The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back

The Adventures of Kid Combat 3:

Jones Strikes Back

*Special EBook Version

Christopher A. Helwink

Copyright October 2009

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Helwink at Smashwords.com

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Chapter One:

Trapped

It was the 8:14AM train from Elmcrest. The
passenger based train carried commuters from the neighboring towns
surrounding Elmcrest to the downtown station – where adults would
get off the train and head to work. There were several trains
throughout the day, averaging twenty minutes between runs.

This train had eight silver train cars that
had a blue stripe down the middle of them. The engine, which was
all blue, showed signs of some age, but pushed the cars along the
tracks with ease. Each of the passenger cars showed the same
age.

It was your typical morning commuting crowd.
Grown ups, of all ages, waited on the platform for the train to
arrive. They sipped their coffees, read their papers, and listened
to their MP3 players. They stood shoulder to shoulder, three deep,
waiting for the train to come.

It arrived about three minutes late today.
The waiting passengers knew the train approached as the bell hung
behind them on the wall started to chime and a red light started to
flash. Then, the gates on the street corner came down.

As the train passed by them and gradually
came to a stop, a breeze was made by the train cars as they passed
by the people. Papers rustled in the wind, faces crinkled, and
women grabbed their hair in protection of their fashionable
does.

After the train came to a final stop, the
doors flung open and the mad dash to find a seat was on. Women
rushed, men rushed, everyone rushed to find a seat to nestle in for
the quick thirty minute commute to the city.

This train, in particular, was an express
train and did not make any other stops after Elmcrest. It was a
straight shot to the city and the quickest of the morning – hence
the big crowd.

As the passengers found their seats and
started up their morning routines, the conductor came around to
collect the daily fares. Most people had weekly or monthly passes,
but the occasional click could be heard by the conductor’s ticket
taker as it punched holes through one way tickets.

As the conductor made the rounds on his third
assigned car, he found it slightly odd to find two small children.
He approximated their ages to be around ten or eleven. To the
conductor it seemed odd that they would be riding the train alone,
without any adult companionship. Seeing two children riding alone
wasn’t something that never happened. There was the occasional time
that you would see one or two children riding on the train –
usually meeting up with their parents or some guardian at the next
stop. But, the conductor found it odd that two cars in a row, he
found two children riding alone together. The last car was two boys
that looked very much alike. This time, he found a boy and a
girl.

As the conductor took Kid Combat’s one way
ticket from him, he looked at him very puzzled. He punched a hole
in Kid’s ticket and returned it to him. He than grabbed Samantha’s
ticket, gave her the same look, and returned her ticket as well.
Without a word, the conductor moved on to the next row of
seats.

“Geez, what’s his deal?” Samantha asked Kid
Combat, under her breath.

“Dunno. Prolly isn’t used to kids on the
train. Whatever, he’s not important to us,” Kid said back. “Let’s
wait a few minutes now, though, just in case.”

“Good idea. I’ll tell the boys,” Samantha
returned.

“No need,” a voice over her earpiece said –
it was Wedge. “Did you forget? I can hear every word you crazy kids
say,” Wedge said one car back on the train, sitting with his
brother, Rocket. Each member of the SOCKs organization was
outfitted with an earpiece and had a communications link on their
shirt collar.

“No I didn’t forget,” Samantha said back
softly. “I just wasn’t to sure you were paying attention!”

“Squabble time is over with boys and girls,”
Kid Combat rang in. “It’s been a long week, time to get this over
with…”

“Right KC,” Rocket said sitting right next to
his brother. “We’re heading for our assignment – we’ll contact you
when we are there.”

“Good. Roller, Gears – you two, ready?” Kid
Combat said.

Back at The Playground – Kid Combat’s secret
base that lied beneath Maple Forest – Gears and Roller monitored
the situation. Sitting at two computer terminals within Main
Computer Lab 1, Gears and Roller glanced over at their monitors,
checking for errors.

“All set here, Kid. You let us know if you
need us,” Gears said back to Kid. Deep down, Gears hoped he didn’t
hear from his four friends – until they were long off the
train.

“Roger,” was all Kid said back to him. Kid
and Samantha got up from their seats and headed further up the car
towards the front of the train. They would need to pass through
several cars before they would reach the front of the train. But,
they didn’t want to get there yet…

Going in the opposite direction, was the set
of twins – Wedge and Rocket. They had a very different objective
then Kid and Samantha. Playing their favorite role on a mission,
the twins were the distraction.

As the twins got up, they headed for the rear
of the train, which oddly enough today, was were the engine of the
train was found. Each carrying a back pack, the twins made it
through the few cars that separated them from the engine. They
opened the doors to the last of the cars and found a seat next to
each other.

Kid and Samantha, on the other hand, stopped
a few cars short of the front of the train. They stood in the small
doorway that connected the two cars. They peered through the
windows on the door and looked for their objective.

Sitting four rows up, and on the left side,
Kid spotted what they were looking for. He tapped Samantha on the
shoulder and as she looked over, Kid motioned without any words.
Sam looked over, spotted the target, and went to open the door.

“Wait,” Kid said to Samantha. Her head jerked
back and looked at Kid. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he
added.

“What?” Samantha said puzzled. “We don’t have
time for fears. What’s up?”

“I don’t know. Something,” Kid continued.
“Let’s check him again before we go.”

“Ugh,” was all Samantha could mutter. The two
members of SOCKs peered through the window again. There, still
sitting four rows up and to their left, was the Boy in Blue.

The Boy in Blue was still a mystery to SOCKs.
Samantha noticed him with the curator a few weeks back – helping
plot the Spring Road Toys break in. Since then, SOCKs had kept
their eyes on this boy.

That had little run-ins with the boy that
wore a blue hoodie and thick silver sunglasses that hid his
appearance since the heist, but his importance to Jones definitely
seemed to increase over the last few weeks – making him a threat.
They needed to find out who this boy was.

“See. He’s there. All alone. Now let’s get in
there before we get downtown and lose him in the crowd.”

Kid was reluctant, but nodded his acceptance
to Samantha’s plea. She reached out, hit the automatic door opener.
It took a second, but the door sprung open. Before either Kid or
Samantha were able to take a step, everything went horribly
wrong.

As the door opened, Samantha peered up and
glanced at the Boy in Blue. She noticed him turn slightly around,
as if he knew they were coming. And, even though he wore thick
silver sunglasses that shielded his eyes from Samantha, she knew
Kid Combat and herself were being targeted.

Samantha stood there puzzled and didn’t move.
Kid Combat didn’t move for another reason. As the door swung open –
Kid noticed something worse than the Boy in Blue. Through the
windows into the next car, Kid noticed a man walking towards him.
He walked very determined and was followed by a row of men walking
two wide and many deep. It was Phillip Arthur Jones and a group of
his body guards.

“Oh no,” Kid exclaimed to Samantha. “It’s a
trap!”

Kid grabbed Samantha by her arm and turned
around and opened the door to the train car behind him. The two
friends walked very quickly through the next car and opened the
rear door, leading to another foyer between train cars.

Two cars up, Jones walked with fierce
determination. The look in his eyes was dead and cold. The
vengeance radiated off of him as he entered the car were the Boy in
Blue sat. Jones stared at the boy and the boy motioned behind him.
Jones took that to mean that Kid Combat was just a few feet
away…

Almost running through train cars, Kid Combat
and Samantha flew down the small walkways between commuters. As
they passed row by row, each of the commuters stared up at the two
kids – wondering what they were up to.

“Abort! Abort!” Kid exclaimed. “Jones. He’s
on the train!”

A few train cars up, the twins got the
message. They turned and looked at each other in puzzlement and
fear.

“What do we do, Kid? What do we do?” a very
nervous Rocket responded back. He started to fidget in his seat as
the anxiety raced through him.

“Nothing. Do nothing. Sit there and act
normal – for once,” Kid said. The rare panic could be heard in his
voice. He turned around to look for Samantha – she was right behind
him. The doors to the next car flung open and the two friends raced
inside.

“Kid, wait…” Samantha stated. “We need a
plan.”

The two friends stopped for a second and
tried to catch their breaths. Samantha turned around, as the doors
closed, and peered through the windows. About three cars up, she
saw Jones and his men still approaching.

“We don’t have much time. The train is
getting close to the station, but I don’t think we’ll make it in
time.”

“Get this door open, Sam – it’s our only
hope,” Kid exclaimed to Samantha. He referred to the side door that
led off the train.

“I’ll try, but I don’t have any tools,”
Samantha replied. She walked over to the circuit box that housed
the controls for the door. With a quick tug, the panel opened up.
In it were an array of wires and screws leading to the doors. A
short circuit, Samantha thought, could override the controls and
force the doors to swing open.

As Samantha tinkered with the wires, Kid
Combat went to the inner door and peered through the window –
looking for Jones. Still gaining ground, Jones was in the
neighboring car and walking faster than ever.

Kid turned and spun towards Samantha.

“Sam, you have about three seconds to get
that door open…”

….earlier that week…

Chapter Two:

Simple Life Ends

It wasn't long after the Heist of Spring Road
Toys that the rumors about Jones started to swirl. Local media
outlets started to link a trail together that put Jones and the
curator of the science museum – Alfred E. Scott – the man behind
the plot to destroy Spring Road Toys – together.

Documents and papers started to surface that
showed the two men in business together. Photographs on websites
showed the two men at various events around town. And, finally,
video of the two was shown on the nightly news that certainly
linked Jones to Alfred E Scott.

Throughout the entire scandal – not a word
was heard from Jones. Still missing from Elmcrest, Jones extended
his stay away from his town and remained silent in the matter.
Jones Industries official comment was “no comment.”

Weeks went by, and as Jones wanted and
predicted, the story died down and focus shifted away from Jones.
It was as if, the whole Spring Road Toys case never happened.

Today, a new rumor started to swirl on the
news reports. A story that was a lot more exciting than the
previously mentioned story. Jones was coming home.

Kid Combat clicked off the webpage after he
started reading the local news report online about Jones coming
back to Elmcrest. Even though the rumors had just started, he had
seen and heard enough – he was not looking forward to the return of
Elmcrest’s favorite citizen.