1:00 am
Before Mego could alert Hego to his presence a door was thrown open and Hellpike entered, smiling. “Time for another round of everyone's favorite game -- You Bet Your Life. Who wants to play? Will we have the lovely lady as a contestant this time?”
“I'll play again,” Hego said weakly.
“Sorry, Miss, but he selfishly wants another chance at freedom. All right, you know the rules. Three questions right in a row and I turn you free. Miss one and you burn. First question, what is the average annual rainfall in the capital of Paraguay -- within a hundredth of an inch.”
“Uh, twenty-seven point four inches?”
“If you're going to guess you should at least do it with hundredths the way I told you.
“But for playing another round of our little game we have a lovely parting gift,” and the small flamethrowers built into his costume blasted fire at Hego.
Hego closed his eyes and held his breath as best he could. He knew Hellpike wanted to hear him scream in pain, but Henry was too stubborn to give Hellpike an easy victory -- his pride demanded he resist the flames as long as possible. Eventually he knew he would have to breathe, breathing in the flames would be agony and bring Hellpike his 'victory' and Hego would get another brief rest before the next round of the game.
Mego was afraid of getting physically ill as he watched his brother being tortured. He wanted to do something, but realized that a premature attack would only get him killed and not do Hego any good. He had to rely on the near invulnerability which had kept his brother alive so far to keep him alive until more help arrived.
Matt had two vital jobs to perform. One would be to get a sense of the building layout in order to plan the rescue. But before the others arrived it was vital that the tank suits be taken out of commission. Hellpike's flames would be hard enough to deal with; they didn't want to face those tanks on legs.
The initial versions of the suit had been little more than an improved version of medieval armor. The current version really was a several ton tank on legs, with the wearer seated in the body compartment. The depleted uranium casing was impervious to blows even from Hego. And while the two arms were not capable of refined movement they were capable of smashing open a wall of reinforced concrete, and the weapons array: gas, small rockets, machine guns, and lasers, was probably more deadly than those in a real tank.
Mego's job would be to disable the Tank suits before anyone else could arrive. Another thankless job that would go unnoticed and unappreciated when Hellpike was defeated. Those who brought Hellpike down would be congratulating each other, but if Mego didn't lay the foundation for the attack now they could all go down in defeat.
At his smallest size the distance to the tank suits was about a two-mile hike for Mego. At full size he could have jogged across the floor of the old factory in eight seconds, but he had to stay small enough to avoid any security cameras Hellpike might have. He also wanted very badly to let Hego know that help was on the way, but it was more vital to get his job accomplished quickly and get back outside to brief the rest of Team Go on what they were up against.
Mego started his trot across the floor, skirting pieces of rubbish that appeared to be as large as hills while he was in his small size. The first suit appeared to be the 'normal' one with space for an operator inside the unit. Mego had no idea how the suits worked, but he had total faith in the theory that if you pulled enough wires and disconnected enough hydraulic cables it wouldn't work any more. The second suit had some sort of large device in the space where a normal operator would have worked the suit. It would also be scrap when he finished.
Ron and Shego were finding it hard to concentrate on their own jobs. The fact George had called to say they had a strong lead said it was important enough to take priority over any other searches. They didn't know how to interpret almost an hour of waiting without any word. Surely they should have heard something by now -- either a confirmation of the location or the news it was no longer under investigation.
George took the call from Mego. The whoop of joy he let out woke up Ed who came into the main room of the Tower. “What's up?”
“Mego has found Hego. He's finishing reconnaissance. He wants the Wegos and Shego to meet him at an address about a block away. I need to go get Kim and take her there. Can you call Ron and Shego and tell them where to go?”
“Sure, if you give me the address.”
“Sorry, here it is. Al, could you call the police and tell them what we know?”
“Uh, not really. I'd appreciate it if one of you called the police while I stayed off camera.”
“Oh, sorry, wasn't thinking.”
Ed spoke up, “Is there any chance we could get you to go along on the rescue? It would be nice to have someone with a knowledge of first aid.”
Dexter hesitated just a second, then answered, “Sure. Hell, I've seen it through this far. I'd like to see a happy ending.”