MASK Legacy Saga 3: The Fallen Part 2
Chapter 11
Author's Notes: Hello everyone. I apologize for the long awaited updated. Things have been crazy in the real world for both Darcy and me, but we haven't forgotten about our fans or our story. I'll be taking over the story posting and giving Darcy her little time off. So with out further ado I present a nice big helping of the Legacy saga and please review.
Deep below the desert oasis waters Gloria scanned the area for some signs of Piranha. The bright sun offered some light below the surface, but the thick under water vegetation made it difficult to maneuver. This limited her ability to search for Rax, and she knew this was just the sort of cover he needed to pull out any last minute surprises he had up his sleeves. "Where are you hiding?" Gloria spoke to herself with out realizing she communicated her frustrations to her teammates.
"Well he didn't hop out, if that's what you're thinking," Calhoun replied back from Raven, which was resting on the surface of the water.
"I know. I just didn't expect him to have a place to hide down here." She continued to slowly move Shark around in the oasis until she saw a faint energy signal being picked up by her radar below the vegetation, "Hey I think I found him! I have a lock on Piranha position. I'm gonna blow this fish out of the water, Calhoun."
"I'm all set to skin and cook'm. Ready when you are."
An underwater missile fired from Shark towards the location of the energy signal given by the targeting computer. There was a massive explosion, but it wasn't coming from below the water. Instead the missile directly hit the backend of Raven, and it was now sinking fast like a dead weight into the water.
"CALHOUN!" Gloria shouted in horror and nearly in shock. How...how did this happen? I targeted Pirhana I know I did. "CALHOUN SAY SOMETHING!" He never responded back and Gloria mind flooded with images of him injured or worst killed. "This is my fault I have to do something," She attempted to move Shark towards the sinking corvette, but her car stop moving. It was worst then the turbines not turning, the vehicle automatically changed itself back from an underwater submarine to a sports car. This rendered all her vehicle functions useless. Gloria hit the wheel angry, "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING! Dusty you have to help Calhoun I can't move!"
Dusty and Jess looked with wide eyes of disbelief. Everything was fine and calm above the water, until the next thing they knew Raven exploded and the entire car was being pulled into the water. At the same time Rax was using this opportunity to break the surface of the water and get back on land.
"I'm going in to help." Jess told her father as she hopped out of Gator and grabbed the supply box off the back of the jeep.
"No your not! Both Calhoun and Gloria are in danger. You'll need all the help you can get."
Jess pulled out a crow bar, "And you're just gonna let that sonofabitch get away with this."
Dusty clinched his fist and gritted his teeth together as he saw Rax driving away on his bike. "You know I don't like that language coming out of your mouth."
She grinned under her mask, but reassured him she knew what she was doing. "If I know Gloria she's already trying to get to Calhoun. I'm gonna go down and help her. I have enough air in my mask, else I'll evaporate the whole damn oasis." Jess walked into the water and dived in as her father shouted to 'be careful."
"Alright Rax!" Dusty shifted Gator back into drive, "Nobody gets away with shooting down my friends!"
"YOU MURDEROUS BITCH!" Annie screamed after hearing the explosion over the airways.
"You think that was it?" Roxanne questioned her over the line, "Well you really don't know how much of a bitch I really can be Turner!"
Hurricane rocked violently as another one of Jackhammer's cannons managed to narrowly miss the '57 Chevy. "Another close call," Hondo remarked, but he wasn't ready to wipe his forehead with relief. Each hit grew stronger and more powerful then the last, which only meant Jackhammer was on the verge of overtaking him. "Jacques promise me he'd scare the pants off Dagger, and where the heck is Annie with my back up. The radio's not working, and I don't know how much more this baby can take. Hurricane does more damage facing it's opponent head on then being chased away like a scared rabbit." The sound of another cannon firing from behind prepared Hondo for the worst, yet his head perked up surprise as he heard and explosion from behind. Volcano had fired it's mini-mortars at the side of Jackhammer. From what Hondo could tell from the rearview mirror, not much damage was done to the VENOM agent vehicle, but this was just the distraction he needed to get back into the game.
"Where the heck did you come from?" Cliff Dagger shouted to the driver of Volcano who was sitting in the gun turret sticking out from the split terrain van.
"You should know by now Dagger," Jacques spoke in a sophisticated French accent, "you fall for the same trick every time."
"You call'n me STUPID when you can't even speak English, TORCH ON!"
Jacques ducked down as far as he could in he could in the small pod to avoid the flames. As soon as the flames died down, he turned on the lava launchers, "Let me show you how hot things will get from my end." The moment Jacques pressed the fire button the turret started to slowly spin clockwise. "What is happening?"
"HAHA," Cliff Dagger laughed like a school bully, "Somebody hit the wrong button, who's stupid now!"
"This shouldn't be happening!" Jacques mumbled nervously, as he press the directional controls hoping to regain control. The more Jacques fiddled with the control panel the faster the turret spun. Before he knew what was happening, he went flying into the air and landed flat on his back.
At this point, Hurricane was turned around and was ready to face Jackhammer head on. Hondo couldn't believe how fast the gun turret was spinning, but that should be the lease of his worries he figured. Jacques was down on the ground and vulnerable. "Let's see how you do with my cannon." Hondo replied as he lock the gale force wind howitzer cannon on Jackhammer. A blank stare came from Hondo under his mask, when the howitzer did not fire. Instead the mini cutting laser from the vehicle's roof, were aimed directly at his own engine. Within a matter of seconds, the two lasers burned a hole right through the engine causing a fire to erupt. Hondo jumped out the car and headed straight towards Jacques. "Come on man we need to get moving now."
"Don't ever ask me, if I want to ride the spinning tea cup at Disneyland ever again." Jacques replied as he got to his feet. "What happened to Hurricane?"
"No time to talk, use Miraj to give us cover. Else dagger really gonna fry our asses this time."
"Oh this just keep getting better," Dagger watch with amusement as the two agents scrambled to get away. Of course, by the time he came to his senses to attack the two agents both vanish without a trace. "Awww…he did it again!"
A black corvette slowly drifted to the bottom of the oasis, but this was no ordinary car. The font end was flipped upside down and both doors were open forming a U shape allowing the vehicle to become a speedboat. Raven had taken heavy damage to its rear from Shark's underwater missile, and its driver Calhoun Burns still remained fastened to his seat.
Gloria Baker watched helplessly from an immobilized Shark, as Raven finally rested at the bottom of the oasis disturbing only the surround sand. She had hoped Calhoun would swim out to safety, but he remained motionless. "I can't sit here and wait for help to come. I don't even know if Dusty even heard my transmission," Gloria spoke to herself as she moved herself into the back seat. "Good thing Buddy included an emergency exit, even if this car may never drive again," She remarked in a sad tone as she looked at the manual release hatch for the back window. The moment Gloria pulled the lever the rear glass window popped open allowing her to swim out of the vehicle. She didn't look back at the water filling up Shark's interior; instead, she swam straight towards Raven.
Once she arrived at the sunken black corvette, she realized the situation was going to be a lot more difficult then she predicted. The passenger door, which was awkwardly blown off its hinge, was resting sideways blocking the drivers escape route. Gloria tugged and pulled at the door, but it was jammed in place. Frustration build further under her mask, "I can't do this alone. I won't let you die down here Calhoun. I swear this!" She had enough space to slip in her arm into the car and nudge his shoulder. But Calhoun was unconscious and no matter how many times she attempted to shake him awake, he still wouldn't move. A tear erupted under her mask regretting that she would have to leave him to get help, "I'll be back Calhoun," She spoke as thought he could hear her. Just then a hand reached out and touched Gloria's shoulder, she whipped her head around to see her niece Jess Hayes behind her.
Neither agent could talk to each other since communications were down, but Jess showed Gloria the crowbar letting her know she was prepared to deal with the situation. Jess wedged the crow bar into the top of the door, while Gloria grabbed the side of the door with her hands. Both women grunted as they put with all their strength into prying the door open. After the fifth attempt, the door moved just enough that it would allow them to pull Calhoun from the seat, the problem was the opening wasn't big enough for anybody's bulky mask. Gloria pulled out a knife and signaled to Jess in sign language her plan. Jess just stared at her and signed back 'Maybe I should do this.' Gloria shook her head and signed 'I can hold my breath longer.' Jess knew it was pointless to argue with her and nodded her head incompliance.
Gloria Baker had her knife ready in her hand as she looked down at Calhoun with determination, "I'll have you set free soon old friend." She cut the shoulder strap of the belt, then signaled to proceed with the plan. The moment Jess removed Aura from Gloria's head she went to work. Gloria Baker squeezed her upper body into the opening and ran her knife into the bottom portion of the belt. Once the restrains were removed, she let the knife drop from her hand and she removed Calhoun's mask Gulliver. Time was ticking down for the both of them, but when she tried to pull him out she became stuck herself. Jess noticed Gloria was struggling and let Aura fall to oasis floor. She grabbed Gloria's legs and pulled her out with Calhoun in her grip. The two women grabbed onto Calhoun's armpits and swam as fast as they could to the surface. Gloria gasped for air as her head broke the surface.
"We have to get him to land," Jess shouted to an exhausted Gloria, "He's not breathing." Gloria and Jess swam towards shore with Calhoun's body in tow. As they pulled him out of the water, Gloria collapsed beside him. "GLORIA!" Jess shouted worried.
"I'm…I'm all right…" She laid there just trying to catch her breath, "Just tired…help him."
Jess threw her mask Thermic off to come face to face with a pale looking Calhoun. She never imagine she would have to give mouth to mouth to a man whom she always thought as another uncle, but now wasn't the time to think about the abnormity of the situation. She tilted his head back and began administering CPR. Jess went back and forth between breathing air into his mouth and pumping his heart with both her hands. Every passing minute a few tears would fall down her face, "Don't leave me Uncle Calhoun…please…stay with me!" She again breathed air into his mouth, yet this time he reacted and began to cough up water. Jess then tilted him on his side allowing him get the water out of his lungs.
"Welcome back," Gloria smiled as she put a comforting arm around Jess who was still shedding tears.
"What did I miss?" Calhoun replied still coughing.
"We just saved your life," Gloria responded back.
"Ah well, that was mighty kind of you ladies," he laid on his back allowing the air to fill his lungs. "Any kiss like that from you Gloria could bring any man back from the other side."
"Um…Calhoun…Jess was the one who gave you mouth to mouth."
"Nice to know you think I'm a good kisser," Jess smirked with relief and wiped her tears.
Calhoun looked up at the distraught Jess and grabbed her hand and kissed it lightly, "Thank you."
Jess smiled back to him, but her smiled faded as she looked around to notice the three of them were all alone. "What happened down there?" Jess asked.
"Somehow my weapon systems locked onto the wrong target," Gloria admitted with guilt.
"Don't feel bad Gloria," Calhoun reassured her, "My radar should have picked it up."
"Then right after that Shark ceased functioning and the radio went dead." Gloria added, "I don't understand what happened."
"That has me worried. If both your vehicles were malfunctioning," Jess stood up and bit her lip in frustration. "Everybody else is probably experience similar problems and we have no way to warn them." She glanced in every direction for some sign of Gator, but all that was left were imprints of tire tracks. Thunderhawk was barely visible in the horizon and was moving further and further away from their location.
"All we can do is hope and pray that everybody is ok," Gloria reminded.
"You two stay here," Jess ordered, "I'm going to follow Gator's tracks. I have to know if my dad all right." Before Gloria could stop her, Jess started to chase after the trail.
"How…how can you do this?" Annie questioned with an overzealous rage, "These people accepted you as part of their team and this is how you repay their trust with BLOOD!"
"Funny," Roxy casually remarked in a neutral tone, "we must know different definitions of the word 'accept.' You and I both know I was never part of THAT team. I was labeled an outcast the moment I joined MASK. If you really think about it, and I'm sure you'll agree, nobody had the balls to question their leader's judgment. Except for you, but whose gonna listen to an overemotional big mouth redneck with a superiority complex," Despite the verbal attack she sighed and rambled on ignoring any reaction she might of provoked, "Daddy always tried to do everything in his power to see to it I was treated like Scott's equal. But no matter what he did, I was still the gum at the bottom of everybody's boot that nobody could scrape off. Besides I'm tired of taking crap from you underdogs, cause I'm not good enough for you. Well you can stop trying to search my soul for that bit of good, cause there's nothing in my blacken heart but the hatred for a team that destroyed my entire existence."
"That's some pretty intense stuff your saying Roxanne sir….I mean ma'am." Nash Gory commented from Outlaw's computer command center tower.
"Did I ask you to give commentary?"
"Oh no…" Nash stumbled with is words with a nervous chuckle, "Your finally getting your revenge. Soon there will be nothing left of MASK. Then they'll be nobody to stop us…I mean you."
Roxanne narrowed her eyes on him, "Your groveling isn't gonna get anywhere with me."
"I'm not," Nash poorly denied. "We've taken out 5 vehicles so far, and MASK is scattered all over the place. With a touch of a button we could eliminate all of them from the face of this planet."
"Whose plan is this?"
"Yours."
"Exactly, so you do what your told. If you get ahead of yourself, I might have to make some cuts in the team." She wickedly reminded him.
"Annie, this is Alex the signal is originating from Outlaw & Chameleon. We have them in sight and plan to split the duet up."
Finally! Annie grinned with a thirst of vengeance after hearing the good news. Looks like your playtime is up Roxy.
Alex turned to Bruce who was driving the rig, "The radio must be malfunctioning. I'm not getting a signal from anyone."
"Outlaw could be jamming communications," Bruce suggested.
"Good Call Bruce," Alex proudly praised, "Let's un-jam them shall we?" Rhino picked up speed and headed straight towards Outlaw.
"We're picking up a radio signal from Rhino," Nash hastily changed the subject.
"How did you manage to slip that one up?" She crossed her arms annoyed. "You told me you had a lock on everyone of our enemies positions."
"I'm…" he was going to lead into an excuse of the difficulty of watching several battle locations at the same time, but figured this would only raise her temper and shorten his neck, "Possibly some sort of cloaking device?"
"No matter. You paying attention Annie? Your only hope is going to experience a true African stampede."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Bruce voiced his concerns to Alex.
"What makes you say that?"
"Our enemy is waving good-bye and not firing upon us." Bruce pointed out as he noticed Roxanne waving her right arm in the air.
"Maybe she's flagging us down? Slow down, but be on your guard."
"I would like to do that old friend, but the break don't work," Bruce replied back worried as his foot pumped the breaks.
"Is your foot off the gas?" Alex asked as he noticed the vehicle picking up speed.
"Of course, even with this momentum we should be slowing down." Bruce replied confused, "This doesn't make any sense."
Just then Roxanne voice was heard over the radio, "I hope you guys don't mind, but I took the liberty of taking over your vehicle. I control all that your see and hear, so sit back and enjoy the ride, cause I have something special in store for the both of you." Both men tried the doors, but they would not budge. "Oh I didn't want the two greatest minds to get hurt, so I added child locks on the door."
Bruce and Alex shared worried looks of 'oh shit' as the steering wheel operated itself. Rhino steered itself away from Outlaw and began to pick up more speed. Five minutes had gone by and they were still driving in a straight line.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and run out of gas," Bruce hoped.
"Something tells me she's not willing to wait that long," Alex remarked as he looked at the President mansion in the distance.
The front grill of Rhino pushed out and rammed into the front gate of the UN President's estate. Black Hummers mark security approached the speeding rig and started to shoot out the tires to slow down the trespasser. The two MASK agents had hope the vehicle would stop once 2 tires blew out from gunshots, but the Rig continued towards the front door of the mansion. Rhino plowed right into the front of the mansion and through the front hallway and the kitchen. The rig did not stop until it came out of the other side of the mansion.
"Well at lease we're in one piece," Alex remarked with some humor.
"For how long," Bruce indicated as security surrounded Rhino with guns. Both men put their arms up in surrender knowing that putting up a fight would be meaningless.
Roxanne cackled in sadistic glee as Rhino's signal fell off of Outlaw's radar. Nash, unable to stop himself, joined in, providing his usual unwanted and obvious commentary. "You sure showed them, Roxanne, ma'am! We've only got four vehicles left and MASK will be utterly destroyed thanks to your ingenious plan!"
Roxanne started to vocalize a reply, then stopped, eyes unfocused as though a thought or command had suddenly occurred to her. After a moment, she focused back in on Outlaw's command console, and her eyes hardened again. She glared purposefully at Nash and stated icily. "I have an appointment I can't be late for. Do whatever you want with those two flying insects…swat them out of the sky…crush them into the ground…I really don't care…"
"But ma'am…what about the other…" Roxanne vaulted onto Chameleon and disappeared into the desert as Nash finished his query. "…two vehicles?" Then he shrugged, and out of habit replied to the empty air, "Yes ma'am!"