45 Breaching the Spire

45 Reaching the Spire ARTILLERY, PREPARE TO FIRE!' shouted Mrs M in their headphones. Several Resistance operatives pushed the giant charcoal missile into the trebuchet's cradle, stepped back and held their arms aloft. The hamsters emerged from inside the wheel and did the same. 'READY... FIRE!' A white rabbit wearing red dungarees pulled a lever at the machine's base, and the trebuchet sprang into action, whipping the arm up and over, and flinging the round missile towards the Spire at a frightening speed. A few seconds later it hit the tower twenty metres from the ground, smashing through the brickwork and making a large hole in its wall.

'WHOA!' shouted Little-Bit. 'That was INCREDIBLE!' And look over there!' cried Rockwell, pointing to their left. They all turned to the siege tower and saw two horizontal walkways shooting out of the raised doorways. They extended rapidly through the air towards the Spire, the lower one meeting the newly made hole in the wall perfectly. 'Nice!' said an appreciative Rockwell. 'I can only imagine the calculations that went into making that happen.

The Resistance operatives who had been waiting patiently inside the siege tower ran out on to the walkways armed with the ink bombs from their bandoliers. At the same time, several RAZERs appeared at the hole in the Spire at the other end and also began to make their way across. 'Oh my goodness, they're going to meet in the middle!' said Little-Bit. 'Looks like it,' said Peanut. She glanced over at Dora and Tony, who were standing near the cabin of the truck

and looking out of the window, mesmerised by what was happening on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the agents on the siege tower's upper walkway had started raining ink bombs down on the RAZERs below them. Three of the robots took a direct hit and were knocked off balance, falling into the Rainbow Lake with a fizz of electricity and a puff of smoke. The rest of them continued advancing towards the Resistance operatives, who were being led by a heavily muscled man wearing a Viking helmet and carrying a huge missile launcher. 'It's Agent Odin the Stormbreaker!' said Rockwell. 'He must have escaped from the Spire!' All of a sudden, the agent stopped running, knelt down and raised the bazooka to his shoulder. ' PRINCIPLE. DROP ONE HUNDRED. RIGHT ONE HUNDRED. PREPARE TO FIRE,' came the order over the earpieces. Agent Odin the Stormbreaker

adjusted his aim slightly, as directed. 'READY... FIRE!' said Mr M via the earpieces. A massive blast of pink and blue paint flew towards the remaining RAZERs, totally drenching them, Two fell from the walkway into the water, while the others stopped dead and attempted to clear the paint from their eyes with tiny wiper blades that dropped down from their helmets. 'Come on,' said Peanut. 'This looks like a good time to make a break for it.' 'Excuse me?' whispered Rockwell. 'You heard what Dora said. We're meant to stay right here!' Peanut turned to face her friend. Listen. Not only do I have a whole bandolier full of art equipment, but I also happen to be in possession of the most powerful pencil in the world. Those fighters out there need all the help they can get, and I am going to offer some. We've got to do something! Come on, let's go!'

Checking to make sure that Dora and Tony were still distracted by the battle, Peanut, Rockwell and Little-Bit went through the open canvas flap, jumped off the back of the truck and ran towards an old-fashioned motorbike and sidecar parked behind a small tank a few metres away. 'This'll do,' said Peanut, leaping on the bike. 'Come on, you two!' Rockwell and Little-Bit jumped into the sidecar as Peanut started the engine and zoomed off towards the front. They weaved between the empty vehicles, and stopped a couple of minutes later behind the lorry that had been carrying the siege tower. 'OK. Rockwell, get the jumpsuits out,' said Peanut as she got off the bike. 'Seriously? They were only to be used in case of emergency!' he replied, reaching inside his rucksack. ' Er, we need a disguise if we don't want the Markmakers to send us straight back to the truck,' she replied. 'If this isn't an emergency, I don't know what is!' Rockwell pulled out several hand-painted items, all made by Peanut just before they'd left the bunker. The children slipped the camouflage jumpsuits on over their clothes and put on the sunglasses. Peanut then pulled a piece of charcoal from her bandolier and drew thick black lines across their cheeks. 'Right, commandos,' she said. 'Time to win this battle.'