hardy boys fan fiction

TIME SHARE

hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction

by

Hyena Cub

Chapter 7

hardy boys fan fiction

THE CHAPTERS

INTRO

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

“Frank!” Joe screamed.  The leading beast took the older boy down with one pounce, and Joe heard Frank’s cry of pain as the saber-toothed animal landed its front paws on his shoulders.  The beast snapped at Frank’s head, and Frank twisted away with all his might, yanking an arm free, ripping his shirt and the skin beneath on the cat’s talons.  At one second, shock worked its cold way through Joe, the next he was in motion, yelling at the top of his lungs.  He didn’t think, he only envisioned those killer fangs sinking into his brother’s neck, and he leaped as high as he could.

Joe landed on the beast’s back, grabbing the beast’s ears, and cursing as the saber-tooth reared up on its hind legs too quickly for Joe to be able to react.  He lost his grip on the cat’s ears as he shook its head, and before he could even think, jaws clamped on his wrist and yanked him off.  A deep pain sank into Joe’s shoulder as something pulled there, and he flew several yards away, landing on hard concrete.  Stunned, the shock of pain and fear kept him still on the ground for an entire minute, sixty endless seconds during which Joe only heard the impossibly loud thud-thud of his heartbeat in his temples.  ‘Frank,’ he thought groggily, trying to get up.

The sound of the first gunshot was almost painful, breaking through the shock-silence.  Joe winced as two others sounded, and he was able to get his trembling arms beneath him, able to sit up and see what had happened.  Lieutenant Morgan had his gun out, and Captain Thompson had one of the guns they’d borrowed from Security.  The woman was looking surprised (and Joe saw her arm and face were both bleeding), and the lieutenant looked only grim and determined.  The three attacking beasts lay dead on the pavement.

And the others?

Joe staggered gingerly to his feet, stumbling over to where his brother sat on a patch of grass, his teeth clenched and his left hand gripping his right arm; great slashes had been opened there, and blood soaked the sleeve of Frank’s arm.  “It’s okay,” he gritted out.  “Not lethal...if I can stop the bleeding.”

“Hold on a sec – lemme go get the first aid kits.”  Joe ran for the Hummer, taking a quick glance around to see who else was hurt.  Thompson didn’t seem too bad, and Morgan hadn’t taken any injures at all.  McDougal had hidden behind the Hummer itself, and was untouched, and Joe felt a certain contempt for the man.  One of the other scientists had been hurt as badly, maybe worse, than Frank and was being tended by her colleague.

“That – that was amazing,” McDougal whispered as Joe awkwardly rummaged through the Hummer with his left hand.  His right shoulder throbbed so badly he could barely use it, and he held it tightly against his body.  Joe ignored the man, grabbing the first aid kid and running over to Frank with it.  He ripped the case open and found plenty of gauze, tossing a few packages over to other scientists, who nodded their thanks.

“Thanks, bro,” said Frank in a low voice as Joe began to wrap his arm as tightly as he could.  Frank helped out where he could, so that between the two of them, they got the job done quickly.  “You okay?”

“Few scrapes,’ said Joe, grimacing as he looked at his bloodied knees and elbows, felt the scraping burn on his side and back.  “Man, road rash – why couldn’t I have landed on the grass, or better yet, in that water?”  The bite marks on his lower arm were only superficial, as the beast was wanting only to throw Joe off of him, not make Joe into its meal.  They still hurt, however!

“Hiram....”  It was the scientist tending to the injured one.  The man’s face was dead white, and his expression was grim.  “They’re right.  We’ve got to destroy the black hole.  This...this isn’t what we wanted to happen.”  The injured woman was nodding her head wearily,  taking in big breaths as she struggled to calm herself.  Joe found that he was doing the same thing.  It was always like that after action; once the danger was over with, he got the shakes, and that’s when the real fear hit.  It didn’t make sense to him, but it was true.  Frank grasped his uninjured arm, and Joe smiled a little. 

But Frank was shaking, too.

For a few moments, Joe actually thought McDougal was going to protest, even after two of them had nearly gotten killed by beasts from a time period modern man was never meant to see.  But finally he only sighed and nodded, gazing miserably at the ground.

“Let’s get back to the lab,” said Thompson, “and we can see about some more extensive medical treatment – I dunno if the hospitals are in our patch of preserved time – but I’m sure the lab has better resources than we do.”

McDougal assured them that the lab did have some good first-aid supplies, and that once they got back, he’d see to helping tend the wounded.  ‘Finally,’ Joe thought.  ‘About time you did something of use!’

Frank and Joe shared the backseat of the pink Hummer and said nothing as the vehicle pulled away from the shattered ground.  They leaned exhaustedly against one another, and Joe had nearly fallen asleep by the time the vehicle stopped, and Captain Thompson woke him with her voice.  “Time to wake, Joe...we’re here.”

The first order of business was to get everyone as well-tended as they could.  No one’s injuries were critical, but Frank’s and the female scientist’s were serious enough.  Still, neither of them wanted to go rest somewhere while the others worked on fixing their problem. 

Next, Thompson and McDougal got into the food stores of the lab and made a quick meal for everyone, for they were all extremely hungry after their adventure.  Joe was glad of the food; he felt far better once he got a hamburger into his gut.

“All right,” said McDougal quietly once everyone had been fed.  “There is a safe way to destroy...the black hole.”  Joe felt sorry for the man, even now, for it was clear these were the most difficult words the man had ever spoken.  “Even real black holes don’t last forever.  All that energy spinning around eventually begins to spin itself out, and it just...fades.  And when we made this...we also had designed a method for spinning it out.”

“It only takes a few moments,” added the wounded female.  “Well actually about a half hour.  But not long, either way.”

That sounded just fine to Joe!  He had had enough of weird science and land-based astronomy!  “Well then, let’s get this over with, huh?” he said tiredly.  “Because I’d really love to get home.” 

McDougal nodded unhappily and stood from his chair.  “Follow me.”

** ** **

Five minutes later, all of them once again clustered around the miniature black hole, peering inside as the male scientist went to one of the computers and began punching in commands.  “He’s altering the magnets and air pressure,”  explained the female  scientist.  She was leaning heavily on a nearby supplies cabinet, watching with weary eyes.  “So instead of holding it in place, it sorta pulls on the edges, spinning it around, slowly taking its substance.  It looks like a slow process, but it’s so tiny that it doesn’t take very long this way at all.”

Joe watched with only vague interest; at that point he just wanted the whole, stupid thing to be over.  Adventure was one thing, but he had had enough of this particular journey.  McDougal stood nearby, watching unhappily.  For fifteen minutes he stared, his eyes bright, looking as if he might cry.  Finally, it happened – Joe should have suspected it might – the man cried out and lunged for his colleague at the computer.

“No!” cried McDougal, grabbing the man’s hand and yanking him half on the floor.  Joe ran over as the scientist gave a surprise squawk and tried to pull away, but McDougal was beyond all reason.  When Joe tackled him, groaning with pain as he landed on his injured shoulder, McDougal began to wail as if Joe was trying to slay his firstborn child.  “You can’t, you can’t!” McDougal wailed, fighting Joe with every bit of strength he had.

“Some help!” Joe bellowed, but help was already there.  Lieutenant Morgan was there beside him, grabbing McDougal’s arms and pinning him gently but firmly to the floor.

“That’s enough now, doc,” said the lieutenant as McDougal’s colleague picked himself up off the floor. 

Teeth clenched, Joe also picked himself off the floor and looked at the man.  “Go on,” he gritted, holding his injured shoulder tightly.  Gods, it hurt!  “Get this thing over with.”  The man nodded, looking shaken, and sat back down.

For the next ten minutes, McDougal wept, and Lieutenant Morgan didn’t let go of him.  Everyone else was silent, Joe and Frank shoulder to shoulder, and the others watching the little black hole.

When it happened, Joe scarcely knew it.  He felt only one thing, a split-second of intense nausea....and then blackness.

Joe stopped in his tracks, blinking, and grunted as Frank collided with him from behind.  Joe grimaced in pain, a phantom ache shooting from his right shoulder, but he couldn’t explain it.  He hadn’t hurt himself in football now in ages, and nor had he and Frank had any difficult cases of late. 

Stopped in the middle of the short hallway that separated the kitchen from the living room, Joe simply stood, feeling utterly bewildered.  Had something happened?  He looked down at the CD in his hands, a CD he had just gotten, and intended to listen to once he got up to his room.

“Uh, Joe?  Had you any intentions of moving any time soon?”  Frank’s voice, both amused and exasperated at the same time.

Joe turned around dazedly and moved aside with a mumbled apology.  Something had happened!  Frank couldn’t feel it, but Joe did, having always been the more sensitive of the two when it came to hunches and instinct.  But what?  Already the phantom pain in his shoulder faded, and he could not remember what had stopped him in his tracks.   But it had been something!

But Frank did not move on just yet.  “You all right, Joe?” he asked, real concern in his voice.

Joe shook his head violently, hoping to clear the heebie-jeebies out of it.  “Yeah, I’m okay, Frank,” he said with a laugh.  “Goose walked over my grave, I guess.”

Frank chuckled and clapped Joe on the shoulder, then walked on into the living room.   Their father called that the news would be on soon, but Joe was not the slightest bit interested.  He only stood in the hallway for a few moments before finally shaking his head and taking in a big breath of air.  When he’d held it for about ten seconds, he let it out again, feeling a little better.  Whatever it was had passed, and now he had a CD to listen to.  Shrugging he headed up the stairs.

“Hey, Joe!”  Frank, calling him back.  With a strange feeling of deja-vu, Joe came back down to see what Frank was watching; it was some sort of news report about black holes.  And for some reason it left Joe feeling cold by the time it was over with, especially when their dad said they’d be taking a case regarding a missing person from the same lab that was featured in the news report.

Normally Joe liked creepy things, but this was more than creepy.  This was a warning sign that their lives could be in danger.  But then...when were their lives not in danger on a case?  And so when their father asked if they were interested, Joe said that he was.  But he never got it out of his head, that something was not quite right.

The case itself was a snap.  The missing person had not been kidnapped or murdered, he had simply overreacted to a very small incident and hidden out in a hotel for two days, without making contact with the people from his lab.  No bullets, no assassins, no car chases....   In fact the man, a scientist named Hiram McDougal, was grateful the boys had found him.  And once the boys had contacted McDougal’s lab and told them what was going on, they were able to make their way home.

And so, hours later, Frank and Joe were stuck at the Omaha airport, Eppley Airfield, waiting out a vicious thunderstorm.  Joe had the crazy notion at one point that the storm would not end, and that they would be stuck there forever...but of course that was ridiculous.  In fact, almost as he had the thought, a radio report from someone’s Walkman announced that the thunderstorm warnings had been canceled.

“Thank goodness,” Joe murmured, looking uneasily out at the diminishing rain.

Frank looked at him steadily from the chair next to him, looking extremely worried.  “Joe...are you sure you’re okay?  You’ve acting really weird this entire case...almost since we first saw the news report.  You’re not getting sick or something are you?”

Joe took a deep breath and turned to face his brother.  “I dunno, Frank,’ he said.  “It’s just...this weird feeling.  Like something was going really, really wrong.  But I couldn’t tell you what, or where it came from.”  He hissed out his frustration and clenched his fist.  “I hate that!”

Frank frowned, unsure of how to reply.  Joe knew his brother respected his feelings, but normally Joe was at least able to describe them or explain them a little better.  Finally Frank only shook his head.  “Well, I guess we just keep a watch, make sure we don’t let our guards down.  We’ll be home in a few hours.”

That was true!  It was a thought that cheered Joe immensely, because the feeling just wouldn’t quit.  The feeling that they would never get home again.  When the captain of their flight, a woman named Jennifer Thompson, came out to apologize for the delay, Joe felt his heart just about leap out of his throat.  “1966,” he murmured, though he had no idea whatsoever why.  “They were from 1966, and they were shocked that there was a woman pilot....”

Frank looked more worried than ever.  “Who are you talking about?”

But Joe could only shake his head; whatever instinct had made him murmur the words was fleeting, and Joe couldn’t hold onto the thought, no matter how hard he tried.  “I don’t know, Frank,” he said, suddenly feeling very tired.  “I have no clue.”

The feeling didn’t abate any time soon.  Not even when they announced over the loudspeaker that their flight would be leaving in a half hour did he relax, nor when he and Frank were sitting in the uncomfortable airplane seats, flying several thousand feet above the ground.  Only when the plane began to approach New York did the feeling begin to ease, letting up completely once he and Frank were safely in the terminal. 

Joe suddenly laughed aloud, making Frank blink tiredly and look at him.  The older boy smiled.  “Better?” he asked.

“Definitely...definitely better.  Guess it was just the heebie-jeebies.  Come on, let’s get the blazes home.  I could use about eight hours of sleep.”

Fenton was there to meet the boys, waiting for them in the main terminal, and after hugging their father, the boys began to tell them of the case.  “Easy,” said Frank, describing how they’d only had to question half a dozen people before finding McDougal.  “He just got paranoid, is all.  But you might wanna check out that lab in Missouri, after all.  They might have been a little...overeager in their offer to McDougal.”

“I’ll do that, boys,” said Fenton as he steered the car onto their street.  “ And good job.  Easy or not, you got the job done.  Now get some sleep.  We’ll see tomorrow what we can find out.”

Neither boy protested as the car pulled into the garage, and they both stumbled out of the vehicle.  Joe grumbled that he felt like an extra in Night of the Living Dead, which had both Frank and Fenton laughing.  Joe even laughed himself.  It was pathetic, but true!  He intended to sleep for an entire day.

The next morning, Fenton greeted them at the breakfast tale with the news that the Missouri lab had checked out clean, and that Fenton had talked to the man responsible for McDougal’s paranoia.  “Didn’t know a thing about it,” said Fenton with a chuckle, biting into an omelet.  “In fact he was surprised he’d intimidated McDougal at all.  Seemed like a nice man to me, and both he and his lab checked out just fine.  Let’s hope that McDougal doesn’t get any more offers to share his work – we might get called in to unearth a murder plot or something equally dramatic.”

Frank chuckled, and Joe rolled his eyes.  But he was glad that the whole thing was over, anyway.

That night, the Hardys all sat in the living room, watching the evening news. Mid-America Physics and Astronomy was featured again, this time with a report that chased away the last traces of Joe’s heebie-jeebies.  Cori Fletcher was back on the screen, the scientist who had first talked about black holes to the newscaster’s audience.  “Yes, we have shut down the black hole project until further notice.”

“And why is that?” asked the reporter.

“Well, as you might know, a violent thunderstorm came through the area last night, and there were some funnel clouds sighted.  None actually touched our facility, but we had some very...strange readings on our sensors.  We realized that if something unexpected were to happen, we wouldn’t be able to predict the results.  And storms are largely unpredictable.  And of course our work is also very unpredictable to begin with.  So...until we’re able to find out more about black holes, we’ve decided to put the project on hold.”

Joe could not explain the soaring relief that spread through him when he heard that.  He slumped on the couch with a deep sigh.  Yes.  That was best.  Shut down the project before something horrible happened.  Joe had a sudden, nightmare image of a lightning bolt skewering a little black hole (which looked in his vision like the black hole from that old Disney movie), and spreading destruction in an ever-widening radius.  He shivered at the vision, shaking his head.

Finally he laughed.  After all, what were the odds?

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