Trixie
I tried to stretch my legs out, accidently kicking Speed in the process.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, sounding slightly annoyed. I could understand. We'd
been in this car boot for several hours.
Neither of us knew why, actually. Speed had taken me for a drive in the Mach
Five, but suddenly, our path was cut off by some men in a long, black car.
It literally reeked of suspicion. Speed glanced quickly in the rearview, as
did I. There was another car behind us.
"Trixie, get down!" Speed exclaimed, putting the deflector up. I complied,
and was kind of shoved against the door as Speed pulled off the road. About
ten seconds later the car stopped, after several bangs - they'd shot our
tyres out. (note: is it tires, or tyres? In NZ we spell it tyres (I think)
but...) Speed joined me on the floor, until we heard a kind of hissing.
Suddenly, it got awfully hot in the car. Beside me, Speed gasped.
"They're using fire on the Mach Five!"
Of course, anything happening to the Mach Five, clouds Speed's better
judgement. He jumped up and flung open the door, ready for a fight. I
cringed as I heard the sounds of his fight. Pretty one-sided, too. Behind
me, my door was quickly opened, and I fell out - I'd been leaning on the
door, without realising. I found myself lying on my back, with my legs still
in the car. The sky was pretty blue, I noticed.
Rough hands grabbed me, and pulled me around the other side of the car.
"Ohh, Speed!" I exclaimed, looking at him lying unconcious on the ground. I
considered taking our captors on by myself, but changed my mind after
looking at how tall and muscled all three were. Not the best plan, I decided.
They knocked me out, I guess. I don't really remember that part. But when I
next came concious, I was in the trunk of the car, with Speed. My hands were
tied behind my back, and my ankles together. It was awfully cramped - I
guess the trunk wasn't built for two late-teenagers.
One part of my mind was wondering if anyone back at home had noticed the two
of us were gone. More likely, they noticed the Mach Five was missing.
'Missing - two teenagers and one race car. $500 reward for the car..' I let
out a half-giggle at that thought.
"What could possibly be funny?" Speed asked me. I didn't feel like
explaining, so I ignored that. Strangely enough, at that time, the car
stopped moving. Abruptly. I slid into Speed, who in turn slid into the back
wall of the trunk. He half-groaned.
Suddenly, sunlight poured in. I blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the
light.
The guy standing there reached in and pulled me out. I let out a slight cry
of pain - weak, I know, but it really did hurt.
"Trixie!" Speed exclaimed. I nodded, to show that I was okay. Speed turned
his attentions on the guy who'd pulled me out.
"Don't you dare touch or hurt her again, or I'll.." Speed faded off, and the
second guy, who had appeared beside his partner, reached in to get Speed out.
I looked around us, but couldn't see anything familiar.
"Where are we?" I wondered out loud. There was no answer. I couldn't see the
second car, either. Strange. Inwardly, I wondered what had happened to it.
"Kid," the guy holding Speed began - simeultaneously trying to get him to
co-operate and walk, "it'd be a whole lot more healthy for you and your
girlfriend here if you'd just walk with me. Okay?" He yanked Speed up by the
wrists, so he was standing completely upright.
"Same goes for you" hissed the guy holding me. I nodded silently.
The two 'walked' us over to a small cabin, with no windows on the two sides
I could see. They shoved the two of us inside. I guess I'm lighter than
Speed, 'cause I hit the back wall. Speed managed to get his feet underneath
him, and stay up. They slammed the door, and I heard the click of a lock
being, well..locked.
"It's only temporary" one of them shouted through the door. About a minute
later, we heard the sound of the car leaving. Silence was all that was left...
Speed
"Ugh..." I gasped, breaking the silence that followed our captors’ departure.
Thanks to the colossal whack I had taken during the roadside brawl earlier, I
had my own personal little planetarium show going on behind my eyelids right
now. When the two Black Suits had escorted us into our prison, I was
determined not to give them the satisfaction of watching me tumble head over
end. Trixie hadn’t fared as well -- the creeps had shoved her so hard that
she banged against the far wall of the cabin and collapsed on her side!
"Are you alright?" I asked softly.
She looked up and gave me a small, brave smile. I was distressed to see a rose-colored blotch spreading across the side of her face that had hit the wall. Grasping her hands, I pulled her up into a sitting position beside me. In the cool gloom we rested our backs against the wall and surveyed our cell. It was a featureless wooden box -- no windows, no furniture, and no conveniences. The only light was that which filtered through the slats that formed the sides of the cabin, and it was fading.
Trixie was gingerly massaging her cheek with the back of her hands. "What a bunch of cavemen!" she huffed. She had discovered the bruise and wasn’t too thrilled with it. "I mean, just look at this place. Not even a convenient chair to loosen our ropes on."
"I guess we’ll have to just rely on our natural-born talents." Nudging her away from the wall, I quickly scooted around and pressed my back against hers.
Trixie nodded in comprehension and instantly set to work untying me. Every now and then I would glance back and see her green eyes flashing in fierce concentration. Little by little her slender fingers coaxed the knots out their twists and turns, until...
"Got it!" Trixie announced. Two sharp snaps of my arms, and the ropes dropped to the floor. As soon as I had freed her she winced and gripped her wrists where the cords had started to chafe the skin raw. My gloves had protected me from that, although the tips of my fingers throbbed from lack of circulation. But the simple fact that we were no longer bound had re-energized us both.
"Speed, what do you think they were planning to do with us?" Trixie mused.
"I don’t know," I frowned. "But you can bet I intend to find out, once we’ve busted out of here and --"
"-- And found the Mach Five?" she completed. If it weren’t for the gravity of the situation, I could almost swear she was giggling.
Rubbing the stiffness from our limbs, we stood before the door. The single padlock Hood One and Hood Two had clapped on looked pretty new, I had noticed. But an experimental push proved more promising than expected -- I could feel the surface of the door buckle slightly. I took a deep breath, backed up a few steps, and then launched myself forward.
"Ugh!" I gasped as I rebounded backwards. Deja vu. Trixie managed to get behind me and prop me up with her body before my knees crumpled. Gritting my teeth, I resolutely propelled myself back towards the door again. The iron- handed karate chop that the Black Suits had given me on the back of my neck sure wasn’t helping, though. Each blow sent a fresh red line of pain across my vision. By the time the hinges had started to separate from the doorjamb, it felt like the nerves between my shoulder and forehead had been directly connected to each other with barbed wire.
"The thirteenth time’s the charm!" I panted in half-prayer, and braced myself for another bone-jarring thud. There was a resentful *crack*, then the door slowly toppled forward and hit the ground in a cloud of red dirt. With a sigh of relief, we wearily stepped out of our prison...
...And into the middle of nowhere.
Sparse forest virtually surrounded us as far the eye could see. The Mach Five was nowhere to be found, and the only tire tracks that marked the dusty clearing in which the cabin squatted were the ones belonging to the hoods’ vehicle. Well, what did I expect? I sighed and ran a hand through my damp hair in exhaustion. Had the family started to worry about us yet, I wondered? An awful thought struck me. We hadn’t even checked the Mach Five’s trunk before we set out on our drive...
"What now, Kemosabe?" I blinked and found Trixie standing nearly nose to nose with me, her eyes widened in humorously exaggerated expectation.
If there’s one thing Trixie’s good at, it’s puncturing my self-absorption before it threatens to suck in everyone else. Jerking a thumb over my shoulder, I gave her my best 'let’s-blow-this-popstand' grin.
"We start walking. Do you have a favorite star?" I squinted up at the twilight sky, trying to fix our location.
She put her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "Wouldn’t it just be smarter to follow the tire tracks out of here?" she asked.
"Yeah," I retorted, "and weren’t you complaining about how I have no sense of romance?"
We started down the path at a brisk pace, keeping close to the side. I kept my head down, trying not to let slip my concern to Trixie. But the possibility that Spritle and Chim Chim were mixed up in the same mess as we were had opened the floodgates to an icy torrent of anxiety. It was all I could do to block out the mental picture of Pops’ reaction once he learned that the Mach Five had been stolen. The last thing he needed right now was a heart attack.
But... if the car was all they wanted, why didn’t they just take it and abandon us in a ditch somewhere? It didn’t make sense. The number of times that the Mach Five had been the target of industrial thieves was disturbingly high, but getting kidnapped along with the car was a definite first. I shook my head in irritation, unable to focus. Something was grating on the edge of my consciousness...
I abruptly halted and waved short Trixie’s question. "Do you hear that?" I whispered.
She cocked her head for a moment; then her eyes widened in horrified recognition. The Black Suits in their Black Sedan were returning at breakneck speed. And this time, they had brought reinforcements.
"Run!" I hissed. Grabbing her by the hand, I dragged her away from the path and into the woods. Seconds later, we heard two vehicles rocket past behind us, then perform a screeching turn. In spite of my pounding heart, I had to laugh. There was no way they could follow us without ending up kissing elm bark.
A few minutes later, a faint metallic keening interrupted our stride. It was just barely perceptible over the ambient woodland sounds, but definitely building in intensity. Before we even had time to turn our heads, a series of sharp noises ripped through the cool evening air, followed by the *whoosh* of something very large and very heavy plummeting towards the forest floor.
BOOM! This time we did crane our heads around for a look, and were shocked to see a narrow path through the growth gaping towards us. Trees were pouring down on either side of the cut like the waters of the Red Sea parting.
Lungs aching, Trixie and I renewed our running. At last, we burst out of the woods and into a large, grassy clearing. We were now completely exposed.
"I have to rest," Trixie groaned.
"Not here, we can’t!" I gulped, forcing my stomach back down my dry throat. But the combination of fatigue and the injuries we had suffered had effectively paralyzed us.
Behind us, the shrill whine and the crashing had been drowned out by the unmistakable roar of a forged aluminum/titanium turbine engine maxing out at 60,000 rpm’s. There was no need to look back now. We knew exactly what was coming.
With a deafening scream, something exploded out of the woods, sending a fine rain of leaves down on us. Legs cemented to the ground, we sagged as the last of the twilight was blotted out by a huge shadow soaring above our heads. A split second later, the object alighted less than ten yards in front of us like a jungle cat cornering its prey.
And there Trixie and I dumbly stood, pinned under the infrared Evening Eye of my own Mach Five.
Trixie
"Speed!!!" I exclaimed, appealing to him for help. Speed looked back at me
helplessly. Neither of us could do anything. One of the men got out of the
Mach Five, leaving the other in there. Cutting off the option of stealing
the Mach Five right back. I gave Speed a sidelong look, but I could see he
was automatically scanning the car for damage. Typical..!
The first guy stood in front of us.
"What the hell made you two think you could get away??"
I kept my mouth shut, as did Speed. I think the overgrown Ken doll had
picked me as the weaker of the two, because he shoved me, and hard.
I fell on the ground behind me, which was fairly well covered in sharp rocks.
Involuntarily, I gasped with the sudden pain. Speed looked at me, wide-eyed,
then turned back.
"Hey, buster, don't you dare hurt her again, or I'll..."
Speed was cut off by a whack across the head, punctuated by laughter.
"Oooh, I'm shakin' in my shoes" the guy said, with a heavy sarcastic inflection.
Speed wavered around for a bit, before regaining his balance.
I stood up, rubbing the back of my head, which had hit the ground.
As my vision cleared, I saw the trunk lid of the Mach Five raise a little,
then abruptly shut again.
I saw Speed's head snap towards it as well, and he gave me a look out of the
corner of his eye. We both knew what the implications of that happening were.
The guy turned around, an annoyed look on his face. I turned around, to see
the black sedan, which had snuck up behind us. I don't know how I didn't
notice the engine. Three guys got out of that one.
Gosh, I thought, why is this so important? Racing aside, Speed and I aren't
worth all this trouble..even the Mach Five isn't! They must know something,
about someone, that we don't...
The thugs from the sedan grabbed us, and forced us back into the trunk.
Speed attempted some lame joke about needing better accomodations, but as an
answer, the lid slammed shut. I groaned.
"Well, we haven't gotten very far, Speed.." I pointed out. He also groaned,
and lay his head on my feet. I felt the car start up, and pull away. We
could both hear the familiar engine of the Mach Five behind us, following
close.
"Where do you think they're taking us, Speed?" I asked. Even in the dark, I
could literally hear Speed's shrug.
We stayed that way for what seemed like several hours, but what I guess was
only more like half an hour.
---time skip---
The car pulled to an abrupt stop, and behind us, the Mach Five's engine cut
out. One of the black suits came around and yanked open the lid of the
trunk. I gasped for air - the oxygen in the trunk left something to be desired.
He reached in to get me out, but I wasn't that stupid.
"No thanks" I told him, and climbed out myself. Intent on making a run for
the Mach Five, I quickly changed my mind when one of the guy's colleagues
grabbed my arm.
I watched as Speed also got out of the trunk, and noted the various injuries
to his head. Speed only looked half concious.
Before someone could grab him, Speed stole my idea and made a break for it.
He dashed across the few feet that lay between the two cars, and vaulted
over the doortop. Unfortunately, he underestimated the thugs' RTs. One moved
quickly, and jammed the butt of his gun into Speed's head. I hadn't even
noticed him holding the gun. Speed let out a half-whimper, and collapsed again.
I sprang forward, wanting to see if he was okay, but was quickly yanked back.
"Don't" the man holding me stated. His grip never faltered, more like
tightened. I winced.
Then I felt the cool metal as he slapped handcuffs on me! I found myself
wondering again why they were taking every precaution with us. It was weird
- I mean, why were they? Why bother?
I watched, hands behind back, as Speed was picked up and thrown onto the
ground roughly. The guy punctuated it with a kick to the back.
"Stop it!" I exclaimed. "Just let him be.."
The one holding my ropes yanked me around.
"Don't try to be brave, Trixie" he said in a low voice, and for an instant,
I saw his eyes. Familiar eyes..
I felt like I knew those eyes. Knew them well, from sometime when I first met Speed, and the rest of the Racer clan. But whose were they? I also knew the voice. Finding out who was going to drive me insane..
The eyes were bright blue, and reminded me of Speed's. In fact, if Speed
wasn't lying, just regaining conciousness, on the ground, my best guess
would be that it was him. The guy turned me back around again, and I watched
Speed, who sat slowly up, one hand to his head.
"Ohh, Spritle, not tonight, I have a headache" (note: sorry, had to put
that! Alex (may-b best friend) said that the other day, imitating Speed..)
I let out a nervous giggle, and Speed focussed his eyes.
"That's right" he mumbled. I guess he'd forgotten about our situation..
Speed