Mr. Dove and the Pipes of Creation

[davedove]

Scene 37

We made our way through the building, trying to find an exit.

“That way,” The Wrecker indicated.

We burst through the door, only to stop dead in our tracks.

We had made it outside the building, only to find ourselves confronting a force of nearly fifty men, all of them armed with submachine guns.

The base commander walked up to us. “So, Mr. Dove, you have assistance,” he said to me. He looked over Steven in his Egyptian garb. “You must be the one who disabled so many of my guards. I take it you’re not really one of my soldiers,” he said as he ripped the cowl from Steven’s head. “I do wonder how it is you managed to disable a whole room full of guards though. What was it, gas or something?”

“Something like that,” Steven answered.

“Good,” I thought to myself. “He has no idea about Deena.” The pixie was hiding under the eave of the roof above us, having darted there before the soldiers could notice her. Perhaps she could do something.

“I would like to execute you right now for attempting to escape,” the Commander said to me. “However, the Pharaoh wants to do that himself, so I have to keep you and the Wrecker alive for that.” He turned to Steven again. “But, the Pharaoh didn’t say anything about you, so I don’t have to worry about keeping you alive. I’ll probably even get a commendation for eliminating an enemy of the empire.”

He stepped back and spoke to his guards. “Kill him!”

Two of the soldiers stepped forward with their weapons pointed at Steven while the other guards kept their weapons trained on us to prevent our interfering.

Just then, Deena made her move. “No!” she screamed at the two soldiers. This was not the normal scream of a small pixie, however. Her magic increased the volume and force of her voice exponentially and the roar overcame the two guards. They staggered back with their hands clasped to their ears. I could see blood trickling through their fingers.

The other soldiers were also shocked from the force of the pixie’s attack and momentarily hesitated.

That was the opening I needed. I grabbed Steven and we started running, rushing through the opening that the Wrecker formed as he pushed through the group. The soldiers soon recovered and began firing at us. We dove behind a low wall for cover from the bullets, only to find ourselves trapped there.

As we crouched behind the wall, we suddenly heard a loud explosion. The Wrecker’s mouth spread in a wide grin.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I have friends too,” he chuckled in response.

[Livingston]

Glad I'm in the process of taking my daughter somewhere safe or I'd probably end up shot...............again.

[davedove]

Glad I'm in the process of taking my daughter somewhere safe or I'd probably end up shot...............again.

Haven't you heard that old saying "The story ain't over until Livingston is hurt."

[davedove]

Scene 38

I noticed we were no longer taking gunfire, so I cautiously poked my head around the wall. Several of the soldiers were firing into the air, so I glanced upward.

There I saw a man, flying intricate defensive patterns through the air with a large rocket pack strapped to his back. The man would occasionally fire the pistol he carried, which seemed to fire small rockets at his target. These rockets would explode when they impacted.

I glanced back across the compound and saw another person had entered the fray. This one was a woman with flaming red hair wearing a bright red, stylized martial arts uniform. Although she held no weapons, she didn’t need them. Somehow she dodged between the soldiers’ bullets and attacked them, weaving and spinning gracefully.

The man who dropped to the ground behind us surprised me and I spun to face him. This man wore a dark grey suit covered with a similarly colored trench coat. A mask covered half of his face beneath his fedora.

“Is everyone okay?” the man asked us.

“Yeah,” said the Wrecker. “We made our break before the shooting started. Thanks Avenger.”

“Is this the man you came to meet?” the Avenger asked, gesturing towards me.

“Yeah, this is Mr. Dove. David, this is my friend, the Shadow Avenger.”

“Mr. Dove,” the masked man said to me as he extended his hand.

I shook the hand he offered. “Avenger,” I replied. I had to suppress my amazement at the different turns the different worlds caused, because I recognized the man before me, despite his mask. I wondered if MacMillan of Rathdown would appreciate this version of himself.

“Whatever you’re planning to do, you have to get out of here quickly. We got here just ahead of a large military unit. There’s no way we can hold them all off.”

I thought back to what the base commander had said. “There’s a plane they were going to use to transport us to the Pharaoh,” I said.

“There’s a large hangar over there,” the Wrecker said, pointing across the compound.

“Do it and good luck,” the Avenger said to us. He reached inside his coat with both hands and pulled out two Colt automatics. “We’ll delay the troops as long as we can.” With that he leaped over the wall and began firing at the soldiers.

“Let’s go!” I said to my companions and we took off running towards the hangar.

[unaspenser]

Who knew being a loud talker would have so many advantages...

[Livingston]

Haven't you heard that old saying "The story ain't over until Livingston is hurt."

Guess it's time to call my insurance agent......AGAIN.....and triple my insurance......AGAIN!!!

[davedove]

Scene 39

The four of us raced for the hangar as the battle continued across the compound. One soldier popped up to fire at us, but he was quickly disabled by the scarlet clad woman who suddenly appeared behind him. The woman then moved away to her next target.

I smiled a bit as I wondered what Jamie would think of his wife in that outfit.

As we came to the hangar, the Wrecker continued his pace and smashed through the door. He immediately came under fire from the guards within.

I dove through the door and began firing the weapon I had taken from a soldier. As the bullets hit the ground all around me, I sprayed my fire across the room, taking out several of the guards. Steven also burst into the room, firing his revolver at whatever soldier dared to raise his head.

Soon, all the guards were neutralized and we took in our surroundings. A large, water-filled trench ran down the center of the hangar to a closed door. Floating in the trench was a PBY seaplane.

“Wrecker, get the door! Everyone else, inside the plane!” I ordered.

As the big man rushed to pull the chain controlling the door, the rest of us climbed into the plane. I quickly moved to take the pilot’s seat.

“Can you really fly this thing?” Steven asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

“I’ve only had basic lessons, but it will have to do,” I answered.

I fired up the plane’s engines and the propellers started to turn, gradually gaining speed. The plane began to inch forward in the trench.

The Wrecker had managed to get the door open, but as soon as I could see the channel ahead, we were assaulted with automatic gunfire. Ahead, on each side of the channel that had been dug to the nearby sea, was two guard towers. In each tower, two guards had the machinegun trained in our direction and were firing.

“I got this one!” the Wrecker announced and raced towards the tower on his side of the channel.

“What about the other one?” Steven asked as he sat in the copilots seat.

“We’ll just have to get by as best we can,” I guessed.

“Look there!” Deena exclaimed. As we watched the man with the rocket pack swooped down and fired at the other tower. It exploded in a large fireball.

Meanwhile, the Wrecker had arrived at the base of his tower, but he didn’t stop. He lowered his shoulder and slammed into the support of the tower, shattering two of the tower’s support legs as he powered through them. The tower quickly sagged and fell away from the channel.

Other gunfire came our way, but the two largest obstacles had been neutralized. The Wrecker turned and ran to intercept the plane along the channel.

“I’ve got him!” Steven said and moved back to help the large man aboard the plane.

As the plane neared his position, the Wrecker leaped for the door and caught the frame. Steven quickly helped pull him aboard and slammed the door behind him.

As the two men quickly took seats and fastened their belts, I pushed on the throttle and the plane began to pick up speed. As it raced down the channel, it eventually lifted from the water and took to the air.

The rocket wearing man swooped down to fly beside us. As I caught his gaze through my window, he snapped off a quick salute. I returned his gesture and he flew off.

“Thank you Arlen,” I thought to myself.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” I announced.

“Wait!” the Wrecker yelled out as he watched out the window. “Look below!”

I looked out the window and saw what he had noticed. On the ground was a large force of men and machines, surrounding the base and severely outnumbering our allies.

[davedove]

Scene 40

“Can they get away?” I asked.

“Doc Rocket would have no problem,” said the Wrecker, “and he could carry out the Scarlet Fist. But that would leave the Shadow Avenger alone and they wouldn’t do that.”

“Can you get us close, David?” Steven asked me.

“I’ll do the best I can. What’s your plan?”

“There are guns mounted on each side of the plane. Maybe we could cause enough of a disturbance for them to get away.”

“It’s worth a try. Wrecker, you want to help him?”

“Already on it,” answered the big man as he moved to one of the guns.

I began to turn the plane back towards the compound and descended towards the massed soldiers. Steven and the Wrecker each manned one of the guns and prepared to fire.

“I’m going to take us down over the troops. Fire whenever you’re ready,” I told them.

I was amazed at how well the plane was responding to my commands. I had never flown a plane like this, and certainly never in a combat situation. Yet, the more tense the situation, the easier it seemed to be.

I began our dive towards the troops. “Here goes!” I yelled.

As the plane dropped towards the troops, the soldiers were not idle. They trained their weapons towards our plane and opened fire. Amazingly, although bullets peppered the plane, no bullets hit any of us, nor did they hit anything critical in the plane.

As we passed over the troops, Steven and the Wrecker opened fire with their weapons and many of the troops fell.

Again and again we passed over the troops, never once suffering any important damage. Yet our fire didn’t seem to be impacting the total number of troops much.

“I’m out of ammo!” the Wrecker announced.

“Me too!” Steven echoed. “What now?”

As I looked out I saw the troops moving closer to our allies. Although our friends were putting up a valiant battle, it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

“Take us down again,” the Wrecker said. “Drop me into the middle of the troops. I’ll create enough commotion that they can get away.”

As I considered the Wrecker’s proposal, Deena called out. “Look, there!” she yelled.

As we watched, the ground near our allies began to bulge and a large digging machine broke through from below. Our allies saw this as well and began to move towards the machine. Doc Rocket quickly took to the air and began firing his rocket pistol around the machine, holding off the troops and giving his friends a break so they could reach the machine.

As the other two raced for the digging machine, we could see the hatch on top fly open and Professor Livingston waved to the heroes. The Shadow Avenger provided covering fire as the Scarlet Fist climbed aboard, then he quickly followed her into the machine. As the bullets of the troops continued to hit all around him, the Professor pulled the hatch shut.

Then, the machine began to move again and sank into the ground. Doc Rocket, seeing his friends had escaped, rocketed towards us and flew alongside our plane for a moment. He again saluted and flew off to meet his friends elsewhere.

“Which way do we go now?” Steven asked.

I thought for a bit as I considered Steven’s question. Then I remembered my initial guidance from the Pleaters. I looked at the plane’s compass and began to turn the plane on my new course.

As we flew out over the neighboring sea, I announced our direction.

“North,” I said.

[davedove]

Scene 41

The leather-clad woman with pink-tipped hair turned away from the projection. “He’s adapting quite well, don’t you think,” she said.

“Yes indeed, he is,” replied the woman in the tweed jacket. “It appears he is learning the use of reality-bending quite well.”

“Yes, indeed,” said the man wearing dark robes. He had pushed back the hood of his cloak, revealing a mask that covered most of his head. Centered on the forehead of the mask was a white question mark. “The reality of my world favors those who take bold, some would say foolishly risky, actions. His actions in combat and his piloting of the plane highlight this quite well. He made use of my world’s reality without realizing it, yet managed to maintain his own reality as well. He has made the transition to the next step in his development quite well.”

The group turned back to the projection and continued to watch.

[Livingston]

whew..... Made it through that one.