The Not Knowing is What Gets You: Part 6

By Alystraea

 

 


"I don't mind being squeezed in tight places with you, " Tabitha muttered sarcastically, shooting daggers from her eyes at the unsuspecting figure of Bobby crawling before her. If they weren't on a mission she would have taken him aside and shown him exactly how small of a space she could have shoved him into. Why do men have to be such pigs sometime? Life's just not fair, she thought as yet another cobweb smacked her in the face. Ew Gross! And why do air ducts have to be so filthy?

"We've reached the end," she heard Douglock whisper to Terry from the front of the line. A few minutes of nervous silence passed as they waited for the hallway to clear. Tabitha tried to wiggle around to find a more comfortable position, but soon discovered that there was no such thing as a comfortable position in an air duct. Thankfully, she soon heard the soft creaking of the gate's hinges as it was opened by Douglock. The line moved again, and Tabitha waited until she had room to maneuver before making her way to the entrance.

"Here, let me help you down," Bobby smiled innocently as he held his arms out to catch her. She returned the 'innocent' smile and made sure to leap out so she would land firmly on his foot. She received no small amount of pleasure from watching him hop around.

"The computer is right through those doors," Douglock pointed out a large set of iron doors secured with a huge computerized keypad.

"Can ye get us in?" Terry asked him. Douglock crept over to the door and studied the keypad for a moment before nodding. He placed his hand over the keypad. The circuitry in his hand merged with the pad, in a way that made it impossible to tell where Douglock ended and the pad began. Numbers flew by at top speed as he easily gained the access code. Tabitha watched fascinated for a moment before realizing she should probably be watching the hallway in case anyone decided to sneak up on them. She avoided Bobby's apologetic gaze. Oh no, he would have to do better than that.

"Its op..." Douglock started to say as suddenly a troop of armed guards rushed down the hall towards them. Terry knocked several of them flat with her sonic scream and moved to guard the door.

"Get in there and destroy that computer," Terry told Douglock who quickly ran into the room. Tabitha and Bobby moved out into the corridor to take out the rest of the guards.

Tabitha quickly tossed a timebomb at the guard closest to her. It landed with perfect accuracy in the middle of his chest. With an anguished cry he fell backwards knocking over the guy behind him, who thoughtfully hit his head against the wall. Both guards lay unmoving This is too easy, she thought to herself. I should have played dominos more often when I was little. This is too much fun. She glanced over at Bobby and couldn't help but smirk. The main portion of guards had decided to gang up on Bobby and though he was efficiently taking them out, they foolishly kept coming at him

"Umm Tab, can I have some help here?" he asked annoyed, as he ducked a blow aimed at his head from a tall lanky guard. A short pudgy guard attempted some odd move that almost looked like he was trying to headbutt Bobby. He rolled his eyes as he elbowed the short guy in the stomach and swung a strong upper cut to the other guy. As they crumpled to the ground, three other guards raced towards him in a perfect line. "Why do I feel like I'm stuck in a bad black and white comic short?" he groaned.

"I dunno, I always thought you would make a perfect fourth stooge" Tabitha replied innocently, "I wouldn't want to deprive you of anything you might be enjoying."

"Tabitha!" he cried, shocked as he dodged a few more awkward blows.

"Oh all right." Tabitha tossed another timebomb at one of the guards drawing his attention away from Bobby. She quickly finished him off, with a well placed blow to the head, and was glad to see that she wouldn't have to help Bobby with the other two, he'd managed to render them both unconscious on his own. She put her hands on her hips and stared him straight in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, even managing to look sheepish. "I promise I'll never be a pig again."

"Until the next time that is," she laughed and gave him a quick kiss before following Terry into the computer room. "I almost feel insulted," she said to Terry, "We got the OZT reject crew. Don't we even rank competent guards anymore?"

"It makes me nervous," Terry told her, "It makes me wonder where the real soldiers are."

Douglock was intently working on the computer. Letters and numbers flew across a huge screen faster than any human could possibly read. The computer had to be going at maximum speed.

"What does it look like?" Terry asked him as she raised puzzled glance towards the screen.

"They could have done it," he stated simply, "They're on the verge of developing a virus infected gene that would bond to any mutant gene. They couldn't find away to make it stable though. It kept eating itself up before they could transfer it to an actual mutant."

"Looks like we got here just in time then," Bobby muttered still watching the door, "Where is everybody? You think they would keep this place a little better guarded."

"Maybe they thought nobody knew about them," Tabitha shrugged.

"Or maybe they assumed that if an attack was to be thrown against 'em, that it would be a rescue mission," Terry's face went white, "They're probably all layin' in wait for someone to try to rescue Dr. Majcomb."

"We gotta get our butts down there then," Tabitha was ready to race out the door, but paused as she waited for Terry to give the order.

"Douglock, do you have the data downloaded? Moira needs to see this." Terry asked him

"All systems erased," he told her. "I downloaded all of the information into my memory banks so Moira and Dr. Majcomb can study the data when we return to Muir Island."

"Good," she nodded "Let's go. Tab, do your thing."

"I love my work." Tabitha threw a few of her timebombs. As they raced out of the room, Tabitha muttered softly under her breath, "three... two... one." The explosion was brilliant. A cloud of smoke followed them out into the hallway. Smiling, she turned to face her companions "Wouldn't want them to have it to play with anymore now would we?"


Rahne loped down the halls in her wolf form, using the unique ability she had to share a psychic bond with Dani to keep the others informed of what she saw. It felt as though no time had passed since they last fought together.

The lower most level of the complex was composed of dusty storage rooms filled mostly with old army supplies left to rot. All of the cell areas that she had passed were empty. Rahne lifted her nose up to the air. The sent of people came strongly from a corridor branching out to the left. Rahne knew she should turn around and wait for the others to catch up her but she was hoping that she could scan the area to see a little more of what they would be up against. Rahne moved cautiously forward, staying out of site.

The hallway seemed to stretch forever as she silently crept ever closer to an large open doorway. Harsh yellow light streamed out into the dim hall. Rahne unconsciously morphed to her werewolf form. With several swift fluid motions she hurried into the room itself and hid behind several crates of what she guessed were more old equipment. The room appeared to be an old storage hanger. Several old tanks, dating back to the second world war, were strewn about the room covered by decaying tarps. Rahne's attention was drawn to the center of the room. Dr. Majcomb was seated at a folding table, with an armed guard on either side of her. A large man wearing an officers' uniform was leaning over the table across from her. Rahne glanced around the room. She noticed four other guards placed around the room. A stairwell led up to a second floor door which was half opened. That suggested a spot where reinforcements could enter.

"You seem to think I am for sale," Dr. Majcomb was saying, the anger more than evident in her voice. "I am a doctor. I save lives. I do not end them."

"You seem so be under the misconception that these creatures are humans," The large man countered with all the charm of a bigot. "They are nothing more than monsters."

"And what do you consider yourself? Most decent upright citizens don't go around murdering and kidnapping people!"

"You are beginning to try my patience, Doctor." The man stood. "We have been more than generous in our offers. We can force you to help us. I really would hate to have to put you through that, so why don't you save us both a great deal of pain."

"Why don't you..." the rest of Dr. Majcomb's reply was cut off by a young soldier racing down the steps.

"Sir, we've been infiltrated. The main computer system is down," the soldier said quickly. Rahne smiled with relief. We're halfway there. Now tae get back tae the others.

Trying to use the distraction that the soldier had just proved for her, Rahne moved quickly to the doorway. She had to inform the others, so they could rescue Dr. Majcomb and get out. A bullet whizzed past her grazing her left arm. She let out a sharp intake of breath and clutched it. Red slowly began to seep through her fingertips.

"Turn around slowly and put your hands above your head."

This is nae good. Yuir getting sloppy Rahne.

Rahne slowly turned around and raising her hands up. She wanted to hit herself over the head for being so careless. Still maybe there was a way out of this yet.

"Well, well, well," the tall man laughed as he looked her up and down, "Greetings Miss. Sinclair. I must say what a pleasure it is to finally get to meet you face to face."

 

to be continued

 


Author's Notes- I'm terribly sorry for the delay in getting this part up, but I had great difficulty with this section. It just didn't want to be written, not to mention the fact that I just finished up my first year at college (yippie skippy!) which ate up all of my time. Though I must thank my dear and beloved sister for helping me nit pick every word in this section. ^_^ The next part is already partially written, so I promise it will be up soon.


Part 7

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