Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XV

"Hold up. How come you three get to go on the ship, yet none of us can?" Mia complains.

I roll my eyes and sigh. "Mia, I just want the three of us to check things out first. If the situation becomes dire enough to where we need backup, we'll call you guys first chance we get."

Mia shakes her head and mumbles, "Whatever." I look at Sam and Heath and they both give me okay-hand signs. Then we lift off the ground and travel along the grappling hook until we reach the guardrails. The three of us pull ourselves over the railing and begin looking around.

Unlike a typical cruise ship, there's no pool, hardly any chairs or tables set out on the deck, and no sign of people anywhere. We each pull out a gun and begin making our way lower and lower in the ship, figuring that if the kidnappers are hiding out here, they're most likely going to be below deck.

Eventually, we pass by some storage room near the bottom of the ship, and it's here when we hear what sounds like a girl crying. I look at Sam and Heath, and all three of us nod. We all pull our guns out, and Heath kicks open the door, yelling, "FREEZE!"

The only person present in the room is a girl tied to the wall across from us. I immediately recognize her as the girl that was kidnapped at Avery's second dance competition.

"Zoey, correct?" Sam asks. The girl nods slowly and whimpers.

"Alright, let's get you out of here," I say softly as the three of us walk over to Zoey. She shrinks back (or tries to) as we get closer to her.

"Calm down. We're not going to hurt you," Heath sooths as he and I begin untying Zoey's ropes. We have her arms freed and are working on her legs, and then a voice from afar yells, "HEY!"

Music: A Fighter from Nemesis '94

Sam and Heath turn their attention to the doorway, and I pull out a knife and slice the rest of Zoey's ropes open. Two men appear in the doorway, both armed. Sam and Heath shoot them without even giving them a chance.

"Let's get you out of here," I tell Zoey. Heath and I pick her up and begin carrying her while Sam runs ahead. Upon exiting the room, men start trailing down the stairs. None of them last very long after running into us. Zoey's squirming the entire time, which is leading me to believe that even though we're rescuing her, she's still uncomfortable around us for some reason.

We run into a bit of a problem when we make our way back to the guardrail. The hovercraft has to be at least a couple dozen feet below us, and I can't reuse the grappling hook again. Luckily, this problem is solved by Heath raising his left hand and whistling, which signals the hovercraft to begin with. It flies right up to us, which gives Sam and Heath the opportunity to get Zoey onto it and then step on themselves. Meanwhile, I make good work of the men coming for us from behind, shooting all of them on sight.

Right before I step onto the hovercraft, an idea pops into my head. I pull a grenade out of my pocket, unpin it, and throw it onto the ship. It goes off around five seconds after landing. Luckily for us, the hovercraft has a force field to keep us unaffected by the explosion, and we're able to fly away to safety. Of course, the three of us have to celebrate by giving each other high-fives.

"Another job well done. As per usual," I smirk.

AVERY

Music: Drip Drop Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy

It takes the guys a minute or two to recover from the action they've just been through. Elle makes the hovercraft go back to the water's surface, making sure the force field is still on to keep us protected from all the shrapnel and debris flying everywhere from the explosion. Meanwhile, I lead Zoey to a chair and have her sit down.