[b][center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXYfnWRp1Q0]THE MISSION[/url][/center][/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/ZvVKK8D.png[/img] In the grey, wind swept skies above the Kingdom of Ritona, an airship glided through the air, its propellers whirling frantically as the military aircraft drew closer to its destination. Within the plane’s cockpit, three men were seated, including a pilot whose hands gripped the joystick tightly, turning the craft in gradual increments to combat their turbulence. To his side was a well dressed man with grey, messy hair and cold blue eyes garbed in dark clothing befitting the rank of a lieutenant reclined in his seat comfortably. In-between the seated pilot and lieutenant, a soldier crouched on one knee, offered his superior his latest report. “Where’s the girl?” Asked the lieutenant. “In five minutes, she’ll be facing a firing squad Herr Lieutenant,” The soldier nodded. “And the prisoner?” The lieutenant’s hands affectionately stroked the head of his pet crocodile. “Still trussed up, in the cargo hold.” “Excellent. As for ou-” Breaking through the curtains that closed off the cockpit’s canopy from the rest of the craft, a well dressed man in a stylish leather jacket, rugged good looks, chiselled cheeks and majestic coif stepped in; smoking cigarette lingering in his lips as he eyed the three soldiers up. The Lieutenant swivelled in his seat to face the man, his eye twitching at the man's arrival. [img]http://i.imgur.com/nK88dDP.png[/img] “Ah, Ace Capuello. Might one inquire as to how you escaped your bonds?” A sharp, scathing look was sent to his subordinate. “Just had to dislocate both bones in my shoulders, pop them behind my ears, and then slip in-between the ropes.” Explained Ace, to the return of a vicious glare. “Of course it’s going to take major orthopaedic surgery to put them back, but rest assured, that won’t stop me from rescuing the Princess.” The lieutenant sneered. “Gods sake, Mr. Capuello, you’re outmanned and outgunned.” Ace tilted his head in amusement. “You expect me to concede?” The Lieutenant shook his head. “No, Mr. Capuello. I expect you… to [b]die!”[/b] The crocodile in the Lieutenant’s arms groaned loudly to reveal its glistening wet teeth, and Ace looked at it with ever widening eyes. The lieutenant turned to his men. “Care to take him into the hold, take ten minutes to explain to him all our plans to him, and then, ah…” He glanced with a coy smile to the side. “Throw him out of the plane!” The soldier turned, training his pistol onto Ace. In a monotone voice, he simply said one word. “Out.” But Ace was on him in a flash! Tackling the soldier’s arms, and throwing a swift right fist out to deck the soldier in his glass jaw, snatching the fumbled gun and twirling it in his hands. As the pilot turned to shoot Ace, he had already coolly composed himself, lifting the gun up, and shooting the pilot in the chest before the devious man could pop off a shot or two of his own. But then, disaster! As the lieutenant threw his crocodile out of his arms and onto Ace, sending him reeling to a crumple on the ground, his gun sent skidding out of the open door of the plane and into the dark sky beyond. The plane began to drop. With a wide smile, the blue eyed lieutenant lit the fuse of a stick of dynamite, after strapping a parachute onto his back. Walking into the hold, he saw his most hated nemesis wrestling frantically with the chomping crocodile. “Ah, Mr. Capuello! Sorry I can’t stay around for a chat, but I’ve got to [i]blow![/i] Do me a favour though, will you,” He grinned, throwing the stick of dynamite to a clatter on the floor. “And feed Snappy!” Without looking back, he jumped from the freefalling plane, with Ace still desperately wrestling with the crocodile. “Ugh…” Ace moaned. “What I wouldn’t give for a gun…” The crocodile roared in his face, causing Ace to screw his eyes and nose up, as his hands grabbed the beast’s wide jaw in hope of stopping him from biting down. “Or a bottle of Listerine!” The dynamite’s fuse shrunk ever lower, and Ace continued to roll about in a frantic struggle with the crocodile, near to the open hatch. His hand stretched out at the same time, grabbing a nearby piece of rope. Seconds later, the plane exploded in a shower of fire and debris, pieces of the craft raining down from the sky. The freefalling Lieutenant roared in laughter. “Goodbye, Ace Capuello! You were a most worthy adversary!!” He turned his head to look back at the smoking wreckage behind, his laughter echoing on and on. And then he snapped his head back again, doing a stunned speechless double take. [hider=The Doubletake][img]http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/1480913/ace-rimmer-surfing-o.gif[/img][/hider] The Lieutenant reached for his holster, pulling out his prized gun, and immediately began firing, but with each shot going wild. Ace, meanwhile, skilfully piloted his craft to avoid all of the dangerous shots, with Snappy’s jaws latching onto the Lieutenant’s shrieking head. Ace meanwhile climbed onto his body, un-strapping the Lieutenant’s backpack that contained his parachute, for the Lieutenant to drop screaming. Ace fitted himself into the harness and secured himself properly, smiling with one hand on the parachute’s cord. “See you later, alligator!” The parachute unfurled. He descended into enemy lines... --- [u][b]Meanwhile, on the ground below…[/b][/u] [img]http://i.imgur.com/J04LPFO.png[/img] Chained to a wooden post in the middle of the military base’s grounds was a beautiful, voluptuous raven haired woman in a tight, clinging white dress, the hems of it billowing behind her in the wind. Her eyes darted with worry at the men in front of her, all staunch and firm, rifles held at the ready by their sides. At the end of the line was another commanding officer, who bellowed orders at the soldiers to raise their guns, and to aim at the trapped woman in front of them. A chorus of rifles raised in the air with a click, the officer about to give the final order… And then a shot rang out from the sky, hitting the man in the leg and making him fall to the ground, crying for his mother. [b]ACE CAPUELLO![/b] The parachuting Ace began firing at the soldiers, knocking them down one by one as they tried to hit him. One shot found its mark, and Ace gritted his teeth, his face contorting in agony at the gunshot. With a wince he looked down at his jacket, before looking back up with bristling rage. “This is my best top, damn it!” He fired two more shots, before unhooking and releasing his parachute, still at least twenty feet in the air, to drop straight down, and through the roof of a wooden shed. Troops rushing onto the scene surrounded the building, yet another officer giving the command to fire before the soldiers began pumping round after round into the shack, a hail of gunfire and shells bouncing around their feet. After all of the soldiers’ magazines ran spent, the officer gave the order to halt. There was silence from the shed, and with a broad smiling grin he began nodding to himself in a congratulatory manner. And then the doors to the shed burst open, wooden fragments dancing through the air as Ace emerged on a motorbike, driving straight towards the chained princess. From inside his jacket he pulled out his gun, and with careful aim fired two shots at the flinching princess. Both bullets hit against the chains, causing them to fall to the ground beside her, freeing her, at the same time as Ace pulled up beside her. “Princess Selan, Ace Capuello. There’ll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some kissing.” He nodded to the back of the seat, and with a wide smile (“What a guy”) the Princess Selan hopped on. Ace sped on, rounding his way to the base camp’s exit, as another two soldiers began pursuing on their own motorcycles. Ace fired at him, but by now there was no ammunition left in order to fend their daring pursuers off with. He threw it to the side, and squeezed on the throttle, his bike surging forwards with greater speed. The soldiers on the motorbikes behind began shooting again. “Hold on, princess!” Ace commanded. “Please Ace,” The princess hugged his body tighter. “Call me Selan.” Ace fumbled with the buttons atop his bike, hitting one marked turbo. His bike flew through the air, sailing over the high brick wall that was in front of him. The other soldiers watched the vanishing man in wonder and awe, before crashing into the brick wall with a trumpeting explosion. As Ace and Selan flew into the sky, they looked back on the base below, Ace brandishing one of his triumphant quips as usual. There wasn’t a woman on the planet who could resist wanting to make love to him now. Two soldiers harried on the ground below, watching the vanishing couple in the sky. “He got away! I can’t believe he got away!” One soldier exclaimed. The other shook his head. “That was Ace Capuello! We’re lucky to be alive!” Snappy fell on top of their heads, knocking them both out. A final soldier ran to their aid, looking up into the sky, paralysed by the sight above. The exhaust fumes from Ace’s bike had left behind a message, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI]before he and Selan twinkled out of sight.[/url] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/xPFX7zl.png[/img][/center] The soldier gaped. [i]“What a guy.”[/i] [b][center]NEXT: THE WEDDING[/center][/b]