Chapter
3: Ha ha, you thought this would be
“THE END”, huh?
Rikki had finally managed to operate Little Air, and was now
following the tracks the trucks had left in the sandy dust. He circled the same
area for more than the fifth time. He leaned toward the window and peered out.
"I don't get it, Vinnie."
he said, looking back at the iguana on his shoulder. "The tracks just stop!
They couldn't have been just picked up, could they? I mean, trucks don't just
POOF! disappear! Hmm, where have I heard that before..." Rikki realized he
was going to have to expand his bank of expressions.
He peeked out again, and shook
his head vigorously, his bangs flying around like helicopter blades.
"No," he said firmly, "No, because look! Even if they managed to
all stop in exactly the same place, it still wouldn't work. Look over here,
Vinnie, when I'm talking to you." he pointed out the window, and the
lizard, who had been chewing on Rikki's bangs before they were so rudely pulled
away, looked in the general direction of his finger. "See? If they had
stopped, the back wheel prints would stop before the front ones, right? But
these don't! They keep going, then disappear! It's like they just...just sucked
into the ground!"
He sighed deeply and leaned back,
worn out from brilliant deduction and vibrant speaking. Vinnie waddled about,
grunt-hissed something, and looked out the window himself. Whether or not he
ever figured out anything that Rikki didn't shall remain a mystery.
Meanwhile, Rikki was having the
stereotypical bright idea. "Hey," he said slowly and
over-dramatically, "What if they were sucked into the ground!"
He leaned over enthusiastically and said to Vinnie, "Come on, we're going
down for a closer look." And he landed Little Air, with surprisingly little
difficulty.
Alex took a wary step into the
evil-feeling building. The first room was almost completely empty, but for a few
heavily-armed guards, a large piece of machinery of some sort, and about five
staircases winding up from different points. Not only that, but the entire thing
was painted either forest green or dark, grayish-purple. It was slightly comic
book, but was eerie all the same. Alex turned to see Grinder looking grimly up
at it all. He glanced at Alex, then at the piece of machinery.
"See that there," he
said, not taking his eyes off the equipment. "You know what that is?"
"No, what?"
Grinder shrugged. "Haven't
got the faintest clue." he said. Alex sighed, and wondered if that was his
idea of a joke. Asazi looked at the machine dully.
"Yeah," she said
unenthusiastically. "You probably would want to know what that is. I
would tell ya' if I knew, just to brag, but I don't have a clue, either. Top
secret, I guess."
Alex nodded, examining the
mystery-machine. "Although, you'd think they'd hide it a little better if
it were top secret." he said. But Asazi only shrugged. That is, she only
shrugged before kicking them both and telling them sharply to move.
"That staircase in the
middle." she barked, and Alex looked at the designated case. Ugh, it
figures, he thought dryly. The only stairs that I didn't want to
use...
Alex had never believed much in
being able to feel evil radiating from an object, but he was beginning to change
his mind. The stairs in front of him seethed with malice, and it even seemed to
be arrogant malice, a sort of, 'Ha-ha, you can't escape and now you've got to
walk up the evil stairs!'
Alex shook his head, and told
himself firmly that staircases didn't taunt people, and couldn't be arrogant or
malicious.
Vinnie prodded something
curiously with his foot, as Rikki paced back and forth over the spot the
tire-marks disappeared at. Being down lower, as it turned out, wasn't much help.
It still made no sense.
"Hmm, maybe it's got some
sort of beam. Like one of those tractor-beam things on Star Trek!" he said
brightly. His theories had become more and more, well, wacked-up ever
since they had landed. He tried out each new one on Vinnie. For this idea,
Vinnie merely grunted and poked something in the dirt with his foot. Rikki
sighed, and went back to pacing.
"Well, if it turns out they were
abducted, it really just all fits into my theories. I mean, just the other day I
was telling Fidget and Grinder about how everything's connected. Missing people,
strange lights, gas prices, they're all...! Not now, Vinnie!"
The reptile had hiss-grunted
urgently, and buried his nose in the dust. Rikki stomped over impatiently, but
his impatience quickly turned to excitement when he saw what Vinnie was messing
with.
"Vinnie! Look what I've
found!" he cried happily, and Vinnie made what sounded strangely like an
exasperated sigh. "It's a door! A trapdoor! The trucks weren't
abducted!" his smile faded ever so slightly as he realized this, but he
went on. "They just went through a trapdoor!"
He laughed excitedly and did a
little dance with Vinnie, who hissed and hopped away, looking slightly
disgruntled. Rikki then devoted himself to the effort of trying to open the
massive door.
Fidget opened her eyes, and shook
her head. It struck her first that it was very dark, and that she was in a very
odd position. Then, a hooded figure held something under her nose, laughing
softly. It smelled very strange. She drifted off again.
Grinder walked up the stairs
slowly behind Alex. Asazi was behind him, and her high-heels clicked on the
concrete staircase. He made a very small comment on how evil geniuses should
learn to use elevators or at least escalators, and Alex nodded. Asazi spoke up
from the back.
"I suppose they want to make
people suffer. That's the way they are. Out of their way to make others
uncomfortable. I guess it bothers me."
Grinder snorted. "Since when
are you all for the common man?" Asazi grinned.
"That's not what I meant.
I'm a hired assassin. I'll go out of my way if the employer does. These things
aren't cheap, you know." She pulled out a bomb-tipped arrow for her
crossbow. Grinder wondered if he dared try to grab it, but he remembered the
guards below and decided better of it. Instead he only replied
"No, I guess it wouldn't be.
Although I dunno how expensive it'd be, and don't care to go looking around for
an exact sum."
Asazi put the arrow away again.
She looked up and pointed. "Next door on the right brings you to the
thirteenth floor. And don't get any ideas, Action-breath." she pointed
accusingly at Alex. "There's armed forces up there to escort you." She
turned on one needle-width heel, took three steps, and turned back around.
"Oh, and one more thing!" she called. "It won't be who you
expect!"
With that, she turned once more and descended the stairs, leaving Alex and Grinder to face whatever stood behind the door.