Unexpected {Ejen Ali Fanfic}

Bomb Defusing

"You!" Ali exclaimed, jumping up as if his chair had suddenly caught fire.

Even if he couldn't see much, there was no mistaking the gleaming dark suit and sunglasses of Quarto.

"Surprised to see me?" Quarto smirked, advancing him casually.

His voice was horribly familiar. Though he couldn't recall where he had heard it, he was pretty sure he heard it just recently. 

"What do you want?" Ali shouted, backing away.

"Isn't it obvious?" he snarled, activating his sharp claws. "I'm the one who set the bomb. And I'm going to bring you down with me."

He slashed the air. Luckily, Ali had dodged sideways with the help of his aeroboots. Quarto growled, and took a dart from his chest and threw it at Ali. Unfortunately, Ali was too late when he realised it, and instictively held up his hand in front of him.

But a blast told him so another person had joined the fight.

He looked up curiously to see Alicia, with her blastique aimed at him. 

"Oh, the girl has come to play," Quarto cooed, going straight for Alicia with his menacing sharp claws. 

Alicia tried shooting bombs at him, but he easily slashed them to splinters as he ran. She was too slow to react when he had come to another slash at her, but luckily, at that time Ali had managed to get his yoyo's string around his wrist.

"Don't you hurt her!" Ali yelled through gritted teeth, holding onto his yoyo's string with all his might.

Once again Quarto thought better. He grabbed the string of the yoyo around his wrist and pulled hardly, forcing Ali to fall frontwards. But with a sudden clicking sound below him, Quarto too was blasted off his feet with a grunt, hit the ceiling, and crunched painfully down onto the floor.

Nose bleeding, he still got up, though he looked to be in a worse state than usual. His black sunglasses were cracked badly, looking as though one touch might as well shatter it.

"That's all you got?" he said, coughing slightly as he staggered upright.

At that moment, something buzzed in Ali's ear. 

"Hey Ali, I found the bomb! It's in that science lab with funny chemicals on the other building's fifth floor." 

Ali tried to tell Alicia without words that Moon has found the bomb, but he was finding it hard to do so without letting Quarto know it. 

"Distract him," Ali muttered quietly to her.

Alicia stared back, confused, but understood. She shot several exploding bombs at Quarto, who managed to dodge it by leaping onto tables and chairs. However, Ali used IRIS to predict his next movements. It told him that he was going to jump onto the table nearest him next, and Ali shot his yoyo exactly at the place. Quarto only realised his mistake when he had landed on the table. The yoyo blasted him against the opposite wall, and he landed in a heap on the floor, moaning in pain. 

"Ah!" a voice to his left screamed.

To his utmost horror, Alicia had been shot with one of Quarto's darts. She crumpled almost immediately, and did not move. 

"Alicia!" Ali exclaimed, bending down to shake her motionless body. He saw the black and green dart injected into her arm, and pulled it out with unnecessary force. "What have you done to her?!" he shot angrily at the stirring Quarto.

Quarto only managed a weak smile before he too went unconscious. Ali didn't even spare a thought for him, even though he could have found out his identity then. He carried Alicia bridal style and pelted a few metres to the entrance of the MATA safe house.

"Ali, where are you?" a panicky voice said in his earpiece. "We only got five minutes before the bomb blows!" 

But neither Ali didn't have time to spare either to press on his earpiece. He kept on banging angrily on the double doors of the stairs until they opened up, and dropped Alicia gently into the lift. Before he went, he gave a last glance, said, "See you later." and dashed off towards the other building as fast as he can.

As time is ticking, he instead used his aeroboots to jump from floor to floor, landing on the banisters each time. Finally he reached the fifth floor, and he stumbled onto the landing from the taller banister.

Though there were a lot of labs with funny-looking chemicals in them, he sprinted for the one he knew there were most. He nearly slammed the door off its hinges as he dashed into the lab. Moon was cowering under one of the stations at the most back.

"It's there," she pointed fearfully with a shaking finger to the front.

With the help of his aeroboots, Ali crossed the lab in two large strides. And there it was. A large complicated matter with a timer across it and many buttons and wires was sitting on the teacher's station. Ali quickly got behind it and analysed it. There were only exactly twenty four seconds for him to diffuse it. The time was ticking by quite fast too, as if someone had suddenly made time go twice its speed. Fingers shaking, mind jamming, he tried to follow the instructions IRIS gave him as cautiously as possible. He needed a pair of scissors. He quickly cast around for a pair of them, not using his aeroboots this time because he was so nervous, and sprinted hurriedly back when he found one.

Fifteen seconds.

He snapped off the first wire he had to cut. He pressed several buttons on the mini panel beneath the timer.

Ten seconds. 

His mind was going to fail him for sure. IRIS was scanning for the last thing he needed to do, but its processor was getting slower and slower, in contrast to the his level of nervousness, which were streaking sky-high.

Five seconds.

Abandoning any assistance of IRIS, he decided to take the matter into his own trembling hands. A blue or red wire should he cut?

Four. 

Red means danger. Blue usually is calm.

Three.

Fingers trembling as vigorous as ever, he went for the red one. Or is it correct?

Two.

The scissors were just going to snap off the wire when he changed his mind and went for the blue one. But the scissors slipped and it snapped the red one instead.

One.

The bomb didn't explode.

Relieved, Ali crumpled with a loud thud into an exhausted heap on the cold floor, nervously laughing himself off. Moon had even taken a peak out from under the counter to find the source of the noise.

"Ali, you did it!" Moon squealed happily as she pulled him up and into another hug.

"Nearly," Ali said weakly. "Inside-" he pointed to his chest. "-I'm already dead." And he collapsed out of tiredness.