Raiders: Quest for the 7 Adman

The Problem

The group of strangers stared at Jim with wide eyes.

"What kind of problem are we talking about?" Klark asked Jim directly.

Jim gave a glance to Harri filled with pity. "I got a ransom call from someone saying they had two of our people. They gave me an address and demanded weapons and money for their exchange."

"What kind of weapons? We don't have any guns here," Harri butted in.

"Technically, we have one, but it's for specific circumstances only. They figured out that Carely is a bit of an engineer, so they assumed that she had some gadgets they could use. The problem is, I don't know how to get to her room." Jim looked around and was met with confused stares coming from the newbies.

He doesn't know how to access one of his friend's rooms? They all thought.

Seamus shook his head. "Okay, if you can't access her room, then how are we supposed to get them back?"

Jim looked grim and sighed. "I think we're going to have to hope that money is enough. Sam and Seamus. You're going to join Klark and Harri to make the exchange. I want as many people as possible in case things get rough."

"What about me?" Kato asked incredulously.

"You haven't discovered your powers yet and I don't want you getting hurt," Jim said sympathetically. He nodded at Harri and Klark and turned back to Kato. "You can join me in watching them."

"What am I supposed to do, wait around?" Kato looked at the boys. 

"Kinda," Jim stated shortly. He turned to the others. "Follow me."

Jim walked about 5 feet to the wall phone he had used earlier. He entered the password 42069 into the keypad. As he pressed the last digit and picked up the phone, everyone heard a strange creaking noise. Jim waited for a few seconds before he put the phone back and walked through the now-open wall. Harri and Klark wasted no time following him while the other boys hesitated. Sam moved to go in but had to stop a bit to give a look and persuade a begrudging Seamus to just suck it up and go into the mysterious room.

The room was about the size of a living room. Not overly spacious, but it wasn't a tight squeeze. The walls were gray beside the things upon them and the floor was metal with a few black rugs. Upon entering and turning to the right, a large screen was connected to an elaborate computer setup. In front of the screen were a bunch of chairs. On the opposite wall of the screen was what looked like a random keypad. Jim gestured for the guys to sit down while he went over to the keypad and pressed the same numbers as the wall phone.

"Before I begin the briefing, I do want you guys to take some stuff with you to help you stay safe. Carley may have more dangerous gadgets in her room, but she did allow us to use some stuff freely." Jim walked back a bit to reveal that the keypad had opened up a wall of tools. Utility belts, pepper spray, self-defense flashlights, and any other simple tools they could think of. Jim let the two recruits gawk at the wall while he went over to the computer and turned on the big screen so it showed a map of the area.

Jim cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "Alright, as you know, two of our friends, Carley and Sekulur, have allegedly been taken hostage. The captors sent me the location and their demands, but I'm not too worried about it." He got some weird looks from Sam and Seamus before continuing. "Now, I get that my statement sounds insensitive, but I doubt that they got both. They sounded like a bunch of amateurs when they stated they wanted just money and weapons. I think they only got Carley while her partner is lying low for now. With that being said, they would have had to instill some real fear into her to get her to snitch on her partner. For now, just be on the lookout for one hostage. If you get Carley out of there and/or tear shit up, Sekulur is bound to appear. I pair them up for a reason." 

Jim went over to the computer and typed in an address. He returned to the screen and pointed to an old parking garage. "This is where the exchange will occur. We don't have weapons, so I doubled the amount of money they wanted. Try to get them to hand her over first. If you can't, then hand over the money first and do everything in your power to retrieve Carley in one piece. Gangs are prominent in this area, so be prepared to have to fight. Also, be careful because we don't know who they have on their side or if they've taken anyone else hostage. Are there any other questions?" He looked around the room and immediately noticed Sam's pale face and Seamus' mixed expression. 

"There's what prominent in this area?" Seamus stared intensely at Jim, his voice dangerously low.

"Gangs. They're not top on our priority list at the moment. More so a nuisance. You shouldn't have to worry about getting into a gunfight, but if it bothers you that much, we have a couple of bulletproof vests, plus you have a force field, Seamus." Jim replied nonchalantly, which did not help Seamus or Sam calm down. "Any other questions?" The group sat in silence as everyone waited for someone else to respond. "Cool. Seamus and Sam, you two go find fitting outfits. And take these cameras so that I can watch from here. Klark and Harri, we need to talk for a moment."

The two groups split up. Sam and Seamus went over to get ready and saw the others get in a huddle across the room.

"You think it'll be dangerous? We just got our powers and they want us to fight some bad guys?" Sam looked at Seamus with questioning eyes. They looked over again at the group to see them burst out in laughter and then suddenly get very serious again. Seamus looked back at Sam.

"I'm not sure, but I know that whatever is about to happen could be life-threatening, so we should prepare for it anyway."

"Alrighty boys," Klark yelled from across the room. "Let's all hop in the delivery van."

After driving for what it seems like years, the men pulled up to a large above-ground parking garage. They parked at the bottom of it and prepared for battle. Seamus and Sam grabbed materials from their bag while Harri ate a granola bar. They all piled out of the van and Harri spoke.

"Be careful around he-" but he was cut off by the sound of a young girl's voice. It was muffled so no one could tell what she said, but they could tell it was coming from above them. All at once, they began to race up the ramp. As they were running up, they could still hear her. Once they got to the third floor, they saw her at the top of the ramp going to the highest floor. She was a small girl, only about 4 feet tall with long brown hair and large brown eyes. She was wearing a pink dress and had a matching pink bow in her hair. The group ran up to her as she was on her knees with her back to them. They moved up to her and checked to make sure she was alright. She only had a scraped knee, presumably from running and falling.

"I'll be okay. Watch out behind you!" with tears in her eyes, she frantically pointed behind them. When the group looked to where the child was pointing to, they saw two figures sitting in chairs. On the right was clearly the hostage. Her torso and legs were bound to the chair and a sack was put over her head. Sitting lazily next to her was another girl. She had shoulder-length, straight, jet-black hair. She wore a sleek leather jacket with a simple t-shirt underneath and a pair of worn blue jeans. She cocked her head a bit with a blank face, challenging any of them to approach her. As they assessed the situation, they heard a teasing voice from behind them say," I said to watch your back!"

As they turned around, they saw Klark fall to the ground holding his side, and the little child morphing into a teenage girl while she twirled a bloody knife in her hand.