The Adventures of Kid Combat 3:
Jones Strikes Back
*Special EBook Version
Christopher A. Helwink
Copyright October 2009
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Chapter One:
Trapped
It was the 8:14AM train from Elmcrest. The passenger based train carried commuters from the neighboring towns surrounding Elmcrest to the downtown station – where adults would get off the train and head to work. There were several trains throughout the day, averaging twenty minutes between runs.
This train had eight silver train cars that had a blue stripe down the middle of them. The engine, which was all blue, showed signs of some age, but pushed the cars along the tracks with ease. Each of the passenger cars showed the same age.
It was your typical morning commuting crowd. Grown ups, of all ages, waited on the platform for the train to arrive. They sipped their coffees, read their papers, and listened to their MP3 players. They stood shoulder to shoulder, three deep, waiting for the train to come.
It arrived about three minutes late today. The waiting passengers knew the train approached as the bell hung behind them on the wall started to chime and a red light started to flash. Then, the gates on the street corner came down.
As the train passed by them and gradually came to a stop, a breeze was made by the train cars as they passed by the people. Papers rustled in the wind, faces crinkled, and women grabbed their hair in protection of their fashionable does.
After the train came to a final stop, the doors flung open and the mad dash to find a seat was on. Women rushed, men rushed, everyone rushed to find a seat to nestle in for the quick thirty minute commute to the city.
This train, in particular, was an express train and did not make any other stops after Elmcrest. It was a straight shot to the city and the quickest of the morning – hence the big crowd.
As the passengers found their seats and started up their morning routines, the conductor came around to collect the daily fares. Most people had weekly or monthly passes, but the occasional click could be heard by the conductor’s ticket taker as it punched holes through one way tickets.
As the conductor made the rounds on his third assigned car, he found it slightly odd to find two small children. He approximated their ages to be around ten or eleven. To the conductor it seemed odd that they would be riding the train alone, without any adult companionship. Seeing two children riding alone wasn’t something that never happened. There was the occasional time that you would see one or two children riding on the train – usually meeting up with their parents or some guardian at the next stop. But, the conductor found it odd that two cars in a row, he found two children riding alone together. The last car was two boys that looked very much alike. This time, he found a boy and a girl.
As the conductor took Kid Combat’s one way ticket from him, he looked at him very puzzled. He punched a hole in Kid’s ticket and returned it to him. He than grabbed Samantha’s ticket, gave her the same look, and returned her ticket as well. Without a word, the conductor moved on to the next row of seats.
“Geez, what’s his deal?” Samantha asked Kid Combat, under her breath.
“Dunno. Prolly isn’t used to kids on the train. Whatever, he’s not important to us,” Kid said back. “Let’s wait a few minutes now, though, just in case.”
“Good idea. I’ll tell the boys,” Samantha returned.
“No need,” a voice over her earpiece said – it was Wedge. “Did you forget? I can hear every word you crazy kids say,” Wedge said one car back on the train, sitting with his brother, Rocket. Each member of the SOCKs organization was outfitted with an earpiece and had a communications link on their shirt collar.
“No I didn’t forget,” Samantha said back softly. “I just wasn’t to sure you were paying attention!”
“Squabble time is over with boys and girls,” Kid Combat rang in. “It’s been a long week, time to get this over with…”
“Right KC,” Rocket said sitting right next to his brother. “We’re heading for our assignment – we’ll contact you when we are there.”
“Good. Roller, Gears – you two, ready?” Kid Combat said.
Back at The Playground – Kid Combat’s secret base that lied beneath Maple Forest – Gears and Roller monitored the situation. Sitting at two computer terminals within Main Computer Lab 1, Gears and Roller glanced over at their monitors, checking for errors.
“All set here, Kid. You let us know if you need us,” Gears said back to Kid. Deep down, Gears hoped he didn’t hear from his four friends – until they were long off the train.
“Roger,” was all Kid said back to him. Kid and Samantha got up from their seats and headed further up the car towards the front of the train. They would need to pass through several cars before they would reach the front of the train. But, they didn’t want to get there yet…
Going in the opposite direction, was the set of twins – Wedge and Rocket. They had a very different objective then Kid and Samantha. Playing their favorite role on a mission, the twins were the distraction.
As the twins got up, they headed for the rear of the train, which oddly enough today, was were the engine of the train was found. Each carrying a back pack, the twins made it through the few cars that separated them from the engine. They opened the doors to the last of the cars and found a seat next to each other.
Kid and Samantha, on the other hand, stopped a few cars short of the front of the train. They stood in the small doorway that connected the two cars. They peered through the windows on the door and looked for their objective.
Sitting four rows up, and on the left side, Kid spotted what they were looking for. He tapped Samantha on the shoulder and as she looked over, Kid motioned without any words. Sam looked over, spotted the target, and went to open the door.
“Wait,” Kid said to Samantha. Her head jerked back and looked at Kid. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he added.
“What?” Samantha said puzzled. “We don’t have time for fears. What’s up?”
“I don’t know. Something,” Kid continued. “Let’s check him again before we go.”
“Ugh,” was all Samantha could mutter. The two members of SOCKs peered through the window again. There, still sitting four rows up and to their left, was the Boy in Blue.
The Boy in Blue was still a mystery to SOCKs. Samantha noticed him with the curator a few weeks back – helping plot the Spring Road Toys break in. Since then, SOCKs had kept their eyes on this boy.
That had little run-ins with the boy that wore a blue hoodie and thick silver sunglasses that hid his appearance since the heist, but his importance to Jones definitely seemed to increase over the last few weeks – making him a threat. They needed to find out who this boy was.
“See. He’s there. All alone. Now let’s get in there before we get downtown and lose him in the crowd.”
Kid was reluctant, but nodded his acceptance to Samantha’s plea. She reached out, hit the automatic door opener. It took a second, but the do
or sprung open. Before either Kid or Samantha were able to take a step, everything went horribly wrong.
As the door opened, Samantha peered up and glanced at the Boy in Blue. She noticed him turn slightly around, as if he knew they were coming. And, even though he wore thick silver sunglasses that shielded his eyes from Samantha, she knew Kid Combat and herself were being targeted.
Samantha stood there puzzled and didn’t move. Kid Combat didn’t move for another reason. As the door swung open – Kid noticed something worse than the Boy in Blue. Through the windows into the next car, Kid noticed a man walking towards him. He walked very determined and was followed by a row of men walking two wide and many deep. It was Phillip Arthur Jones and a group of his body guards.
“Oh no,” Kid exclaimed to Samantha. “It’s a trap!”
Kid grabbed Samantha by her arm and turned around and opened the door to the train car behind him. The two friends walked very quickly through the next car and opened the rear door, leading to another foyer between train cars.
Two cars up, Jones walked with fierce determination. The look in his eyes was dead and cold. The vengeance radiated off of him as he entered the car were the Boy in Blue sat. Jones stared at the boy and the boy motioned behind him. Jones took that to mean that Kid Combat was just a few feet away…
Almost running through train cars, Kid Combat and Samantha flew down the small walkways between commuters. As they passed row by row, each of the commuters stared up at the two kids – wondering what they were up to.
“Abort! Abort!” Kid exclaimed. “Jones. He’s on the train!”
A few train cars up, the twins got the message. They turned and looked at each other in puzzlement and fear.
“What do we do, Kid? What do we do?” a very nervous Rocket responded back. He started to fidget in his seat as the anxiety raced through him.
“Nothing. Do nothing. Sit there and act normal – for once,” Kid said. The rare panic could be heard in his voice. He turned around to look for Samantha – she was right behind him. The doors to the next car flung open and the two friends raced inside.
“Kid, wait…” Samantha stated. “We need a plan.”
The two friends stopped for a second and tried to catch their breaths. Samantha turned around, as the doors closed, and peered through the windows. About three cars up, she saw Jones and his men still approaching.
“We don’t have much time. The train is getting close to the station, but I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”
“Get this door open, Sam – it’s our only hope,” Kid exclaimed to Samantha. He referred to the side door that led off the train.
“I’ll try, but I don’t have any tools,” Samantha replied. She walked over to the circuit box that housed the controls for the door. With a quick tug, the panel opened up. In it were an array of wires and screws leading to the doors. A short circuit, Samantha thought, could override the controls and force the doors to swing open.
As Samantha tinkered with the wires, Kid Combat went to the inner door and peered through the window – looking for Jones. Still gaining ground, Jones was in the neighboring car and walking faster than ever.
Kid turned and spun towards Samantha.
“Sam, you have about three seconds to get that door open…”
….earlier that week…
Chapter Two:
Simple Life Ends
It wasn't long after the Heist of Spring Road Toys that the rumors about Jones started to swirl. Local media outlets started to link a trail together that put Jones and the curator of the science museum – Alfred E. Scott – the man behind the plot to destroy Spring Road Toys – together.
Documents and papers started to surface that showed the two men in business together. Photographs on websites showed the two men at various events around town. And, finally, video of the two was shown on the nightly news that certainly linked Jones to Alfred E Scott.
Throughout the entire scandal – not a word was heard from Jones. Still missing from Elmcrest, Jones extended his stay away from his town and remained silent in the matter. Jones Industries official comment was “no comment.”
Weeks went by, and as Jones wanted and predicted, the story died down and focus shifted away from Jones. It was as if, the whole Spring Road Toys case never happened.
Today, a new rumor started to swirl on the news reports. A story that was a lot more exciting than the previously mentioned story. Jones was coming home.
Kid Combat clicked off the webpage after he started reading the local news report online about Jones coming back to Elmcrest. Even though the rumors had just started, he had seen and heard enough – he was not looking forward to the return of Elmcrest’s favorite citizen.
Kid got up from behind his desk and left his room within The Playground. As he walked out of his room and across the hall to Main Computer Lab 1 – he found Gears and Roller working. They sat at their computers and barely noticed Kid walk by as they bickered back and forth about some patch for their Linux based server. He exited out the other far door that lead to the Research Rooms of The Playground.
Kid turned left as he entered the hallway from MCL1 and headed for the room that was formally Conference Room 1. Over the past few weeks, The Playground received a small makeover.
With the conference rooms barely being used, Kid came up with the idea of changing the rooms. Instead of a few empty spaces that no one really used – Kid made them into a research room and a gadget development room.
Main Research Room 1 became a communications hub. It was to be the eyes and ears of The Playground to the outside world. Newsfeeds would be studied, surveillance feeds could be tapped into, and Gears tracking devices could be followed.
To accommodate all this, LCD Screens were put up on all four walls. The screens ranged in sizes – from smaller 24 inch screens, to larger 44 inch screens. There was a half dozen of these screens around the room. It was slick.
The walls were painted a metallic black to make easier viewing of the screens. The window facing the hallway was also blacked out, and the door leading into the room was void of any cracks that would allow light through.
The furniture in the room consisted of big, over sized chairs that the team members could relax in while collecting data. Everything in the room was controlled by one universal remote.
The next room down the hall was Development Room 1. DR1 was a staging area for new gadgets and other devices used by SOCKs members.
The room was modified a little bit from the days of being a conference room in that all the furniture was stripped out and used in other various parts of The Playground. The room was painted bright silver and a matching table was brought into the room. Being a place for development, hundreds of tools were on the walls and large shelving units were placed around the room.
Both rooms were funded by Charlie Thompson – the former mayor of Elmcrest and a loyal fried of Kid Combat’s. The reclusive man helped out Kid Combat from a distance as he owned and operated Spring Road Toys. Only Kid Combat and Samantha knew he helped SOCKs, the others members were left in the dark.
Kid walked in DR1 and saw Samantha working at the table. He noticed she had welded two pieces of metal together and was trying to get them to connect back into the device she was making.
Samantha was hard at work on the new SOCKs gadget – Speeders. Speeders were to be used in the winter time to help the members of Kid Combat’s secret organization to navigate through Maple Forest. Without many clear trails, the Speeders would help the kids move around the forest.
The original blueprints and technical specs were in early development by Roller and Gears. They didn't know much, but they did know the Speeders would be two-man crafts made out of metal. They would look similar to snowmobiles, but would be smaller and have a bit of a SOCK’s flare to them.
“Need any help?” Kid said, offering his assistant to Samantha.
“I can do it myself,” Samantha answered back with a bit of struggle in her voice. She n
ever looked up at Kid and continued to try with all her might to turn the pieces together. Kid noticed her fighting a losing battle, and moved in behind her.
“Let me,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, expecting her to move.
“I said I can do it myself!” Samantha snapped back in anger, finally looking back at Kid. Kid threw up his arms in a hurry and took a step back – not saying a word.
Samantha went back to her struggles. With a few more grunts and a lot more elbow grease, the pieces finally fell into place. Samantha stood straight up, took a deep breath, and turned around to Kid.
“See,” she said, clapping her hands, “piece of cake.”
“Riiight,” Kid said back with a smirk. “Now that that’s done – when can I expect the preliminary specs to be done?”
“Soon,” Samantha said turning back to her work. She picked up the two pieces she just welded together and turned back towards Kid. “I’ll make sure this is working properly today, we’ll go from there. Shouldn’t be more than a week.”
“Hurry, Sam,” Kid replied. “Winter’s approaching faster than you think. We need to get the Speeders ready so we can get through Maple Forest.”
“Yeah, I know,” Samantha said in a huff, “Don’t worry, Kid – I don’t want to trek through the snow this year any more than you do.”
“Great. Have we gotten anywhere with the mechanics?”
“Not yet,” Samantha said, putting some items away. “Gears and Roller said there shouldn’t be any issues, though.”
“Yeah, that’s what I kept hearing about the PCAV’s,” Kid said back. He referred to the Pepper Creek Acceleration Vehicles. Two man water crafts that were to be used on Pepper Creek to make it easier to navigate throughout Elmcrest. The project became a headache for the members of SOCKs and was eventually scrapped.
“I know,” Samantha answered back. “What did Gears and Roller decided to do with those?”
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