He currently found himself on that mission. The Boy in Blue was in a room with no markings and void of any furniture. The walls were silver in color and the back wall was round in shape. In front of him sat a keypad that was on a small round post about three feet in the air. The device, sitting here, in this particular location, would have baffled most people as to the importance. But, to the Boy in Blue, he almost expected another layer of security. After all, it took him about an hour to find the hidden touchpad that was nestled against the back wall of the last room. And that was after about a week looking for it. Before that, it took him about two weeks, when he knew it would be safe to search for it, to find the small, hydraulic elevator hidden amongst the trees.
The Boy in Blue stood at the keypad that was the last security measure before entering into The Playground. Ever since he followed Roller back to Male Forest, and ever since he watched Roller guide his way to the group of trees out in centerfield of the ball field, the Boy in Blue became obsessed as to what could be inside that group of trees. And he was one security check point away from finding out what it exactly was.
The Boy in Blue reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a device that had a few wires hanging out of it. He carefully put it on the ground and went back in his bag and pulled out a screwdriver.
The Boy in Blue, very gently, applied the screwdriver to the first of the set of screws attached to the keypad. He would need to take them out in order to access the vital electronics inside the keypad. As he worked, the Boy in Blue made sure he did not harm anything. He knew he would have to put everything back together so perfectly that no one would suspect he was there.
The four screws came out without any issues. The Boy in Blue lifted the keypad off the base and turned it upside down – exposing the wires, and set it back down. He then took his device off the floor, attached its wires to the keypads wires, and hit the START button.
Mathematical equations and numbers started flashing rapidly on the display screen of the device. A few lights also flashed on and off. The Boy in Blue waited for a few moments for the device to hack into the keypad.
The numbers on the display screen stopped and settled on 083082. A green light also appeared in the upper right hand side of the device. A few seconds went by, and nothing happened – not what the Boy in Blue anticipated. He looked puzzled at the device, then at the keypad, but then he heard a loud knock from the back wall. He looked up, and as he did, the wall started to move.
The Boy in Blue didn’t expect what was being presented in front of him as he never made it this far before. For weeks he struggled to access The Playground, all failed attempts. Today seemed to be his lucky day.
The back wall slid completely open and The Playground opened up before him. Although the Boy in Blue had no idea what he was looking at, he knew he had just made a huge discovery.
Acting quickly, the Boy in Blue removed his device from the keypad, and reassembled it. He packed up all his belongings, and moved through the secret entrance to The Playground.
It was dark inside and very hard for the Boy in Blue to see anything. He reached into his pocket and produced a glow stick. With a quick cracking of it, it sprung to life and produced ample lighting for the Boy in Blue to see the amazement of The Playground.
He walked through the room known as RD1. His footsteps rang hollow throughout The Playground. The Boy in Blue proceeded with great caution. Not only did he not know what this place was, he did not know if anyone was inside. He reconsidered his glow stick for a moment, thinking that might give him away, but continued on with the light to guide him.
As he reached the back wall of RD1, he took the right hallway, leading him by Gears’s workshop and the other rooms tied to a member of the SOCKs organization. The Boy in Blue quickly glanced into each room, paying them no mind – and continued on.
He made his way through the hallway, all the way to the back, and turned left into the main conference room. As he walked in, he noticed the large window that led into the computer lab.
Retracing his steps a bit, the Boy in Blue found the door leading into the computer room, and opened it slowly. The room had a slight glow from all the electronics and their lights flashing on and off. The Boy in Blue, as he proceeded in, put his glow stick in his pocket, and closed the door behind him.
He walked right up to a computer terminal – which turned out to be Gears’s – and started typing away. Gears had exceptional security on all his systems, but this one had the most. The tightest firewalls, the most anti-viruses, and security passwords for each folder, hindered the Boy in Blue’s search.
The Boy in Blue looked around the computer for quite some time – hoping to find a way in, but he never could. Each folder he tried to enter, each directory he searched, all had such tight security on it, it would take him hours to crack in. The Boy in Blue deciphered, he didn’t have that kind of time.
In a last ditch effort to find something of any importance, the Boy in Blue opened the Garbage folder and peeked around the discarded files. It seemed that security wasn’t installed on this folder – as the Boy in Blue found himself access to a few files.
He skimmed through them, and to his disappointment, one by one proved to be of little use. Old schedules, discarded calendar entries, and junk emails were all he found. Until he came across one file labeled “blueprints.pic”.
As the Boy in Blue double-clicked on the file, a drafting program was opened and the file produced what appeared to be the blueprints for the very structure he was in. In some great detail, the screen showed the dimensions of every room, what the rooms were called, and even was labeled “The Playground”.
Still unsure of who this structure belonged to, or what it was even used for, the Boy in Blue sat back, studied the blueprints in detail. He then stood up, and walked around the room – looking for any clues on where he might be.
He rummaged through a few folders, looked around a few cabinets, but couldn’t find anything besides the word “SOCKs” plastered on just about everything. And then, above the two computer monitors, a red light started to flash. The Boy in Blue looked up at one of the side monitors and noticed heat signatures – about six of them – entering into the group of trees above him. It appeared the owners of this facility were coming home.
The Boy in Blue scrambled quickly. He dashed over to the computer that had the file open of the blueprints, and closed the program down. He then produced a USB flash drive, inserted it into the slot on the computer, and proceeded to copy the blueprints.pic file onto the flash drive. He grabbed the flash drive, and proceeded out of the room, and back down the hallway.
At this time, the members of SOCKs were riding the elevator down one at a time. The friends waited for one another in the hallway and went to checkpoint two in a group.
The Boy in Blue hurried across RD1. He ran back up to the wall which opened up – exposing The Playground to him. There, he waited against the wall.
Kid Combat was the one who entered the security code to open the wall up. He put in his six digit code and the group of friends waited as the back wall opened up. As it did, the six friends descended out into the darkness.
The Boy in Blue pressed up harder against the wall. He waited in the shadows and prayed the shadows would remain as the wall opened up. He wasn’t so lucky. As the wall opened up, the shadows the Boy in Blue were hiding in, slowly melted away by the light. Knowing he would be spotted in a second by whoever was coming through that door, the Boy in Blue retreated behind the pool table in the corner of the room.
Gears was the first one through the wall. Next was the set of twins, followed by Roller, Sam, and finally – Kid Combat. The Boy in Blue hid anxiously behind the table, unable to see any of the figures as the walked deeper into the room.
“Turn the lights on,” one of the figures said – it was Rocket. As the group of people moved further into the room, the Boy in Blue moved around the side of the pool table, inching himself closer to the exit. He looked u
p, above the pool table for a moment, and saw approximately five to six figures walking away from him. He could tell that they were children – due to their size, but couldn’t make any of their faces out. Knowing he would be caught for sure if he stayed here much longer, the Boy in Blue left his hiding spot and made a dash for the door.
The Boy in Blue walked at a very brisk pace – keeping his eyes bouncing back and forth between the door that was suddenly starting to close, and the group of people walking further away from him. As the group went down one of the hallways, the Boy in Blue made it out of The Playground – with no one seeing him.
Chapter Eight:
Accepting Control
“Hey, that’s weird,” Gears said out loud as he sat down to his computer.
“What’s that?” asked Roller.
“My computer is on,” Gears said back.
“So?” Roller stated as he started typing away at his console. “It’s always on.”
“Yea, I know. But, it’s on-on. I mean, it’s not in sleep mode. We’ve been gone for hours. The screensaver’s not even on,” Gears questioned. He started to type away on his keyboard and ran some quick checks. As he did, he thought about why his computer would be in this state. He continued to type away and then made a discovery.
“This isn’t right, Roller,” Gears said. “Get Kid in here.”
“I’m already here, what’s up?” Kid said entering into the room behind the two boys. Gears spun around in his chair and faced him.
“It’s my computer. Something’s wrong. It says I accessed the blueprints file just a few minutes ago.”
“Well that’s certainly odd,” Kid said in a carefree manner. “Why would it do that?”
“I don’t know,” Gears said puzzled. “But, that’s what it says.”
“Keep looking into it, Gears – make sure you weren’t hacked into. Roller, come with me – I want us all to discuss what’s going on with Jones.”
Kid Combat and Roller left Main Computer Lab and assembled with the rest of the SOCKs alliance in Main Conference Room. Gears stayed behind and looked into his computer issues.
The rest of the members of SOCKs were already in Main Conference Room. They sat around the table as Kid and Roller made it over to them. Before Kid could even sit back in his chair, the talking began.
“What do you think Jones has planned for Maple Forest?” Rocket asked of the group. He was very fidgety in his chair, even for Rocket.
The rest of the members of SOCKs were no better off. All of them – including Kid Combat – had great concerns of their own. Jones had infiltrated not only their school today, but threatened one of the last remaining parks in Elmcrest with so called “improvements”.
“I don’t know which one to worry about more,” Samantha started, “the fact that Jones is coming to Maple Forest, or those awful uniforms he’s trying to get us to wear.”
“Do you think we can stop Jones before school starts in a few weeks, Kid?” Roller asked.
“We have too. We can’t let the school systems fall to Jones. If it does – nowhere will be safe for us,” Kid said. He then turned to Samantha. “The uniforms are the least of our worries, and the chances of those coming about seem to be slim. Too many kids will be against it.”
“What do you think his plan is then?” asked Sam.
“Jones wouldn’t get into the schools just to get uniforms with his logo on it. There’s something deeper going on here. Maybe he’s hoping I would panic at the press conference and try something. I don’t know. But you can be certain, that this isn’t the only thing he wants. He will try to actually take over the schools somehow.”
The mood in the room went from bad to worse as the kids sat in silence around the table picturing their own worst fears in their mind.
Kid’s was of going to a school called “Jones Elementary”. He could see himself sitting in a classroom being taught math by an employee of Jones Industries new “School Division”.
Roller had the fear of working in the computer lab at school. But, instead of working on a school project, or maybe a script to be used at The Playground, Roller saw himself working for Jones and Jones Industries to crack into computer systems around Elmcrest – either crippling them or stealing from them.
Samantha’s mind kept going back to that dress. That horrible, ugly dress that Jones threatened she would have to wear. There was no way, in her mind, that she would go to a school that enforced such a hideous dress code.
The visions kept running through the members of SOCKs. They were all startled out of them suddenly when Gears came running in the room.
“Kid!” started Gears as he burst into the room. It awakened Kid from his daydream. Kid looked up at Gears, who was in an obvious state of shock.
“What is it?” Kid asked of him.
“I found out what was wrong with my computer,” Gears said. He sat down on the table, and started typing away on the laptop computer on the table. Gears turned the projector on and attached it to the computer. He then accessed the surveillance feeds of inside The Playground.
“These images were taken right before we entered into The Playground – just now,” Gears said. He double clicked on a file. As it loaded, Kid and the rest of SOCKs turned and watched the screen.
There, they saw what Kid Combat hoped he never would see. The images were a bit blurry and fuzzy due to the darkness of the room, but they clearly showed a figure, inside The Playground, that was not a member of SOCKs.
“No,” Kid Combat said in almost a whisper.
“Who is that?” Roller asked. “Can you enhance it?”
“I already did,” Gears said. He closed down that file and opened another. It took a few seconds for it to load, and the members of SOCKs waited in suspense.
The images returned to the screen. It stated off dark once again, but after a few seconds, things lightened up, and the Boy in Blue became clear to the members of SOCKs.
“What?” Wedge said. “How did he get in here?”
Kid Combat couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Somehow, unknown to him, the Boy in Blue figured out where The Playground was and worse yet – how to break into it. Kid Combat sat there shaking his head.
“How did he get passed our security?” Roller asked.
“I don’t know,” Gears responded. “We don’t have any external surveillance set up.”
“But, but – how?” was all Rocket could say.
“This is terrible. How could this get any worse,” Samantha said. She buried her head into her hands.
Kid Combat sat and thought. Everything he had worked for seemed to be in jeopardy. Not only was Lincoln and the rest of the schools in town under attack – now his secret base – his former secret base – was under siege.
“Did he take anything or find anything out?” Kid finally asked of Gears.
“All I can find is he downloaded the blueprints for this place. It seemed he was only here for a minute or two. I don’t think he got much else,” Gears replied.
“It was a set up,” Samantha said – finally raising her head from her hands. The boys turned and looked at here. “Jones. His press conference. This whole thing was a charade. To get us out of here.”
“I don’t think Jones in that smart,” Wedge butted in.
“You saw it today, they were together,” Samantha continued, paying no attention to Wedge. “At the parade – he sat right next to Jones. They must know something. Do you think Jones and this boy have known about this place for awhile?”
No one answered. The room was silent and all the eyes in the room turned to Kid Combat.
“What do we do, Kid?” Rocket asked of him. Kid looked over to him – and then around the room to the rest of his band of friends.
“We need to find out who he is. They obviously don’t know who we are, or they would have come right after us. We need to find out what this boy knows,” Kid stated. He then turned to Samantha. It ate him up inside, but Kid knew what he said next had to be done.
“We have to put off fighting the uniforms for now. We have to accept Jones’s control of Lincoln for now. We have to protect ourselves.”
“We can’t!” Samantha yelled.
“We have to. In order to protect ourselves, we need to let Lincoln fall to Jones for now. We still have time to save Lincoln, but for now, we must find this Boy in Blue. He could ruin things for us. We need to find out who he is,” Kid said harshly back.
“I can’t believe this. I just can’t,” Samantha said. She stood up from her chair and started to storm out of the room. She got about two feet from the door, when Kid called out her name. She stopped in her tracks, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
“I know you are right, Kid, to let Lincoln go,” she said. She opened her eyes, and turn toward Kid. “Once this is over, we’re getting it back. We’re getting all the schools back.”
“I promise you, Sam,” Kid said. “We will.”
“Hey, I just thought of something,” Rocket spouted. “If this kid just left here, maybe he’s close by?”
“That’s true, lil brother – we can go after him then!” Wedge said with excitement. He jumped out of his seat and almost ran for the door.
“If he did just leave a few minutes ago, Gears and I should be able to find him pretty quickly,” Roller said.
“We’ll get topside, radio us when you find something,” Wedge said as approached the door of the room. “Don’t worry, Kid, we’ll find something. Let’s go little brother!”
“Ugh. Here we go again,” Rocket added as he got up from the table and tried to follow his brother down the hall and out of The Playground.
Chapter Nine
The Chase
Finding a boy, dressed in all blue, wearing silver sunglasses, and a hood half covering his face, was surprisingly an easy task for Gears and Roller. Following the heat signature as he left The Playground, Gears and Roller were able to plot out an estimated course for the twins to follow.
The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back Page 4