Everything Changes

Rescue Mission

After a day or so of driving, Ernesto and Serena had made it to the capital. They drove up to the large iron gates to pass through security. They were lucky; the motorcycle crash helmets had been left in the car could used to hide their identity. Couple that on top of their royal purple arm bands, bounty hunter leather jackets and car, there was no way they would be denied entry or their identity discovered.

"Bounty Hunters for Queen Kylie." Ernesto informed the guard, and the gates were promptly opened for them to drive through.

They parked up, not saying a word to each other, not wanting to arouse suspicion. They had to look like they meant business. They walked up the steep concrete stairs to the main entrance of the building, heavily guarded by troopers. One moved to stand in their way, forbidding their entry.

"Helmets off." He commanded.

"How about you explain to Queen Kylie why you're stopping royal Bounty Hunters with purple arm bands from doing their duty." Ernesto threatened. "Now open the door."

He could see that the trooper was debating what to do, but the wrath of their Queen seemed to scare him the most. "Never mind, in you both go."

They entered the building. Royal banners adorned the hallways with Kylie's signature 'K'. Her portraits hung along the walls, a reminder that she is always watching. Their shoes tapped along the white marble floors; there would be no sneaking about in this building.

Serena began to take her helmet off.

"Can't we keep them on?" Ernesto asked, fearful of them being recognised.

"Not indoors, it will look suspicious." She replied, watching as he removed his helmet too.

"Ok, well let's get to Oryan before they get to us."

Serena led the way, remembering some of the corridors from her time locked up. She took them down a metal staircase.

"This is where the cells used to be." She whispered to him.

"BOUNTY HUNTERS. Report to the throne room immediately, by royal command." Started to be repeated on the overhead speakers and projected onto the various TVs on the walls.

"We need to think of something fast if we're going to get to Oryan without being spotted." Serena said.

They'd already had a failed rescue mission to the capital to try and rescue Oryan. Their cover had been blown and they had only managed to escape in time with the help of Ernesto's teen dad, Rat. He was the leader of the Resistance. This time, however, they had no one on the outside there to save them if something went wrong, and neither of them could face returning to the Sparticles without Oryan again.

Two builders walked past, catching their attention. Ernesto looked at Serena and Serena looked back - they both had the same idea. They followed them around a corner before ambushing them with the frequency gun they had found in the jeep. They quickly changed into their new disguises.

"Jackpot!" Ernesto exclaimed as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a lollipop. He hadn't had one of those since, well, he couldn't remember when. Must have been before the disappearance. Luxuries like sweets were hard to come by.

"You're going to be a dad soon." Serena reminded him. "Maybe it's time to leave the lollipops behind. It's a bit childish."

"I am not childish!" He moaned. "I bet you just want this lollipop all for yourself."

A cackle started to echo down the corridor. It was Queen Kylie!

"Piggy back, piggy back!" She sung as her brother, Erimon, carried her down the corridor on her back.

Serena glanced at Ernesto before they both put their heads down, hoping they wouldn't be recognised. Kylie had a tendency to only care about herself, so hopefully it wouldn't be hard.

"FASTER!" She screamed at her brother.

"I need to stop." He said, breathless.

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO!"

They watched as he dropped her from his back. "Kylie, I am your brother. Not your donkey!"

"I am your Queen!"

"And who helped you to become Queen? Muggins here! And you know what? I wish I hadn't."

Serena and Ernesto took the chance to walk past Kylie in the opposite direction. 

"Well, it looks like all is not well within the royal household." Ernesto scoffed.

**********

They walked down endless corridors, rattling door handles to try and find any they could get into. Most were locked, but no one seemed to be questioning them.

"See, if you wear a hard hat and carry a spanner, you're invisible." Serena said as she tried to open a door. It was locked.

"This will be a textbook rescue." Ernesto smiled smugly.

He jiggled another door handle and the door opened. Bingo! They walked in, only to be met by Queen Kylie. She stood in front of a 3D map with plastic figurines.

"Idiot!" Serena muttered under her breath.

They stood as still as they could, scared that even breathing funny could get them beheaded. Kylie looked straight at them, their cover had surely been blown.

"You!" The Queen pointed towards Ernesto. "I need you to fix my battle board. Somebody broke it."

The pair stood there for a moment, stunned into silence. Had she really not recognised them? Not 6 months ago had Serena been in the jail of this evil woman, and now she didn't even know who she was.

"Well yes, yes. Of course your royal Queeniness. We will have it tip top in ship shape quicker than a whippet down the dog track." Ernesto spoke in his fake cockney accent, making his way to the battle board with Serena in tow.

Kylie threw a plastic bolder at him before taking her place on her thrown, no longer paying attention to the pair.

"Whats with the accent?" Serena whispered as she looked over the map.

"It's because we're builders!" He replied, inspecting the broken piece.

She passed him the glue from her tool belt. "Not every builder in the world is a cockney!"

"I can't believe she didn't recognise us." He said as he finished gluing it down.

Kylie started to approach them, staring intensely at the map. "I know where those witch children are going, but not when." She spoke aloud.

Serena's head snapped in her direction, following her eye line. There on the map was the same map they had, same points mapped out, same locations.

"She's got the 7 places!" She whispered to Ernesto as they knelt on the floor.

"Her map is even better than ours!"

"She can't know about the commit, or she'll know about the timing."

Kylie's booming voice brought their attention back to her. "Where are my bounty hunters? I told them to report straight to me. Send out a search party!"

"We need to get out of here." Ernesto warned his partner.

The pair got up from the floor, bowing to their Queen.

"All done, your Maj." Serena informed her, with an equally fake cockney accent.

They walked out the large double doors back to the corridor, breathing a sigh of relief.

Ernesto laughed at her. "You did a cockney accent!"

"I couldn't help it!"