Disclaimer: Fox owned them, but kicked them to the curb, so I'm adopting them as a result.
Rating: Um………PG-13. At least for now. I'll let you know.
"AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Alex Mann glanced over his shoulder yawned. "What, Fidget?"
"It's Rikki! He won't- auughhh!!!!"
Alex turned around in his bunk just in time to see the slight, flying form of Fidget Wilson hurl itself into his room. She tumbled to the floor, her short, spiky red hair in more disarray than usual, her eyes snapping.
"What is it now, Fidge?" he asked, mildly. She opened her mouth to speak, but was instantly silenced by Rikki Singh-Banes, who galloped in behind her and actually tackled her. "Leggo! Ouch!! Give it back!" The two rolled out of the doorway in an enormous tangle of limbs.
Should I even bother? Alex thought for a moment, then got to his feet and entered the main cabin of the Big Air. The two were still on the floor, now screaming at each other. Fidget was on top of Rikki, and she had him in a vicious chokehold.
"How dare you! Have you no respect for your manager? And get off me!!"
"I would if I had one! Besides, it must be weird to have a female on top of you, isn't it?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You deaf? I said, It must be weird to have-"
"I heard you the first time!"
"So why'd you ask me again? Stone-deaf…..rock!"
"Redheaded chit!"
"Aaarrghh!"
"Aaarrghh!"
"Are you both children?" Grinder's clipped British accent cut through the air like a knife. He turned from his computer and glared at the two of them. "I've been trying to play this game for over an hour, and I can't concentrate because of you two!"
"But, he-"
"Don't listen to her! She-"
"ENOUGH!!!"
Interfere now, or sit back and dig the cartoons? His decision wasn't too hard to make. Besides, Grinder was starting to look really pissed, and the British guy NEVER lost his cool. This might actually make for an entertaining afternoon.
"Now," Grinder was saying through clenched teeth, "Go to your rooms. And don't come out till I say when."
Rikki protested first, naturally. "What am I, a kid? I can-"
"Go!"
Rikki went. And after shooting Grinder a half-apologetic look, so did Fidget.
Grinder turned around just in time to see Alex standing in the doorway, struggling not to laugh out loud. He rolled his eyes slightly and turned back to Solitaire. "What's going on, mate?"
Alex walked over to him and sat down, staring at the computer screen. "Move the king."
"Not yet-"
"Trust me, you should."
After arguing over the game for about ten minutes, both men fell into silence.
"Grinder?"
"Yeah, A-Man?"
"What's on the schedule for next week?"
Grinder sighed and brought up the virtual planner on the screen. "Let's see….you have an appearance at the New York winter X-Games in Long Island, New York on Tuesday- nothing huge, just a warm-up act. On Wednesday, you've got a wine tasting with mayor Bloomburg, and then you're scheduled to see some Broadway show with him. Friday, you've got to give some kid in Nevada a skateboarding lesson that he won in that Powerade Sweepstakes Rikki set up."
Alex sat back and rolled his eyes. "Slow week," he said.
"Got that right." Grinder stood up and stretched. "So. Want to play another game and keep an eye on the autopilot, or want to help me and Fidge do laundry?"
Alex grimaced at the thought of doing laundry. "Game."
"Later." Grinder walked out of the cabin. "Fidget! You're un-grounded!"
Alex turned to the computer screen and played for a few minutes, then grew bored. He sat back in his chair and began to doodle on one of Grinder's memo pads with a large-felt tip marker.
It had been almost six months since Team Extreme's last run-in with their arch-nemisis, Dr. X, and there had been no signs of life from Tempest, Asazi, and Blaze, his cronies. Competition after competition of extreme sports had taken place, and Dr. X hadn't appeared at any one of them to pull his usual super athlete-swiping routine.
Team Extreme had at first been relieved, then suspicious, then wary, and finally….bored. It felt completely weird to go to competitions and only…..compete. Alex's amp factor had gone almost completely to waste, as he had no reason to use it any more, and Fidget and Grinder had taken to stunt flying in the Big Air on the weekends, just for kicks. Even Simon Grey had stopped calling to check in.
Alex couldn't fathom why Dr. X had so suddenly disappeared from off the map. He hadn't been arrested or killed, and he CERTIANLY hadn't reformed. Alex would have heard about THAT.
The guy had to be planning something. But what? And where was he? It wasn't like X to disappear for more than a couple of months at a time.
Alex sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, sleep about to take over.
All of a sudden, he heard a thump.
Leaping to his feet, his eyes scanned the room for the source- and them he saw it, on the radar screen. A small jet- apparently armed- was approaching Big Air.
"So that's where he's been all this time," Alex muttered. "Grind! Fidget! Rikki! Emergency!"
Grinder ran into the room, wielding a bottle of bleach, followed by Fidget, who was carrying an armful of delicates, and Rikki. Grinder's eyes grew wide when he saw the radar, and he dashed for his seat, taking the controls, dropping the Clorox on his lap. "They're right on our tail, whoever they are," he muttered.
"Swoop around and up," Alex suggested.
"We don't have enough altitude or time. If they want to take us down, they can do it in a matter of seconds."
Rikki squinted at the radar. "They're getting closer."
Grinder twisted the steering stick in his hand. He looked calm, though his eyes were panicked. "Fidge," he said, quietly, "fire up Little Air. Take Rick with you. Alex, stay here- I might need some help." He rubbed his eyes and reached for the control panel, typing with his left hand and steering with his right.
"Computer," he said into the voice-activation box, "initiate the shield."
"Shield initiated," confirmed the staccato computer voice.
Alex sucked in his breath. The Shield was an emergency lockdown procedure, one that was only to be used in extreme emergencies. They would have liked to see of this plane was enemy or friend, or if they had merely wandered into commercial or military-training airspace, but they couldn't take that chance. It would make the Big Air disappear from conventional radar for a full ten minutes- hopefully long enough for them to make their escape. It had been developed for them specifically by Diana's contacts in the CIA, and had one downside- a
after initiation, the aircraft was powerless to move for thirty seconds.
Anything could happen in thirty seconds.
Grinder and Alex sat, almost motionless, watching the clock. For now, they were shrouded from view. But they still had to make their getaway. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Alex registered the sound of Little Air's engines being fired up. Fidget was ready to go.
Just as the clock hit twenty-three seconds, Alex heard another thump. He looked up at the ceiling , and saw the escape hatch beginning to pop open. Someone was on top of it.
Grinder and Alex moved in the same instant. Alex ran to the escape hatch, standing under it in a fighting stance. Grinder tossed him one of the cabin's emergency pistols, and ran back to his chair as the clock cleared sixty. "Hang on!"
Alex struggled to keep his footing as the plane lurched sideways, and then upward in an attempt to knock the intruder off.
The rattling of the hatch continued.
"What is he, bloody Spiderman?" Grinder continued to swerve dangerously, but the rattling continued, the bolts holding the door becoming looser. "Grinder! What the hell?" Fidget's panicked voice echoed over the intercom through to the cabin.
Grinder ignored the call. Biting his lip, he pulled the plane in- and in a last-effort attempt to shake the person off, flipped the plane over completely. Alex grabbed on to the metal bar on the wall closest to him, sliding almost to the floor.
The hatch popped open.
Alex leapt to his feet, but a sudden lurch of the plane-Grinder was still trying to keep it under control- dumped him on the ground. A young woman, still clinging to the door like a monkey, tumbled into the main cabin and landed squarely on top of Alex.
Grinder stabilized the plane.
Alex scrambled to his feet, taking the young woman with him, and thanking God for their low altitude- if they'd been any higher, they'd have been sucked clean out of the plane. He turned to the woman, keeping her in a tight chokehold. "Who are you? Who are you working for?"
To his surprise, she didn't answer any of his questions. Instead, her eyes were fixed on Grinder, who was wiping sweat from his forehead and typing in commands for a new hatch to be released form the ceiling.
"Desmond?"
Grinder looked up, shocked, and his eyes met hers. Then, they widened in shock. "Lex?" He leaped to his feet and dashed for her, throwing his arms around their supposed enemy and lifting her clean off the floor, after she was released by a very surprised Alex.
"Whhaaaattt?" he said.
Will update and reveal identity of "lex" when I get reviewed! Please, review!! Don't know as much about Action Mann as much as others (unfortunately, I started watching it soon before it got cut off) but I would appreciate it if one of you reviewers would give me a bit of a background on Blaze, the gangrene guy, and Asazi. Make it as detailed as possible. Thanks!