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This place about to BLOOOOW
Blow781Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiT1uKdMGP
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Bailee automatically volunteered to light the match and start the fire, pointing out that she didn't trust Rickie enough to let him do it, claiming that he might actually blow up the place too soon.
"Before you blow up the place, let me take a sample of this stuff first. This is what super high tech is all about! Can I at least keep ONE computer chip? I mean, come ON, man! Those things are rare! And it's even from Dell—it's an ANTIQUE!" Rickie pleaded in earnest. Jackie had half a mind to slap him just to shut him up, and she debated whether or not she should do just that.
Bailee sighed, finally giving in. "FINE—but only if you shut up. If I hear another stupid geek word from your dirty mouth, I'll beat you over the head with a keyboard, then strangle you with a mouse cord! Kapeesh?" She warned, and Rickie knew she meant it, too.
"Kaposh," Rickie complied reluctantly, adding under his breath, "The most high-tech thing YOU can operate is an etch-a-sketch..."
Bailee had turned her back on him when he said this, and now she was whirling right back around to face him. "What did you say?" She demanded.
"N-N-Nothing!" Rickie said quickly, acting as if he hadn't done anything wrong.
Bailee gave him a level-headed stare before getting back to setting the computers on fire. Once the smoke from the burning tech reached the ceiling, the fire alarms went off throughout the entire building.
"It's working!" Jackie exclaimed, watching the fire spread, making the computer appliance spark, and the smoke grew thicker.
"Okay guys, we'd better skedaddle, or else we're going to get caught—not to mention toast..." said Bailee, who started backing up towards the door.
"I'm with you on that one this time." Rickie admitted, following suite with his twin right behind him.
Out into the hall, red fire lights flashed and sirens blared, emitting an ear-splitting sound. The three of them had to cover their ears to block out the sound as they ran at breakneck speed down the hallway. It wasn't long before they almost ran into a couple of security guards coming from the other direction. We had to skid to a stop in order to avoid running right into their buff-looking arms.
"OTHER WAY!" Bailee ordered, whipping back around to run the other way. Jackie and Rickie did the same, almost tripping over their own two feet as they followed after Bailee, with the guards hot on their heals.
"STOP!" One of them ordered—as if they were going to listen!
I've always wondered why the cops on the old TV shows said that to the criminals they were chasing, Rickie thought absent-mindedly while he continued to run for his life down the facility's white hallways. Why the perps would ever listen if someone yelled "STOP, the police!" would always be a mystery to him.
"This way!" Bailee yelled, making a sharp right down the next corridor.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Rickie hollered, already dreading the answer.
"No idea!" She replied, running with all her life; lucky for her, playing soccer had paid off. Rickie had been in cross-country pre the 'breaking-loose-of-Hell' when the NGO took over, so he definitely wasn't lagging behind. Instead, he kept up with Bailee pretty easily. He had a hold of his twin's hand so they wouldn't lose her.
One of the important rules of the Rebel Code: NO ONE got left behind. Ever.
~ | R | ~
Outside, Jane, Ella, and Jax heard the shrill sound of the fire alarm coming from inside and all around the building, along with blinding, flashing red and yellow lights on the outside walls.
"Is that their fire alarm?" Jane wondered.
"Should be. Get ready to help the kids." Jax ordered, hopping into the cab if the truck. Using an untraceable phone, he summoned a few more vans that were ready to take in the remaining kid factory workers.
Unfortunately, when Jax tried to start the van, it choked up, unable to start. No matter how many times he turned the key in the ignition, it only sputtered and died.
Jax cursed loudly. Giving up on trying to get the van to start, he jumped out, running up to the front of the truck to try and lift the hood so that he could inspect the inside.
Noticing Jax's distress and his annoyed look, Ella wondered what was up. "Are you alright? Is everything okay?"
"No, everything is NOT alright; the van won't start!" He told her.
Ella's eyes grew wide out of shock. "Are you being SERIOUS right now? This is NOT good!"
"Seriously, yes," Jax popped open the hood. "I don't know what's wrong."
"Is there gas in the tank?" Ella asked, hurrying over to look over his shoulder while Jane stood by the exit doors of the facility.
"There should be plenty..." He trailed off. Brow furrowed, Jax concentrated on searching through the hood, checking everything.
"What? We need to get that van going or else we're stuck here and we're gonna get caught!" Jane fretted, hands tugging on her hair in distress.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Ella said, annoyed, flustered, and just about on her last nerve.
Jane took a peek through the door into the building, then back to Ella. "They'll be here any minute. I think I can hear them!"
"Crap!" Ella turned to Jax. "Hurry up, we don't have much time!" she urged.
In a hurried manner, Jax bolted to another truck, searching for extra jumper cables. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking down...
~ ~ ~ ~
It's time to lose your mind and let the crazy out
(This place about to—)
Tonight we're taking names 'cause
we don't mess around
781Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhLnY6A6m2
This place about to
BLOOOOW...
~ ~ ~ ~
When Blake and I rounded a corner of yet another hallway, we about ran into Bailee.
She jumped back in total surprise. "Holy—" Bailee started to explain.
"What—Bailee, what are you guys—" I began.
"RUN!" Rickie bellowed, pushing me forward while dragging his twin by the hand behind him. That's when I heard the pounding footsteps down a separate hallway running at a sprint, and I immediately turned right around, and Blake and I followed, running right with them.
Rounding another corner, we saw our exit—all the way down the hall at the end. It was a long stretch, but we could make it if we hurried —FAST.
As we were running, huffing and puffing all the way, three huge heavyset men appeared out of nowhere and blocking our path to the door. They were armed with those old-fashioned police batons with an angry expression that would have normally made me laugh if we weren't under the certain circumstances.
My friends and I skidded to a halt a few feet in front of them. Looking back the way we'd come, we knew we were trapped.
"CRAP! What are we going to do?" Rickie exclaimed, fretting like a little girl. He whipped his head back and forth to each burly security guard blocking both of our exits.
"DUH—we fight!" Bailee announced—as if it were so obvious that it was our only option. She crouched down into a defensive position, facing one of the guards with her clenched fists raised.
It only made sense; it all goes back to the Fight or Flight response; the reaction that occurs in response to an attack—or a threat to survival, in our case. At first, you try and run, to escape.
Then, if that doesn't work and you get cornered, like we were then, the only other option available was to fight—to fight for your life, for survival. And we would.
I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't about to give up yet, nor would I ever. It just wasn't in my nature.
We all followed Bailee's example, getting into our fighting stance. The twins and Bailee faced the four guards behind us while Blake and I went up against the three guards blocking our exit to freedom. I was very glad Blake had taught us how to fight. We were going to need it if we wanted to win this little showdown.
"Now, come quietly and none of you will get hurt," said one of the guards behind Blake and I. The rest of his buddies slowly took a step towards us.
Rickie spoke in his snarky teenager voice, acting all tough and fearless. "Funny how 'nobody gets hurt' usually means: 'wait till later and we'll strangle you.' Besides," Rickie pointed blindly towards a random part of the wall nearby. "I don't see no First-Aid kit on these walls!"
"RICKIE! Shut up before you get us killed!" His twin warned impatiently. Without taking my eyes off the guards in front of me, I could hear the fear in her voice that she was trying hard to mask.
I turned to glance behind me in time to see the guard who'd spoken earlier frown at Rickie, looking a little flustered and a tad bit angry. "You're quite funny, BRAT. It's pretty tempting to just cut out your tongue!" he growled.
"I'd like to keep it attached to me. My girlfriend rather likes my tongue, thank you very much." Rickie retorted.
I groaned as Bailee and Jackie snickered.
The guard, however, wasn't the least bit amused by this, his face growing redder in agitation.
"And too bad for yours, Mr. Guard Sir." Rickie leered, tauntingly. The guard about blew smoke from his ears and nose as his face began to resemble a tomato.
Bailee playfully nudged Rickie in the side. "Way to go, Rickster. You made the guy even more pissed at us."
Rickie just shrugged, sending a devilish grin at Mr. Red Tomato Guy. "That's what I do best!" he said, chest puffed outwards.
That was the last straw for Mr. Red Tomato Guy. "Alright, enough talk! Come with us, or we'll have to kill you—though we'll probably end up killing you either way."
This time, it was Jackie who spoke. "Uhhh, let's see... NO." she replied smartly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah. Come and get us!" Rickie leered, feigning tough.
The guard, who finally was back to his original color by then, grinned wickedly as if he'd just told the best joke. The fire sirens continued to wail all around us. "With pleasure."
Before any of us could move an inch, Blake was the one to deliver the first blow.
Moving like lightning, Blake rushed towards one of the guards and grabbed his baton, which the guard was using to strike him with. Blake managed to stop it by grabbing the guard's baton wrist, twisting it until the "tough" guard cried out for mercy and dropped it. With one leg, Blake then proceeded to drop to the ground, dragging the guard with him, while swinging out his other foot to trip the second guard who had begun to rush over to help his comrade. The bozo fell onto his face VERY painfully.
I would have laughed if the third guard hadn't charged me right then, baton raised above his head. He tried to swing at me, but I was ready for it and had ducked by the time it came down. With speed, I slipped behind him and kicked the back of his knees, and he doubled over, crumpling to the ground.
Take THAT, stupid NGO guard...
With one glance over to Jackie and them, it looked like they were holding their own pretty well, fighting-wise. Bailee brutally brought down one of the guards to his knees with a kick to his groin. Boo-yah!
The twins were working together as a team to bring the other guard down, the same guy who Rickie had quarreled with earlier. While Rickie distracted him by landing a few blows on his torso, Jackie came up behind and bonked him hard on the leg with a baton, causing the big bully to roar out in pain and surprise as he clutched his injured leg. However, before Rickie could land another blow, his twin had a clear shot of his head while he was momentarily distracted. With one swift stroke, Jackie knocked the guy out cold. I had to admit, I was amazed at her brutality and precision, and I wasn't the only one.
"Holy cow, Twin! That was badass," Rickie hooted, giving his blushing twin a high five. "Remind me not to piss you off again."
"Hey, Jackie, the CIA's calling; I think they want you back..." Bailee told her, a look of total shock and amusement on her face.
"Already?" Jackie joked right back with a grin.
When we were finished knocking out the remaining security guards, we made a run for it out the exit doors. Rickie grabbed one of the batons, most likely to protect himself from his CIA Badass twin.
When we met Jane and Ella at the getaway vans who were helping the slaved kid workers into each van, I received some bad news.
"WHAT? What do you MEAN you can't get the van to start?" I demanded, standing by the van that was having the difficulties. This couldn't be happening.
"I dunno, there's plenty of gas in the tank and everything!" Ella explained, just about as frustrated as I was. Jane beside her was biting her nails, a bad habit we were trying to break her of.
"I think I have a solution," came a voice from behind us, and I turned to see Jax hurrying up to us, carrying a bunch of wires.
"Well, hurry up! We don't have much time." I barked at him, glancing at my watch that was currently counting down the minutes till Blow Up Time. Pretty soon, the guards will figure out what's up, and then we'd be in trouble.
"On it," Jax replied, getting right to work with his wires. They looked a lot like jumper cables.
I decided to let him do his thing. Jackie volunteered her help right away, which came as no surprise to any of us. In case you didn't catch it before, Jackie had the hots for the smart and devilish bad boy, and Rickie always gave her crap for her obsessive crush.
Rickie rolled his eyes as his Ninja Twin left him for the hot scientist guy. His eyes were clearly saying, "Girls."
Were they EVER.
I went to check up on the rest of the troops. Most of the kids were loaded into the vans and were on their way out—all except for ours.
Then—FINALLY—our van started to work. We all practically cheered.
"Thank god it started," Bailee exclaimed in relief. "It's better than Rick could ever do. No offense," She added with somewhat of an apologetic grin.
Rickie glowered at her. "SHADDUP. Well, let's get crackin' then; I'd like to leave in one piece, please."
"Okay, okay. Everyone pile in." I ordered, taking charge of this situation; it was time to get the heck outta Dodge.
Even though Jax was older than me by a year, it was still my job to lead and take charge. Jax wasn't much of an ideal leader; he barely ever follows the rules and always tends to act on impulse.
I checked my watch again. "The bomb's gonna go off in exactly two minutes, so get in." I held open the door leading to the back of the van. Once everyone was in, I climbed in last.
"Wait! Should we make sure all the kids made it out first?" Jane's small voice piped up before I could close the door.
"In two minutes? Hell no! If they aren't out by now, they aren't coming." Bailee told her.
"She's right," I said. "I doubt there are any kids left in there. It'll be fine, Jane."
Jane nodded reluctantly. I didn't like it either, but we really didn't have much of a choice.
I looked down at my watch. One minute...
Jax hurried around to the back to check on us. "Ya'll ready to get outta here?" he asked, whipping out his devilish grin. I swear I thought I saw Jackie almost swoon a bit.
"Well, let's hurry up! The factory is gonna explode—and shut the door; there's gonna be a draft!" said Rickie rather grumpily.
Jax went and shut the doors with a mighty slam, and the place went dark.
We weren't all totally settled in by the time Jax stepped on the gas pedal to get us moving, because I heard scuffling throughout the van as my friends tripped over one another, almost falling and losing their balance.
"Ow! That was my foot!" Ella's voice burst in the pitch darkness.
"Sorry," Jane whispered harshly through the darkness, somewhere towards the front of the van.
"I could've sworn there were windows back here..." came Jackie's quizzical voice.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a bright flood of light piercing through the darkness of the van. Many complaining gasps, squeals, and grumbles erupted inside the van and I had to cover my eyes against the sudden light.
"AAAHH, bright light." Sounded roughly like Ella.
"GAH, my eyes!" Now that was definitely Rickie.
"Gosh dang it, Jackie! WARN us next time!" That voice clearly belonged to Bailee.
"Sorry!" Jackie apologized, stepping away from the doors to make her way clumsily back to her seat.
When my eyes fully adjusted to the brightness, I stepped up to the two small square windows. The van was speeding quickly away from the factory that was about to be blown to smithereens. And, sure enough, we were barely 50 yards away when the factory exploded into the sky.
Everything shook, and the van just kept speeding farther away.
From behind me came Rickie's voice. "So I take it this shaking feeling isn't just one of my hallucinations—the factory just went... "boom"??"
"Yes, Rickie. 'Boom' " I confirmed, watching the smoke from the explosion rising higher into the air. I heard loud NGO sirens howling in the distance.
"Sweet. That'll show them!" Bailee said, and I could tell trying to see through the dim light that she was smirking.
I looked back at the explosion, deep in thought.
The Rebelz: 1
The NGO: 0
But how long would that last? I knew this was only the beginning of a very long war between us Rebels and the horrid NGO.
~ ~ ~ ~
This place about to781Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZp6QrZfzZ
BLOOOOW
~ ~ ~ ~
ns 15.158.61.7da2
