THE ZILLIONAIRES XVII

(Criminals In Europe 2: Eric & Ryan Jr. Go On A Mission)

Eric Carter was in his room planning with his favorite cousin, Ryan Jr.. They were planning on scaring the living daylights out of their sisters.

Eric and Ryan had made some really good ideas. So far, they had come up with making fake bodies, pretending to get killed, pretending to be ghosts, and pretending to be horrible monsters.

"Ah ha!" Ryan said, "We could make them go out into the forest and we’d make scary noises! We could also use some of the creepy lights Dad made."

"That’s another good idea."

"Thank you." Ryan stood up and took a bow, "Also, we could drop things on them like fake blood, fake guts, or fake bodies of people and animals and monsters. They wouldn’t get to sleep for a year!"

"That is a very good idea."

They planned for a while longer, and ran out of ideas. "Well, I guess that this list is long enough. Let’s go ask my dad to help us build this stuff."

"All right!"

They went to Ryan’s dad Ryan, who was on the Internet playing "Lands Of Lore: Guardians Of Destiny" with his younger brother Keith, and asked him if they would help them build the stuff.

"Sure thing." Keith answered. They all went to Keith’s lab and went to work.

In few hours, the fake bodies were made. There were 13 all together. The bodies were of Keith, Eric, Ryan, Ryan Jr., Allison, Andrea, and some of there friends.

"This’ll scare them." Ryan said.

The bodies were taken to Ryan’s house and put in the kitchen in various positions. Then Eric, Ryan, and Keith put knives in them and put fake blood on them too.

Keith called Allison and Andrea and told them to come to his house. When they came, everyone got into the large pantry. Then Keith called Andrea Juniorette and Sarah, who were at the mall.

"Come on home. We’re throwing a party. It started 15 minutes ago. Some of our friends are here too. We’ll be in the kitch-AAAAHHHHHH!!!" Keith screamed and smashed his watch Radio Watch L-X.

"Oh, no! Sarah exclaimed, "What happened?!"

"I-I don’t know!" stammered Andrea. They rushed out of the mall, dropping all 13 of their huge shopping bags. After getting in the limo, they went home and went into the house. It was as still as death.

They walked into the kitchen and screamed, "AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" when they saw the bodies. They screamed and screamed and screamed.

"Do you think that we scared them enough already?" Keith asked.

"No way! Let’s let them suffer for just five more minutes." Eric said.

"All right. You’re the boss of this operation."

A few minutes latter, Eric though that the girls had had enough.

Everyone quickly jumped out of the pantry and shouted, "GOTCHA!"

The girls screamed again and Sarah shouted, "You, you scared us to death!"

"Uh, duh." Eric said sarcastically. Sarah and Andrea got so mad that they both punched Eric in the nose.

"I don’t think that we should do this again." Ryan said as he got up rubbing his bloody nose.

The next day, Keith asked his brother Ryan if he wanted to go race their motorcycles on the trails. Ryan agreed.

They got there motorcycles and took off. Ryan and Keith hadn’t used the trails in a few months. They were overgrown with vines. Keith wanted to ride anyway.

While they were riding, they came to the giant haystack. They raced up the ramp at the same time and flew off and over the haystack.

Before they came to the end of the ramp though, Ryan’s front wheel hit a rotted part. It caused him to turn left, towards his brother!

"AAAHHHHH!!!" They screamed, as they hit each other and crashed into a small tree. Both of them broke some bones.

Keith broke hit right leg in two spots and he also broke his fifth rib and got all bruised up.

Ryan broke his left leg and broke his right arm. Bruises covered his whole body.

Through pain and though trial, the hurt brothers managed to crawl home. When Ryan Jr. saw them, he called the paramedics. They came and took them to the hospital.

The whole family went to see them. Keith and Ryan were in O.K. condition, but they would be in casts for almost two months.

Three weeks after the accident, Martine called and told Keith and Ryan that the criminal population in Europe was growing faster than unemployment rate. They had to get as many of them as possible.

Keith and Ryan explained that they couldn’t go on this mission, but that they would find some replacement. They tried to find replacements but they couldn’t. Finally, they had use their last resort. Their boys.

"Do you really think that our kids could do the job?" Ryan asked.

"Sure I think that they could. If they are as good as I think they are, they’ll capture all of the badguys in a month." Keith answered.

"But they might get hurt."

"So will a lot of innocent people if we don’t do something soon."

"I guess you’re right."

"Thanks for agreeing with me."

"No problem. Let’s do it."

Keith called his son, "Eric?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"I really need you to go on this one mission for me."

"What did you say? It sounded like you want me to go on this mission for you. Would you please repeat what you have just said?"

"I said, ‘I really need you to go on this one mission for me’."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes I am."

"But you can’t be! I’m to young for all of this super-hero stuff! I’ll never be able to do all of this criminal stuff that you can do!"

"No buts about it. You’re fifteen. This mission has to be done, and I can’t do it."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I’m sure. If you go on this mission, I’ll even let you have an RX4000 to use."

"Really?"

"Yes. But don’t get killed."

"O.K. Dad. I’ll do it for you."

"Thanks for understanding."

"No prob."

Ryan had the same conversation with Ryan Jr..

The next week, Ryan and Eric took off and flew to Europe. They landed at Rome and searched for badguys.

They searched and searched, but they couldn’t find so much as a pickpocket.

Then they got lucky. A young gypsy was trying to get to a man’s wallet by distracting him with an old newspaper that he had gotten out of a trash can.

The two cousins walked over to the gypsy and tapped on his shoulder. When he turned around, Ryan pulled out his stunner and aimed it at the kid.

"All right." Ryan said, "You’re under arrest. Put your hands on your head now. Don’t you dare make me use this thing on you."

"Never!" said the gypsy. "Guys!"

Eric and Ryan looked around and saw about fifteen other gypsies closing in on them. They couldn’t shoot them all, so they ran away and were chased by the shouting robbers.

The Colosseum was just ahead, and that’s were they went. The robbers split up and started looking for them.

Ryan and Eric got in their planes and silently watched the gypsies rom the air. They were everywhere. Then Ryan shouted over his megaphone.

"All right you punks! Get down on the ground and put your hands on your head. After you regroup."

Twelve of the robbers got together and put their hands on their heads and got down on the ground. Eric kept an eye on them while Ryan looked for the others.

He found one and stunned him with a painful laser. He was taken to the twelve others. Then Ryan quickly found the other two and put them with the other thirteen. All of the gypsies were put in a big cage in the back of Ryan’s plane. They were taken to the Juvenile Detention Center.

Ryan and Eric flew to Pisa and this time, they found crime there. What had happened was, some woman had went into the Vatican and had stolen a priceless artifact. The artifact was a special stone tablet from 7,000 years earlier. Then the lady had gone into the tower and had threatened to blow it up if some tried to get her.

"We’ve got to stop her!" Ryan cried.

Eric and Ryan flew up and thought for a second. Ryan and his cousin had the same thoughts. ‘If I was hiding out, I would probably watch the door to see if someone would try to get in. So what we should do is silently land on the roof and take her by surprise.’

They landed on the grass and used their Hover Boots to fly to the roof. The opened the old door and quietly walked down the stairs. They were old and dusty.

When they got to the third floor, they heard a scratch. Eric and Ryan pulled out their stunners and crept forward. As they reached the end of the stairs, they saw the lady. She was looking at the artifact.

There was no better time, so the Carter kids jumped out and stunned the lady in the back. She fell to the floor, unconscious. Eric and Ryan retrieved the stone and took it back to the Vatican after the took the lady to the Carabiniere.

Everyone was shouting and cheering. All of the people were rushing up to them. Some of them asked for Eric and Ryan’s autographs.

Then they left and spent the night at a hotel in Vincenza.

Once again, they found no crime.

The day after that, the cousins flew to Paris and once again looked for crime to put an end to. There was none, so they got their portraits drawn and went to the Eiffel Tower.

Then they saw that a man was on it, threatening to blow it up with a bomb!

"Oh no!" Ryan cried.

"Let’s get him." Eric said.

Eric and Ryan raced up to the middle section of the tower. After hot-wiring the elevator they went to the very top of the tower.

As it turned out, the man had put a bomb each of the four legs of the tower. They were controlled by the radio controller in the man’s hand. If he detonated the bomb, there would be no way for the people to get off in time!

The Eiffel Tower would collapse onto itself and maybe fall onto the bridge with all of the people on it.

Ryan and his cousin didn’t have much time. Ryan walked over to the man, trying to talk him out of blowing up the tower. Meanwhile, behind the man, Eric was about to jump on him. When he was about 3 feet away, Ryan shouted.

"Now!" he exclaimed.

Eric leaped and landed on the man’s back, knocking them both onto the floor board. They rolled and wrestled back and forth while the detonator flew out of the man’s hand and over the side... just as Ryan grabbed it.

"Whew!" He said.

Eric shouted, "I need a little help here Ryan!"

"Okay!"

Ryan grabbed his stunner and shot the man. Then they lowered him off of the tower and took him to the police and went away before the police could talk to them. The cousins deactivated the bombs and went to the Louve Museum.

It was the largest in the world and had many attractions such as the world-famous, Mona Lisa.

Eric and Ryan were looking at it when two men came up and smashed the case! Then they took the painting and jumped out of a window into the back of a truck!

Ryan and Eric radioed their helicopters and they came to them. Ryan and Eric got in and chased the robbers. They drove over the bridge and under the Eiffel Tower. Then they came out onto a main highway and went into a ten-mile-long bridge.

Ryan and his cousin pushed some buttons in their planes and the bottom of them opened up. They fell out of the shells of the planes and landed on the road in the Retro Trucks. The Retro Trucks were normally stored in the planes for emergencies. The planes landed themselves on top of a the tunnel.

Ryan and Eric followed the robbers through the tunnel and out of the other side of it. They caught up and Eric and Ryan put their trucks on auto-drive. They jumped into the back of the truck, unnoticed.

They crept up to the back window and Eric punched his fist through it. Ryan pulled out his gun, aimed it at the driver, and shouted.

"Pull over onto the side of the road now! I will shoot you!" And just to prove it, Ryan fired the gun right past the guy’s head. The robber obeyed.

Ryan and Eric arrested the men, took them to prison, and got back into the RX4000s. Then they returned the painting and left for the Air Force Recreation Center at Lake Chimsee in Germany.

The spent the night there and the next day after breakfast they swam across the lake to the center island.

The was a castle on the island. You could take tours there. Eric and Ryan took the tour. It was fun.

Then they swam back across the lake and went roller-blading for a few hours.

It was time for dinner, so they took off there roller-blades and got on their bicycles. Their destination was a pizza restaurant.

Eric and Ryan walked into the pizza place only to find a person in a ski mask robbing the place!

"Not again!" Eric exclaimed.

"Let’s get him." replied Ryan.

Eric and Ryan pulled out their stunners and aimed them at the man.

"Freeze!" they said.

"Make me!" said the robber. He dashed out of the place and into a getaway car. Eric and Ryan followed on their bicycles.

The bikes were really motorcycles with missiles and stunners and speed boosters. They transformed when you punched in the secret pass code for it.

The cousins zoomed ahead and got right along side of the robbers car. Eric was on the left side and Ryan was on the right side of the car.

Eric punched out the window and grabbed the guy by the mask. He pulled it off and tossed it aside. Then he grabbed the guys collar and jerked him around some.

"Stop this vehicle right now!" Eric shouted.

The robber refused to listen to him. Ryan and Eric would have to use force to stop the man.

Ryan opened the door and hopped in. His motorcycle crashed into a tree. He jumped onto the man and slammed his foot down on the brake.

Eric raced ahead and did a 130 degree skid. Then he raced back and hopped off of his motorcycle. The two cousins arrested the man and took him to jail.

When they returned the money, the got two large sodas and a large pizza for a reward.

"Thank you." they said, bowing.

After dinner, they went back to their hotel room and watched movies until 3 A.M..

The hotel room had two bathrooms, two beds, and two windows. Everything else they shared.

"Isn’t this just great?" Ryan asked.

"It sure is." Eric agreed.

"Do you think our dads will let us do this again some time?"

"I don’t know. Maybe."

"I sure hope they do."

"Me too. I mean, this is better than any vacation that I can remember!"

"You can say that again."

"Me too. I mean, this is better than any vacation that I can remember!"

"Not literally, Eric."

Eric and Ryan kept talking, until they fell asleep at 4 A.M..

Two days later, the cousins went to Garmisch. There were mountains there. Eric and Ryan took the cable cars up to the top of the mountain after they bout tickets.

On top of the mountain, there was a statue and some gift shops. They took pictures and got some souvenirs.

"Man," Eric said, "this isn’t much of a mission right now. It’s more like a vacation!"

"I know what you mean. We’re acting like tourists."

"Well let’s get back to hunting down badguys here. C’mon. Let’s go back down."

"Okay."

Then they went back down the mountain on the trails. While they were walking, Ryan tripped over a stump and slipped off of the edge!

He fell and screamed and grabbed onto a tree growing out of he side of the cliff. Ryan was hanging 40 feet above jagged rocks! If he fell, he would surely die.

Eric got on the muddy ground and reached down to his cousin, trying to grab him. It was no use. Ryan was too far away.

"Ryan." said Eric, "Hang on tight! I’ll get my jet and help you!"

"Hurry up! This branch is starting to break! I’m gonna fall in less than ten minutes! I can’t hold on much longer!"

The branch lowered a little and cracked.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" Ryan and Eric both screamed.

Eric raced down the mountain to a clearing. After he radioed his RX4000, it came to him. Eric hopped in and zoomed to Ryan. The branch was cracking again.

"Hurry!" Ryan shouted. "I can’t hold on much longer!"

Eric flew under Ryan just as the branch gave way. Ryan landed on the plane and got in with his cousin. They flew to Ryan’s plane and Ryan got in it.

"Hey Eric?" Ryan said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Also, I think we’ve risked our young lives too many times in the past week. Let’s go home now."

"Why? I want to go after more badguys again. This is fun."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Sure I’m sure."

"Well, O.K.. But only if you really want to."

"I do."

"Then let’s go to another city! Onward march!"

"All right!"

They headed to Berlin, and checked into a hotel. It was the best one that there was.

Eric and Ryan went to see were the wall that had once separated East and West Berlin. After getting souvenirs, they walked around town and went to a restaurant.

The restaurant had a buffet. Ryan and Eric didn’t limit what they ate so they ate a ton of food. Then they ate their largest dessert ever.

Their hotel was their last stop for the night. It was about 2 miles from the restaurant. Since they would be leaving tomorrow, Eric and Ryan decided to walk by the remains of the wall. While they walked, they heard a scraping noise underneath them in the gutter drain. The got down on the ground and listened.

"What is that?" asked Eric.

"I don’t have a single clue." was Ryan’s reply.

The lifted up the cover and peered down into the darkness. Then they saw a faint light getting closer.

It finally went under them and they saw that it was a man in a black outfit. He had a mask covering his face. In his hands, he had bags.

After he had gone by, the cousins silently jumped down into the drain. They followed the man out of a manhole and onto the dark and wet streets. Half of the street lights were off, which made shadowing the man easier. He went down a lot of streets and into a dark building.

Ryan and Eric looked inside and saw that the man was sitting at a table. He dumped out contents of the bag onto a table. The bags had been full of money.

"It’s a bank robber!" whispered Eric.

"Wow!"

"Shush. He might hear you."

"Sorry."

The man looked up and around. He looked like he had heard Ryan.

"C’mon." Eric said, "Let’s get out of here before he sees us."

They ran away, and to the drain were they had first seen the bank robber.

"Let’s go down there and find the bank." Ryan said.

"Okay."

They got down in the drain and went in the opposite direction that they had went when they followed the man. After what seamed like an hour, Eric and Ryan came to a hole in the side of the wall.

They went through it and into a dead end. There was a button beside it.

"Should we press it?" asked Ryan.

"Why not? It might make this wall here open up." Eric answered.

"You press it then. I’m not going to."

"Are you scared?"

"Kinda. I mean, it might be a trap."

"Like we couldn’t get out of it."

"Correct."

"Oh please. It’s not booby-trapped."

"Don’t be so sure about that."

"Oh yeah? Well watch me."

Eric pressed the button and the wall in front of them opened up.

"Told ya." Eric said.

"Just shut up. Okay? So I was wrong."

"As usual."

Ryan ignored his partner.

They walked through the wall and into the bank. It had money in it and it looked like it had just been robbed.

"I knew it!" Eric exclaimed.

"Let’s go get the cops and bring them here. Then we can catch the badguy and go home."

"Okay."

The got the police and hid in the bank just in time. One of the officers had seen the man going back into the drain with two bags.

He walked down the tunnel and came out into the bank.

"Now!" shouted Eric.

The lights were turned on and Ryan filmed the robber with the money in his hands for proof.

The bank robber, who turned out to be Vennucci, was taken to jail.

Eric and Ryan were rewarded. Then they decided to go home. They left the next day.

When they got home, their families gave them a big party. After that, Eric told the story about the mission.

"Well," Ryan said to Eric, "this was the most fun ever."

"You know what? You are so right."