100 Theme Challenge - 59. No Way Out

100 Theme Challenge
59. No Way Out

Taken aback by Casey’s approach, Don managed to sputter indignantly, “Stop calling me that.”

“I like it though,” Casey told him. “That gap is sexy.”

“Now is not the time or place . . . .” Don began.

Casey interrupted him. “This is the first time I ever saw ya’ without your mask. I could get used to it.”

“Were you knocked out by the stun ray or did you hit your head?” Don asked incredulously, pulling back from the boy and waving a hand towards the door. “How did you do that?”

“They didn’t take any of the rest of my gear,” Casey said, still sounding pleased with himself. “I just doubled the explosive charge on my hockey pucks.”

Don tucked his goggles into his belt and pulled his mask back into place. “We need to move,” he said, jumping for the doorway and looking up and down the corridor. “There is no way they won’t have heard that.”

“Hey!” Casey exclaimed, shooting past Don and turning to the left. “Our stuff!”

Piled haphazardly against a far wall was their weapons and Casey’s mask. Casey scooped up Don’s bo and tossed it to him before sliding his mask onto the top of his head, then sheathing his hockey sticks and cradling his bat.

“This is a dead end,” Don said, glancing around them. “There’s a turn at the other end of the corridor, let’s try that direction.”

Running as fast as they could, the duo made it to the turn and found themselves in another corridor. Following that one they reached a cross tunnel that split in two separate directions.

“Got any ideas?” Casey asked, looking at Don.

“Yeah, we need to go up,” Don said. “If we stay down here we’re just going to be running in circles.”

“Be sure and let me know when you find a way up,” Casey said, looking behind them. “We’ve got company.”

Don spun around and saw three Kraang bots coming towards them, weapons raised.

“The one who is the turtle who is the one wanted by Kraang will come with Kraang,” one of the Kraang intoned.

“Do they always talk like that?” Casey asked.

“Pretty much,” Don answered, bo staff ready.

Casey tapped the palm of his hand with his bat. “Ya’ got an answer for them?”

“The same one you’re thinking of,” Don said.

Yelling at the top of his lungs, Casey charged towards the Kraang. Don matched him step for step as the pair bore down on the aliens, ducking beneath the laser fire and swiftly closing the distance between them.

Their weapons swung in almost identical arcs; Casey’s bat against the head of the nearest Kraang bot while Don’s bo struck another’s weapon. The Kraang fired just as the bo connected and it knocked the weapon to the side which caused the laser to strike the third Kraang, cutting it in half.

When the bot tried to shoot again, Don jabbed his bo staff directly into the face of the Kraang inside of it. The little alien squealed and the bot stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. The Kraang jumped out of it and scurried towards Don, who swept his bo down like a golf club, catching the alien and sending it smashing into the wall.

“Nice swing!” Casey exclaimed appreciatively.

Don whipped around to find Casey standing over a downed Kraang bot, one foot on the bot and his bat resting on his shoulder.

“Don’t get cocky,” Don warned. “We need to go.”

Leading the way, Don began running through corridors again, doing his best to keep track of the direction they were taking so they wouldn’t wind up where they’d started from. Every room they passed was a duplicate of the cells they’d broken out of, all of them empty.

“They had to bring us down here somehow,” Casey said, looking through yet another cell window.

“Without a map we’re not going to find their control room,” Don said.

“Ya’ ain’t telling me we’ve got no way out, are ya’?” Casey asked.

“No,” Don said, looking up towards the ceiling, “but we’re going to have to get creative.”

He stopped beneath a large grate in the ceiling, holding his hand out to feel the air coming from it. Casey followed his gaze.

“What is that?” Casey asked.

“It’s an air duct,” Don said. “The Kraang breathe something other than oxygen, so I’m guessing this is pumped in to keep their captives alive. That means it’s probably vented from the outside.”

“Do ya’ suppose the shaft is big enough for us to crawl through?” Casey asked, stretching to his full height as he tried to grab the grate.

Don pushed his bo staff into place on his carapace and pulled a small screw driver from his belt. “Give me a boost so I can open the thing and we’ll see.”

Casey twined his fingers together and bent down. Don stepped into his cupped hands and swung a leg over Casey’s shoulders, balancing there as the boy stood up.

Very quickly removing the screws that held one end of the grate in place, Don lowered it on squeaking hinges and peered up into the opening. It was dark and dusty, but it also looked as though it was large enough for him to fit into.

Bracing his elbows on the metal frame at the opening, Don slowly stood up on Casey’s shoulders. With his upper body inside the duct he could see the horizontal section of duct work that took the air to different areas of their prison.

Reaching up, Don grabbed onto the cross section and pulled himself all of the way inside. Twisting his body, he slid feet first into the horizontal section of duct and then leaned down, stretching his arms out towards Casey.

“Jump; I’ll catch you,” Don told him, keeping his voice low.

There was a metallic clang from somewhere nearby and then, “Kraang will search the corridors that need to be searched. Kraang must find the turtle that is wanted by Kraang.”

Casey’s head turned towards the sound and Don hissed at him, “Up here Casey, be quick!”

Quickly sheathing his bat, Casey stretched his hands upwards and leaped. Don caught him and curved his hands around Casey’s wrists as he pulled the boy up into the air duct.

When Casey was in the horizontal duct across from him, Don looked down and saw that the grate was still hanging open.

“I’ve got to close that or the Kraang will know where we went,” Don whispered. “I’m going to ease down and secure the grate; can you hang onto my legs?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem since I already did that once,” Casey said, grinning at him.

Don rolled his eyes. “Do us both a favor and keep your voice down, would you? Sound carries inside these ducts.”

Without waiting for a response, Don eased his upper body into the vertical duct, using his forearms as a brace to keep from falling. He felt Casey grab onto his legs once he was partway down and let the boy support his weight so that he could catch hold of the grate and swing it upwards.

Using one finger to hold the grate in place, Don carefully maneuvered the first screw into its hole and the magnetic tip of his screwdriver kept it steady as Don turned it. The sound of the Kraang search party grew louder and as Don prepared the second screw, a group of Kraang bots stepped into the corridor just below his hiding spot.

“Kraang has found nothing,” one of the bots said.

“Kraang must continue to search,” said another.

Very slowly, Don started to ease the screw into its hole, keeping his eyes on the Kraang. Unfortunately his aim was off slightly and the screw skidded on metal, the screwdriver’s tenuous hold not strong enough to keep it in place.

Wide eyed, Don watched the screw fall, following its almost slow motion progress until it hit the ground next to one of the Kraang bots, bouncing a couple of times before rolling to a stop right next to the bot’s foot.

With a teeth grinding grimace, Don squeezed his eyes shut.