Mission: Possible 007 (Chapter Nine)

Chapter Nine: The Culmination

            It was sudden chaos over Alcatraz Island. Word had spread about the attack that occurred in the control room, just a moment ago. And, on top of that, the prisoners had escaped and there was a group of people in super suits coming to the island, just as defenses were down. Now, every available Egghead was called to action, taking up position all around the island.

            Meanwhile, in the midst of it all, Drakken was making a mad dash for the rooftop access. Unfamiliar with the territory, he got lost along the corridors of the cellhouse, bumping into one Egghead after another. “You, soldier!” he addressed one female Egghead.

            “Ugh! I have a name – it’s Sheila!” she griped. “I’m the only one who’s a girl!”

            “Like I care!” Drakken barked. “Take me to the helipad! I need to get out of this place before—”

            POW!

            Out of nowhere appeared Shego. She dropped right atop of Sheila, knocking the Egghead soldier to the floor. Seeing Shego there in front of him, Drakken was overwhelmed with joy. “YOU’RE ALIVE!”

            “And you’re dead!” Shego’s flaming fists clenched.

            “Wait! You don’t understand, Shego!” Drakken protested before she could land a punch. “I tried to talk Blofeld into going back for you! He was the one who wanted to leave you in the Team’s custody!”

            Shego scoffed at his story. “Yeah, sure you did.”

            She was about to proceed in mutilating him until the half-conscious Egghead she knocked down groggily said, “H-He’s right…I was t-there…H-He wanted to go back for you…b-but Blofeld denied his re-request…It was really sweet that he wanted to save you.”

            Drakken smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Sheila.”

            “You’re…welcome,” the female Egghead managed to utter, prior to losing consciousness.

            With Drakken’s claim substantiated, Shego extinguished her fists.

            “You really stood up to Blofeld, eh? Not exactly the smartest move, considering the type of man he is. I’m surprised he didn’t have Hinx twist you into a pretzel.”

            “I have to admit, for a second, I almost thought he would.”

            Shego was touched by the notion of Drakken’s devotion to her, though she wouldn’t dare let Drakken know that. “How ‘bout we get outta here before ol’ One-Eye himself finds us,” she suggested.

            “One-Eye?” Drakken frowned. “Blofeld has two.”

            “Not anymore,” Shego smirked.

            “What did you do, Shego?”

            “Something I should’ve done a long time ago. Now, c’mon! We get to that chopper before things get even crazier here!”

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            Atop the Golden Gate Bridge, the real Hiro Hamada waited with Baymax and their friends – Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go-Go, and Fred – for Ethan Hunt’s signal. They were all gifted with super suits, specially designed by Edna Mode and Sara Bellum, each of which corresponded with their technological talents.

            They responded to the IMF agent’s signal just as it was transmitted. Flying on a rocket-powered Baymax, they infiltrated the defenseless Alcatraz Island and subjugated the Eggheads all over, as well as some of the henchmen of Drakken and Blofeld.

            Kim witnessed the arrival of this special force of heroes through one of the cellhouse’s barred windows. She stopped to do so for a brief moment, following Ethan, Perry, and Agents Smith and Archer to regroup with Bond. “Those are your special helpers?!” Having no idea that it was Hamada and his friends, she questioned Ethan, “Who are they?”

            “Their identities are all classified,” Hunt told her. “But their codename is ‘Big Hero 6’.”

            “Catchy codename,” Kim approved.

            As she tried to catch up with Hunt and the other agents, she was suddenly blindsided from her right by something big and burly. Knocked through a set of doors, she tumbled into a large storage room with a huge hole in the middle of the floor that she nearly fell into. She managed to avoid a serious plunge by rolling and skidding into a crouch stance, stopping just an inch from the edge. Wiping off the blood that trickled down her chin, she glared straight at her attacker – Mr. Hinx. That was the second time he caught her off guard, and it started to annoy her.

            Hinx removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He took a step forward towards Kim, only to stop and take a step back. In doing so, he avoided an ambush from opposite sides by Smith and Archer, both men hoping to have landed a punch across Hinx’s face; unfortunately, due to Hinx’s last-second calculation, the two agents ended up punching and knocking each other out.

            With Smith and Archer out of the fight, Perry and Hunt were the only ones blocking Kim from Hinx’s line of sight. Hunt was able to land a few punches before the bigger and stronger of the two combatants grappled Hunt by the throat and lifted him up. He then slammed Ethan to the floor, stunning the IMF agent. Kim and Perry were astonished by the counterattack, which looked like something out of a wrestling match.

            “Perry!” Kim shouted. “Go find Bond! I’ll handle Hinx myself!”

            The platypus hesitated to comply, but he was eventually able to bring himself to leave Kim to deal with the situation.

            Kim and Hinx charged for each other.

            Hinx tried for another grapple, but Kim dodged the maneuver, sliding in-between Hinx’s legs. In that moment, Hinx noticed she was lugging a rope. To what it was connected, he didn’t know nor cared. Snatching it, he engaged in a short game of tug-of-war with Kim that he ultimately won. With a fierce tug, he sent Kim flying into his monstrous clothesline.

            Kim hit the floor, dazed. She was brought out of it just as Hinx grabbed her by the throat and started choking the life out of her. While she still had some life left, she gripped on the rope one last time and used it to lasso Hinx by his own throat. This released his hold on Kim, allowing her to roll away from him and towards a collection of heavy steel kegs, all of which were attached to the same rope looped around Hinx’s neck.

            Kicking one of the kegs into the large hole in the floor, Kim set off a chain reaction that the other kegs followed. One-by-one, each fell through the floor, until Hinx was the last one in line. In realizing that his fate was sealed, Hinx uttered the only word to express his condemnation: “Crap!”

            The burly assassin’s head whipped back with a sickening SNAP!

            His body went limp as it was wrenched down through the hole, vanishing into the darkness.

            Kim watched Hinx’s demise with shuddered breath. Of all the foes she had faced in the past, never had she taken out one in such a gruesome manner. Hinx was a vicious, dangerous brute, no doubt; but he was still human.

            “You O.K.?” She jolted when she felt a hand come down on her shoulder.

            Looking up, she saw that it was Ethan, barely able to stand but otherwise recovering. Behind him, she saw Smith and Archer picking themselves up off the floor, both nursing their jaws.

            After taking a breath, Kim told Ethan, “Yeah…I’ll be fine.”

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            Bond’s search for the elusive Blofeld brought him out onto the recreation yard. Once he realized that it was another dead end, he backtracked. That was when something struck his right shoulder – a bullet. Down he went at the center of the yard, bleeding profusely. As his vision blurred, he perceived a shadow that loomed over him. “Cuckoo!” said the shadow caster.

            Blofeld.

            “I see you’ve met my special assassin, James – he fired that shot several kilometers away from the lighthouse on the other side of the island.”

            Bond felt a gun barrel pressed against the side of his head.

            “Farewell, James. I only wished I could’ve—”

            Blofeld suddenly stopped monologuing mid-sentence. Bond felt the gun move away from his head at the same time Blofeld’s shadow had moved from his line of sight. Soon, the gun itself clattered to the concrete. Curious, Bond fought to look up, surprised to see Blofeld being knocked around by Perry the Platypus. “Saved by a platypus in a fedora,” he mused. “As if this day couldn’t get any stranger.”

            One fierce punch to the face from Perry rendered Blofeld unconscious.

            With the head of SPECTRE out of commission (this time, for good), Perry rushed to Bond’s aid. “I’m alright,” he told the platypus. Nodding approvingly, Bond smiled at his fellow Team operative. “I owe you my life, Agent P. Thank you.” Perry returned the gratitude with a thumb-up gesture.

            “Bond!”

            007 and Perry turned towards the courtyard entrance to see Kim and Ethan rush out, accompanied by Smith, Archer, and Big Hero 6. “Careful!” he warned them. “There’s a sniper at the lighthouse, south of here!”

            Baymax faced the direction Bond spoke of, scanning the area with magnified infrared sensors. “I detect no biological signatures from the lighthouse.”

            Bond groaned. “He escaped.”

            “Who did?” Ethan asked.

            “Blofeld’s special assassin,” Bond said. “He’s the one who shot me.”

            “The same one these guys talked about,” Kim gestured to Smith and Archer.

            Suddenly, Baymax notified the group, “There is an object moving very fast towards the island. I believe it is a heat-seeking nuclear missile.”

            “WHAT?!” the others cried.

            “Blofeld must’ve launched while I was chasing after him,” Bond deduced.

            “He’s gonna take out us and San Francisco at risk of massive destruction!” Ethan measured.

            “Baymax, can you see the missile from here?” Hiro inquired.

            “Yes, I can. I can also lead its path away from the island.”

            “No, wait! Baymax, we need to—!”

            Baymax had already taken flight before Hiro could come up with a better plan. Everyone watched as he redirected the missile’s path, generating enough heat from his super suit that the missile couldn’t ignore. Baymax then transferred that heat into one of his gauntlets, steam pouring out from it. Just as he and the missile neared 30,000 feet, Baymax launched the gauntlet from his suit, allowing the missile to pursue.

            Baymax made his descent back towards Alcatraz, just as the missile struck the heated gauntlet, triggering a mighty explosion in the sky that lit like a second sun. The shockwave of the blast scattered nearby clouds – the only casualty.

            There were cheers among the heroes watching from the recreation yard – cheers for Baymax, who saved everyone in San Francisco that day. Those cheers wound down once the group noticed how the trajectory of Baymax’s descent seemed off. No longer was he landing towards the yard but somewhere along the island’s coast. Immediately, Hiro and the others rushed to the crash site – Hiro using the tracker on Baymax’s suit to locate the precise area.

            They discovered him on a beach, his suit broken into pieces that were disseminated all over the shore – only the legs and right arm were still attached to his deflated body. “Baymax!” Hiro yelled, rushing to his robot companion. “Are you alright?”

            “Oh, I’m just fiiiiiiine!” Baymax slurred. “Never b-b-better!”

            Archer cringed. “Why does he sound drunker than I do on a good day?”

            “His battery’s drained – must’ve used up most of it to pull off that stunt with the missile,” Hiro chuckled. “It’s okay. I’ll make sure he gets recharged.”

            While looking on the loopy Baymax, Kim detected something at the corner of her eye. There were black speed rafts and jet skis heading towards the island. At close inspection, she found out they were reinforcements sent by the Team superiors, coming ashore to arrest Blofeld, Steelbeak, and their subordinates.

            Unfortunately, Shego and Drakken escaped via helicopter, mere seconds before they could’ve been apprehended.