to order. "Süßigkeiten Bär, move zer Chief up here behind us. We don't vant owver fortuituous bonus struck by any stray bullets."
Archer nodded and walked off towards his desk where the Chief remained sitting on the floor in the roiling green mist, slumped back against the large furniture.
"It's no problem." Max said as he felt 99's gloved hand tightening on his and her warmth somehow permeating through her black kidskin glove into his bare hand which for some reason at the moment, he wished would never cease. "If you're short on strays you can have my share."
"Your vitless humour vill accompany you to your grave Mister Shmart." Was Kerstin's cold reply as she extended her hand arm, aiming the Hi-Power at 99 who took a breath and closed her eyes.
Specchi's vicious chortle escaped his mask as he raised his Beretta M12 aiming the short barrel at Max's ribs from the side. Cartagi moved away from 99's left side out of the line of fire to stand on Kerstin's right, keeping his F1 submachine gun levelled at the CONTROL agents.
"Einen moment!" Hayler called up raising a gloved finger.
"Vhat!" Kerstin scowled whipping her head towards him while keeping her HI-Power aimed at 99.
"Oh! Just a favour please!" Hayler waved at Max and 99 who opened her eyes at this strange turn. "Vould you mind not telling anyvun bout me getting stuck een zer tree on Crete?—" As Max, 99, Kerstin and the rest of the KAOS agents, turned and frowned at Hayler either openly or behind gas masks, he continued. "—Just zhat eef eet gets around, I'll never be able to attend anazer Fallschirmjäger veterans' association meeting again vithout being known as Stecken-Oben-Ein-Baumjunge."
"We'll try da keep it to ourselves while we're busy being dead and all." Max grimaced nodding.
"Ich danke dir sehr!" Hayler declared with a gloved thumbs up. "I vish all CONTROL agents vere as reasonable as…"
"OH-SHUT-UP Hayler!" Kerstin yelled causing Hayler to cringe from her again.
Kerstin's emerald glare whipped back to them as Archer reached his desk and the Chief.
"Wait! Don't we get a last request?!" Max asked raising a finger and 99 nodded in agreement.
"Ja." Kerstin's full lips twisted with cold malice as she moved her aim from 99 to Max and back as she declared. "You can choose who gets shot first."
"How bout' him?" Max proposed jerking a thumb at ear level towards Specchi eliciting another animalistic growl from the big KAOS agent.
Kerstin's thumb locked back her Browning Hi-Power's hammer fully while Cartagi and Specchi yanked back and released the bolts of their sub-machine guns to ensure the weapons chambered a round.
"Since zhey veen so nice as to keep my secret, ees eet okay eef I didn't shoot zhem?" Hayler leaning forward to address Kerstin while pointing with a gloved finger at the soon to be dead CONTROL agents.
"VHAT-EVER!" Kerstin growled watching as Archer crouched down on the sleeping Chief's right and reached into a lower pocket of his service jacket to get the handcuff keys. "Süßigkeiten Bär! Hurry up!"
Hayler nodded happily, his blue eyes wide behind the round glass eye pieces of his GP-5 as he gave a gloved "A-OK" sign to Max and 99 who both sagged in dismay but nodded anyway in acknowledgement to the KAOS agent.
Archer placed his M1911A1 on the desk just above the Chief's slumped head as his other hand came out of his service jacket's pocket with the handcuff keys. He bent forward where he crouched, reaching for the cuffed wrists—only for the Chief's eyes to snap open, blazing with focus and his arms to whip out from behind him, completely free.
Archer could only jerk back in shock before the Chief's right knifehand crashed down into the left side of his neck. The commanding officer tilted back, his eyes popping at the ceiling in shock from the impact of the blow.
Kerstin's emerald eyes blazed the moment the Chief exploded into action and she yelled out.
"Specchi! Get the Chief! Cartagi hel…arrrgggh!"
Kerstin was cut off in mid-sentence as 99 hurtled into her like a locomotive with a loud whump of flesh, muscle and clothes contacting, grabbing her gun wrist and corresponding elbow and pushing her arm up, both of them moving in the direction of the office door.
Specchi with a curse was charging towards the desk at the struggling Chief and Air Force colonel while Cartagi, as Kerstin and 99 hurtled past him in a tangle of arms and legs, whipped up his F1 submachine gun, aiming at 99's back but as Kerstin was pressed, breasts to breasts with the CONTROL agent, he could not fire without the shots killing them both. That's when Max's hands clamped down on the ventilated barrel-casing and base of the wooden butt stock of his F1 and hauled him forward, whipping him around to place him between the CONTROL agent and Hayler.
Hayler, jogging on his tip toes on the spot, turned from the running Specchi to Cartagi's struggling with Max and back to Kerstin and 99 locked together in their vicious struggle, his head whipping from one to the other sending his snout and cylindrical filter swinging like a Giant Anteater who could not decide between termite mounds. That was when Max shoved the F1 submachine gun with all his might, mashing the weapon lengthwise against the grunting Cartagi's chest with the top mounted magazine on the left of the KAOS agent's GP-5 face piece and charged. Cartagi was forced into a desperate back pedal right at Hayler.
Hayler's crystal blue eyes popped behind his GP-5's eye pieces and he could do nothing but lift his MP 40 up over his head just before Cartagi's back struck him in the chest like a battering ram.
"Oooof!" Hayler grunted through his mask as his arms flew up, the MP 40 flying out of his hand and arched through the air in the direction of the door before landing just 20 feet of it.
Hayler crashed down on his back with Cartagi's back on his chest and Max on top of Cartagi, their combined force of impact sending the green fog on the ground surging away from them leaving an oval shaped hole with gaseous tidal waved edges, revealing the carpet for momentarily.
"Ooooooooof!" Hayler continued, his blue eyes popping again at this next impact as he laid crushed underneath the struggling Max and Cartagi.
The Chief was on one knee bringing his right knifehand down again diagonally across Archer's chest with a resulting thump. The colonel's eyes rolled up and as he crumpled into an unconscious heap on the carpet, the Chief noted in his peripheral vision, the struggle going on in the office and the big KAOS agent charging at him. Lunging to his feet and twisting to his left, the Chief snatched Archer's M1911A1 from the desk and whipped it to aim at the charging assailant.
Unfortunately, Specchi was too fast and he reached the Chief swinging his Beretta M12. The receiver struck the back of the Chief's gun hand sending the M1911A1 flying towards the tactical and situation maps. Specchi growled swinging the M12 back to strike only to have the Chief grab hold of his forearm and the receiver and with gritting teeth, pushed at the bigger man sending him staggering back as they struggled.
99 knew she had made a big mistake the moment she slammed into Kerstin. Despite the thick, bulky flight suit, she knew immediately that every inch of muscle and ounce of power that she had seen on the KAOS agent in the slides back in the Chief's office during the briefing when this had all began—was absolutely and completely true—and despite the fact that she could die at any moment now—she was embarrassed to realised she could still spare a neuron or two in her brain on envy at how accurate the slides AND Hayler was on the difference between Kerstin's form and her's as their breasts shoved against each other in their struggle.
99 yanked herself back to the tactical situation which was rapidly getting out of her control. She had only managed to push Kerstin back about three or four steps before she felt dangerously conditioned biceps, deltoids, abdominals and quadriceps clenched and bulged into rock like hardness under the KAOS agent's flight duty uniform, stopping her movement entirely.
99 felt as though she had run up against a wall and even as she kept hold of Kerstin's right wrist and elbow, the KAOS agent's eyes burned with emerald malice at her warm blue irises and she could feel the muscles under the flight suit now shifting and flexing for an explosive shove which she knew would send her flying off her feet.
The counter-attack came as Kerstin's boots dug into the carpet and her shoulders exploded forward into the CONTROL agent. In a split second, 99 twisted her upper body clockwise, shifting her own boots on the carpet and Kerstin hurtled forward.
99 cringed slightly with envy as just the sides of Kerstin's full mounds brushed across both of her own more sveltely curving breasts but she still maintained the tactical calculations in her mind. As Kerstin hurtled past her leaning forward off balance, 99 kept hold of her arm, pulling it out to the side, switching her grip from the wrist to the gun hand itself to twist it inwards keeping clear of the Hi-Power as the muzzle swung backwards, while pushing at the back of the elbow to keep the arm straight and twisting the whole arm to put pressure on the shoulder.
Kerstin was bent forward and 99 used her arm as a handle to whip her around in a clockwise head-down run till they were both facing the direction of the door again at which 99 shoved at the elbow. This sent Kerstin falling forward head first, her boots flying up into the air while 99's right hand shifted her grip and wrenched the Browning Hi-Power from her hand.
But Kerstin tucked in her tawny head and shoulder as she struck the ground in a shoulder roll which allowed her a fleeting glance backwards at the chaos in the office and 99 bringing the Browning Hi-Power which she had wrested from her to aim. Upon completing the roll and coming to a crouch, Kerstin continued moving, whipping around clockwise to face her opponent dropping herself onto her right side on the carpet while her left leg swept up.
99 only saw the flash of green and black before the boot slammed into the back of her black kidskin gloved hand sending the Browning Hi-Power flying off towards the portrait of the
Third Battle of Chattanooga making her wished they were doing as well as the Union Army did in it. Kerstin's left leg completed it's sweep to plant it's knee on the floor, facing her away from 99 but enabling her to thrust her right leg backwards and up at her target.
99 dodged to her right, the mule kick sending the toe of Kerstin's boot brushing past her rib cage. Before 99 could recover and the sounds of Max and the Chief continuing to fight echoed through the office, Kerstin was back up on her boots and charging at her. The KAOS agent jumped, her legs cycling in mid-air before her right leg thrusted out. 99 just barely dodged to her right as the right boot whistled by in the jumping front kick. Landing closer now to her opponent, Kerstin's right fist launched at 99's face. The CONTROL agent dodged to the left, feeling the fist whistle past her right ear and then weaved to the right as Kerstin's left fist rocketed by just missing her left ear before following up with a right hook which 99 ducked under. When Kerstin's left fist exploded towards her face again, 99 dodged and grabbed the passing wrist and elbow again, only to have Kerstin swing her right leg up in a massive outside crescent kick between them forcing her to release her opponent's arm and jump back, throwing her head back as well to feel the heel of Kerstin's boot just whip past her chin.
99 staggered back a step as Kerstin's right leg whipped in a low round kick. The CONTROL agent lifted her left leg and the kick slammed with bone jarring force into her left side, absorbed by her hip, thigh and bent knee. Kerstin dropped her right boot to the floor and her left leg whipped up in a green and black blur and 99 just barely lifted her right leg to take the kick on her right hip and thigh which jarred her to her teeth. She saw Kerstin's eyes flash with emerald light out shining the green haze as the latter whipped her striking limb down and up again without any reduction in speed.
99 just managed to bend at the waist as the high round house kick whipped over the top of her head, sending dozens of strands of her dark brown hair flying. When she straightened, Kerstin's was already spinning clockwise on the toe of her left boot and her right leg was whipping up in a spinning heel kick which 99 managed to duck under. But before she could straighten, Kerstin was spinning again, this time dropping into a crouch on her left toe while her right leg extended, swept along the carpet, causing 99 to jump, pulling her knees to her breasts as the leg sweep passed under her.
As 99's extended her legs to land, her skirt fluttering upwards exposing her lean black stockinged thighs, Kerstin was up and charging again, this time jumping and twisting clockwise in mid-air, left knee pulled in to her breast while her right leg extended and whipped through the air in a horizontal arc. 99 just barely managed to drop to a crouch, ducking the high reversed round house kick. As she lunged back up onto her boots, Kerstin landed and lashed out again in a front kick. But 99 instead of dodging, twisted slightly and extended her right leg and foot out slightly and Kerstin's shin slammed into the outsole of 99's flat heeled boot, tearing a growl of pain and anger from the KAOS agent as she stumbled back.
But she was back again, her left leg whipping up towards 99's ribs and again, the CONTROL agent turned towards the kick and lifted up her right leg to catch Kerstin's swinging shin just below the knee on the hard outsole of her leather boot. This time Kerstin yelled louder, cursing under her breath, staggering back but came back again her right leg swinging in another low kick. 99 again lifted her left leg up and Kerstin's kick slammed into her left hip, thigh and knee, jarring her joints and causing her teeth to chatter. Before 99 completely lowered her left leg, Kerstin right leg was swinging up into a high roundhouse while she leaned to her left, twisting on the toe of her left boot. 99 just barely managed to turn towards the kick and because she was facing the direction that Max was struggling on top of Cartagi who was on top of a groaning and yelling Hayler, and though 86's back was to her, she still could not help but blush slightly as though he was staring right at her, for this time, she swung her right foot and leg up over 100 degrees off the carpet, exposing her lean thighs all the way up past the tops of her stockings and revealing the large curving bulge of her mons venus in her white panties, protruding forth sensually, wedged in between the tops of her bulging adductor muscles.
Kerstin's whipping right shin crashed right into 99's elevated right boot's outsole tearing a holler of pain from the KAOS agent who hobbled back, bent over, clutching her right shin before charging at 99 again, fists and arms whipping. 99 ducked under a right, left and right hook before sweeping her left wrist down in a clockwise circle downwards to parry a low left punch at her ribs. Kerstin's right hand, fingers folded inwards at the first two joints shot towards 99's throat and the CONTROL agent just managed to whip her right forearm up to parry the leopard blow, pushing it off to her right. But Kerstin used this momentum to turn her back to 99, leaned forward and thrusted her left boot backwards.
99 again twisted her body sideways and this time she had to bend forward to allow the back kick to whistle past her concaving abdominals. With Kerstin's back within reach of her, 99 reached out grabbing fistfuls of her flight duty uniform over her shoulder blades and ran forward shoving at her. Kerstin stumbled forward, running for several steps before she managed to plant her right boot down in the carpet and lock her big quadriceps and calves to brake herself so 99 felt her fists pushing into bulging rock hard trapezius and rhomboid muscles. Kerstin twisted and her right hand whipped in a back fist forcing 99 to release her hold and block, grabbing the KAOS agent's right wrist and shoulder and pushing her forward. Kerstin bent forward with 99's push and used it to swing her left leg backwards and up, hooking it to send her boot hurtling at 99's head. 99 bent forward pressing her breasts to Kerstin's back to let the boot heel strike air before it went back down. She felt the Kerstin's rhomboid and trapezius flexing against her breasts and she quickly straightened just as the KAOS agent straighten her body in an explosive movement to throw her off.
With 99 straightening and twisting out of the way, Kerstin found herself arching back against nothing, slightly off balance. Using this opening, 99 still gripping Kerstin's right wrist and shoulder, switched to a reverse grip on her opponent's wrist and used it to yank the arm back across the KAOS agent's throat, slipping her forearm over the KAOS agent's head. Doing this, 99 wrapped Kerstin's arm around her opponent's own neck.
Kerstin roared in fury, twisting and struggling as she found her own throat and neck trapped within a vice like V formed by her own forearm and bicep. 99's right forearm was pressed horizontally into the back of Kerstin's neck as she maintained her right handed grip on Kerstin's right wrist and in this position, she was out of reach of Kerstin's left elbow while she had Kerstin's right arm trapped. As Kerstin struggled on, 99 pushed at the back of her left shoulder with her free left hand and pulled on Kerstin's right wrist causing the KAOS agent's own powerfully conditioned brachioradialis muscle and bicep to bulge and press into both sides of her own neck.
Kerstin began sputtering as she tried to breath, eyes squeezed shut with effort. 99 kept up the pressure on Kerstin's right wrist, pulling on it to maintain the hold and Kerstin's big legs slowly began to buckle beneath her. As Kerstin's right knee inched towards the carpet, Hayler trapped with Cartagi's back and hips crushing his chest and groin respectively with Maxwell Smart on top of them, yelled and groaned.
"Arrrggghh! My Fleischklößchen!" Hayler's muffled cries came through his gas mask. "Oooffff!"
Specchi growled and cursed through his gas mask, the muffling effect not reducing the menace at all as he pulled and twisted the Beretta M12 to get it from the older man. Despite being over a head shorter than he was, the Chief was putting up a stubborn fight. Specchi roared stepping back and yanking on the M12 using his greater strength to whip the Chief away from the desk and towards the black glass coffee tables.
The Chief staggered several steps in that direction before regaining his footing only to have Specchi yank and twist the M12 from his grasp but the big KAOS agent was off balance as well and the weapon went flying out of both their hands to sail over the desk. Specchi roared and hurled a right gloved fist which the Chief ducked under and delivered a left hook into the KAOS agent's ribs jerking his opponent who simply roared again and swung a left hook which the Chief again ducked under and delivered two low hooks into the KAOS agent's ribs. Specchi staggered backwards and the Chief grabbed fistfuls of his white hazmat suit at his left shoulder and brought his left leg up to slam the knee into the big man's abdomen. Specchi's black eyes popped behind his gas mask's round glass eye pieces. He struggled to straighten up and the Chief delivered a back handed, right knifehand strike into his ribs dropping him onto his knees.
Hayler on the floor was enveloped again in the returning green fog and the emerald gas swirled before the circular glass eye pieces of his gas mask. Squinting his light blue eyes, he could see past glass, roiling green gas and the back of Cartagi's cowl wrapped head to Smart above him, pushing the F1 downwards, pinning it to Cartagi's chest and keeping the KAOS agent pinned down. He couldn't reach Smart nor could he get to his pistol in it's shoulder holster under his left arm. Summoning all his strength, he grabbed hold of Cartagi's shoulders and emitting a muffled yell, pushed upwards as though he was doing the bench press. He inched Cartagi's back off his chest bearing both his weight and Smart's before twisting his shoulders and rolling Cartagi and Smart off together with a might heave.
Max's eyes popped as he found himself flung off to the side by Hayler who was underneath Cartagi who was underneath him. Next thing he knew, he and Cartagi, both still gripping the F1 was rolling over the floor towards the wall with the portraits of battle scenes, both of them switching from being on top to underneath as they rolled.
Hayler scrambled to his feet looking at the rolling Cartagi and Max, then at Kerstin somehow in 99's clutches before looking over at Specchi who was falling down onto his knees from a devastative knifehand strike by the Chief to the back of his neck. Deciding on the best option, Hayler yanked his pistol from his shoulder holster and ran towards Specchi and the Chief.
The Chief followed up with another knifehand strike to the back of the big KAOS agent's neck followed by another to the side of the neck dropping him into a big unmoving heap to the carpet.
The Chief crouched next to the unconscious Specchi and yanked the large pistol from the man's holster on his utility belt to realize it was a Beretta M1951 just as a movement in his peripheral vision made him turn to his right only to have an overshoe boot come lunging in and hitting his right forearm. The M1951 went sailing towards the back wall and the Chief saw the butt of another semi-automatic pistol come at his face.
Hayler cursed as the Chief's forearm blocked his pistol butt strike and his gas mask muffled his yell of agony as the Chief delivered a knifehand strike to the inside of his wrist, popping open his gloved hand and dropping his pistol to the carpet. He staggered back as the Chief continued his attack with a right punch that slammed into his gas mask under his left eye piece that twisted his head to the right as he absorbed the impact before lunging back with a right hand punch that smashed across the Chief's jaw, twisting the man's balding head to the right and staggering him a step back. The Chief recovered near instantly and his right fist whipped towards his opponent's gas mask again. Hayler ducked and the Chief left fist followed in a whistling overhand punch which he blocked on his right forearm and the head of CONTROL followed with a low right uppercut at his solar plexus. Hayler's left arm slashed downwards meeting the Chief's hooking wrist in a knifehand block. The Chief yanked his arms together and whipped them up throwing the KAOS agent's arms upwards. Hayler had stagger back a step or two and the Chief charged again with an explosive right cross. The KAOS agent caught the slashing arm on his left forearm and stepped in to hook his right arm around the back of the Chief's neck before hooking the gloved fingers of his left hand into the similarly hooked fingers of his right hand, bending the Chief forward in a side headlock. As the Chief grunted, struggling against the hold, Hayler turned counter-clockwise dragging the Chief along until they were both facing the direction of the back wall again before twisting his shoulders with the Chief's head still in the side headlock to flip the head of CONTROL off his feet.
The Chief found himself thrown head first through the air, rolling laterally while his feet swung towards the wall before he landed on the coffee table which exploded into thousands of tiny black glass shards.
Max managed to stop the roll with him on top of Cartagi, both still fighting for the F1. Max's grip on the weapon was knuckle white and he could feel the ventilated barrel casing of the weapon leaving circular imprints in the palm and curled fingers of his right hand. As Cartagi growled and began pushing upwards on the weapon, sitting up and lifting his shoulders and back off the floor and pushing his opponent back, Max twisted his shoulders to shove his weight into his left hand's grip on the F1's stock to keep the machine gun mashed against Cartagi, enabling him to let go with his right and brought it down in a knife had strike into the right side of the KAOS agent's neck. As Cartagi grunted, his eyes rolling behind the glass pieces of his GP-5 and his grip on the weapon slackened, Max followed with a second knifehand strike into the left side base of the KAOS agent's neck with a sharp thump. Cartagi grunted again, convulsing once before slumping back down an unconscious heap.
The Chief forced himself to sit up, agony shooting through his back, shoulders and hip. He twisted around, glass crunching underneath his hips and knees as he struggled to face the KAOS agent. Hayler's boot came flying at his face but the Chief took the impact on his forearms and shoved at the shin sending the KAOS agent twisting away giving him time to regain his feet.
As Hayler turned back, the Chief's right came hurtling in a right cross without any slackening speed or power. The KAOS agent managed to intercept it on his left forearm and his right gloved hand clamped into the Chief's throat. The Chief's eye's popped as the Y formed by the thumb and ridge of Hayler's gloved had squeezed into his throat and windpipe. Hayler pushed downwards, tightening his grip on the Chief's throat while holding onto the Chief's right arm. The Chief grabbed at Hayler's wrist as his knees began buckling till they touched the shards of black glass on the carpet. He pushed and pulled with all his strength but Hayler's grip was as immovable as a steel clamp.
Max lunged to this feet and dashed towards Hayler who had his back to him. 99 released Kerstin's wrist and shoulders finally and the tawny haired KAOS agent slumped sideways to the carpet, eyes closed in a flight suited heap. Turning, 99 saw Max rushing towards the Chief and Hayler and she dashed towards them as well.
Spots began swimming in the Chief's vision as he could not draw breath anymore while prying hopelessly at Hayler's gloved grip on his throat. Hayler bent, applying more pressure on the Chief's throat and the man's eye lids began fluttering to a close. At that moment, he heard swift foot falls behind him and before he could turn, the F1's wooden butt stock crashed down onto the back of his neck.
Hayler grunted and jerked dropping onto his knees, his grip slipping from the Chief's throat. Max reached around Hayler grabbing the snout of his GP-5 just above the cylinder and pulled upwards sharply. The gas mask raked upwards, revealing Hayler's hard, narrow chiselled jaw and solid cheek boned features and his crystal blue eyes which stared up at the ceiling as he declared.
"Ooooh mein! Virst time I've….yaaaawwwwwnnnn….fallen asleep on zer job!"
With that, his eyelids drooped over his blue irises and he dropped sideways to the carpet with a crunch and tinkling of shattered glass. As his snoring grated the air, Max ran over to the unconscious Specchi, yelling over his shoulder as he did.
"Ninety-Nine! Check on the Chief!"
The Chief was lying on his side, resting on an elbow deep in glass shards while he held his throat with his hand.
"Chief! Oh Chief! Are you alright?" 99 asked dropping down onto her knees next to him, ignoring the stinging of the glass against her stockinged knees.
She slowly eased the Chief up to a sitting position as Max pulled back Specchi's cowl and removed his GP-5 gas mask as well exposing him to the Super Sleep gas and within seconds, his brutal, oval face was trembling with loud buzz saw like snores that defeated Hayler's.
"Max! Some water? On the colonel's desk!" 99 said as she pressed her handkerchief to the bleeding bruise at the Chief's temple while he slowly managed to regain his breathing.
"That's okay Ninety-Nine." Max answered with a wave of his hand, now over at the unconscious Cartagi where he yanked off the KAOS agent's GP-5 as well. As Cartagi's snores joined into the Specchi-Hayler orchestra, Max straightened and declared. "I think a Gibson is more in order. Uh Chief, where does your brain-washed friend hide the dry vermouth and gin…"
"No Max! Water for the Chief!" 99 declared as the Chief sitting on the remnants of the glass coffee table, managed to find the strength to roll his eyes on her behalf while massaging his throat.
"Oh. Just as well cause' I doubt he's got any pearl onions lying around."
Max hurried over to the desk to find a glass jug of ice water at one end of it with some glasses on a tray. Taking a glass and the flask, he walked back over to where 99 had managed to help the Chief up and eased him onto the nearest black sofa while Max poured him a drink, the ice clinking into the glass. After a few tentative gulps of ice water and revivifying deep breaths, the Chief managed to regain his strength and voice again.
"Thank you Ninety-Nine!" he nodded as 99's gloved hand held the glass.
"Chief! How are you awake?!" Max asked gesturing at the desk.
Shaking his balding head, the Chief answered.
"KAOS had just been too unpredictable! So I injected myself with the antidote just before I arrived at Area-Fifty-Three-D, just in case! I pretended to lose consciousness when they released the gas and just waited for the right opportunity to escape."
"Good thinking Chief!" Max nodded before frowning. "But how'd you get out of those handcuffs?"
The Chief lifted his left wrist with his watch and taking hold of the crown, twisted it and yanked such that it came away from the watch itself to reveal a thin sliver of steel attached to the knob.
"Lock pick in the watch." The Chief explained. "Courtesy of Professor Windish."
"The ol lock-pick-in-the-time-piece-on-the-wrist trick!" Max smirked. "Works every time! And you know what'll work even better Chief? Reinforcements from the Joint Chiefs! When are they getting here?"
At this, the Chief sighed, bowing his shaking head in absolute dismay for once in a few thousand times, not at Max.
"I'm afraid I made a TERRIBLE mistake again!" the Chief exclaimed looking up as he shook his hands before him, as though he could grab the problem and crush it. "I called Colonel Archer FIRST since he was the commander of the base!"
"That makes sense Chief." 99 nodded next to the Chief, her eyes' reflected blue light permeating even the green haze.
"Yes but Archer then suggested that I let HIM call the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defence!" the Chief exclaimed gesticulating with his hands and arms in frustration. "The Joint Chiefs and the president held the colonel in MUCH higher regard than they do ME at this time and he'd be able to cut through the red tape much faster! Never did I expected—THIS!" the Chief finished throwing his shaking hands at the unconscious Archer on the floor near the desk. "NO help is coming I'm afraid!"
Max put his fists on his hips shaking his head as he grimaced.
"Boy, you just can't TRUST your evil-organisation-brainwashed-high-ranking-military personnel like you used to!"
"Chief." 99 asked placing a gloved hand on the Chief's shoulder. "There's no way you could have known. Now, how do we get help? They took Max's wrist communicator T-Thirty-Seven, my compact phone and destroyed his shoe phone."
"All those unused message units—GONE!" Max scoffed tossing his head back.
"Same with me. And I don't think any help can get here on time!" The Chief declared and with a deep breath and new resolve, he stood up. "It's up to us! We can-not let KAOS leave with the fuel and X-Tens! Grab what weapons you can!"
"Right Chief!" Max nodded as 99 stood up as well. "What's the plan?"
"A two-pronged attack!" the Chief declared raising too fingers as they all started moving about the room, grabbing up the fallen weapons of the KAOS agents. "First—Max, you take the command centre and make sure that hangar door remains closed! At the same time, I and Ninety-Nine will raid the hangar and disable the trucks!"
"Chief, why don't we all just take the command centre, lock ourselves in and call for help?" Max suggested.
"It won't work." The Chief shook his head as he stepped over the broken glass and hurried over to the other end of Archer's table near the situation maps where he snatched up Specchi's Beretta M12 and cycled the bolt. "The C and C's door is strong but NOT indestructible. It won't hold if they have enough explosives. But more importantly, as they had Archer under their control, he would have given them all his clearance codes for the entire base! S-S-Nineteen and her men will be able to override the door's lock and storm us!"
"We don't want that Chief." Max nodded with absolute certainty.
"Chief." 99 pointed out at Kerstin and Archer. "Super Sleep will keep the others under but Kerstin and Archer's taken the antidote. They might wake up anytime and attack us while we're occupied in the command centre and the hangar."
"That's right." The Chief noted taking a few steps along the wall with the tactical maps. "I wish we had time to tie them up. There has to be a way we can lock them in here."
"Chief here." Max said sitting on the floor and taking hold of his left ankle, he twisted the outsole over his dress shoe heel to reveal a hidden compartment from which he removed a small plastic vial. "Knockout-Drops. This should keep em'…out…more."
"Good thinking Max!" 99 declared hurrying over to him as she slipped on the shoulder holster which she had managed to remove from Hayler.
"But Chief, how am I gonna get into the command centre? They've likely got the door locked." Max queried crouching next to a snoring Cartagi to remove the spare F1 magazines from the KAOS agent's utility belt while 99 crouched next to the unconscious Kerstin to pull the tawny haired girl's chin down and administer a few drops from the vial into her mouth.
"Oh Ninety-Nine, I'll need one thing from you before we head out.—" The Chief stated slinging Specchi's M12 across his back as 99 hurried over to administer the drops to Archer, nodding to her superior as she did. "—As the head of an intelligence agency, I have an emergency bypass code which you can use." The Chief continued as he snatched up Archer's fallen M1911A1 from the floor and gripping the slide grip serrations with his index finger and thumb, pulled the slide to ensure a round was chambered. "But you need to be quick because they'll be able to see you at the door on the internal cameras. It's six-six-nine-zero-seven. You gat that Max?"
"Right Chief!" Max nodded as he cocked the bolt on the F1. "Zero-Zero-nine-six-seven."
"NO Max!" the Chief exclaimed. "Again! SIX-SIX-nine-zero-SEVEN!"
"That's what I SAID Chief!" Max grimaced lowering the F1. "SIX-SIX-seven-nine-ZERO!"
"That's NOT what I just said!" the Chief declared tossing up his arms.
"Max! It's six-six-NINE-SEVEN-zero." 99 repeated for the Chief as she crouched next to Archer and squeezed a few drops from the vial into the colonel's mouth.
"I KNOW that Ninety-Nine!" Max griped at her. "As I said! SEVEN-SEVEN-ZERO…uh…SIX-ZERO…uh—" 86 looked up at the greenish ceiling as he called upon his vast intellect to rearrange the 5 digit code, thin lips moving as he tried to recite it to himself.
The Chief sighed walking over to Archer's table and grabbing a pen and a pad.
"I'll write it down for you!" scowled the Chief as he did just that.
"You know what Chief, I think it's better if you wrote it down for me." Max nodded wisely.