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So, here's chapter five. Enjoy. _______________________________________________________________________ RESCUED RANGERS - Chapter V: The Prisoner Polka

Gadget was the first to wake up when the effects of the gas finally wore off. She sat up slowly, groaning. Her head felt as if a regiment of ants were marching through it. Her throat was so dry she coughed several times after taking a deep breath. Looking around, she quickly realized she was inside a small animal cage. Against one metal wall was a watering tube. Staggering to her feet, she clumsily made her way over to it and drank nearly a full eighth-ounce of water. It helped clear her mind, allowing her to focus on her immediate surroundings.

The cage had three, solid metal walls, a wire-mesh ceiling and a solid, metal floor across which was strewn a thick carpet of shredded newspaper. The entire fourth wall was designed to swing open and was made up of a series of vertical metal bars, each a tenth of an inch apart. Gadget estimated that the cage measured some 10 inches across, 12 deep and 7 high. By jumping, the mouse was able to grab the wire mesh ceiling and pull herself up, but it was no use. The mesh was a heavy steel gage she could neither bend nor chew through.

Dropping back down into the shredded newspaper, Gadget noticed for the first time her clothes and goggles were missing. Though not naked, thanks to her fur, she felt uncomfortable. She spent the next several minutes hand weaving a short tunic from the scraps of paper. In the process, she came across the newspaper's date. That, combined with the relatively fresh smell of the ink, led her to conclude she had been unconscious for at least a day.

Going back over to the 'door,' she examined the rest of the room. There were two sets of four shelves, a number of sinks and several closed cabinets. Other cages lined the walls, some bigger, others smaller than hers. Gadget could smell the faint odor of chemicals, but she could see no obvious bottles. For all intents and purposes, the room appeared to be a storage area for lab animals. She'd seen this kind of thing before and had no desire to be experimented on.

"Hello?" she called out into the silence. "Can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?" Silence greeted her for several seconds before she heard a low groan.

"Crikey... Ya think you could turn the volume down a bit mate? My head's pounding like a didgeridoo."

"Monty? Is that you?"

"Gadget luv! Good to know I'm not the only one here." It sounded as if the Auzie's voice was coming from the left, about one shelf down "Can you see any of the others?"

"No," she replied. "I just woke up a few minutes ago. You have any idea where we are?"

"Aside from being someplace unpleasant, I haven't the foggiest clue." Monty was silent for a moment. "Any chance you could whip up something to get us out of here?"

"No, not unless there's something I can use hidden under all this paper. Wait a moment and I'll check."

For the next few minutes all Monterey Jack could hear was Gadget shuffling through the paper in her cage. It stopped, only to be accompanied by a small sigh.

"Nothing," She muttered in frustration.

"It's pretty much the same down here. Luv," the Auzie rat responded. "They even took me favorite shirt and jacket." He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a hiss. "Who's that?"

"Monty... Gadget? Are you alright?"

"Chip!" exclaimed Gadget. "Where are you?"

"I think I'm in the cage just above yours. See if you can see my hand."

Pressing her head against the metal bars the mouse saw a small, brown paw waiving above her cage. Jumping up, she grabbed the overhead mesh and reached out with her own hand. Stretching, she could just barely feel the chipmunk's fingers brush against her own. She almost felt like crying. "I can't reach any farther."

Chip could hear the anguish in Gadget's voice. "It's okay. I'm here and we're going to get out of this mess. We've done it before."

"That we have!" came a rather squeaky voice from Gadget's right. "There isn't anything or anyone who can stop the Rescue Rangers."

"Is that you Dale?" Monty called out.

"I hope it is. If it's not, then it's someone else who I don't know."

Gadget though she could hear Chip face palm himself above her.

Another voice joined in the chittering chorus. "Dale, honey, are you okay?"

"Foxglove? Where are you?"

"I don't know exactly. One second, let me find out." There was a moment of silence, then a very high pitched squeak that seemed to echo unnaturally around the room. This was followed by a sharp hiss of pain.

"You okay Foxie?" asked Dale, concern in his voice.

"Yes... it just hurts to ping when you have a headache. Best as I can figure I'm two shelves down from you and four cages over, right under Monterey. Gadget's in the second cage from you on the same shelf, Chip's just above her

"Where's Tammy and Curtiss?" asked Chip.

"Not here," the bat answered. I don't remember if they were on the pier with us when the gas grenade went off."

"What about Tito?"

"I didn't ping any cages large enough for canines, even one as small as him. He's probably being kept somewhere else, along with Kim and Ron. Rufus is in the cage next to Dale, but I think he's still knocked out."

"Great," Chip grumbled. "We lost the client."

"Crikey mate, we didn't loose anybody. He's just been sorta misplaced."

"I think we should be thinking about how we're going to get outta here, first," Dale suggested.

"Point taken," said Gadget. "Anyone have any ideas?" There was an uncomfortably long silence after that.

"No one?" asked Dale.

"Give me a minute," said Chip. "My head's still a little fuzzy from the gas."

The sound of a door opening and closing in the next room drew everyone's attention immediately to the room's entrance.

"Quick," hissed Chip. "Everyone, make like a possum!" The Rangers quickly flung themselves into the shredded newspaper and lay quietly. Gadget yanked her makeshift tunic off and chucked it into a corner before burying herself. The only part that stuck out was her tail. A moment later the door to the storage room opened and two figures walked in.

"Well, here they are, sir," said a tall, gangly man with unkempt, ebony hair and a thick, black moustache that filled his upper lip. He was dressed in a white shirt with a string tie and a long, white lab coat. The man who accompanied him was quite different. Though shorter, he still cut an imposing figure with a thick, barrel chest that tapered into a pair of stocky legs. He wore a dark, pin-stripped suit, dark colored tie, and had an aura of power about him. His head was wide, wider at the chin, and his eyes were small and intense.

Examining each cage, he paused for a moment, staring at the trapped Rangers, poking at them one at a time with a long, thin prod so they would move enough for him to examine each one closely.

"I only recognize two of them; the chipmunk, there, and that mouse. The others I don't remember at all."

"Well, they were all caught together, along with that Possible girl and her friend down on the pier; and they had the circuit card," the mustached technician said.

"Yes... I saw the video. They made rather short work of Drakken's minions. These are definitely not your ordinary rodents."

"I was thinking they might be examples of Pendergast's one of ten-thousand theory."

"Or they might be another collection of escaped lab animals. First, Africanized bees, than that whole NIMH fiasco. Sometimes I think you scientists are rather careless with your toys." The two humans turned to leave, the taller one opening the door for the other.

"Well, rest assured sir," the technician said. "These cages are fool-proof. You don't have to worry about them causing you any problems. I'll personally oversee the lab work on them in the morning."

"Nothing is fool-proof. Just do the job you are being paid for and don't foul it up. Now if you will excuse me, it's time I had a few words with Miss Possible and her friend." The door closed behind them.

"Golly," whispered Gadget as she crawled out from under the newspaper scraps. "Did you see who it was?"

Chip nodded. "Aldrin Klordane! We haven't seen him since he was sentenced to seventeen consecutive life sentences in prison."

"But how did he get out?" asked Dale.

"Don't know, mate. But it looks like he found himself a replacement for Professor Norton Nimhnul."

"That could be bad... especially if he's twice as competent and half as obtuse," Gadget replied.

"Sorry I'm showing my ignorance, but who is this Klordane guy?" asked Foxglove.

"He's a crime lord of the first degree." Chip said. "He even faked his own death so he could run his crime empire without worrying about the police. The only person who didn't believe he was dead was a detective named Donald Drake."

Dale picked up the story at that point. "When Klordane found out, he had Drake framed for theft. Chip and I got involved because we were fans of Drake and his partner. Not only did we finally clear him and help bring in Klordane, but that was the case where we met Monty, Zipper and Gadget. You might say he brought us together as Rescue Rangers for the first time."

"Yeah... We had a great time bringing that bloke in. It was also the first time we bumped heads with Fat Cat and Nimhnul."

Monty was interrupted by a chittering sound coming from one of the other cages, followed by a strangely pitched, "Ho boy!"

"Sounds like Rufus is awake," observed Gadget.

"Let me fill him in," Foxglove offered. She then spent about two minutes chittering. She was quickly answered, and there ensued a furious chittering exchange between bat and rat. "Rufus is worried about Ron and wants to know how were going to get out of here and find him; and Kim of course."

"That's what I'd like to know myself, said Chip, scratching his head.

Foxglove leaned against the bars and tried to look up towards his cage. "Well, if it helps there's a vent in the ceiling that leads into the A/C system. "

"Crikey! How'd you know about that?" Monty asked.

"I discovered it when I pinged the room. The sound couldn't travel very far up the shaft, but it's there."

"Okay, now that we have an exit, how do we get to it?" asked Gadget.

"Maybe someone could use telekinesis to unscrew the vent cover," Dale offered.

"What did I tell you before about believing those comic books?" Chip asked in frustration.

"Hey, if it works for Mysterio the Master Mink Mentalist why wouldn't it work for us?"

"Fine," Chip replied acerbically. "Why don't you give it a try? You're the expert."

"Okay... I just might do that," the hamster said. "Now everyone be quiet so I can concentrate."

Everyone except Foxglove face planted as Dale started to mutter his own unique chant. At least the relative quiet might give them a chance to think of a plan. The chanting went on for several minutes before Chip finally reached the limit of his patience.

"Dale! This is never going to work..."

Suddenly, to everyone's astonishment, including Dale's, one of the vent cover screws suddenly dropped free and clattered across the linoleum floor.

"Golly! It's working!" Gadget gasped.

"Keep it up Mate! You're doing a Gonzo job, whatever your doing."

"Yeah... Uh, sure! Right! Now for the next screw..."

Before Dale even had a chance to finish the second screw had dropped free. As they watched, a third, and then a forth screw fell to the floor. The plate shifted and slowly began to lower itself to the floor. Attached to the plate was a small magnet to keep it from falling. A thick piece of white string was tied to the magnet, allowing it and the vent plate to be lowered gently to the floor. A moment later a small head with a reddish colored braid dangling upside down popped into view.

"Tammy!" everyone collectively gasped.

The young squirrel shushed them, and then set about her work. Using a pair of tiny suction cups tied to her feet, she planted herself upside down next to the A/C duct. She then pulled out one of Gadget's own gizmos and, aiming carefully, fired a suction dart at the wall above the Ranger's cages. Another dart flew out the back and stuck to the opposite wall. Pressing a button on the device, she took the slack out of the line. Tammy then grabbed it to make sure it was taut, untied the suction cups from her feet, and swung out, pulling herself up until she was balanced above the line gripping it with both her paws and feet. Once she was sure of herself, she quickly scampered across until she was over the shelves containing the trapped rangers.

Uncoiling another string she had draped across her torso, she tied it to the first line and dropped it onto the top shelf before sliding down it. The first cage she reached was Monty's

"Crikey girl, that was one gonzo bit of acrobatics there."

Tammy shrugged casually. "Wasn't much, just something that runs in the family." She pulled a rather long pin from her hair and inserted it in the cage's lock. She worked it around for about half a minute and was rewarded with a sharp click. The small padlock popped open and the cage door followed.

Pulling a second pin from her hair she gave it to Monty and told him to open some of the other cages. She then clambered down and repeated the process for Foxglove. Within five minutes, all the Rangers and Rufus were freed. Tammy then carried Dale, Chip and Gadget, one at a time, across to the open vent on her back. Foxglove carried Rufus in her foot paws up to the vent while Monty worked his way down to the floor and over to the vent plate. In the process he scooped up the cover screws, then stood on the plate as it was carefully hoisted toward the A/C duct It stopped just short of the ceiling so Tammy could retract the suction cup darts from the walls before hopping on the vent cover as it was raised back into position and the screws replaced.

Making their way up to the roof, they found Curtiss handling the business end of their lifeline. A full moon had just risen and city lights threw much of the rooftop into an odd pattern of shadows. Seeing Gadget, the cybernetic falcon scooped her up and hugged her in his wings. "Mommy! You're safe!"

The mouse smiled in return, "Yes I am; we all are thanks to you and Tammy!

"I hate breaking up the reunion, but we still have a case to solve and a client to rescue," Chip reminded everyone.

Tammy looked at the others. "Then it's a good thing I spent the last twenty-four hours scouting the place out through the ventilation system." She pulled several sheets of paper out of Curtiss' saddle-bags and unrolled them in front of the others. She then reached into another saddle-bag and pulled out several vacuum sealed bags, each containing the Ranger's clothing. "I also found these and retrieved them for you while I was scouting one of the labs."

"How'd you avoid the security cameras," Chip asked. I know there weren't any in the storage room, but they had to be all over the place. Klordane's too smart not to have them in key areas."

She pulled a bunch of paw-sized discs from her pockets. "I used my suction cups to walk around on the ceiling and planted one of these on every camera I saw."

"Golly," Gadget remarked. "Magnets!"

Monty smiled as he pulled his turtleneck shirt over his head. "That's what I call intrepidatiousness above the call of duty." He wrapped a friendly arm around the squirrel. "Maybe it's time we promoted this Shelia from Probationary Cadet to full Ranger."

"It's definitely worth considering, once we're back at headquarters," Chip said.

"Aw come on, Chip" grumbled Dale. "What's wrong with a good old fashion field promotion?"

"There's a time and place for everything," snapped Chip

"Yeah, and this is the time and place.

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!"

"GUYS!.... Can we focus here?" Tammy, Gadget and Foxglove squeaked in chorus. Even Rufus joined in, chittering out what sounded like a quick expletive.

The hamster and chipmunk looked at the diminutive figure in puzzlement.

"He says we have other priorities here," Foxglove translated.

"Uh huh!" the mole-rat confirmed with a nod.

"Besides," Tammy said, "I'd have to get my mom's permission first."

"Right... Okay then lets get back to work," Chip said. Everyone huddled close over Tammy's diagrams of the building. Tammy pointed out two basement rooms. There were cells in each, big enough for large animals or humans.

"So what is this place exactly?" Gadget asked.

"It's one of Professor Nimhnul's old haunts," Tammy explained. "He use to do a lot of animal based research here before he went a little wacky and hooked up with Klordane."

Chip looked over at the young squirrel. "Klordane's going all out with this place. I mean look, bunk rooms, mess hall, communications center, at least three labs, weapon's lockers. It looks like a fort in there. Even if the police knew where he was, they'd need a regiment to dig him out."

"You're not far wrong," said Tammy. "This place use to be a National Guard armory dating back to the Civil War. That's why there are holding cells in the basement. The one marked 'A' is where Kim, Ron and one or two others who crossed Klordane are locked up. 'B' is where Fagan and his dogs are being kept."

"That's a good bit of recon work, lass," Monty said. But how'd you find all this out in just 24 hours AND map out the building?"

Tammy went back over to Curtiss' saddle bags and pulled out a rather large, rectangular object. "I had some help."

"GOLLY! That's Kim's communicator." Gadget said.

"Yes... And it about time I checked in again," She laid the device flat on the surface of the roof and punched in several numbers. There was a brief, four note ring tone and the face of a small, slightly round human kid popped up.

"Hey, Wade... What's the sitch?"

"Hi Tammy! Wow this is so weird it's cool. I still can't believe I'm talking to a little squirrel."

"Watch the 'little' comments. I'm almost three years old and just as much a teen-ager as your friend Kim, so that makes me older than you."

"Right... sorry no offense." Wade replied. "I'm all patched in to Klordane's systems and ready to spread a little mischief on your mark."

"Good," said Chip. "I've got an idea."

TO BE CONTINUED...