Mission: Payback part 20 (The final Part)

I'll just post this so I can say I finished the story.

Continued from a long time ago... In a galaxy where about 10 people actually followed this story... vs. the 0 that do now...

Back in the emperor’s office, Emmy gave a loud whoop of joy. “We did it!” she cried, throwing her arms around Ryan’s neck.
Ryan gasped for air as her grip tightened around his neck. “Yeah, I guess so,” he sputtered.
“What a devastating blow to the empire, they won’t soon recover from that,” Emmy continued, gleefully.
“Emmy,” Ryan gasped. “You’re choking me.”
Emmy didn’t hear him but continued to prattle on. “Only capturing the emperor could ever top this moment. I mean, destroying an entire camp of imperial soldiers in one strike! It’s amazing!”
“Emmy!” Ryan coughed.
Emmy snapped to attention and released her hold on Ryan’s neck. “Oh, sorry Ryan,” she apologized.
Ryan breathed deeply and rubbed his neck. “It’s ok.”
Emmy looked at him questioningly. “Aren’t you excited, Ryan?”
Ryan looked up at her. “I’ll be more excited when we catch the emperor,” he replied.
Emmy’s eyes widened. “Oh! The emperor, of course!”
“Of course,” Ryan mimicked. “That’s only the reason that we’re here, the emperor, you know?”
“I’m sorry!” Emmy snapped. “I got caught up in all the drama.”
Ryan excused her memory lapse with a wave of his hand and started inspecting the desk for the button that would reopen the trapdoor that the emperor had escaped from. “You should be used to drama by now, you hang around me enough.”
Emmy shrugged, joining in his search. “You never cease to surprise.”
It was Ryan’s turn to shrug. “Could be worse, I could be boring.”
Emmy laughed. “Ha! You? Boring? Not on your life.” She paused and then added. “Although I might prefer boring once and a while.”
“Very funny,” Ryan made a face at her.
Emmy ceased her search for a moment and glanced around the room. Her gaze happened to fall upon the limp form of Sarah and she shook her head. “Sarah,” she whispered in disbelief. Emmy turned back towards Ryan. “I have so many questions to ask you when this is over.”
“Later,” Ryan replied, holding up his finger. “Once we’ve captured the emperor.”
“You sound so sure,” Emmy said, folding her arms.
“I am sure,” Ryan said matter-of-factly.
Emmy opened her mouth to reply with a witty remark but she was interrupted by the sound of helicopter blades nearby.
Ryan and Emmy both froze in place and looked at the gaping hole in the emperor’s office. “Hide!” Ryan yelled jumping underneath the enormous desk. Emmy quickly followed his lead.
The two of them huddled under the desk and listened as the sound of helicopter blades grew louder and louder.
“If that’s an Imperial helicopter full of Imperial police we’re dead,” Emmy groaned.
“Aw, we could take ‘em,” Ryan said, trying to sound optimistic.
Emmy glanced down at herself and then Ryan, motioning to their lack of weapons. “Without guns?” she questioned.
Ryan sighed. “You’re right, we’re screwed.”
An involuntary shudder shook Emmy’s body. “Well at least we know we died dealing the empire a fatal blow.”
“Technically, we’re gonna die hiding under a desk,” Ryan pointed out. “And I don’t think the blow was fatal.”
Emmy scowled at Ryan. “Party-pooper,” she grumbled.
Ryan shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“I’m sure you have.”
Just then a familiar voice rang out. “Ryan, Emmy! You can just stay under that desk all day or you can come out and join the hunt. It’s emperor season.”
Ryan jumped. “It’s Ti--” he started to say but he stopped in mid sentence as his head crashed against the desk. “Ow!” he yelled. “Why do I always do that?”
Emmy rolled her eyes and slid out from under the desk. “Men.” Ryan followed after her, rubbing his head.
Hovering by the window was the helicopter with Jordan at the controls. In the passenger area was Tim and Jason. “Come on,” Tim called beckoning them to hop in.
Ryan and Emmy ran towards the window, or what was left of it, and leapt inside the waiting helicopter.
Tim patted them on the back and gave a hearty laugh. “So you’ve vanquished the Emperor’s sidekick?” he asked as Jordan pulled the helicopter away from the window and steered them back towards the road that lead to the front gate.
Ryan stared at him. “Seriously, man,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ve been over this, no one talks like that.”
“Sorry,” Tim apologized. “How’d you do it?”
“That, is a great story,” Ryan replied. “For another time. I’m just glad your okay.”
Tim gave Ryan a skeptic look. “You forgot all about me until I showed up outside the window, didn’t you?”
Ryan laughed sheepishly and shrugged. “Well no… Uh, yeah pretty much.”
“I hate to break up this little reunion,” Emmy interjected, putting and end to their pointless banter. “But we have an Emperor to catch.”
“She’s right,” Jason said, breaking his usual code of silence.
Ryan and Tim both nodded.
“Right,” Ryan said. “Where did he get off to? We lost him after he escaped through his trapdoor.”
“He has a trapdoor? That’s awesome!” Tim exclaimed.
“I know! It was pretty sweet,” Ryan said, grinning.
Jason ignored their comments. “We saw him go racing off in that direction,” he said, pointing ahead of where the helicopter was now flying. “We should be catching up to him momentarily.”
“All right,” Ryan said, rubbing his hands together. “Finally, a chance to strike back at the emperor himself.”
“We kind of already had a chance,” Emmy reminded him. “Like twenty minutes ago.”
“That doesn’t count,” Ryan insisted.
“Let’s just hope we can hang on to him this time,” Tim said.
“Oh don’t worry,” Ryan assured them. “He’s not going anywhere this time.”

Chris, Laz, and Kayla all stared at their feet, searching for something to say.
“Isn’t there any chance that we can still save Ryan?” Kayla asked.
Derek shook his head sadly. “No, the poison is fatal. We knew that going into this.”
Laz swallowed. “Is he dead already?”
Derek nodded. “Most likely.”
“He died doing us all a great service,” Cathy said, trying to comfort them.
“I never even got to say goodbye,” Laz choked. He paused and frowned. “Wow, that sounded so weird coming out.”
“Shouldn’t we at least check with Ryan and see what the situation is?” Chris asked Derek. “Maybe Ryan isn’t even dead yet. We all know how good he is at cheating death.”
Derek coughed and then cleared his throat before he answered. “Yes, but this is different.”
“I don’t see how,” Chris disagreed. “It would be just like him to escape unscathed.”
Derek glanced over at Cathy, who shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt,” she said. “Call him back at that number he called you with earlier.”
Derek slipped his phone from his pocket and hit the callback button.

Jason stood as close to the cockpit as he could from inside the passenger area and peered ahead, trying to spot the emperor’s getaway vehicle. “We should be coming up on him soon,” he said. Just then his phone started to ring. Irritated at the distraction, Jason snatched it from his waist and answered. “Yeah?”
“Cruise?” the voice on the other line asked. Jason grunted and tossed the phone to Ryan.
Ryan looked up just in time to snatch the phone out of the air. “What’s this for?” he yelled.
“It’s for you,” Jason explained.
Ryan brought the phone up to his ear and yelled above the roar of the rotating helicopter blades. “Yeah?”
“Cruise!” Derek’s voice rumbled from the other line. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” Ryan replied.
“You’re not dead?” Derek exclaimed in a shocked tone.
“You sound disappointed,” Ryan said sarcastically.
“No, no,” Derek assured him. “It’s just that--”
“Look, I don’t have a lot of time here,” Ryan said, cutting him off. “What is it that you want?”
“That missile… Was that you that did that?”
Ryan rolled his eyes and then remembered that Derek couldn’t see him. “Yeah of course it was me,” he barked. “What’d you think that the emperor had a sudden change of heart?”
“Just wondering,” Derek said, and then, “What are you doing now? It sounds like you’re in a helicopter.”
“That’s because I am,” Ryan yelled into the phone so that he could be heard. “We’ve got the emperor on the run right now, we’re trying to track him down.”
“The emperor on the run?” Derek cried. “How?”
“I’ll explain later,” Ryan told him. “I’ve really got to go now.”
“Wait Cruise,” Derek said, rushing to avoid being hung up on. “We need to know what’s going on. We can help you capture the emperor.”
“Sorry, got to go,” Ryan apologized as he flipped the phone shut. He tossed it back to Jason and pulled himself to his feet. “Have we got him yet?” Ryan asked as he walked over to where Jason was standing.
Jason’s face stretched slightly into what looked like a grin, or rather, a Jason style grin. “He’s in our sights.” Jason pointed ahead of them. Just on the horizon they could see a cloud of dust rising from the road, and beyond that dust was a red sports car. What kind of sports car they couldn’t tell, but what they definitely could tell was that the driver must be the emperor.
“That’s got to be him,” Ryan pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. “We’ve got him right where we want him.”
Behind him Tim was already stuffing a sidearm into his pants. “Here,” Tim said, offering Ryan a weapon. “You’re going to need this.”
Ryan grasped the pistol and cocked it. “I’ve been waiting too long for this,” he muttered to himself.
Jordan pushed the helicopter as fast as it could go. It wasn’t long before the emperor’s vehicle came into view. Using expert care, Jordan lowered the helicopter until they were practically on top of the emperor’s car.
“Be careful,” Tim warned. “Remember we want the emperor alive, for now. We want to make him stop, but just make sure you don’t…”
Jordan nudged the controls a little and bumped the emperor’s car. It swerved crazily off the road and crashed into a rock flipping the car on its back.
“…flip it,” Tim finished.
“What was that you were saying?” Jordan shouted.
Tim shook his head. “Oh, never mind. Just take us down there.”
Obediently, Jordan lowered them down to the crash site. Ryan jumped off the helicopter before it had even landed, and began to stride towards the wreckage in menacing yet totally awesome form.
“Wait! Ryan!” Tim cried out after him, as he hopped out of the helicopter as well. “Don’t kill him!”
“We don’t even know if he’s still alive,” Emmy pointed out.
Jordan brought the helicopter to a complete landing and jumped out as well. “Yeah I flipped him pretty good,” he said.
Ignoring them, Ryan continued to make his way toward the vehicle. It was smashed to pieces and smoking; the glass was broken and strewn across the ground.
Ryan came to a stop directly in front of the vehicle and drew his sidearm.
“Ryan,” Emmy said. “I think he’s dead; that was quite a crash…”
She trailed off. There was a groaning sound and a hand stuck itself out of what used to be a window. Slowly, very slowly, the emperor crawled his way out of the car. He was bruised and cut and bleeding, but other than that he seemed to be perfectly fine.
Ryan released the safety on his weapon and pointed it at the emperor’s head. “You’ve reached the end of your reign, emperor.”
“Ryan, don’t!” Tim shouted. “We need him alive!”
“Why?” Ryan asked.
Tim thought about this for a second. “I don’t know… I guess we don’t really.”
“Good, because I’m going to kill him,” Ryan replied, pulling back the hammer of the gun.
The emperor closed his eyes and sank to his knees. “Go ahead, kill me Cruise. I’ve always dreamed that one day I’d be assassinated.”
“You won’t be so happy when you’re in hell,” Ryan shot back.
“Ryan, don’t do this,” Emmy pleaded, running up to his side.
“Why not?” Ryan asked.
“Because if you kill the emperor, you’ll be just like him,” Emmy said.
“What? That’s ridiculous; that doesn’t even make sense, how am I supposed to be just like him if I kill him?”
“I agree,” the emperor said with a nod. “It wouldn’t really be like me to kill myself, so I don’t really see the point.”
“No, no, no,” Emmy said in a frustrated tone. “I mean if you kill him in cold blood you’ll be just like he was.”
“So, I’ve killed plenty of people in cold blood before,” Ryan replied with a shrug.
“He’s got a point there,” said Tim, he paused as if in deep thought and then added, “Is it possible to kill someone in warm blood?”
“Oh shut up,” Emmy snapped. She turned back to Ryan, “I’m begging you Ryan, don’t do it.”
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said. “I won’t kill him in cold blood… I’ll let him do it for himself.” Ryan spun the gun in his hands around so that the he was holding onto the barrel and handed it to the emperor. “You’ve done thousands of wrong things in your life, emperor,” he said. “And now I’m giving you a chance to end it yourself.”
The emperor took the gun in his hands and stared at it. “You’re right,” he said in a dreamy voice. “I’ve done so many bad things… So what will it hurt… if I do another here?” As he said this, the emperor whirled his gun towards Ryan. But Ryan was too quick for the emperor and faster than lighting he reached for another gun that he had stuck in his pants. Ryan drew the gun and fired twice, sending a bullet through the emperor’s brain and another one through his heart.
The emperor twisted sideways and dropped the gun, falling to the ground in what seemed like slow motion, with blood flowing from his head and chest. Chunks of brain tissue and flesh and blood sprayed all over the ground until finally the emperor reached the ground with a soft thud.
After such a long struggle, their nightmare was over; the emperor was dead.
Ryan drew the gun back and grinned. “Knew he was gonna try and do that,” he said.
“So why’d you give him the gun then?” Jordan asked.
“What do you think? So I’d have an excuse to kill him without it being in cold blood, of course,” Ryan replied.
“I’m not sure it works that way…” Emmy said.
“Who cares?” Ryan said with a shrug. “What’s important is that the emperor’s finally dead.”
“We need to go tell Cathy,” Tim said.
Emmy nodded. “He’s right, we should take the body as proof as well.”
Following her suggestion, Ryan went and retrieved the emperor’s body and loaded it onto the helicopter. To his surprise, Jason was still inside.
“Were you in here the whole time?” Ryan asked.
Jason shrugged. “I could see everything fine from right here,” he mumbled.
Ryan just shook his head. “All right, let’s go!” he shouted to Jordan. Jordan nodded and after a few minutes they were off.

Cathy paced back and forth, threatening to wear a hole in the carpet. “Have they contacted us yet?” she asked for nearly the hundredth time.
Derek shook his head. “The last time I heard from them they were chasing down the emperor.
“Please Cathy, just be patient,” Chris pleaded. “I know Ryan, he’ll make it here but only in irritably last minute fashion.”
“Yeah, Ryan hasn’t failed us yet,” Laz, piped up. “Well except for that one time…” “Yeah, but that doesn’t count,” Chris said.
“Of course not.”
“I don’t care,” Cathy said. “If they don’t arrive in the next minute I’m firing every missile we have at the emperor’s army.”
“But if they have killed the emperor we may not even need to shed so much blood. I’m willing to bet that they’ll surrender if their leader is dead.” Chris said.
“Well I’m not willing to bet,” Cathy replied. “Derek, start to warm up the missiles, we’re firing in T minus two minutes.” “Cathy, we’re begging you,” Chris protested.
“No more begging,” Cathy shook her head. “Get out of my sight, I don’t want to hear any more from you.” Cathy motioned for the guards to escort Chris and Laz out of the room.
Chris and Laz were half escorted and half shoved out of the room. They stumbled outside, nearly falling to the ground as the door was slammed behind them.
“Well, now what?” Laz asked.
“I guess all we can do is go down to the hangar and wait for them to arrive,” Chris replied. They both agreed on this and rushed down towards the hangar as fast as they could, nearly running straight into Daniel and Katie.
“Whoa there,” Daniel cried. “Where are you going?”
“No time to explain, got to hurry!” Chris cried as he and Laz continued to run towards the hangar.
“No kidding,” Katie muttered.
Daniel scratched his head curiously. “Come on, let’s go see what they’re up to.” Katie shrugged and they started to jog after them.
Chris and Laz had barely made it to the hangar before they heard someone announce that a helicopter was trying to enter the hanger, claiming to have information about the emperor.
“Let them through!” Chris shouted. The officer in charge of admitting air vehicles into the hangar immediately complied and the roof opened to allow the helicopter in.
Jordan lowered the helicopter to the landing pad and Ryan, Tim, Emmy, and Jason immediately jumped out.
“We killed the emperor,” Ryan said triumphantly.
“Guys! You got to go stop Cathy hurry!” Chris shouted
“Stop her from doing what?” Ryan shouted.
“She’s going to blow up all of the Imperial army, and no doubt several innocent civilians in the meantime!”
“What?” Ryan cried.
“I said…” Chris began again, but Ryan cut him off.
“No, I heard you the first time, I was just expressing my surprise and horror in a question-like form.”
“Oh… well hurry you have to stop her,” Chris replied. “If she knows that the emperor’s dead she might not launch the missiles.
Ryan immediately sprang into action and began racing as fast as he could towards Cathy’s quarters. He sped by Daniel and Katie on his way, nearly knocking them down as he did.
“What the heck is going on?” Daniel shouted.
“Sorry, I’ll explain later,” Ryan shouted back. He continued to run, refusing to lower his sped. Finally, he reached the stairs to Cathy’s quarters and, taking the stairs two at a time, ran straight for the door.
Before he could reach the door handle, however, two strong guards grabbed him by the wrists and restrained him. “Stop, you’re not allowed in there,” barked one of the guards.
“I’m Ryan Cruise!” Ryan shouted. “I have information about the emperor!”
“Let him through!” came a muffled shout from inside the door.
The guards reluctantly released Ryan and he burst through the door. Inside were Cathy and Derek, looking at him expectantly.
“Well?” Cathy asked.
“I killed the emperor,” Ryan gasped. “Just stop the missile launch before you kill tons of innocent people.”
Cathy glanced at Derek and nodded. Derek immediately got on the phone and Ryan could barely hear him mutter something into the phone.
Cathy turned back towards Ryan. “You know I never thought I’d hear myself say this but, good work, Cruise.”
“Well thank you,” Ryan replied with a grin. “I was worried for a second that I wouldn’t…”
But a loud, earth-shaking explosion suddenly interrupted him. Ryan stumbled and nearly fell, “What the heck was that?” he yelled.
Cathy remained calm, however, giving him a smug smile. “The missiles must have hit their target.”
“But I thought, I thought you were going to…” Ryan sputtered.
“What you think will happen and what actually does happen are two very different things, Cruise,” Cathy said, maintaining her evil grin. “Now that the emperor is dead I will see to it that the role of ruler falls to me and I will have no one questioning my authority. That missile was just a good start.”
“You’re worse than the emperor,” Ryan said in horror. The words had barely left his mouth before the rest of his team burst in the room. Chris, Tim, Emmy, Kayla, Laz, Jordan and even Jason all stood in the doorway with looks of horror and surprise on their faces, except for Jason who always has the same facial expressions.
“What happened, Cathy?” Kayla asked.
“She fired the missiles,” Ryan answered for her. “She deliberately killed tons of innocent people just so she could be empress.”
“Cathy, this can’t be true! Can it?” Emmy pleaded her with her eyes to tell them that it wasn’t.
“It’s true,” Cathy admitted. “The emperor was weak, but where he failed, I will be even stronger.”
“No!” Chris cried lunging towards Cathy, but the guards were quick to restrain him.
“Take them all away!” Cathy cried.
Ryan seized Cathy’s arm. “Please don’t do this,” he begged. “You’re ruining everything we ever fought for.”
Cathy shook off his arm in disgust. “You mean everything you ever fought for. Besides, what did you think would happen?”
“We were kind of hoping we could establish a republic,” Chris replied quietly.
Cathy scoffed. “Please, a republic? That’s preposterous; besides then you wouldn’t be Imperial Mission Force, you’d be Republican Mission Force, and that’s not nearly as catchy.”
“She’s got a point there,” Laz admitted. Suddenly, a small army of guards trailed into the room. They secured each of them in handcuffs and began to drag them away.
“You won’t get away with this!” Ryan shouted.
“Oh, I think I will,” Cathy laughed. “Lock them up!” she commanded the guards.
“Cathy? What happened to you? We were friends!” Kayla shouted as the guards dragged her away.
Cathy merely turned her back on her.

Ryan, Tim, Chris, Laz, Kayla, Emmy, Jordan, and Jason all sat quietly together in their prison cell.
“Well, two whole missions later and we’re right back where we started,” Tim quipped. “Seems like an utter waste of time and space.”
“Maybe,” Emmy said. “But at least we tried.”
“And for what?” Kayla moaned. “To have our own best friend turn on us?”
“Yeah, the whole Cathy thing doesn’t make any sense,” Chris mused. “Maybe she’s another faker with a mask on.”
“Nah, this story has had way too many of those moments already,” Ryan disagreed. “I think she’s for real. I would have predicted it though.”
“Isn’t that the whole point?” Laz asked. “For the ending to be so ridiculous no one would ever believe it but at the same point it is still somewhat believable?”
“Well I don’t know about the believable part,” Tim said, “but yeah, pretty much.”
“In any event, it appears that we’re going to be stuck here for a long time.”
“Not on my watch,” a voice whispered. Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin.
“Who’s that?” Ryan hissed.
“It’s me,” said the man, pressing his face against the bars of their jail cell. “I’ve come to rescue you.”
“Derek?” Ryan exclaimed, recognizing the face.
“Yeah, come on, we’ve got to get you guys out of here.”
“But how?” Tim asked.
“I have the keys you dope,” Derek replied. He shoved the keys into the lock and turned them, and then he shoved the cell door open.
No sooner had Ryan exited the cell then he punched Derek in the face. Shocked, Derek stumbled against the wall. “This is how you thank me?” he asked, feeling his nose for blood.
“Why did you fire those missiles when she told you?” Ryan demanded.
“I had no choice,” Derek insisted. “If I hadn’t she would have killed me.”
“So?”
“Guys, guys, let’s not argue,” Jordan interjected. “Look, Derek has so kindly let us out of here, and although you may not be too happy with him at the moment, I suggest we argue about this later.”
Ryan narrowed his eyes. “Fine,” he muttered gruffly.
“Now, how do we get out of here?” Tim asked.
“Everything’s all arranged,” Derek answered. “Daniel and Katie are waiting for you with vehicle transports. I’ll lead you to them.”
“Are you coming with us?” Kayla asked.
Derek shook his head. “I’m afraid I can not, there’s too much to do here.” Without another word he lead them out of the dungeon. When they had stepped outside, they found Daniel and Katie waiting for them in unmarked vans, just as Derek had promised.
“Come on, let’s go!” Daniel shouted.
“Wait,” Emmy said, coming to a halt. “This is all way too easy.”
“Don’t worry,” Derek assured her. “The writer is just really tired of this story never really being finished and is rushing to a half-hearted conclusion.”
“Huh?”
“It’s easy because Cathy trusts me and gave me too much power,” Derek said.
Still in disbelief that they had been freed so easily, the former prisoners piled into the two vehicles.
“I must go,” Derek said. He shifted his gaze to Daniel and Katie. “Drive and don’t stop until you reach the location I gave you, take a few detours if you think someone is following you.”
Daniel and Katie both nodded.
“I’m sorry that I’ve failed you, Ryan,” Derek apologized.
Suddenly, a loud shout echoed from the dungeon.
“They discovered that we’re missing! Hit it!” Tim shouted. Daniel and Katie immediately obliged.
“I’ll hold them off!” Derek shouted.
Daniel and Katie pushed the gas as hard as they could and the vans sped out of sight, but not before Ryan glanced back to see Derek trying to fend off a dozen well armed men with only a sidearm. The result being that Derek was riddled with several bullets before he finally hit the ground.

The ride was silent for a few hours, at least in the van that contained Daniel, Ryan, Tim, Chris and Laz.
Finally, Chris spoke up. “You know this isn’t over yet, Cathy’s still going to be empress.”
Ryan gave a dark laugh. “I think I might have taken care of that.”
“What do you mean?” Tim asked.
“Just turn on the radio,” Ryan said, declining to say anymore.
Daniel obediently turned on the radio to the Imperial news channel.
“…in breaking news, brand new Empress Cathy was killed just moments ago by an explosion that seemed to emanate from the seat of her pants. Whether a bomb was planted there or if perhaps the former empress just had some rather explosive farts has yet to be determined.”
Daniel switched off the radio. “Okay, I give up. What did you do?” he asked.
Ryan smiled. “Remember our old friend, red light, green light gum?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well just so happens I slipped some in her back pocket right before the guards took us away. So when she sat down and mashed the gum together…”
“Boom,” Tim finished.
“Exactly,” Ryan said, snapping his fingers.
They all sat in silence for another few moments and then Chris broke the silence once more. “So what do we do know?”
“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious,” Daniel replied. “We should start a republic. I mean, I think everyone’s had enough of this empire stuff. Don’t you think?”
“But then there would be no IMF,” Laz protested.
“I don’t think there has been any IMF for a while,” Daniel pointed out.
“Yeah, Daniel’s right,” Tim agreed. “And you know would be perfect to run for supreme chancellor?”
“Who?” Daniel asked, expectantly.
“Chris,” Tim replied.
“Oh…” Daniel said in a disappointed voice. “Yeah, Chris would be great.”
“Really?” Chris said, surprised.
Ryan smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I think he’s right. You’d be great Chris.”
Chris smiled to himself. “But what about you guys?”
“Oh, we’re more like your dirty work kinda guys,” Ryan answered.
“Wait, you guys aren’t gonna leave me behind again, are you?” Laz asked.
“Nah, of course not,” Ryan said, winking at Tim.
“Well it’s settled then,” Tim declared, “We’re starting a revolution!”
“Shouldn’t we ask everyone in the other car about it first?” Daniel asked.
Ryan shrugged. “Nah, I’m sure they’ll be cool with it.”
“But it would be a big step to leave IMF behind forever,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, but like you pointed out, IMF’s been done fore a while now,” Chris said. “Besides, it’s only a name.”
“So that’s it,” Tim muttered to himself more than anyone. “This is the end of IMF.”


The End?

Epilogue: Years later…

Chris leaned back in his chair and sighed. This had been the first chance he’d had to relax in some time. It had been nothing but hectic from the time they had decided to overthrow the empire until the time he had been elected supreme chancellor.
The election had been lopsided, but of course, Chris was completely unaware that Ryan and Tim had gone about rigging the election make it so.
Their excuse for doing so was that the girl running against Chris was so hot that everyone would just vote for her because she looked amazing rather than for her political views, and she was leading Chris in the polls.
“Supreme Chancellor?” a voice sounded over the speakerphone. It was Emmy, Chris’ greatest ally and one of the most influential senators in the newly found senate, next to Kayla.
“Yes?” Chris replied.
“I just spoke with Tim and Ryan and they’re on their way up to see you, just thought I’d let you know.”
“Thanks Emmy.”
Moments later, Ryan and Tim burst through the door, “We heard you needed to see us?” Ryan said.
“Yes, yes, sit down please.”
Ryan and Tim obeyed.
“Where’ Laz?” Chris asked.
Tim and Ryan shrugged. “We don’t know.”

Laz woke up in bed and yawned loudly. Scratching his head sleepily he wandered out to the kitchen and poured himself some cereal. To his surprise he found a note stuck on the table. Curiously, he picked it up and read the note.
It read: “Dear Laz, sorry we didn’t wake you, you just looked so peaceful so we left on Chris’ mission without you, see you when we get back.”
Laz wrinkled up the note angrily and threw it in the garbage. “Idiots,” he muttered to himself.

“Ryan, Tim, I’m going to need a little more dirty work done, are you up to it?” Chris asked.
“Always,” Tim replied.
“Good,” Chris smiled. “You see there is a particular senator, whose name I will not will say here, but I will nonchalantly show you a picture of a senator who may or may not be him.” Chris slipped a picture towards them.
“This is Brock Hussein,” Ryan said.
“Yes it is,” Chris nodded. “Now the senator who is giving me problems has just been moved into his new home here in the capitol. I will also nonchalantly slip this address to you which may or may not be the address of that house.”
“Let me guess,” Ryan said. “You want him… taken care of.”
Chris smiled and nodded. “I trust you’re up to it?”
They both nodded. “As always,” Tim assured him.
“Good,” and with that Chris waved them out of his office.
On their way back down to the car, Tim nudged Ryan’s arm. “Do you ever get the feeling that we’re doing the same exact stuff we did before, just under a different guise.”
Ryan gave him a look. “I think that you think too much.”
Tim sighed. “Maybe… Are you ready?” He opened the passenger door to Ryan’s corvette and climbed inside.
“Yep,” Ryan nodded and got in the driver’s side.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Tim asked.
“What? Oh… yeah, right.” Ryan pulled out a very cool-looking pair of sunglasses and slipped them on. “Now I’m ready.”

And Now It’s Really the End. … Or is it?
No, yeah it really is… For now…

Mission: Payback part 19

Continued from last week...

Back in the Rebel headquarters, Cathy was pacing back and forth across the floor.
“Cathy, you’re gonna wear a hole in the carpet if you keep pacing like that,” Derek said.
“That’s highly unlikely,” Laz piped up. “Given the fact that we’re about fifteen minutes away from being blown sky high there’s no way that she would have enough time to wear a hole in any carpet.”
“Figure of speech,” Derek snapped.
“What’s going on?” Cathy asked more to herself than anyone. “We should have heard from them by now.”
“Maybe something went wrong,” Kayla suggested.
“No! We can’t afford to think like that,” Cathy shook her head violently.
“Ryan has never failed us,” Chris declared confidently.
Just then one of Cathy’s aides interrupted them. “The missile has launched, ma’am.”
Chris stared at the aide dumbly. “Until now,” he whispered.

Emmy and Ryan raced over towards the computer screen. “It’s too late!” Emmy exclaimed. “The missile has launched already.”
“Maybe we can still stop it,” Ryan said. “We have to break that code first, though. Start putting in some codes.”
Emmy started typing frantically. “It’s not world domination,” she said as the computer rejected her first try.
“No,” Ryan shook his head. “He wouldn’t use the same password twice. Try again.”
Emmy tried another password, but it too failed. She looked at Ryan and wrung her hands. “Ryan, I’m out of ideas. What do we do?”
Ryan closed his eyes and racked his brain for any ideas. Finally, he opened his eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know…” then his eyes brightened. “I have it!” Ryan gxclaimed, thrusting his finger in the air just as a light bulb magically appeared over his head. Ryan looked up at the light bulb and scratched his head. “Weird… where did that come from?”
“It does that when you come up with a brilliant idea, now what is it?” Emmy explained hastily.
“Well what does a light bulb appearing over your head have to do with coming up with an idea?” Rycn asked. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s just an illustration,” Emmy snapped. “Now what’s your idea?”
“Oh right, the idea.” Ryan rushed over to the computer and typed in a password and clicked enter.
“Access granted,” the computer announced in a monotone voice.
“We’re in!” Emmy exclaimed with amazement. “What was the password?”
“Kill Cruise,” Ryan replied absentmindedly, he was already hammering away at the keyboard.
“Wait…” Emmy spoke up after watching Ryan type away at the keyboard for several seconds. “Whct are you doing?”
“Trying to stop the missile, what does it look like?” Ryan replied in an irritated tone.
Emmy’s brow wrinkled in a confused frown. “It looks like your just typing a bunch of random keys.”
“I am not!” Ryan shouted defensively. “This is a very complicated procedure,” he paused and then added, “They do it in the movies all the time.”
Emmy through up her hands and sighed. “I was afraid of that,” she moaned. Emmy thrust Ryan away from the keyboard. “Here, let me at it.” Emmy started typing away at the computer furiously.
“Hey!” Ryan complained. “I was this close!” he held his thumb less than an inch from his finger.

“Done,” Emmy declared, turning and giving Ryan a smug grin.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed in a look of bewilderment. “What the…? But you were doing the same thing I did.”
Emmy shrugged and returned her attention to the computer once more. “You must have not been hitting the right keys.”
“Ha! Not hitting the right keys my--” Ryan started to say but he was cut off by Emmy’s worried remark.
“Uh-oh, I think we have a problem.”
“What?” Ryan asked, trying to peer over Emmy’s shoulder at the computer screen.
Emmy turned back and faced the computer again. “I don’t think I can terminate the missile.”
Ryan stared at her blankly and then demanded, “Speak English, please.”
“That was English,” Emmy fired back.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Simpler English then.”
“I can’t stop this thing!” Emmy shouted in his ear. “There you get that!?”
Ryan rocked back a step, stunned. He blinked and rubbed his ear. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, you don’t have to shout I’m right here.”
“What are we going to do?” Emmy asked frantically.
Ryan pondered her question for a second, rubbing the stubble on his chin thoughtfully before replying, “can we steer it?”
Emmy paused as if trying to remember if this were possible. “I’m not sure,” she finally said.
“Well can we try?” Ryan asked.
Turning back towards the computer, Emmy scanned the screen. “It’s a good thought… but I’m not sure how we would steer it.”
Ryan pointed towards the screen. “What does that button that says ‘pop out joystick’ do?”
Emmy moved the mouse into position and clicked the button. There was a whirring sound and a square hole opened in the top of the desk. A few seconds later, a joystick rose into view and the whirring sound stopped with a metallic clicking sound.
“Oh,” Ryan said. “That makes sense…” he grabbed the joystick and shifted it around, testing it.
“What does it do?” Emmy asked.
“Steers the missile I’m hoping,” was Ryan’s answer. He jerked the joystick to the right. His effort was awarded by an alarm on the computer.
“Missile veering off course,” the computer warned.
“It’s working!” Emmy shouted joyously, clapping her hands.
“Just turn off that stupid alarm,” Ryan yelled over the loud sirens blaring from the computer.
Emmy pushed a few buttons and the alarms ceased. She turned back towards Ryan and took a deep breath, and brushed her hair off of her face. “Where are you going to divert it to?”
Ryan grinned. “I have the perfect place.”

Back at the Rebel’s temporary headquarters, Cathy paced back and forth worriedly.
“One minute, fifty-seven seconds until impact,” the Rebel computer announced. “One minute, fifty-six sec--”
“Just tell us when it gets down to thirty seconds, ok?” Cathy sncpped at the computer.
“Yes ma’am,” the computer replied evenly.
Chris and Laz were carrying on a rather nervous conversation in the corner of the room, each hoping and praying that their old friend would miraculously come through once again.
Standing somewhat closer to the anxious Cathy was Derek. He too was nervous, although you could hardly tell it. The only sign of anxiety he showed has the constant tapping of his foot, otherwise he was completely calm.
“Come on, Cruise,” Cathy hissed under her breath, continuing to pace across the room.
“Give him time, Cathy,” Derek said.
Cathy whirled around to face him. “We may not have much time left, Derek,” she pointed out.
Chris piped up from over in the corner, “Cruise has never failed us Cathy, and he won’t fail us now.”
Cathy remained silent for a moment and ran her fingers through her hair. “I certainly hope not,” she whispered.

Over in the Imperial camp’s headquarters, the Imperial general was standing in front of the computer screen with his hands folded behind his back and a confident look on his face.
One of his men walked up to him and stood by his side, waiting for orders. The general simply ignored him and kept his gaze on the computer screen in front of him.
“Thirty seconds until impact,” the computer notified them in a monotone voice.
The general turned his attention towards the soldier standing beside him. “Just a few more seconds and we will have crushed this pitiful rebellion,” he said gleefully.
The man dipped his head and smiled. “Congratulations, sir,” he replied.
The general let a grin spread across his face and chuckled. “And to think that Morris was so worried about that Ryan Cruise character that he actually left the battle scene. Ha, not that it’s much of a battle of course, but it still seems regrettable that he’ll miss the fireworks.”
“It does, sir,” the soldier replied politely.
The general opened his mouth to speak but then paused. “Do you hear that?” he asked, a bewildered frown replacing his triumphant grin.
The soldier gave a confused look in return and shook his head. “Hear what, sir?”
“That whistling noise,” the general continued. “It almost sounds like a mi--” was all managed to get out before he was cut off as a loud explosion shook the Imperial camp. The general lifted his hand to protect himself from the unseen danger but before he could move a step he, and nearly the entire Imperial camp, was engulfed in a ball of flames.

Cathy and the others heard the explosion only split seconds before they felt the slight tremor in the floor underneath them. They froze in an instant, bewildered and momentarily frightened for their lives. But when it became apparent that the explosion was nowhere near them and that they were in no immediate danger, their looks changed from bewildered and frightened, to simply bewildered.
“What was that?” Chris broke the silence by voicing the question that was on all their minds.
“I think it was a missile,” Laz suggested.
“Of course it was a missile,” Kayla snapped. “But was it our missile?”
“I wasn’t aware that we had a missile that big,” Laz retorted.
“That’s not what I meant, stupid,” Kayla shot back.
“Hey!” Laz objected. “I am not stupid… just misunderstood.”
Cathy ignored their comments and checked the computer. “According to the computer, the missile should have detonated by now.”
“I think it just did,” Chris said softly.
Realizing what Chris was implying, Kayla smiled and gave a sigh of relief. “Then that means that Ryan succeeded.”
Derek, who had remained silent since the explosion, spoke up. “He may have succeeded, but that doesn’t change the fact that, in a few minutes, Ryan Cruise will be dead thanks to us. That is if he isn’t already.”

Daniel and Katie were spending a rare moment of time together when the missile exploded. They both jumped from to their feet as the missile lit up the sky, lighting the sky for miles.
“I think that was the Imperial camp!” Katie exclaimed.
“Was that our missile?” Daniel asked, looking at Katie.
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Just then a shout burst forth from the camp. “Woohoo! You don’t mess with the Rebellion!”
Several cries echoed the anonymous shout, until the whole camp was filled with cheers.
“Does this mean we’ve won?” Katie shouted over the din.
Daniel shook his head slowly. “I don’t think anything will end this except the death of the emperor."

To be continued...

Mission 5: Payback part 18

Continued from last week...

The giant bird moved in closer and dropped a rope from the passenger door. A man dressed in black slid down the rope and landed on the floor a few feet away.
“Chuck Morris!” Emmy gasped.
The man, who was indeed Chuck Morris, chuckled. “Guilty as charged. Looks like your feeble efforts to save your pitiful friends are over.” He raised his gun and pointed it at them.
“No!” Tim cried. He leapt from the ground and made a grab at Morris’ gun. A shot rang out and Tim flinched but that didn’t stop his charge. He seized Chuck Morris’ arm and held on for dear life. Chuck Morris tried to pry himself free but to no avail. Then with a grunt he finally flung Tim out the window. Tim screamed as he fell into the courtyard, his cries echoing through the air.
“Pesky beast,” Morris muttered. He looked down at his hand, which was now empty, and grunted.
Emmy cried out in disbelief. “Tim!” She shifted her gaze to Chuck Morris, infuriated. “Why you!” She lunged at Chuck Morris but he simply batted her aside as if she were a rage doll, smashing her into the wall. Emmy slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Chuck returned his focus to Ryan and grinned. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Cruise.”
“If all you really wanted was to be alone with me, you could have just asked,” Ryan quipped.
“You won’t be such a smart mouth when I’m finished with you, Cruise,” Chuck Morris threatened.
“Your forgetting one thing,” Ryan shot back.
Chuck hesitated. “What is that?”
“I’m the one who has a gun.” Quick as a flash, Ryan drew his sidearm from his holster and squeezed off two quick shots at Morris, his last two shots left.
Morris quickly brought his gloved hand up and stretched it out. Both the bullets smacked into Morris’ hand and crumpled on impact, falling harmlessly to the floor.
Ryan stared at him in disbelief. “I gotta get me some of those gloves,” he whispered. Then he snapped his attention back to Morris and squeezed the trigger again. But once again he was awarded only with a soft clicking noise.
“Oh,” Morris said, tauntingly. “I’m afraid you’re all out.”
Ryan threw the useless weapon to the ground. “Yes, I guess so. Tell me one thing though, before we fight until one of us is dead.”
“What is that?” Morris asked.
“Where did you purchase those gloves?” Almost before he had finished his question, Ryan leaped into the air, landed on his left foot and attempted a kick with his right.
Morris effortlessly caught his right leg in mid-kick and punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards into the desk.
Ryan shook his head and blinked his eyes rapidly. “Someone’s been eating their Wheaties,” he groaned, never losing his sarcastic nature.
Chuck Morris spit on the ground and charged at Ryan. He grabbed him by the collar and threw him onto the desk, raising his arm in an effort to slam his elbow into Ryan’s gut.
Ryan rolled off the desk, narrowly dodging Morris’ elbow, which crashed into the desk, breaking the emperor’s prized desk in two.
Chuck roared with rage and pursued Ryan, who was now crawling backward away from him. “This is ridiculous!” Ryan cried, genuinely concerned for the first time in perhaps ever.
Morris snickered. “Did you think people were joking when they said that I could kill a man with a single toothpick?”
“Well I was kind of hoping,” Ryan chuckled nervously.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Morris grunted. He picked Ryan up by the collar and threw him into the wall.
“Oof!” Ryan groaned, the wind knocked out of his lungs.
Morris rushed forward once again, seeking to plant his fist right in Ryan’s face, but Ryan moved quickly to the left and Morris’ fist left a hole in the wall instead. Trying to catch him off guard, Ryan rolled to his feet and planted a sweeping hook into Morris’ ribcage. Morris turned to Ryan and growled. He punched Ryan once again, sending him flying across the room and tumbling over a chair.
“You’ll find that I have no weak spots, Cruise,” Morris taunted.
“Every man has at least one weak spot,” Ryan replied, breathlessly. He ducked as Morris picked a chair and threw at him. Using the momentum of his dodge, Ryan rolled across the floor and kicked Morris right in the groin. Much to Ryan’s surprise, Morris didn’t even flinch, he simply growled louder.
“Strange, that usually works,” Ryan breathed as he dodged another one of Morris’ powerful punches. “Are you sure you’re a man?” he asked.
Morris’ only response was to once again send Ryan sailing across the room with one of his overpowering punches.
Ryan shook his head and struggled to get up. “Phew! That really clears up the sinuses.”
Morris ignored his comment and grabbed onto a metal handrail on the wall. With a grunt he tore the bar from its screws and wielded it in his hand.
“Now it is time for you to die, Ryan Cruise.” He swung the bar at Ryan. Ryan ducked not a second too soon, the bar passing just inches over his head. The attack had caught him off guard, however, and Ryan stumbled and fell to the ground.
Morris raised the bar over his head and slammed it down, inches from Ryan’s shoulder. Ryan rolled to his right just avoiding another crushing blow from the bar.
This only seemed to infuriate Morris even more, however, he continued to swing the bar at Ryan, harder and harder.
Ryan rolled to his feet and leapt back just in time to avoid being whacked in the ribs with Morris’ bar.
Chuck Morris continued the swing the bar almost wildly, pushing Ryan backwards towards the gaping hole in the emperor’s office.
Ryan kept backing up, looking for a way of escape; he had long since given up any hope of beating the seemingly invincible Chuck Morris in a fight. As he searched for an escape route, however, Ryan tripped and fell over backwards. Frantically, Ryan started crab-walking backwards, trying to get away. Morris was to fast, however; he leapt in front of Ryan and cut off his escape.
Ryan glanced up at Morris’ harrowing figure and swallowed nervously. “Truce?” he said weakly.
“Nice try, Cruise,” Morris snarled. He grabbed Ryan by his collar and shoved him against the wall, holding his makeshift club at arms’ length. He raised the bar above his head, preparing to bash Ryan’s head in. Before he delivered the blow, Morris peered at Ryan curiously. “Any last words from the infamous Ryan Cruise?”
“Just two,” Ryan mumbled, his head hanging from his shoulders, a seemingly beaten man.
“And what might they be?” Morris asked in a taunting tone.
Ryan set his teeth and snapped his head up, staring into Chuck Morris’ eyes. He practically spit the words onto Morris’ face: “Drop dead.”
Morris started to chuckle, but the laugh stuck in his throat. He coughed and his eyes grew wide; his breathing stopped, and the metal bar slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground. Then with a last gasp, Morris fell limp to the ground.
“Wow…” Ryan whispered, staring at Morris’ fallen corpse. “I didn’t think that would actually work…”

For those of you who are somewhat confused as to what exactly happened to Chuck Morris, the following is an explanation of his death.
Chuck Morris was a seemingly invincible character. He was as strong and invulnerable as he was famous. He killed, it seemed, at will and it also seemed as if no one could stop him. He even once famously killed a man with a toothpick. But what hit Morris just before he was able to kill Ryan Cruise was smaller than the end of a toothpick. It was a blood clot. If Morris had asked his doctor about a pill, which we cannot define in any detail due to legal reasons (other to say that it is the color green and could possibly have had something to do with blood clots) he may have been alive long enough to actually kill Cruise. But since Morris hadn’t visited a doctor in thirty years he was unable to ask about this said green pill and get a recommendation from his doctor. So remember, don’t end up like Chuck Morris, ask your doctor about the green pill today. (This message brought to you by: The green pill. Ask your doctor about it today… or just take it without asking your doctor… that works too.) *

* Should not be used if pregnant or nursing. If you’re a man, save yourself some time and don’t worry about it.
Side effects may include: Diarrhea, constipation, lack of sleep, dry mouth, restless leg syndrome, hives, sudden depletion of cash funds, swollen tongue, other various allergies, and in some rare cases, even death.

Back to the main story…

Still confused by the timely demise of Chuck Morris, Ryan stumbled away from the corpse, a dazzled look on his face. His confusion was interrupted, however, by a soft groan.
“Ryan?” someone whispered softly.
“Emmy!” Ryan exclaimed. He ran over to where Emmy was still lying after having been thrown against the wall. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Emmy said, rubbing her head softly. “I think so. What happened? With Morris I mean.”
Ryan straightened up proudly. “Well it was a hard fought battle between him and I, but I came out the better man in the end. He just couldn’t dodge that left hook of mine.”
Emmy rolled her eyes. “Forget it, Ryan. I saw the whole thing, he had you from the start.”
Ryan snapped his fingers. “Dang it! I was hoping you hadn’t seen that.”
Emmy smiled, but her smile quickly disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion. “What did kill him though?”
Ryan shrugged. “I have no idea, I’m just gonna go with it and not ask any questions.”
Just then there was a crashing sound beside them, and a loud groan. Emmy jumped to her feet and froze. “The emperor!” she explained. “We forgot all about him!”
“Geez, how in the world could we do that?” Ryan wondered aloud. He and Emmy both rushed over to the emperor’s desk, but they were too late. The emperor was already standing by his desk, his hand hovering over yet another button.
“Yes, how could you two forget about me?” the emperor asked, wiping the blood that was trickling from his mouth. “I guess you won’t be doing that again, will you?” he slammed his hand down on the button and suddenly he sank through the floor.
Ryan raced over to where the emperor had been standing moments ago, but he had vanished. “Trap door!” Ryan slammed his hand down on the ground.
“Now what?” Emmy cried. “What do we do?”
“We have to go after him!” Ryan replied.
“What about Tim? And Jason? And Jordan?”
“We’re gonna have to trust that they’re still alive and can get out of her on their own,” Ryan said.
He stood up and started searching the emperor’s desk for the button to the trap door. “Where does he hide those buttons?” he mumbled.
The entire desk, it seemed, was covered with little buttons.
“How does he even have room to work?” Emmy said aloud.
“I think the desk is more for show,” Ryan guessed. He pushed one of the several buttons and a TV slid out from the ceiling. “That’s not it.” He pushed another one and a mirror popped out of the desk. “Nope.” Ryan started to push another button, but a loud siren that erupted from the computer rudely interrupted him.
“Missile launch,” the computer stated in a mechanical voice.
“Uh-oh,” Ryan stopped pushing buttons and faced the computer. “I think we forgot about something else too.”

To be continued...

Mission 5: Payback part 17

Continued from last week... (Just out of curiousity does anyone even glance at this besides Laz and Tim? Just wondering...)

The emperor shook his head and grinned at the former IMF agents coyly. “I’m afraid you won’t be escaping this time, Cruise. Your fate is finally sealed.” He pushed yet another button on his desk and the floor that Tim, Emmy, and Ryan were standing on slowly started to slide out from under them. “You’ll find that my piranhas are anxiously waiting for you at the bottom of that hole,” the emperor gloated.
“How many freaking buttons does he have on that desk?” Ryan muttered.
“Oh crap,” Tim groaned. “This is not good.”
“Any other startling revelations?” Emmy asked sarcastically.
“Stop it, just try to find something to hang on to,” Tim ordered.
“Like what? We’re in a glass box!” Emmy exclaimed, starting to panic. They only had half as much floor to stand on now, and the space they had was slowly growing smaller.
“I’m slipping!” Emmy said, now in full panic. “I can’t hang on any more!”
“Don’t panic,” Ryan commanded her. He switched places with her so that she was standing farther away farther away from the hole. “Here, get back.”
“That’s not gonna matter much in a few minutes,” Emmy pointed out.
“I was just trying to be nice,” Ryan said.
They had hardly anything to stand on now, how they were still hanging on was beyond Tim.
“Man, oh man,” Tim groaned. “If we make it out of this I’m never doing anything adventurous again.” They could hear the piranhas in the water below them, splashing in anticipation.
“Guys,” Emmy said. “If we don’t make it, there’s something I want to tell you both.”
“Yeah?” Ryan looked over at her, still just barely hanging on.
Just then someone screamed and hurdled their body into the emperor’s and knocking him to the ground. “NO! Stop!” the person cried.
“Sarah?” Ryan exclaimed. Apparently the bullet he’d put in her shoulder had not killed her, just temporarily taken her out of the action.
Sarah slammed down on the button and the floor stopped moving.
“Sarah, I knew you’d turn around!” Ryan exclaimed.
Sarah hit another button and the glass cage disappeared back into the floor. Tim, Emmy, and Ryan tumbled to the ground, relieved that they weren’t tumbling into a pit of piranhas.
“I couldn’t let the emperor kill you,” Sarah said.
“Cause you realized that you really are good inside?” Ryan guessed.
“No,” Sarah shook her head and laughed. “Because I wanted the pleasure of doing it myself.” She brought her gun to Ryan’s head.
“I have to admit, that wasn’t he change I was hoping for,” Ryan said, never missing a beat.
“You always were a wisecrack,” Sarah said, disapprovingly. “Even to your grave.” She squeezed her finger harder on the trigger. Ryan closed his eyes and waited for his fate. There was a soft Pftt! Sound, but Ryan’s head didn’t explode; he didn’t see any white light and the angel of death didn’t greet him. In fact, nothing happened. Ryan looked up and saw why. Sarah hadn’t pulled the trigger. She couldn’t have because there was a large bullet hole in her forehead. Sarah dropped to the floor, dead.
“Who was that?” Emmy asked from behind Ryan.
“Who do you think?” came a soft, unemotional voice.
“Jason!” Emmy exclaimed.
Indeed standing by the broken window was Jason Scorn, silenced rifle in hand. He motioned for them to come to the window. “Come on I’ve got the chopper waiting, let’s go.”
Ryan started towards the window, but then suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. “Ow!”
“What is it?” Emmy asked.
“It’s a GPS chip,” Ryan said, staring at his arm. “I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“GPS chips don’t hurt,” Tim observed.
“This one’s different,” Ryan explained. “It sends a pain through my nervous system when it’s actkvated.”
“So it’s been activated?” Tim asked.
“Yeah, that’s something they’d only do in case of emergency. Derek must really be in trouble.”
“Derek? Why Derek?” Emmy questioned him.
“Because he’s the only one with the code,” Ryan replied. He turned to Jason, “I need your phone.”
Jason shook his head. “We need to get out of here, now.”
“This is urgent, just give me the phone!” Ryan ordered.
Jason stared at him for a minute, and then tossed Ryan the phone.
Ryan caught it very stylishly in midair and then hurriedly dialed Derek’s number. “This had better be good,” he muttered.

Derek stared at the screen, shocked. “What in the world is he doing there?”
“How should I know?” Cathy shrugged.
“He’s certainly kept himself busy in his absence,” Chris observed coming up behind them.
“And without me!” Laz lamented.
“What does it matter,” Kayla mumbled. “He’ll be dead soon anyways, thanks to the both of you.”
Derek flinched, but Cathy acted as if she hadn’t heard the comment.
“What do we do now?” Chris askgd.
“Wait for him to contact us,” Derek answered. Almost before the words were out of his mouth, Derek’s phone started ringing. He snatched it from his waist and glanced at the I.D. “It’s Cruise,” he announced.
“Put him on speaker,” Cathy ordered as Derek answered the phone. Derek obliged.
“Hello?” Derek shouted into the receiver.
“This is Cruise,” Ryan’s voice crackled from the phone. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Normally I’d ask what you’re doing in the emperor’s office, but that’s not important at the moment,” Cathy spoke into the phone. “The reason we contacted you is that there’s a missile headed straight for our camp.”
“And you want me to stop it, is that it?”
“Well we were hoping,” Cathy admitted.
“How would you suggest I do that? Throw a rope around it and veer it off course?”
“No, we believe that the emperor can control his missiles from his main computer. And since you’re in his office at this moment, it all works out.”
“All right, all right, I’ll do it. How do I get to this missile program on the computer?”
“Listen closely,” Cathy replied. “I’ll give you the basic rundown.”

Chuck Morris stood in the Imperial camp’s observation tower, overlooking his mighty army. “And to think this is only a fraction of the emperor’s power,” he spoke to himself. “The entire world will soon belong to the emperor.” His fantasizing was interrupted, however, by one of his henchmen.
“Sir,” one of his men tapped him on the shoulder.
“What?” Morris snapped, irritated that his daydreaming had been cut short.
“There’s been a disturbance at the emperor’s getaway palace,” the man replied.
“So? How is that my concern?”
“Sir, we believe that it’s Cruise.”
Morris looked away and scowled. “Bring me a chopper.”

“Okay,” Ryan nodded, receiving the last of Cathy’s instructions. “I’ll let you know when the missile’s launch has been cancelled.”
“Hurry,” Cathy urged from the other line. “There’s less than 15 minutes until it launches according to our source.”
Ryan snapped the phone shut and flipped it back to Jason. “We have a missile to stop before we go,” he informed him.
Jason’s squinted. “You’re pushing it…”
“Don’t I always?”
“Good point,” Emmy said already firing up the emperor’s computer. “Great,” she hissed. “There’s a password.”
“Of course there is,” Tim said, coming over beside her.
Ryan joined them. “Well, break the code.”
“This would be easier if Laz were here,” Emmy whispered. “He can do all this stuff a lot better.”
“Laz isn’t here,” Tim reminded her. “Just type in some possibilities.”
Emmy obeyed and typed in a few random numbers. She pressed enter key but the code was rejected.
“Four more tries before alarm is triggered,” the computer informed them.
“Great!” Emmy slammed the desk. “I’ll never get it in four tries!”
“Just keep trying!” Tim ordered.
She tried a couple more but they failed as well. “There’s only two more tries,” Emmy announced. “If I fail them both the whole computer will lockdown.”
“Try again,” Ryan said, absentmindedly.
Emmy tried once more, but once more her effort failed. “One more try,” she said, nervously. She started to type another code, but Ryan stopped her.
“Wait!” Ryan cried. He grabbed the keyboard and punched in a different code.
“Access granted,” the computer announced.
“You did it!” Emmy shouted, clapping her hands.
“What was the code?” Tim asked, as Ryan searched for the missile launch sequence program.
“World domination,” Ryan replied. “Aha!” he exclaimed. “Here it is! Oh great! There’s another password!”
Suddenly there was a loud explosion and Ryan, Emmy, and Tim were all thrown up against the wall. A whole section of the roof caved in on the other side of the room and Jason was knocked from his perch by the window into the courtyard below.
Ryan glanced up at the gaping hole in the emperor’s office ceiling and gasped. “Helicopter!”

To be continued...

Mission 5: Payback part 16

Continued from ages past... when Bush was still president...

Christophear and Laz looked on in amazement at the myriad of lights slowly moving in their direction.
Chris gasped. “Holy…”
“Crap,” Laz finished his sentence for him. “That’s the emperor’s army?”
Cathy, who was standing beside them watching from the rebel army’s temporary headquarters, gave a slight nod.
Laz whistled. “Their lights must outnumber ours three to one.”
“Most likely ten to one,” Chris corrected.
“Whatever! It’s hard to count lights okay, they keep moving…”
Cathy grunted. “This will be our last stand. We will forever be remembered for our courageous, seemingly hopeless struggle with the emperor’s vast armies.”
“Who cares about glory if we’re all dead?” Laz muttered.
Chris frowned. “There has to be a way to obtain glory and still be alive to enjoy it.”
“Well when you find out what way that is, be sure and let me know,” Cathy said.
Laz and Chris fell silent, contgmplating her words. Suddenly, a loud whistling noise broke through the silence. It screeched towards the rebel camp and exploded with a mighty. Rebel soldiers went flying across the camp, and they could hear several loud, blood-curdling screams.
“Missiles,” Laz gasped.
Cathy nodded. “And so it begins.”

“So…” Ryan ventured. He was still standing at gunpoint with his arms raised above his head. “How are we going to do this?” His question was directed at the emperor.
The emperor peered at him inquisitively and shook his head. “I never understood you, Cruise.”
“Neither did my mother,” Ryan interjected. “Or any of my teachers for that matter.”
The emperor rolled his eyes and continued. “Even in the face of death, you continue to wear that stupid grin as if nothing were wrong. Why?”
Ryan shrugged and started to answer but something caught his eye. Someone had moved past the window outside. Jason! It had to be! Ryan snapped his attention back to the emperor stalling for time. “I guess you’ll never know. So what’s it gonna be, emperor? Death by firing squad? No, that’s far too simple for you. How about the electric chair? No, too humane. Perhaps a good old-fashioned hanging? No, too old-fashioned. Hmm… Oh! I have it! An alligator pit!”
The emperor chuckled. “Very close my old friend, but you will not have the pleasure of alligators. No, you will die feeding my piranha collection!”
Ryan yawned. “That’s been done before, I was really hoping you would come up with something new.”
“There’s only so many ways to kill a man!” the emperor snapped.
“Well…” Ryan continued still stalling for time. “You could hang me with barbed wire.”
“Barbed wire?” the emperor said thoughtfully. “Has that been done before?”
“Not since Hitler,” Ryan replied.
“Oh Hitler! My role model, how perfect!”
“Of course you’d have to video tape it as well, and then watch it in your private theater,” Ryan added.
“Oh yes of course, guards go get my video—wait what am I saying? Darn you, Cruise! Guards, take him away and see that he has his wish, a hanging with barbed wire!”
Just as the guards started to drag Ryan out of the room, a window crashed and the room erupted in gunfire. Ryan took the opportunity of the guard’s distraction to dive to the floor and trip the two guards who had been holding him. As the two guards fell to the ground their guns clattered on the floor. Ryan reached out and grabbed the fallen sidearm to his right and kicked the other one to his left. He brought the gun in his hand up and shot two of the guards. Then he trained his gun on Sarah and squeezed the trigger. Sarah jolted backwards and slammed to the wall. She fell to the ground unconscious, clutching her shoulder where the bullet had struck her.
Across the room where the window had broken, Emmy and Tim climbed throwgh the broken shards of glass, automatic rifles in hand. Tim walked over to the emperor’s desk and slammed a button down, filling a nearby guard with bullet holes in the process. The doors to the emperor’s office slid shut and locked into place.
Tim eliminated the last of the guards in the room and then turned to the emperor. “Checkmate,” he growled.
“Checkmate?” Emmy smirked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know,” Tim muttered, embarrassed. “I just thought it would sound kill to say. Checkmate, you know like in chess when you… Oh never mind!” Tim focused his attention back on the emperor. “In any case, we finally got you, dirt bag.”
“Congratulations,” the emperor threw up his hands, looking rather calm.
“Man, am I glad you guys are here,” Ryan spoke up, picking himself up off the floor.
“Why because you thought you were finally going to die for once?” Emmy said, half-serious.
“No, because it would have been a lot harder to get out of this mess without you two,” Ryan replied.
Emmy just rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. “Ach, help your ego is so big its choking me.”
“Very funny,” Ryan said, frowning.
“Guys!” Tim snapped. “The emperor…”
“Right, of course,” Emmy said, snapping to attention. Then she noticed Sarah, lying on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from the shoulder. “Sarah!” she exclaimed. “What happened to her?” she started to go over and assist her but Ryan grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Leave her,” he commanded. “She’s betrayed us.”
“Sarah?” Emmy gasped in disbelief. “Not Sarah! She was one of us!”
“Apparently not…” Tim muttered.
“I never did understand her,” Ryan shook his head, still in disbelief himself. He stared for a few seconds and then snapped his attention back to the emperor. “But at least now we have you,” he said.
The emperor eyed Ryan, and spoke. “Looks as if I’ve finally met my end, but if you’re going to kill me I want you to do it right.”
“What according to your fantasy?” Ryan asked, taking a step towards Emmy and Tim.
“Well yes… I would prefer to be stabbed in the back, it portrays betrayal and I’ve always known that one day I would be betrayed.”
“Sorry emperor,” Ryan said, taking a couple more steps towards his fellow agents until he was standing by them. “But your days are up, and we will be the ones to decide how they end.”
The emperor grinned and cackled. “Oh to the contrary my young friends, it is your days that are up.” Before any of them could question his comment the emperor slammed his hand down on yet another button. In the blink of an eye glass walls surrounded them and a glass ceiling was slammed into place from above.
The emperor smiled his evil smile. “Fancy, eh? Its my latest addition to my series of traps that ensure no man will ever leave this building alive unless I will it.”
Ryan raised his gun and aimed it at the glass prison that surrounded them.
“Oh, don’t bother, Cruise,” the emperor said in a taunting tone. “I’m afraid that your little glass cage is completely bullet proof. Trying to shoot your way out will only deafen you and nothing more.”
Tim reached up and tapped on the glass. “He’s not bluffing, it’s bullet proof.”
“What do we do now?” Emmy asked in despair.
Tim turned to Ryan. “Well, how do you usually get out of these jams?”
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know, things just happen.”
“Well you better hope something does happen,” Tim replied. “And fast.”

Derrick awoke from his temporary nap with a start. The explosion had rattled the entire campground and as the newly promoted commander of the ground forces Derrick was very much in all of the action. He rolled off his cot and blinked from the bright light caused by the flames in the middle of his army’s camp.
Just then Daniel burst into his quarters. “Sir, we’ve been attacked!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Derrick roared. “Now get over there and help them put that fire out!” He grabbed the earpiece sitting beside his cot and spoke into it, “prepare to return fire!”
“Aye, aye, sir,” came the response. “Ready to fire when you are, sir.”
“Fire now! Fire!” Derrick yelled.
“Understood, sir. There is no need to yell.”
“Sorry,” Derrick mumbled. “Got caught up in the emotion.”
“Understandable, sir. You have been under a lot of stress lately…”
“Just fire the missiles! You can play doctor later.”
“Right away, sir.” Derrick felt the tremor in the ground as the missiles were launched in response.
Suddenly, a new voice crackled onto his headset. “Derrick? This is Kayla. We need you in the observation room immediately!”
“Can it wait?” Derrick asked, slightly annoyed. “I’m kind of busy right now with the new promotion and all.”
“I’m afraid it can’t,” Kayla replied. “Cathy wants you up here now, its urgent.”
“All right,” Derrick grumbled. “I’m on my way up.”
Derek made his way up to the observation room a few minutes later and burst through the door. “What is it?”
Cathy was standing by a large table with a map of the battlefield on it. There were little figurines scattered across the table, some were blue and the others red. He scanned the room, only three other people were there: Chris, Laz, and Kayla.
Derek glanced at the table. “Is that a layout of the battlefield?”
“Nah,” Laz waved him off. “It just looks professional.”
“The reason I called you here,” Cathy interjected. “Was to inform you that we have a missile crisis.”
“Well thanks a lot, ma’am but I’m afraid you’re a little late,” Derek replied somewhat irritated. “The missile already killed over a dozen of my men.”
“No, I’m not talking about that kind of a missile. I’m talking about the real thing. That missile will seem like a toy compared to this one!” Cathy had beads of sweat dripping from her nose.
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean we were going to launch a preemptive strike, but the emperor beat us to it with that last missile, and now he’s going to finish the job. If this missile hits us it will destroy the whole camp and everyone in it.”
“How did you find out about this?” Derek asked, sitting down hard.
“We have our sources inside the empire,” Cathy replied.
“What do you want from me?”
Cathy sighed. “This whole showdown thing was foolish, we should have stayed hidden in the rebel base.”
“We tried to point that out,” Kayla said. “This is not how Ryan would have--”
“I don’t want to hear how Ryan would have done it!” Cathy interrupted. She sat down and sighed again. “But we do need his help. As much as I hate to admit it, if anyone can stop that missile he can. Derek, where can we find him?”
“I wouldn’t know--”
“Oh cut the bull, Derek,” Cathy snapped. “I know has a GPS tracking chip inserted in his left arm; the emperor put it there himself for ‘emergencies’.”
“That’s not just a GPS tracking device, its poison!” Derek yelled. “The tracking device was inserted in case Cruise was ever captured or turned on us. It was so we could tell where he was and ensure that he was eliminated.”
“Yes, I know that,” Cathy replied. “Although I still can’t understand why the emperor hasn’t activated it yet.”
“That’s because he can’t, I only I know the code to activate the chip because I changed it.”
“That’s why we need your help, Derek.”
“Your asking me to sentence Cruise to death, Cathy… I can’t do that.”
“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you!” Cathy shouted. “It may be the only way to save us.”
Kayla spoke up, her voice shaking a little. “You can’t seriously be suggesting that we--”
“Yes, I am!” Cathy was clearly desperate.
“We can’t let you do that,” Chris protested.
“Not Ryan,” Laz agreed.
“Look, its either Ryan, or all these people out there,” Cathy pointed outside towards the camp. “Its your call, Derek.”
Derek put his head in his hands, the decision torturing his mind. “Cruise is a good friend of mine,” he said, almost in defeat.
“Derek,” Kayla said worriedly. “Derek, don’t do it!”
“Ryan would have wanted it this way,” Cathy said forcibly.
Derek glared at Cathy. “Yes he would have but it is hardly up to your or I to make that call.”
“Ryan isn’t here to make the call,” Cathy shot back.
“I know,” Derek whispered.
“What’s the code, Derek?” Cathy demanded. Derek stared at her, incoherently. “What’s the code?”
“3681007,” Derek mumbled. “God forgive me,” he added.
Cathy walked over to a nearby computer and punched in the code. “You’ve don the Rebel alliance a great service,” she said.
“No,” Derek shook his head. “Ryan has.”
Kayla, Chris, and Laz just stared into space, the realization of what had just happened sinking in.
Cathy gasped from over by the computer.
Derek looked up. “What is it?”
“I don’t believe this,” Cathy whispered. “Look at this.”
Derek walked over and looked over her shoulder.
“I don’t know how he found this place but he’s in the emperor’s office at his secret fortress.”

To be continued very soon... I promise