2 Chapter 2: Secret Bunker

Ella was lying on her bed, exhausted. The hotel had made her verify herself as Ella Jones. Once her card was accepted, the hotel had apologized for the inconvenience and given her her suite. But that was after 2 hours. But the room was nice. It had a kitchen and an enormous bed with a TV. She has been lying in bed thinking about how to get her parents back. But all her ideas required somehow infiltrating the kidnapper's base. She didn't know who these people were, much less where they lived. She chewed her lip. They probably had a nice rental house somewhere with all of their things. Ella sighed. Perhaps a walk will help me clear my mind. She put on a hoodie and walked out the door.

Ella had always loved the outdoors. Not for the nature and beautiful things, but because of all of the amazing creatures that lived there. The first time she remembered seeing a bird, 4 year old Ella had asked her dad Why can they fly and we can't? She smiled as she remembered his response.

Well, they evolved with wings and we didn't. But you know we do have?

What?

We have big brains. And I am certain that one day you will invent a device that can give humans wings so they can fly too.

Ella had gone home and made a blueprint for a holographic jetpack. Computers on either side of the machine made it look like two flapping wings and the jetpack spread out to accommodate the space being shown. Her idea one first place in a middle school championship. Also, nature was not only a great place to find inspiration, it was a great place to make those ideas come true. Ella had made many of her drafts from things she found outside - pieces of metal, pebbles, sticks - to make her drafts of machines. It was a much less costly approach than buying parts from a hardware store. As Ella walked down the sidewalk, she saw people hurrying down the street. They were in all black, and Ella recognized the first one to be Screech Owl. This is my chance to find my mom and dad. Ella followed them down the sidewalk, keeping just enough distance away so they didn't see her, but close enough that she could see what they were up to. They were walking together, whispering frantically to each other. Some minutes later, Ella had arrived near an enormous oak tree in the middle of a park. The two knocked on one of the knots and a little hole in the ground opened up to reveal a ladder going down into the darkness. Ella made a quick note to find out how to make a secret entrance like that.

Soon, Ella arrived in an enormous underground bunker complete with rows of computers on the walls and shelves lined with tiny devices. The room had a modern look to it, and was made of quartz. Ella smiled gleefully. This was the best place she had ever been in. Ella looked around carefully. Even if it was super awesome, it was still an enemy base. There were two technicians typing on computers, but other than them it was empty. Ella pursed her lips. The chance of her being able to take out to grown men in a 7 by 7 foot space was extremely unlikely. But I could use one of them as a hostage... Ella looked around for a revolver. Even a knife would work. She spotted a black and blue machine on one of the shelves next to her. It looked relatively simple. There was a trigger and a hole for the bullets to come out. She grabbed it silently and cocked it at the bigger technician.

"If either of you move or make any sort of noise I am going to shoot him." They froze and slowly turned around to face her, hands above their heads.

"I want you-" Ella nodded her head at the smaller technician "-to give me all the info on prisoners. I want a list of where they're kept and I want their names. The man nodded and printed out a sheet of paper with different times, places and names on it. Ella smiled sweetly.

"Thank you mister." Keeping the gun pointed at her chosen hostage, she took a bag and filled it with different gadgets and machines. When she was finished, Ella climbed up the ladder as fast as she could. Apparently the two men were still in shock because it took them about 30 seconds to sound an alarm. By then Ella had reached the tree and was running back to the hotel.

Ella felt elated. The devices she had picked up in the underground bunker were amazing. She had found a manual hidden in the bottom of the bag and was carefully examining her haul. The first thing Ella had done when she got home was search for trackers. She had read about spies getting caught by having trackers on them. The same thing was not going to happen to her. Ella opened up the booklet and searched the table of contents. The first thing there was the same revolver she had used to threaten the technicians. She flipped to its page. It was titled "The Deadeye" and apparently it was long range and had something called an "aimbot" so basically you never miss unless the person has a shield or moves out of the way super fast. Useful... Ella skimmed the booklet until she found something called "The Transmitter." It was supposed to grant you telepathy so you could communicate with someone else through brainwaves. But it wasn't finished. If I can complete it, I can talk to my parents! Ella got to work right away and examined the device. The first problem she ran into was that she didn't have any blueprint on the thing so she couldn't see how to complete it or find out what it was supposed to look like. The second problem was that she didn't have access to many of the parts required. Again, without a blueprint, Ella had to guess, but from looking at the thing she couldn't recognize any of the pieces. Ella frowned. Well, I suppose I can ask around for parts. For the blueprint I could see if there is a scanner in the bag...? She sighed. Well, it's time for bed. I'll figure it out in the morning.