Hi, guys! This is my first publication, so I sincerely hope you like it. My fanfic starts in the middle of book three (Chptr 10: Darkness Falls). I basically changed an event in the third book, and there's sort of a chain reaction causing it to become quite a different story. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ PRISONER'S DILEMMA.
Well, here goes. (Sorry if the chapters are too long.)
Oh, wait! My disclaimer: I, the Great Kate Zonkey Machine, do not own any part of the Mysterious Benedict Society, nor do I have anything to do with the characters. :( Poor me.
Chapter One: Abducted
The Salamander was crowded with Ten Men.
Wasting no time, Kate's flashlight beam abandoned the terrifying sight, and the three of them tore from the room. Reynie was thinking in despair: Ten Men...Ten Men here. He took one last fearful look at the dark bedroom window before Kate slammed the door.
"Head for the front door!" she cried, hastily giving Sticky the flashlight. "I'll warn the chamber guards!"
The boys complied without thinking. They were flying down the penultimate flight of stairs when they heard Kate shouting overhead.
"No! You don't understand! These men don't care!" They heard the one of the guards make a skeptical, mumbled reply. "Well, they are! No, I don't need to calm down; you need to listen! There are Ten Men outside!"
A guard said soothingly, "It's okay, honey, you're just jumpy 'cause the power's out. Why don't you just go back to your room and wait it through?"
Kate snapped back, "Will you---hey, get your hands off me, you stubborn brute!"
Sticky and Reynie looked at each other in chagrin. They ran back up into the hallway where the Whisperer was. Sticky shone Kate's flashlight on the scene. One of the chamber guards was holding Kate's free arm (her other one was holding her penlight), and his partner was looking at the worked-up girl with a sympathetic, condescending expression.
All heads turned to the two of them when they entered. Kate freed herself---twisting the guard's arm rather unnecessarily in the process---and exclaimed "Ugh, we don't have time for this! I did warn them!" as they hurried downstairs again.
Perhaps if Kate hadn't been held up, they would have made it in time. As it was, the front door creaked open with the children in the maze-turned-apartment. Sticky sucked in his breath and Kate & Reynie squeezed each other's hands, but it was only Ms. Plugg.
"What's going on? I heard shouts. Hello? Kids?" she inquired, leaning over the threshold. Kate started toward her, but Reynie held her back. Somebody was approaching behind her.
The somebody was, of course, a Ten Man. There was a humming sound as Ms. Plugg gasped and crumpled. Two glowing wires flicked back into the man's wrists. In the blackness, they could make out a tall and slight silhouette. His legs were so long that his step over the unconscious Ms. Plugg was barely any greater than the rest of the strides he took.
The children, however, didn't stick around long enough to see many of these long strides taken by those long legs. They were hurtling for the back exit. Reynie ran into Sticky, and the two of them blundered about stupidly until they stopped seeing stars. Kate flung the door open, but it hit something hard and they heard a grunt.
An instant later, the person who'd grunted was revealed to be a person they knew all too well for their liking: Crawlings.
For a second that bordered on an eternity, man and child stared at each other in disbelief. Kate was the first to act. She popped open her bucket and whipped out...a bottle of lemon juice. It had been effective once before against a Ten Man, and they were desperate.
Unfortunately, quick as Kate was, Crawlings was quicker. He whipped out his own handkerchief, which he shoved into the girl's face; any enemy of these children knew that Kate should be the first to be dealt with. Kate fought back---her hand tightened around his wrist and yanked it away. The handkerchief fell to the ground...and so did Kate.
Sticky stared helplessly at Kate, Reynie at Crawlings. The Ten Man was totally unconcerned as he brushed himself off, replaced his handkerchief, straightened his tie, and picked up his briefcase (which had been the hard thing the door had smacked into).
"Well," he said nonchalantly, examining his lower forearm with mild interest where Kate's nails had drawn blood, "that was relatively painless. Dear, chickies, it's been far too long! Did you miss us?"
Sticky made a gulping sound.
Crawlings leered at them in the dark and hoisted Kate up as if she were a rag doll. "So. Chop, chop, little puppets, let's get moving."
They walked silently over the destroyed lawn towards the Salamander, its dark color making it nearly invisible against the similar color of the night as it towered menacingly over them. Crawlings made cheerful conversation with them while Reynie avoided anyone else's eye and Sticky continued to emit faint whimpering noises every fifteen seconds or so. Then, Crawlings halted to acknowledge some new arrival.
"Ah, Crawlings!" greeted a dreadfully familiar voice. "I see you've already got our little young friends." This figure, like the Salamander, also towered over the children, though it was decidedly more frightening.
"I have. Luck's in our favor tonight, eh? Anyhow, McCracken, I thought you were supposed to be with Sharpe."
McCracken grinned, showing his perfectly white teeth---several of which had been missing the last time they had met. "Sharpe can handle the fussy little one on his own. Should be fun for him. Besides, I saw the duckies with you and I wanted to come and say hello!"
Reynie still would not meet either of the cruel men in the eye. Therefore, he never saw what McCracken saw, which was Kate surreptitiously cracking one eye to peer at her surroundings. McCracken gave her a puzzled look. Crawlings noticed.
"What is it?" he asked curiously. "Have I got bloodstains on my jacket or something?" He looked down at his chest---not even glancing at the limp girl in his arms---with an expression of concern.
McCracken regained his composure and smiled easily. "Oh, no. You've cleaned your suit quite thoroughly since that messy job."
Reynie shuddered involuntarily at the thought of this "messy job," a reaction that McCracken noticed---he never missed much. He grinned again and knelt down to face the boy.
"Goodness, Reynie, you do seem frightened! What's wrong? Are you worried about what terrible things we're going to do to you precious little puppies?" He cupped a hand over the right side of his mouth and glanced melodramatically from side to side, as if offering an exciting secret to a much younger child. "What you need to worry about, Reynie, is not what things we'll do but when we'll do them. And the answer, if you're very good, is perhaps never...but...if you're even the least bit naughty, then the answer is right now. Do you understand?"
Reynie, forced to look directly at McCracken's face rather than his own shoes, nodded slowly. Crawlings chortled appreciatively as McCracken straightened up and tousled Reynie's hair. "Good."
"McCracken, old sport," began Crawlings amiably, "Do you suppose you could take my briefcase?" He held it out expectantly. "Only I can't carry this darling properly with it in my hand."
They escorted the children right up to the side of the monstrous vehicle, Sticky in the lead. He hesitated, afraid. McCracken nudged him with one of the two briefcases he was carrying. Sticky stumbled forward and started up the metal ladder. Reynie cast a final, mournful glance at the slightly comforting shape of Mr. Benedict's old house (from which the telltale sounds of conflict within were audible) before following suit.
Once on board the Salamander, Reynie felt his skin crawl suddenly; he felt as if some sort of cold draft had passed over him. Nonplussed, he tried to say something to Sticky. Curiously, however, he found that his mouth didn't seem to want to work. Or maybe it was his ears. There didn't seem to be any sound at all...and yet...sound. Yes, that was it. The Salamander had crept down the lane in absolute silence. Mr. Curtain had expanded his noise cancellation technology. And now, since Reynie and Sticky had been loaded into the Salamander, they were unable to make any sound either.
Their captors climbed into the armored vehicle after them. McCracken winked at the two of them and brushed off his suit while Crawlings propped open a heavy door at the back of the Salamander. It seemed to lead into some sort of small storage chamber.
Crawlings opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His single, punctual eyebrow twitched with annoyance. McCracken in response peered sidelong at the children in a meaningful way. Crawlings rolled his eyes and reached into his briefcase. He withdrew something that was obviously not what it appeared to be---which was a roll of cheap office tape. It was probably some sort of extra-strong duct tape; or, as the Ten Men used it in all probability, ab-duct tape. He placed a strip of it over Sticky's mouth, a strip over Reynie's. Both of them could sense his quite plain impatience with the whole operation.
Reynie experimentally attempted to part his lips. For all the good it did, he might as well have tried to lift a steel i-beam with his pinky finger. Crawlings then flipped a switch. Another sort of draft seemed to pass over them, causing the hair on the back of Reynie's neck to straighten.
"That can be for the Whisperer," he intoned, nodding at the door, which was leaning on some sort of cube the size of a drawer. In the darkness it looked eerily like a miniature coffin. "Once the others return with it. Do you know if they'll need any help with the exchange and all? Are the decoy pieces all taken care of?"
McCracken (who had been watching Kate doggedly, unsure of what he'd seen earlier) shrugged. "You forget---I wasn't a part of this operation until recently. And speaking of which,"---he smirked at the sound of a crash and muffled cursing coming from the house---"it sounds like you may yet need me."
As if on cue, a new Ten Man emerged from the house, looking irked. Even in the unnatural dark, the boys recognized him quite easily. A tall and burly man with a flattish nose, bat-like ears, and an ostentatious beard; his name was Garrotte.
"Everything running smoothly?" Crawlings asked.
"Not exactly," replied Garrotte apologetically. "We're a bit shorthanded moving the Whisperer. Hertz says he's taking care of any guards and police and such. Actually, if I didn't know better, I'd say he was afraid of the thing."
"Is he, now?" McCracken said, leaning over the edge of the Salamander. "I suppose you'll want my help?" He was already descending the ladder.
"If you'd be so kind. In fact, both of you can come, can you not?"
"Not me," responded Crawlings. "Somebody's got to stay and babysit the urchins."
"Oh! So you have got them. Nobody tells me anything. Why isn't the noise cancellation turned on, then?"
"Don't worry," Crawlings replied calmly. "They won't be crying out for help any time soon."
"Alright." Garrotte still looked skeptical. "So, are you coming, McCracken?"
"I'm right behind you." McCracken jumped the last rungs and followed Garrotte about twenty yards away from the Salamander. Or was it twenty-five? Kate'll know, he thought, before remembering that Kate was unconscious---wasn't she?
McCracken wasn't convinced of that. He drew Garrotte aside briefly, who seemed put out about something. He made a none-too-pleased response, but the larger man waved him away. Then Garrotte strolled back into the house, and McCracken turned to look at the Salamander and its occupants. His eyes and Reynie's met for an instant---and then McCracken moved so quickly that he seemed to evaporate into the shadows.
Reynie started and furrowed his brow in concentration, trying to see where he'd gone. But the Ten Man was nowhere to be seen. He was so immersed in his bewilderment and alarm that he jumped when something cold, hard, and tight clasped around his wrist.
He turned his head around and saw that Crawlings was standing over him, and had just handcuffed him to a bar on the edge of the vehicle where he was sitting. Crawlings sat down opposite Reynie and Sticky and slid his handkerchief out of his breast pocket.
"You look thoughtful, Reynie," he said. "What scheme are you cooking up over there? I hope for your sake you're not being naughty." He grinned and patted the handkerchief on his knee.
Had he not been so intent on scaring the children, he might not have made that mistake. As it happened, Kate---lying on the bench beside Crawlings---wisely chose that moment to stop pretending she was asleep in order to snatch up the delicately folded piece of cloth. She pressed it to his nose before he had time to act shocked. Then he slumped to the floor, and this time no one was acting.
Kate turned her head and smiled impishly at her dumbstruck friends. "Hang on," she whispered excitedly. "I'll get us out of here and then I'll take those horrible things off."
Whether she was referring to the tape, the handcuffs or both Reynie didn't know, but he was instantly distracted. The girl leaped over two rows of benches for the steering wheel of the Salamander. Regrettably, she was not able to reach it, for a some vicelike grip snatched her out of the air in mid-jump.
She was pinned to someone's chest by a pair of immensely strong arms. Even so, she managed to wriggle free and make another dive for the wheel. McCracken grabbed her again, however, this time by the ankle. She tripped and hit her forehead painfully on something very solid.
Her yell was cut short by the breath being knocked out of her when McCracken hurled her to the back of the Salamander, where she landed on the bench in between the two boys, who could do nothing but watch helplessly as she clutched her forehead and ground her teeth, while McCracken chained her to Sticky by their wrists.
Kate tried one last time to get something useful out of her bucket, but the Ten Man ripped it from her person, paying no mind to the belt that he tore in the process except to remove it; evidently the buckle was too solid for his comfort.
More Ten Men came trotting towards the Salamander; two of them were hauling along a familiar metal chair, while another was carrying a couple of computers---one for each arm. This man was also familiar, though Reynie and Kate couldn't place how. Sticky, however, remembered perfectly the Ten Man with exceptionally long arms who had come to call at a hotel in Thernbaakagen. It was the length of his arms that allowed him to carry the computers by himself.
Sticky shivered. His memories of the long-armed thug weren't pleasant. In Thernbaakagen, he had tried to use his shock-watches on Kate. Then he had proceeded to threaten the four of them with a whip disguised as a necktie. He also saw that the man who was carrying the Whisperer with Garrotte (and looking none too happy about it) was also the one who had attacked Ms. Plugg on the front steps.
"We'd better hurry, fellows," said McCracken heavily. "I fear Little Miss Trickster over here will have drawn inconvenient attention with her cries."
It took two trips to get the Whisperer and all its computers loaded into the storage chamber. When the job was done, there was scarcely room inside it for the little box Crawlings had propped the door on. McCracken sat down with Kate's bucket tantalizingly visible in his lap. The Ten Men, as usual, were perfectly friendly---in an intimidating sort of way. Then, with Garrotte at the wheel, the Salamander sped away from home, comfort, and safety.