John’s Hot Take - Part 3

John’s mind was racing. He didn’t even know where to begin with a plan. He was hurtling toward his sister and Laz, who would recognize him, and he didn’t even know where Mango was. If he left now, it’d be suspicious.

Maybe one of my skills can help, John thought. Focus, list my available skills.

<<<>>>

[Acknowledged.]

[Skill 1: Analyze (1)]

[Skill 2: Shadow Step (1)]

[Skill 3: Combat (2)]

[Skill 4: One With the Shadows (1)]

[Skill 5: Face Changer (2)]

[End of Skills.]

<<<>>>

John sucked his teeth. None of them seemed useful at the moment. Even combining Shadow Step with One With the Shadows would be useless in bright fluorescent lighting and with everyone looking dead at him. He’d be fully exposed. Face Changer was already active, but it wouldn’t hold up if Mango or Jade looked closely.

He sighed deeply.

“What’s wrong?” asked the guard riding beside him.

“Oh, nothing,” John replied. “Just kinda bummed.”

“Don’t worry about the agent,” the guard said. “We’ll get them.”

“I don’t know,” John said. “Agent Eagle is supposed to be pretty tough.”

The guard chuckled. “They all say they’re tough. But no one’s as strong as fifty of us. Besides, I’m average-sized around here, and I’m built.”

“Oh, yeah?” John asked, eyeing him. “How tall are you?”

“Six-two,” the guard said proudly.

“Huh… crazy,” John said with a small laugh. “I’m also six-two…”

“That so?”

“In fact,” said John casually, “you could probably fit my clothes.”

The guard shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

***************************************************************

The silver pod stopped in front of the command center.

John sprang out of the pod, dragging a body. “Help! Help!” he shouted.

Everyone turned to look. Jade, Laz, Mango, and multiple armed guards snapped their heads toward the sound.

John, now disguised as the guard, and the actual guard now unconscious in John’s airport air marshal uniform, dragged the limp body out of the pod.

“It’s Agent Eagle!” John yelled. “He infiltrated the base!”

“Bullshit!” Laz snapped, rushing over.

John quickly backed away from the body, and into the crowd that had formed. One of the guards knelt down and pulled a dart from the unconscious man’s neck. He handed it to Laz, who raised it to the light and squinted at the small serial number engraved on it.

“This is a CIA-brand dart alright,” Laz said.

Jade sucked her teeth. “What the hell is Agent Eagle doing here? I thought we had an understanding!”

Laz exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Even if they did send him… how the hell did he get here so fast?”

Mango scanned the scene, confused. Her eyes lingered on the unconscious guard. Then she looked over at John. Her eyes narrowed, squinting at his face. He could tell she was looking at him.

John gave her a wink and a quick smile. Her face lit up.

Then, suddenly, Mango turned toward Jade, grinning wildly. Jade saw this, and her face twisted in confusion. Mango lunged at her. She tackled Jade to the ground.

“Get off of me!” Jade screamed.

Mango punched her again and again. Jade tried to shove her off, but Mango shoved her hands out of the way. She then came down and bit her hard on the shoulder.

Two guards rushed in and yanked Mango off her.

“Come on!” Mango shouted. “Big mafia boss and you don’t know how to fight? What kind of coward can’t throw a punch?”

“Shut up!” Jade said, wiping blood off her nose and smearing it across her shirt. “I can’t believe you thought that would work.”

“I don’t know,” Mango said with a smirk. “I just really wanted to punch you. Mission accomplished.”

“Well,” Jade said, adjusting her shirt, “some people are just beyond rehabilitation.” She pointed at Mango. “Take her to the holding cell.”

As the guards began to escort Mango away, John stepped forward.

“I’ll take her!” he said.

He grabbed Mango’s arm and pulled her away from the guards.

“Come on, you!” he said.

Mango writhed and squirmed playfully, pretending to resist. “Get your hands off me!” she shouted, loud enough to sell the scene.

They then disappeared down the corridor by themselves. As soon as they turned the corner into the hallway, John glanced behind them to make sure nobody was following. He looked at Mango.

“You really wanted to hit her that badly?” John asked.

Mango grabbed him and pulled him into a deep kiss. “I can't believe you're here,” she said. “I knew it! I knew they couldn’t stop you.”

“Yeah, well, they tried.”

Mango pulled the ring containing the codes from her pocket and held it up. “Yes, they did,” she said with a grin. “And now… they’ll fail.”

“Let’s get out of here. We can deal with Jade later.”

“Jade already has control of the satellite. If we don’t destroy the command center or at least change the codes, she’ll keep it.”

“Right now,” John said, “my only priority is getting you somewhere safe.”

“I can take care of myself. We need to finish this.”

“As true as that is, I’d still like to make a plan. Somewhere private…”

Suddenly, Jade appeared at the far end of the hallway. She then pointed at them when she saw them. “HEY!” she shouted.

They both snapped their heads around.

“Stop her!” Jade screamed, pointing directly at Mango. “She took the ring!”

John and Mango glanced at each other for a second and then ran.

“HEY!” Jade screamed again as her guards gave chase.

A silver pod zipped past them along the railing.

John pulled out his gun and fired two clean shots through the pod’s windshield. The guards slumped forward. John and Mango jumped onto the side of the pod as it sped down the curve into another hallway.

John could hear Jade and the guards yelling behind them, their footsteps echoing in the cave-like hallway.

“Okay,” said John. “Now I’m open to that brilliant plan you mentioned.”

“I don’t know!” Mango shouted. “Didn’t you have one when you came in here?”

“Yeah, but it’s already gone to hell.”

Suddenly, the pod came to a dead stop. Mango pounded on the control panel. “What’s wrong with this thing?”

“Jade probably overrode everything.”

“Get off!”

They both jumped out and bolted through the nearest door. They then found themselves on a narrow catwalk.

Intense heat hit them like a wave as soon as they opened the door. They shielded their eyes from the intensity and looked down. A large river of lava flowed beneath them.

“So I guess this really is an active volcano,” John said.

“Yeah,” said Mango. “Your insane sister is using it not only to power the base but for her other twisted experiments.”

“We need to move now.”

They sprinted across the catwalk. On the other side, they went through the door and found themselves in a massive plane hangar.

“Come on!” said John.

Before they could move forward, Jade’s guards came in through the opposite entrance. As soon as they saw them, they aimed their guns.

“Get down!” John shouted.

They opened fire, and bullets started flying everywhere, ricocheting off metal and pinging through the catwalk’s grating.

John and Mango dove for cover. John pulled out a spare handgun and tossed it to Mango. She cocked it, and they went to work. As they returned fire, more guards rushed in. Workers and loaders scattered, ducked behind planes and crates.

Jade’s voice cut through the gunfire. “Don’t put a hole in any of my planes, you idiots!”

John grabbed Mango’s hand, and they sprinted toward the exit door of the hangar that he had come in through earlier.

“Where the hell are we going?” Mango asked.

“It’s not about where we’re going,” John said. “It’s about where you’re going!”

“What?”

John removed his grapple belt and strapped it around her waist. “Just like last time,” he said. “But this time, don’t do anything stupid.”

He pulled her toward the runway and pulled a lever on the wall. With a mechanical groan, the massive hangar doors began to open.

“How did you know where that was?” Mango asked.

“I used my Analyze skill to figure out the layout. Go. Get out of here.”

He handed her his earpiece. “Contact Noreen. She’ll make another pass to extract you. Use the grapple belt to latch onto the mountain, and if anyone can pick you up mid-air, it’s her. Just latch onto the plane when she flies by.”

“What about you?”

“It’s not about me. It’s about saving the world. Go!”

“I’m not leaving without you!”

John pulled her into a deep kiss. “I’ll always be there.”

“What about our happy ending? What about the beach?”

“Save a martini for me,” John said. “These past few weeks... they’ve been the happiest of my life.”

Shouts echoed from behind as Jade and her guards were closing in.

“Go!” John said.

With tears in her eyes, Mango turned and sprinted toward the open hangar doors.

Just as Jade and her guards came around the corner, John opened fire. Bullets rang off the wall as Jade and her men ducked for cover. They started shooting at them again from a distance. The hangar door began closing again.

John ducked into a crevice and returned fire, holding them back as long as he could. But they fired back relentlessly. He popped out to shoot.

POW!

A bullet tore into his arm.

“Now!” Jade said.

Mango looked back for a moment, just in time to see John get tackled. With tears in her eyes, kept going. Kept running. Her guards quickly rushed forward and overwhelmed him. John tried to fight back, but the pain in both arms now was too much. They pinned him to the ground. Jade stepped forward, her face twisted in rage.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked. “Bring him here.”

The guards dragged John to her. She looked closely at his face.

“No way…” she whispered.

She reached out and tore off the face-changing putty, revealing John’s real face beneath.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “John?! Are you serious?”

She turned to look at the hangar door, but it was nearly closed.

“No!” she screamed and sprinted toward it. At the last moment, she saw Mango’s shadow leap through the small remaining opening.

BOOM!

The hangar door slammed shut. Jade screamed in frustration, stomped her foot and pulled at her hair. She was livid!

“No, no, no, no!” she shrieked. “How in the hell did this happen? I thought of everything!”

She turned to John, her eyes burning with fury.

“You.”

John, despite the pain, grew a wide grin.

“What?” he said. “I am your younger brother. It’s my job to ruin your plans. I guess this means you’re not gonna show me around?”