Episode 090

                "Extinction to all traitors."
                                Megatron, Transformers

                The metal disk on the wall slid apart as the steel tube ended right at it's landing. Aaron came flying out of the tube, and was shot nearly halfway across the room onto a trampoline in the middle of a closed-off exercise room.

                The Clan head landed roughly, skidding across the rough nylon mesh as he landed. He stoppd in the middle of the trampoline and lay there, gasping for breath. The left side of his face was badly scratched from the landing, while his pressed, gray suit was shredded.

                With some effort, the Clan head sat up, his entire upper body swaying as he fought dizziness. He grabbed his face and tried to breath clearly, but it wasn't happening. He rushed to the side of the trampoline and lunged over it as his stomach turned inside out.

                He hung over the side for a moment, his eyes half opened as he struggled to stay conscious. "Remind me . . ." He mumbled to himself. "To have them straighten that damn thing out." He said, pointing at the now-closed disc. He chuckled to himself, making him shake badly.

                Slightly recovering coherence, Aaron looked around the room, finally aqauinting himself with where he had ended up. Seven discs all lined the walls of the white room filled with archaic exercise equipment. Like a storage room of old fads, the exercise room seemed strangely ominous in the nighttime darkness. Only the bright 'Exit' sign in it's haunting red was the only source of light.

                Aaron sat up again with some trouble and swung his legs off the side of the trampoline. Careful of where he landed, he stood up, balancing himself on the aluminum frame. He took a few quick breaths to try and steady himself, then he pushed off fromt he trampoline.

                "Let's make an emergency escape slide." He mumbled to himself as he stalked through the shadowy room. "We'll make it circle around at every floor to keep from building up too much speed." Aaron shook his head. "Alexander, you were an idiot."

                Aaron finally came to the wall and he began to follow it up to the door. He kept going. It was only a few more dark-clad steps before he found the simple, ancient-looking computer. He looked around quickly, then turned the thing on with the flip of a thick, antiquated switch. It took it a second to activate, but a green, blinking cursor appeared.

                "Aaron." The Clan head said clearly, outloud to the screen. "Activate emergency protocals Nine-Seven-Five-Three-One." The green and black screen went blank for a moment, then the cursor appeared again. "Security code Eight-Omega-Seven-Alpha."

                The screen went blank again, then a long list of files appeared. Aaron looked around the room again, then he pulled up a padless weight-lifting bench and he began to type away at the antiquated keyboard.

                Files began to disappear.

                "Crawford's a bimbo." Ledger said, as he and Roland strolled along in the dark night. Both were dressed in their regular clothes now, rather than the black and red of usual. Ledger had on jeans and a simple blue body shirt on, while Roland followed in front of him in tan slacks and a black shirt that pronunced loudly in white letters 'Bomb Squad: If you see me running, try to keep up'.

                "Cindy Crawford is not a bimbo." Roland defended as the two made their way through the crowd of sleeping cars at the late-night univeristy park and ride. In the electric glow of the giant outlet store, the cars for the univeristy transit system made up over three-fourths of the parking lot's population. "She's smart. And she can act. Did you see that movie she was in?"

                "Being in a movie doesn't mean you can act." Ledger argued, looking around. "Where's your car, man?"

                "I don't know." Roland laughed. He fished through his pocket and pulled out his keys. He held the remote switch out and pressed the button. There was a loud beep, followed by an engine coming to life. He looked at the keys, then grinned to Ledger. "Thanks again for this, man."

                "I gave that to you for your birthday like two years ago." Ledger said, looking at Roland with concern.

                "That doesn't mean I can't thank you for it." Roland said, heading towards his car. He got within five feet of it.

                The two knights felt the explosion before they heard it. The fiery air picked them up off their feet and lifted them into the air. They both looked at the remains of the car as it flew past them, it's flames reaching up into the sky and licking at their faces.

                It wasn't until the two had landed that they heard the explosion.

                Aaron typed away as fast as he could. Entire libraries of files disappeared, but not quickly enough. Without warning, the room exploded in light as the over-head lamps came to life in blinding, halogen fury. Aaron's head whirled around as the doors on the far side of the exercise room began to burst open.

                "Initiate Protocal Omega-Theta-Alpha!" Aaron screamed as he got up from the computer. As soon as he was on his feet, he heard the flashes. Two steps was when the first one appeared. The screen cracked, then a burst of sparks and light shot out from the monitor. And beneath the ancient system, the towered platform sparked and exploded as entire discs burst under pressure.

                Aaron rushed for the nearest entrance even as the doors opened. Aaron's mind froze. For a brief instant, his thoughts returned to the gun that lay on the top of his desk.

                Two Hand agents turned as they came inside, but Aaron already had his hand inside his jacket. He pulled out a black pistol and stepped forward. The nearer of the two agents turned to find the pistol in his face. "Back!" Aaron yelled, jamming the pistol forward, nearly stabbing the man with it. The farther agent froze, uncertain of what to do. He looked at his cohort, but the man simply stared at the gun.

                "Don't make me do something you'll regret." Aaron promised with a motion of his gun. "Back through the door and I'll be out of your way."

                "I can't allow that to happen, sir." The first agent said. "And you may kill me. But he'll get you." The glance back to the second agent made Aaron swallow hard. He looked between the two for just a second, then smiled. He dropped the gun just a few inches, then pulled the trigger. The explosion of force made Aaron jump back to brace himself, but the bullet tore through the man's arm, blood spraying out behind him.

                The second agent, disorientated by the shot, didn't even have time to think before Aaron pistol-whipped him with the base of the gun. The two agents fell, giving Aaron the opprotunity he needed. He jumped over the fallen agents and rushed out into the hall.

                In the late hour, the Solaritec basement was hauntingly empty. Once again accompanied by the flashing red lights and the hypnotic screech of the warning sirens, Aaron ran through the halls, his back-up gun held ready, but with the barrel pointed towards the ground.

                He heard footsteps up ahead. He stopped running and froze. He glanced around the hallway, seeing little to hide behind. The footsteps drew closer. He looked up at the concrete ceiling, then over at the handful of doors farther down the hallway. The footsteps were too close.

                Aaron moved to the curve in the sweeping hallway and braced himself against the wall. The rough concrete comforted him cynically as he steadied himself. He glanced back behind him for just a moment, then steadied the gun.

The first agent came around the bend.

                Aaron pulled the trigger once.

The agent was pushed back a step, his giant muscles bulging as his chest was nearly instantly covered in blood, just like the front of the man behind him. Two men fell.

                Aaron pulled the trigger again.

More fell.

The blood splattered out onto the floor, quickly rushing along the marble surface so that the circular hallway looked like the spilled artieries inside the fallen agents. The bodies fell over, slumped against the wall as the echo of the gunshots still filled the air.

                "We have the aides." Said the Hand agent, reporting to Phillip outside in the parking deck of the Solaritec corporation. "Errol, Ian, and Orson are all under our control."

                "And Aaron?" The Hand leader asked, as he stared stoically up at the giant building. "Has he been apprehended yet?"

                "No sir." The aid said with his thick neck holding his head high. "We've got him cornered in the basement, though. It's only a matter of time."

                "What's the hold up?" Phillip demanded, finally turning to glare at the man. "My patience is growing thin. Why don't we have him now?"

                "He has a gun, sir." The man said with a touch of embarassment.

                "And you don't?" Phillip shouted.

                "Jericho insisted that . . ." The man started.

                Phillip reached up, grabbing the thick man by the collar. Phillip's artificial muscles bulged as he yanked the man onto his toes. The move was so sudden that Phillip's thick arms tore through his suit jacket, ripping the fabric like it wasn't there.

                "I AM NOT JERICHO!" Phillip yelled, shoving the man away from him with the force of a battering ram. The man landed on the ground and skidded a few inches. "Now! Get in there and get me Aaron alive! You have three minutes or else each and every one of these men around you now will wish mercy for you when I'm done!"