The Action Man Series

X’s Dream

Authors Note: This chapter is rated PG-13

Chapter 6

Alex had taken the elevator up. He was looking for Grey and Ricky.

"Ricky," he called. No answer. "Grey." Same result.

Alex went up to the 11^th floor. When the doors opened, a hallway labeled ‘cells’ was just around the corner. Alex smiled. "Grey," he called. Alex rounded another corner and came to a room with about eight different doors, each probably heading to different cells. Each one had a number pad on it, probably to open them.

Alex punched them and connected the circuits inside and the door opened. He smiled and thought Thank you Grinder.

Alex entered the first one. The windows were open and the room was almost completely white. "Whoa," Alex said. The blizzard’s winds shrieked with velocity. Alex shivered and started digging through the snow.

He followed along the walls of the room, calling Grey and Ricky’s names. Where are they, he thought. Then his feet hit something solid like a rock. Alex looked down and saw…Coach Grey. "Coach!"

Grey’s shaking head looked up at him and almost smiled, but his lips were frozen.

"C’mon coach," Alex said as he tried to help him up. Grey was almost frozen solid. Alex accidentally pulled off a finger. Damn it!

"Sorry coach," Alex said, tossing the frozen finger into the snow in the room. Coach Grey looked up at him and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Ki-ki-kill-l-l me-e-e-e." Alex blinked. "But coach-," he started to say but Grey shakily raised a hand and shook his head.

"Kill me," he said again.

Tears formed in Alex’s eyes. First Dr. X decided that he would change his ways, and then Grey wants to die. Alex hesitantly raised a pistol at Grey’s head…and thought, he’s saved my life before. I’ll save his now.

Alex fired.

And Grey fell back…dead.

Alex ran out of the room. "Ricky," he called. No answer. Alex ran into the next room. No snow because the windows were closed. Oh…they are killing them slowly with the cold.

Alex ran out into the next cell. No snow. Next cell, no snow. Next cell, no snow. Next cell… whoa!

Snow poured out of the room when Alex opened the door. He slid back and crashed into the wall behind him. Ouch!

When the snow was still, Alex started digging through it, calling, "Ricky!" Alex repeated what he did earlier, when he was looking for Grey. He felt horrible about everything. Asazi, Brandon, Coach Grey…hopefully Ricky would—

His foot softly hit a rock. Alex looked down and saw Ricky, shivering and actually moving. He’s not frozen! Yet.

"Ricky!"

He jerked his head up and his face lit up with the happiness of life. "Alex," he cried and jumped to his feet. He hugged Alex with no hesitation. I’m gonna live…no more cowardliness anymore though. I’ve learned my lesson.

Alex stepped back a step and patted Ricky on the back. "Come on, guy. We need to get you some warm stuff." Alex was happy on the outside; acting so Ricky’s spirits would stay high. But on the inside…I’ve ruined Brandon’s life. It was me that killed him. Not Dr. X; if I’d just would’ve admitted defeat on that helicopter race…Brandon never would’ve gone to Dr. X because his foot never would have been broken.

Ricky gleefully left the room and whispered to Alex, "What about Asazi and—," but Alex cut him off. "Don’t worry about them. It’s Brandon we need to worry about…he’s on the rampage."

Ricky’s eyes widened. Choosing his words carefully, so he wouldn’t hurt Alex, Ricky asked, "What happened Alex? Why don’t we have to worry about them?"

Alex’s shoulders sagged with sadness and discouragement. "I…I-I killed Asazi and Tempest… and Brandon is…Brandon was in love with Asazi…" Alex just let it drift.

It took Ricky a few moments. Then he nearly jumped when he figured out why Brandon was pissed…, "Oh shit!"

Alex nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do now?"

"We bail out of here without meeting—," Alex started to reply when—

"YYYOOOOUUUUU!"

-

"You okay Fidget," Grinder asked as she stared numbly out the window at the raining storm outside as they drove. The rain was slowly turning to snow as they headed farther north. They had passed a very large city a little less than an hour ago, but they were too tired to care what it was.

She didn’t move. Not the usual Fidget, Grinder thought. She usually can’t stand sitting still for more than a minute; she’s been still for half the day. "You can talk to me Fidg," he said quietly as he drove the car down the pothole-less highway.

A few minutes later, she spoke so suddenly and out of the blue that Grinder almost jumped. "Grinder, how do you feel about Alex?"
Fidget immediately slapped her forehead. That was the dumbest question I could’ve asked!

Grinder slowly smiled. Then his smile slowly turned into a nauseated fear. She couldn’t…that would be so tweaked…NO! Please, it can’t be! Grinder replied with no emotion, "He’s good. He works hard and is a great part of the team."

No!

She’s gonna…she’s fallen for Alex… Tears came to Grinder’s eyes but he quickly dismissed them and focused on the road.

"Oh," she said so simply that Grinder almost sighed in relief…almost. Because than she said, "I’m worried about him, Grinder. I’m scared that he won’t come back and…my cameras won’t have anything to film…" She put her head in her hands.

So she does…

Fidget started crying.

She does…very much to cry… Grinder felt tears come to his eyes and this time, he let them flow. He had always loved Fidget. She was a pretty, no-holds girl that was the kind of girl he had dreamed of since he was little…figures Alex would get her. After all, he’s the hero with his superpowers.

Fidget stopped crying and raised her head to continue staring out the window a few minutes later. By then, Grinder’s tears had been long gone, but his heart still cried. "So, Fidget…you… love Alex."

She immediately shook her head so hard that it was like she was hyperventilating. "I didn’t say I love him…" She frowned and added in a okay-you-win voice, "Okay, okay…so I think he’s a little cute…"

WHAT?!

A few seconds later, she confessed. "Alright, I do love him. He’s the only person that understands how I feel about so many things and…" She stopped. How could I explain how I feel about him?

Each time she added more, Grinder’s heart was broken.

It was as if…his life had…fallen through. It was…

Fidget was talking and he snapped out of it. "…So where do we go? I note that we are traveling north. Why?"

Grinder shrugged, her question distracting him from the pain… "I don’t know. Perhaps…OF COURSE!"

He yelled so loud that Fidget almost screamed in a sudden pump of adrenaline. Then, in the next second, they were both laughing hard. When they both recovered, Grinder asked, "When you all were under attack back at Grey’s house, was Alex wearing his tele-watch?"

Fidget raised an eyebrow, tilted her head and tried to think. She replayed the memories…, "Yeah, he was. Why?"

"Because I think that our lab-top is under this seat right next to me!"

Fidget caught on. "And with that we could trace Alex’s watch to where he is!" Fidget ducked down and tore off some of the fabric that surrounded the seat of the convertible. And there it was; the satellite-connected lab-top.

"Whoo-hoo," she shouted in joy. She would finally know if Alex is okay! She turned it on and handed it to Grinder, who had pulled over to the side of the road. Fidget looked at him with a strange look and Grinder said, "Can’t drive in bad weather and use a computer."

She nodded in understandment but rolled her eyes. Chicken. She giggled at the thought.

"Alright," Grinder said, popping his fingers. "Let’s find Action Man!"

-

"Run," yelled Alex. Ricky shrieked, turned, and started running in all directions, screaming his head off. Alex ducked to the ground and gunfire filled the air. Bullets whizzed over him and around him. He hoped that Ricky would run out of the room instead of around it, where the danger was.

Alex turned his head and looked toward Brandon. He was firing blindly; he couldn’t see Alex because of the snow piles that had poured out of the two cells.

Alex crawled through the snow and got outta there.

When he heard the gunfire cease, he thought, time to GO!

Alex sprinted down the hallway and reached the elevator.

Ricky was inside, pressing buttons like crazy, trying to get it to close.

"Wait," Alex shouted. Ricky didn’t wait. The ‘ding’ sounded and the doors closed and the elevator began to descend to a lower floor. Damn! Alex cursed more words. This wouldn’t be—

"AAHH," he cried out as a shot rang his ears and a cold pain pierced his left arm. He fell to the ground in pain. He glanced at his left arm and saw the hole in it; blood beginning to pour out of it.

He looked up at Brandon and felt adrenaline pump through him. "AMP IT UP!"

His world began to spin around, turning into different shades of blue as calculations ran through his mind. He saw Brandon holding two semi-automatics in his hands; lamps hanging on the walls throughout the hallway; the elevator behind him; the ventilation shafts above him…Alex chose his path and yelled, "TIME FOR ACTION!"

Brandon screamed and started firing again. Alex jumped to his right, his body parallel with the floor as he grabbed a lamp on the side of a wall and ripped it out. It was steel and would deflect the bullets.

Alex then jumped to the other wall and ripped another lamp off; blood was pouring from his arm-wound but he ignored the screaming pain. With steel-lamps in each hand, Alex dove forward, placing the lamps in front of his head, deflecting all incoming bullets toward him. Alex crashed into Brandon and they crashed and rolled.

Alex dropped the lamp in his left hand; the pain in his arm was too much. He swung his right arm through the air, not sure why, but seeing if he could hit Brandon. He did; the lamp swung around and hit him on the side of the head.

Brandon’s body went limp as they both flew through the air. Alex hit the floor hard, his left arm hitting first and the rest of his body collapsing on top of it. "AA," he yelled in pain. His eyes opened to see Brandon lying unconscious on the floor a few feet away from him; he was breathing.

Freezing wind blew through the hallway from the other two cells around the corner. A few snow flurries blew with the breeze. Alex got to his feet and looked at his arm. He ripped off part of his shirt and bandaged the wound.

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened…revealing Asazi and Tempest!

Alex gasped, turned to run but a tranquilizer hit his back. He tried to fight it but…he fell to the ground, unconscious.

-

They had made it through the satellite and were now tracing his watch. "What?!" Grinder’s head reeled back in surprise. "That’s tweaked," he said.

"What, what is it? Is it Alex? Is he safe?" Fidget sounded scared.

Grinder replied, "His watch is still going. I don’t know if he’s okay, but…the weird part is that…he’s in Greenland?! Way up there!"

Fidget watched the cursor reveal Alex’s location.

"Why is he way up there," she complained. The blizzard outside was starting to let up.

"Beats me," Grinder said. "But I guarantee you one thing…he’s not doing well. The watched monitor’s his pulse on his left wrist, just a sort of special thing we added to it, and it’s not doing to well. Not well at all."

Fidget’s voice shivered. "Does that mean that Alex is…dead?"

Grinder shook his head. "He’s not dead…yet. But we have to get there and help him out. I don’t know how but…" He slipped into deep thought.

A daring smile creeped onto Fidget’s face. "Ya’ know, there was a city about an hour ago…"

Grinder nodded. "Time to hijack and get a piece of the action!" Grinder started the convertible and hastily turned around the road into the other lanes. They tore down the highway, hoping to hijack a plane and fly to Greenland. After all, they were already in Canada.

So is it getting better? I hope so. Any comments just tell me, please. Your advice is always welcome. And trust me, I am getting to some of the stuff you all have really wanted me to get to. I promise I will reveal secrets in the next chapter. So enjoy the mysteries now! (R&R please)