Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XXVII

SAM

Music: Toc-Man's Lair from Pac-Man World

Inside this room, I'm expecting there to be, like, a giant throne with the head of the organization sitting inside the chair, and Alexys in a cage off to the side. I have a bit of an active imagination.

That is, of course, not what we end up finding. Instead, the room is more like a slightly larger version of your average office room. A man wearing a simple black jacket with curly hair sits at it, and the other girl from the helicopter (who the hovercraft says is Alexys) sits to his side, watching him do his paperwork. It's such a casual scene, and to top it all off, the man doesn't even notice we're right in front of him right now.

"AHEM?" I yell, fake-clearing my throat. Now I get the man's attention. He stares at us in confusion for a quick moment before recognition begins flooding his face.

"Ah, yes. I kinda had a feeling our holding place wouldn't keep you very long. Nice to finally meet you kids in person," the man says. His last sentence is filled with obvious sarcasm. He has the exact same voice as the man who talked to us on the TV monitor back at the bait hideout.

"Hello, Black Shadow," Brielle blurts out, looking at the man with not a single trace of fear on her face. She's holding Avery's hand, and the two of them stand with confidence, similar to how the rest of us are.

"Oh. They managed to get you. Somehow I didn't notice that before," Black Shadow says, seeming more confuzzled and surprised than irritated.

"It's over for you, 'Black Shadow'," Heath growls, pulling his gun out and holding it by his hip. "We've taken down your establishments and your reinforcements. You might as well just give in now."

"To a bunch of thirteen-year olds? I don't think so," Black Shadow smirks.

"C'MON, KICK HIS ASS!" Alexys (?) yells. Black Shadow slaps her to shush her.

"First of all, I'm fourteen. Second of all, you're gonna get it now, motherfucker," I growl, pointing my gun straight at Black Shadow. He just keeps grinning like he has some trick up his sleeve.

"We'll see about that," he replies, pressing a button on his desk. Within a second, a flash of pink-purple streaks start flying around the room. Papers start flying all over the place. When the streaks settle down, the figure creating them floats straight to the top of the room, giving us a much better view of what it is.

At first, I think it's the third prototype of the HoverBoard-8500, which is the brand of hovercraft I own.

And then I see the "10000" written on the hovercraft where the "8500" would be written on mine.

"It's an upgrade of the hovercraft," I whisper to everybody else. Gasps erupt from most people in the group.

"Nice job figuring that out," Black Shadow snorts. Then he turns to the hovercraft upgrade and tells it, "Hovercraft? Show these kids just what happens when you try to go this far to mess with me."

The hovercraft upgrade nods and begins spinning around, firing out a spew of bullets. A cabinet falls over in the process, which we take cover behind.

I can tell somebody's about to ask how we plan on taking it out, but before anybody does, a hole appears in one of the walls and another figure flies through.

Our own hovercraft.

"Oh no," Shanna moans. She has reason to be afraid; there's a pretty decent chance Black Shadow's hovercraft is at least twice as advanced is ours is.

Then again, ours might be smarter.

Our hovercraft starts by darting around the room quickly, firing a quick shot at the upgrade every time it stops. The upgrade responds by meeting up with it at one point, grabbing it, spinning it around a few times, and throwing it at a wall. Our hovercraft reacts quickly, managing to deflect itself off the wall right at the upgrade. The upgrade manages to dodge, but doesn't succeed in dodging our hovercraft's lasers it fires upon flipping back over in the air.