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...