by BEAGLE BOY
* Chapter 6 *
*************
Ready for action, Lucien, Paul, and Brian whirled around to see the attackers approach from the wooded area. As soon as the two attackers came closer, the trio breathed a little easier. It was Lash and Mark. A quick greeting was exchanged. Mark explained how he noticed something blinking under the rental van, and dove away immediately before the bomb went off. Hoping whoever it was would think him dead, he headed off to find some help. Which was Lash. They traced Mark's signal to this old abandoned building. Brian, Lucien, and Paul all three recounted nearly identical stories of being ambushed and then waking up in the dusty confines of that room. It was then the banging became so loud that it caught the attention of all five outside. Questions flashed over all their faces. There was no window for the room where the banging seemed to be originating.
"I think we can get to it from where we were held," offered Lucien.
As they filed back in the dusty room, Lash found the point of the banging. He beat on the wall, and the banging stopped. "Back away," he yelled. Not wanting to waste another second, Lash glanced back, moved over a couple of steps, lowered his shoulder, and rammed into the wall, cracking two of the boards. Prying the boards loose, the group managed to see Michael sprawled on the dusty floor, next to Des. A grunt drew
their eyes to the other side of the room. Cru had just taken another blow. Backing up slowly from the hulking figure, Cru struggled to keep upright. As long as his teammates were unconscious, he would have to do do this alone, he thought.
Paul started to rush through the broken boards. Mark reached out and grabbed him. "This is Cru's fight," he whispered, frowning as a massive headache suddenly took Mark by surprise. "Let's get Des and Michael out of there, though. But quietly!"
Lash and Brian slipped in the room and carefully carried their two teammates out to "safety."
Cru was panting, wondering how much longer he could keep up this pace. This behemoth HAD to have a weakness. But, when you are 6'8" tall, and over 375 pounds, any type of weakness could be rather difficult to find. He dodged another swing. Sweeping the floor with his right leg, he hoped to connect and knock his attacker off balance. But his leg met what felt like a tree trunk. The jolt of pain caught Cru off guard. As he recoiled, he barely missed another swing. As he missed the swing, however, a boot found his ribs. He groaned.
Once again, Paul attempted to go in. Mark simply put a hand up. Nobody was going in there until Cru said it was okay. No exceptions. Lash, Lucien and Brian had managed to get Michael and Des outside and were in the process of reviving them.
Cru managed to roll over. The pain that shot through him was almost blinding. "Focus" he commanded himself. Pushing through the pain, he staggered up to his feet, teeth clenched.
This simply caused the assailant to roar with laughter. "Keep it up," begged Cru, silently. The pain helped to give him a sharpness. And the adrenelin was coursing through him with such force that there was nothing else in the room but him and that blasted behemoth. As the laughter continued, Cru made his way even closer.
"I give you a free shot," he said, taunting Cru.
With that, Cru's breathing slowed. There was no more pain. Only one goal. A flourish of his hands produced a bright flash of light and sparkles. His attacker instinctively recoiled. Before he could recover, he was hit with a headache with such force, it drove him to his knees.
"It can't be," gasped Cru. Still focused, he caught sight of an old metal pipe next to his opponent. Reaching down with grim determination, he grasped the pipe with both hands and raised it over his head.
Mark and Paul began to yell, but it was too late. The pipe connected with a sickening crack.
"Allen," encouraged Candace. "Come on, sweetheart. Wake up."
His eyes began to open slowly, moaning.
"Allen, what happened," asked James.
"In a minute," hissed Candace. "Honey, are you okay?"
"Ow," Allen gimmaced. "I don't feel so good. Oh no. Where's Sasha?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," said Anthony, gently. "Tell us what happened."
Allen, holding his head, began the story.
"That would explain so much," said James, shaking his head.
"Phone. I need a phone," started Allen, attempting to rise. James handed him the phone. Pulling out a phone number through the fog, he began to dial. "Mom, is Grandpa there?"
The quiet sobbing brought Sasha back to consciousness. "Hello" he offered.
A small voice came through the darkness. "Are you here to rescue me?"
"Good question," said Sasha. "Where are we?" Squinting, he attempted to survey his surroundings. "And where are you?" Movement in the darkest corner caught his ear. "Come here. I won't hurt you. I promise."
A little boy eased out of the darkness. Dropping to a knee, Sasha held out his hand. "My name is Sasha."
The timid little boy scurried back in the darkness.
"You're worse than Wesley", Sasha grinned.
"Who is 'Wesley'" asked the darkness.
Sasha sighed. "Wesley belongs to my friend, Allen. Wesley is his dog."
"You know Allen," he asked, as he eased out of the darkness again.
Sasha was still on his knee, with his hand held out. "Yeah. I call him 'Beagz' because of Wesley."
"So you ARE here to rescue me," said the boy, running and giving Sasha a VERY unexpected bear hug.
"Hey there!! Hang on a sec!"
The sobbing began again. "I want Daddy" could be heard between the sobs.
Sasha stood up and gently put his arms around the boy. "I really wish Shady was here," he sighed. "Do you have a name?"
"Junior," he heaved.
"Well, Junior. We're both here now. And I won't let you go."
Mark and Paul rushed to Cru's side. The two breathed a sigh of relief to see lump of "human flesh" still moving.
"What did you do," asked Mark, spinning Cru around. Upon moving, Cru revealed the "lump" to be at least partly mechanical. The arm that he had supposedly shattered lay in about six inches from the rest of the body.
"Can he still be a threat" asked Paul, picking up the arm.
"Not for a while," panted Cru. "His whole system is in shock. He can't communicate with the arm, and that is overloading the implants in his brain. He'll be okay in a few hours."
"Nice job," said Mark, shaking his head.
"Thanks. And thanks for not interfering."
"Yeah," scowled Paul. "How about not cutting it so close next time, eh?"
"How are Des and Michael?"
The three of them made it out of the inne room, up the boxes to the window, and out. They were greeted by Lucien, Brian, and Lash. Des and Michael were coming around. A short account of everybody's story followed.
After checking Cru out, all eight of them filed back through the woods, to the new van Mark rented after getting Lash. They all settled in for the long ride back to James' house.
"What was that," wailed Junior in Sasha's chest, as he clutched Sasha even tighter.
"It's okay," whispered Sasha. "I'm still here."
Footsteps could now be heard walking down what seemed to be a hallway. As they neared, Sasha felt Junior squeeze him tighter. Sasha felt the rage welling up inside of him. What could ANYONE do to make someone so young so terrified? He felt his jaws clenching. If he ever found out this scumbag hurt even a hair on Junior's head, nothing would stop Sasha from teaching him a lesson he would never forget.
"So," came a voice. "You are Allen's friend, are you? Well, you will have to do." He opened the door, and that was when Sasha got his first look at the face behind the voice. Blond hair, suit and tie.
"When Allen finds out where we are," challenged Sasha.
"My dear boy, that is why I have the two of you here. I shall have my revenge. I wish to make him pay for what he and his family have done to me."
"You're crazy," blurted Sasha. He felt a furious backhand across his face. "At least that means he can be pushed," thought Sasha. He dearly wanted to rub his face, but he refused to give this ... 'creature' that satisfaction.
"Very good. You may be worth some entertainment after all," chuckled the suit, as he turned to leave.
The van pulled up to the house. As the eight walked in, they heard Allen.
"... name is Iris."
"Who's Iris, Allen" asked Cru.
The four glanced up, to see their friends enter the house. All breathed a sigh of relief. A quick count revealed one missing.
"Please tell me Sasha is with you," Allen pleaded.
Mark shook his head. "You mean he's missing, now?"
Candace ran over and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're okay. When we heard about the explosion, we feared the worst."
Stories were once again swapped. Everyone listened intently as each member gave his account.
"So now what," Brian ventured. "I mean, we can't just sit here and do nothing."
"Right now, we just wait. We have no idea where Sasha is. I've traced his card locater to the driveway. It was laying under the car. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm over my head. I have no idea where to go with this. So I've made a call to Mom. My Grandpa should be here very soon. I'm hoping he can help. This seems to be something aimed squarely at me, with James as an after-thought."
"That's all well and good," Cru started. "But who's Iris?"
With a resigned sigh, Allen began. "I wanted to be accepted for who I am, not because of my family. I've struggled to be my own person. I never wanted anyone to find out like this. but with Grandpa on his way, you might as well know. I was named after Mom's maiden name. Iris Allen is my mother." A few faces started to go white, others began to frown.
Anthony, putting the peices together, quietly offered, "That means..."
"Bart..." said Allen.
"Allen!!" warned a dark headed figure walking through the door.
"... is ..." gasped Lash
"Grandpa" exclaimed Allen, as he rushed over to greet him.
After the two were finished with each other, Allen made a hasty introduction. Bart sat down next to Allen and just shook his head. If everything Allen told him over the phone was true, then this group was indeed over their heads. In fact, even with Bart, they could be over their heads. He asked for more information from each of the members, starting with James. From there, he cycled through everyone there. Once he had all
the information they could give, he hung his head. "Damn," he whispered.
"Hang on, buddy," warned Sasha. Slowly, methodically, he managed to dislodge part of a ceiling tile. It had the desired result. Alarms blared, and lights went red. You would have to be dead not to hear them. Sasha hoped that he and Junior would still be hearing them in about 2 minutes. They made their way back to the darkened corner, where Junior was hiding when Sasha first found him, just in time. The door at the far end of the hall splintered as the two got as far back as possible. Sasha told Junior he would have to be brave and not make a sound. It was several seconds before he realized neither of them were even breathing. There appeared to be two guards coming in to search the facility. "Perfect," thought Sasha.
He readied himself, and as soon as one of the guards got close enough, he leaped in the air, and landed on the back of one of them. The struggle was short. The guard backed in to a wall, throwing Sasha off balance. As he fell, the guard whirled around.
"Night-night," Sasha snarled as he fired the tazer. He hoped these were high quality. If not, he and Junior had lost the element of surprise. Still holding his breath, he pulled the trigger again, this time hitting the second guard.
Not wasting a second, he grabbed Junior and both ran to the door. He had no idea where they would go, but the main objective was to get out. Suddenly, the doorway blocked. Sasha heard Junior scream.
"Who the hell are you," Sasha demanded.
"Allen," Bart started. "In fact, all of you. I am afraid I am, at least partially responsible for the current situation. The person claiming to be your
clone, Allen, may indeed be a clone. However, there is someone behind him. This whole set-up of you reeks of only one person. And the fact that James helped to clear your name involves him. The 'person' behind this is my grandfather. Thawne."
"But Grandpa," Allen asked, but Bart continued.
"He has been after our family for such a long time. Our first priority is to get Junior and Sasha out of there. Once that is completed, the rest is up to me. Now, depending on when the cells were taken from you for this clone, we may have a spare ace up our sleeve. He may suffer from the same problems you had until you were pushed past your limit, much the same way Wally pushed me past mine. But let's not count on that. However, it IS something we must be prepared for. We will not be taken by surprise."
"Now all we have to do is find him," growled Mark.
"That shouldn't be a problem. If I know 'grandpa,' he'll let us know."
As if on cue, the phone rang, and everybody jumped. Bart was the first to the phone. "Uh huh. I understand. And we will be there, count on it." He hung up and turned to the rest of the group. "We have to go. NOW. I'll brief you on the way."