A MECH-X4 Story: Rescue

Chapter 5: Friends

     "Come on, Mark, I thought you wanted to be my friend," said the man with the milky white eyes.

     Mark doesn't respond. His arms are still stuck above his head and have been so for about 10 minutes. He's already lost feeling in his shoulders and that's not the full extent of the pain.

     "I told you!" Mark says. "I don't know how Mech-X4 works!"

      The man's fist comes slamming into Mark's stomach, forcing a rough dry cough from his lungs. Mark's head slumps down, he tries to breath in air, but a second fist comes flying into his gut again as he is trying to catch his breath. He just goes into a coughing fit and the Man with the messed up face just laughs at him from across the room. This torture has been going on for the last 10 minutes.

     "You are lying, little man!" Milk-Eyes says, grabbing Mark's neck and choking him.

     "I-I- really don't...ughhh! Please!" Mark says gagging.

     Ring ring ring...

     Milk-Eyes let's go of Mark's neck and turns to find the source of the ringing.

      "The others are on their  way down," says Messy Face with his phone to his ear. Milk-Eyes turns to Mark and smiles.

     "Progress!" He says. He turns and walks out of the room with Messy Face close behind. He stops before he is out of sight and looks at Mark.

     "If you really don't know how Mech-X4 is piloted, I'm guessing you really can't get it to work on your own," he says. "So, you'd better tell your friends to make it easy for me. I want to know how to get it moving. Otherwise, I'll have to beat the crud out of all of you."

     He leaves the cage and the bars slide back and lock. The hook on the chains above Mark's head unexpectedly come loose and he falls to the floor with a loud thud and a groan. He rolls off of his front and onto his side, clutching his stomach in his hands.

     "Aggghh!"

     The slight contact from his fingers causes enough pain for him to see stars.

     Please, this can't happen to Ryan. He's just a kid. I can't let this happen to him.

     There's a loud click and the bars open, revealing his crew. All three are unconscious and being carried in. Harris and Spyder are on Milk-Eye's shoulders and Ryan is in Messy Face's arms. All three boys are violently thrown to the floor near Mark.

     "What did you do to them?!" Mark screams.

     "Nothing yet," Messy Face says.

     Ryan begins to stir on the floor. His eyes open and he checks his surrounding. He immediately sees the two villains and jumps to his feet.

     "Of course. The last to pass out and the first to awake," says Milk-Eyes. "You're definitely the strongest of the group. I bet you know how the robot moves."

      "No! He doesn't know anything!" says Mark in a panic.

     He tries propping himself up on an elbow, but the movement puts his lungs in serious pain and with a groan he falls to the floor again. Ryan whips around, noticing his presence for the first time.

     "Mark! You're alive!" he says with relief and runs over to him. He wraps his arms around his big brother, lifting him off the floor and Mark screams in agony. Tears spill from his eyes, down his face, and onto Ryan's tight holding arms.

     "What's wrong!?"

     "My stomach. Please. Don't touch me there. Too much pain."

     "What?" Ryan says. Mark just relaxes in his arms. His limp body scares Ryan. Ryan reaches down and lifts his shirt. His eyes open wide with horror. There are multiple black and purple splotches all over his abdomen and chest from what looks like a huge fist.

"You freaks!! What did you do to him?"

"Nothing compared to what will happen to him and the rest of you if you don't tell me how Mech-x4 is piloted," says Milk-Eyes.

"We can't tell you anything!"

"Saying you can't means you know something! If you don't spill I'll do what I did to him to you and both of your little friends."

Milk-Eyes walks over to Harris and grabs him by his hair. His head is violently jerked off the ground and yet he stays unconscious.

     "Leave him alone!" Ryan yells.

     "Tell me!"

     "I- I."

     Ryan looks down at his brother; his poor beaten brother. He couldn't let anything like this happen to anyone else. No one can tell the truth because no one knows how his technopathy works. It just somehow works with the robot and no one knows why. Ryan is the only one that can tell them how to pilot the robot and he can't even fully explain it to them. He has to try though. For the sake of his friends.... For Mark....

     He slowly lowers Mark to the floor. His brother rolls back onto his side and clutches his stomach, trying to find some way to rid himself of the pain. This sends waves of rage and sadness into Ryan's heart. He will break them all out of here. They just need to be able to run first. He walks forward and looks Milk-Eyes in his evil smiling face.

     "I am the pilot."

     "Perfect, let's be friends," he replied.