Part 5

The Second Battle
Dangers A-Plenty
A Secret Mission

The two guards stationed at the Umbrella Corp’s gates were tired. Because of the massive drain on the headquarters’ troops caused by Silas’ bold offensive plan, they were on the tail end of a double shift. Suddenly, they were jerked to wakefulness by a low rumble. They peered through the thick darkness down the length of the road, but could see nothing. Then, a large shape began to emerge. Plowing slowly but unstoppably came the bulldozer from the scrap yard, with Steph at the controls again.
The guards first tried to stop the machine by opening fire with their laser rifles, but the beams glanced off of the huge blade and the yellow juggernaut did not even slow. They stood shooting until the machine was almost on top of them. They had barely enough time to leap out the way, straight into the oily canal, before the bulldozer crashed into the iron gates, bending and twisting the solid metal, and tearing them off at the hinges.
Steph did not stop at the gates, however, but plowed down the length of the bridge to the main factory building. Behind her three cars pulled through the ruined remains of the iron blockade and made their way to the narrow cobblestone street which ran in front of the old complex along the length of the canal. The cars stopped, the doors opened, and out leapt a third of the heroes’ force. Just as they had exited the cars and readied their weapons, a battalion of Umbrella guards with laser rifles pored out of the massive front doors, firing. The Cap’n and Andrew, who had been in the lead car, were in charge of this portion of the troops, and quickly formed them into lines to face the oncoming threat. A hail of laser beams rained down upon both sides as the battle began.

Meanwhile, down the road a distance, near a small industrial railroad station, a group of students were climbing aboard a creaking old train. Dan stood at the controls in the engine car. After about a half an hour’s worth of frustrated tinkering, he and Adam Goddu had managed to get the old locomotive running. Aligning the tracks, they had set the sluggish metal worm on a collision course with the back of the factory. Members of that party had gone ahead and driven a UC SUV along the train tracks and parked it over them as close to the main building as they could. There they waited for their friends to arrive and begin the second phase of the attack. Dan started train moving, very slowly at first, but building in speed, and they were soon pushing along at a reasonable pace on the old, rusting tracks which ran behind all the factories of the district. At the back of the engine car, Pat Dandrea and Jason Frank were furiously shoveling coal into a furnace to maintain the ancient train’s speed.In the rickety boxcar directly behind the train, the other remaining third of the force gripped their weapons tensely.
“I hope this plan works,” said Meg, huddling close to Brendan.
“I know it will. It’s one of Dan’s. I’m sure he’s well on top of things.”

Back in the engine room, Dan was worried. He had no idea what condition the tracks were in, or if the train would derail properly. In addition, for the plan to work, his force would have to jump out of the moving locomotive, a dangerous maneuver. He steeled himself up for the demanding task before him, gripped the controls firmly, and peered ahead at the velvety black sky.

In a small, sleek black helicopter high above the battle, Silas sat watching the action unfold.
“Magnificent,” he said quietly. “Those fools are going to destroy the base and kill Trans. They’ll do my dirty work for me. When the smoke clears, I’ll be the unquestioned head of the Umbrella Corporation.”
The pilot to the left of him spoke.
“Did you say something, sir?”
“No, nothing of consequence. Take me to Base Central.”
The pilot guided the aircraft in a gradual bank and flew north.

Corporate lawyer Mr. Hazzard watched the battle from a third-story office. He gazed grimly through the expansive, soiled glass of the room’s one, wall-sized window.
“This is in blatant violation of numerous trespassing and personal property destruction statutes. Such disregard for the law . . ..”
He looked into the sky at the sound of helicopter propellers churning the air. To his right, a small black craft was flying away to toward South Hadley. He looked straight ahead and his jaw dropped as he beheld a much larger, more powerful looking white copter flying towards the roof in apparent attempt to unload troops. The vehicle bore the Ninja Pirate logo.
“Must be the leaders of this rabble,” Hazzard thought. “Leaving their soldiers to fight as a distraction while trying to secretly sneak into the complex from the roof. Not this time.”
Hazzard rushed to his desk and hit an intercom button.
“This is Hazzard,” he said urgently. “Train forward roof cannons on approaching air craft. Shoot that thing out of the sky!”

On the flat top of the main building, two large guns turned noiselessly and targeted the Ninja Pirate helicopter. The twin ion cannons fired in unison, both shots hitting the oncoming helicopter dead center. The vehicle burst into a ball of flames, hung in the sky for a moment, and then plummeted to earth, crashing into the road on the opposite side of the canal, a pile of twisted, flaming wreckage.

“Well that threat’s out of the way. Those soldiers should be easily broken without their leaders.” Hazzard smiled in grim satisfaction.

There was a momentary lull in the battle as both sides turned to see the helicopter explode in the sky above them. The whole scene, which had been lit only by the dim halogen lights of the complex, was illuminated as bright as day with the aircraft’s ruin. As the copter fell, the bright light faded and the battle resumed.
Andrew had taken half of the small force of heroes and tried to stem the tide of Umbrella Corporation troops still filing out of the main building. Their concentrated heavy fire was paying off, and the amount of unconscious soldiers piling up in the doorway controlled the enemies’ reinforcements. Andrew was shooting side by side with Pawel and Marissa. Behind that trio were EJ and Dave. EJ had managed to find a supply of blunt objects--pipes, automobile parts, bricks--anything he could get his hands on, and was hurling them at the frustrated enemy soldiers while shouting, “I’ll trade a whuppin’ for some sores. Whuppin’ for sores!”
Dave, running low on his Molotov cocktail supply, was nonetheless battling bravely onward next to his friend. Steph and Becky, standing nearby, gave the pair odd looks while knocking out dozens of UC troops. Meanwhile, the Cap’n had taken the other half of the group and was trying to combat the enemies already out of the building and advancing rapidly. The giant robot fired undaunted into the ranks of soldiers, while by his side were Jenn and Will Murray. Also taking cover around the halted bulldozer were Caitlin, Sarah Cantler, and Tara Maroney. The heroes fought on courageously, but the Umbrella troops were dangerously close to overpowering them.

Elsewhere, four other heroes were making their way across the canal in a small rubber raft. Amy, Tony, Steve, and Richard also stared at the flaming helicopter as it crashed.
“Damn,” said Rich, “I know we now have the element of surprise, but that wreck is gonna mean roadwork for weeks. So much for my shortcut.”
“Focus on the mission, Rich,” Amy reminded him.
He nodded and looked ahead as they entered the forbidding drainage pipe on the factory-side of the canal.The pipe was more of a tunnel, large enough for a man to stand up in. It was pitch black.
“Anyone got a flashlight?” Tony asked.
“Sure, right here in my backpack,” said Rich, and proceeded to pull out the largest flashlight any of the other three had ever seen. It was silver and black, and the glass piece covering the bulb was the size of a dinner plate. Richard positioned the flashlight at the bow of the raft and turned it on. The tunnel was flooded with blinding white light. The effect on the eyes was a small degree less severe than that after a nuclear bomb. The four friends tumbled sightlessly around the small raft, waiting for their eyes to adjust. When at last they could see again, Tony, Amy, and Steve looked fearfully at their surroundings. Richard was still faking blindness and reaching out with groping hands at the other three members of the unit. His fingers touched on one of Amy’s supple breasts and he received a slap to the face.
“Cut it out, Rich, this is serious,” she said.
“Two slaps in one day,” Richard mused. “Not bad . . ..”
“I swear, when we are all given positions at NP Inc, I’m making you vice president in charge of groping,” Tony said wryly.
“Who’s president?” Richard asked, offended that he did not get the top spot.
“Me,” answered Amy, who quickly felt up her three companions with a devious smile playing about her lips.
“People! People! Please!” Steve said, uncharacteristically the levelheaded one. “There’ll be plenty of time for risqué behavior later on. Right now we need to find our way into this Godforsaken place.”
The heroes turned their attention back to the unfortunately brightly lit tunnel. The pipe of corrugated metal in which they were traveling ran from some as yet unknown place in the main factory building to the outlet in the canal through which the heroes had entered. Oily canal water lapped at the sides of the tunnel, and there were visible stains from rust and that foul water along the pipe. Sickly green plants of some indistinguishable aquatic variety trailed down from the curved ceiling in wet strips. Dark shapes moved eerily though the water on either side of the boat. Eels of some sort, no doubt. Most were small, a yard long or so, but Richard caught sight of a few that had the girth of the coffee can and seemed to be longer than the Falcon. He tried not to look into the water too much. Instead, he looked ahead of him, toward the end of the tunnel.
Bright though his flashlight was, Richard could still see no definite end of the pipe, merely blackness far in the distance. Grimly, he and his friends paddled their raft though the frightening tunnel.

Back at the frontlines, the heroes’ divided force were not faring well against the Umbrella Corporation troops. They had been effectively pinned behind the three cars and the massive blade of the bulldozer, and the UC soldiers were still advancing. Jake looked upon the ranks of enemies with a strange gleam in his eyes. He unzipped his jacket to reveal a vest made of plastic explosive. Pulling the detonator out of his pocket, he began to scramble forward over the cars toward the UC goons. Cap’n Huzuki-bot 3500 reached forward and pulled him back to safety.
“Damnit, you stupid robot! Let me go! I want to commit suicide and take as many of those bastards out as I can!”
“Easy, son,” said the Cap’n soothingly. “We’re not here to kill, so no luck on them fancy bombsa yers. Moreover, me good mate, you’re a pirate, not a ninja. Pirates don’t much go in fer suicide. We prefer to fight an’ run away.”
Jake looked thoughtful.
“Oh, all right!” he conceded, and whipped out two laser pistols.
Yet, despite his, and others’, bravado, the enemy drew closer still.

Speeding along the train tracks came the ancient locomotive. Dan at the controls anxiously looked ahead toward the parked SUV. When he judged the time to be right, he spoke to Pat and Jason over his shoulder.
“It’s time, guys. That’ll be enough coal, you can go and tell the others that it’s time to disconnect the cars.”
Jason and Pat gratefully dropped the shovels and moved into the other car.
“We’re going to disconnect now, everybody,” said Pat.
“Dan says that when the car slows enough, we’re to leap off in pairs and make our way to the front of the building along the left side.” Jason explained.
“As the right side will be slowly crumbling and demolished, if all goes to plan.” Pat finished.
The two boys moved back to the space between the cars. The wind rushed past them, flattening their hair against their heads. They had to shout to each other to be heard.
“Let’s try it together!” yelled Pat.
Jason nodded, and they both gripped the pin firmly. They yanked upwards with a mighty heave, but the pin refused to budge.
“This is no good!” Jason hollered over the screaming wind. “We need help!”
As if on cue, Sam and Adam appeared behind them.
The four boys grabbed onto the iron rod and began to pull.
The pin slowly rose up out of its slot with a grating scratch of rusted iron on iron that was audible despite the noise of the train and the howl of the rushing air.
Finally, as the four friends were about strained to the limit, the pin popped free and they all fell back against the boxcar door in a heap. They lay there breathing heavily.
Suddenly, just as the car was beginning to separate, Sam leapt across the gap and landed on the still speeding engine.
“Damnit, Sam!” yelled Adam, afraid for his chum, “ what the hell are you doing?!”
Sam smiled back at the three gaping boys, his jet-black hair leaping around his flushed face in the raging current of the wind.
“I’m gonna ride this baby to Valhalla!” he bellowed, and disappeared into the front car.
Dan whirled around as Sam entered.
“Sam, what the hell are you doing?!” he asked frantically.
“Everybody says that,” Sam muttered.
“This train is going to collide with the back of the factory. Do you realize how dangerous this is?”
“I know what I’m doing, Dan,” Sam said calmly. “I thought you might like some company.”
Dan smiled and turned his attention back to the tracks.

In the boxcar, Jason and Pat were helping their fellow crusaders off the train. They had slid open the huge side door and were letting the heroes off in pairs.
Brendan and Meg jumped first. They collapsed to their knees to soften the blow, rolled once, and stood up.
Adam, with a grinning Ashley Lapointe, had to be forced off. It had taken every ounce of strength Pat and Jason had to stop him from trying to make the leap to the engine car himself to save his friend.
Next came Mike Pytka, looking a little green, and Evelyn, gripping him fiercely.
When they had made it safely, Sarah Sawka stood up and looked at the two boys.
“I’m scared. Will one of you jump with me?”
Jason stepped forward immediately.
“I’d love to.”
Holding Sarah tightly to him, he jumped out of the moving train, leaving Pat alone.
Pat gave one last look around before slinging his laser rifle over his shoulder and leaping out himself. He hit the ground well, stumbled forward a little, then righted himself and trotted around the back of the building to the left to join up with his friends.

Back in the engine, Dan and Sam were making some last minute calculations.
“Everything should be fine,” Dan said worriedly, “except for the leaping out of a speeding train part.”
Sam patted him on the back, smiled, and opened the rear door.The two boys stood on the small platform at the back of the engine car. They faced the rapidly receding tracks and glanced right. Glistening pavement. They glanced left. Rugged, grass land, softened by the rain and near to the river.
“Left it is,” muttered Dan. He and Sam took position.
“On three?” asked Sam.
Dan looked ahead at the SUV, frighteningly close now, and nodded.
The hulking black vehicle was only 20 feet away.
“One . . .” they said together.
18 feet.
“Two . . .”
16 feet.
“Three!”
When impact was less than 8 seconds away, they bent their knees, closed their eyes, and leapt out into the swirling air.The two friends hit the soft grassland with a thud and immediately collapsed; they rolled several times before coming to a stop and laying motionless on the cold, moist ground.

The train plowed directly into the SUV, and through it. Twisted hunks of flaming metal spewed out to either side. Fire engulfed the unblinking eye of the train’s headlight. Pieces of the destroyed black vehicle caught in the locomotive’s rusted pistons and gears and caused the desired havoc.The mighty train was wrenched off of the tracks and went careening with an ungodly screech of tortured metal toward the rear of the main factory building. Still moving frighteningly fast, the engine collided into the brick wall and exploded in a startling ball of crimson flame. The train’s final force shook the towering building to its foundations as the ruined hunk of steel tore into the corner of the crumbling brick factory. It pushed through the wall and into the building beyond, shattering windows and destroying a whole wing of the structure.

In the front of the building, the startled UC troops, on the verge of victory, spun around despite the battle in front of them to gaze in horror at the devastation.
The heroes were expecting the explosion, but not at this magnitude, and also found themselves enthralled by the destruction.
Both sides were shocked back into action by the charge of the train’s former occupants, the missing half of the heroes’ army. They came yelling and blasting around the side of the building and caught the UC troops with another successful pincer formation.The force behind the cars climbed over their barricade and met the enemy in close combat, fighting with renewed fury.
Umbrella’s once impressive horde of deadly mercenaries was overpowered. They had lost the will to fight. Small pockets were already starting to surrender. The heroes were about to win.

Suddenly the rooftop cannons opened fire again. The soldier who had been manning them were called into the battle, but Mr. Hazzard had made his way to the control room and was blasting at the armies in front of the building with abandon. An explosion to the right of the still fighting masses sent many reeling. The cannons repositioned themselves and were aimed at the center of the fray.Before they could fire, twin rockets shrieked through air up at them, reducing them both to ruined heaps.

Dan and Sam had made it to the battle!

Sam put down his rocket launcher and ran forward through the melee to the bulldozer. He pushed Steph lightly out of the way as he climbed behind the controls.
“Steph, go make me some pancakes and let me show you how to really use this thing!”
He put the hulking machine into gear and plowed forward. The heroes and Umbrella Corporation soldiers scattered out of the way as he rumbled past.
“This should make sure no one uses any of the building’s other defenses against us,” he said to himself.
The bulldozer drove straight into the factory’s power plant, knocking over power lines and demolishing the squat brick structure which held the generators supplying power to the complex.
Sam continued to destroy anything he could long after the energy was cut to the factory and the battle had resumed.

The small expedition into the bowels of the complex had finally reached the end of their tunnel. Before them was a solid wall, brick and other stone, out of which emptied numerous pipes of varying sizes. A particularly large one was spewing out a thick grey substance, while two smaller pipes to its left and right were gently trickling out streams of a dark blue liquid. A fourth duct of medium size to the far right was pouring oily greenish brown ooze into the canal.
To the heroes’ collective left was a cement staircase that rose from the depths of the filthy water around them to a metal maintenance door. They tied the raft to the staircase’s railing and clambered up to the door.Tony stepped forward and tried it. The door slid eerily open, revealing a steamy machine room. The four friends stepped inside.
They made their way past the rows of hissing, clanking machinery to another door at the opposite side of the room. This one was also unlocked.
They entered the corridor beyond.
As Sam had cut the power, the only light was the dim, red illumination of the back-up source. They observed the hallway. It extended into the ruby darkness as far as they could see in both directions.
“Time to split up again, methinks,” said Richard.
“I’ll go with Amy,” Tony said.
“Damnit,” said Rich.
“Damnit,” said Steve.
Amy smiled.
“C’mon, Tones,” she said. “Good luck, guys.”
And the pair took off down the left path.
Richard and Steve nodded to each other and started down the right.

They hadn’t been going far when they came to an elevator.
“This is what we need,” said Richard. “Our target is undoubtedly on the higher floors.”
They stepped into the shining metal box and observed the buttons.
“Amazing . . .” Rich said, in awe.
There were four floors above ground, but below the floor they were on now, what Richard had thought to be the sub-basement, were twenty more levels.
Steve leaned forward and pushed the button for the second floor. They waited the few seconds that it took to rise two floors, and as soon as the doors slid open again with a friendly ding, they stepped through.
The second floor was in shambles.
Lights hung, flickering and sparking, distended from the fixtures. Papers and broken glass littered the floor. In front of them in the hallway was an overturned desk. This was not the most disturbing part of the picture, however. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all smeared with blood.
“Good God . . .” muttered Rich, looking around in horror.
“What the hell happened here?” Steve asked no one in particular.
The elevator doors closed behind them and the box moved up the shaft to some higher level.
“What could have done this?” Richard asked.
Suddenly, they heard a heavy galloping sound from the hallway ahead and to the right of them.
“I have a bad feeling we’re about to find out,” said Steve.
The two friends stood shaking, their laser pistols ready, staring down the corridor ahead of them.
The galloping, thumping sound grew louder. Richard could also discern a slight clicking noise intermingled with it. It reminded him of his dog walking across the linoleum.
The sound grew deafening.
Before either of them was ready, it appeared.
Around the corner at the end of the hallway bounded a huge, dark shape with glowing yellow eyes.
“Is that a bear?” asked Steve in disbelief.
The monster howled.
“I th-think it’s a . . . dog,” Richard stammered.
In a flash the beast was upon them.
It moved astoundingly fast. Richard had barely gotten off one shot, which didn’t seem to pierce the monster’s thick hide, when it sunk its teeth into his arm.
He screamed in pain. The beast swung its thick neck and hurled Richard across the room. He slammed against the wall and clutched his bleeding forearm. The beast snarled and closed in.
Steve fired several shots from his laser pistol. They hit the beast’s broad back and it whirled around with a roar to face him.
Steve fired again, but the shots, even on the highest setting, had little effect. Steve backed up slowly, getting closer and closer to the elevator’s doors.
Richard staggered up, held his pistol with a trembling hand, and yelled to Steve.
“Get ready to pin yourself to the wall!”
Steve’s head bobbed up and down in acknowledgement, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from the advancing beast.
Richard fired once, hit the elevator control panel, and the doors slid open, revealing an empty shaft. The shot startled the beast, and it began to run at Steve, opening and closing its slavering jaws.
The monster leapt into the air, its claws pointed at the pyromaniacal hero.
“Now!” yelled Rich, and Steve threw himself against the wall just as the beast flew past him.
It turned its head and bit Steve’s shoulder before flying into the open shaft, crashing against the opposite side, and plummeting with a howl into the blackness below.
Steve was pulled to the ground and lay there bleeding.
Richard hobbled over shakily and help him up. He supported his friend as they continued down the hall.

Amy and Tony had cautiously made their way to the end of the first corridor and turned left again. They continued onward, following whichever path lay open to them. Eventually the two friends came to an especially dark room. They felt their way along the wall, squinting their eyes in a vain attempt to see. Tony, in the lead, felt his hand come into contact with a switch of some sort.
“I got the lights, Ames,” Tony said, and flipped the switch.
No lights came on, but they heard a strange metallic click issue from the walls around them. It was loud. The sound magnified, it seemed, as though it was not a single click, but rather a chorus of small ones.
“Uh, Tony, what was that?”
“Not sure. I think I have another switch here.”
He flipped the second one. This time the lights came on, and they were able to see what had made the clicking noises.
They were in a large laboratory room. Lining the walls were cages upon cages, stacked five high. They were simple, shining metal contraptions, like those at a pet store. The creatures within them were nowhere near as wholesome as puppies, however.
With a maddening, leathery rustle, the things took flight and swarmed, screeching, around the two friends.
“Bats!” Amy screamed.
For, indeed, they had unwittingly awoken a multitude of the flying mammals. These were especially large bats, however, and angry too. They enveloped Tony and Amy in fluttering, chirping clouds. Swatting seemed to do no good, there were far too many of the beasts.
Tony was the first to be bitten. He didn’t feel it for a moment, and was instead alerted by the blood dripping down his neck. Then the wound began to burn. The smell of blood drove the bats into an even more maddened frenzy, and both he and Amy were soon covered in inflamed bites and scratches. Overcome, they dived below a heavy metal experiment table. The bats continued to swarm overhead, but for now the friends were safe under their solid shield.
“What the hell are those things?!” Amy panted, still checking her hair for lingering creatures.
“Bats, you said it yourself.”
“Those are larger than any bat I’ve ever seen, and their mad with bloodlust.”
Tony had a sickening suspicion as to what the beasts were, but said nothing. He had to think of a way out of here.
“Amy, in your backpack, do you have any hairspray?”
“What do you mean by that? That girls are too image conscious? Guys use hairspray, too. Do you have any in your backpack?”
“Damnit, this is no time for debating sexism and gender roles. Do you have any frickin’ hair spray.”
“Yes,” said Amy, handing him a bottle. “Though I can’t see how it’s gonna help.”
“Just follow me, and move fast. We’ll go to the door on the other side of the room.”
He pulled out his lighter.
“Ready?”Amy nodded.
Tony took a deep breath and got out from under the desk.
He flipped open the lighter and produced a large flame. Positioning the bottle of hairspray behind it, he held down on the trigger and an arm of fire shot forward.
“Take this, you bastards!” yelled Tony as he ignited clouds of the screaming bats with his improvised flamethrower. The creatures fell from the sky like tattered, fiery rags as he and Amy plowed their way through the door at the other end of the room. Just as the hairspray bottle began to sputter and the flame die, they opened the door and slipped through.
Amy slammed the door behind her and stood there breathing heavily.

She and Tony wearily made their way down the corridor, both too shaken to realize that their countless bite wounds had already healed.

Richard and Steve stumbled through the passageways of the Umbrella Corporations’ massive complex, hopelessly lost. Richard stopped and leaned against a wall, breathing heavily.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Steve. My wounds have all healed, but my head is killing me.”
He massaged his right temple. “And, I need not add, we’re hopelessly lost.”
“Same here about the healing and the headache. We’ve been wandering around these halls for a half an hour at least.”
“I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know where we are. I don’t know what’s going on outside this damned building, what’s happening to our friends. Goddamnit!” Richard slammed his fist against a wall panel.
The panel lit up and a portion of the wall slid open. Richard had unwittingly found a doorway.
“That’s the first time my temper has ever accomplished anything constructive,” he muttered in awe.
He and Steve warily entered the darkened room.

Elsewhere in the compound, Tony and Amy were faring no better. They too were lost in the countless corridors of the Umbrella Corporation’s local headquarters. Amy halted at what seemed to be a dead end. She looked around the cul de sac thoughtfully, her eyes finally settling on a small recessed control pad in one of the walls. Skillfully she broke the pad open with a colorful pin and ripped out the wires. Twisting and connecting several of those wires, she managed to circumvent the door locks. Two doors, one on either side of the hallway, opened up. Beyond them lay darkness.
Amy and Tony stood looking into each of the possible routes.
“Which do we choose?” Amy asked, gnawing her lip.
Wordlessly, Tony unsheathed a knife and laid it on the ground. He gave it a powerful spin. The spun for a time and came to rest pointing to the door on the left. He picked up the knife and nodded decisively.
“We go left.”
The two comrades strode into the blackness beyond.

Tony and Amy stumbled through the darkness.
Richard and Steve stumbled through darkness.
Suddenly, both pairs were blinded by a fierce white light.

Richard blinked and rubbed his eyes. He found himself in the same vast conference room he had looked down upon the previous night. Now that he was standing in it, the room seemed even more staggeringly huge than it had before. The floor, polished black marble, stretched in length and width as far as a football field. The ceiling, supported by towering marble pillars, white this time, existed an unbelievable hundred feet above him. The center of the great hall still contained the black conference table, and the far wall was still dominated by the massive screen.
Richard looked across the room, past the table, and spotted Tony and Amy. His heart leaped in his chest. Punching Steve in the shoulder and pointing to their friends, he preceded to run the width of the room and vaulted 20 feet into the air over the table, landing on his haunches between his two compatriots.
Steve waited a moment and did the same.
They both stood up and looked at each other.
“How did you guys do that?” Amy asked incredulously.
“We’re not exactly sure at the present time,” said Steve, looking fairly surprised himself.
“How did you get here?” Tony asked Rich. “We were lost forever in those damn corridors.”
“I pounded a wall and found a door.”
“I ripped open a wall and found two doors,” Amy said.
“Well kudos, sister friend.” Richard said smiling, and executed an awkward high-five with the warrioress from MHC. “This is the conference room Sam and I spied on last night.” Richard went on. “I don’t know why it’s so empty now, though.”
“It’s not as empty as you think,” Steve said in a hushed voice, pointing toward the opposite wall.
Mr. Hazzard, the fiendish corporate lawyer, and four guards had just entered.
“Seize them!” Hazzard yelled upon spotting the four friends, and the soldiers rushed forward.
Tired though they were, the friends easily dispatched the guards. They turned their attention to Hazzard.
“Is that all you have, Hazzard?” Richard asked.“No,” Hazzard smiled, “that was just to get you to lower your defenses.”
His tie, the same one he had been wearing the last time Richard saw him, began to glow. The geometric patterns began to swirl rapidly around within the garment. Suddenly four luminous diamond outlines, constantly changing between red and yellow, shot out of the tie and whirled through the air at the four heroes. Tony was the first to react, dodging out of the way just in time. His diamond grazed his shoulder, and a fine cut appeared. The cut immediately healed. While he was staring in disbelief, the diamond swooped around again and before he could move, opened like a pincer, surrounded him, and closed. Tony was trapped. Within a few minutes the same had happened to the other three. They stood in the middle of the hall, arms bound to their sides by the pulsating energy diamonds, and glared at Hazzard.
“You four are not as skillful as I had heard. I can’t imagine why the Captain had such trouble getting rid of you.”
“Wait, you can’t kill us!” Tony yelled.
“And why is that?”
“Because we’re here to help you.”
“Help us? You and your friends have destroyed half of the complex. You’ve already cost us millions in damage. One member of your team, a short, stocky, dark haired boy, managed to cause an explosion which has left the power plant and two garages in ruins. He is out there in a bulldozer as we speak, turning the place into one gigantic demolition derby.”
“Sammy!” Tony said joyfully under his breath.
Richard smiled at the thought of his maniacal little brother.
“That couldn’t be helped. You opened fire on us first.” Tony explained. “The reason we’re here is that we’re trying to stop a traitor from taking over Umbrella.”
“And even if I believe there is a traitor, why should I believe you are here to help?”
“Well that’s simple. You’re familiar with the old saying, ‘the devil you know . . .'”
“Sorry. I can’t very well believe that four sworn enemies of this corporation have traveled here, destroying everything in their path, to save the CEO. I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.”
“No! You don’t understand,” protested Tony. “Silas Blake is the real power behind Umbrella. For some time now he has been controlling your CEO and founder with some sort of brainwashing machine.”
Hazaard gave Tony an odd look and said nothing for a moment. Finally he spoke.
“I know.”
The four friends were speechless.
“You see, I function as a corporate lawyer. It doesn’t matter to me from whom my orders come so long as I get paid.”
“What about the goals of the Umbrella Corporation?”
“I could care less about our goals so long as the company prospers. And just between you four and myself, I prefer Silas as CEO. Under his rule Umbrella’s efficiency has quadrupled. We have sensible plans. We have direction. This means profits are up, which means my pay goes up. You think I care about the dreams of some crackpot old man? I care about money! And as such I cannot let you live. Your deaths means cash for me.”
A strange gleam had come into Hazzard’s dark eyes. He looked crazed. Eventually he shook his head, straightened his glowing tie, and steadied his gaze.
“Now, in the interests of the Umbrella Corporation, I’ve got some shredding to do.”
As he said this, four more diamonds melted out of Hazzard’s tie and levitated into the air. Hazzard raised his hands, palms up, as if shrugging, and the diamonds floated above them. These energy shapes were about the size of playing cards. With a stunningly white smile he flicked his fingers and sent the razor-edged light diamonds whirring through the air at the four friends. All four heroes simultaneously closed their eyes and gritted their teeth, expecting the worst.
The diamonds were closing in, only a few feet from the captives’ faces when suddenly they shattered, burst into tiny shards of light in quick succession. Across the conference hall, Caitlin lowered her laser rifle and smiled in satisfaction. She ran the length of the room to her friends, skidded to a halt, and lowered her weapon at Hazzard’s midriff. Cait looked to her friends on the floor, bound by energy diamonds.
“Good thing I have such impeccable aim. What would you do without me?”
“Cait! That was amazing!” Amy yelled.
“All right, Hazzy,” Cait said, turning to the burly lawyer. “Call off your diamonds.”
Hazzard glared at her, but relented, and the diamonds, apparently telepathically controlled, flickered and disappeared from around the four friends. They stood up and massaged their arms. They then took turns hugging Caitlin, who would have hugged back if she didn’t have to keep her sights trained on Hazzard. After Cait’s valiant rescue had been praised several times over, Richard was the first to get down to business.
“All right, Mr. Hazzard,” he said, folding his arms and staring menacingly at the lawyer, “I think now is the time when you take us to see the person who should be in charge of the Umbrella Corporation.”
Caitlin waved him on with her rifle, and Hazzard grudgingly led them out of the conference room through a secret passage and into the heart of the complex, a small control room filled with an array of monitors. Seated in a large chair in the center of the room was the man they had come to see.

Doctor Thaddeus Trans was dressed as impeccably as he had been the previous night. This time, however, he was in a dazzling white three-piece suit, crimson tie, with an Umbrella Corp. logo tiepin, and his trademark stained-glass shades. However, there was something out of place about the man. His smooth, effeminate face was slack. His mouth hung open, and he was not moving.
“Steve, check him out.” Tony said. “Cait, keep an eye on Hazzard.”
Steve warily approached the slumped figure in the chair. He put two fingers to the man’s throat and was silent for a moment.
“Well,” Steve said over his shoulder, “he’s not dead.” He continued examining Trans. “He appears to be catatonic.”
Steve turned around to face the group.
“I can’t explain it, but his vital signs, though constant, are minimal. He’s effectively in a coma.” Steve patted Trans limp body on the back. “At least he’s not going anywhere.”
The body suddenly slumped forward, tipping off the chair. Steve stood impassively while everyone else jumped back in shock.
“Ho, ho, ho, what’s this?” Steve asked as everyone calmed down. He stooped down to examine the back of the doctor’s head. There was a small hemispherical mechanical device embedded there. It was about the size of a golf ball and had a glowing red light at its center.
Richard turned to Hazaard.
“I take it this is how Silas has been controlling him.”
Hazaard said nothing.
“How do we fix him?”
Still Hazaard was silent.
“Caitlin,” Richard said, glancing at the hot girl holding the rifle to his right.
Caitlin nodded in understanding and lowered the weapon from Hazzard’s stomach to his groin.
Hazzard’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“You wouldn’t,” he began.
“Oh she would. She once nearly blinded me with toothpicks, and I’m a friend.”
Caitlin cocked the gun for emphasis and nodded at Richard’s words.
Hazzard gulped. “Alright. Alright. There is a de-activation switch on the left side of the device, near the base, where it connects with the skull.” He looked warily at the gun Caitlin was holding. “Now would you please point that somewhere else?”
Caitlin obliged him by fixing the barrel of the weapon between his eyes.
Richard walked over to Steve and together they studied the mechanical half-orb. Steve found the switch they were looking for and was about the release Trans from his involuntary slumber when Richard stopped him.
“Wait. Tony, give me a blade, please.”
Tony stepped forward and handed Richard a dagger. Richard, in turn, placed the knife at Trans’ throat. Steve looked at him curiously.
“When he snaps out of the coma we don’t know what state of mind he’ll be in or how dangerous he could be. Think of this as insurance.”
Steve shrugged, waited for Richard’s nod, and then flipped the switch.