|
|
Part One
By Amon_of_1000Handles
The Amazon. June 16, 2003
It was a dark and stormy night. The fighting had been fierce.
Fiercer than any that she could
remember. Something's changed, medusaD thought to herself. We've been kicking
these guys'
butts all over the place, and all of the sudden, we can't even hold our own. I've got to
get the
team back to Capper Central to formulate a plan.
"All right, everyone," she said through her wrist
communicator, "we've got to pull out. We're don't
seem to be able to hold our ground against the Kortac."
"Pull back?!" Valshiro asked incredulously. "We've never
had to pull back from the Kortac. There is just a little hiccup is all. We can take these
guys! Haven't we always?"
"That's not the point, Val," medusaD returned. "The
simple fact is that there is something wrong.
Something has happened. I don't know what it is, but we aren't going to figure it out here
pinned
down by these Kortac goons. We've got to get back and consult with Gray, Tolstoy, Hobbes
and
the other Capper Leaders, to figure out what's going on. Everone check in." She
received
confirmation from Valshiro, devildoll, gowest, and YibbleGuy.
"claimdude! Are you out there? Check in, claim!"
After a brief pause, claimdude responded. "Yeah, I'm here, medusa. But I've been hit... Good thing I got two hands, 'cause I ain't gonna be able to use my left one for a while."
"claim! Are you OK? Do you need help teleporting, or can you
manage?" medusa asked, concern
plainly obvious in her voice. This is the first time someone under her command had ever
been hit by
the Kortac. It was the first time anyone had ever been hit by the Kortac, as far
as she could
remember.
"I'll be fine. Just give the word," claimdude responded
through clenched teeth.
"Everyone! On the count of three, teleport back to Capper Central.
One... two... THREE!" There
was a shimmer of light as the Cappers disappeared from the Amazonian forest.
Back at Capper Central
RIZZZ and animebabe were sitting at the main console in Capper
Central, keeping tabs on the other Cappers out in the field. RIZZZ kept pointing at the
console, indicating trouble spots.
"I can see that," animebabe said, slapping his hand away.
"You don't have to keep pointing them out to me. I think we better call them back.
ALL of them..."
"Yeah," RIZZZ agreed. "I'll get Tolstoy. He needs to
know about this. Hobbes, what is Tolstoy's
current location?"
"He is down in Briefing Room Three, with DanZero and Moon Queen, going over indoctrination with some new recruits," the computer answered, not being its usual jovial self. Hobbes recognized the seriousness of the situation, and realized that the Cappers out in the field were in serious danger.
"OK. I'm on my way. I'll be right back," he said, walking
toward the door.
"And in the meantime, I'm calling everyone back," animebabe
threw over her shoulder to the exiting Capper.
She was just about to place a call to medusaD when the now familiar
shimmer of the teleporters
caught her attention. She turned to see medusa, with her Capper team behind her. This was
the first
time she had ever seen a team come back from the field looking defeated. Their clothes
were
covered with mud, and some were ripped. "One minute." She place several calls to
the other Capper
teams were out in the field, ordering an immediate return. After she finished, she turned
back to
where medusa and her team stood behind her. "My God, medusa, what happened? Are you
and
your team alright?"
"Yeah," medusa said, wiping some mud off her hands.
"Except for claim. He was hit. In the hand."
"Figures," claim said, holding his hand. "Couldn't have
shot me in the foot or the leg. It had to be my hand. How am I gonna cap
now?"
animebabe smiled to herself. Even with all this, and even being
injured, he can still crack a joke.
"claim, you better get down to medical. Have NurseNoir take a look at that. See what
she can do. If
things are this bad all over, we're gonna need all the help we can get."
She watched as he left the control room. After he left, she turned back
to medusa. "So, what gives? Those Kortac are worse shots than Cylon Warriors. They
couldn't hit themselves, even if they tried!"
Medusa sat down, exhausted. "I don't know. I've never seen
anything like it. I hated to bring gowest into that kind of situation on his first
outing."
"Hey," came a voice from behind her. "Don't feel
sorry for me. I wouldn't have signed up if I didn't
think I could take it."
"Too bad you didn't bring along one of those automatic tunnel
paintings that you guys make there at ACME. Would have come in handy down there,"
medusa said, forcing a smile. "See if you can call in some favors, would ya?"
"Well, I'm going to take a shower. I've got mud in places that
I didn't think it could get to." As he left, he was followed by Valshiro, YibbleGuy
and devildoll.
"Hey devildoll?" animebabe called out, before she left the
room. "Come here a second, would ya?" She waited patiently for her to arrive.
"Turn around."
Devildoll, turned her back to the Capper Leader, a puzzled look on her
face. "OW!" she exclaimed, hearing an audible pop, and then a sensation like
being stuck with a pin. "What was that for? What did I ever do to you?"
"Oh, sorry," animebabe responded. "But if you want your
little friend back, you can have him..." She held out the big black leech to
devildoll.
"Uh... no thanks... You can keep him. Maybe medusa will want it as
a souvenir of her trip to the
Amazon," she laughed over her shoulder, exiting the large control center.
"Hobbes," animebabe said, "get rid of this thing, would
ya?" She tossed the leech down on the floor by the computer.
"Consider it gone," Hobbes responded, and the leech
vaporized.
Just then, RIZZZ returned, with Tolstoy, DanZero and Moon Queen in
close pursuit. "Are they all
right?" RIZZZ asked, indicating with his thumb the cappers that they had passed in
the hallway.
"What the devil is going on?" Tolstoy demanded. "I've
never seen a Capper team come back to
headquarters in that kind of condition before. claimdude is injured, and the others I
passed look like
they insulted Gray Zombie in front of Edgar."
"We don't know, Tolstoy," animebabe replied. "But from
the looks of things, it's going on all over the place. The monitor was showing trouble
spots all over the place It's like all of the sudden, the Kortac learned how to aim their
weapons! I've pulled all our teams out of the field until we can get this sorted out. We
need to know what's happening before we dare send anybody else out there."
"She's right," Moon Queen said. "When RIZZZ came down
there and told us that there was trouble, I was worried about everyone's safety."
"Me too," DanZero said, casting a worried glance down at
medusa.
Tolstoy walked to the front of the room. As he turned, he saw the
Cappers talking amongst
themselves. "Everyone, may I have your attention, please. We need to find out what
has happened."
He turned to Hobbes. "Hobbes, locate BuckFifty and Gray Zombie. I need to hold a
meeting with
the Capper Leaders." He then turned back to Moon Queen. "My dear, if you will
excuse us, we
have some very serious business to attend to. No offense, but I need to to talk to just
the Capper
Leaders."
"Not a problem. There are some things I needed to do
anyway," she said, and turned and left.
"Hobbes," Tolstoy asked the computer, "have you found
Buck and Gray yet."
"I have located BuckFifty. He should be here in one... there he
is."
BuckFifty entered the room. "What's going on?" He looked down
at medusa, still seated on the
floor. "And what happened to you?"
"To make a long story short, the Kortac can aim their weapons
now."
"Sum Bitch," BuckFifty muttered to himself.
"Hobbes," Tolstoy turned to the computer again, "any word from Gray?"
"No. He hasn't answered my calls."
"Well, we can't wait forever," Tolstoy said, sounding a
little annoyed about Gray. A Capper Leader, and he won't even answer an urgent call
from Hobbes. He better have a damn good excuse. He turned his attention back to the
Capper Leaders who were present. "All right, everyone. Take a seat. anime, have all
the other Capper teams returned from the field?"
"Thanks for waiting until I was sitting so I would have to get up
and look." She walked over to the
console and checked. "All teams have returned. However..." she said, her voice a
whisper.
"However?" However what?" DanZero asked
nervously. He never knew animebabe to be at a loss for words.
animebabe walked back over to her seat and sat down heavily, tears
starting to form in her eyes.
"What is it?" BuckFifty asked, concern in his voice for his
longtime Capper friend.
"We've lost someone. Scouty. She was on a mission with Agent_Moldy
over in Paris. They were
checking out a lead we had on some activity to taint the wine supply, and she went out to
scout out
the area. Isn't that ironic?" she asked, trying her best to maintain her composure.
Tolstoy looked around the table, seeing the shocked look on the
Capper's faces. "Listen, when she signed up, she knew there was danger involved. All
of you did. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We've just been lucky so far."
"LUCKY?!" DanZero shouted, standing up. "Scouty
is dead! How lucky is that?!"
"I share your grief. With all of you," Tolstoy said, resting
a hand on DanZero's shoulder. "Please, sit down. We need to figure out what has
happened."
"I can help you with that..." Gray Zombie said from the
entryway, leaning heavily against the
doorframe, his face white as a ghost.
To Be Continued