Chapter XVIII – Ball Buster

Two more drones flew through the air and Cherry gave the ninja a high five.  Hung and Swung passed a drone between them using violent and forceful blows.  Cruel smiles lingered on the Lo brothers’ faces as they relived old times of fighting together against incredible odds and winning. 

The drones were starting to thin out now, the better fighters defeated and now only the fiercely loyal were left, but against an assassin, a ninja, an agent and a dead man walking they were no match. 

But then the confident group heard a sound like rolling thunder, like hundreds of footsteps all marching or running at once.  At the back of the landing they could see a flood of men come storming up onto the floor – a second army, but not one of them screamed the battle cry all to often heard ‘For my love of Swallows Gladly!’.  From these men there were a multitude of shouts that were similar, but made no mention of the mistress of seduction.  Instead shouts of ‘For my love of Henrietta Willi!’, ‘For my love of June Owe!’, ‘Geeva Goodhead’, ‘Emma Royds’ and ‘ For Natasha Rollmiover’ for these men were broken by and loyal to the Vixens and they had been summoned to the aid of their mistresses. 

“This must mean Bond has passed the Vixens if they now call for re-enforcement’s.  We must not let them pass!” cried Cherry. 

The invaders were hard pushed now to keep back all the loyal drones of the Vixens, the shear weight of their numbers forcing the four backwards up the staircase, until only room enough remained for a single fighter to hold back the horde and into this role fate placed Bond’s ultimate enemy; Hung Lo. 

But now with the return of his brother, Hung Lo’s hatred for Bond had faded and he fought like a lion to give Bond the time he needed to make sure that Swallows could never take Swung back under her will. 

Bond hurried up the winding staircase, taking two steps at a time.  A cold breeze blew against the bare portion of his chest that the now ripped ‘smart’ suit jacket did not cover.  Every five steps or so Jools had to turn to his left to keep with the twisting staircase.  It grew lighter and then Bond had reached the top of the mountain.  He stood out in the morning light at the peek of the summit.  From where he stood, the mountain appeared to him and was not in the least invisible, but to a spectator viewing the mountain from outside, it would appear that Bond was floating in the air. 

Jools stood in what could be described as an old lookout tower.  The floor area was about five meters square and from the roof hung to gigantic spheres, each about two meters in diameter.  They were a dark metallic grey and as Bond neared one of them he saw that it was gently vibrating.  001 placed a stained hand against the smooth surface of the ball and felt its cold hardness.  This had been the cause of so many men’s unshakeable dedication to Swallows Gladly and her dreams.  In a few moments, Jools Bond would be their saviour and allow them to begin the rebuilding of their lives. 

Jools reached into his pocket and withdrew the tiny z-bomb.  He would only be able to attach it to one of the Thunderballs – but would that destroy the other too?  Bond’s eyes twinkled and he had an idea.  There was a slim gap of about five or six centimetres between the huge balls before him and so slipping his hand between them and into the slit, Jool’s pushed his knuckles against one ball, then slapped the z-bomb down hard on the other.  In the next few heartbeats, Bond’s fingers moved in the way that aided him in the defeating of Swallows Gladly and he worked the z-bomb, stretching it out to connect to both of the Thunderballs.  This had taken Jools precisely two seconds by his count giving him a full eight to make his escape from the tower. 

Bond all but threw himself down the staircase, bouncing from wall to wall and five second later he was passing back into the room where a glistening Swallows Gladly still lay under the watchful eyes of her Vixens. 

“GET OUT!” screamed Bond “This whole place is about to-”  A huge explosion cut Bond off in mid sentence and the Vixens began screaming in panic. 

Hung forced his aching arms to block yet another blow, but the impact never came.  Looking at the man before him, Lo waited for a response.

“What have I done?” questioned the man in a grief stricken tone. 

Behind the man, Hung could see all the other men in a state of confusion and then the very walls of the mountain began to shake.  Panic struck the crowds of men and scooping up their wounded and fallen comrades, they fled downwards and towards the bunker exit.  The Thunderballs had been destroyed and now men that were once drones reached the floor of the maze and one cried “What shall we do?  We cannot pass through the maze quickly!”

I was one of the mazes’ builders, leave it to me!” answered another.  With that the man ran into the little control room and opened the computer terminal’s flip top keyboard.  Beneath it was housed a huge red button which the man wasted no time in pushing.  As he did, every single mirror and sheet of the bullet proof glass in the maze shattered with a smashing sound so loud that it echoed throughout the entire mountain. 

Crunching the broken glass under their feet, the former army continued its run for freedom and safety. 

Bond scooped up Swallows in his arms and ran with her back out behind the Vixens, through the door and back down the staircase.  He heard a commotion ahead and then shouted onwards for his friends to let the Vixens pass and to follow them out of the mountain.  As Bond gave his orders a little black pussy brushed past his leg and shot down the staircase, passing all in front of her. 

Back in Swallows’ room, the ceilings crumbled and what had once been the two mighty Thunderballs crashed through and into the Domain of Domination’s inner sanctums.  The weight of the rubble and debris was a huge mass, the Thunderballs’ casing having been made of more than they appeared and together with the foundation shaking blast now began to collapse the Domain of Domination from the top down.  Each floor began to cave in and collapse upon the one beneath as the mountain crumbled.  With each landing the mass and the weight of the debris increased, penetrating down into the very depths of the fortress. 

In the jungle without and a safe distance from the crashing rock, Bond dropped Swallows to the soft ground and turned to look at the destruction he had caused.  Looking about him, Jools visually accounted for all those that had helped in his adventure.  The Lo boys were together, Hung resting a hand on Swung’s shoulder as they watched the mountain come down.  Behind them, heads hung humbly, stood the four members of the Death Squad. 

What was this?  The ninja and Cherry holding hands?  And that look in her eye – Bond knew well such a look coming from a woman and he smiled to himself as his eyes searched for Arthur. 

001 saw that 009 had with him a prisoner in the form of Harry Muff and was taking great enjoyment in intimidating him, poking and prodding Muff with his fingers.  At their feet lay Wayne King, still out cold. 

The Vixens were now being ignored by all their former drones, who passed them without even a second glance.  They were returning to their lives and their loved ones.  Bond noted that several of the Vixens were now in tantrums as sulking, they came over to try and wake their mistress.  Geeva reached down and grabbed Swallows’ pussy, holding it tight to make sure the poor thing did not get forgotten and taken by the jungle. 

Jools walked over to the Lo brothers and asked them what happened to the last missing person; Legs O’ver. 

“She was not on the floor where she had fallen when we left.  Perhaps one of Swallows’ men carried her out?” voiced Swung. 

Bond looked about him “Perhaps, but I do not see her about now.”

A smile crossed Hung’s face “Don’t worry Bond, I’m sure you will see her again.”

“That’s what worry’s me!”  Bond looked into Hung’s eyes and saw them clearly now, unclouded by hate.  “Well Hung,” he began cautiously with a look in Swung’s direction “Now that Swung is with us once more, do we still need to settle our account?”

The Lo bothers looked at eachother and then with lightning speed they both punched Bond in his toned gut, lifting him off of his feet and dropping him to his knees.  Then just as quickly the Lo’s helped the agent back to his feet and steadied him.  “Account now paid in full” Hung said smoothly. 

“Just don’t run up another bill!” added Swung. 

“Don’t… guard… scum…” Bond wheezed between breaths. 

“Hmm,” grunted Hung “don’t worry about that, we’ll not be protecting anyone whose morals are questionable again.  Besides, I think we’re due for a holiday now anyway.  Take care of yourself Bond, you are an honourable man.” 

“You too Hung.  See you around Swung.” 

The former bodyguard chuckled and answered “I hope not!”