Note from the author: Well, I thought I'd just post the link to our interview: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5972359939885256315&hl=en. Let us know what you thought of it. If you didn't get a couple of the questions don't worry. As Laz so aptly put it, "you'd have to be drunk to understand a couple of these questions..." Or you'd have to have been there... or both... anyways, hopefully we'll also have some bloopers, there was quite a few, mostly of us rambling on and then suddenly realizing we were getting very stupid. And speaking of rambling, I'll shut up now. Now to our main attraction...
Continued from last week...
Continuing the random side-plot…
Agent P closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He sat down on his chair in his office at CIA headquarters. Why had ever taken this job in the CIA? Why? Things had been good at first; all they’d had to do was catch rebel terrorist every now and then, and that had been easy. Now all of the sudden they had a myriad of rogue agents on the loose and not nearly enough man power to track them all down. The most elusive, and consequently the most wanted, of the fugitives were Ryan Cruise, Timothius Danaford, and Laz.
There was another agent on the loose, however, one who went by the name of Jason Scorn. This particular agent was especially bothersome to Agent P, because of how easily he constantly outsmarted his agents at every turn. The guy was an expert at locating disguised agents, and could pick them out of the crowd as easily as if they were wearing red targets. On top of this, he was an incredibly good fighter, and could dismantle any five guys in the entire CIA.
As he was thinking about this, Agent P’s partner, Agent U, came into his office.
“Sir, there’s a call for you,” Agent U told him.
“Tell him I’m not here,” Agent P said, rearranging the photos of Ryan, Tim, Laz, and Jason on his desk.
“I think you might want to take this, its Jason Scorn.”
Agent P scrambled up from his chair and grabbed the phone. “Agent P,” he said.
“P, I knew you would come scrambling to the phone once you knew who I was,” Jason Scorn said from the other line.
“I didn’t scramble, I… how did you know that?” Agent P asked.
“I can see you, P.”
“That’s impossible.” Agent P paused and then looked at his desk. “Who’s pictures do I have on my desk?”
“Mine, Ryan Cruise’s, Tim Danaford’s, and Laz’s,” Jason replied.
“You could have just guessed,” Agent P said skeptically.
“Okay, I can tell you what you’re wearing right now,” Jason offered.
“What?”
“A black suit, with a red and blue striped tie, and black pants.”
“You could have guessed that too.”
“Who wears a red and blue striped tie? Why would I guess that?” Jason said, in his typical non-emotional voice.
Agent P held his hand over the phone, and whispered to Agent U. “He says he cans see us right now, is that possible?”
“Well sir,” Agent U responded. “Due to the utter lack of shades or blinds on any of the windows in this entire building, I’d say it’s highly possible that anyone can see us. Seriously, they have more secrecy on the set of Indian Jones 6.”
“Blast!” Agent P cursed. He turned back to the phone, “Jason… Jason?” But there was no answer. Jason was gone. “He’s on 222nd street, set up a trap for him.”
“How do you know?” Agent U asked.
“He left us a code,” Agent P replied.
“No he didn’t, he just hung up, how’s that a code?”
“Just shut up and set up the trap!”
“So we’re just gonna go there because he left you some code? What if he’s setting up a trap?”
“That’s impossible.”
Apparently, it wasn’t, but that’s a story for another time…
Back to the main storyline…
After they had gotten over the initial shock of seeing Cathy alive and realizing Jordan was no longer with them, the IMF agents were all very eager to see what was inside the files.
“Later,” Cathy insisted. “Right now we need to prepare for our attack on the Empire. Let me show you around the facilities.”
She escorted them and all the rest of IMF throughout the rebel base, showing them all their weapons, vehicles and other military supplies. She also showed them the living quarters and other important buildings, such as hospitals, banks, and movie theaters.
“But most importantly,” Cathy said, turning to the IMF agents. “Its all underground, which means that it can’t be reached by the Empire, except in two narrow entrances. The one you came by, and another that is barely big enough for a truck to fit through. That is our main entrance, and the one you came by is sort of our ‘back door’. Pretty neat, isn’t it?”
“Amazing,” Sarah agreed. The others nodded as well.
“But that’s enough of the tour, now we need to get down to business.”
“What do you mean?” Kayla asked.
“Well, we need to find Tim, of course.” She sighed. “And I guess we better locate Ryan and Laz as well.”
“Are you sure this will work?” Katie asked, her tone indicated that she obviously wasn’t very sure herself.
“Of course I’m sure,” Ryan replied, giving his trademark grin. “When have I ever been wrong?”
Katie looked at Tim. Tim just shrugged and didn’t answer.
“You’ve been wrong lot’s of times,” Laz spoke up. “You’ve just been extremely lucky.”
“Yeah, and why should that stop now?”
“There is such a thing as pushing your luck, you know,” Daniel said.
Ryan looked at him. “Not for me there isn’t. Now just do what we rehearsed.” The knocking on the door had turned into pounding, and lots of impatient cursing.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Daniel yelled in a drunken Southern accent. He yanked open the door. “What?” he bawled.
The two Imperial agents standing at the door were obviously thrown off by his attitude. “We’re from the government and we--”
“You’ve come to take my money haven’t you?” Daniel growled. “Well take it, I don’t have any anyways so you can take all of it.”
“No sir, we’re not from Imperial Revenue Service, we’re from the Imperial Police. We wanted to ask you if you’ve seen any of these men.” The agent showed Daniel pictures of Ryan, Tim, Laz, and some other man he’d never seen.
“What are their names?” Daniel asked stupidly.
“This one here’s Ryan Cruise,” the man said, pointing to the first one. “This one’s Timothius Danaford, and this guy goes by the name, Laz. This last one has a lot of names, but word has it that he’s calling himself, Matt Damon.”
“Well, I haven’t seen any of them,” Daniel said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, you think I’m stupid?”
The agent who was acting as spokesman smiled, “No, of course not. You mind if we look inside?”
“You have a warrant?”
“No.”
“Then yes, I do mind, now get.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the agent, he stepped forward and blocked Daniel from shutting the door. “We’re gonna have to look inside.”
“No,” Daniel said firmly.
The first agent looked at his partner. “He said, ‘no’, what do we do know?”
“We still do it, of course,” the other replied.
While this whole argument had been going on, Ryan, Tim, Laz, and Katie had snuck out the back door and were circling around the house. Ryan and Tim were coming around one side, and Laz and Katie were coming around the other.
The agents were just forcing their way into the house when Tim jumped out from behind the house and shot the first agent in the head with his Beretta. The agent fell off the front steps and onto the gravel. His partner jumped and grabbed Daniel. He thrust him in front of him, using him as a body shield.
“Great,” Ryan said. “Now what? We can’t shoot him without getting Daniel.”
Tim looked frustrated. “I don’t know, maybe we can double back and catch him by surprise.”
“Do you think Laz could shoot him from behind?”
“No, that would kill Daniel too.”
“We could accept him as an unavoidable loss,” Ryan pointed out.
Tim pondered this for a minute. “No, he’s my sister’s boyfriend, she’d kill me.”
“Well, they’re technically not involved,” Ryan made a good point once again, causing Tim to pause.
Tim shook his head after a few seconds. “No, she’d blame me, and the she’d claim that I’d know they were involved all along.”
“Well that would definitely move their relationship along then, don’t you think?” Ryan asked.
“True, but then he’d be dead,” Tim fired back.
“That’s a good point,” Ryan admitted, leaving them in the same predicament.
Suddenly, a shot rang out from the trees in front of Daniel’s house. The Imperial agent sank to the floor, a large hole in his head where his ear had been. His body fell against the now bloodstained door and he slid onto the steps.
Daniel wrung his bloody hands and screamed in shock; his face had blood sprayed on it as well.
“Where did that come from?” Tim asked.
Just then, a figure jumped out from the trees, holding a sniper rifle in his hands.
“Jordan?” Ryan exclaimed. “Buddy, where’d you come from?”
Jordan-- for it was actually Jordan, for real--smiled. “You guys are hard to track. Tim, I’ve been following you since you left your sister’s house. You definitely do leave a trail though.” Jordan held up a chicken feather in his hand and grinned. “I love the ingenuity, I must say.”
Ryan grinned, and went to greet him, and then he stopped. “How do I know it’s really you?”
Jordan looked at him. “You’re an idiot.”
Ryan looked satisfied. “Okay, you’re Jordan.”
“Wait,” Katie interrupted. “That’s it, that’s all you need? Anyone can say that.”
“Okay fine,” Ryan folded his arms. “Tell me something that only you would know.”
Jordan thought about this for a second. “When we were in kindergarten, you brought a live hand grenade to class and blew up the entire class room. Nearly blew your own face off.”
“That would have been a tragedy,” Ryan said, reminiscing. “Yep, you’re Jordan,” he declared.
“We did get the rest of the week off after that, though,” Jordan recalled.
“Yeah, that was good,” Ryan agreed.
“Hello,” a voice called. “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”
“Oh right,” Jordan snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot, you’ll never believe who I found tracking you guys as well.”
“Who?” Tim asked. “Kayla?”
Jordan gave him a look. “No, are you kidding me? All those other guys have practically forgotten about you already.”
“Figures,” Tim muttered.
“Who then?” Laz asked. “Sarah?”
Everyone turned to look at him. “Why are we so eager, Laz?” Ryan asked.
“I wasn’t eager, it was just the first name that came to mind,” Laz said, defensively.
“Sure, right Laz,” Ryan nodded.
“No, it was!”
“Whatever,” Ryan shook him off.
“I’m serious!”
“Okay, okay,” Jordan held up his hands. “Let’s just bring her on out.”
“Sarah?” Laz asked, instantly clapping a hand over his mouth.
Ryan jabbed him with an elbow. “It’s okay Laz, she is pretty…” he began but he trailed off when he saw who stepped out from the trees. It was someone that he’d never even hoped to see again, someone he’d taken for dead, and someone who, by all rights, should be dead.
“Cathy?” Ryan said in disbelief.
“Hey Ryan,” Cathy said. “Long time, no see.”
To be continued... next week...
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Mission 5: Payback part 4
continued from last week...
“I’m sorry about this, Daniel” Katie apologized.
Daniel nodded. “Its okay,” he said, but it was pretty clear that it wasn’t.
“Great, he’s gonna hate me now,” Katie moaned softly.
“I thought he wasn’t your boyfriend,” Ryan said.
Katie jerked. “Do you always eavesdrop on people like that?”
“Yeah.”
Laz was busy talking to Daniel about how exactly he would get the bug out of Tim’s neck. “Is it painful?”
“You try slicing up your skin and see if it hurts,” Daniel replied, annoyed.
He gave Tim some sort of sedative. “This will deaden the pain, you’ll probably fall asleep soon.”
“At least its in the neck,” Ryan said. “I’ve had a tracking device inserted in a more uncomfortable place.”
“Where would that be?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ryan mumbled.
Daniel shrugged and continued his work. “This is going to be hard,” Daniel sighed, when he located the tracking device.
“Why?” Ryan asked.
“Its inserted into his spine. If I hit the wrong nerve, he’ll be paralyzed. Are you sure you want me to do this?”
Ryan glanced at Katie. “Yes,” she said. “Do it, just be careful.”
Daniel carefully started to try and make his way towards the tracking device, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked. As he had said earlier, one wrong move and it would be all over for Tim.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside, as if a car door had slammed.
Ryan’s head jerked up, along with everybody else’s. “What was that?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know, stay here and I’ll check it out,” Ryan said.
“Wait for me!” Laz called.
They left the room, and it was just Daniel and Katie, along with the heavily sedated Tim. “They’re quite the characters,” Daniel commented, motioning towards Laz and Ryan. He pulled his tools out of Tim’s neck and wiped the sweat of his face.
“I know,” Katie nodded. “I’m so sorry about all this, it got out of hand…”
Daniel pulled down his mask that covered his face and removed his gloves. “Don’t worry,” he said, pulling her away from the table. “Its fine, I don’t mind really. It’s a good challenge.”
“I’m just so worried, that…” Katie trailed off.
“That what?” Daniel asked.
“That you won’t like me, for who I really am,” Katie finished softly. “A Rebel agent.”
“I would like you no matter who you were,” Daniel said. “Besides, I’m a Rebel agent too.”
“You are!” Katie exclaimed. “How did--? I mean, how could you? I had no idea!”
“I’m a man of surprises!” Daniel grinned. He went back to work on Tim, concentrating on the task at hand. Leaving Katie to wonder how she’d never guessed that he was a Rebel agent. He hadn’t segmed too surprised when they’d mentioned Imperial agents, now that she thought about it.
Suddenly, Ryan busted through the door. By the sound of his panting and by the look in his eyes, Katie knew that something wasn’t right. He stared at Tim’s neck and shuddered. “Man, that’s gross! How do you stand that?”
“What did you burst in here so rudely for?” Daniel growled impatiently.
“Oh yeah,” Ryan suddenly remembered and a troubled light came into his eyes. “I don’t mean to rush you, since you’re so busy, but we’ve got company, of the Imperial kind.”
Meanwhile, back in the Rebellion headquarters, the members of IMF had just received a stupendous shock. Cathy was alive, sitting right in front of their faces!
“How are you alive?” Sarah finally gasped, after gaping at Cathy for a while. “We thought you were dead.”
Cathy smiled. “So did a lot of people apparently. I guess we never told you that I had a body double.” Cathy sighed sadly. “Poor, Attilie, she met a rather bloody end, didn’t she?”
“You had a body double?” Chris was astounded.
“Ryan and Laz were pretty sure it was you,” Emmy commented thoughtfully.
“Please,” Cathy shrugged. “This is Ryan and Laz we’re talking about here. Two of the most incompetent agents in IMF.”
“Ouch, that’s pretty harsh,” Kayla said.
“They got my friend killed remember? Attilie was a friend of mine.”
“Which is why you used her as a body double?” Jordan said, dryly.
“Shut up, Pat,” Cathy snapped.
Emmy raised an eyebrow. “Have you not seen us for that long, that’s not Pat, that’s Jordan.”
“Actually,” Cathy shook her head. “That’s Pat.” She nodded at Jordan.
Jordan removed a mask from his face to reveal Patrick’s white head. The rest of his body was still black, though. Pat removed a voice changing strip from his throat and coughed.
“How’d you…” Chris asked pointing at his skin. He quickly realized that they hadn’t checked Jordan for a mask, how very stupid.
“Body paint,” Pat shrugged. “It’s gonna be real fun getting it off I’m sure.”
“But why?” Kayla asked.
“Jordan left on a rescue mission for us some time ago, right after my apparent death.” Cathy explained.
“Rescue mission for who?” Sarah asked.
“Tim, of course,” Cathy replied.
Just then, Clarence burst in the room. “Ma’am we found those documents.” He was breathing hard, and was waving a folder marked: Top Secret.
Cathy grinned. She took the documents from Clarence and excused him from the room. “These are the documents that can prove all that the emperor has been doing.”
Meanwhile…
“How many of them are there?” Katie asked, peeping out the window through the closed blinds.
Ryan smacked her hand away from the blinds. “Stop doing that, why don’t you just hang a sign outside the says: occupied? If they see you, they’ll know we’re here.” He tossed her his other sidearm. She fumbled with it and nearly dropped it. “Be careful that’s not a toy.”
“I know that!” she snapped.
“And keep your voice down.”
“I am keeping my voice down!”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am!”
“Shut up!” Tim hissed. He had just exited the operation room and was rubbing his neck; the tracking chip had been successfully removed. “Stop fighting, both of you.”
“Where’s Laz?” Ryan suddenly asked.
“In here!” Laz whispered. They followed his voice into the living room. Laz was typing away on a computer.
“This is no time to be playing on the computer, Laz,” Tim said.
“I’m not playing, I’m trying to throw those Imperial agents off their scent.”
“Don’t you mean our scent?” Ryan asked.
“Whatever, I’m sending a message to their lap top in their car. It says that we’ve been spotted in lower Jonopolis, hopefully they go for it.”
A few seconds later there was a knock on the door; apparently it hadn’t worked.
“Come on,” Ryan said. “I have an idea.”
“I thought that would work,” Laz said, still astounded that his plan hadn’t worked out. “It should have worked. It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault.”
“Shut up, Laz,” they all said in unison.
to be continued...
Coming soon...
from KWS...
An exclusive interview of Ryan Maples and Tim Danford, the writers of IMF. Hosted by Lazarus Dance. And Filmed by Chris Danford.
“I’m sorry about this, Daniel” Katie apologized.
Daniel nodded. “Its okay,” he said, but it was pretty clear that it wasn’t.
“Great, he’s gonna hate me now,” Katie moaned softly.
“I thought he wasn’t your boyfriend,” Ryan said.
Katie jerked. “Do you always eavesdrop on people like that?”
“Yeah.”
Laz was busy talking to Daniel about how exactly he would get the bug out of Tim’s neck. “Is it painful?”
“You try slicing up your skin and see if it hurts,” Daniel replied, annoyed.
He gave Tim some sort of sedative. “This will deaden the pain, you’ll probably fall asleep soon.”
“At least its in the neck,” Ryan said. “I’ve had a tracking device inserted in a more uncomfortable place.”
“Where would that be?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ryan mumbled.
Daniel shrugged and continued his work. “This is going to be hard,” Daniel sighed, when he located the tracking device.
“Why?” Ryan asked.
“Its inserted into his spine. If I hit the wrong nerve, he’ll be paralyzed. Are you sure you want me to do this?”
Ryan glanced at Katie. “Yes,” she said. “Do it, just be careful.”
Daniel carefully started to try and make his way towards the tracking device, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked. As he had said earlier, one wrong move and it would be all over for Tim.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside, as if a car door had slammed.
Ryan’s head jerked up, along with everybody else’s. “What was that?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know, stay here and I’ll check it out,” Ryan said.
“Wait for me!” Laz called.
They left the room, and it was just Daniel and Katie, along with the heavily sedated Tim. “They’re quite the characters,” Daniel commented, motioning towards Laz and Ryan. He pulled his tools out of Tim’s neck and wiped the sweat of his face.
“I know,” Katie nodded. “I’m so sorry about all this, it got out of hand…”
Daniel pulled down his mask that covered his face and removed his gloves. “Don’t worry,” he said, pulling her away from the table. “Its fine, I don’t mind really. It’s a good challenge.”
“I’m just so worried, that…” Katie trailed off.
“That what?” Daniel asked.
“That you won’t like me, for who I really am,” Katie finished softly. “A Rebel agent.”
“I would like you no matter who you were,” Daniel said. “Besides, I’m a Rebel agent too.”
“You are!” Katie exclaimed. “How did--? I mean, how could you? I had no idea!”
“I’m a man of surprises!” Daniel grinned. He went back to work on Tim, concentrating on the task at hand. Leaving Katie to wonder how she’d never guessed that he was a Rebel agent. He hadn’t segmed too surprised when they’d mentioned Imperial agents, now that she thought about it.
Suddenly, Ryan busted through the door. By the sound of his panting and by the look in his eyes, Katie knew that something wasn’t right. He stared at Tim’s neck and shuddered. “Man, that’s gross! How do you stand that?”
“What did you burst in here so rudely for?” Daniel growled impatiently.
“Oh yeah,” Ryan suddenly remembered and a troubled light came into his eyes. “I don’t mean to rush you, since you’re so busy, but we’ve got company, of the Imperial kind.”
Meanwhile, back in the Rebellion headquarters, the members of IMF had just received a stupendous shock. Cathy was alive, sitting right in front of their faces!
“How are you alive?” Sarah finally gasped, after gaping at Cathy for a while. “We thought you were dead.”
Cathy smiled. “So did a lot of people apparently. I guess we never told you that I had a body double.” Cathy sighed sadly. “Poor, Attilie, she met a rather bloody end, didn’t she?”
“You had a body double?” Chris was astounded.
“Ryan and Laz were pretty sure it was you,” Emmy commented thoughtfully.
“Please,” Cathy shrugged. “This is Ryan and Laz we’re talking about here. Two of the most incompetent agents in IMF.”
“Ouch, that’s pretty harsh,” Kayla said.
“They got my friend killed remember? Attilie was a friend of mine.”
“Which is why you used her as a body double?” Jordan said, dryly.
“Shut up, Pat,” Cathy snapped.
Emmy raised an eyebrow. “Have you not seen us for that long, that’s not Pat, that’s Jordan.”
“Actually,” Cathy shook her head. “That’s Pat.” She nodded at Jordan.
Jordan removed a mask from his face to reveal Patrick’s white head. The rest of his body was still black, though. Pat removed a voice changing strip from his throat and coughed.
“How’d you…” Chris asked pointing at his skin. He quickly realized that they hadn’t checked Jordan for a mask, how very stupid.
“Body paint,” Pat shrugged. “It’s gonna be real fun getting it off I’m sure.”
“But why?” Kayla asked.
“Jordan left on a rescue mission for us some time ago, right after my apparent death.” Cathy explained.
“Rescue mission for who?” Sarah asked.
“Tim, of course,” Cathy replied.
Just then, Clarence burst in the room. “Ma’am we found those documents.” He was breathing hard, and was waving a folder marked: Top Secret.
Cathy grinned. She took the documents from Clarence and excused him from the room. “These are the documents that can prove all that the emperor has been doing.”
Meanwhile…
“How many of them are there?” Katie asked, peeping out the window through the closed blinds.
Ryan smacked her hand away from the blinds. “Stop doing that, why don’t you just hang a sign outside the says: occupied? If they see you, they’ll know we’re here.” He tossed her his other sidearm. She fumbled with it and nearly dropped it. “Be careful that’s not a toy.”
“I know that!” she snapped.
“And keep your voice down.”
“I am keeping my voice down!”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am!”
“Shut up!” Tim hissed. He had just exited the operation room and was rubbing his neck; the tracking chip had been successfully removed. “Stop fighting, both of you.”
“Where’s Laz?” Ryan suddenly asked.
“In here!” Laz whispered. They followed his voice into the living room. Laz was typing away on a computer.
“This is no time to be playing on the computer, Laz,” Tim said.
“I’m not playing, I’m trying to throw those Imperial agents off their scent.”
“Don’t you mean our scent?” Ryan asked.
“Whatever, I’m sending a message to their lap top in their car. It says that we’ve been spotted in lower Jonopolis, hopefully they go for it.”
A few seconds later there was a knock on the door; apparently it hadn’t worked.
“Come on,” Ryan said. “I have an idea.”
“I thought that would work,” Laz said, still astounded that his plan hadn’t worked out. “It should have worked. It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault.”
“Shut up, Laz,” they all said in unison.
to be continued...
Coming soon...
from KWS...
An exclusive interview of Ryan Maples and Tim Danford, the writers of IMF. Hosted by Lazarus Dance. And Filmed by Chris Danford.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Mission 5: Payback part 3
continued from last week...
Sarah and the others stared in wonder at the Rebel base. There was all kinds of action going on around them. Cars and Trucks were coming in and out of the base constantly and there was a fair amount of people walking along the streets. That such a place existed underground without them ever even knowing about it was unconceivable.
The other agents had been led a different way by another guard, Thomas. The person in charge of the Rebellion had wanted to talk to them for some reason. Them meant everyone from Ryan’s team that was present, including Derek and Sarah, why them she didn’t know.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” the Rebel guard, Clarence, said with a grin on his face.
“Definitely,” Sarah gasped.
Jordan turned to Derek, who was the only one who didn’t seem overwhelmed with the whole facility. “Did you know about this place?”
“Sure,” Derek shrugged. “I belong to the Rebellion. So did Evan Hunter.”
“How come we’ve never heard about it?” Chris asked.
“The emperor keeps a tight lid on any information about any rebellion. He doesn’t let the public know that anyone opposes his will. Kt would give them too many ideas.”
“Seems like a pretty successful Rebellion.” Kayla commented.
“Have you ever fought the empire?” Chris asked the question that Jordan was just about to ask.
“Of course,” Clarence replied. “Many times, we’ve even beaten him before, you just never hear about it. The emperor’s very good about that.”
“Obviously,” Sarah commented. “Because I’ve never even heard of you.”
The Rebel guard led them inside one of the larger skyscrapers and then into an elevator. He pushed the button for the top floor and they started to rise.
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked.
“To meet with the director,” the guard replied simply.
“Who’s the director?” Sarah asked.
“What does he do?” Chris added.
Clarence held up his hands. “One at a time, please. The director is the leader of the Rebellion, and he is a she. She makes all the important decisions, like how to spend our funds efficiently, who to place our troops under, and what brand of toilet paper to buy, etc.”
“Toilet paper?” Sarah asked, incredulously.
“Hey, its expensive if you don’t buy the right brand,” Clarence said, defensively. “Those things add up.”
“You still didn’t say who she was,” Kayla pointed out.
“As for who she is… well I’ll let you see for yourself.” The elevator opened and they stepped outside into the hall.
Clarence led them up to door that said: “Director of the Rebellion”, on it. He opened the door and motioned for them to enter.
It was much like the emperor’s office, only not quite as nice. There was a huge desk in the middle of the room and an office chair sat behind it. The chair’s back was turned towards them, but they could tell that someone was sitting in it.
Suddenly, the chair turned around, and the young woman sitting in the chair smiled at them. “Good to see you again, my old friends,” she said.
Everyone’s jaw dropped, except for Clarence’s. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Their voices failed them and they couldn’t voice the thousands of questions that filled their minds.
Finally, Sarah was able to form one word in her throat and she breathed it out, amazed. “Cathy?”
A short while after Ryan had ran back into the woods to go grab Laz, Katie led out a long sigh.
“What?” Tim asked.
Katie rolled her eyes. “He’s supposed to be the guy to help us escape the empire? He can’t even keep track of his agents.”
“Just trust him, he’s defeated impossible odds many time before. He’ll pull it off, you’ll see.” Then he added to himself, “I hope.”
Ryan came back out of the woods with a grumbling Laz. “You guys always forget me,” he complained. “Every mission I either get stuck in a tree, or left alone inside a building surrounded by bad guys, or hanging from the ceiling. I’m tired of it!”
“Oh quite complaining, Laz,” Ryan groaned. “We always come back to get you.”
They piled into the backseat of the car, and Katie started it back up again.
“You don’t have to worry about anymore roadblocks,” Laz spoke up. “I brought enough C4 with me to blow up the emperor’s entire garage!” He patted the backpack that he’d set beside him.
Katie cringed and gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white. “You brought what?”
“C4,” Laz replied, as if he’d brought a box of doughnuts. “Just don’t brake too hard.”
“Get rid of it!” Katie yelled.
“Katie, Katie,” Tim tried to calm her down. “He was just kidding.”
“About the C4?” she asked.
“No, about the braking part,” Ryan said. Then he added. “Actually, you might want to take that seriously too.”
Tim glared at Ryan, who just shrugged innocently.
“Its fine, Katie. It won’t blow up unless we want it to. Right?” He turned to Laz and Ryan.
“Right.” They both replied. “Still,” Ryan said, smiling. “I wouldn’t break too hard.”
“Let’s change the subject,” Tim said, forcefully.
“Okay then, how are you?” Ryan asked.
“Wgll, other than the fact that I’m a wanted man and the emperor has a huge price over my head for anybody that brings me back dead or alive, I’m good. How about you?”
“About the same,” Ryan agreed. “How’d you escape?”
Tim told Ryan and Laz about how the emperor had made him promise to turn his sister over to him, and how he’d been let go. Then he relayed the information that had caused their slight problem.
“You’re bugged!” Ryan cried. “They know where we are?”
“Right,” Tim nodded. “Which means I need to be debugged, fast. Katie’s taking me to her boyfriend’s, apparently he knows how to take care of this stuff.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Katie insisted.
Ryan glanced at Tim and grinned. “Must have hit a nerve there.”
“I can see where Tim gets it,” Katie mumbled.
Ryan and Tim laughed, so did Laz but he didn’t know what they were laughing at.
“So, where are we going?” Laz asked.
“We’re here,” Katie said. They looked out the window and, sure enough, they’d arrived at somebody’s residence. It was a rather isolated residence, kind of out in the countryside, which suited them just fine.
A young man stepped out; he was about Katie’s age, which affirmed Ryan and Tim’s assessment that he was her boy friend, at least in their minds. He trotted over to their car. “Katie, what a pleasant surprise!”
Tim softly mimicked his voice in a high-pitched accent, so only those in the car could hear. “What a pleasant surprise!”
Katie kicked him and climbed out of the car. “Hey Daniel, its good to see you too!” They hugged, which caused Ryan and Tim to look at each other and nod, definitely a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
“They’re on a first name basis, too,” Ryan observed.
Katie continued to shoot them all glares, and then smiled at Daniel. “This is my brother, Tim,” she pointed to Tim. Daniel greeted him and shook hands with him.
“Are these your brothers too?” Daniel asked, pointing to Ryan and Laz.
“No,” Katie answered quickly. “No, those are my brother’s friends.” She didn’t bother to say their names.
“Yes,” Ryan said sarcastically. “I’m friend number one, and he’s friend number two,” he gestured towards Laz. “Nice to meet you.”
Daniel laughed. “You’re a funny guy,” he chuckled.
Katie apparently didn’t agree. “Yes, so funny,” she said with a fake smile, and then she glared at him when Daniel wasn’t looking. Ryan just shrugged. “Their names are Ryan and Laz.”
They shook hands. “Now, down to business,” Ryan said. “We need your help with something.”
“My help? Of course, I’d be glad to help you.” Daniel seemed quite willing.
“Would you mind debugging our friend here, Tim,” Ryan jerked his thumb at Tim. Then he lowered his shades and said, “and we’d appreciate it if there were no questions asked.”
“Uh, sure,” Daniel said, bewildered. “Debug?”
“Yeah, you know, bugs,” Katie said. “They just get all over, in your clothes, your hair, your, uh…”
“In your neck,” Tim said.
“Yes, of course, in your neck,” Katie.
“What kind of bugs?” Daniel asked, still utterly confused.
“Beatles?” Katie tried.
Ryan shoved her aside, and laughed casually. “Ha, she’s such a kidder,” he glared at her, and she just shrugged. Ryan rolled his eyes and turned back to Daniel. “We need you not to ask any questions about this, understand?”
“Sure?”
“That didn’t sound like you were sure, are you sure?”
“Yeah, okay, I’m sure. What do you want?”
Ryan glanced at Tim and then turned back to Daniel again. “We want you to remove a tracking device from Tim’s neck. It’s the back of your neck, right?”
Tim nodded.
“A tracking device? But how--?”
“Uh uh, that’s a question,” Ryan wagged his finger. “Just do your magic and we promise that we’ll be out of here quickly. Hopefully before any Imperial agents show up, oops, said too much.” Ryan acted as if he had accidentally let that slip, but in reality, he hadn’t. He thought that a little motivation wouldn’t hurt the man, and as long as they had their side arms, nothing should go wrong.
“Imperial agents? Uh uh, no way, Jose.” Daniel shook his head.
“Oh come one, Daniel, where’ your adventuresome spirit?” Ryan chastised him, playing with his Glock in his right hand. “We wouldn’t want to have to force you against your will,” he casually flicked off the safety.
“What are you doing?” Katie protested. Ryan held up his hand to silence her.
“Its okay,” Daniel held up his hands. “I’ll do it.” He led them to his operation room and set Tim, facedown, on the table.
“A wise decision, Daniel,” Ryan said. “We’ll be watching, so don’t try any funny business.” He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Danny glanced at his gun and swallowed. “Sure thing, you got it.” Just try not to interrupt, I don’t want to hurt him.”
“You better not,” Ryan said, fingering his Glock again. “Accidents can happen, but they usually happen in two’s, if you get what I mean.” He winked and left the room.
to be continued...
Sarah and the others stared in wonder at the Rebel base. There was all kinds of action going on around them. Cars and Trucks were coming in and out of the base constantly and there was a fair amount of people walking along the streets. That such a place existed underground without them ever even knowing about it was unconceivable.
The other agents had been led a different way by another guard, Thomas. The person in charge of the Rebellion had wanted to talk to them for some reason. Them meant everyone from Ryan’s team that was present, including Derek and Sarah, why them she didn’t know.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” the Rebel guard, Clarence, said with a grin on his face.
“Definitely,” Sarah gasped.
Jordan turned to Derek, who was the only one who didn’t seem overwhelmed with the whole facility. “Did you know about this place?”
“Sure,” Derek shrugged. “I belong to the Rebellion. So did Evan Hunter.”
“How come we’ve never heard about it?” Chris asked.
“The emperor keeps a tight lid on any information about any rebellion. He doesn’t let the public know that anyone opposes his will. Kt would give them too many ideas.”
“Seems like a pretty successful Rebellion.” Kayla commented.
“Have you ever fought the empire?” Chris asked the question that Jordan was just about to ask.
“Of course,” Clarence replied. “Many times, we’ve even beaten him before, you just never hear about it. The emperor’s very good about that.”
“Obviously,” Sarah commented. “Because I’ve never even heard of you.”
The Rebel guard led them inside one of the larger skyscrapers and then into an elevator. He pushed the button for the top floor and they started to rise.
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked.
“To meet with the director,” the guard replied simply.
“Who’s the director?” Sarah asked.
“What does he do?” Chris added.
Clarence held up his hands. “One at a time, please. The director is the leader of the Rebellion, and he is a she. She makes all the important decisions, like how to spend our funds efficiently, who to place our troops under, and what brand of toilet paper to buy, etc.”
“Toilet paper?” Sarah asked, incredulously.
“Hey, its expensive if you don’t buy the right brand,” Clarence said, defensively. “Those things add up.”
“You still didn’t say who she was,” Kayla pointed out.
“As for who she is… well I’ll let you see for yourself.” The elevator opened and they stepped outside into the hall.
Clarence led them up to door that said: “Director of the Rebellion”, on it. He opened the door and motioned for them to enter.
It was much like the emperor’s office, only not quite as nice. There was a huge desk in the middle of the room and an office chair sat behind it. The chair’s back was turned towards them, but they could tell that someone was sitting in it.
Suddenly, the chair turned around, and the young woman sitting in the chair smiled at them. “Good to see you again, my old friends,” she said.
Everyone’s jaw dropped, except for Clarence’s. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Their voices failed them and they couldn’t voice the thousands of questions that filled their minds.
Finally, Sarah was able to form one word in her throat and she breathed it out, amazed. “Cathy?”
A short while after Ryan had ran back into the woods to go grab Laz, Katie led out a long sigh.
“What?” Tim asked.
Katie rolled her eyes. “He’s supposed to be the guy to help us escape the empire? He can’t even keep track of his agents.”
“Just trust him, he’s defeated impossible odds many time before. He’ll pull it off, you’ll see.” Then he added to himself, “I hope.”
Ryan came back out of the woods with a grumbling Laz. “You guys always forget me,” he complained. “Every mission I either get stuck in a tree, or left alone inside a building surrounded by bad guys, or hanging from the ceiling. I’m tired of it!”
“Oh quite complaining, Laz,” Ryan groaned. “We always come back to get you.”
They piled into the backseat of the car, and Katie started it back up again.
“You don’t have to worry about anymore roadblocks,” Laz spoke up. “I brought enough C4 with me to blow up the emperor’s entire garage!” He patted the backpack that he’d set beside him.
Katie cringed and gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white. “You brought what?”
“C4,” Laz replied, as if he’d brought a box of doughnuts. “Just don’t brake too hard.”
“Get rid of it!” Katie yelled.
“Katie, Katie,” Tim tried to calm her down. “He was just kidding.”
“About the C4?” she asked.
“No, about the braking part,” Ryan said. Then he added. “Actually, you might want to take that seriously too.”
Tim glared at Ryan, who just shrugged innocently.
“Its fine, Katie. It won’t blow up unless we want it to. Right?” He turned to Laz and Ryan.
“Right.” They both replied. “Still,” Ryan said, smiling. “I wouldn’t break too hard.”
“Let’s change the subject,” Tim said, forcefully.
“Okay then, how are you?” Ryan asked.
“Wgll, other than the fact that I’m a wanted man and the emperor has a huge price over my head for anybody that brings me back dead or alive, I’m good. How about you?”
“About the same,” Ryan agreed. “How’d you escape?”
Tim told Ryan and Laz about how the emperor had made him promise to turn his sister over to him, and how he’d been let go. Then he relayed the information that had caused their slight problem.
“You’re bugged!” Ryan cried. “They know where we are?”
“Right,” Tim nodded. “Which means I need to be debugged, fast. Katie’s taking me to her boyfriend’s, apparently he knows how to take care of this stuff.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Katie insisted.
Ryan glanced at Tim and grinned. “Must have hit a nerve there.”
“I can see where Tim gets it,” Katie mumbled.
Ryan and Tim laughed, so did Laz but he didn’t know what they were laughing at.
“So, where are we going?” Laz asked.
“We’re here,” Katie said. They looked out the window and, sure enough, they’d arrived at somebody’s residence. It was a rather isolated residence, kind of out in the countryside, which suited them just fine.
A young man stepped out; he was about Katie’s age, which affirmed Ryan and Tim’s assessment that he was her boy friend, at least in their minds. He trotted over to their car. “Katie, what a pleasant surprise!”
Tim softly mimicked his voice in a high-pitched accent, so only those in the car could hear. “What a pleasant surprise!”
Katie kicked him and climbed out of the car. “Hey Daniel, its good to see you too!” They hugged, which caused Ryan and Tim to look at each other and nod, definitely a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
“They’re on a first name basis, too,” Ryan observed.
Katie continued to shoot them all glares, and then smiled at Daniel. “This is my brother, Tim,” she pointed to Tim. Daniel greeted him and shook hands with him.
“Are these your brothers too?” Daniel asked, pointing to Ryan and Laz.
“No,” Katie answered quickly. “No, those are my brother’s friends.” She didn’t bother to say their names.
“Yes,” Ryan said sarcastically. “I’m friend number one, and he’s friend number two,” he gestured towards Laz. “Nice to meet you.”
Daniel laughed. “You’re a funny guy,” he chuckled.
Katie apparently didn’t agree. “Yes, so funny,” she said with a fake smile, and then she glared at him when Daniel wasn’t looking. Ryan just shrugged. “Their names are Ryan and Laz.”
They shook hands. “Now, down to business,” Ryan said. “We need your help with something.”
“My help? Of course, I’d be glad to help you.” Daniel seemed quite willing.
“Would you mind debugging our friend here, Tim,” Ryan jerked his thumb at Tim. Then he lowered his shades and said, “and we’d appreciate it if there were no questions asked.”
“Uh, sure,” Daniel said, bewildered. “Debug?”
“Yeah, you know, bugs,” Katie said. “They just get all over, in your clothes, your hair, your, uh…”
“In your neck,” Tim said.
“Yes, of course, in your neck,” Katie.
“What kind of bugs?” Daniel asked, still utterly confused.
“Beatles?” Katie tried.
Ryan shoved her aside, and laughed casually. “Ha, she’s such a kidder,” he glared at her, and she just shrugged. Ryan rolled his eyes and turned back to Daniel. “We need you not to ask any questions about this, understand?”
“Sure?”
“That didn’t sound like you were sure, are you sure?”
“Yeah, okay, I’m sure. What do you want?”
Ryan glanced at Tim and then turned back to Daniel again. “We want you to remove a tracking device from Tim’s neck. It’s the back of your neck, right?”
Tim nodded.
“A tracking device? But how--?”
“Uh uh, that’s a question,” Ryan wagged his finger. “Just do your magic and we promise that we’ll be out of here quickly. Hopefully before any Imperial agents show up, oops, said too much.” Ryan acted as if he had accidentally let that slip, but in reality, he hadn’t. He thought that a little motivation wouldn’t hurt the man, and as long as they had their side arms, nothing should go wrong.
“Imperial agents? Uh uh, no way, Jose.” Daniel shook his head.
“Oh come one, Daniel, where’ your adventuresome spirit?” Ryan chastised him, playing with his Glock in his right hand. “We wouldn’t want to have to force you against your will,” he casually flicked off the safety.
“What are you doing?” Katie protested. Ryan held up his hand to silence her.
“Its okay,” Daniel held up his hands. “I’ll do it.” He led them to his operation room and set Tim, facedown, on the table.
“A wise decision, Daniel,” Ryan said. “We’ll be watching, so don’t try any funny business.” He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Danny glanced at his gun and swallowed. “Sure thing, you got it.” Just try not to interrupt, I don’t want to hurt him.”
“You better not,” Ryan said, fingering his Glock again. “Accidents can happen, but they usually happen in two’s, if you get what I mean.” He winked and left the room.
to be continued...
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Mission 5: Payback part 2
Continued from two weeks prior...
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere… where there lies a side plot that has nothing to do whatsoever with this entire story… Well, perhaps maybe a little…
“I told ya already, Earl,” Denise whined in a southern accent. “You let them chickens out and you’s nevah gonna get ‘em back.”
“And I told you,” Earl retorted. “Ta shut your trap, I’ll gets ‘em back.”
Suddenly, a young, red-haired man walked up to the two arguing spouses. “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?” he asked.
Earl stared at him. “Can you tell where my chickens are?”
“Your chickens?” the red-haired man asked, bewildered.
“What’s your name, boy?” Denise whined.
“Jason, Jason Scorn,” the boy replied.
“You help us find our chickens, and we’s will help you find your way home. You’re lost, right?” Denise asked.
“Sort of, I guess you could say that. I don’t really know who I am.”
“You just said your name,” Earl pointed out. “What do you mean you don’t know who you are?”
“Just what I said, I think I have amnesia.”
“Well, what do you remember?” Denise questioned him.
“Nothing! That’s what amnesia means, stupid!” Jason yelled angrily.
“You don’t remember anything?” Earl seemed astonished.
“Well… I seem to remember killing people, for some reason. I’m not sure why,” Jason shrugged.
Suddenly, there was an explosion that ripped through the forest. Jason jumped back and gasped. “That must be the CIA, they’re after me!”
“Why?” Earl and Denise both called out.
“I have no idea, it has something to do with my past, which I haven’t figured out yet. See you guys later.” Jason ran off into the woods.
Earl looked back towards the explosion; smoke smothered the sky where it had once been blue. He could practically smell the fire from here. And in the sky he could see… what was that? Chicken feathers floating through the sky! Oh no!
Back to normal time…
“So, who exactly is this guy again?” Timothius asked for the thousandth time.
Katie sighed. “I told you already, a friend, one that can help us.”
“Exactly how can he help us, may I ask?” Tim was still skeptical. “I’ve been bugged, they inserted it into my spinal cord, not in my pants. It’s not that simple.”
“I know that,” Katie replied, losing her patience. “That’s why I’m taking you to him, he knows how to solve these kind of problems.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to get you all riled up, is he your boyfriend or something?” Tim asked, partly trying to make conversation and partly trying to rile her up.
“No!” she said defensively. “Of course not.”
“So he is your boyfriend,” Tim smiled.
“I just said that he wasn’t,” Katie insisted.
“Yeah, but you were a little too defensive, which means I hit a nerve.”
“How do you know?”
Tim shrugged. “Because, I’m your brother.”
“I know, but you never used to be interested in this kind of stuff, you were always so serious.”
“Well,” Tim shrugged. “When you hang around Ryan Cruise a lot, he kind of rubs off on you.”
“That’s the fifth time you’ve mention his name,” Katie pointed out. “Who is Ryan Cruise?”
“He’s another agent,” Tim explained. “I don’t think I should say much about him, though. Who knows who might be listening?”
“What does he look like?”
Tim thought about this. “Well, he has red, wavy hair, and he’s always wearing these really cool shades, and he has lots of freckles.”
“Does he have a girlfriend?” Katie asked, curious about her brother’s friend.
Tim frowned. “I don’t know… it’s complicated. I think he wants one, but its not really allowed. Romance is kind of banned in our group.”
“So, how did you guys meet?”
“A long time ago, at this one party. It was in the Bahamas, I think.”
“You were invited to a party in the Bahamas? Maybe I should become an agent.”
Tim chuckled. “We weren’t invited…” he trailed off, thinking about his first mission with Ryan Cruise. Those had been the days, when everything was black and white, and he knew exactly who the bad guy was. Everything was so confusing now.
Suddenly, Katie hit the brakes and came to a screeching halt. Timothius lurched forward and slammed his head on the dashboard.
“What the heck?” Tim exclaimed, but then he saw why Katie had stopped. A roadblock ahead of them was blocking their access. No doubt the roadblock had been set to stop them.
“Now what?” Katie asked.
“Just play it cool,” Tim said. “Maybe they don’t know what we’re planning to do yet.” He eyed the thick forests by the roadside; they would be perfect cover if they needed to make a break for it. They could be perfect for an ambush too.
An officer walked up to their car and knocked on the window; Katie rolled it down. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said, putting his hand to his hat and raising it slightly. “I’m sorry for the holdup, but there’s a couple of criminals on the loose.”
“Oh?” Katie tried to act surprised. “Who?”
“Oh, just a couple of trouble-makers, nothing to worry about ma’am. Just keep yourself safe; it looks like you already have a nice young man here to protect you. He nodded towards Tim.
“Oh yeah, he’s my brother.”
The officer nodded. “Well, I’m sorry about this, but we’re gonna have to search your car. Don’t fret though, we’ll be done in just a sec.” He was lying through his teeth of course; he had no intention of letting the both of them go. In fact, he had direct orders from Chuck Morris to take these two into custody. Tim didn’t know this, but still, he was cautious.
“We need to get out of here,” Tim warned after the guard had walked away, back towards the roadblock.
“How?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know, look for an opening.”
Just then, the entire roadblock exploded in a giant fireball. Katie and Tim ducked down in their car as the blaze shot into the sky. The cars roared with flames as they flew through the air and came crashing back down to the ground. Tim sat back up and looked at the flaming vehicles in wonder. “There’s an opening,” he murmured.
“What in the world?” Katie shouted above the roar of the flames.
“There’s only one man in the world who would be crazy enough to blow up a roadblock,” Tim said, still staring at the wreck.
“Who?” Katie asked.
“Ryan Cruise,” Tim replied.
Sure enough, a red-haired figure emerged from the woods just then. He was sporting some sic shades and walked with the air of someone who’d just blown up an entire roadblock. He walked over towards their car and cocked a boyish grin. “Hey Tim, long time, no see.” He looked around at the site of the explosion. “What’s with all these chicken feathers?” he muttered.
After Ryan had left, his team had sort of unofficially elected Jordan as their temporary leader. Although he didn’t have the same qualifications as Ryan, he’d already shown his willingness to act, and his capable leadership. Plus, Ryan had no qualifications, so he didn’t have very big shoes to fill in that area. So when Derek led them into yet another tunnel, which he said would finally lead them to the Rebellion, they all watched to see what he would do. Jordan shrugged and looked back at them. “I guess we have no choice but to follow him.” He stepped into the tunnel after Derek, and Ryan’s, or rather Jordan’s, team followed after him along with all the rest of IMF. Suddenly, the ground sloped downward so suddenly, that it almost made a sort of drop-off. Jordan stumbled and fell, rolling down the tunnel. He rolled, and yelled, down the tunnel until he plowed into Derek and came to a stop.
“Watch that last step,” Derek muttered.
“Gee, thanks for the warning,” Jordan replied sarcastically. “I almost--”
But he didn’t get to finish. Suddenly Chris came sliding down the tunnel and plowed into them, sending them both flying. “Sorry,” Chris apologized.
Jordan got up and brushed himself off. “That’s okay.” He was in better spirits in a minute though, as he got to watch Kayla, Emmy, and Sarah all slam into each other. He and Derek laughed until they cried, doubling over from the laughter. “That was funny,” Jordan said in between laughs.
Chris just frowned. “That’s not very chivalrous, help me get them untangled.”
Jordan shrugged and bent over to help up the girls. Just then another IMF agent flew from the tunnel and smacked into Jordan, sending him flying. The girls laughed hysterically.
“Now that was funny,” Kayla laughed.
Jordan scowled and got up yet again; he didn’t bother to brush himself off this time. “Somebody’s gotta fix that step.”
“Hey there, can I help you guys with something?” a voice suddenly said.
Jordan, and the rest of the agents that where still standing, whirled around to see who had spoken, it was a Rebel guard.
Derek spoke up. “We seek refuge from the emperor.”
The guard smiled. “Well, I think we can help you with that. Its good to see you alive, Derek.”
Katie was still recovering from the shock of the roadblock exploding when Ryan had come up to the car, but she’d finally found her manners and greeted Ryan. “So you must be the Ryan Cruise that I keep hearing about,” Katie commented, smiling.
“That’s right,” Ryan nodded, and then glanced at Tim as if expecting an introduction. “And you must be…” he trailed off, looking at Tim again.
Tim started to speak but his sister cut him off. “I’m his sister, didn’t you tell him that you had a sister?” she asked turning to Tim. His silence told all.
“I should have known,” Katie said, disgusted. “You keep babbling on and on about Ryan Cruise, but you never even had the courtesy to mention me to him even once. I can see that you’re real proud of your sister.” She paused and glanced at him. “Well?”
“I’m sorry?” Tim tried apologizing. It didn’t work.
“I’m sorry?” Katie mimicked. “Well, I’m sorry too,” and she turned away from him.
“Actually,” Ryan spoke up. “He couldn’t help it. There’s a rule in IMF that you’re not allowed to talk to other agents about your family.”
“There is?” Katie faced Ryan, not sure whether to believe him.
“Yeah, of course,” Ryan lied. “Its standard procedure.”
Tim shot him a look that said, thank you.
“I’m sorry,” Katie said, sticking her hand out the passenger side window. “We haven’t been properly introduced. “I’m Katie Danaford.” They shook hands.
“Ryan Cruise,” said Ryan. “Sorry about my rather… explosive entrance, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do. The roadblock was annoying anyways, and Laz wanted to let off some steam.”
“Speaking of Laz, where is Laz?” Tim asked.
“Oh,” Ryan smacked his forehead. “I forgot all about him.”
To be continued next week...
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Mission 5: Payback
IMF Studios presents...
A Ryan Maples/Tim Danford short story...
Featuring: Ryan Cruise, Timothius Danaford, and Laz, in...
Mission 5: Payback...
"All right, John, you're back on in four... three... two... one..." the camerman at ENN news counted off the seconds until John was back on the air. He pointed to him after the count of one, and John, the talking head for ENN news, began his story.
“Hi, I'm John and this is ENN news, bringing to you live, breaking news. A devastating car wreck in the sparsely populated outskirts of New Jonah appears to have left no survivors and has people searching for answers. Dan, tell us what you’re seeing there,” the news anchor for ENN turned to look at another camera, and suddenly another reporter came on the TV screen.
“Thanks John,” Dan replied, and then pointed to the crash site behind him. “Behind me you can see the flaming remains of what the police think used to be a Corvette. Police still don’t know exactly what caused the wreck, but one thing remains for sure, whoever was inside the vehicle at the time of the wreck wasn’t so lucky. Search teams are currently searching for any bodies, but haven’t yet found any. Some suggest that the bodies may have completely disintegrated in the wreckage, but experts say that is highly unlikely. I’m Dan, and I’m here with ENN news.” Dan disappeared from the TV screen and John came back on. “Thank you Dan, and we sincerely hope that no one was caught in that horrible wreck. Now, on to our main story of the night: Paris Hilton was thrown in jail again after racking up yet another DUI. Experts say that she has converted to Christianity for about the fifth time now, but no one is sure whether she’ll stay a Christian this time, or why exactly she’s famous…
Two men sat at the bar, watching the news as they drank a couple of soft drinks. “You’re darn right they haven’t found our bodies,” one of them exclaimed. “The empire must have cleaned up all those other guys we left behind.”
The second man looked at the first, “Why is Paris Hilton famous?”
The first man shrugged. “Because her parents are famous.”
“Wg should be famous,” the second man said. “Paris Hilton has nothing on us.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying, Laz,” said the first man. “But we’re secret agents, we can’t be famous.”
“I guess you’re right, Ryan,” said the second man, who was Laz. “So what do we do know?”
Ryan thought about this for a moment. “I’m gonna need some new shades, mine melted when the car exploded.”
Six hours earlier…
Chuck Morris’s agents searched through the wreckage of the flaming Corvette, seeking evidence of a confirmed kill.
One of the agents held up a pair of half-melted sunglasses. “Look sir, sunglasses,” he said, showing the senior agent at the crash site.
“Look sir, a penny!” another agent exclaimed.
The senior officer ignored the second agent and took the sunglasses from the first agent. “These belonged to Ryan Cruise all right,” he nodded, sure of himself.
“Wow, you’re good,” one of the agents said. “How’d you know?”
“Because I’m senior agent,” the senior agent declared, proudly.
“Are you sure it isn’t because Cruise etched his name on the side of the sunglasses?” another agent asked, pointing to the inscription on the side of the shades.
“Shut up,” the senior agent barked. “We need more than these silly shades to confirm the kill, I want bodies!”
The agents scattered around and searched for the bodies of Ryan Cruise and Laz, but they couldn’t find anything. One of the agents wandered farther away from the others. He searched through the bushes nearby, and suddenly, he spotted something. It was a wallet! He recched down to pick it up, and was suddenly knocked on the head with something hard. The agent fell over unconscious, and was grabbed by two pairs of hands and dragged into the bushes.
One by one, the agents wandered away from the group, and one by one, they were knocked out and dragged into hiding. All of the sudden, only the senior agent was left. He looked up and scanned the area, confused by the sudden lack of his agents. Then he spotted one of them, his legs were sticking out from behind a cluster of trees. The senior agent ran over to the body, and gasped when he saw that he was unconscious. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his phone and started to dial Morris’s number, when all of the sudden he felt an explosion in the back of his head and everything went black.
“Well,” Ryan said, brushing his hands off. “That takes care of them. Come on, Laz, let’s get out of here.” They climbed into one of the agent’s cars and drove off, leaving about a dozen unconscious agents behind them.
Twenty minutes later…
Chuck Morris arrived on the scene in his own car, only to discover that he was too late. He cursed his agents for being so incompetent.
One of the agents who had woken up was optimistic, though. “At least they didn’t take the car that had the doughnuts in it,” he pointed out.
Chuck reached into his shoulder holster and shot him through the head. “Anyone else want to make a smart reoark?” he asked. “Because I have to warn you, I’m not in the mood.” Nobody moved, let alone said anything. “Good,” Morris clapped his hands together. “Now, let’s move. Ryan and Laz have an appointment with the emperor, and I wouldn’t want them to miss it,” Chuck laughed evilly.
Two seconds later…
“Where exactly are we going?” Kayla asked.
Derek whirled around to face her. “I thought we’d already made that clear, away from here. The emperor knows the location of our hideout now.”
“Who leaked it to him, though? Should we really be going to the Rebellion’s hideout if we still have a mole in our ranks?” Emmy was quick to point this out.
Derek stopped, apparently he hadn’t thought about this. “How could I be so stupid?” He smacked himself on the forehead.
“So… know what?” Chris asked.
“It’s time for a mask check,” Derek replied.
“Mask check?” they all asked in wonder.
“Yeah,” Derek nodded and repeated himself. “A mask check, someone here is not who they say they are, and we’re going to find out who it is.”
Two hours, seven minutes, and thirty-two seconds later exactly…
Ryan stopped the car at a local Imperial-Mart. “Maybe we should pick up some clothes.”
Laz looked at their tattered garments. “Yeah, maybe.” They got out of the car and entered the Imperial-Mart. They paid for their purchase with a government credit car that they’d found in the senior agent’s wallet. They figured that the emperor wouldn’t mind…
Thirty three seconds later…
Two Imperial agents spotted Ryan and Laz coming out of Imperial-Mart as they were eating doughnuts at a local coffee shop. “Hey,” one of them said. “Isn’t that those two fugitives that the emperor is looking for?”
The other agent shrugged and stuffed another doughnut into his mouth. “I doubt it. Besides, its break time.”
One hour and thirty-two minutes earlier…
Derek had just finished checking the last IMF agent to see if they were wearing a mask. He sighed. “Guess none of us are wearing masks after all.” He started to turn and continue down the tunnel, when Jordan suddenly spoke up.
“Wait, we never checked you.”
Derek spun around to look at him. “What?”
Jordan folded his arms. “You’re not really Derek, are you?”
Six minutes and twenty-five seconds later…
The emperor slammed his fist down on the desk. “What do you mean, they’re not dead?”
“Exactly what I said, sir,” Chuck replied from the other side of the emperor’s desk.
“Well, don’t just stand there! Go find them!” the emperor yelled. Then he calmed himself. “And if you have trouble finding them. Just pay a visit to our friend Timothius, shouldn’t be too hard to find him. He’ll make great bait.” The emperor laughed.
Six minutes and twenty seconds earlier…
“You think I’m the mole?” Derek said, shocked.
“Why not?” Jordan shrugged. “I don’t see anyone else here that we haven’t check out thoroughly.” He paused and added. “And you have a good motive. We know that your father was killed on a mission with Evan Hunter.”
“Evan Hunter was a good friend; he was like an older brother to me,” Derek insisted. He glared at Jordan. “Where did you learn that?”
Jordan glanced at Kayla and then looked back at Derek. “I did a little research of my own,” he lied. Kayla sighed inwardly, glad that Jordan hadn’t given her away. She had been the one to show him the file on Derek.
Derek stepped forward. “Okay, fine then, check me.”
Jordan looked at the others and then at Derek. “Chris, check him,” he ordered.
Chris stepped over towards Derek and checked him, feeling the corners of his face for any sign of a mask. When he was finished he shook his head. “No mask, he’s clean.”
Derek gave them all a disappointed look.
“I’m sorry,” Jordan apologized. “Its just that, you can’t be too careful.”
“Yeah,” Derek nodded. “I guess you really can’t trust anybody.” Then he turned and continued down the tunnel that would lead them to the Rebellion.
To be continued...
Copyright ©
Imperial Mission, Inc. Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
A Ryan Maples/Tim Danford short story...
Featuring: Ryan Cruise, Timothius Danaford, and Laz, in...
Mission 5: Payback...
"All right, John, you're back on in four... three... two... one..." the camerman at ENN news counted off the seconds until John was back on the air. He pointed to him after the count of one, and John, the talking head for ENN news, began his story.
“Hi, I'm John and this is ENN news, bringing to you live, breaking news. A devastating car wreck in the sparsely populated outskirts of New Jonah appears to have left no survivors and has people searching for answers. Dan, tell us what you’re seeing there,” the news anchor for ENN turned to look at another camera, and suddenly another reporter came on the TV screen.
“Thanks John,” Dan replied, and then pointed to the crash site behind him. “Behind me you can see the flaming remains of what the police think used to be a Corvette. Police still don’t know exactly what caused the wreck, but one thing remains for sure, whoever was inside the vehicle at the time of the wreck wasn’t so lucky. Search teams are currently searching for any bodies, but haven’t yet found any. Some suggest that the bodies may have completely disintegrated in the wreckage, but experts say that is highly unlikely. I’m Dan, and I’m here with ENN news.” Dan disappeared from the TV screen and John came back on. “Thank you Dan, and we sincerely hope that no one was caught in that horrible wreck. Now, on to our main story of the night: Paris Hilton was thrown in jail again after racking up yet another DUI. Experts say that she has converted to Christianity for about the fifth time now, but no one is sure whether she’ll stay a Christian this time, or why exactly she’s famous…
Two men sat at the bar, watching the news as they drank a couple of soft drinks. “You’re darn right they haven’t found our bodies,” one of them exclaimed. “The empire must have cleaned up all those other guys we left behind.”
The second man looked at the first, “Why is Paris Hilton famous?”
The first man shrugged. “Because her parents are famous.”
“Wg should be famous,” the second man said. “Paris Hilton has nothing on us.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying, Laz,” said the first man. “But we’re secret agents, we can’t be famous.”
“I guess you’re right, Ryan,” said the second man, who was Laz. “So what do we do know?”
Ryan thought about this for a moment. “I’m gonna need some new shades, mine melted when the car exploded.”
Six hours earlier…
Chuck Morris’s agents searched through the wreckage of the flaming Corvette, seeking evidence of a confirmed kill.
One of the agents held up a pair of half-melted sunglasses. “Look sir, sunglasses,” he said, showing the senior agent at the crash site.
“Look sir, a penny!” another agent exclaimed.
The senior officer ignored the second agent and took the sunglasses from the first agent. “These belonged to Ryan Cruise all right,” he nodded, sure of himself.
“Wow, you’re good,” one of the agents said. “How’d you know?”
“Because I’m senior agent,” the senior agent declared, proudly.
“Are you sure it isn’t because Cruise etched his name on the side of the sunglasses?” another agent asked, pointing to the inscription on the side of the shades.
“Shut up,” the senior agent barked. “We need more than these silly shades to confirm the kill, I want bodies!”
The agents scattered around and searched for the bodies of Ryan Cruise and Laz, but they couldn’t find anything. One of the agents wandered farther away from the others. He searched through the bushes nearby, and suddenly, he spotted something. It was a wallet! He recched down to pick it up, and was suddenly knocked on the head with something hard. The agent fell over unconscious, and was grabbed by two pairs of hands and dragged into the bushes.
One by one, the agents wandered away from the group, and one by one, they were knocked out and dragged into hiding. All of the sudden, only the senior agent was left. He looked up and scanned the area, confused by the sudden lack of his agents. Then he spotted one of them, his legs were sticking out from behind a cluster of trees. The senior agent ran over to the body, and gasped when he saw that he was unconscious. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his phone and started to dial Morris’s number, when all of the sudden he felt an explosion in the back of his head and everything went black.
“Well,” Ryan said, brushing his hands off. “That takes care of them. Come on, Laz, let’s get out of here.” They climbed into one of the agent’s cars and drove off, leaving about a dozen unconscious agents behind them.
Twenty minutes later…
Chuck Morris arrived on the scene in his own car, only to discover that he was too late. He cursed his agents for being so incompetent.
One of the agents who had woken up was optimistic, though. “At least they didn’t take the car that had the doughnuts in it,” he pointed out.
Chuck reached into his shoulder holster and shot him through the head. “Anyone else want to make a smart reoark?” he asked. “Because I have to warn you, I’m not in the mood.” Nobody moved, let alone said anything. “Good,” Morris clapped his hands together. “Now, let’s move. Ryan and Laz have an appointment with the emperor, and I wouldn’t want them to miss it,” Chuck laughed evilly.
Two seconds later…
“Where exactly are we going?” Kayla asked.
Derek whirled around to face her. “I thought we’d already made that clear, away from here. The emperor knows the location of our hideout now.”
“Who leaked it to him, though? Should we really be going to the Rebellion’s hideout if we still have a mole in our ranks?” Emmy was quick to point this out.
Derek stopped, apparently he hadn’t thought about this. “How could I be so stupid?” He smacked himself on the forehead.
“So… know what?” Chris asked.
“It’s time for a mask check,” Derek replied.
“Mask check?” they all asked in wonder.
“Yeah,” Derek nodded and repeated himself. “A mask check, someone here is not who they say they are, and we’re going to find out who it is.”
Two hours, seven minutes, and thirty-two seconds later exactly…
Ryan stopped the car at a local Imperial-Mart. “Maybe we should pick up some clothes.”
Laz looked at their tattered garments. “Yeah, maybe.” They got out of the car and entered the Imperial-Mart. They paid for their purchase with a government credit car that they’d found in the senior agent’s wallet. They figured that the emperor wouldn’t mind…
Thirty three seconds later…
Two Imperial agents spotted Ryan and Laz coming out of Imperial-Mart as they were eating doughnuts at a local coffee shop. “Hey,” one of them said. “Isn’t that those two fugitives that the emperor is looking for?”
The other agent shrugged and stuffed another doughnut into his mouth. “I doubt it. Besides, its break time.”
One hour and thirty-two minutes earlier…
Derek had just finished checking the last IMF agent to see if they were wearing a mask. He sighed. “Guess none of us are wearing masks after all.” He started to turn and continue down the tunnel, when Jordan suddenly spoke up.
“Wait, we never checked you.”
Derek spun around to look at him. “What?”
Jordan folded his arms. “You’re not really Derek, are you?”
Six minutes and twenty-five seconds later…
The emperor slammed his fist down on the desk. “What do you mean, they’re not dead?”
“Exactly what I said, sir,” Chuck replied from the other side of the emperor’s desk.
“Well, don’t just stand there! Go find them!” the emperor yelled. Then he calmed himself. “And if you have trouble finding them. Just pay a visit to our friend Timothius, shouldn’t be too hard to find him. He’ll make great bait.” The emperor laughed.
Six minutes and twenty seconds earlier…
“You think I’m the mole?” Derek said, shocked.
“Why not?” Jordan shrugged. “I don’t see anyone else here that we haven’t check out thoroughly.” He paused and added. “And you have a good motive. We know that your father was killed on a mission with Evan Hunter.”
“Evan Hunter was a good friend; he was like an older brother to me,” Derek insisted. He glared at Jordan. “Where did you learn that?”
Jordan glanced at Kayla and then looked back at Derek. “I did a little research of my own,” he lied. Kayla sighed inwardly, glad that Jordan hadn’t given her away. She had been the one to show him the file on Derek.
Derek stepped forward. “Okay, fine then, check me.”
Jordan looked at the others and then at Derek. “Chris, check him,” he ordered.
Chris stepped over towards Derek and checked him, feeling the corners of his face for any sign of a mask. When he was finished he shook his head. “No mask, he’s clean.”
Derek gave them all a disappointed look.
“I’m sorry,” Jordan apologized. “Its just that, you can’t be too careful.”
“Yeah,” Derek nodded. “I guess you really can’t trust anybody.” Then he turned and continued down the tunnel that would lead them to the Rebellion.
To be continued...
Copyright ©
Imperial Mission, Inc. Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Mission:Betrayal part 9
...continued from last week...
Chuck Morris and his many ISS agents got out of their cars and stared at the location Emmy had led them too.
“They’re hiding in Emperorworld?” one the agents asked, referring to the amusement park that stood before them.
“No,” Morris spat on the ground. “She led us to the wrong place.”
“Didn’t you check out her directions before you followed them?” another asked.
Chuck grabbed the agent by the throat and held him up in the air. “The next time you challenge me, I’ll kill you.” He threw the agent onto the hood of the agent’s own car and then he left.
Derek and Ryan, who were watching through the security cameras at Emperorworld, which they had hacked into, laughed. “Good work, Emmy, I mean Jessica.”
“Go ahead and call me Emmy,” Emmy said. “It feels more natural.”
“Okay… sis,” Ryan grinned at the use of the word. “I’ve got a lot of teasing to make up for, you know. But now, it’s time to deal with the emperor.” He looked at Derek. “I want you to release Sarah immediately, and apologize for her treatment.” Derek nodded, not pointing out that technically, he was in command. Then Ryan walked out of the room and headed back towards where everyone else was.
“What are you doing?” Emmy asked.
“Calling in Robin,” Ryan said. “It’s time for a ride in the Batmobile. Yo Laz, it’s show time!” Ryan called.
Laz appeared out of nowhere as soon as the words left his mouth. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“The emperor wants us, so we’re going to the emperor,” Ryan replied. “Besides, somebody’s gotta show Tim some love, he’s been sitting out in the cold for too long.”
“Ryan, are you crazy!” Emmy exclaimed.
Ryan just looked at her shrugged. “You know me.”
Just then, Sarah came into the room. “Ryan, what’s happening? They’re releasing me, they said they found out who the mole was.”
“I’ve gotta go, Sarah,” Ryan explained. “They’ll debrief you on the whole thing.” He gave them all a little two-fingered salute. “I’ll be back.”
Laz copied him and declared, “and so will I.”
Derek led them down another passage and into what he called, “the secret garage.” There was a nice shiny, black Corvette sitting inside.
Ryan whistled slowly. “That is some car.”
Derek nodded in agreement. “You should see my other one, but this will take you where you want to go, with style.” He looked at Ryan. “Just what are you planning to do?”
Ryan looked right back at him and slipped on a very cool pair of shades for the first time in a while. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Right, that’s what worries me,” Derek said nervously as Ryan and Laz climbed into the car.
“No sweat,” Laz replied cheerfully. “We’ll be back before you can say-- Whoa, Ryan slow down!” Laz yelled as Ryan took off suddenly. They shot out of the garage and into an underground tunnel beneath the hideout. After riding inside the dark tunnel for a while, they suddenly emerged from underground and turned onto the road.
“I love their driveway,” Ryan said, shaking his head in pure wonder.
“Now what?” Laz asked.
Ryan looked at him and lowered his shades in a very cool way so that his eyes were showing. “Now we take the fight to him.”
Unknown to Ryan and Laz, Chuck Morris was watching a live satellite feed on their car at that very moment. “I’ve got you,” he whispered to himself.
“Sir,” one of Chuck’s agents asked him. “Did they find the mole yet?”
Morris smiled. “No, not yet.”
Waiting, up in the trees, just ahead of Ryan and Laz’s position, was another agent, armed with and RPG. “I’m ready when you are, sir,” he said through his COM link.
“Good,” Morris’ voice said through the COM. “Wait for my order.”
Ryan sped the Corvette along the road, while Laz held onto the edge of his seat and prayed that they didn’t crash.
“Could you go any slower, possibly?” Laz asked.
“We’re gonna have to push this baby to the max if we’re gonna get to the emperor in time,” Ryan replied.
“What time? What will we be late for?” Laz shouted.
“I’m not sure yet, I just want to see how fast this thing can go,” Ryan said with a grin on his face.
Laz was just about to voice an argument when he saw a red flash among the trees. Suddenly, they saw a missile speeding towards their car. Ryan jammed on the breaks, but it wasn’t enough. Laz had just enough time to say, “Oh, crap,” before the car exploded.
“Target eliminated, sir,” the agent said picking himself off the ground as he watched the wreckage burn in the distance. He had fallen from the tree when he fired the RPG.
“Good,” Morris said through the COM. “Now go down there and check it out. I want that kill confirmed. These guys are very… evasive when it comes to death.”
The rest of Ryan’s team, and a few others besides, were watching Ryan and Laz via a live satellite feed as well. Gasps could be heard throughout the room when the car exploded.
“No!” Kayla yelled, reaching towards the screen on the wall as she watched the car go up in flames.
Derek slammed his fist on a table and let a few words fly which will not be recorded here for the sake of our readers. Jordan, Chris, and Sarah just stared in disbelief, all of them too shocked to react.
To the surprise of everyong else, Emmy didn’t appear upset. In fact, a small smile appeared across her face.
“Wait, why are you smiling, Emmy?” Kayla asked in disbelief. “Your brother and Laz just died.”
Emmy looked at her and shook her head. “They’re not dead, I can feel it.”
“What are you? A Jedi now?” Jordan exploded. “Nobody can survive a hit like that!”
“But they did survive the boathouse, and that nuclear explosion, not to mention other more minor incidents,” Sarah pointed out. “All we can do is hope.”
Chris nodded. “That’s true. Who knows? Maybe they jumped out before it hit.”
Tim relayed the whole story to his sister, the real story. How he’d been taken prisoner by the emperor and been tortured and eventually forced to come here and turn her over to the emperor. He also assured her that he had no intention of actually doing so, and that she was safe with him. Katie was shocked at first, but then she snapped into action.
“Come on,” she said. “I know a place where you can hide.”
“Where?” Timothius asked. “What place isn’t controlled by the emperor?”
Katie turned around and faced him, a gleam in her eye. “Not everybody loves the emperor, you know. There are some that oppose it.”
“Who?” Tim asked. He’d never heard of any sort of rebellion.
“The Rebellion,” Katie replied.
“Wow, that’s… kind of unoriginal. A rebellion that’s called the Rebellion,” Tim let himself smile for the first time in a while after he said that.
“Whatever,” Katie waved him off. “Just follow me, I know where they’re located.”
Tim started to follow cnd then hesitated.
“What is it?” Katie asked.
“There’s just one small problem,” Tim said. “The emperor is tracking me. He’ll know exactly where I go. If I go with you, it will lead him right to the Rebellion.”
Katie looked at him, her eyes opened wide. “That is a problem. A big problem.”
“Come on,” Derek urged the other IMF agents after the initial shock of Ryan and Laz’s apparent deaths had worn off a little. “We need to get out of here.”
“How come?” Kayla asked.
“Because,” Derek replied, “The only way they could of known where Ryan and Laz would be is if somebody told them. Which means that we haven’t found the mole yet, and that the emperor knows exactly where we are.”
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked.
“To the one place we have left,” Derek answered.
Chris followed up with another question, “Where’s that?”
“The Rebellion,” Derek answered.
Epilogue:
Two bodies lay next to the flaming wreckage of the corvette. They lay motionless in the grass, dangerously close to the flaming vehicle. Ryan’s shades had flown from his face and were somewhere near the wreckage, partially melted. His and Laz’s clothes were singed from the heat of the explosion, and there was almost no doubt that they were quite dead.
That’s what the agent holding the smoking RPG thought as he surveyed his work with an air of satisfaction. There was no way that they could have survived the explosion, even though they had managed to jump out of the car before it was hit. The explosion had been too big, and too close for any normal person to survive.
Suddenly, Ryan’s hand twitched. The agent shook his head; he must be seeing things. Then, Laz’s leg moved, ever so slightly.
They must be twitching as some people did shortly after they died, the agent assessed. He’d heard of such things, people moving long after they were dead. Once during an autopsy, a dead man had sprung into a sitting position, because he had died sitting down. This must be one of those cases.
If he wasn’t mistaken though, these two appeared to be breathing. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. The fall from the tree after he’d fire his RPG could have done something to his eyesight.
He desperately hoped that the IMF agents weren’t alive, they were dangerous killers and he only had his sidearm and a spent RPG. If they escaped then he would definitely either be killed by the agents, or Chuck Morris himself.
He opened his eyes and gasped. Then he drew his sidearm and lifted it to his head. Ryan and Laz were gone.
The End?
No… it’s not. This story will be continued in Mission 5: Payback
“They’re hiding in Emperorworld?” one the agents asked, referring to the amusement park that stood before them.
“No,” Morris spat on the ground. “She led us to the wrong place.”
“Didn’t you check out her directions before you followed them?” another asked.
Chuck grabbed the agent by the throat and held him up in the air. “The next time you challenge me, I’ll kill you.” He threw the agent onto the hood of the agent’s own car and then he left.
Derek and Ryan, who were watching through the security cameras at Emperorworld, which they had hacked into, laughed. “Good work, Emmy, I mean Jessica.”
“Go ahead and call me Emmy,” Emmy said. “It feels more natural.”
“Okay… sis,” Ryan grinned at the use of the word. “I’ve got a lot of teasing to make up for, you know. But now, it’s time to deal with the emperor.” He looked at Derek. “I want you to release Sarah immediately, and apologize for her treatment.” Derek nodded, not pointing out that technically, he was in command. Then Ryan walked out of the room and headed back towards where everyone else was.
“What are you doing?” Emmy asked.
“Calling in Robin,” Ryan said. “It’s time for a ride in the Batmobile. Yo Laz, it’s show time!” Ryan called.
Laz appeared out of nowhere as soon as the words left his mouth. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“The emperor wants us, so we’re going to the emperor,” Ryan replied. “Besides, somebody’s gotta show Tim some love, he’s been sitting out in the cold for too long.”
“Ryan, are you crazy!” Emmy exclaimed.
Ryan just looked at her shrugged. “You know me.”
Just then, Sarah came into the room. “Ryan, what’s happening? They’re releasing me, they said they found out who the mole was.”
“I’ve gotta go, Sarah,” Ryan explained. “They’ll debrief you on the whole thing.” He gave them all a little two-fingered salute. “I’ll be back.”
Laz copied him and declared, “and so will I.”
Derek led them down another passage and into what he called, “the secret garage.” There was a nice shiny, black Corvette sitting inside.
Ryan whistled slowly. “That is some car.”
Derek nodded in agreement. “You should see my other one, but this will take you where you want to go, with style.” He looked at Ryan. “Just what are you planning to do?”
Ryan looked right back at him and slipped on a very cool pair of shades for the first time in a while. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Right, that’s what worries me,” Derek said nervously as Ryan and Laz climbed into the car.
“No sweat,” Laz replied cheerfully. “We’ll be back before you can say-- Whoa, Ryan slow down!” Laz yelled as Ryan took off suddenly. They shot out of the garage and into an underground tunnel beneath the hideout. After riding inside the dark tunnel for a while, they suddenly emerged from underground and turned onto the road.
“I love their driveway,” Ryan said, shaking his head in pure wonder.
“Now what?” Laz asked.
Ryan looked at him and lowered his shades in a very cool way so that his eyes were showing. “Now we take the fight to him.”
Unknown to Ryan and Laz, Chuck Morris was watching a live satellite feed on their car at that very moment. “I’ve got you,” he whispered to himself.
“Sir,” one of Chuck’s agents asked him. “Did they find the mole yet?”
Morris smiled. “No, not yet.”
Waiting, up in the trees, just ahead of Ryan and Laz’s position, was another agent, armed with and RPG. “I’m ready when you are, sir,” he said through his COM link.
“Good,” Morris’ voice said through the COM. “Wait for my order.”
Ryan sped the Corvette along the road, while Laz held onto the edge of his seat and prayed that they didn’t crash.
“Could you go any slower, possibly?” Laz asked.
“We’re gonna have to push this baby to the max if we’re gonna get to the emperor in time,” Ryan replied.
“What time? What will we be late for?” Laz shouted.
“I’m not sure yet, I just want to see how fast this thing can go,” Ryan said with a grin on his face.
Laz was just about to voice an argument when he saw a red flash among the trees. Suddenly, they saw a missile speeding towards their car. Ryan jammed on the breaks, but it wasn’t enough. Laz had just enough time to say, “Oh, crap,” before the car exploded.
“Target eliminated, sir,” the agent said picking himself off the ground as he watched the wreckage burn in the distance. He had fallen from the tree when he fired the RPG.
“Good,” Morris said through the COM. “Now go down there and check it out. I want that kill confirmed. These guys are very… evasive when it comes to death.”
The rest of Ryan’s team, and a few others besides, were watching Ryan and Laz via a live satellite feed as well. Gasps could be heard throughout the room when the car exploded.
“No!” Kayla yelled, reaching towards the screen on the wall as she watched the car go up in flames.
Derek slammed his fist on a table and let a few words fly which will not be recorded here for the sake of our readers. Jordan, Chris, and Sarah just stared in disbelief, all of them too shocked to react.
To the surprise of everyong else, Emmy didn’t appear upset. In fact, a small smile appeared across her face.
“Wait, why are you smiling, Emmy?” Kayla asked in disbelief. “Your brother and Laz just died.”
Emmy looked at her and shook her head. “They’re not dead, I can feel it.”
“What are you? A Jedi now?” Jordan exploded. “Nobody can survive a hit like that!”
“But they did survive the boathouse, and that nuclear explosion, not to mention other more minor incidents,” Sarah pointed out. “All we can do is hope.”
Chris nodded. “That’s true. Who knows? Maybe they jumped out before it hit.”
Tim relayed the whole story to his sister, the real story. How he’d been taken prisoner by the emperor and been tortured and eventually forced to come here and turn her over to the emperor. He also assured her that he had no intention of actually doing so, and that she was safe with him. Katie was shocked at first, but then she snapped into action.
“Come on,” she said. “I know a place where you can hide.”
“Where?” Timothius asked. “What place isn’t controlled by the emperor?”
Katie turned around and faced him, a gleam in her eye. “Not everybody loves the emperor, you know. There are some that oppose it.”
“Who?” Tim asked. He’d never heard of any sort of rebellion.
“The Rebellion,” Katie replied.
“Wow, that’s… kind of unoriginal. A rebellion that’s called the Rebellion,” Tim let himself smile for the first time in a while after he said that.
“Whatever,” Katie waved him off. “Just follow me, I know where they’re located.”
Tim started to follow cnd then hesitated.
“What is it?” Katie asked.
“There’s just one small problem,” Tim said. “The emperor is tracking me. He’ll know exactly where I go. If I go with you, it will lead him right to the Rebellion.”
Katie looked at him, her eyes opened wide. “That is a problem. A big problem.”
“Come on,” Derek urged the other IMF agents after the initial shock of Ryan and Laz’s apparent deaths had worn off a little. “We need to get out of here.”
“How come?” Kayla asked.
“Because,” Derek replied, “The only way they could of known where Ryan and Laz would be is if somebody told them. Which means that we haven’t found the mole yet, and that the emperor knows exactly where we are.”
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked.
“To the one place we have left,” Derek answered.
Chris followed up with another question, “Where’s that?”
“The Rebellion,” Derek answered.
Epilogue:
Two bodies lay next to the flaming wreckage of the corvette. They lay motionless in the grass, dangerously close to the flaming vehicle. Ryan’s shades had flown from his face and were somewhere near the wreckage, partially melted. His and Laz’s clothes were singed from the heat of the explosion, and there was almost no doubt that they were quite dead.
That’s what the agent holding the smoking RPG thought as he surveyed his work with an air of satisfaction. There was no way that they could have survived the explosion, even though they had managed to jump out of the car before it was hit. The explosion had been too big, and too close for any normal person to survive.
Suddenly, Ryan’s hand twitched. The agent shook his head; he must be seeing things. Then, Laz’s leg moved, ever so slightly.
They must be twitching as some people did shortly after they died, the agent assessed. He’d heard of such things, people moving long after they were dead. Once during an autopsy, a dead man had sprung into a sitting position, because he had died sitting down. This must be one of those cases.
If he wasn’t mistaken though, these two appeared to be breathing. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. The fall from the tree after he’d fire his RPG could have done something to his eyesight.
He desperately hoped that the IMF agents weren’t alive, they were dangerous killers and he only had his sidearm and a spent RPG. If they escaped then he would definitely either be killed by the agents, or Chuck Morris himself.
He opened his eyes and gasped. Then he drew his sidearm and lifted it to his head. Ryan and Laz were gone.
The End?
No… it’s not. This story will be continued in Mission 5: Payback
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Mission:Betrayal part 8
...continued from last week...
Timothius walked up to his sister’s front door and took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do. His brother would say it was stupid, Kayla would say it was stupid, heck, Ryan and Laz would say it was stupid as would everyone else he knew, especially his sister. But it was his only option. He knocked on the front door. Answering it was a very surprised Katie Danaford. “Tim, is that you? You look awful!”
“Gee thanks,” Tim had to smile. “You look real good yourself.”
Katie smiled at the playful, sarcastic insult. Her blonde hair was a mess, she was in her pajamas, and she looked like she hadn’t slept for days. “Come in, Tim. What brings you here?”
“That,” Tim said slowly, “is a long story.”
“Wait, no!” Emmy cried as Jordan dragged her down the hall. “Please, it’s not what you think!”
“Oh, its exactly what I think,” Jordan disagreed, turning back to look her in the eyes. “You were handing our butts to the emperor in a hand basket. You betrayed us.”
“I had no choice,” Emmy said softly. “He forced me to do it, please I beg you. Don’t tell the others.”
“Not a chance,” Jordan shook his head. Ryan appeared around the corner.
“There you guys are, I’ve been looking everywhere,” he began.
“I found the mole,” Jordan said, throwing Emmy at Ryan’s feet. She looked up at Ryan with a scared look on her face.
“What?” Ryan said, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s the mole,” Jordan replied. “I caught her red-handed, informing the emperor of our exact location.”
Ryan looked at Emmy, a shocked look on his face. “Is that true?”
“No,” Emmy lied, shaking her head emphatically. “I would never betray you.”
Ryan looked at Emmy, and then Jordan, then back at Emmy again, as if deciding whom to believe. Finally he shook his head. “You’re lying to me, Emmy.” His voice was full of hurt. “You betrayed us, why?”
“The emperor forced me to,” Emmy insisted. “He said he’d kill my brother if I didn’t do as he said.”
“What brother?” Ryan asked, growing angry.
“He doesn’t want you to know,” Emmy shook her head.
“Know what? Who doesn’t want me to know?”
“Dad doesn’t,” Emmy replied.
Ryan scoffed at this and drew his sidearm.
“What are you doing?” Emmy asked.
“Thinking of doing something rash,” was all Ryan said. Then he pointed the gun at her. “Now you’re going to tell me exactly what you told the emperor and how he threatened you!”
Emmy started to cry and she hugged Ryan’s feet. “Please don’t, please!” she sobbed. “You don’t understand!” By now, a crowd of IMF agents had gathered, and Jordan filled them in on what was happening. Most of them were shocked, but Derek seemed almost expectant for some reason.
“Please, you don’t understand,” Emmy repeated, still crying.
“Then enlighten me,” Ryan growled, still pointing the gun at her.
Emmy wiped a few tears from her face and whispered to herself, “forgive me Dad, I had to tell him.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, still holding the gun.
Emmy looked up at Ryan. “You’re my brother,” she said simply. Ryan’s gun fell from his hand, and clattered to the ground.
The hooded figure stood at the emperor’s desk, his face concealed by his long hood. “What is thy bidding, master?” he asked.
The emperor turned around in his chair, raised it up so he could see over the desk, and looked up at the figure. “First of all, you can cut the “thy” talk, that died out centuries ago,” he paused. “But the master part is fine.” Then he turned serious, “I want you to finish them off. Thanks to young Hunter, I have their location. Now go kill them, all of them.”
“As you wish,” Morris bowed and walked out of the room.
The emperor laughed to himself. “At last, I will remove the last of the Hunters from this earth, and be free of them forever.”
Ryan continued to stare at Emmy and then turned his head towards Derek. “Is this true?”
Derek sighed and then asked everyone else to leave them for a moment. Then he took Ryan and Emmy into a small room and sat them down in a couple of chairs. He remained standing.
“What Emmy says is true,” Derek said. “Evan never actually told me your real names, but I suspected that you were his children. He hid you rather well actually, but it’s hard to hide a pregnant women, especially one that was bearing twins.”
“We’re twins!” Ryan cried. “This is too much!” Then he paused. “Wait, did you say Evan tried to hide us, as in Evan Hunter? The famous IMF agent?”
Derek and Emmy both nodded. “My name isn’t really Emmy,” Emmy said. “It’s Jessica Hunter, after our mother, Jess.”
“Sweet woman,” Derek recalled. “It’s so very sad the way the emperor murdered her. It really devastated your father.”
“I’m Evan Hunter’s son!” Ryan exclaimed, still not quite able to believe it. He looked at Emmy. “What’s my real name?”
“Jack,” Emmy replied, tears flowing down her face. “Jack Hunter.”
Ryan sat down, mulling all of this over. Then he stood up again. “This is too much like Star Wars,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
“Except your Dad isn’t Darth Vader, and this isn’t the emperor’s story,” Derek was quick to point out.
“How can I believe this?” Ryan asked, ignoring Derek’s comment. “Why didn’t he tell me? How do you know, and not me?”
“Watch this,” Emmy said, pulling a small computer chip from her pocket. “It’s a message that Dad left for us before he died. I’d tell you how I got it but it’s a long story.”
Ryan took the chip and Derek pulled out a laptop and set it on the table in the room. Ryan inserted the chip into the laptop and a video of his Dad, Evan Hunter, came onto the screen.
“Hello,” his Dad said, he turned to someone off screen, “is this thing on?” He was assured that it was and he focused back on the screen. “Hey, Ryan and Emmy, this is your father, Evan Hunter. If you’re watching this video then I’m probably dead by now,” he paused and thought about this. “Wow, that felt really weird to say. Anyways, you also probably know by now that Ryan and Emmy aren’t your real names, but I’ll call you by your old names if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
“Yes it would,” Ryan mumbled.
“Okay Ryan, then that’s what I’ll do,” Evan said.
Ryan looked at Derek with a questioning look. “How’d he do that?”
Derek shrugged. “People who have been long dead and leave messages behind for their loved ones always know what you’re going to say.”
“Thanks for the input, Derek,” Evan said on the computer screen.
“Now that was kinda freaky,” Derek admitted.
“Ryan and Emmy, I just want you to know, first of all,” Evan continued. “That I loved you, and your mom loved you, more than anything in the world.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us who you were?” Ryan asked, talking more to himself than anyone else.
“Because we wanted to protect you,” Evan answered, continuing his uncanny trend of predicting what they would say. “The emperor wanted all of us dead, and he would have killed you in an instant if he knew you were born. That’s why we changed your names and sent you each to a different set of loving foster parents.”
“My parents put me in a correctional school,” Ryan muttered.
“So maybe they weren’t as loving as we would have been,” Evan admitted. “But we were under a lot of pressure and they had the best front doorsteps we could find.”
“I still don’t see why you had to do this,” Ryan said bitterly. “I went through my whole life thinking my parents didn’t understand me, and I didn’t even know who my real parents were.”
“Hey, I would have bailed you out, son. If I were still alive at the time,” Evan defended himself. Then he apologized, “I’m sorry, I failed you both.”
“It’s okay, Dad,” Emmy spoke up. She put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “You did the best you could.”
“That’s all we ever tried to do,” Evan said. “Now you two go out there and kick some serious imperial butt. Oh, and Ryan, I saw these really cool sunglasses that were half-off right before we left you at your foster parents house, so I left them with you. Do you still have them by any chance?”
“Yeah,” Ryan nodded. “My parents said they were a gift from a benevolent uncle who lived in Indonesia.”
“I’m glad you still have them,” Evan smiled. Then he shifted his gaze towards Emmy, but Derek shut the video off. “That’s all we have time for, I’m afraid,” Derek said.
“The rest was for me, anyways,” Emmy said. “I’ve already heard it.”
Ryan’s head was full of questions still. “Why did you betray us?”
“I didn’t,” Emmy replied. “The emperor found out who I was,” she explained. “He told me that if I didn’t hand all of you guys over to him that he would kill you and me as well. Of course I wasn’t going to betray you, but I needed to buy some time. So I pretended that I gave in, and that I was betraying you.”
“How can we be sure of that?” Derek asked, apparently he wasn’t filled in on everything.
“Because, you’ll see where I lead them in a moment,” Emmy smiled.
To be continued next week...
Copyright © Imperial Mission, Inc.
Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:
Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com
Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
Timothius walked up to his sister’s front door and took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do. His brother would say it was stupid, Kayla would say it was stupid, heck, Ryan and Laz would say it was stupid as would everyone else he knew, especially his sister. But it was his only option. He knocked on the front door. Answering it was a very surprised Katie Danaford. “Tim, is that you? You look awful!”
“Gee thanks,” Tim had to smile. “You look real good yourself.”
Katie smiled at the playful, sarcastic insult. Her blonde hair was a mess, she was in her pajamas, and she looked like she hadn’t slept for days. “Come in, Tim. What brings you here?”
“That,” Tim said slowly, “is a long story.”
“Wait, no!” Emmy cried as Jordan dragged her down the hall. “Please, it’s not what you think!”
“Oh, its exactly what I think,” Jordan disagreed, turning back to look her in the eyes. “You were handing our butts to the emperor in a hand basket. You betrayed us.”
“I had no choice,” Emmy said softly. “He forced me to do it, please I beg you. Don’t tell the others.”
“Not a chance,” Jordan shook his head. Ryan appeared around the corner.
“There you guys are, I’ve been looking everywhere,” he began.
“I found the mole,” Jordan said, throwing Emmy at Ryan’s feet. She looked up at Ryan with a scared look on her face.
“What?” Ryan said, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s the mole,” Jordan replied. “I caught her red-handed, informing the emperor of our exact location.”
Ryan looked at Emmy, a shocked look on his face. “Is that true?”
“No,” Emmy lied, shaking her head emphatically. “I would never betray you.”
Ryan looked at Emmy, and then Jordan, then back at Emmy again, as if deciding whom to believe. Finally he shook his head. “You’re lying to me, Emmy.” His voice was full of hurt. “You betrayed us, why?”
“The emperor forced me to,” Emmy insisted. “He said he’d kill my brother if I didn’t do as he said.”
“What brother?” Ryan asked, growing angry.
“He doesn’t want you to know,” Emmy shook her head.
“Know what? Who doesn’t want me to know?”
“Dad doesn’t,” Emmy replied.
Ryan scoffed at this and drew his sidearm.
“What are you doing?” Emmy asked.
“Thinking of doing something rash,” was all Ryan said. Then he pointed the gun at her. “Now you’re going to tell me exactly what you told the emperor and how he threatened you!”
Emmy started to cry and she hugged Ryan’s feet. “Please don’t, please!” she sobbed. “You don’t understand!” By now, a crowd of IMF agents had gathered, and Jordan filled them in on what was happening. Most of them were shocked, but Derek seemed almost expectant for some reason.
“Please, you don’t understand,” Emmy repeated, still crying.
“Then enlighten me,” Ryan growled, still pointing the gun at her.
Emmy wiped a few tears from her face and whispered to herself, “forgive me Dad, I had to tell him.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, still holding the gun.
Emmy looked up at Ryan. “You’re my brother,” she said simply. Ryan’s gun fell from his hand, and clattered to the ground.
The hooded figure stood at the emperor’s desk, his face concealed by his long hood. “What is thy bidding, master?” he asked.
The emperor turned around in his chair, raised it up so he could see over the desk, and looked up at the figure. “First of all, you can cut the “thy” talk, that died out centuries ago,” he paused. “But the master part is fine.” Then he turned serious, “I want you to finish them off. Thanks to young Hunter, I have their location. Now go kill them, all of them.”
“As you wish,” Morris bowed and walked out of the room.
The emperor laughed to himself. “At last, I will remove the last of the Hunters from this earth, and be free of them forever.”
Ryan continued to stare at Emmy and then turned his head towards Derek. “Is this true?”
Derek sighed and then asked everyone else to leave them for a moment. Then he took Ryan and Emmy into a small room and sat them down in a couple of chairs. He remained standing.
“What Emmy says is true,” Derek said. “Evan never actually told me your real names, but I suspected that you were his children. He hid you rather well actually, but it’s hard to hide a pregnant women, especially one that was bearing twins.”
“We’re twins!” Ryan cried. “This is too much!” Then he paused. “Wait, did you say Evan tried to hide us, as in Evan Hunter? The famous IMF agent?”
Derek and Emmy both nodded. “My name isn’t really Emmy,” Emmy said. “It’s Jessica Hunter, after our mother, Jess.”
“Sweet woman,” Derek recalled. “It’s so very sad the way the emperor murdered her. It really devastated your father.”
“I’m Evan Hunter’s son!” Ryan exclaimed, still not quite able to believe it. He looked at Emmy. “What’s my real name?”
“Jack,” Emmy replied, tears flowing down her face. “Jack Hunter.”
Ryan sat down, mulling all of this over. Then he stood up again. “This is too much like Star Wars,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
“Except your Dad isn’t Darth Vader, and this isn’t the emperor’s story,” Derek was quick to point out.
“How can I believe this?” Ryan asked, ignoring Derek’s comment. “Why didn’t he tell me? How do you know, and not me?”
“Watch this,” Emmy said, pulling a small computer chip from her pocket. “It’s a message that Dad left for us before he died. I’d tell you how I got it but it’s a long story.”
Ryan took the chip and Derek pulled out a laptop and set it on the table in the room. Ryan inserted the chip into the laptop and a video of his Dad, Evan Hunter, came onto the screen.
“Hello,” his Dad said, he turned to someone off screen, “is this thing on?” He was assured that it was and he focused back on the screen. “Hey, Ryan and Emmy, this is your father, Evan Hunter. If you’re watching this video then I’m probably dead by now,” he paused and thought about this. “Wow, that felt really weird to say. Anyways, you also probably know by now that Ryan and Emmy aren’t your real names, but I’ll call you by your old names if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
“Yes it would,” Ryan mumbled.
“Okay Ryan, then that’s what I’ll do,” Evan said.
Ryan looked at Derek with a questioning look. “How’d he do that?”
Derek shrugged. “People who have been long dead and leave messages behind for their loved ones always know what you’re going to say.”
“Thanks for the input, Derek,” Evan said on the computer screen.
“Now that was kinda freaky,” Derek admitted.
“Ryan and Emmy, I just want you to know, first of all,” Evan continued. “That I loved you, and your mom loved you, more than anything in the world.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us who you were?” Ryan asked, talking more to himself than anyone else.
“Because we wanted to protect you,” Evan answered, continuing his uncanny trend of predicting what they would say. “The emperor wanted all of us dead, and he would have killed you in an instant if he knew you were born. That’s why we changed your names and sent you each to a different set of loving foster parents.”
“My parents put me in a correctional school,” Ryan muttered.
“So maybe they weren’t as loving as we would have been,” Evan admitted. “But we were under a lot of pressure and they had the best front doorsteps we could find.”
“I still don’t see why you had to do this,” Ryan said bitterly. “I went through my whole life thinking my parents didn’t understand me, and I didn’t even know who my real parents were.”
“Hey, I would have bailed you out, son. If I were still alive at the time,” Evan defended himself. Then he apologized, “I’m sorry, I failed you both.”
“It’s okay, Dad,” Emmy spoke up. She put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “You did the best you could.”
“That’s all we ever tried to do,” Evan said. “Now you two go out there and kick some serious imperial butt. Oh, and Ryan, I saw these really cool sunglasses that were half-off right before we left you at your foster parents house, so I left them with you. Do you still have them by any chance?”
“Yeah,” Ryan nodded. “My parents said they were a gift from a benevolent uncle who lived in Indonesia.”
“I’m glad you still have them,” Evan smiled. Then he shifted his gaze towards Emmy, but Derek shut the video off. “That’s all we have time for, I’m afraid,” Derek said.
“The rest was for me, anyways,” Emmy said. “I’ve already heard it.”
Ryan’s head was full of questions still. “Why did you betray us?”
“I didn’t,” Emmy replied. “The emperor found out who I was,” she explained. “He told me that if I didn’t hand all of you guys over to him that he would kill you and me as well. Of course I wasn’t going to betray you, but I needed to buy some time. So I pretended that I gave in, and that I was betraying you.”
“How can we be sure of that?” Derek asked, apparently he wasn’t filled in on everything.
“Because, you’ll see where I lead them in a moment,” Emmy smiled.
To be continued next week...
Copyright © Imperial Mission, Inc.
Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:
Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com
Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Mission: Betrayal part 7
Continued from last week...
Timothius stood before the emperor’s desk, struggling to stay upright.
“So,” the emperor drawled. “You decided to finally come around, eh? Good, very good.” He gave a nod towards the interrogator. “He’s good, isn’t he?”
Timothius said nothing, and continued to stare at the floor.
“Are you ready to do what you were assigned?” the emperor asked.
“Why me? Why not get someone else to do it?” Tim finally asked.
“Because,” the emperor said, leaning towards him. “I need someone she knows, someone who she trusts.”
“Who’s she?” Tim was curious now, despite his wounds.
The emperor paused and looked him in the eyes. “Your sister.”
Ryan’s eyes flew open and he catapulted out of bed, breathing hard and a Glock in hand. Instinctively, he felt his forehead. No bullet hole, it had been a dream. What a hellish dream at that. He’d come close to death before, closer than most people did, and he’d lived to tell about it. This, however, really unnerved him. More than any dream he’d ever had before. Now he thought twice about the trust he had put in Sarah, but no, it had only been a dream. He wouldn’t have stopped trusting Laz or anyone else if he’d had a dream of on of them killing him. Okay, so maybe he would…
By now, Laz was awake and was staring at him as he stood there. “You really need to get some sleep pants or something!” he groaned.
Ryan looked down to see that he was only wearing boxers. Blushing, he pulled on his jeans and a fresh shirt that someone had laid out for him.
“What’s wrong with you anyways?” Laz asked.
Ryan shrugged. “Nothing, nothing at all.”
“So…” Laz paused. “You’re telling me that you always fly out of bed every morning… with a gun in your hand.”
“Yeah,” Ryan lied, unconvincingly. “You can’t be too careful.”
Laz looked as if he’d seen through his lie, and then just shrugged. “Yeah, you got a point there.”
As the rest of the IMF agents were just waking up, someone was out in one of the halls, making a phone call. “Yes, I’m sure they’re here, just patch me through to him,” said a muffled voice. There was a pause, as the person on the line was talking, “I don’t know exactly how to get here, don’t you have some sort of tracking signal on my phone?” Another pause. “It doesn’t work here? All right, I’ll have to get you directions some other way.” The informant hung up the phone, and slipped back into the main room, acting as if nothing had ever happened.
“Guys,” Emmy called. “We got some breakfast ready!” She and Kayla were in the secret bunker’s secret kitchen, making a secret breakfast with some secret ingredients.
“All right!” was the response from the guys’ room. They all came piling out, stomachs growling.
“Eat up boys,” said Derek, who had just entered the room. “We got a long day ahead of us.”
“What are we doing?” Chris asked in between mouthfuls.
“We’re going mole hunting,” Derek declared.
Timothius gave the emperor a shocked look. “My sister!”
The emperor nodded. “She’s been raising up a lot of lies about me, saying I kill innocent people, and imprison others for no other means than my own personal good.”
Tim raised his eyebrows. “But, you do that… all the time.”
“Shut up!” the emperor snapped. “I want your sister, and I want her alive! I have something special planned for her.” He paused. “Don’t throw this opportunity away, Timothius. Join me, and together we can rule the world.”
“Somebody’s been watching Star Wars,” Tim quipped.
The emperor slammed his fist on the table. “Are you going to do it, or not?”
The interrogator slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, hoping the answer would be no. The emperor seemed to expect that it would be no, in fact, he was practically sure of it.
Then, to the surprise of them all, Tim said, “Yes, I’ll do it.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Ryan said to Derek as they were searching through a mound of files. “We’re going to find out who the mole is by searching through the personal files of all the IMF members? Why don’t we just do something useful and bust Tim out of the emperor’s dungeon?”
“Not exactly,” Derek shrugged. “But it may point is in the right direction. Whoever the mole is, he or she may have something in their past that made them want to betray us. And let’s get something straight right now, we’re not going to bust anyone out of any dungeons, yet.”
“Makes sense,” Emmy commented as she read through her own pile of documents. There were several other agents from other teams reading through the files as well, at least all the agents that had been idle.
“Isn’t this like an invasion of privacy?” Ryan asked.
Derek sighed. “Sort of.”
Ryan thought about this for a minute and then shrugged. “Cool.”
The agents started to dig through the piles, sometimes making comments about their files.
“Ha!” Ryan snickered. “This guy’s thirty and still lives with his mom.”
“What’s so bad about that?” one of the agents from another team said, defensively.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You look just like the guy in this file…”
“Oh yeah,” Laz said. “Beat this, this guy’s hobbies consist of getting rejected by woman and mooching off of his mom.”
“I was never rejected,” another agent cried out. “They just said that they didn’t think it was going to work.”
“That’s rejection,” Ryan pointed out.
“You guys are disgusting,” Kayla muttered as she looked through her pile. Suddenly, she paused and looked closer at the one she held in her hand. It had a short report attached to it about how his father had been on a team with Evan Hunter. His father had not made it out alive, only Evan Hunter did. “He could have a motive,” Kayla said to herself. She checked the name on the file; it was Derek’s.
After a doctor had treated his wounds, Timothius was suited up, much to the protest of the doctor, and debriefed on all the details of his mission that the emperor would disclose. Timothius was then equipped with a car and a reliable story that his sister would believe was the reason for his visit.
“Remember,” the emperor warned him. “I’ve got trackers on you, so if you try anything funny…” he let his words sink kn.
Timothius looked him in the eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t try anything funny.” He climbed into the car and closed the door. The emperor watched as he pulled away, a smile creeping across his face.
Just then, a hooded man came and stood beside him. “Do {ou think you can trust him?”
“Of course,” the emperor smiled. “And if we can’t, we always have you around to do the clean up. Just like you did with those two Roland girls.”
Kayla started to slip Derek’s file in her pocket, when Derek suddenly grabbed her shoulder. Kayla froze, expecting him to grab the file. Instead, Derek pointed at the file he was holding. “This looks interesting,” he said. “This girl here seems to have no special agent training. The emperor just hired her, for unknown reasons. The name doesn’t look familiar though.”
Kayla just nodded and slid Derek’s file into her pocket.
“Do any of you guys know a Jessica Hunter?” Derek asked, waving the file he’d just been looking at in the air. “She’s probably not of any relation to Evan Hunter, just the same last name.”
Everybody shook his or her head. “I’ve never heard of her,” Ryan said. He turned to where Jordan had been sitting, “have you heard of a…” he trailed off. “Where’d he go?” he asked.
An agent who was not on Ryan’s team spoke up. “I saw him grab something and leave; he looked like he was in a hurry.”
Ryan shrugged. “Probably needed a bathroom break or something,” he quipped, turning towards where Emmy had been sifting through papers, but she was gone too.
“Wait, where’d Emmy go?” Ryan groaned and threw up his hands. “What is this? Hide and go seek?”
“Who’s the seeker?” Laz asked, eager to do anything except what he was doing at the moment. Then he held up his hand, “wait don’t tell me, it was just a figure of speech.”
“Actually, I was half serious,” Ryan replied. He turned towards Derek. “I’m gonna go see where they went, come on Laz,” he motioned for Laz to follow him, “let’s go see where they went off to.”
The informant was in a dark corner in the IMF hideout, talking with the emperor. “Yes, I’m sure that’s the exact location,” the informant assured him. “I found a map to this place… I’m holding it right now.”
“Okay,” the emperor said on the other end of the line. “I’m sending Morris over right now.”
“Chuck Morris?” the informant said, sounding afraid. “The same man that killed two men with nothing more than a single chopstick?”
“Don’t be silly,” the emperor lied unconvincingly. “Those are just rumors.” Then he paused and said, “good job, Jessica. You will be rewarded for your service to the empire.” Then the line went dead and Jessica, for that was the informant’s real name, hung up the phone.
Just as Jessica started to turn around and head back to the room where all the IMF agents, or at least most of them, were still sifting through papers, a hand grabbed her arm. “So its Jessica, is it?” said the man that the arm belonged to. “Whoever you really are, you’re in big trouble, Emmy.” Jordan stepped out from the shadows, still holding onto Emmy’s arm. “And when I say big, I mean big.”
To be continued next week... which would be on Tuesday... So don't ask me when the next post is... ;)
Copyright © Imperial Mission, Inc.
Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:
Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com
Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
Timothius stood before the emperor’s desk, struggling to stay upright.
“So,” the emperor drawled. “You decided to finally come around, eh? Good, very good.” He gave a nod towards the interrogator. “He’s good, isn’t he?”
Timothius said nothing, and continued to stare at the floor.
“Are you ready to do what you were assigned?” the emperor asked.
“Why me? Why not get someone else to do it?” Tim finally asked.
“Because,” the emperor said, leaning towards him. “I need someone she knows, someone who she trusts.”
“Who’s she?” Tim was curious now, despite his wounds.
The emperor paused and looked him in the eyes. “Your sister.”
Ryan’s eyes flew open and he catapulted out of bed, breathing hard and a Glock in hand. Instinctively, he felt his forehead. No bullet hole, it had been a dream. What a hellish dream at that. He’d come close to death before, closer than most people did, and he’d lived to tell about it. This, however, really unnerved him. More than any dream he’d ever had before. Now he thought twice about the trust he had put in Sarah, but no, it had only been a dream. He wouldn’t have stopped trusting Laz or anyone else if he’d had a dream of on of them killing him. Okay, so maybe he would…
By now, Laz was awake and was staring at him as he stood there. “You really need to get some sleep pants or something!” he groaned.
Ryan looked down to see that he was only wearing boxers. Blushing, he pulled on his jeans and a fresh shirt that someone had laid out for him.
“What’s wrong with you anyways?” Laz asked.
Ryan shrugged. “Nothing, nothing at all.”
“So…” Laz paused. “You’re telling me that you always fly out of bed every morning… with a gun in your hand.”
“Yeah,” Ryan lied, unconvincingly. “You can’t be too careful.”
Laz looked as if he’d seen through his lie, and then just shrugged. “Yeah, you got a point there.”
As the rest of the IMF agents were just waking up, someone was out in one of the halls, making a phone call. “Yes, I’m sure they’re here, just patch me through to him,” said a muffled voice. There was a pause, as the person on the line was talking, “I don’t know exactly how to get here, don’t you have some sort of tracking signal on my phone?” Another pause. “It doesn’t work here? All right, I’ll have to get you directions some other way.” The informant hung up the phone, and slipped back into the main room, acting as if nothing had ever happened.
“Guys,” Emmy called. “We got some breakfast ready!” She and Kayla were in the secret bunker’s secret kitchen, making a secret breakfast with some secret ingredients.
“All right!” was the response from the guys’ room. They all came piling out, stomachs growling.
“Eat up boys,” said Derek, who had just entered the room. “We got a long day ahead of us.”
“What are we doing?” Chris asked in between mouthfuls.
“We’re going mole hunting,” Derek declared.
Timothius gave the emperor a shocked look. “My sister!”
The emperor nodded. “She’s been raising up a lot of lies about me, saying I kill innocent people, and imprison others for no other means than my own personal good.”
Tim raised his eyebrows. “But, you do that… all the time.”
“Shut up!” the emperor snapped. “I want your sister, and I want her alive! I have something special planned for her.” He paused. “Don’t throw this opportunity away, Timothius. Join me, and together we can rule the world.”
“Somebody’s been watching Star Wars,” Tim quipped.
The emperor slammed his fist on the table. “Are you going to do it, or not?”
The interrogator slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, hoping the answer would be no. The emperor seemed to expect that it would be no, in fact, he was practically sure of it.
Then, to the surprise of them all, Tim said, “Yes, I’ll do it.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Ryan said to Derek as they were searching through a mound of files. “We’re going to find out who the mole is by searching through the personal files of all the IMF members? Why don’t we just do something useful and bust Tim out of the emperor’s dungeon?”
“Not exactly,” Derek shrugged. “But it may point is in the right direction. Whoever the mole is, he or she may have something in their past that made them want to betray us. And let’s get something straight right now, we’re not going to bust anyone out of any dungeons, yet.”
“Makes sense,” Emmy commented as she read through her own pile of documents. There were several other agents from other teams reading through the files as well, at least all the agents that had been idle.
“Isn’t this like an invasion of privacy?” Ryan asked.
Derek sighed. “Sort of.”
Ryan thought about this for a minute and then shrugged. “Cool.”
The agents started to dig through the piles, sometimes making comments about their files.
“Ha!” Ryan snickered. “This guy’s thirty and still lives with his mom.”
“What’s so bad about that?” one of the agents from another team said, defensively.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You look just like the guy in this file…”
“Oh yeah,” Laz said. “Beat this, this guy’s hobbies consist of getting rejected by woman and mooching off of his mom.”
“I was never rejected,” another agent cried out. “They just said that they didn’t think it was going to work.”
“That’s rejection,” Ryan pointed out.
“You guys are disgusting,” Kayla muttered as she looked through her pile. Suddenly, she paused and looked closer at the one she held in her hand. It had a short report attached to it about how his father had been on a team with Evan Hunter. His father had not made it out alive, only Evan Hunter did. “He could have a motive,” Kayla said to herself. She checked the name on the file; it was Derek’s.
After a doctor had treated his wounds, Timothius was suited up, much to the protest of the doctor, and debriefed on all the details of his mission that the emperor would disclose. Timothius was then equipped with a car and a reliable story that his sister would believe was the reason for his visit.
“Remember,” the emperor warned him. “I’ve got trackers on you, so if you try anything funny…” he let his words sink kn.
Timothius looked him in the eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t try anything funny.” He climbed into the car and closed the door. The emperor watched as he pulled away, a smile creeping across his face.
Just then, a hooded man came and stood beside him. “Do {ou think you can trust him?”
“Of course,” the emperor smiled. “And if we can’t, we always have you around to do the clean up. Just like you did with those two Roland girls.”
Kayla started to slip Derek’s file in her pocket, when Derek suddenly grabbed her shoulder. Kayla froze, expecting him to grab the file. Instead, Derek pointed at the file he was holding. “This looks interesting,” he said. “This girl here seems to have no special agent training. The emperor just hired her, for unknown reasons. The name doesn’t look familiar though.”
Kayla just nodded and slid Derek’s file into her pocket.
“Do any of you guys know a Jessica Hunter?” Derek asked, waving the file he’d just been looking at in the air. “She’s probably not of any relation to Evan Hunter, just the same last name.”
Everybody shook his or her head. “I’ve never heard of her,” Ryan said. He turned to where Jordan had been sitting, “have you heard of a…” he trailed off. “Where’d he go?” he asked.
An agent who was not on Ryan’s team spoke up. “I saw him grab something and leave; he looked like he was in a hurry.”
Ryan shrugged. “Probably needed a bathroom break or something,” he quipped, turning towards where Emmy had been sifting through papers, but she was gone too.
“Wait, where’d Emmy go?” Ryan groaned and threw up his hands. “What is this? Hide and go seek?”
“Who’s the seeker?” Laz asked, eager to do anything except what he was doing at the moment. Then he held up his hand, “wait don’t tell me, it was just a figure of speech.”
“Actually, I was half serious,” Ryan replied. He turned towards Derek. “I’m gonna go see where they went, come on Laz,” he motioned for Laz to follow him, “let’s go see where they went off to.”
The informant was in a dark corner in the IMF hideout, talking with the emperor. “Yes, I’m sure that’s the exact location,” the informant assured him. “I found a map to this place… I’m holding it right now.”
“Okay,” the emperor said on the other end of the line. “I’m sending Morris over right now.”
“Chuck Morris?” the informant said, sounding afraid. “The same man that killed two men with nothing more than a single chopstick?”
“Don’t be silly,” the emperor lied unconvincingly. “Those are just rumors.” Then he paused and said, “good job, Jessica. You will be rewarded for your service to the empire.” Then the line went dead and Jessica, for that was the informant’s real name, hung up the phone.
Just as Jessica started to turn around and head back to the room where all the IMF agents, or at least most of them, were still sifting through papers, a hand grabbed her arm. “So its Jessica, is it?” said the man that the arm belonged to. “Whoever you really are, you’re in big trouble, Emmy.” Jordan stepped out from the shadows, still holding onto Emmy’s arm. “And when I say big, I mean big.”
To be continued next week... which would be on Tuesday... So don't ask me when the next post is... ;)
Copyright © Imperial Mission, Inc.
Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. For any information the address is:
Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com
Or if you actually want a response: Ryanmaples@comcast.net
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Mission: Betrayal part 6
It was several hours later that Jordan had solemnly announced that they had shaken off the emperor’s forces. They’d ditched the IMF van in a ditch, of all places, and continued on foot, looking for a new vehicle. Laz had suggested that they bury Zach’s body next to the van, and so they did. Every IMF agent said something about Zach that they’d always loved, such as, “he was a great agent,” or “he always did what needed to be done, whether it was watching the car or shooting a terrorist.” In the end though, they had to move on. None of them had any doubt as what had happened to Timothius now; they knew that the emperor had gotten to him. The question was, could they do anything to save him, or was it too late?
“Where do we go now?” Jordan asked.
“We can’t go back to the hideout,” Kayla stated a fact they all knew. The house was swarming with government agents now; someone had told the emperor about their hideout, they still weren’t sure whom. “We need to go somewhere and regroup, maybe we can organize some sort of rescue effort for Tim… if he’s not already dead.”
“I know a place,” Ryan said. Everyone looked at him; he’d been silent for a long time, which was very unlike him. “A place where IMF agents in distress have always been able to go.”
“Won’t the emperor know where it is then?” Emmy asked.
“No,” Sarah spoke up. “I know what place he’s talking about; even the emperor doesn’t know about it.”
“Evan Hunter himself used it to hide from the emperor’s right hand man, years ago,” Ryan informed them.
Everyone’s eyes widened. Evan Hunter? He was one of the greatest IMF agents that had ever lived. They all knew the story of when the emperor’s right hand man had suddenly started killing agents behind the emperor’s back. Evan Hunter had been the one to bring him down. Now they wondered if the emperor had known about it after all.
“Do you know how to find the place?” Christophear asked.
“Of course I do,” Ryan said confidently. He seemed to be growing surer of himself by the moment. “An old mentor showed it to me a long time ago.”
“A long time ago?” Laz asked. “Like when?”
“Before you joined IMF,” Ryan replied. “I was the one that vouched for you to get in, remember?”
“I could have got in myself,” Laz said, crossing his arms.
“Whatever, let’s not start fighting,” Sarah intervened. “We need to find this place.” She turned towards Ryan. “Do you know how to find it?”
Ryan threw up his hands. “Please, I’m Ryan Cruise. Of course I can find it.”
Two hours later…
“Ryan,” Laz called huffing and puffing. “Are you sure you know where this place is?” They’d been trekking through a forest for two hours now.
“Of course I do,” Ryan called back. He had been leading them throughout the forest, constantly mumbling to himself. The whole team was dirty and their clothes were ripped by now. Chris had fallen three times and the third time he’d taken out Laz and Jordan with him. To say the least, it had been an unpleasant journey.
“I told you, it’s kinda out in the boonies,” Ryan added.
“That’s gotta be the biggest understatement of the year!” Emmy replied with a little bit of irritation in her voice. (That was also a bit of an understatement; there was actually a lot of irritation in her voice.)
“We’re lost aren’t we?” Sarah asked.
“No, we are not lost,” Ryan assured her. “I know exactly where we are; we’re right here.”
Sarah sighed. “That’s helpful.”
“Hey look,” Kayla called. “Is that it?” She pointed towards an old shack off in the distance.
“Aha! That’s it!” Ryan exclaimed. They ran up towards the shack.
Emmy clapped her hands together. “I knew you would find it; I never doubted you for a second.”
When they arrived at the shack, however, they had a different impression. “That’s it?” they asked almost in unison. They all seemed rather disappointed, understandably so.
“Hey,” Ryan shrugged. “This is just the ground floor. Wait ‘till you step inside.” He paused and then added, “None of you are claustrophobic by any chance, are you?” The IMF agents crammed themselves into the shack and Ryan pressed a button on the wall. The floor slowly sunk down beneath them.
“Don’t worry, it’s an elevator,” Ryan assured them. They lowered down a ways and then stopped. A door opened in front of them, and the agents gasped at what they saw.
The hideout was like a huge bunker, complete with concrete ceilings, walls, and floors. It was lined with all of the latest equipment and gadgets. There was a huge gun rack on the west wall, and several screens mounted on the north one. Underneath the screens was a large dashboard, covered with buttons and switches. There was a cabinet on the east side that was labeled: Gadgets, and it was filled with all kinds of gadgets, of course. Hallways appeared to lead off into different areas of the hideout. At the dashboard was a single chair, which appeared to be empty. Suddenly, the chair whirled around. It revealed a man who appeared to be a seasoned agent, his hair was graying and he had a salt and pepper beard.
“Who are you?” Laz asked.
“Are you Evan Hunter?” Emmy whispered.
The man laughed. “No, of course not. Evan Hunter has long been dead. I was with him when he died actually, fine agent. As for me, I believe Ryan Cruise can tell you who I am.”
Ryan grinned as if he’d just found the largest candy store in the world and the owner had told he could have all the candy for free. “Derek! I can’t believe it’s you!” They laughed and hugged each other. Ryan turned to the others. “Guys, this is Derek, the man who taught me everything I know.”
“And everything you don’t know,” Derek added.
“Is he IMF?” Sarah asked. “He looks familiar.”
“Yeah, he is,” Ryan assured her. “But he disappeared a long time ago,” Ryan said, turning towards Derek. “What happened? The emperor said that you were killed on a mission.”
“That’s what he wanted you to think,” Derek said, solemnly. “Truth was, I had crossed him. I disobeyed one of his orders, and then I fled for my life. I’ve been hiding out for about five years now.”
Ryan and Derek filled each other in on what had happened in the last five years.
“Have the Giants won the World Series yet?” Derek asked.
“No,” Ryan shook his head. “They were in the NLCS, but they lost in the last inning of game seven.”
Derek shook his head. “Figures.”
“Um, guys?” Kayla spoke up. “Shouldn’t we be worrying about the emperor right now? And not who won the World Series.”
“Calm down sweetheart,” Derek grinned. “I’ve got that under control.”
Kayla frowned when he said sweatheart, and started to say something, but Ryan interrupted. “Don’t worry, he calls girls sweetheart sometimes. It started after he went on that mission in the South; he had to learn a fake accent for the mission and everything. Still slips back into it sometimes.”
Kayla nodded, still not that pleased at his choice of words.
“We’ve got surveillance cameras set up all over this jungle,” Derek informed them as he walked back over to the dashboard.
“Who’s we?” Sarah asked.
“IMF,” Derek replied matter-of-factly. “You didn’t think you guys were the only IMF agents, did you?”
“Of course not,” Sarah shook her head.
“She’s lying,” Ryan said, earning him a glare from Sarah.
Derek grinned, and then his face turned solemn. “Unfortunately, we still don’t know for sure why the emperor wants us all dead. He’s pretty much signed the death warrant for all of IMF. Part of what Sarah said is true, but I think there’s more to this. Until we find those documents that Cathy had, we won’t ever know.”
Everyone grew very silent at the mention of Cathy. There were even a few tears that came from some of the agents’ eyes.
“How did you know what I said, and how did you know about Cathy?” Sarah asked.
“I’ve been watching you guys,” Derek said. “I’m sorry for your losses.”
They all nodded, quietly. “We’re still not sure where Tim is, though,” Emmy said
Derek swallowed and replied, “I know where he is, in the emperor’s dungeon. Being tortured. I’m afraid I have some more bad news, though.”
“What’s that?” Jordan asked.
“We have a mole in IMF.”
There was a long dramatic pause. “A mole?” Laz asked. “Like a spy?”
“Yes,” Derek rolled his eyes. “Of course like a spy.”
“Who is it?” Kayla asked.
“That’s the problem,” Derek shook his head and sighed. “We don’t know.”
“Do you have any idea who it could be?” asked Emmy.
“Yes, I do have an idea,” Derek nodded, but he didn’t seem too happy.
“Who?” they all asked him in unison.
“I think it’s one of you,” Derek said quietly.
There was another long dramatic pause.
“Wanna run that by me again?” Ryan said, not believing his ears.
“I think it’s one of you,” Derek repeated.
“And why is that, may I ask?” Kayla spoke up.
“Yeah, what did we ever do?” Jordan agreed.
Derek gave another long sigh and began to explain. “Look, it all adds up. Cathy’s on your team, she had the info we needed and she was killed. Michelle might have been the key to get that information after Cathy’s death, and now she’s dead. Who knew their whereabouts? No one did, except for the people on your team. The empire found out your hideout, which no one except your team even knew about.”
He took a breath. “And finally, the emperor hasn’t yet found out about this place. You’re the last team to make it here. If the mole were on another IMF team, he would have already squealed by now.”
Everyone paused dramatically yet again. “Well, you got me convinced,” said Laz. “I almost believe that I’m the mole now.” He paused, “Am I?”
“You could be,” Derek insisted.
“That’s ridiculous,” Sarah said. “I can’t believe that you would accuse us of this. Especially after what’s happened to all of us.”
“Maybe I was wrong,” Derek said, seeming to agree.
“Now you’re talking,” Ryan broke his unusual silence.
“Maybe it wasn’t your team after all, Cruise,” Derek continued.
“Keep talking,” Ryan nodded, grinning.
“Maybe… it was you,” Derek pointed an accusing finger at Sarah.
“Okay, you can stop now,” Ryan mumbled.
“Think, Cruise,” Derek pleaded, walking over towards Ryan. “Think with your head for once. Where did she come from? Where was she when Cathy was killed? She was right there, you saw her. Where was she when Michelle was murdered? Who knows? Maybe she was there that night, blasting her full of holes. How can you trust her?”
“I can, and I will!” Ryan snapped.
“We can’t,” Derek held his forehead in his hands. Sarah, surprisingly enough, was silent. “We can’t afford to trust her on a whim.”
“It’s not a whim, I’d trust her with my life!” Ryan exclaimed. “I was there too, you know. How do you know I didn’t shoot Cathy? Or that Laz didn’t shoot her?”
“Hey!” Laz protested.
“Sorry Laz, just trying to make a point,” Ryan reassured him. “But don’t you see what I mean? Anyone could be the mole.”
Jordan leaned over towards Emmy. “Is it just me or has Ryan gotten way more serious over the past couple days?”
Emmy nodded and whispered back, “desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Derek closed his eyes. “We have to keep her under close watch, Cruise.”
“Not acceptable,” Ryan crossed his arms.
“Wait, Ryan,” Sarah interrupted before Derek could argue. “I agree.”
“What?” Ryan voiced everyone’s thoughts.
“I agree. My actions have been somewhat suspicious, and what better way to prove I’m innocent?” She walked over to Ryan and whispered in his ear. “I appreciate you trusting me, I’ll remember that.”
“You’re welcome,” Ryan whispered back. Two body guards, wearing flak vests that bore the insignia: IMF, on them, came and took her away. “Don’t hurt her!” Ryan warned.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her,” Derek assured him. “When I get back, I’ll show you guys where you can get some rest.”
“I don’t like this,” Ryan shook his head.
“Neither do I,” Kayla nodded in agreement.
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe she is the mole,” Emmy speculated.
“How could you say that Emmy?” Kayla was appalled.
“It’s a possibility,” Emmy shrugged.
Jordan looked at Ryan. “How are you holding up?”
Ryan didn’t answer right away. “I wonder if Timothius is really dead?”
Timothius awoke hours later, from a peculiar dream, after being severely tortured. He groaned as he tried to get up. “Oh, my body.”
The interrogator was still standing there when he got up. “Are you ready to give in, or should I start doing a little shoulder relocation?” He held up a drill and buzzed it a few times for effect.
“No, don’t,” Tim, begged. “I’ll do anything, please.”
“Anything the emperor asks?”
“Anything,” he repeated.
The interrogator laughed, “good.”
After a few miserable hours, Ryan had finally fallen into a restless sleep in the bed provided to him by IMF. All the other men from IMF were still in their beds, fast asleep. The girls were in a separate room. He tossed and turned, thinking about where Sarah was right now. Granted, she wasn’t really in a dungeon-- a more accurate description would be house arrest—but he still felt bad about it. As he lay there, in a fitful sleep, a dark figure wearing black clothes and a dark mask crept towards him out of the shadows. The figure crept closer and closer, until it was standing right by Ryan’s bed. It was obvious now from the figure’s long hair that it was probably a girl. She leaned over and tapped Ryan gently.
Ryan stirred and moaned. “No mom, five more minutes!”
The figure tapped him harder. This time he sprang into a sitting position, grabbing a knife from the nightstand beside him as he did so.
The woman instantly drew a gun fitted with a silencer from her holster and trained it on him. “Drop it,” she ordered. The voice was familiar, too familiar.
Ryan obeyed. “Who are you?”
She laughed. “You know, Ryan? You shouldn’t trust everybody. Especially not the pretty ones.” She tore off her mask and shook out her hair. It was Sarah!
“Sarah!” Ryan exclaimed. “Don’t! What are you doing?”
“Getting rid of an old problem.” She pointed the gun at his head and fired. Ryan sank back down to the bed, a bullet hole through his head.
Copyright © Imperial Mission, Inc.
Killer Whale Studios
All rights reserved
The works on this blog including posts, comments, and pictures; may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, printing, uploading and distribution of these works via the internet or any other means without permission of Imperial Mission, Inc, or Killer Whale Studios is illegal and punishable by law.
Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
For any information the address is: Xanatosofmalta@gmail.com
“Where do we go now?” Jordan asked.
“We can’t go back to the hideout,” Kayla stated a fact they all knew. The house was swarming with government agents now; someone had told the emperor about their hideout, they still weren’t sure whom. “We need to go somewhere and regroup, maybe we can organize some sort of rescue effort for Tim… if he’s not already dead.”
“I know a place,” Ryan said. Everyone looked at him; he’d been silent for a long time, which was very unlike him. “A place where IMF agents in distress have always been able to go.”
“Won’t the emperor know where it is then?” Emmy asked.
“No,” Sarah spoke up. “I know what place he’s talking about; even the emperor doesn’t know about it.”
“Evan Hunter himself used it to hide from the emperor’s right hand man, years ago,” Ryan informed them.
Everyone’s eyes widened. Evan Hunter? He was one of the greatest IMF agents that had ever lived. They all knew the story of when the emperor’s right hand man had suddenly started killing agents behind the emperor’s back. Evan Hunter had been the one to bring him down. Now they wondered if the emperor had known about it after all.
“Do you know how to find the place?” Christophear asked.
“Of course I do,” Ryan said confidently. He seemed to be growing surer of himself by the moment. “An old mentor showed it to me a long time ago.”
“A long time ago?” Laz asked. “Like when?”
“Before you joined IMF,” Ryan replied. “I was the one that vouched for you to get in, remember?”
“I could have got in myself,” Laz said, crossing his arms.
“Whatever, let’s not start fighting,” Sarah intervened. “We need to find this place.” She turned towards Ryan. “Do you know how to find it?”
Ryan threw up his hands. “Please, I’m Ryan Cruise. Of course I can find it.”
Two hours later…
“Ryan,” Laz called huffing and puffing. “Are you sure you know where this place is?” They’d been trekking through a forest for two hours now.
“Of course I do,” Ryan called back. He had been leading them throughout the forest, constantly mumbling to himself. The whole team was dirty and their clothes were ripped by now. Chris had fallen three times and the third time he’d taken out Laz and Jordan with him. To say the least, it had been an unpleasant journey.
“I told you, it’s kinda out in the boonies,” Ryan added.
“That’s gotta be the biggest understatement of the year!” Emmy replied with a little bit of irritation in her voice. (That was also a bit of an understatement; there was actually a lot of irritation in her voice.)
“We’re lost aren’t we?” Sarah asked.
“No, we are not lost,” Ryan assured her. “I know exactly where we are; we’re right here.”
Sarah sighed. “That’s helpful.”
“Hey look,” Kayla called. “Is that it?” She pointed towards an old shack off in the distance.
“Aha! That’s it!” Ryan exclaimed. They ran up towards the shack.
Emmy clapped her hands together. “I knew you would find it; I never doubted you for a second.”
When they arrived at the shack, however, they had a different impression. “That’s it?” they asked almost in unison. They all seemed rather disappointed, understandably so.
“Hey,” Ryan shrugged. “This is just the ground floor. Wait ‘till you step inside.” He paused and then added, “None of you are claustrophobic by any chance, are you?” The IMF agents crammed themselves into the shack and Ryan pressed a button on the wall. The floor slowly sunk down beneath them.
“Don’t worry, it’s an elevator,” Ryan assured them. They lowered down a ways and then stopped. A door opened in front of them, and the agents gasped at what they saw.
The hideout was like a huge bunker, complete with concrete ceilings, walls, and floors. It was lined with all of the latest equipment and gadgets. There was a huge gun rack on the west wall, and several screens mounted on the north one. Underneath the screens was a large dashboard, covered with buttons and switches. There was a cabinet on the east side that was labeled: Gadgets, and it was filled with all kinds of gadgets, of course. Hallways appeared to lead off into different areas of the hideout. At the dashboard was a single chair, which appeared to be empty. Suddenly, the chair whirled around. It revealed a man who appeared to be a seasoned agent, his hair was graying and he had a salt and pepper beard.
“Who are you?” Laz asked.
“Are you Evan Hunter?” Emmy whispered.
The man laughed. “No, of course not. Evan Hunter has long been dead. I was with him when he died actually, fine agent. As for me, I believe Ryan Cruise can tell you who I am.”
Ryan grinned as if he’d just found the largest candy store in the world and the owner had told he could have all the candy for free. “Derek! I can’t believe it’s you!” They laughed and hugged each other. Ryan turned to the others. “Guys, this is Derek, the man who taught me everything I know.”
“And everything you don’t know,” Derek added.
“Is he IMF?” Sarah asked. “He looks familiar.”
“Yeah, he is,” Ryan assured her. “But he disappeared a long time ago,” Ryan said, turning towards Derek. “What happened? The emperor said that you were killed on a mission.”
“That’s what he wanted you to think,” Derek said, solemnly. “Truth was, I had crossed him. I disobeyed one of his orders, and then I fled for my life. I’ve been hiding out for about five years now.”
Ryan and Derek filled each other in on what had happened in the last five years.
“Have the Giants won the World Series yet?” Derek asked.
“No,” Ryan shook his head. “They were in the NLCS, but they lost in the last inning of game seven.”
Derek shook his head. “Figures.”
“Um, guys?” Kayla spoke up. “Shouldn’t we be worrying about the emperor right now? And not who won the World Series.”
“Calm down sweetheart,” Derek grinned. “I’ve got that under control.”
Kayla frowned when he said sweatheart, and started to say something, but Ryan interrupted. “Don’t worry, he calls girls sweetheart sometimes. It started after he went on that mission in the South; he had to learn a fake accent for the mission and everything. Still slips back into it sometimes.”
Kayla nodded, still not that pleased at his choice of words.
“We’ve got surveillance cameras set up all over this jungle,” Derek informed them as he walked back over to the dashboard.
“Who’s we?” Sarah asked.
“IMF,” Derek replied matter-of-factly. “You didn’t think you guys were the only IMF agents, did you?”
“Of course not,” Sarah shook her head.
“She’s lying,” Ryan said, earning him a glare from Sarah.
Derek grinned, and then his face turned solemn. “Unfortunately, we still don’t know for sure why the emperor wants us all dead. He’s pretty much signed the death warrant for all of IMF. Part of what Sarah said is true, but I think there’s more to this. Until we find those documents that Cathy had, we won’t ever know.”
Everyone grew very silent at the mention of Cathy. There were even a few tears that came from some of the agents’ eyes.
“How did you know what I said, and how did you know about Cathy?” Sarah asked.
“I’ve been watching you guys,” Derek said. “I’m sorry for your losses.”
They all nodded, quietly. “We’re still not sure where Tim is, though,” Emmy said
Derek swallowed and replied, “I know where he is, in the emperor’s dungeon. Being tortured. I’m afraid I have some more bad news, though.”
“What’s that?” Jordan asked.
“We have a mole in IMF.”
There was a long dramatic pause. “A mole?” Laz asked. “Like a spy?”
“Yes,” Derek rolled his eyes. “Of course like a spy.”
“Who is it?” Kayla asked.
“That’s the problem,” Derek shook his head and sighed. “We don’t know.”
“Do you have any idea who it could be?” asked Emmy.
“Yes, I do have an idea,” Derek nodded, but he didn’t seem too happy.
“Who?” they all asked him in unison.
“I think it’s one of you,” Derek said quietly.
There was another long dramatic pause.
“Wanna run that by me again?” Ryan said, not believing his ears.
“I think it’s one of you,” Derek repeated.
“And why is that, may I ask?” Kayla spoke up.
“Yeah, what did we ever do?” Jordan agreed.
Derek gave another long sigh and began to explain. “Look, it all adds up. Cathy’s on your team, she had the info we needed and she was killed. Michelle might have been the key to get that information after Cathy’s death, and now she’s dead. Who knew their whereabouts? No one did, except for the people on your team. The empire found out your hideout, which no one except your team even knew about.”
He took a breath. “And finally, the emperor hasn’t yet found out about this place. You’re the last team to make it here. If the mole were on another IMF team, he would have already squealed by now.”
Everyone paused dramatically yet again. “Well, you got me convinced,” said Laz. “I almost believe that I’m the mole now.” He paused, “Am I?”
“You could be,” Derek insisted.
“That’s ridiculous,” Sarah said. “I can’t believe that you would accuse us of this. Especially after what’s happened to all of us.”
“Maybe I was wrong,” Derek said, seeming to agree.
“Now you’re talking,” Ryan broke his unusual silence.
“Maybe it wasn’t your team after all, Cruise,” Derek continued.
“Keep talking,” Ryan nodded, grinning.
“Maybe… it was you,” Derek pointed an accusing finger at Sarah.
“Okay, you can stop now,” Ryan mumbled.
“Think, Cruise,” Derek pleaded, walking over towards Ryan. “Think with your head for once. Where did she come from? Where was she when Cathy was killed? She was right there, you saw her. Where was she when Michelle was murdered? Who knows? Maybe she was there that night, blasting her full of holes. How can you trust her?”
“I can, and I will!” Ryan snapped.
“We can’t,” Derek held his forehead in his hands. Sarah, surprisingly enough, was silent. “We can’t afford to trust her on a whim.”
“It’s not a whim, I’d trust her with my life!” Ryan exclaimed. “I was there too, you know. How do you know I didn’t shoot Cathy? Or that Laz didn’t shoot her?”
“Hey!” Laz protested.
“Sorry Laz, just trying to make a point,” Ryan reassured him. “But don’t you see what I mean? Anyone could be the mole.”
Jordan leaned over towards Emmy. “Is it just me or has Ryan gotten way more serious over the past couple days?”
Emmy nodded and whispered back, “desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Derek closed his eyes. “We have to keep her under close watch, Cruise.”
“Not acceptable,” Ryan crossed his arms.
“Wait, Ryan,” Sarah interrupted before Derek could argue. “I agree.”
“What?” Ryan voiced everyone’s thoughts.
“I agree. My actions have been somewhat suspicious, and what better way to prove I’m innocent?” She walked over to Ryan and whispered in his ear. “I appreciate you trusting me, I’ll remember that.”
“You’re welcome,” Ryan whispered back. Two body guards, wearing flak vests that bore the insignia: IMF, on them, came and took her away. “Don’t hurt her!” Ryan warned.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her,” Derek assured him. “When I get back, I’ll show you guys where you can get some rest.”
“I don’t like this,” Ryan shook his head.
“Neither do I,” Kayla nodded in agreement.
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe she is the mole,” Emmy speculated.
“How could you say that Emmy?” Kayla was appalled.
“It’s a possibility,” Emmy shrugged.
Jordan looked at Ryan. “How are you holding up?”
Ryan didn’t answer right away. “I wonder if Timothius is really dead?”
Timothius awoke hours later, from a peculiar dream, after being severely tortured. He groaned as he tried to get up. “Oh, my body.”
The interrogator was still standing there when he got up. “Are you ready to give in, or should I start doing a little shoulder relocation?” He held up a drill and buzzed it a few times for effect.
“No, don’t,” Tim, begged. “I’ll do anything, please.”
“Anything the emperor asks?”
“Anything,” he repeated.
The interrogator laughed, “good.”
After a few miserable hours, Ryan had finally fallen into a restless sleep in the bed provided to him by IMF. All the other men from IMF were still in their beds, fast asleep. The girls were in a separate room. He tossed and turned, thinking about where Sarah was right now. Granted, she wasn’t really in a dungeon-- a more accurate description would be house arrest—but he still felt bad about it. As he lay there, in a fitful sleep, a dark figure wearing black clothes and a dark mask crept towards him out of the shadows. The figure crept closer and closer, until it was standing right by Ryan’s bed. It was obvious now from the figure’s long hair that it was probably a girl. She leaned over and tapped Ryan gently.
Ryan stirred and moaned. “No mom, five more minutes!”
The figure tapped him harder. This time he sprang into a sitting position, grabbing a knife from the nightstand beside him as he did so.
The woman instantly drew a gun fitted with a silencer from her holster and trained it on him. “Drop it,” she ordered. The voice was familiar, too familiar.
Ryan obeyed. “Who are you?”
She laughed. “You know, Ryan? You shouldn’t trust everybody. Especially not the pretty ones.” She tore off her mask and shook out her hair. It was Sarah!
“Sarah!” Ryan exclaimed. “Don’t! What are you doing?”
“Getting rid of an old problem.” She pointed the gun at his head and fired. Ryan sank back down to the bed, a bullet hole through his head.
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Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Mission: Betrayal part 5
Continued from last week...
“How long is his meeting?” Ryan asked for the hundredth time. He was sitting, impatiently, in the imperial waiting room, along with Laz and Christophear.
The emperor’s secretary, Mattie was what they called her, just glared at him. “He’ll be done when he’s done.”
Ryan leaned over towards Laz, who was reading one of the magazines in the emperor’s waiting room. “She freaks me out.”
Laz shrugged. “She’s the emperor’s secretary, what do you expect?”
Christophear laid down his copy of Imperial Times and sighed. “This is really starting to get boring.”
“You’re telling me,” Ryan rubbed his temple with his hand. He picked up one of the celebrity magazines and then threw it down in disgust. “That Hollywood actress is acting up again.”
“Which one?” Laz asked.
“You know, the one with all those drug problems,” Ryan explained, searching for the name.
Laz looked at him. “Which one?” he repeated.
“The one that went into rehab not that long ago.”
“Which one?”
“The one that--” Ryan started but he was interrupted by Mattie.
“The emperor will see you now.”
“Thank goodness,” they groaned. They trudged up the stairs and up to the Imperial office. Ryan knocked on the door.
“Come in,” the emperor’s voice commanded.
The three obeyed and stepped inside.
“Hello there boys,” the emperor greeted them. He was sitting at his desk as usual atop his chair. His stare pierced them, but it seemed to land on Christophear the most.
“I just heard the news,” the emperor said sadly. “I’m so sorry.”
“What news?” Ryan asked.
“About Michelle’s death,” Christophear reminded him.
“Oh right, of course, Michelle’s death.”
The emperor shook his head. “I know how you must feel.”
“Do you?” Christophear questioned as he sat down in one of the guest chairs.
“Well,” the emperor said, a sly look coming on his face. “I know how you must feel. You’ve betrayed your team, even though they all trusted you. You took advantage of that trust and killed a teammate, who thought she was your friend. What if you get caught? And now, your worst fear has been affirmed.”
Chris frowned, bewildered. “What?”
“Don’t ‘what?’ me, Christophear,” the emperor said. “We know who killed Michelle. The surveillance cameras got it all on tape.” The emperor pushed a button and a large screen TV came down from the ceiling.
“Whoa, where’d that come from?” Laz asked and then shook his head in admiration. “You could play some serious Halo on that thing.”
The emperor ignored his comment and grabbed a remote and started playing a video. It was Michelle’s house. He stopped the camera just as a figure entered. The figure looking up at the camera was Chris!
“Care to explain what you were doing at Michelle’s house at the night of the murder?” the emperor asked. Both Ryan and Laz looked at Chris, questioning looks on their faces.
“That’s not me!” Christophear finally burst out. “I was never at Michelle’s house last night!”
“You got an alibi?”
Chris looked down at the floor. “I was at home alone last night.”
“I didn’t think so.” The emperor called for some guards to come into the room.
“Wait,” Ryan spoke up. “You can’t just arrest him!”
“Why not?” the emperor asked.
“Because, he’s one of my guys! He wouldn’t kill Michelle. Besides, isn’t there something in the constitution that says ‘innocent until proven guilty’ or something?”
The emperor’s gaze pierced Ryan. “Not anymore. Now it’s, ‘guilty until proven innocent.’ And I don’t think our former friend Christophear here will have such luck.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Laz. “He’s still our friend.”
“Yeah, and we won’t let you take him,” Ryan declared defiantly.
The emperor sighed. “I can see you’re going to make this difficult.”
Suddenly, two steel hands grasped onto Ryan’s shoulders. “NO!” he yelled.
Ryan twisted around and elbowed the guard in the stomach and then kicked him hard into the emperor’s desk, sending papers flying. Christophear grabbed the guard behind him by the arms and threw him over his head and onto the ground. Laz wrapped his leg around the other guard’s leg and threw him down onto his face.
The three guards lay crumpled at their feet now. “Cool,” Ryan gasped. “It’s been too long since I’ve done that.” They looked up, but the emperor was gone. “Where’d he go?” Ryan pondered. But before he could say anymore, they heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Great,” Christophear groaned. “The secret police.”
The IMF agents had heard rumors of the secret police, but they’d never actually seen one of them. Probably the same was true for most of the secret police with regards to IMF. They never worked together. Few of the emperor’s secret organizations did.
“Now what?” Laz asked.
Ryan glanced around. They had no weapons. At least none that could match with the countless, top of the line weapons that the secret police were sure to have. “Out the window!” Ryan yelled.
Laz and Chris glanced at each other. “Are you crazy?” they asked.
“Yeah, why do you ask?” Ryan leapt onto the window ledge and kicked through the glass. Laz and Chris shrugged. They ran up to the window.
“Here, Ryan and Laz, take these.” Chris tossed them each a standard issue Sig Sauer P226. “Found these on the guards.” He kept one for himself.
Now, to depict this scene accurately, one has to understand the way the Imperial Palace was designed. From the top of its pointy roof, to about the second floor, it is all glass. The glass is at an incline, slowly rising up, getting steeper and steeper till it hit the top. Right now, they were at about he eighth floor.
Ryan jumped out, backwards and headfirst. He slid down the glass incline upside down, with his back to the glass. Laz and Chris followed after him, using the same technique. They could barely make out the amazed looks that they got when people saw them through the windows, whizzing by.
They were rapidly approaching the second floor. Ryan signaled to the others and then reached to his belt. He pulled out a cable with a hook on it (see Mission 2 part 4), and threw it above him. The cable slid along the glass, searching for a hold. Finally, it broke through the glass and caught onto a window ledge inside, stopping Ryan’s fall. Both Chris and Laz followed suit. They dropped onto the ledge on the second floor and yanked their cables loose.
“Now for the homestretch,” Ryan declared. The attached their cords to the ledge and bungee jumped to the ground. Waiting at the door, undoubtedly to ensure that they didn’t escape, were four guards. Ryan, Chris, and Laz, drew their weapons and took out the guards. They released themselves from their cables and ran towards the IMF van.
“Start it up, start it up!” Ryan yelled to Jordan. Jordan started up the van and Zach opened the doors, standing by with a M60 Saw.
Suddenly, bullets starting whizzing past them, the secret police were firing at them! Kayla tossed them each an automatic rifle, and they started firing back.
Ryan, Chris, and Laz hopped in the van, and Jordan took off. Just as Zach was pulling the door shut a final bullet came screaming into the van. It hit Zach right in the chest and he was knocked back into Emmy by the impact.
Zach groaned. “Oooh, it hurts!”
Ryan whirled around. “Zach! Jordan get us out of here!”
“What does it look like I’m doing!” Jordan screamed. The van roared away from the Imperial palace. “I’m gonna have to try and shake these guys. Hang on.” Jordan started weaving through traffic.”
In the back of the van, Zach’s wound was still bleeding. Chris was trying to put pressure on the wound and Emmy was keeping him elevated.
Zach moaned every time the van moved suddenly.
“Just stay with us, Zach,” Chris said. “Stay awake.”
“I, I, I, cant feel my legs,” Zach groaned. “I can’t feel my legs.”
Emmy started to sob. “He’s gonna die. Oh no, he’s gonna die.”
“No he’s not,” Chris snapped. “Pull yourself together.”
Kayla just stared at Zach in apparent shock. Laz was trying his best to help. “What can we do? Can’t we help him?” he asked.
Sarah seemed devastated herself. “It’s all my fault.”
“Why were they shooting at us?” Kayla finally said, wringing her hands. “We’re on the same side.”
Ryan turned to face her. Wearing a very serious look, probably for the first time in his life. “Not anymore, Kayla,” he declared. “Not anymore.”
Zach was growing weaker by the minute. “He’s losing too much blood!” Chris yelled.
“We can’t do anything about it,” Jordan yelled back. “Just try to hold him a little longer.
“It was an honor serving with you guys,” Zach said.
“Don’t talk like that,” Laz said, leaning over him.
“Goodbye,” Zach whispered. He started to moan again, and then his eyes closed, his breathing ceased. Zach was dead.
to be continued next week...
“How long is his meeting?” Ryan asked for the hundredth time. He was sitting, impatiently, in the imperial waiting room, along with Laz and Christophear.
The emperor’s secretary, Mattie was what they called her, just glared at him. “He’ll be done when he’s done.”
Ryan leaned over towards Laz, who was reading one of the magazines in the emperor’s waiting room. “She freaks me out.”
Laz shrugged. “She’s the emperor’s secretary, what do you expect?”
Christophear laid down his copy of Imperial Times and sighed. “This is really starting to get boring.”
“You’re telling me,” Ryan rubbed his temple with his hand. He picked up one of the celebrity magazines and then threw it down in disgust. “That Hollywood actress is acting up again.”
“Which one?” Laz asked.
“You know, the one with all those drug problems,” Ryan explained, searching for the name.
Laz looked at him. “Which one?” he repeated.
“The one that went into rehab not that long ago.”
“Which one?”
“The one that--” Ryan started but he was interrupted by Mattie.
“The emperor will see you now.”
“Thank goodness,” they groaned. They trudged up the stairs and up to the Imperial office. Ryan knocked on the door.
“Come in,” the emperor’s voice commanded.
The three obeyed and stepped inside.
“Hello there boys,” the emperor greeted them. He was sitting at his desk as usual atop his chair. His stare pierced them, but it seemed to land on Christophear the most.
“I just heard the news,” the emperor said sadly. “I’m so sorry.”
“What news?” Ryan asked.
“About Michelle’s death,” Christophear reminded him.
“Oh right, of course, Michelle’s death.”
The emperor shook his head. “I know how you must feel.”
“Do you?” Christophear questioned as he sat down in one of the guest chairs.
“Well,” the emperor said, a sly look coming on his face. “I know how you must feel. You’ve betrayed your team, even though they all trusted you. You took advantage of that trust and killed a teammate, who thought she was your friend. What if you get caught? And now, your worst fear has been affirmed.”
Chris frowned, bewildered. “What?”
“Don’t ‘what?’ me, Christophear,” the emperor said. “We know who killed Michelle. The surveillance cameras got it all on tape.” The emperor pushed a button and a large screen TV came down from the ceiling.
“Whoa, where’d that come from?” Laz asked and then shook his head in admiration. “You could play some serious Halo on that thing.”
The emperor ignored his comment and grabbed a remote and started playing a video. It was Michelle’s house. He stopped the camera just as a figure entered. The figure looking up at the camera was Chris!
“Care to explain what you were doing at Michelle’s house at the night of the murder?” the emperor asked. Both Ryan and Laz looked at Chris, questioning looks on their faces.
“That’s not me!” Christophear finally burst out. “I was never at Michelle’s house last night!”
“You got an alibi?”
Chris looked down at the floor. “I was at home alone last night.”
“I didn’t think so.” The emperor called for some guards to come into the room.
“Wait,” Ryan spoke up. “You can’t just arrest him!”
“Why not?” the emperor asked.
“Because, he’s one of my guys! He wouldn’t kill Michelle. Besides, isn’t there something in the constitution that says ‘innocent until proven guilty’ or something?”
The emperor’s gaze pierced Ryan. “Not anymore. Now it’s, ‘guilty until proven innocent.’ And I don’t think our former friend Christophear here will have such luck.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Laz. “He’s still our friend.”
“Yeah, and we won’t let you take him,” Ryan declared defiantly.
The emperor sighed. “I can see you’re going to make this difficult.”
Suddenly, two steel hands grasped onto Ryan’s shoulders. “NO!” he yelled.
Ryan twisted around and elbowed the guard in the stomach and then kicked him hard into the emperor’s desk, sending papers flying. Christophear grabbed the guard behind him by the arms and threw him over his head and onto the ground. Laz wrapped his leg around the other guard’s leg and threw him down onto his face.
The three guards lay crumpled at their feet now. “Cool,” Ryan gasped. “It’s been too long since I’ve done that.” They looked up, but the emperor was gone. “Where’d he go?” Ryan pondered. But before he could say anymore, they heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Great,” Christophear groaned. “The secret police.”
The IMF agents had heard rumors of the secret police, but they’d never actually seen one of them. Probably the same was true for most of the secret police with regards to IMF. They never worked together. Few of the emperor’s secret organizations did.
“Now what?” Laz asked.
Ryan glanced around. They had no weapons. At least none that could match with the countless, top of the line weapons that the secret police were sure to have. “Out the window!” Ryan yelled.
Laz and Chris glanced at each other. “Are you crazy?” they asked.
“Yeah, why do you ask?” Ryan leapt onto the window ledge and kicked through the glass. Laz and Chris shrugged. They ran up to the window.
“Here, Ryan and Laz, take these.” Chris tossed them each a standard issue Sig Sauer P226. “Found these on the guards.” He kept one for himself.
Now, to depict this scene accurately, one has to understand the way the Imperial Palace was designed. From the top of its pointy roof, to about the second floor, it is all glass. The glass is at an incline, slowly rising up, getting steeper and steeper till it hit the top. Right now, they were at about he eighth floor.
Ryan jumped out, backwards and headfirst. He slid down the glass incline upside down, with his back to the glass. Laz and Chris followed after him, using the same technique. They could barely make out the amazed looks that they got when people saw them through the windows, whizzing by.
They were rapidly approaching the second floor. Ryan signaled to the others and then reached to his belt. He pulled out a cable with a hook on it (see Mission 2 part 4), and threw it above him. The cable slid along the glass, searching for a hold. Finally, it broke through the glass and caught onto a window ledge inside, stopping Ryan’s fall. Both Chris and Laz followed suit. They dropped onto the ledge on the second floor and yanked their cables loose.
“Now for the homestretch,” Ryan declared. The attached their cords to the ledge and bungee jumped to the ground. Waiting at the door, undoubtedly to ensure that they didn’t escape, were four guards. Ryan, Chris, and Laz, drew their weapons and took out the guards. They released themselves from their cables and ran towards the IMF van.
“Start it up, start it up!” Ryan yelled to Jordan. Jordan started up the van and Zach opened the doors, standing by with a M60 Saw.
Suddenly, bullets starting whizzing past them, the secret police were firing at them! Kayla tossed them each an automatic rifle, and they started firing back.
Ryan, Chris, and Laz hopped in the van, and Jordan took off. Just as Zach was pulling the door shut a final bullet came screaming into the van. It hit Zach right in the chest and he was knocked back into Emmy by the impact.
Zach groaned. “Oooh, it hurts!”
Ryan whirled around. “Zach! Jordan get us out of here!”
“What does it look like I’m doing!” Jordan screamed. The van roared away from the Imperial palace. “I’m gonna have to try and shake these guys. Hang on.” Jordan started weaving through traffic.”
In the back of the van, Zach’s wound was still bleeding. Chris was trying to put pressure on the wound and Emmy was keeping him elevated.
Zach moaned every time the van moved suddenly.
“Just stay with us, Zach,” Chris said. “Stay awake.”
“I, I, I, cant feel my legs,” Zach groaned. “I can’t feel my legs.”
Emmy started to sob. “He’s gonna die. Oh no, he’s gonna die.”
“No he’s not,” Chris snapped. “Pull yourself together.”
Kayla just stared at Zach in apparent shock. Laz was trying his best to help. “What can we do? Can’t we help him?” he asked.
Sarah seemed devastated herself. “It’s all my fault.”
“Why were they shooting at us?” Kayla finally said, wringing her hands. “We’re on the same side.”
Ryan turned to face her. Wearing a very serious look, probably for the first time in his life. “Not anymore, Kayla,” he declared. “Not anymore.”
Zach was growing weaker by the minute. “He’s losing too much blood!” Chris yelled.
“We can’t do anything about it,” Jordan yelled back. “Just try to hold him a little longer.
“It was an honor serving with you guys,” Zach said.
“Don’t talk like that,” Laz said, leaning over him.
“Goodbye,” Zach whispered. He started to moan again, and then his eyes closed, his breathing ceased. Zach was dead.
to be continued next week...
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