The Action Man Series

X’s Dream

Chapter 1

Alex Man drove down the road in his convertible. This wasn’t the best of days. Asazi and Tempest decided to ruin Action Man’s career; and succeeded. It wasn’t the best of days.

"You know, that jerk better hope I don’t get my hands on him," said a girl’s voice in the passenger seat. Alex rolled his eyes, immediately hoping that Fidget didn’t see him. Oops. "Don’t roll your eyes at ME Alex. Or you’ll be wishing you were dead with X too."

Alex looked at her and she glared back at him. Then they heard giggling in the back seat. "Be quiet Grinder, this isn’t your fight."

The man looked at Alex and said, "Yes it is. It’s my job I just lost a few hours ago."

"Oh man, I can’t believe they took Big Air, our stuff, and everything else," complained Ricky. "All those future sponsors…" Ricky started sobbing quietly to himself, in his typical, comedic way.

"Look, we can’t help it. Master Vision said no more and took our stuff as payment for all the damages," Alex said. "We can’t help it."

They rode in silence, not sure where they were going or why…they just needed to get away. Alex kept driving. The only things they had left were Fidget’s camera, a few of Grinder’s tools, Ricky’s clipboard, the convertible, Action Man’s suit (in the trunk of the convertible), and the clothes they were already wearing.

Nick Masters is a punk, Fidget thought. That punk wants to play mean, we’ll play mean. We’ll show the world his wig if he doesn’t give us back our stuff. Fidget looked at the setting sun. She wished that she had guts. She did…but not the right kinds for…love.

She shook her head, as if fighting herself. You are the Fidget. You don’t believe in love….do you? She looked over at Action Man. He seemed so strong, so innocent. But he was a fighter. And she doubted he liked him back.

Oh well, she thought.

They were driving through east Texas, the green grass starting to bloom, showing signs of the new spring. Ricky sneezed behind her. The allergies were everywhere.

Earlier that day, they had a special Master Vision competition. They had to run up these huge hills, then get onto motorcycles and cruise down a nasty road, then get inside four-wheelers and go off-road another few miles. It was a weak competition, Master Vision knew that. But they had to do it because they were preparing for the biggest event yet.

The Dome. The Dome would consist of everything that Master Vision players had to do. Everything from mountain climbing, to the human pinball machine. The Dome was halfway built, and Master Vision was spending a fortune on it. But it would take about another six months too complete…at least.

So they started a series called the ‘mini-series’. It was supposed to be a lot of little games, getting the players ready for the Dome. But it was one game for Team Extreme. "Which really sucks," Fidget mumbled, speaking her thoughts.

"What sucks," Alex asked.

Fidget rolled her eyes saying, "DUH! We basically got fired. Alex, you have short-term memory loss or something!"

Alex looked back at the road. He had to admit it was a bad day. A discouraging day…Dr. X had shot a trilibug at Alex’s motorcycle and it screwed up his system. Then it took control and Alex bailed off of it. The motorcycle cruised up the side of a hill and knocked down some conveniently placed (by Dr. X of course). The whole thing on camera made it look like Action Man did it on purpose.

Alex sighed. He didn’t know what X had in mind now, but it definitely involved him and Master Vision. Ricky, who had stopped sobbing in the past two minutes, said in a low voice, "So Alex, what do we do now? We can’t do any kind of Team Extreme thing can we? Do some stunt with the convertible?"

Alex sighed and was about to reply when his watch beeped. He looked at it and saw Simon Grey on it. "Hey Alex," he said simply. "I heard the news. Sorry about that. I wanted to offer you a place to stay while we prove your innocence in the Master Vision incident. My place. Want to come?"

Alex replied, "Hold on Grey. Let me talk to my crew."

Alex looked at Fidget. "Well Fidg, waddya’ say?" She nodded. I love it when he calls me ‘Fidg’, she thought. "Ricky?" Ricky was mumbling something about ‘bad publicity’ then looked up and said, "Yeah, I guess. Big Air was my home," he cried, then continued sobbing.

Action Man shook his head. "Grinder, what do you say? We don’t have that much of a choice."

Grinder shrugged. "Why not?"

Alex turned back to his watch. "We’re on our way. See you there Grey." Simon nodded and the watch fuzzed out. Alex whipped the convertible around and started heading north, for the Canadian Outback.

-

Two Days Later…

"Alright," cried Fidget when she saw Grey’s cabin in the distance. "We’re finally there. Whoo-hoo!" Alex stopped the convertible and she jumped out and stretched. Grinder had been quiet most of the trip and finally said something, "Well, I’ve gotta say. That was a boring trip."

Ricky simply got out and dragged his feet on the ground, looking at his clipboard and what their schedule should’ve been. Alex got out and looked at Grey, who was approaching them.

"Your welcome to my cabin. It’s…bigger than it looks."

Alex looked at it and smiled. No doubt Grey had some surprise hiding in there. "Thanks Coach. Before we do anything, I just want to say I’m sorry about Dr. X. I should’ve stopped him along time ago but I haven’t listened to you enough."

Simon grinned. "Alex, you should’ve been dead along time ago. Don’t worry about it. Now, lets see if we can get you all something to eat besides McDonalds." Grey and Alex walked side-by-side on the way to the cabin.

Fidget watched jealously. But then thought, hey, I tease him in public. I’ll tell him…some other time. Then she ran forward, arguing with Grinder about what went wrong two days ago.

Back on the convertible, a lone trilibug crawled out of a small space in the trunk and activated the beacon attached to its back.

-

"Ah," said a plain, but somewhat eerie voice.

"My dream is nearer than I thought."

-

As I walked through his small cabin, I wondered what made him think he could house all of us, including Fidget, who was the opposite sex and had to have privacy. But like I thought earlier, Coach Grey had that hidden secret about the cabin.

He walked over to the fireplace while we looked around. I walked over to him and asked, "So, uh, I don’t mean to be picky but…Fidget won’t stay here."

Coach Grey looked up at me and smiled. "I know," he said simply. Then bent back down and kept searching the fireplace for something. A few seconds later: "Ah, got it." Coach Grey pulled out a device from inside the fireplace.

It had a single button on it and he handed it to me. "Do the honors Alex?"

I shrugged and thought why not? I pressed the little red button. Suddenly, the fire was doused by some kind of automatic water system and the floor where the fire was opened up, revealing a dark hole. A few seconds later it lit up and Alex could see a ladder going down. Simon gestured his hand, "After you."

I shrugged. I can trust Coach Grey, I thought. I got down on my hands and knees and climbed down the ladder. What was underneath Coach Grey’s cabin put me in a state of awe. "Whoa," I said quietly.

It was a cavern about as big as a football field. It had different areas. About ten different rooms, five of them looked like they were cozy homes, each with a fireplace. Two of the other five were technical rooms, full of what looked like guns and computer hardware. Another room looked like a sort of living room. And the last two rooms in this huge cavern were test rooms.

I frowned as I looked inside them. It had all sorts of weird-looking equipment. I didn’t like the look of it.

I walked over to the different ‘houses’ there were. Each one had one member of Team Extreme’s name written on it. I found mine labeled ‘Action Man’ on it and walked inside. It was a cozy room, a fireplace, bed, and restrooms in the back. I looked in Grinders’ and it was a little different. His had a computer.

Ricky’s had a few more future plans about Master Vision that would keep Ricky busy, and Fidget’s…she was a little paranoid. She covered the windows and didn’t let anyone in to look around. I shrugged and thought her room; not mine.

I walked back to mine and looked around again. There was nothing added to my room. Just the typical stuff. As if reading my mind, Simon Grey was at the door, saying, "Your extra stuff is the other two rooms."

He didn’t have to say what two rooms. I nodded and thought I thought we already went over that stuff. Then I shrugged. Small price to pay when he’s giving us free homes for awhile. Boy was I wrong.

-

Alex winced as he stepped on another wrong step. "Take your time Alex," came Coach Grey’s voice from behind. Yeah right, he thought back.

Alex then stepped again, right step.

Again, right step. He had been at it since five in the morning. It was now sometime around three in the afternoon. No breakfast or lunch. Just the steak dinner they had had the night before. Alex didn’t know what the others were doing. Probably goofing around on-

"AAHH," Alex yelled as he missed a step. His thoughts were drifting around. He had to keep focus.

"Focus Alex," Coach Grey said.

Yeah right.

Later that night, at about seven they were munching on an enormous feast. Alex was hungry. Grinder had made most of the meal, with some of Coach Grey’s help where the mashed potatoes came it. Alex’s feet hurt from all the misses he had had on the rainbow pattern test. But that was enough for one day Coach Grey had said at the end. Then he added, "Tomorrow we’ll have to do more."

Alex shivered, despite the warmth in his stomach. Tomorrow would be a long day.

Alex looked up to see what his friends were talking about. Grinder was saying, "…So Mr. Grey, how did you build that underground place? I mean, how did you get people to do that for you without that much attention?"

They were in the cabin above the cavern. That was where they ate all the meals. Simon was about to answer when there was a sudden explosion. The roof was suddenly gone and Alex looked up to see…

A helicopter! Armed with missiles and machine-gun cannons! "Get underground," he yelled to Team Extreme. "HURRY!"

The helicopter was about to fire another missile when Coach Grey grabbed his glass…the missile fired, Coach Grey threw his glass away and the missile followed it. It blew up his bed and that half of the house. The explosion blew Alex away from the fireplace. Grey flew back too, but was able to sink down into the underground cavern before another shot was fired.

Alex got to his feet, then dove forward toward the fireplace. The helicopter started firing machine gun cannons at him as he went down the ladder. A bullet hit the ladder, two inches from his hand.

Alex slid down the ladder. "Alex," came a shout from the room with the guns.

Alex ran to it and the ‘Blow-Stuff-Up’ gun was suddenly in his hands. "Come on," said Coach Grey. "It’s about three solid feet of metal in between the cabin and this cavern. So we have about two minutes before he breaks through with missiles. We need to be ready."

"Right," Alex said. He strapped a few guns around his belt buckle and then got a…, "Coach Grey. How the heck did you get a bazooka?"

Grey grinned. "Connections. Now hurry up."

A sound came from above, like a muffled explosion. "He’s trying to break through," Simon explained. "Let’s hurry it up."

"Alex," came a cry from behind him. He turned and saw a freaked-out Fidget. "Alex, what the heck is goin’ on?! If that’s Dr. X, I wanna give him something to think about right now!" She started to pick up a gun but Alex stopped her. "No Fidget. Go get Ricky and Grinder to the hiding place. Go now!"

She frowned but after a few seconds did what she was told.

Another explosion rocked the cavern. "One more shot and he’s gonna get through," Grey yelled. Alex nodded and grabbed one more pistol as another explosion rocked the cavern.

Smoke cleared revealing a helicopter looking down at them. The whole ceiling to the cavern was nearly gone. Alex slowly frowned and raised the ‘Blow-Stuff-Up’ gun to ready……

Hey, this is my first Action Man fic. I know it was a little slow at first, but I want to mix the drama with the action. Please review! If I get 3 or more complimentary reviews about this first chapter, I’ll continue the series. Thanx for reading! (By the way, Fidget, I love that Jerod series you wrote.)