The Action Man Series

X’s Dream

Chapter 8

I…Fidget…it took me so long to realize it…

Alex sat in pitch-black darkness. He was tied to a chair, thinking about something that he had never really thought about, until he realized it was true…Fidget…I love Fidget…

Alex had tears coming down his eyes as he thought about everything they had been through, everything he liked about her… She’s great, she’s energetic, she’s not ever afraid, she’s…perfect.

A door opened and lights came on. The sudden brightness blinded him for a few moments. When his eyes adjusted, they revealed Nick Masters, glaring at him. "You just don’t give up, do you Action Man? You’re great for my publicity, but hot damn; you’re just too good. It’s getting so out of hand that there are only four Acceleration Games Players left."

Alex’s eyes went up. He searched his memory…it was true. There wasn’t anybody but him, that Dr. Pepper guy, the…Alex looked up at Masters. "Cool," he said with a smirk. "I’m too good for you."

Masters’ frown went from mad too just plain rage. "WHAT?! I’M BETTER THAN—," he stopped and tried to regain control. An eyebrow shot up as Alex saw X…Brandon/X come through the door.

"See me in my office, Mr. Masters," X said coldly.

That’s strange, thought Alex. X wants good manners but he also wants to destroy the world.

Dr. X turned to Alex and said, "Good evening Mr. Man. I hope that you…will enjoy the execution we have arranged for you. In fact, we already have it prepared. So—," he untied the ropes but kept a gun on Alex, "—if you’ll kindly join us for a walk outside, I would gladly appreciate it."

I bet, Alex thought as he started marching to the elevators.

"Five minutes Fidget," Grinder said quietly. They were very close to Alex. Less than twenty to thirty miles."

She barely nodded, but it was enough for Grinder to see. She was worried about Alex; she didn’t know why, but she had the feeling that something…bad would happen. Something really bad…

She had tried to shrug it off earlier but it just got worse. So bad in fact, that she wanted to cry. But I’m the Fidget, I don’t cry, she told herself, and held back the tears.

The minutes flew by like hours in a lecture; in an easier sense, super slow.

Hopefully Alex would be all right. I mean, what the heck is he doing way out here? He should be—

"Fidg, arm up; we’re landing now. And chances are, we’re gonna need some serious equipment." Grinder grinned as he said ‘equipment’.

She grinned back, trying to keep her usual, perky mood.

Grinder evaluated the land below and pulled down for a very bumpy landing. About halfway through the landing, the front wheel of the plane hit a small slope and the plane ramped up sideways. Fidget screamed as the plane flew back up into the air, beginning to spin wildly. Grinder was shouting something like, "I can’t stop the slats," as they flew.

Fidget screamed in fear. I won’t even get to see Alex again…won’t even get to say I… Her thoughts were cut off as the plane crashed into an uphill slope. It kept traveling, the engines increasing their speed because Grinder was unconscious and lying across the throttle.

Fidget regained control of her panic and stared out the cockpit. They were traveling up the slop, upside down. The tail was probably torn off and parts of the wings…the plane had less than two hundred yards till it would ramp off the slope… Oh. No.

The shove came when Alex didn’t expect it. The door to outside opened and Tempest, the twisted kid, shoved him outside. Handcuffed, Alex fell into the cold snow.

Behind him he heard Dr. X slam Tempest into a wall, saying, "If you EVER touch him like that again, you will meet my WRATH!"

Alex got to his feet to see the situation. Dr. X had Tempest held up against the wall by the throat. Sounds like good ol’ X is having some screws coming loose…hehe.

Then, the elevator dinged and all three of them turned to see…Brandon!

Alex’s eyes went up. Brandon screamed, "DDDDIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!"

Alex dove away from the doorway and gunshots rang like the wind howled. The blizzard had calmed down, the skies beginning to clear. There was a boat a few hundred yards from the glacier, obviously heading their way. And there was this noise in the distance.

Alex heard a cry from behind him and saw Tempest fly out of the building, his body torn to bits. X came running away, yelling, "It’s all your fault!" Alex shrugged and thought …so? You’re the one that screwed him up.

Alex jumped up and side kicked X in the stomach, causing X to just fall to the ground, unconscious. Then the noise in the distance began to rumble and Alex noticed it was a lot closer. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw nothing but a small, ice and snow covered mountain…

And then the avalanche started. And then the plane flew over the top of the mountain, flying toward Alex and the building. Heading…straight…for…him!

Fidget yelled in pain, happiness, and fear.

There was Alex! There was X! There was a huge black building! There was a ship in the distance!

Not a good day, she thought. And then she realized that the plane was going to hit Alex and the building. NO! NOT ME!

Alex felt adrenaline pump through him. He looked up and saw a scaffold about twenty feet up. And then the AMP Factor triggered. The world turned blue and Algebra, geometry, and every other kind of math started to fly through his head. He looked up at the scaffold and then toward the plane flying straight at him and then to Dr. X, who was lying unconscious on the ground and then to the ship…he chose his pattern.

"TIME FOR ACTION!"

Alex dove toward Dr. X’s limp body and ripped the grappling launcher off of X’s wrist. Alex then looked up at the scaffold and shot the grappling toward it. Success! Alex was lifted off the ground and he reached the scaffold in about three seconds. He then swung himself up onto the painters’ scaffold. He glanced at the plane flying toward him. He estimated that it would plow into him in about five seconds.

Alex reset the grappling and shot it toward the roof of the huge building. It connected to a windowsill one floor from the top. Alex hit the reset button and it started yanking him up. He swung around and looked at the plane. FLYING RIGHT AT HIM! The grappling pulled him up and he closed his eyes. The plane was going to hit him, the plane’s going to hit me, the plane’s going to hit me…AAA!!!!!!!!!

Alex opened his eyes and saw the plane start to dive down. The grappling was pulling him up fast but he still didn’t think he could make it…two, one… The plane dove under him, his feet brushing the top of the plane.

He yelled in pain; the friction caused heat and burned his feet a little. The plane crashed through the first few floors of the building and the building began to tilt. Oh shit…

The building was now beginning to fall over. The grappling reached its destination and Alex flung himself up and over, doing a back flip and onto the roof. The plane was crashing through the bottom of the building, the boat was less than fifty yards away from Alex; the building was built on the edge of the glacier.

The building was now falling at a great speed and AMP Factor triggered again. The world went blue and more math spun around the world. Debris flying through the air about thirty yards from Alex; about forty yards above him. Math flew around the plan below him, then swirled toward the boat, then to the avalanche that was falling from the small mountain that the plane had ramped off of, and after that to opposite side of the roof that Alex was on…he chose his pattern.

Alex strapped the grappling to his wrist and fired it at the debris flying through the air above and beyond him. He hit the torn-up tail of the plane and Alex jumped from the roof. The tail started to drop faster as Alex swung through the air, starting to swing around and propel himself toward the boat. Alex began to swing up and he released the grappling…he flew toward the boat and closed his eyes as the frigid wind sailed past him.

When he opened them, he was over a hundred yards above the ocean’s surface…he was literally flying…wow! Bummer I’m going to land on a hard, steel boat.

He looked below him at the boat and saw cargo…food cargo. Of course, he thought. AMP Factor won’t let me die yet! Below him, where he was going to land, was a huge crate of potatoes. Must’ve opened them after the blizzard calmed down, so it would be easier to load…that’s their supply ship! That’s…bad.

Action Man fell through the air, trying to position himself so that he could slow down a little. He didn’t have time. Alex hit the crate of food and was knocked unconscious.

The glass broke through the windshield and glass flew all over the cockpit. Other debris, like office materials and guns, were flying through the cockpit from the building she was going through. The building that Fidget was going through.

Fidget had ducked and dove under the controls, the plane’s crash had temporarily knocked her unconscious, but she awoke to wrenching metal and glass showering every where just a couple seconds later. Suddenly the cockpit’s roof began to cave-in, forcing Fidget to pull herself and Grinder under a little tiny part of a desk that would protect her, but wasn’t big enough for Grinder.

Metal screamed in protest as it was bent and forced down by the plane crashing into the support of the building. Fidget yelled Alex’s name and closed her eyes as the metal began to close in on her. Grinder was bleeding, a gash somewhere in his head.

Fidget screamed as the metal began to trap her like a caged animal.

Then she felt herself falling…the floor had given away from the weight of the building! Fidget fell to a storage compartment that had a hole in part of the floor. No light was beneath it but it would do. The roof was still slowly caving in. Any second it would give way.

Fidget dragged Grinder’s body along to the hole and dropped through. They were in a basement of the huge building. She saw the exit and sunlight was streaming through. The rumble of the plane stopped as it quit moving, but the building was beginning to shake as its support began to crumble.

Parts of the cellar were falling as the plane and building’s weight combined was falling on it.

Fidget grabbed Grinder, trying not to panic, and ran to the exit. She kicked it open and sunlight blinded her for a few seconds. Then another rumble filled her ears and she raised an eyebrow as she pulled herself and Grinder out of the cellar.

She looked behind her and saw the building falling at an angle; half toward her, half to her left.

Fear filled her completely and she also saw what was causing the other rumble. An avalanche, streaming toward her at an impossible speed.

Fidget ran for her life as the snow and building approached her. She realized that she had left Grinder behind. She turned back and ran to his unconscious body and picked him up. A shadow loomed over her as the building blocked the sunlight.

Fidget ran for her, and Grinder’s, life. But it wasn’t enough. She cleared the building by a few feet as hit crashed into the snow, sending a wave of snow toward her. She was propelled away, dropped Grinder as she flew, then the avalanche hit her and jerked her body into another direction, twitching her neck in such a way…that it broke.

Alex woke up to the quiet murmuring of voices. The voices of sailors.

Alex sat up and looked around. He was the crate of food, but men in a circle surrounded him. They all had guns and were armed. Alex knew none of them, but he did know that they were not going to be the best friends.

"Uh, hey guys…I, uh, hate to drop in on you like this but—," Alex just stopped. They weren’t stupid and he knew what was about to happen.

A buff man stepped out in front of the others and said in a rough voice, "Did you cause that accident with the plane?"

Alex shook his head no. Very fast. "Of course not!"

The man studied him for a moment and then said, "Yes you did." He looked at another one of the men and said, "Lock him up. We’ll look for survivors and see if there are any. Until then, keep this bastard locked."

A man nodded and pulled Alex to his feet and shoved him out of the crate. Alex stumbled and a gun poked into his back, accompanied by a voice that said, "No stunts like what you did earlier. Now MOVE!"

Alex did as he was told.