Rescue

Location: Darklight Mercenaries HQ, Yumland Branch

Samuel was sitting in front of his computer. At the moment, he was searching through the job requests forum of the DLM website. He had to do this from his computer instead of just having Shade Man do it, since Shade Man was on vacation at the moment. All the jobs were either taken or weren’t of Sam’s specialty. It looked like Sam would get a nice quiet day.

Yeah right.

Suddenly, an IM window popped up. It was sent by a navi named Ice Chan

"Anyone!? Is anyone there!?" The navi pleaded.

Sam considered closing it. But something told him that he should respond

"Hello?" Sam replied with strained politeness.

"Are you part of the Darklight Mercenaries?" Ice Chan asked desperately.

"Yes" Sam answered.

"Thank god! My operator is in serious trouble! She needs help!!" Ice Chan begged.

"What kind of trouble?" Sam asked.

"The WWWs got her in one of their bases!" Ice Chan continued.

"I thought they were disbanded." Sam said curiously.

"They’re alive! And they got my operator! Please, I’ll pay anything! Just save her!"

"500,000 Zenny." Sam replied flatly.

"Deal! Here, I’ll even transfer half of it right now!" said Ice Chan, a bit more relieved.

"Good. Now where’s this base that your operator is being held in?" asked Sam.

"There’s three of them that she could be held in! The one in Tokyo, the one several miles out of Akihara, or the one on some unknown, small island, about ten-twenty miles off of the mainland," explained the frighened navi.

"I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry." Sam answered confidently.

Samuel gathered his things, and headed to the airport.

Tokyo: Warehouse District.

Sam is walking about, looking for a specific Warehouse. After a few minutes of searching, he finds a warehouse with a huge WWW logo plastered on the broadside on it.

"They can't be that stupid.....can they?"

Sam opens the warehouse door and finds many computer servers up and running. But no people.

"Maybe I can find information on where the client is in one of these computers..."

Sam notices that one computer is set on a Captive Roster, and there's a little mark in the corner of the screen, which is the navi symbol for the strange, purple navi who came to him. The roster is set on a specific person, and has several important bits of information.

"Name: Kurisu "Crys" Hinote
Age: 17
Navi: IceChan
Current Situation: Captive on Island Base 7"

"Excellent. Time for me to go to that island base."

Sam hurriedly leaves the warehouse, not noticing the computer he was at making a few strange windows appear on the screen.

"Warning, person en route.....Warning, person en route...."

From the shadows of a hidden room, connected to the Tokyo Warehouse base, a figure sits in an overly large throne. A large screen is in front of them, and on it is Sam, who is now being watched. The figure gives a small chuckle, and a cough. A smirk crosses their face. "Excellent. Soon, I'll be able to capture one of the Mercenaries. And it's all thanks to my little friend here."

On another screen in the room, a familiar purple eskimo-like navi can be seen, standing in a cage-like structure, glaring at the figure.

"You'll never get away with this! NEVER!" She shouts, shaking her fist in a fit of rage.

Location: Tokyo Docks

"I need a boat." Sam said.

"Whaata want me to do bout it, ya land lubber!!!" A grizzly, old, obviously drunk sailor answered back.

"According to your sign, you rent out boats."

"Oh yeah. Boat rental is 5,000 yen per hour." slurred the sailor.

"That's a ripoff!!!"

"Yeah, well it's the best price around here! Now if you won't be renting a boat, leave me alone so I can get back to drinkin'"

"hmm....tell you what." Sam pulls a wine bottle out of his pocket with about a glass worth of wine in it. "I give you the last of this wine for a boat rental."

"What year be it?"

"2004."

"WOW!!! Take the damn boat, just give me that wine!!"

"Agreed."

Sam handed the bottle to the sailor. The sailor drank it in one gulp. And Sam was heading towards the Island base in a very fine Boat.

Once at the Island base, Sam immediately notices two things. One, being, that there are no buildings on this base. The second being that, it doesn't look like anyone had been there in a very long while. The path looks hardly walked upon, and many small bushes and flowers are growing on the water-surrounded soil. A few yards ahead of him, a large, unsightly hole opens abruptly in the ground, which seems to be the entrance to the base. To the left of him, several mysterious figures watch Sam, whispering quietly to themselves, as they follow his every move.

Sam sees the hole in the island. Looking inside, he sees a hallway that has carpet. Obviously a base.

"Hmmm....it could be a trap....."

Sam suddenly hears a twig snap from the bushes. Apparently, someone stepped on it.

“Who's there?!"

Sam hears voices in the bushes, sounding rather angry.

"Damnitt! I told you to watch where you're going!"

"You told ME?! I told YOU! Now be quiet! Maybe he won't hear us!"

"Too late for that! C'mon! Let's get out of here, before he sees us!"

Two darkly clad people emerge from the bushes, heading off towards a large grove of trees, tripping and pushing each other on the way.

"Hmmmm.....better take care of those idiots first. Hey, you guys! Stop!!!!"

Sam runs after them.

Both figures turn, and see him coming. Then the one of the left pushes the one on the right over, causing them to fall, and makes a mad dash for the trees, while their fallen comrade picks themself off the ground, groaning softly.

"Urg. I'll set her on fire, one day. I swear it."

Before the person can get of the ground, Sam steps on him, forcing him to the ground.

"Hello. Now, could be so kind as to tell me what you're doing here? And why you were spying on me? And why Kurisu "Crys" Hinote is being held captive? If I were you, I'd answer quickly, while I'm in a good mood."

The mysterious man turns out to be none other than everyone's favorite reoccurring villain, Hinoken. He tries to squirm away, but once he realizes that's not going to happen, he caves in.

"I'm here to guard the Captive Base from intruders, like you! Myself and Madoi are supposed to spy on all intruders, and report them to Master Wily. And Kurisu is being held captive for treason against Wily! Please don't hurt me!"

Hinoken raises his arms over his face, and starts to cower from Sam.

"Is that so? Very well than. You have 10 seconds to leave this Island before I make with the butt kicking."

Hinoken jumps up quickly, eyes wide with fear. Looking back at Sam for a solitary moment, he then turns and runs off towards the grove of trees, where a helicopter can be heard being turned on.

"What a wuss. I was hoping for a warmup. AH well, time to continue with the mission."

Following his footprints, Sam finds the hole again, and jumps into it."

After a short fall down the hole, Sam finds himself in a carpeted hallway. The way behind him is blocked by a large wall of rubble and broken beams, and the way ahead of him gives off a foreboding, rather terrifying feeling. A bit of a walk ahead leads to a large computer room, which is hidden behind a door at the end of the hall.

Samuel walks along the hallway carefully, expecting there to be some sort of trap, like a trap door or a slew of arrows being shot at him. But there was nothing. He comes across a door. He opens it.

The room is empty, except for the computers and other electrical devices, and a large map in the center of the room. There are three other halls, besides the one he just entered from. One to his left, one to his right, and one in front of him. On the map, it shows where Sam is currently located, which is the central HUB. It shows that the place is basically like a prison. The holding cells are in the hall before him, while the cafeteria-like area is to his left. The hall to his right is unmarked, as is the one that he just came from.

"A map. How convenient. Now then, prisons, prisons......"Sam mutters as he looks at the map. "AH! Right there!" Sam heads to the door which leads to the prisons. But when he tries to open it, it is locked.

"Ah, dangit. I betcha that idiot had the key to this room....Maybe that other idiot has one........"

An akward silence fills the room, the computers humming quietly. Suddenly, there's a loud noise, almost like an alarm, from one of the computers, which stops instantly, as the door makes a clicking noise, signifying it's unlocked. A very faint sound of footsteps can be heard from the other side of the door, but it sounds as if they're receding, quickly.

"Odd......." Sam opens the door very slowly, in case it's a trap.

Silence falls in the hall, even the sound of footsteps seeming like a distant dream. One long hall stands before Sam, with multiple doors on each side, marked with a number. The first six are wide open and unlocked, however the next six are closed, and locked tightly. The 13th door, however, seems to have no security around it, but is still closed for some reason.

Sam looks into the first six doors. The rooms are empty. He then attempts to open the next six doors. They are locked tightly, and cannot be opened. He then approaches the Thirteenth Door. He is hesitant to open it.

"....ah, what the heck. 13 always was my lucky number"

He puts his hand on the doorknob.

The door slides open easily, revealing a barely lit room. The light source is a single candle, sitting in front of a rather uncomfortable looking, wooden chair. In this chair is a young female, who's struggling against the ropes which have bound her to said chair. She glances up at Sam as he opens the door, and gives off a scream, which is muffled by the cloth around her mouth.

"It's a trap!"

A thin piece of string, which was attached to the inside doorknob, is pulled taut by Sam's opening of the door. For a brief moment, time seems to slow, and in the next instant, the candle falls, causing the floor to quickly catch flame.

Sam saw the floor catch fire. A few things became obvious to Sam:
1. The floor is highly flammable.
2. I should get the hell outta here before I get burned.
3. The women in the chair, who is also paying you to save her, will get burnt to death if you don't do something about it, you idiot.

Sam, purely on instinct, ran through the flames to the girl, picked her up (Chair and all) ran back through the flames and out of the room, closing the door.

The fire can be heard burning through the room quickly, and it's obvious by the sudden rise in temperature that it will soon be heading out of the room, and into the rest of the base.

The girl, while grateful for the daring rescue, now struggles to free herself from her bonds, or at least get the gag off her. She starts squirming and kicking, which doesn't make it any easier to carry her, in that chair.

Sam sets the girl (and chair) down carefully, then removes the gag over the girl's mouth.

"Uh.....hi. Kurisu "Crys" Hinote, I presume?"

The girl gives Sam a smile smile, and nods.

"Kurisu, at your service. You can call me Crys though, if you like. I take it you're Samuel, my hero for hire? OH, and, before I forget... do you think you could untie me? This is horribly uncomfortable."

Kurisu talks fairly slowly, her voice sounding somewhat hoarse, showing that she's not had a chance to say much in a long while.

"Sure."

Sam unties her very quickly.

"Can you walk alright on your own, or has atrophy started setting in?"

Kurisu attempts to stand, but only manages to fall over uncerimoniously.

"Atrophy has started setting in, it would seem."

She blushes softly, giving Sam a weak smile.

"Just your luck, huh? Have to save and rescue a temporarily handicapped kid."

"....lovely."

Sam picks up Kurisu gently.

"I hope your comfortable, because we're running."

Sam runs. Fast.

Kurisu clings to Sam, looking worried.

"You, ah, may want to be careful. There could be a load of traps that were rigged to be activated, once my door was opened."

Just as she mentions this, Sam steps onto a panel in the floor, which causes a barrage of poisonous arrows to fly at the duo, and just barely miss them by a mere hair.

"I probably should have mentioned that sooner..."

".....You think!? Honestly.....Ok."

Sam walks slowly down the hallway, worried that there may be more traps."

Kurisu frowns, blushing profusely.

"I... I apologize, Samuel. It's... been a while since I've had, well... any sort of interation with anyone. Forgive me for my incompetance."

Just after she says this, she looks down, and blinks.

"Eep! Stop! Trip wire!"

Sam stops abruptly. However, due to the abrupt stop, and the weight of the girl he is carrying, his balance is off, and he tries his damndest not fall down. Fortunately, he succeeds.

"Whew...."

He then steps over the trip wire.

And onto the floor panel that began rumbling as soon as it was stepped on.

Kurisu gives a soft 'oh hell' as the walls begin to shift, and start closing in on the duo.

"I would reccomend saying screw the traps, and running as fast as you bloody well can, at this point."

Kurisu wraps her arms around Sam's neck, and cowers against him.

"I also would like to apologize for putting you through such a great risk..."

"Less talky, more runny." Sam said hurriedly.

He then began to run as fast as his legs could carry him. The wall continued to close in on the two of them, and all sorts of other traps were being sprung, such as gas, arrows, etc. The only thing missing was a giant rolling boulder. And just as the walls came together with a crushing sound, Sam made out of the room and into the main Hub of the base.

Kurisu looks up at Sam, then quickly scans the area. An eerie silence encloses around them, causing her to fidget slightly.

"I think we're in the clear, Samuel." Kurisu whispers, but is quickly proven wrong, as two men step out of the shadows. One is an older man, with graying hair that sticks out to the sides, and is bald in the middle. The other is a white haired younger boy, who looks about ready to kill them both. Kurisu's eyes widen.

"Aiiieee! Wily, and his nephew!"

"Nephew!?"

Kurisu, Wily, and his supposed Nephew all nod.

".....ok, what the heck is going on around here?"

Wily gives a somewhat demented grin, and approaches Sam.

"Ever since the Darklight Mercenaries started, you've all been a thorn in my side. You always took my thunder, and to top it off, you were starting to become more well known than the World 3!"

Wily's nephew gives a small 'here here!'

"So, I took one of the children I'd fooled into joining, and locked her up. I knew her navi would be go and find someone to save her, and I was correct in guessing she'd go to the Mercenaries. Now, I can get rid of you, and when the rest come looking, dispose of all the Mercenaries!"

Wily begins laughing insanely, his nephew soon joining. Kurisu stares at Wily, and then looks at Sam.

"Samuel, if you want, you can leave me here and escape now. I'll still have IceChan pay you for your troubles."

"Tempting as that is Kurisu, I'm gonna have to pass on that."

Sam walks over to a comfortable looking chair, and places Kurisu in it.

"Now you wait right there. I won't take long."

Samuel walks back toward Wily.

"Funny. Regal always mentioned that his father was a bit crazy, but he never said that he was an idiot. NEVER reveal your evil plans. That's the number one rule. Ands you just broke it. Bring it on, Old Man."

Kurisu watches Sam, smiling slightly with graditude.

"Pah! Foolish boy!" Wily shouts, as his nephew rushes at Sam, attempting to land a punch right in Sam's jaw.

Sam parries the Nephew's attack and proceeds to use the Vulcan Neck Pinch on him. The effects are immediate.

"Now then, as I was saying: Bring it on, Old Man."

Wily frowns slightly, glaring at Sam, then grins slightly.

"How about I make a deal with you, boy? I'll pay you double what she's paying, and all you have to do is let me have her, and all the Navis in the Darklight Mercenaries."

"Hmmmm...." Samuel considers it for a moment.

"Triple. Then we have a deal."

"Deal."

Kurisu gives a small squeak of shock, and then frowns, while Wily cackles somewhat evilly.

"Good choice, boy! Now... I shall pay you, once I have all the navis, and the girl."

"To a benfitial deal!" Sam holds out his hand for a handshake.

"Yes. Indeed" Wily grabs Sam's hand.

Sam then squeezes Wily's hand VERY hard, possibly breaking it.

"Screw you, Old Man." Sam then proceeds to kick Wily in the gut, then puch him in the head. He is left unconscious.

Sam walks over to Kurisu. "See, I told you it wouldn't take long."

Kurisu blinks, then grins at Sam, chuckling.

"You know, you should have gotten him to pay you half the money now, and THEN kicked his butt. More of a profit, that way."

Kurisu smiles softly, attempting to stand once again, and manages a few steps, before collapsing.

"Oiii... I deeply apologize for you having to carry me around, Samuel."

"You know, maybe I should have waited for him to give me half....ah well."

Sam picks up Kurisu once again.

"Let's get outta here."

"Good idea. I hope you brought a good source of transportation, and didn't just swim out here."

Kurisu gives a small chuckle, as she clings to Samuel once more.

"And... thanks for going through all this, just to save me. I'm definately doubling your pay, for this."

"Don't worry. I got a very nice boat."

Samuel walks back down the hallway that he used to enter the base. When he gets to the end, he realizes something.

If he was alone, he could have just climbed out of the hole easily. But since he's carrying someone, it is impossible.

"....crap. I don't suppose you know of any other exits from this base, do you?"

Kurisu thinks for a second, then grins.

"You know that unmarked door, in the HUB? You have to scout around a bit, but it has a stairwell to the surface hidden in it."

"Good. I wouldn't have wanted to search around this stupid place."

Sam walks back to the HUB of the base, then goes into the unmarked door.

Behind the door, is a rather large room, with absolutely nothing in it, at all, except flooring and wallpaper. However, various noises of the wildlife outside can be heard, signifying that Kurisu was telling the truth.

"Hmmmm.......odd, to say the least." Begins kicking the wall, seeing if part of it is hollow. Eventually, he kicks a part of the wall that sounds different than the other parts.

"Here we are...."

Kurisu looks up at Sam.

"If you'd be so kind as to keep me steady, I could see if I could kick this part of the wall down..."

"You sure? I mean, considering you're temporarily handicapped right now......."

Kurisu smiles, nodding.

"Don't worry about me. I just need some help keeping steady, is all. I don't wanna make you do ALL the work, now."

"Fair enough. But don't hurt yourself."

Sam holds Kurisu steady.

Kurisu takes a deep breath, and holds onto Sam's arm as she turns, bringing her leg up quickly, and kicks the "door" down, full force, which in turn knocks her back onto the floor.

"Ow..."

And since she was holding onto Sam's arm, she brought Sam down onto the floor too.

"Ow."

Kurisu gives a small chuckle, and she gets onto her knees, and starts to stand, helping Samuel up, and then almost immediately collapsing against him.

"Oi, sorry..."

Meanwhile, the area that the hallowed wall once stood in, has now been knocked away, uncovering an old and well used stairwell. The sounds of birds chirping outside, as well as the smell of salty air, can be sensed.

"I know I shouldn't have let you do that....."

Sam picks up Kurisu and heads out. In breathes in the Ocean Air deeply.

Kurisu takes a deep breath, smiling widely.

"It's been forever since I've been outside. If I wasn't in such a comprimising position right now, I'd probably kiss you as thanks for going through all you did to get here."

Sam blushed a very deep red.

"um, uh, ah....."

Kurisu chuckles slightly.

"Perhaps once we get on your boat. How does that sound? It's really the least I could do... I owe you so much."

"To the boat then!"

Samuel began searching along the coastline (Rather hurriedly, I might add) in search of the boat.

Kurisu looks around as well, then grins.

"I think I've found your boat, Samuel."

She points to the boat, which is sitting on the coastline just a few yards away from them.

Samuel walks to the boat, and gets in. He sets Kurisu down carefully, then starts the engine. They head away from that dreaded island.

Kurisu smiles softly, watching the water as the boat treads through it, then looks over at Samuel, and grins.

"I'm sure you're tired of hearing this by now, but, once again, I must thank you."

"You're welcome."

There was silence in the air (With the exception of the sound of the boat engine.

Kurisu stares out across the water for a moment, then stands, and staggers over towards Samuel.

"I said I would, and I always keep my word. Besides, you deserve it."

Kurisu grabs a hold of Sam's arm for support, leans forward, and kisses him on the cheek softly.

Sam blushes very deeply.

"Um, uh.....Th-thank you.."

Kurisu chuckles softly, leaning against him.

"Any time, Sam, any time."

The End.

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