Chapter Thirteen: The Great Escape
"I've had enough of this."
Pizzazz pulled a face, shifting herself into a slightly more
comfortable position.
"I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm bored and I'm stuck with the world's biggest
bore
for company. I want outta here!"
"We both want out of here." Jerrica told her coldly. "But unless you've
some
genius idea to get us out, Pizzazz, we seem to be stuck. Clash has
thought
of everything."
"Damn her." Pizzazz muttered. "There must be something we can do to get
out."
"Oh, so now you're willing to talk about 'we'?" Jerrica demanded.
Pizzazz snorted.
"Only because two heads are better than one, and the Festival is
tonight." She snapped. "I don't like you, Jerrica, but right now I'd
take you over that
simpering creep Clash...how dare she mess with us?"
"Easily." Clash herself lounged in the doorway. "Morning, girls.
Feeling bored?
Never mind. This time tomorrow it will all be over."
"For you too, Clash Montgomery." Pizzazz seethed. "You better damn well
have
a good lawyer behind you, because I'm gonna sue you to the sky for
this!"
"I don't think you will." Clash purred. "Not unless you want all of
America
to know how little me outsmarted and duped you. That would be real good
for
your reputation, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, go to Hell." Pizzazz snapped. Clash laughed.
"Temper, temper." She chided. "Now, you girls behave yourselves, okay?
Zipper's
around, so don't try anything. He has less scruples than I do, as you
should
know."
"Where are you going?" Jerrica asked.
"Just into the bedroom." Clash responded. "Not far, Jerrica, so don't
fret."
She grinned. "I have to work out my next plan of action...when your
bands
don't show up tonight it might be nice to provide a little
entertainment of
my own. Sure, there'll be the Stingers, but they're so mundane and last
week,
don't you think? No, I'll cook up some special fireworks for the show,
make
it unforgettable. I wonder what the papers would say if Jem were
suddenly
to attempt a sabotage of the venue, bare minutes before opening night?"
"Jem's a wimp." Pizzazz reminded her.
"Yes...but I'm not." Clash replied. "And thanks to you,
Pizzazz, I
do a perfect imitation. I mean to ruin Jem and the Holograms for good,
not
just for tonight...and the Misfits too. I want you to remember how
dangerous
it is to cross me!"
"Bah." Pizzazz snorted. "You don't scare anyone, Clash. Just go away,
will
you? We're sick of your face."
"With pleasure. Later, Pizzazz." Clash scooped up her bag, winking at
them,
then disappearing out of the door.
"Creep." Pizzazz scowled.
"So what can we do about it?" Jerrica demanded. "I can hear Zipper's
voice
outside the door...we're stuck, aren't we?"
"Not necessarily stuck." Pizzazz narrowed her eyes. "Listen, wimp. We
got
to get to that concert before Clash can tamper with it and ruin both
the
Misfits and the Holograms beyond repair."
"I know that, but we're tied up."
"Sure...we are right now." Pizzazz nodded. "But maybe..." She raised
her
voice. "Zipper?"
"Whaddya want, Pizzazz, I'm busy!" Zipper poked his head lazily around
the
door.
"I want to go to the bathroom."
"Well tough." Zipper smirked. "You'll haveta wait."
"I don't think you'd be too popular with anyone if you don't let me
go."
Pizzazz spoke in her most demure tone. "Clash let us last
night...what's wrong?
Scared a big tough man like you can't handle little old me between here
and
the bathroom door?"
"Shut your face." Zipper snarled, coming into the room and bending down
behind
her. "I'll take you. Just you better be quick, an' no funny stuff, you
got
me? I can handle you, so don't get any smart ideas."
"Would I?" Pizzazz sounded offended. Zipper scowled at her, reluctantly
untying
her bonds and keeping a close grip on her hands as she struggled to her
feet.
She turned to meet Jerrica's gaze, and the blond understood what her
companion
was doing. Demure as a lamb, the singer allowed herself to be led out
of
the room and along the corridor, not even attempting to put up a fight.
Once
inside the bathroom she locked the door firmly, examining the room.
They
were ten storeys up, and the windows were barred, so that wasn't an
option,
but then she'd ascertained that the night before. What was more
interesting
to her was the shattered glass of the bathroom mirror. Carefully she
lifted
a particularly sharp piece from the frame, examining it.
"Nasty." She said with a half-smile. "Someone could hurt themselves on
that...but
it'll do just fine for cutting rope."
She pulled a length of toilet roll from the holder, wrapping the glass
shard
in it and slipping it into the inside pocket of her jacket, out of
sight.
Then she turned on the taps to conceal the noise, as she clambered up
on
the seat of the toilet itself and peered onto the dusty top shelf of
the
delapidated, doorless cabinet.
"Bingo." She murmured, reaching in and removing a roll of dirty
bandages from
the back. "I wonder if Clash even knows what's in here?" She slid them
into
her pocket too, then grabbed hold of the nearest thing - the scales -
and
carefully unlocked the door, being as quiet as she could.
"Come on, Pizzazz." Zipper's impatient voice came from outside. "Time
to
go."
"Okay, I'm coming, keep your hair on." Pizzazz snapped, pulling open
the
door with her free hand and keeping the scales concealed behind her
back.
Zipper turned to grab her, but she was too quick and she brought the
heavy
object down on his head, stunning him into unconsciousness. Catching
him
before he could fall and make a sound, she deftly pulled his still form
into
the bathroom, pushing the door to behind her. He'd be out for a while,
she
knew that.
Cautiously checking the corridor for Clash, she slipped back to the
room
where Jerrica was still a captive, shutting the door firmly behind her.
"What did you do? Where's Zipper?" Jerrica demanded.
"Taking a nap." Pizzazz smirked, extracting the shard of mirror from
her
pocket and slicing through Jerrica's bonds. "There. You're free...now
you
can quit moaning, okay?"
"That feels better." Jerrica stretched her arms and legs out, enjoying
the
feeling of restored circulation. "But how do we get out of
here...there's Clash still to deal with, remember?"
"Yeah, I know, but it's two on one, ain't it?" Pizzazz replied. "Or
didn't
you ever learn how to fight in school?"
"Never needed to." Jerrica retorted.
"Well, even a wimp like you might be some use." Pizzazz rolled her
eyes.
"Listen, I left Zipper catching z's on the bathroom floor - laid him
out
with the scales - but I dunno how long he'll be out cold for. We gotta
take
care of Clash if we're gonna get out, cos she has the key to the front
door
of this place." She produced the bandages. "I got this in case we need
to
do some tying up of our own."
"Okay, then let's go get her." Jerrica pulled herself to her feet. "We
have
the element of surprise, after all." She frowned. "I don't think we
should
tie her up, mind you."
"Why not? Wimping out?" Pizzazz demanded.
"No...I was thinking ahead." Jerrica snapped. "If we were to tie her up
and
then we got out and went to the police or whatever and they found her
tied
up, she'd say we kidnapped her and it'd be our word against theirs,
pretty
much. There's nothing in the outside world to tie Clash to this, and
noone's
likely to suspect her, are they? We can't take that risk."
Pizzazz sighed.
"Guess you're right. Pity." She said resignedly. "Well, let's go get
the
keys off her anyway. Might as well make some use of our freedom, huh?"
"Sure." Jerrica nodded. "Where do you suppose she is? The back of the
apartment
is what she said..."
"I dunno, but I vote we stick together." Pizzazz replied. "Two on one,
remember?
Maybe we'll scare her into giving them to us."
"Well, you're scary enough for us both." Jerrica muttered, nonetheless
following
the Misfit out of the room and along the corridor. In truth she did not
want
any kind of physical confrontation, but inwardly she felt glad that if
it
came, Pizzazz was fighting on her side this time. The Misfit singer was
a
fearsome adversary in more ways than just music, and though she felt
able
to compete more than adequately in terms of the charts, she wasn't so
sure
how she'd fare if it came to fists.
Clash was in a back bedroom, carefully and meticulously sorting through
the
parts to her Jem disguise, and picking out the right makeup to use. She
did
not hear them enter, and was not aware of their presence until Pizzazz
grabbed
her by the shoulders.
"Got you." She said grimly. "You got some questions to answer, miss
Montgomery."
"How did you get free?" Clash's reaction was a mixture of shock, fear
and
anger. "Where's Zipper?"
"I dealt with Zipper. He's otherwise engaged." Pizzazz told her
quietly. "Now,
you listen to us, Clash. There are two of us, and one of you...and much
as
Jerrica and I hate each other, we both hate you twice as much right
now,
so the odds are not in your favour. You better give us the keys to this
apartment,
or else!"
"Not a chance!" Clash exclaimed. "You're staying here till the
concert's finished
and that's that, whatever you do to me!"
"I don't think you wanna know what I want to do to you." Pizzazz raised
her
fist menacingly, but Jerrica put a hand on her arm.
"No violence - we don't want an assault charge!" She warned.
Pizzazz rolled her eyes.
"I'll assault you in a minute, if you don't get a spine." She snapped.
"Shut
up, Jerrica. We're doing it my way!"
Clash wrenched herself free from the singer's angry grip, pulling the
keys
from her pocket and hurrying to the window, tossing them out before
Pizzazz
could stop her.
"There. Now you're stuck." She said. "You can't go anywhere, either of
you.
So I can't go to the concert and cause a little extra chaos, so what?
Neither
can either of you. I still win."
"Wanna bet?" Pizzazz scowled, grabbing Clash by the arm and pulling her
towards
the door. "We're going to get out of here, whether you like it or not,
and
you're coming with us so you don't cause any trouble."
"What are you gonna do, break the door down?" Clash demanded.
"Yeah, with your head, if we need to." Pizzazz snapped back.
Jerrica rolled her eyes, following on behind, but at the doorway she
paused,
spying something among Clash's disguise that glinted. Curious she
paused
to pick it up. It was a hairgrip, presumably to push Clash's own hair
back
under the wig. A glimmer of an idea formed in Jerrica's mind and she
hurried
to catch her reluctant comrade in arms up.
"Pizzazz, I have an idea." She said. "I found this in Clash's
room...think we can pick the lock?"
"We can damn well try." Pizzazz looked pleased. "Say, you know how to
pick
locks? I can't exactly let go of miss trouble here."
"Sure I do." Jerrica nodded. "You wouldn't believe how many times we
had
to pick the lock on the garage door back home, after Kimber dropped the
key
someplace in the garden. It became a Benton art."
"Neat." Pizzazz sounded approving. "Well, better get on with it
then...we ain't got all day."
"Let me go!" Clash wriggled as hard as she could, struggling to escape
the
singer's grip, but Pizzazz held her fast. "Put me down, Pizzazz!"
"Not a chance." Pizzazz said grimly, as Jerrica bent her energies to
picking
the lock. As she did so, she smelt something strange.
"Can anyone else smell anything?" She demanded.
"What do you mean, smell anything?" Pizzazz demanded. "Just pick the
damn
thing, will you?"
"I am!" Jerrica protested. "It just smelt like...well...like something
was
burning, that's all."
There was a click and the door swung open.
"Well, who cares, we're getting out of here." Pizzazz replied shortly.
"Not so fast, ladies." Zipper's voice came from behind them, and,
startled, Pizzazz loosened her grip on her captive, who took the chance
to dart away into the corridor and away. Pizzazz and Jerrica, no longer
too worried about
where Clash got to made for the open door themselves, reaching it
before
Zipper could reach them. As one person they made for the lift, but
stopped
dead at the end of the corridor, for there was a thick grey smoke
beginning
to seep out through the doors of the lift and along the edges of the
shaft.
As they looked in horror, they saw the beginnings of flames licking
their
way along the base of the walls.
It was Pizzazz who found her voice first.
"Fire!" She screamed.
Chapter
One: Clash
Chapter Two:
Deception
Chapter
Three: On Tour With The Holograms
Chapter
Four: The
Next Stage
Chapter
Five: Jem?
Chapter Six:
Trapped!
Chapter
Seven: An Unlikely Team
Chapter
Eight: Laying Plans
Chapter
Nine: Letter
From The Desert
Chapter
Ten: Jetta's
Hunch
Chapter
Eleven: Some Outside Help
Chapter
Twelve: Kimber's Dilemma
Chapter
Thirteen: The Great Escape
Chapter
Fourteen: Fire!
Chapter
Fifteen: Repercussions and Rock and Roll
Chapter
Sixteen: The End Of An Era
(The Misfits and Holograms and other animated Jem characters are copyrighted to Hasbro Inc. All characters who do not appear in Jem episodes are my own creation. This story is copyrighted to E.A Woolley (2001)