Kaze: Rebels

The Wrench

I charged forward into the energy room and found something I hadn't expected. I stood there in stunned silence. Jackson and Seth grappled for my reply.

"Finch-5! Snipe! Come in!" Seth shouted.

"First of all, don't call me Snipe. It makes me feel like I'm forgetting something important. Second, Raccoon-1, how much of a wrench in the plan are you able to accommodate at the current moment? You and Dog-2 doin' okay?"

"What's wrong? What did you do?"

"Nothing! God, trust me for once!"

"Talk to me Finch-5! What's wrong?" Seth asked.

"Project Wind is two people."

"Okay, that's not too...WHAT?!" Jackson screamed.

"We can handle this! We can work with this if we all act calm, Raccoon-1. Alright, Finch-5. What shape are they in? Are they trapped?" Lily shouted over her partner's panicked babbling.

They were two boys. They both looked exhausted, like they had both been up for several days and nights in a row. Despite this, they looked a little younger than me. One had silvery-gray hair, one had dark, almost black hair, and they both wore dirty, wrinkled, old-fashioned clothes. They had their arms pinned behind their backs by a clamp attached to a machine. That must be the machine that's draining their life energy. Their arms and legs were tied together and their mouths were gagged. I could tell right away that they were knocked completely out. I ran up and pressed the release switch on the trap. The boys woke up and fell to the floor with a pained gasp.

They inch-wormed backwards a bit to get a better look at me. They were trying to size me up. Just as I was about to kneel down to talk to the boys, a metallic weight wrapped around my stomach. It jerked me back to the wall. I kicked against the wall behind me, but no luck. I tried to pry the trap apart, nothing. I punched the metal and, to my credit, I left a dent. But still the stupid thing clung to me, suffocating me.

"My, my! I'm hoping you enjoyed your little frolic through my facilities!"

"Oh boy, the man of the hour finally arrives!" I shouted. "Where have you been, Doctor? We missed you at this little pow-wow!"

Doctor Xebic rounded the corner and grinned at me. I. Hated. Him. His oh-so-benevolent grin, his innocent-enough lab coat, it was all a lie that I can't believe I fell for at one point. He was truly despicable. Every day I worked for him, I hated him more. He hired me to take Jackson, Lily, and Seth out for him, but tensions exploded once I found out about this whole plan. Since then, I've been keeping an eye on apparently only one of the boys. Oops. Regardless, I've been thinking and planning on how to help him out. And now there are two boys? This little find makes things very, very interesting.

"Don't worry," I said to the boys. One of them had undeniable fear in his gray eyes, the other fiery defiance. They don't know if they can trust you. I figured. I know the feeling. "Trust me. I don't really have a plan, and this looks kinda bad right now. But I promise I'll get you outta here...even if I have die in the process."