|
|
|
|
It’s A Jungle Out There!
By: Jelle “CD”
It was a normal
day in the metropolis of
“Better watch out Mercy, you’re at the end of your life!” Philip warned his older sister.
“Hah, you won’t catch me!” she replied while fumbling with the controls of a rodent sized game pad.
“We’ll see about that,” Philip replied and quickly manipulated the controls of his joystick.
“Your fireballs won’t hurt me, I can simply jump over them,” Mercy countered before there was a loud bang from the TV and Mercy’s expression changed.
“Maybe you should have jumped upward instead of backward, by moving forward I gave your jump the space it needed so you ended up landing on my fireball after all,” Philip educated his sister as his character took a victory stance.
“Alright, you win…again,” Mercy admitted and put her controller down.
“That was fun, what do we do now?” Philip asked eagerly as he turned off the computer.
“I know something. It’s big fun, believe me,” Mercy said mysteriously as an evil smile formed on her face.
“What is it, what is it?” her brother asked eagerly.
“Cleaning your room, that’s fun!”
“Aw, Mercy!” he complained, not really understanding what was so great about cleaning.
“No,” she said, understanding full well what her brother meant.
“What’s so fun about that? It’s boring!”
“Maybe, but
would you rather do it when we come home from our vacation?” Mercy asked,
referring to their trip to
“I’ll be too tired then, so it will have to wait a little longer,” Philip dismissed the argument.
“Precisely, and the longer it stays that way the higher the chances are we get sick. A mess tends to mess up people as well, you know. So we had better clean up before things get dirtier. And no protest or I’ll get dirty,” Mercy insisted.
“What’s the use, things will get filthy again anyway,” the youngster complained, but did as he was told.
In a hideout located in the sewers a shady group was discussing its dark deals.
“It seems our bid for total control failed, ‘cause you lost your henchman. You’se are pathetic!” a brown furred rat in a red gangster suit lamented.
“Hey, it’s not like I scared him off! He simply split, that’s all,” his gray furred counterpart defended.
“That’s all, that’s all…you’re not taking this serious are youse?” the other replied.
“Just argue youse two, it’s not going to get our men back,” a third joined in, dressed in a green suit similar to those of the other rats.
“What we’re dealing with here is a major desertion problem, other gangs are losing their hoods as well,” Rat Capone revealed.
“No kidding, even Fat Cat had one of his goons abandon him. That means someone is either really stupid or willing to risk his life in exchange for a new job,” Francis added.
“Then what are you’se accusing me of?”
“Shut up youse two and listen to me,” Thomas interrupted. “If we are to get Boris and Leonard back we need to find out were they went. We’re not going to lose our men now that we’re ready for a take-over. Now, does any of you has an idea were to start searching?”
“Leonard said he
wanted his job back at the arms dealing racket, you know, those guys from
“
“The Rescue Ranger ratted them out to the AP, so I guess we’ll have to look into the law enforcement branch for that information,” Rat Capone suggested and grabbed the horn of his 30’s styled telephone.
A young AP officer, a male mole, grabbed the horn of his telephone to answer whoever called him.
“Yeah, AP station, who is it?”
“Yes, I-” the caller began in a gruff voice but interrupted himself “I have heard that your group has been working together well with the Rescue Rangers, is that right?” a feminine voice continued.
The mole never heard such a lovely voice before; it really enchanted him. “Yeah” He answered, dreaming about how this lady would look like.
“I was wondering, if it’s not to much trouble, could you please tell me about that weapon smuggler gang they mopped up?” she asked eagerly.
“Sure, hold on minute,” the mole replied and rummaged through a file cabinet to find what his caller was looking for.
“Thanks,” the caller replied after she/he got the info, this time in a gruff voice, and hung up. The mole just shrugged and continued scanning some serious reports.
Chip answered a telephone call and was surprised to hear it was Officer Rensen, who had been promoted to Chief of Police.
“Chip, we got a case for you. We got some reports about a growing number in serious crimes, mostly illegal weapon possession. Another thing that bothers us, but more on the international category, is that we lost contact with AP forces outside country. Can we get some help from your team on that? I know it has never been a habit of the AP to call upon ‘vigilantes’, but keep in mind we got quite a change in the system ever since we lost Chief Judgeson and the Strongarm family.”
“Sure,” Chip shrugged, “but where to start? I mean, you just called me and expect me to input an answer to your problem as if it were a crossword puzzle or something asked on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’.”
“Yes, that wasn’t very thoughtful, but if you and your team can come over here we can give you a more serious view on the situation,” Rensen added and hung up.
“Sound like a case, I’d better get the others,” Chip figured, and went off to find the other Rangers.
“Well, it’s like this…” Rensen started. “It seems the number of weapon-owning rodents is growing. Many of them don’t have a license, and most of them are criminals as well. We’re a bit afraid that if it keeps up at this pace we’ll get no-go areas in this city.”
“What about this lost contact thing?” Chip asked, seeing a connection between the two cases.
“We’re now
unable to get any replies from
“
“Oh my god, can it be they regrouped or something?”
“Well, that
explains the increased number of armed rodents,” Dale explained, looking at the
map at the wall to see were
“But why would
those blighters have anything to do with the lost contact between
“Maybe they want
to expand their market. You know the AP can put a damper on their trade when
the police starts finding shiploads of weaponry,” Geegaw reasoned as he joined
Monty and Dale to study the map, so he would be prepared when they actually had
to fly to
“That might have been a good reason for them to rub them out,” Chip responded, slamming his fist in his palm.
“Then I guess it’s up to you to go to Brazil and try to reestablish contact with the AP, or whatever justice system has replaced it,” Rensen suggested.
“Take note that maybe there aren’t any crimefighters left in there,” Chip explained before turning to Zipper. “Do you still remember the address of those gun runners?”
Zipper nodded
and flew over to the map, and placed his hand at an island north of
“You think you can fly us there Geegaw?” Chip asked the elder mouse.
“Not exactly close, but we can make it with the Screaming Eagle,” He explained.
“Good, then we should get ready for our flight, we’ll leave tomorrow. First we should get home and start packing, Rescue Rangers Away!”
“Hurry up you
slowpokes!” Fat Cat demanded as he kicked Mole’s behind to make him walk faster
“If that ship leaves without us I swear you four are going to swim all the way
to
“Why all the hassle over that worthless Marcus boss?” Wart asked his superior “It’s not like he was important or anything.”
“Don’t you get it? Good personnel are difficult to come by these days, and I can’t risk any other henchmen getting fed up and leaving.”
“Well you don’t have to worry then, you have no personnel next to us, and you always keep telling us we’re worthless anyway so what’s the deal?” Mepps reassured his boss, but achieved the exact opposite.
“No, you four are not bright enough to consider leaving, so that means I can bully you around whatever I want so keep moving!!!” Fat Cat shouted, scaring his goon squad which obeyed.
“I like your new clothing, Mercy,” Philip complimented his sister and took his seat.
“It’s temporary attire, that’s all!” Mercy warned as she sat down next to Philip. She was dressed in a white skirt, a yellow shirt, sandals and a desert hat.
“Why exactly are you wearing that anyway?”
“It’s self preservation, the gulf can be tricky to the unprepared. Muslims can be nasty toward ‘indecent westerlings’ who don’t dress appropriately. My old dress would be a bit too outgoing for the sand people.”
“Why is that?” the youngster asked.
“
“Is the gulf
really that barbaric? If so I want to stay in
“Take it easy,
I’m just scaring you. Things like that only happen in the dangerous Muslim
countries like
“I hope your book is right,” Philip replied a bit nervous.
“Yeah – Hey!” Mercy replied, a bit angered that her brother thought she needed a book for everything.
Fortunately Philip was saved a sermon by an announcement.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemice, this is your captain speaking. Thank you all for flying Rodent Airlines…”
“Man, this is
just like in those movies,” Philip said, annoyed, crossed his arms, and began
mocking the pilot. “We’re veeeery
thankful you spend your hard earned dollars on this too-expensive flight in a
soapbox. We’re going to leave at nine o’ clock and we’ll be up in the air at
This earned him a hard look and a slap from Mercy, after which he behaved for the rest for the flight.
“Wonderful,
there are no ships leaving for
“Then what are those tickets doing in your hand?” Flora wondered out loud as she pointed to the passenger licenses Steve carried.
“Oh, these? Some joker tricked me into trading my Swiss watch in exchange for two tickets to Belém. On the bright side: they’re airplane tickets.”
“Why go to
Belém?
“That’s were my
sense of geography comes in. Belém is in the north and a lot closer to
“Man, that’s a
dense idea. You should have kept your head cool when we were about to leave
from
“Well, I can’t believe I trusted you when you said that dessert was alcohol free,” Steve retorted and got up.
Somewhere totally else, a Siberian chipmunk checked a list, turning it upside down and mirroring it. “Why can’t those fools just jot it down in Russian?” He complained.
The chipmunk was dressed in a gray fur coat that looked totally out of place in the jungle were he was. On his head was a black hat with a red star on it. He looked somewhat old and talked in a heavy Russian accent. A younger Siberian chipmunk joined him, wearing a white, 1940’s styled sergeant’s uniform.
“You still wearing that? Didn’t you figure out it’s HOT in this place?” The youngster asked while tugging his collar to emphasize his point.
“I wear whatever I want, wherever and whenever. So quit your senseless talk and return when you have important business!”
“Yes sir, understood. And there’s someone here to see you, his name’s Boris.”
The other raised an eyebrow at the mention of the name. He looked up to see a rat in a dirty old green shirt and a bowler hat. “Well, isn’t that just typical,” The chipmunk commented upon seeing the rat.
“You here as well? I thought I never had to compete with you again!” The rat sounded a bit annoyed, but smiled nonetheless.
“Boris, what are you doing here in this disgustingly hot place?” The chipmunk replied.
“Same as you.
And by the way Sergei, if it’s hot you should get rid of the fur coat you’re
always wearing. It surprised me when you wore it in
“I’ll never separate from my coat! They won’t catch Sergei Tcharkovsky without it. Oh, and this here is Alexander, my assistant.”
“You don’t have a family name?” Boris asked wonderingly.
“N-no sir. Not except for the one my stepmother gave me,” The young chipmunk replied.
“Heh, then you missed out a lot if you don’t have relatives or a father!” Sergei taunted and poked his finger in Alex’s chest.
“Hey, stop teasing the brat. He must be new to the Army if he’s already shaking at the first question he’s asked,” Boris defended Alex.
“In that case you’ll need some backbone. Some vodka works miracles,” Sergei suggested and led the other over to the mess hall to see if there was anything for them to salvage.
Alex was only too willing to agree, he was out of place with the rest of the camp anyway.
The Rangers had landed in a small rodent town on the island east of Belém. Geegaw was working on the Screaming Eagle together with Gadget, fueling it up a bit and checking the landing gear.
“You know, we really should do this more often.” Geegaw advised while wiping of his forehead with a rag.
“That’s not necessary, the plane is sturdy enough to last for a few flights.” Gadget noted. Geegaw rolled his eyes, this was still the same Gadget he always knew.
“No, I mean doing something together like father and daughter. I got to make up for those years I was gone you know.”
“That’s not necessary, you’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
“No really, I left you alone for far too long. There’s a lot we have to tell each other,” Geegaw insisted as he cleaned his paws.
“Alright, we’re here together now. Let’s talk,” Gadget agreed, sitting down on the wing of the Screaming Eagle.
Geegaw looked puzzled, he couldn’t think of anything to start with. Why did he even ask for a conversation in the first place?
“No Gadget, I mean just spend more time together, not just talking. Man, we’re starting to look like Indiana Jones and his father right now.”
“Odd, neither of us is wearing a fedora or carries a whip. Only Chip does, although he doesn’t have a whip. But why get him involved? I thought this was between us,” Gadget ranted as Geegaw slapped his hands over his eyes.
“Let me phrase that better: we sound like Indiana Jones and his father. By the way forget it, this is too confusing.”
“Sure, then let’s continue. Could you hand me the wrench?” Gadget asked politely.
A car racing past the hanger they were at interrupted them. It was followed by a hum-vee, which fired shots at the car. A few hit and the tires went flat. The two passengers got out. The one was a gangster rat in a gray suit and hat, carrying a Thomson machine gun. The other was a mouse who wore a camouflage jacket and a white bandana, armed with a shotgun. They fired shots at the armored vehicle, which was pointless since the plating of the hummer was strong enough to survive the shots and keep its passengers safe inside. The Rambo-esque mouse made it over to the service station and put his weapon to Geegaw’s stomach.
“Git us outta here pal, or I’ll change yo diet to blue beans,” he demanded.
The mouse felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around he was hit in his face with a wrench.
“You alright dad?” Gadget inquired as she took the shotgun and disarmed it.
“Freeze!” one of the occupants of the Hum-vee ordered, and the gangster rat responded by dropping his weapon.
Three rodents exited the vehicle, all of them dressed in a military uniform, carrying automatic rifles. Two of them got busy arresting the rat while the third entered the hangar.
“Sorry for the inconvenience sir, these guys are dangerous people,” he spoke as he threw a look at the unconscious mouse
“Don’t worry, I’m okay, I’m a Rescue Ranger after all,” Geegaw replied.
“What’s going on in this town?” Gadget demanded to know.
“I can tell you’re from out of country. Not to long ago a weapon smuggler gang rubbed out the AP system and set up shop on this island. They’ve been waging a guerilla war ever since in several countries and toppled quite a few AP organizations in those parts as well. These guys are not to be taken lightly; the number of experienced people they enlisted is shocking. They got a man for every job: smugglers, terrorists, hoodlums, thieves, hi-jackers, mafiosi, generals and even a good number of good people who saw themselves a future as a mercenary soldier. Whoever runs this organization by now has a private army, as well as a lot of dough.”
“I suppose this is what Chip has been looking for,” Gadget reasoned before turning to the soldier. “Is it possible for our teams to work together? We’ve been send by the AP of New York to find out about this smuggler gang that’s been selling weapons in our fair city, they’re making the place unsafe with their trade.”
“If you’re just as eager to fight these clowns as we are, we’re glad to accept. Just where is the rest of your team?”
“I’ll get them,” Geegaw offered and left off to search for the other Rangers.
“Suits me, I’ll call for a transport to get you all to base,” the mouse complied and got to his vehicle and turned on the radio.
“What about…” Gadget started and pointed to the plane.
“Don’t worry, I can just ask for them to send a pilot who will navigate you to our base,” the mouse answered before turning back to his radio.”
“This is hummer 19 to Eagle Hearth, do you read?”
“This is Eagle Hearth, copy,” the person on the other side responded.
“We found a group who offered to lend their services in fighting off those yahoos. I request an APC and a navigator for their plane.”
“Sure, we’re sending requested escort now to your location. By the way, what’s the name of their group?”
“Rescue Rangers,” Gadget answered.
“They’re Rescue Rangers sir.” The soldier repeated and waited for a reply.
“Got that, over and out.”
“Great, you said it would be alright. Why did you have to go and jinx it?” Flora demanded as she leaned against the jeep.
“How should I have known the guy was a vehicle thief that sells his loot?” Steve replied while he was busy repairing the car.
“Well, you’d better hurry. I don’t want to get stuck in this place.”
“Hey, I’m not Frank! He’s a much better repairman than I.”
“Ahuh, I figured that out,” Flora replied sarcastically.
“And I guess you’ve got bad luck, this thing is going nowhere anymore,” Steve informed her as he got his shirt back on.
“Well you’re lucky there’s a car over there. Perhaps we can get a lift from the owner,” Flora suggested and threw in her feminine charms to get the attention of the driver, who was a male raccoon totally dressed in white with a black band around his hat.
“Salute boys. How can I be of service to you? Or should I say, how could you two serve me?” he asked in a Sicilian accent.
“Uhm, my wife’s no prostitute.” Steve corrected the raccoon, who was quick enough to correct him.
“Mister Lupara says she is. I know he could be mistaken, but weaponry never lies,” The gangster said as he whipped out a sawed-off shotgun. “You girl, get in the front. Your husband will drive, while I make sure he makes no errors capiché?”
Steve and Flora quickly nodded and got in the car while the raccoon sat down behind Flora.
“I’ll let you know I’m a terrible person when it comes to gun fighting,” He told Steve “If you happen to accidentally bump into something I might just accidentally pull this trigger, and that would be disastrous for the dame.”
Steve started to sweat as he started up the engine, hoping for a miracle to save him and his wife.
As Philip and
Mercy got of their plane and retrieved their luggage they were now confronted
with day-to-day life in
“Sounds like a fun place, lets get to the hotel,” Mercy ordered as she picked up her stuff.
“Shouldn’t we call a taxi first?” Philip wondered.
“That would be senseless. Walking is much faster and cheaper, plus we probably can’t find a taxi with air conditioning. Believe me, it would take a taxi fifteen minutes to notice us in this crowd and then pull over to pick us up.”
“That does make sense,” Philip admitted and followed his sister.
“Good morning miss and mister,” the receptionist said when she noticed Mercy and Philip, “how can I help you?”
“We’ve booked a room here. Under the name Stoneturner, could you check that please?” Mercy explained as the girl mouse quickly inserted a few words in her computer and waited for the result.
“Ah yes, room 192 is yours. That’s a nice one, you must be pretty rich. Are you oil magnate, software manufacturer, lottery winners?”
“Actually, we got the cash with a lawsuit,” Mercy admitted.
“I see. Wait a minute, I’ll call a bellboy,” the desert mouse informed before she made her way over to the cantina “Achmed, get your lazy butt out of that chair, we’ve got customers to please!”
A moment later a desert rat with fez on his head entered the lobby.
“Don’t mind Achmed’s attitude, he’s a lazy bum who can’t tell north from south but at least he got a sturdy back,” the girl informed, which offended the bellhop.
“I’m not!” he yawned, not sounding very convincing.
“Just get them to room 192 and quit your jibber-jabber,” The receptionist insisted. Achmed grumpily agreed.
A little later Mercy and Philip were in their room and Philip immediately plopped down on the bed.
“Hey, that one’s mine!” Mercy objected as she set her backpack down, opened a luggage case and started putting her clothes in one of the closets “You’re sleeping in the little bed over there,” Mercy motioned over to the door “I’m sleeping in the adults’ room.”
“See if I care,” Philip responded before laying his head down “Man, this feels good. You got to get me one of these Mercy.”
Mercy realized she wouldn’t be able to beat Philip off the bed anymore and took a towel from her luggage case and entered the bathroom. In it was a simple toilet, a sink, bath-shower combination which even had the option to be turned into a bubble bath.
“That’s something we don’t just got at home. I really need to install one of those should I ever get really rich,” Mercy murmured to herself as she adjusted the water flow till it was at a good temperature. She took off her clothes and got in the shower.
Man, this is why some people absolutely crave showering. Such a great feeling to have hot water running down your body after being out in the open for so long, She thought as she cleaned herself. After she was done she got a bathrobe and entered her bedroom were Philip was asleep on her bed, with a stain of drool on the sheets.
Ah well, I should as well put him to bed, it’s been a exhausting trip, Mercy thought, and picked up Philip to drop him off in his own bed. “Sleep tight, you’ve got to be all rested up so we can go see the town when we wake up,” she whispered and got back in her room and got in her own bed.
“So this is we’re they’re from, eh?” Monty inquired as he looked over the base of the BATS, which had been revealed to be the Brazilian Anti Terrorism Squad.
“Looks cool and all! They’ve got everything, barracks, radar installations, weapons factory, airstrips, helipads and even a shipyard!” Dale exclaimed, amazed.
“Just don’t ask Gadget to build all this stuff when we get home, it just isn’t our style,” Chip warned, as he was a bit disappointed to see animal society following that of humans.
“Got to give them credit; they’re efficient,” Gadget complimented, unaware she was actually praising mass destruction.
“Gadget, they kill others to prevent them from committing crimes! That’s not right!” Chip interrupted her.
“I don’t know, it seems those punks they’re up against are even less friendly. They’re selling weaponry to anyone who can pay their price remember?” Geegaw reasoned, not really liking killing himself.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a second chance,” Chip countered, hoping his sympathy wouldn’t be his downfall later on.
“Man, and here I thought you enforced hard judgement,” Dale joked, and seemingly was the only one who enjoyed it, but he did get a bonk from Chip for the remark.
Their discussion was interrupted when they noticed two people who were familiar to them. Both were escorted by a few soldiers and they were tied up. The guards also had a third prisoner with them, whom they didn’t recognize. A raccoon in a white suit, who seemed like he was not having his day.
“Steve, Flora, what are you doing here?” Chip exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s a long story, but could you tell those goons to please buzz off? It’s not that I’m trying to escape already, I just want to have my hands free again,” Steve replied.
“You can let them go, we’re friends of them,” Chip informed the security, who amazingly enough agreed to let the twosome go.
“How did you get here?” Gadget questioned.
“You really want to hear it?” Steve asked as he massaged his wrists.
“I overestimated my dear husband’s tolerance for innocent desserts--” Flora started before she was interrupted.
“There was
alcohol in it! You know full well that I get a headache from a simple bottle of
beer, not to mention booze. That ice cream was loaded with Vodka! Do I have to
remind you of my state when we re-met in that bar in
“Puh-leaze, no.
You were like a real bum then, thank goodness my appearance cut you out of it,”
Flora countered before continuing. “So
mister don’t-keep-your-head-cool got our ship mixed up with one headed for
“And they aren’t really bright either, they thought we were the henchmen of that Mafioso,” Steve finished.
“Quite a story, at least you’re out of trouble for now,” Monty comforted them.
“Yeah, right. As if you guys aren’t going to drag me into your adventure again,” Steve fumed and crossed his arms “Ah well, this time I won’t resist anymore. What’s it this time? Smugglers, reds, assassins, lawyers?”
Dale smiled before replying, “That and much more!”
“Join the fun, join the fun in our quest for total suicide! And if you’re not totally happy, you get your money back!” Geegaw added sarcastically.
“In that case you already owe me,” Steve replied.
One of the BATS members joined the group and turned to Chip.
“Mr. Maplewood? Colonel Mendoza wants to speak to you. He’s in the comm. center, that big radar building over there,” the private said, and pointed to the communication center.
“Alright, we’ll be on our way then,” Chip replied and made his way over to the indicated building, the others following him.
“Ah, you must be Chip Maplewood, along with your team the Rescue Rangers. Quite pleased to meet you in person signor. I’m Petro Mendoza, colonel of the BATS movement and base commander of this forward command post. I’m here to ensure that the terrorists holed up somewhere in the jungle don’t gain a foot in the nearby towns and villages, hoping that I can somehow find and destroy their stronghold and do all that in time to enjoy supper with my fine wife who’s having to spend so much time without me. Ah well, fighting for the good cause comes at a prize I see…” The Colonel spoke and moved over to one of the computer terminals in the room.
“This place is absolutely amazing! Were did you find all the necessary equipment and tools?” Gadget wanted to know.
“We mostly scavenge from humans, like all rodents do, or copy their technology. Next to that it’s hard work and manpower. Which we also have to balance out with quality so as to remain effective at all times,” The Colonel explained.
“What can you tell me about these smugglers? We’ve come to eliminate them,” Chip inquired.
“Hah, sure you do! Well, first they are holed up somewhere in the jungle which is too difficult to just simply explore. Then they have enlisted some of the finest people in criminal rodent society, a man for every job. And third, they have got guns, really BIG guns. I would be the last one surprised if someone told me they were currently building up an atomic warhead to hold the world for a ransom. You’ll have to come from a good house to finish them off.”
“But why all the serious firepower? What’s it good for if it’s not used?” Chip demanded to know.
“Don’t think we don’t make any progress. We capture some of their people from time to time. Eventually, they’ll run out of experienced henchmen,” The Colonel replied.
“What if they start drafting people from the villages?” Gadget asked, concerned.
“That would indeed be disastrous, but if they use civilians, they’re bound to make a few foul-ups, those civilians, and that’s when we can locate their headquarters and ice them.”
“And you don’t think killing them is wrong?” Chip resumed his questioning.
“What else could we use to neutralize them?”
“Just what you said, neutralize them.” Gadget offered “I can help develop something that can stun or knock out those people without causing physical damage.”
“Wouldn’t that be in stride with the laws of the United Species on chemical and biological weapons?” The Colonel wondered.
“Not really. I myself use plunger crossbows, which are harmless but enough to cause distraction. And I’ve been working on a prototype stun grenade; it creates a cloud of pepper on impact which is the perfect way to keep thugs and hoodlums busy while you sneak up on them,” Gadget explained as she showed the Colonel one of her small yellow grenades.
“Sounds interesting, non-lethal firepower that is more effective than a bullet through the head. Would save us a lot of hassle on our reputation,” The Colonel agreed. “Very well, provided you can help us provide these weapons we shall use them. I’ve already got a supply of harmless smoke grenades and shields that can be used for that purpose, we should use those in the meantime. It seems we’ll have to go with some military reforms now, but if you’re certain it’s for the better and the results pay off, I’m totally in favor. Anything to keep the number of victims this war causes to a minimum.”
“Thanks colonel. Mind if us and the team take care of the scouting part? We’ve gotten ourselves into harder situations before,” Monty proposed.
“Certainly, go right ahead. I doubt you’ll find but a suspicious footprint. But if you find something I want to be the first to know,” The Colonel agreed and saluted.
“Muchas gracias signor,” Geegaw replied.
“One more
thing,” Steve interrupted, “can I use all this highly advanced equipment to
make a phone call? I got a couple of friends back in
“You’re trying to drag your own friends into this mess?” Flora asked disapprovingly.
“Hey, they’re honestly much better with dealing with this than I am. Besides, it were friends who dragged me into this adventure in the first place,” Steve defended.
“Oh sure, go ahead and blame us, as if we care,” Monty replied grumpily and folded his arms.
“Actually, he’s right on that,” Geegaw admitted, something Zipper agreed on.
“Whatever,” The Colonel dismissed. “Pèpe here will take you to your quarters. It’s not much but we’re running an army base here, not a hotel.”
“Thanks colonel, let’s go,” Chip said and followed the mole assistant who apparently was Pèpe.
Fat Cat and his goons had finally made it to their destination. The occasional foul-up from his goon squad didn’t slow their travel to much, but now that they had reached the island the smugglers were located, they now had a few more issues to deal with. First they didn’t know where to find the Brazilians and Marcus, who according to rumors were hiding in the vast jungle on that island. Another problem was that they had no idea how to deal with it when they finally found the traitor Marcus “Agave” who by now should be surrounded by an entire organization of smugglers who probably wouldn’t just let them take him. Fat Cat was just considering what to do now when he noticed someone from the corner of his eye. He turned around and a moment later that person did as well, as if knowing he was being watched.
“You!?” They screamed as one when they saw each other.
Rat Capone’s goons and Fat Cat’s quickly moved forward to deal with it when the other attacked.
“What are you doing on this god-forsaken island?” Fat Cat demanded to know.
“None of yer business fat!” Capone responded, sending a spat of saliva flying in the cat’s face.
“Well I’m here to get back some fool who dared walk away. If you interfere, it means war! You do understand that right?”
“Youse too? I guess I’m not the only one who’s missing a trusted companion,” Rat Capone revealed and thought it through “Alright, you can go and I’ll avoid you. Only if youse would do likewise.”
“Suits me, I’m much more powerful than you anyway,” Fat Cat agreed and shook paws with Rat, looking in the opposite direction and appearing to be bored.
“In your part of
town, yes.” Capone countered, looking at the beautiful Brazilian sky which
didn’t interest him at all The surface of
Time passed
while the Rangers, their friends and foes carried out their plans. Fat Cat and
Capone searched for their subjects while keeping an eye on each other, careful
not to cross the other’s path or the aggression would surely keep them from
achieving their goal. Meanwhile Gadget worked together with the BATS scientists
to invent new ways of effectively putting their enemy out of the way in a
non-violent way. Geegaw, Chip, Monty and Dale scouted the jungles both on the
ground and in the air using the Screaming Eagle plane. Zipper provided
assistance to both groups to speed up their mission, realizing
Meanwhile, Mercy
and Philip were enjoying their time in
“You said Arabs might take offence at suggestive clothing,” Philip warned her sister, referring to her yellow bathing suit.
“Hey, this is the beach pal, don’t expect to local population to complain about a business as profitable as tourism. Besides, the beach bar owner hasn’t called the police yet,” Mercy reasoned and lifted her sunglasses.
“Okay, if you say so. But I won’t save you when suddenly there’s an angry mob surrounding you.”
“Trust me, you will,” Mercy predicted and put her glasses back on and turned around on her stomach to let the sun warm her back as well.
A moment later there was the noise of a speedboat and a wave of water washed over the recreating chips. Mercy got up spluttering with a murderous look on her face.
“I swear, if I see that guy who did that I’ll give him a cold shower. He’ll rue the day he messed with Mercy “Mischief” Stoneturner!”
“Are you really planning to keep that nickname forever? You’re not up to mischief anymore so it would be unfit,” Philip argued, which got Mercy thinking.
“You know, you’re right. Although I am still planning mischief, I need something that describes me a bit better. From here on, ‘Gorgeous’ will be my second name,” Mercy declared, hoping it would put her brother’s conscience to rest.
“The title doesn’t fit right now. Maybe we should get back to the hotel and do something about your wet fur,” Philip offered as he got up.
“Sure, go ahead and start packing,” Mercy complied, getting up and wringing out her towel before she dried herself off.
“Just a shame those guys had to come and ruin our day,” Mercy said, disappointed, as the two walked along the beach, climbing the stairs up to the harbor to get some kind of transportation back to the hotel.
A small group of apparently filthy rich animals noticed the two, and the leader of the group, a salamander, halted Mercy. “Hi there beauty, would you care to join me for diner? I know all the best places in this city and I got ways to dine there without much of a hassle about formalities. How about us going to one of those places?” He asked in a too intimate way while giving her an irresistible ‘prince charming’ look, complete with sparkling gold tooth.
“How about you leave us alone and we visit a fast food joint?” Mercy responded snidely and pointed to herself and her brother.
“I can sense you are from out of country. I have you know I’m a prince,” he cautioned Mercy, his friends nodding in agreement.
“Sure you are. Princes are plentiful in this country, you certainly don’t hold some important position,” Philip responded coolly, damaging the amphibian’s ego.
“Are you sure you don’t need me? Life could be so much simpler as my little cuddle plushy,” he tried again, ignoring the bothersome boy, but failed again.
“If you haven’t noticed yet, I got a younger brother to look after,” Mercy responded impatiently. Then she suddenly noticed the speedboat the group had been standing next to, and quickly figured these goons were the cause of her totally getting wet. These guys were so in trouble.
“Hi there little rat. Did someone ever told you you’ve got a sister who’s too beautiful for you?” The native Arab told Philip while tickling him under his chin.
Philip carefully looked up to Mercy, who gave him a wink. Philip got it and bit the salamander’s finger.
“Aauw, you dirty little rat!” he screamed, inspecting his hand for any permanent damage.
“Never insult
someone in the open. According to my sister’s book on
“Why you…” the native murmured darkly and rolled up his sleeves. “You’ll die for that!” the prince screamed, clenching his hand into a fist ready to give the kid the spanking of his life.
“Nobody’s killing anybody,” Mercy interrupted and brought her fist down on his right eye. “You slug, you’re the one who ruined our beach party!” Mercy shouted as she continued to pummel the reptilian who tried to defend himself.
Philip looked on worried as his sister continued her frenzy and mercilessly pounced on the skirt-chasing prince. Two of his companions grabbed her arms which kept her from injuring the prince even more.
“What’s your problem, can’t you respect those of a higher class?” The salamander prince asked, infuriated, and hit Mercy.
If the reptile aristocrat had known about Mercy’s unstable behavior he would have surely regretted his action before he carried it out. Rage built up in Mercy. She felt like a cornered animal and that this prince had nothing good for her in store didn’t help at all. So she quickly got rid of the henchman left of her by kicking him between his legs with the heel of her foot and when he released her she quickly grabbed her knife she often had with her and took a swipe at the other one holding her. Fortunately for him he had been quick to release her and took a step back, avoiding any cutting damage while the angry female directed her anger at the scared salamander who quickly dived into the water before he could get hurt. Mercy turned around again to face the prince’s friends.
“If any of you guys got a problem, say so now so I can put an end to your existence right away,” Mercy threatened as she backed away, the knife still pointed at the group.
She took Philip and left the docks, hiding with him in an alley to get over the shock.
“Are you hurt?” Philip asked and inspected her face.
“No, it’s nothing bad,” she confessed as she sat down.
“Why did you try to kill that guy? I don’t think he was bent on killing you either so it was no reason to grab your knife,” Philip argued as he took his handkerchief to clean up Mercy’s face.
“Don’t be so
sure about anything. People in
“Uhuh, I know you dislike him. But it’s wrong to mistake people for who they not are, there might be differences between the two,” Philip started preaching at his elder sister.
“Yeah, but in this situation the two looked VERY much alike. But who knows what he was planning? He could have r-Ah no, that’s a word you’re not supposed to know yet,” Mercy corrected herself “Just believe me when I say I lived long enough on the streets to get a general idea of how people treat you when you’re attractive like me.”
“Whatever, let’s just get back to the hotel and put this all behind us. Just don’t let it happen again, I can still reconsider if I want to live with you,” Philip warned.
Mercy just hugged him, then put him on her shoulder and carried him back to the hotel.
“Good evening.” Colonel Mendoza said as he entered the lab where Gadget was working, along with a few other engineers and scientists.
“Hello sir Colonel, may I say Petro?” Gadget requested as she put aside a notebook and test tubes.
“By all means, how’s it going?”
“Fine. Oh, you mean the development of course. But that’s good too. I received word that the weapons factory started mass producing my standard plunger crossbow. Golly, I’m surprised how it will look in a more refined form. You see, the technicians at the war factory suggested to make a few modifications as they use raw materials instead of human trash so it would turn out as a real crossbow made out of steel, rubber and wood. But they decided to leave the darts themselves similar to mine, seeing as they know how to produce these,” Gadget reported as she went over some computer files, finally opening a file of the BATS’s prototype plunger crossbow.
“Hmm, it looks nice. Would you mind making a copy of it and other interesting armament for me?” Petro asked as he studied the blueprint on the screen.
“Sure, it would be my pleasure. The team of engineers also agreed with starting the production of my Stun Grenade. And with the advanced equipment I get to work with, I’ve been able to increase it’s effectiveness by approximately 34%! And we’ve even been able to create the ultimate non-lethal chemical weapon, I call it the Chem. Dart, because it’s essentially that,” Gadget explained proudly.
“I thought you’d keep the United Species’ charter in mind while working here,” The Colonel wondered, fearing this would be the next step toward mass destruction.
“Don’t worry, I studied its article on chemical warfare carefully and I can safely say it’s within range of acceptable. The mixture this weapon uses is nothing more than a strong tranquilizer. It can only cause headache, blurred vision, dizziness, sleep and paranoia. The effects are only temporarily, as long as it’s used in a responsible amount. The darts the engineering department suggested should be enough to keep it a harmless injection,” Gadget explained, which seemed to ease the Colonel’s conscience, though he was unfamiliar with the curse that rested on the word ‘should’.
“Alright then.
I’ll ask my government to bring it up in the next
Alex carefully entered the office without making a noise to see his superior at work on some paperwork.
“Knock first before you enter son,” Sergei said uninterested as he continued his work.
Alexander knocked on the door to undo his mistake.
“Alright, what is wrong?” The commander asked, still not taking his eyes of his work.
“I was just wondering, aren’t we going somewhere exiting? Ever since we arrived on this island we’ve been stuck in this camp without any relief from duty,” the sub-commander asked his superior. Not that Alex ever liked spending time with his boss, in fact he preferred to be a loner. He’d drink his drinks alone, dance with a girl he picked himself and entertain himself. But the Brazilian smuggling operation was really getting to his head and he wanted to take his head off it any way possible. Even if it meant traveling with Sergei.
“You must have been drunk again when I explained about that trip before we left. We’d be in the middle of nowhere; the only contact between this base and outside world is truck convoy that picks up goods and supplies in nearby villages. Other than that, only assault, ambush and attack squads get outside walls of this encampment. I’m sure you don’t want to join one of the A-teams, you’re not carved out of right wood for that.”
“Does that mean we’re totally stuck here? Like in a prison, doesn’t that bother you?” Alex reacted horrified.
“Son, I signed up for this, so you signed up for it to. We’re not going anywhere soon, so get used to it,” the elder answered, sounding a bit annoyed.
“Can’t we get out of it anymore? I’m not planning to spend my life in this hell hole!” Alex protested, a bit too fiercely.
The other Siberian rose from his chair and turned around, towering over the assistant. The youngster backed off in fear.
“I say I like it here so we stay. You do remember there’s no turning back anymore? You have to stay with me and sit this out, understand?” he growled, making it sound more like a demand than a question.
“S-sure mister Tcharkovsky, whatever you say,” Alexander agreed, then left the office to see if there was anything to drown his sorrow in.
Man, no good drinks, no entertainment, no girls. How will I live this through? Is this too much to ask for, some relief from this horrendous work? he wondered as he made his way to the barracks.
It took a few days for Steve’s companions to reach the BATS’s base of operations, as the helicopter Steve owned could not travel huge distances so it had to avoid traveling across the sea, and go all the way through Mexico before reaching Brazil.
“What seems to be the problem this time?” Timber asked when he finally saw his employer again.
“It seems there are smugglers somewhere in these jungles who supply weapons to countries in both the southern and northern hemisphere. Let’s just say they’re a threat to the world peace,” Steve explained, hoping there was something his friends could do.
“I noticed that by
now.
“Then that means we have no time to lose,” Chip added, joining the conversation. “Gadget’s already busy trying to improve some of her earlier inventions. While that might be swell, it’s useless without the knowledge of where to find the bad guys.”
“Want me to go and help her?” Mousestein offered helpfully.
“No, what we really could use is an explorer. Your grappling hook seems to do the trick in those jungles,” Steve encouraged and playfully punched his shoulder.
“Why not launch a spy satellite?” Hiss suggested hopefully. “Gadget seems to have the brain to accomplish that.”
“NASA would surely get suspicious,” Chip argued, trying to make it sound like a joke.
“Indeed, it’s better to let those humans think we’re no threat to their civilization,” Steve added.
“Anyway, just get ready to help us in our search for their base of operations. The rest of the Rangers are helping as well so I doubt we don’t have enough manpower. We’re just not lucky enough,” Chip explained a bit sadly.
“Hey man, would you look at that bunch there,” a bat told his companions and pointed to a line of trucks driving through the jungle.
“Hoho man, it
looks like them food transports heard we moved out of
“I haven’t ate a grape since we got here. What would you say if we helped them get rid of their food?” the leader asked the other two and got ready for a dive.
“You don’t have to ask me questions like that, you know the answer is yes!” the little one replied and got ready as well.
“Alright, at the count to three. Three!” the fat one ordered and flew right at a truck, not paying attention to the warning written on it which read ‘Ammunition! Highly Explosive!’
“No fair, you got a head start!” the leader shouted but followed anyway.
One of the escorts noticed their attackers and was quick to shout a warning. “Bommenwerfers, achtung!” the rat cried and ran for cover.
“No you idiot, it are bats!” another guard shouted, causing panic as other soldiers mistook that for the Brazilian Anti Terrorism Squad. A few of them opened fire on the fruit bats who quickly realized they were raiding the wrong convoy.
“Watch out man, they got firepower!” the fat one warned as he evaded one shot.
“Right you are, let’s beat it!” the little one cried and flew off.
“Idiots!” One of the officers shouted to his privates “You could have hit one of the trucks! That might have resulted in a big boom and many casualties!”
“Gee sorry boss, but I thought they were those BATS guys, not just average fruit bats,” The soldier explained while inspecting a truck for damage.
“Did you hear that?” Chip asked his teammates. “That sounded like shots. Maybe we’re near a smuggler patrol.”
“That means we’re close to their base. I don’t like the looks of this,” Dale sounded worried.
“Hey look, over there, those are bats!” Monty shouted and pointed to three figures in the sky.
“Over here!” Steve shouted at the trio, hoping they would have information about what happened.
The bats landed and the Rangers quickly recognized the group.
“You guys? How did you get here?” Chip let out curiously.
“What do you think man? We’re here to eat fruit and have some fun, and we’re all out of fun,” the leader replied.
“Could you tell us what happened over there?” Geegaw inquired, vaguely remembering the bats from Gadget’s story about the case were Fat Cat traded food for valuables.
“You don’t want to know,” The fat one started “Those boomers over there got heavy duty armament!”
“Yeah, they were using these rifles to shoot at us like we were birds! Can you imagine?” the tiny bat let out angrily.
“Those wrecking balls are really a rotten bunch!” the first one stated while twisting his index claw close to his head to add some emphasis.
“Where are they?” Steve inquired, getting a bit nervous about the attitude of these smugglers.
“Not to far away, just get over there and you’ll find those coconut headed gunslingers. But remember that they’re guiding a convoy, they probably passed by now so you’ll have to follow the dirt tracks they left,” the fat one revealed.
“Thanks for your help, just stay out of trouble for now on,” Chip warned as him and the team continued.
“No problem nut head. We’re switching to meat anyway, greens are no peace,” the short one stated as him and his companions took off.
“Now you see what happens when you start flapping your guns to much? We’re being followed now!” An officer whispered to his soldiers after listening on the conversation of the Rangers.
“It wasn’t my fault sir, Hein started shouting!”
“Shut up! It’s all of you who were fault!” The sergeant insisted.
“Yours too,” a private noted while pointing to the leader’s smoking gun.
“Whatever. Let’s warn the convoy and set a trap,” the sergeant ordered and moved.
“What’s that noise?” Steve wanted to know as he raised a hand behind his ear to hear better.
“Who cares?” Dale dismissed as he proceeded into the direction the smugglers were supposed to be.
“No lad, it seems the bloke’s right. It’s like someone’s chopping down a tree,” Monty confirmed, being blessed with better hearing than his comrades.
“TIMB-” Someone shouted before he was interrupted.
The Rangers and their friends quickly scurried out of the way of the tree, while none of them knew where it would come from. When it crashed to the ground the entire group was divided. Chip was the first to recover and quickly set to find the others.
“Guys, were are you?” He called out as he retrieved his hat.
Dale and Monty got out of the vegetation they were hiding in while Gadget climbed out from beneath the felt tree, helping her dad and Mousestein get out as well. Steve dropped down next to Chip while Timbert landed, having apparently flown his boss out of the way of the falling tree. Next was Hiss who climbed out of a tree while Henk got out from behind the same tree. Zipper carefully got out from under Monty’s hat which he had been using as hiding place.
“Where’s Flora? Where is she?” Steve panicked as he looked around.
“Over here!” Flora called out somewhat pained.
Steve and his palls quickly jumped down to find Flora who was lying under one of the branches, which kept her from moving.
“Flora! Are you hurt?” Steve asked worriedly, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“Does it look like I’m enjoying myself here?” She asked while trying to get free.
“No worry lass, we’ll get you out from under there,” Monty encouraged as he jumped down and signaled the others to lend a hand. “Dale, you and Steve drag her out from under there while I lift this log here,” Monty ordered as he prepared to lift the branch all by himself.
Steve’s friends quickly rushed over to help him and they succeeded in getting Flora out from under the tree.
“You should thank your guardian angel that that tree didn’t fall on your head.” Steve pointed out and silently thanked whatever deity sent his love her protector from higher circles.
“Steve, there is only one holy bodyguard, and she’s all yours,” Flora corrected him with a loving smile.
“We’d better get you to the hospital. The closest town is not too far away,” Chip suggested while signaling Gadget who instantly started construction of a means of transport.
“That’s not necessary, I don’t want to hold you up,” She insisted but no one paid attention.
“No excuses, you’re going to a hospital. You might have internal bleeding right now without you caring!” Steve brought up as him and Henk helped her on her brancard.
“I guess that leaves us to explore the jungle,” Chip deducted
“Right. Mousestein, Hiss, you two can tag along with the Rangers to help them,” Steve ordered as him and his friends brought Flora to the nearby village.
The explorer group continued in their conquest, and it (along with the dirt tracks) brought them to a very professional encampment that rivaled that of the BATS.
“Strike me
starkers! I haven’t seen such fireworks ever since me days in
“Hmm, there’s electric gates, watch towers, pillboxes, gun emplacements, turrets, and probably much more in store for anyone who wants to roll over this joint with a tank division,” Chip observed as he studied the base, while Dale took a good look at the inside of the encampment.
“These guys know who they should hire for the job: the Dutch operative Pete “Koen” Heijn, privateer and genocide dictator; the Frenchman Philip “the Evil” de Burgundy, conqueror and aggressor; the middle European Karl “Troubles” Max, propagandist and liar. And-WHOW! Twins cannons, tight armor and hot rubber!” Dale exclaimed while zooming in and giving a sexy roar.
“What are you looking at?” Chip demanded as he tried to spot his companions’ target, which turned out to be a high ranking female officer “Dale, get a little control over your estrogen production.”
Dale didn’t pay any attention to the insult, either because he didn’t know what estrogen meant or he simply didn’t care.
“Chip, Dale’s body produces mainly testosterone,” Gadget noted but the hopeless look in Monty’s eyes told her she was ranting again.
“Let’s contact Petro Mendoza to tell him what we’ve found,” Geegaw suggested as he turned on the radio the BATS supplied them with.
“Sir, we got some interesting information.” Geegaw started when he finally got contact with the radar tower.
“You see now? Nothing serious,” Flora reassured her husband. She was now lying down in a hospital bed in a ward. The doctors confirmed the damage to her body was minimal and not much of a threat. They only wanted to keep her for a day to observe her recovery closely.
“Thank goodness you’re right. On the other hand, you being in the hospital would give me an excuse to stay out of the Rangers’ adventure,” Steve reasoned.
“You sneaky dog, you,” Flora teased innocently.
A nurse entered the ward with a clipboard. “I got those test result for you Miss Nutcracker.” She said and handed Flora the clipboard, then left to give the two some privacy.
“Tests? Why didn’t you tell me anything?” Steve asked, confused.
“Because, silly, I wanted to keep this a surprise,” Flora explained while studying the results. “YES!!!” She exclaimed and shot up to hug her husband.
“What? What’s up?” Steve asked, bewildered.
Flora just pushed the clipboard in his hands and let Steve read it.
Subject: Flora Nutcracker/Firalda
Date: **-**-****
Health Institute: Las
-Personal Data-
Name: Flora Nutcracker/Firalda
Sex: Female
Birth date:
Place of birth:
Nationality:
Marital state: Married, childless
Occupation: Lounge Singer
City of residence:
-Test Result: PREGNANT
Steve felt dizzy when he read this. Flora just hugged him again.
“I-it appears
those romantic night in
“Long live spring fever,” Flora cheered as she kissed her husband on the lips.
“I suppose we’ll have to plan for when the child gets born,” Steve suddenly realized.
“Sure, I’m starting right after we get home.” Flora reassured him as she lay back on the bed, not letting go of Steve.
“I’m afraid we can’t tell the others yet though,” Steve then said a bit disappointed “We don’t want to get their hopes up in case the child does not develop or unexpectedly dies.”
“That’s not going to happen. I’ll be careful from now on,” Flora countered, but she agreed with keeping it a secret for a while longer. She pulled her husband a bit closer and encouraged him to lie down beside her.
“I wonder what the kid will be like.” Steve wondered and put his hands under his head.
“You know, I realize that if we’re planning to keep the child safe that would mean I’d have to stop with singing and I’ll be unable to enjoy some fun activities that require a lot physical exertion,” Flora noticed as her face turned into a bit of a sad look. Taking Steve by his shirt and pulling him even closer, ready for a kiss. “So let’s do this while I’m still able to.”
Mercy plopped
down on the bed after another busy day of touring
“How was your day?” The youngster asked as he approached his exhausted sister.
“I’ve been sightseeing.
And I must say this country is not as bad as people sometimes portray it. And
the people have it a lot better here than you’d think. The only problem is
water, which is about the only thing that is in short supply in this part of
the world. The population is real nice to foreigners. Some of the residents
even invited me for tea. You don’t have to expect that in
“You said it, what a bunch of hypocrites,” Philip cursed, and Mercy furled her eyebrow.
“When did you learn that word?” She wondered, not recalling she ever taught him that.
“It’s from my time at the orphanage. I learned it from an older boy who used to help me with fending off kids that picked on me,” Philip told her as he started to look a bit pained. “Children used to pick on me a lot just because I wore glasses. They thought that made me a nerd.”
“Well, considering our mother had a relationship with many people, your father might just be a software company owner,” Mercy reasoned, but the comment only saddened Philip.
“They also said that my mother was a dirty--” Philip continued before Mercy cut him short.
“I know what you’re going to say. And while I agree with it, it’s no language for a young boy,” She warned and Philip nodded understandingly.
“True. Anyway I doubted they knew who my mother was, I guess they made a successful gamble. My mother is worse than what they say. But at the time I always dreamed I had a mother, one that loved me; one that would take good care of me. But the others tried to shatter that dream to make me feel bad. Fortunately he interfered and taught me to stand up for myself when needed. I’ll never forget all he did for me, Charles Doublecroix.”
“That sounds like a french name,” Mercy couldn’t help but notice.
“It is, he’s
from
“That’s sad. But it’s your bedtime now, so take a bath and brush your teeth. I’m hitting the sack as well so no excuses,” Mercy instructed as she kissed her brother in his forehead.
“Mercy, would you mind if I sleep with you for tonight?” he asked shyly. “I’m scared that I might get nightmares.”
“As you wish, but only if you behave and get yourself cleaned first.”
“Thanks Mercy!” Philip exclaimed energetically and got off the bed.
Mercy grabbed him by his shirt and stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Don’t forget your towel,” Mercy reminded and threw him one of her own.
The boy simply smiled and closed the bathroom door.
Steve woke up in the hospital bed he had been sharing with his wife, noticing he was still a bit sweaty from their session a little while back. He moved over to the sink to refresh himself when unexpectedly the nurse entered.
“I see you two enjoyed yourselves,” She said with a stern look.
Steve cringed, feeling like a child spotted by his mother with his hands on the cookie jar. “You noticed?” Steve asked, trying to look innocent.
“With that noise it would be difficult not to notice. I heard you two giggling about roughly five times,” She revealed as she folded her arms.
“I hope you don’t mind us two having some fun,” Steve said apologetically with a large blush on his face.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s only natural, and we’re used to worse things. We had quite a good time listening on you two, especially when a doctor imitated you two,” She admitted, smiling.
Steve’s blush turned from strawberry red to tomato red. “Well, its because we might not get another chance anytime soon and there was no one in the ward and we guessed no one would get close to this room anyway so…”
“I understand, but this is the only ward in this hospital,” the nurse explained and left, leaving Steve surprised.
However he was brought back to reality by an explosion. He turned around to see that the wall had been blown up by a small group of the smuggler’s lackeys, who were a tad annoyed that they had to run into people so soon.
“Mama Mia!” cried one. “I said ‘Buona Fortuna’, not blow of the fortification!”
“We’ll probably need hostages to keep people off our tail now,” one advised and eyed Steve and Flora.
Steve simply gulped.
“There you go. One special weapon coming right up,” one of the BATS engineers updated Geegaw on her progress.
“You kinda remind me of my little girl. She’s an inventor too,” Geegaw pointed out.
“Actually, I am no engineer,” The technician denied.
“And I’m not a pilot,” Geegaw stated matter-of-factly.
“No seriously, I am no engineer. I applied for a job as a mad scientist but they rejected that offer because they needed engineers, not nutcases,” she explained while installing the weapon under the wing of the Screaming Eagle.
“By the way, you haven’t even told me your name yet,” Geegaw noted and took a cheese sandwich Monty hadn’t found yet.
The woman got out from under the wing and brushed herself off. She was a white furred mouse with green eyes and long black hair. She wore a dark red latex coverall with similar gloves, goggles and belt which were a brighter color of red. Her speech had a hint of Asian to it.
“Minerva Bilderpavsky is my name, and causing havoc is my game. For that reason, people tend to call me ‘Crazy Mina’, simply because I am a tad unstable,” She explained and sat down next to Geegaw.
“Really?” Geegaw prodded, hoping this mouse was not truly mad.
“Well, my colleagues would probably know. If only they had the guts to talk about me.”
Geegaw carefully moved away from her, not willing to risk his health in a debate about sane and insane. Minerva noticed and raised an eyebrow.
“You truly think I am one ingredient short of a concoction, do you?” she said neutrally.
Geegaw tried not to sweat and was trying to think of a way the steer the conversation away from Mina. “Uh, do you want a sandwich?” he asked nervously.
“If you do not mind,” she agreed and took the peanut butter sandwich he handed her and took a bite.
Geegaw watched as she plunged her teeth into the hapless sandwich and tore a part off it. She proceeded to crush the piece of peanut butter sandwich under her jaws until nothing was left of it. She noticed Geegaw staring at how she ate her prey and swallowed.
“Chew often before you swallow, so the food enters your blood in healthy and normal way,” she instructed and nodded toward Geegaw’s sandwich.
For some reason, Geegaw’s appetite was gone now. He needed another distraction to keep the female from turning the conversation back to her.
“I think I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me for a moment,” he said and got up.
“You are forgetting your food!” Minerva shouted but the aviator mouse didn’t hear her, apparently his hearing range was really short. “Ah well, would be a waste to leave it here,” She reasoned and took a greedy bite out of it. Hmm, cheese with salad and saliva, she mused as she swallowed.
Flora regained consciousness to find out that she’d been shackled to a wall. She scanned her surroundings to see Steve next to her who was still out of commission. The room she was in was large and it looked very much like a repair garage or empty storage room. A rodent sized truck was parked in it but otherwise there wasn’t much else that was noteworthy.
“You okay darling?” she asked her husband which brought him back to reality.
“What is this place? Who took us here?” Steve wondered as he looked around as well.
“I suppose we can only wait for someone to tell us.”
The large door opened and sunlight greeted the two Nutcrackers. Flora could spot two figures standing, the one a bit taller than the other. The two moved closer and Flora could see them clearer. The big one looked like a Russian Cold War general while the other was dressed as a low ranking officer, both Siberian chipmunks. Flora noted that the higher ranking officer was rather old and wore a fur coat in the heat of the day.
“I see you two have woke up,” The elder noted in heavy accent “I’m Sergei Tcharkovsky and you’re hostages.”
“Thanks for telling me, but I figured that out when I noticed I was shackled to this comfy wall of yours,” Steve retorted grumpily.
“We just don’t want you and your girl to wander off. Someone might take offense at that,” Sergei informed and moved a bit closer “Not that escaping would help at all. We’re in middle of jungle here so it’s unlikely you’ll ever report to what you’ve been through.”
Sergei took his handkerchief out of his pocket and before Steve could protest the general had gagged him. He then turned his attention to Steve’s wife.
“You know, many
people would commit a murder to have girl like you. So I’m going to be generous
for once; If you were to join me I’d be willing to share my success with you.
Ever since
“The ‘glory’ you’re thinking has only brought death and destruction to your home country. And yet, you’re too blind to understand that democracy is the only hope of recovery for your nation?” Flora questioned, hoping to beat this old man to it.
Such was not the case as the Siberian only sighed and shook his head.
“Have you seen what your ‘democracy’ did to this world? Nearly every western nation has nuclear bomb now. And that while masses of people have protested against it! In sixties, right now, and in the future humanity and our version of it there is fierce resistance against development of weapons. Democrats won’t let opinions of millions of people influence their decision, claiming that the people wanted them to rule and they are doing that. Compared to such a government, our kind is not that bad. We never lie, we do what WE want and not what our subjects want. Why would we need to lie to our people if they have no power at all? I’ve served through many skirmishes between your ‘democracy’ and our ‘dictatorship’ and never did public opinion cloud my decision, neither did capitalist generals ever put the wishes of a civilian before mission objective. Democracy will not lead to Utopia, only to more lies and cover-ups. Can you, yourself, rule a country when the burden of hypocrisy and the sin of lying is constantly following you like the Grim Reaper, ready to take you forever? As dictator you’ll never have this problem, you just do what you think is good. Which would you prefer? Or do you perhaps have no interest in the world around you?” Sergei spoke, like a teacher to his pupil.
“Could you move a bit closer so I can bite you?” Flora requested harshly.
“Not surprising to hear that from an inferior creature. You are, after all, American born and bred. You have no idea what some people go through in day-to-day life. Well I can tell you I’m much more accustomed to hazards like grief, coldness and aggression. If you served in the military for as long as I did you might understand, provided you won’t join that group of sissies that call themselves the BATS. We could have put our differences aside and rule as king and queen. Even though you are weaker,” Sergei explained sadly.
“Do you value your life?” Flora remarked but the Siberian already started to leave.
When he had left the building the other free chipmunk took the gag from Steve’s mouth. “And he didn’t even give me any advice.” Steve complained, sarcasm evident.
“Who are you?” Flora asked a bit suspicious.
“I’m Alexander, but everyone simply calls me Alex.”
“What happened to you that you joined these guys? You don’t look like a terrorist to me,” asked Steve, carefully.
“Looks can be
deceiving, but in this case you’re right sir. I don’t fancy myself a smuggler,
it’s just not me. I joined
Geegaw entered the Colonel’s office to find Petro Mendoza overlooking a simulated battlefield of miniature tanks and soldiers, but his playful smile quickly faded when he noticed there was someone to talk to him.
“You’re letting out your inner child, Colonel?” Geegaw prodded teasingly.
“Ehm, no. I was
just planning some strategies,” he revealed and picked up one of the small
tanks. “You see this? There are people in
“Thanks, could I ask a question though?” Geegaw inquired.
“Fire away. What’s on your mind?”
“Well, that engineer who’s been working on my plane, the one they call ‘Crazy Mina’, is she reliable?” Geegaw tried carefully.
“Of course you
can trust her! She might have some screws loose but she has a special way with
vehicles. To bad she never wears her uniform,”
“Well, she’s a bit unsettling and she doesn’t seem to be aware of it,” Geegaw pressed on.
“Hah, I’m familiar with that. In fact, everyone at the engineering crew has to put up with her bestial way of eating so nobody pays attention to it anymore. Just humor her, and you’ll find a good and lighthearted friend in her,” The Colonel encouraged.
Before Geegaw could ask another question Chip entered the room. “I just want to know, how long are we going to have to wait until you take care of those smugglers?” he wanted to know.
“Not long, we’ve planned our attack tomorrow. You can sit this one out if you’d prefer, you and your team contributed a fair share in this war.”
“No thanks, I think we’re still needed. Even if it was only to see good win and to get a demonstration of Gadget’s new inventions. I think the others would love it,” Chip declared as he smiled at the idea of vicious smugglers at the mercy of Gadget’s specially designed military non-lethal firearms and gizmos.
“I suppose it would only be fair. In a certain way, this is the reward I owe you for helping us so much,” Petro admitted gratefully. “But I do recommend you Rangers to get some rest before then, the trip alone will be exhausting.”
“Thanks Colonel, glad to be working with you on this,” Chip praised and left, Geegaw following him.
The vacation for the two Stoneturners had come to an end, and Mercy and Philip were at the airport concourse, waiting for their flight. Philip now had twice as much luggage as when he first arrived, thanks to the many souvenirs he begged for. He was licking an ice cream until Mercy put a hand on his shoulders, she looked a bit worried.
“What’s up?” he asked and noticed his sister pointed at something.
Philip looked at what scared her sister so much to see the salamander prince that wrecked their day at the beach, along with two of his gorillas. He was even more shocked to see that the prince pull out a Colt 1911 and that one of friends carried a knife, the other a bat.
“Okay everybody, were simply looking for a girl. Stay down on the floor and everything will be hunky-dory,” the salamander shouted and fired at shot at the ceiling.
Mercy wondered where these guys got that type of weaponry but wasn’t planning to ask them. “God, that {censored} got a heater!” Mercy hissed and ducked.
She grabbed her luggage and sneaked out of the concourse, Philip following her leads. The three thugs noticed them and gave chase. Mercy reached the metal detectors and passed them, the devices triggered the alarm as Mercy forgot to hand over her keys and didn’t bother to smuggle her knife past the guards.
“Stop! Halte! Sta stil! Keine Bewegung! Por favor!” One guard shouted after them.
In all the confusion, only few noticed the group of three animals that followed who were also carrying metal object, only this time with the purpose of hurting someone with them.
Mercy exited the building and found herself on the airfield with her brother. She quickly spotted the plane that was bound to bring he back home. She quickly ran toward it, her brother Philip following her as always. The three chasing them quickly signaled an airport truck to pull over.
“Sorry sir, we need to borrow your car,” The one with the baseball bat stated as he opened the door and pulled the chauffeur out of his seat, then took place behind the wheel himself as the leader of the group got in next to him. The third stepped on the airport worker’s back as he was getting up to climb into the back of the truck. The driver put his foot down on the gas pedal and the prince opened his window and aimed his gun at Mercy and fired a few shots before reloading. Mercy fell down and Philip halted to see what happened. He noticed his sister had been shot in the right leg by the amphibian that craved revenge. He didn’t know if he should stay with Mercy or run to the airport security and hope he’d be quick enough to warn them. The truck quickly closed the gap between itself and the Stoneturners. The dark prince aimed his weapon once more and smiled wickedly. Then there was a gunshot.
“What was that? That wasn’t me!” The salamander cried out.
“B-boss, I lost control over that car!” His companion warned as the car swiveled a few times and came to a stop.
The guy with the knife who had been standing on top of the truck’s back fell of and landed painfully and got the wind knocked out of his lungs.
The driver got out of his recently hi-jacked car to inspect the vehicle when he noticed the airport worker whom he stole it from. The man simply smiled at him with his own gun pointed at the vehicle thief who froze in panic. The leader however wouldn’t be so easy to stop and he kicked the door open, causing it to fall of it’s hinges. He walked over to Mercy and pointed his weapon at her face when suddenly he felt a sharp pain surge through his left leg. He dropped the heater and looked down to see Philip who had planted his incisors in his leg in an attempt to save his sister and mother figure. Apparently the young chipmunk cub had hid behind luggage coffers and sneaked up on the prince. Mercy saw her chance and got up, swiftly kicking the amphibian psycho in the groin area, grabbed Philip’s hand and run toward the plane that would take her to safety. The prince fell to the ground out of pain, and by the time he could stand up again Mercy had entered her airplane. However he wasn’t going to be stopped so easy. He grabbed his Colt 1911 and entered the plane as well. He kept his handgun hidden under his coat to prevent the other passengers from panicking and soon he found Mercy sitting down next to Philip.
“Gotcha!” He proclaimed proudly and aimed once more.
As his finger tightened on the trigger, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When her turned around he looked into the face of a bulky desert rat dressed in a Rodent Saudi Airlines uniform who punched him in the face. Again, the prince lost his gun as he clutched his face. The rat effortlessly threw the salamander over his shoulder, walked to the emergency exit, opened it and threw the dishonorable berserker prince out. He landed hard on the tarmac and he felt like he had broken something, besides his pride. The passengers looked shocked at the steward who dusted himself of and explained.
“No ticket.”
After that, he had no more trouble with stowaways, and a few people got out of their seats and exited quietly.
Chip was looking through his binoculars, smiling to himself as the Smuggler Base was preparing to repel the BATS siege. The fools just didn’t know they were up against the inventions of one of the finest minds in rodent history.
“Sir Maplewood, the first battalions of smugglers readied themselves for battle and are approaching quickly. Should we attack now?” Captain Pèpe, the Colonel’s assistant, requested.
“As you wish,” Chip agreed and grabbed the microphone of his radio “Dale, we got resistance from the east. You know where that is? -Over-”
“Sure, I got my own compass. It’s all in the mind. Besides, I can see them perfectly from here. –Over-” was the reply from Dale, who was leading the First Crossbow Battalion.
“Great, do me a favor and release the first few shots to show them their resistance is futile. –Over-” Chip asked casually.
“At your service! One volley of plunger arrows coming right up, sir! –Over-” Dale saluted.
“Ah, nice. I’m already laughing. –Over and out-” Chip concluded and hurried to the edge of his cliff to see the spectacle.
From the mountain Chip’s battalion was located, the First Darts Battalion, Chip got a good view on what was going on below at the First Crossbow Battalion. He could see Dale carrying out his orders, sporting a green helmet.
“Attention!”
All crossbow infantry hastened to the edge of their part of the mountain to see their foolish enemy approaching.
“Ready…”
Immediately, all the rodents, birds, amphibians and reptiles in the group loaded their weapon and lined up in a close formation of ten by six.
“…Aim…”
They all picked their target while many smiled as they did so.
“…Fire!”
Ten plunger-darts flew through the air and soared toward the smugglers who were rushing forward. And all shots connected with the face or body of an enemy soldier. Soon, ten smuggler lackeys were lying helplessly in the dirt. The attackers hadn’t even recovered from the first wave of panic or another rain of plunger arrows came down upon the fighters, taking more soldiers out of the fight. The regiment was now completely shattered as many ran to their fallen brethren to help remove the plungers from their bodies. However, a group of fresh reinforcements rallied the group and closed quickly on the opposing army. The group was much bigger now, and ten victims per volley wouldn’t be sufficient to stop them before they reached their opponents. But Chip had thought ahead of them and grabbed his radio again.
“Monty, do you hear me? –Over-”
“Loud an’ clear mate. What’s on yer mind?” The Australian replied.
“You forgot to say ‘over’. By the way, could you do something about them smuggler soldiers? They’re closing the gap faster than I’d like. –Over-”
“Sorry pally, won’t happen again. And we’ll get ‘em for ya!” Monty replied cheerily, once again forgetting to say ‘over’.
Chip looked ahead to see a few rounds of Gadget’s special Pepper Mortars fired at the at battlefield, catching most of the baddies in a cloud of pepper. Another rain of plunger arrows made the defense even more impressive. However, some of the enemies seemed to find the will to carry on. Their struggle would only be in vain.
“Fire at will!” Chip shouted at his regiment, some of the BATS’s finest snipers who were now firing a powerful tranquilizer rather than bullets. Again, Gadget has proven herself to be more than resourceful. Chip looked through his binoculars to see that the smugglers had unleashed their trumph card: tanks.
“Right on schedule,” he said to himself and once again took his microphone to contact another Ranger.
“Geegaw, do you read me? –Over-”
“Loud and clear. What’s on your mind? –Over-” the elderly mouse acknowledged through the radio of his plane.
“I was wondering if you could do something about those nasty tanks that are approaching. Is that possible? –Over-”
“No problem at all. I’ll freeze them dead in their tracks. –Over and out-” the mouse replied and switched to his assistant on the ground “Hello, anybody there? I was wondering if you could patch some tactical information through for me.” Geegaw requested his flight assistant.
“Sure I can, that’s why I have been assigned for this,” Minerva warmly replied through the radio “Anything to make a few people suffer.”
“Ehm-Thanks.” Geegaw replied as he scanned his radar and dropped his payload, feeling sorry for the opposition.
“Let those foreign devils suffer at the hands of a hero! May they rot in the center of the earth for all eternity!” Crazy Mina shouted dramatically.
Geegaw looked up at the horizon, expecting to see an angel of death awaiting with open arms, ready to take him in. To his relief, all he saw was the sun, sea, mountains and jungles.
Back on the ground, the bombs had exploded and glue had poured out of them, immobilizing the tank battalion and a good deal of the soldiers. The smuggler’s army had been decimated and the rocket soldiers Gadget led were more than enough to beat back any other counter attack with their glue missiles.
“It looks like we succeeded. Now we only have to capture their base of operations and see if we can take out their weapons manufacturing and shipping structures,” Chip explained to the other Rescue Rangers minus Geegaw.
“It’s a shame we haven’t got any artillery, or that would be a piece of cake.” Dale commented disappointed.
“If I could get a closer look at their facilities I think I’d manage to think up a solution for that problem.” Gadget suggested.
“Why not hi-jack a vehicle of those blokes?” Monty wondered “A group like them should have at least something like a big cannon to style fully blast that place to kingdom come.”
“We’ll see, whatever works out. Let’s go, Rescue Rangers Away!” Chip ordered and led the other into the lion’s den.
Mercy’s airplane
had took off and they were safely in the air now, away from
“How’s your leg?” Philip inquired, looking up from his comic book.
“Phil, don’t be so concerned about me. You’ve asked it every minute now.”
“Okay, I’ll stop,” He stated and read on before looking up again and asking “How’s your leg now?”
“I said, stop asking.”
“You said to stop asking it every minute. I’m now asking it every half minute,” Philip proclaimed.
Mercy sighed deeply.
“I know, it’s only thirty seconds but in the marathon you’ll miss gold,” Philip pressed defensively.
“I told you,
that steward bandaged my leg and the wound is cleaned. There’s nothing to worry
about. Don’t bother me for the rest of the flight, I’m going to sleep some
more. And if you wake me up before we’ve reached
Philip decided not to bother her anymore and took out a rodent sized disc player to listen some relaxing music.
Alex entered the storage building in panic and ran up to the two Nutcrackers.
“My liberators arrived and they beat those smugglers. Now’s our chance to escape!” he declared proudly and freed Steve and Flora with the key he snagged from Sergei’s office.
The trio quickly ran to the exit, Alex leading the way. When he left the warehouse however, he froze. Alexander looked fearfully at the rifle that was pointed at him by an American chipmunk in a bomber jacket and fedora.
“You don’t happen to be in possession of information that helps us destroy this place do you?” The other chipmunk asked while keeping his weapon pointed at Alex.
“You don’t understand sir! I’m a deserter, I have no will to fight this battle! Please don’t shoot!”
“Chip don’t! He’s a good guy!” A voice called out to the armed chipmunk that was familiar to him.
“Flora and Steve? You here?” Chip asked as he lowered the dart rifle.
“These smugglers took us prisoner when they raided the hospital we were at. Alex here is not part of them out of free will. He’s willing to surrender to the BATS when given the chance,” Flora explained quickly.
“That’s right, so please spare my life now. I never wanted to lose my life in this war simply because I made a mistake somewhere,” Alex pressed apologetically.
“If you tell us where to find the explosives depot, we’ll bring you back to civilization,” Chip offered.
“Fair enough, it’s over there!” Alex agreed and turned around, pointing to a nearby facility.
“Thanks, let’s go guys!” he called out to the other Rangers but stopped dead in his tracks after he rounded the corner.
“Well, well, if it isn’t little Chip Maplewood. Nice to meet you again.” Boris “Bowler” greeted with a bazooka pointed at the chipmunk detective.
Chip was shocked to see the rocket launcher the rat carried, but just couldn’t help but remark, “So they recruited even you. These people must be desperate and paranoid.”
“Ghrrl, you’ll pay for that insult!” the rat snarled and fired his weapon.
Chip quickly dived for the floor and the missile passed right over his head and hit a stack of barrels that exploded, setting off a domino effect of exploding barrels and crates which ended at the base of a huge building with large smoke pipes protruding from the roof.
“No!” Boris screamed, dropped his weapon and ran toward Chip, lifted him off the ground and shook him furiously. “Look what you did! This is your fault!”
“S-should I have stood my ground and gotten blown to pieces?” he managed.
“Idiot! That’s the power plant that supplied our base with power! It’s damaged beyond repair!”
“Thanks, you just made our mission a lot easier,” Chip declared proudly, hoping to make the rat feel even worse about his action.
“You don’t understand the danger of the situation do you!? When that thing blows, this place will be wiped out, you and me included!” Boris insisted desperately.
Monty decided enough was enough and tapped the rat’s shoulder, then punched his face when he turned around. “That would be enough mate.” He stated as Boris dropped Chip, a black eye forming where Monty’s fist hit.
“Don’t panic, I know what to do!” Alexander declared, trying to keep everyone’s cool “This place has a couple of submarines. I suppose we can ‘borrow’ a few. Underwater we’re safe from the explosion and can escape without anyone chasing us.”
“Sounds like a plan. Show us were we can find this sub pen,” Steve asked.
“It’s not to far, and with all the confusion there probably won’t be anyone guarding the place.”
“We’d better tell Pèpe to evacuate the BATS soldiers or they’ll get caught in the blast,” Chip warned and took Gadget’s radio and ordered the captain to take every unit away from the smuggler base. “Now take us there!” Chip ordered when he finished.
“Da!” Alex acknowledged and saluted before leading the way, leaving Boris behind to panic.
“Here we are” Alexander stated as he led the Rangers over to a submarine “This is the smugglers’ version of the 945 Sierra class Nuclear Submarine. Or “Barrakuda” as the Russians call it,” Alex declared proudly.
“You mean to say
“This ship was
made in
“That ought to shake of a couple o’ ships,” Monty mused before noticing something “Lad, what about those other subs here?”
“Those are
scaled down versions of the Typhoon and Hai Lung. They are inferior to the Barrakuda, so we’d better
leave them. Now get on board, I learned a few things about subs while I was
staged in
With the help of Gadget, Alex and radio assistance of a BATS girl named “Crazy Mina” the Rangers managed to move the giant hulk of steel out of the smuggler sub pen. They set course for the BATS encampment, their mission completed.
With the chaos that ensued after the destruction of the reactor core, Sergei had a hard time organizing the rest of the base. With the help of Boris he managed to calm enough people and get them aboard the submarines to evacuate. To his dismay he noticed both Alexander and the Sierra 945 were missing, and a large amount of his employer’s subjects had been captured by the BATS. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Boris reported.
“Comrade, we found the missing Barrakuda on the sonar. It seems the vehicle thieves aren’t familiar with submarines; it’s not cruising at maximum speed, it’s not running silent and it’s currently surfaced.” Boris informed his old friend “Should we take them out?”
“Whether we are dealing with BATS here or just cowards who thought it best to flee and abandon us, we should get revenge. Do we have any weapons operational?” Sergei inquired as he got up and made his way over to the bridge, his old rival following.
“Torpedoes armed. Give them the word and they’ll fire.”
“Fine, then sink those fools! Nobody takes our ships unpunished!” Sergei ordered one of henchmen on the bridge “Torpedoes away!” He shouted as two of the ship’s torpedoes were fired at the Sierra 945.
Inside the Barrakuda the Rescue Rangers and their friends noticed two splashes right next to the sub they were in. Alex immediately checked the sonar to see his fears were for good reason, they were being followed by another submarine, probably one of the Typhoons they left behind.
“Miss Hackwrench, we should dive immediately, we’re being followed by those smugglers that survived!”
“What do we do now?” Chip asked worriedly “Do you suppose this ship can hold out against another one in combat?”
“Probably, but before we’ve turned to face them the other sub has probably closed enough on us to fire another round of torpedoes that will hit. If we dive and increase our speed we can simply outrun their ship, the Typhoons only go 27 knots submerged, because it’s operating under a set of steam turbines and a pressurized water reactor. And we’re running under nuclear power. And that’s another reason to retreat. If they manage to damage our submarine and sink us that would create an environmental disaster. I don’t need to tell you what that means,” Alex explained quickly as he adjusted a few things.
“I see, I suppose that escape is the best course of action,” Chip agreed and nodded.
“You fools, you missed them!” Sergei screamed furiously.
“The distance was too great to get an accurate shot, and this equipment was designed by a bunch of commies not to mention,” the weapons officer apologized, not that it helped.
“What’s wrong with our systems? At least we produce by masses, we can topple you stinking Americans easily when it comes to quantity!” Sergei retorted angrily.
“May I inform you that I’m a born and bred Greek? And that you filthy reds have no idea what ‘reliable’ means?” The officer countered, which made Sergei even more hateful.
As the two continued their debate about capitalism and communism, Boris looked worriedly as the other sub disappeared in the dark and mysterious blackness of the sea.
She was lying on a raised piece of furniture, at the mercy of this woman who gave birth to her and was now humiliating her. Escape was impossible, she had to lay there unclothed while this mistress tortured her. The longer this went on, the more vulnerable she felt. Taking her thoughts of her predicament, she quickly kicked her legs around to prevent the female from grabbing them.
“Come on Mandy, it will only take longer if you keep up your protests.” Ans explained wearily, finally managing to hold her daughter’s legs together as she lifted her a little.
Let me go you witch, stay off my behind! I don’t want to wear such a stupid thing, you always interfere with my business. You wouldn’t even let me dispose of that ugly picture with that hideous hussy on it in the snow! Mandy thought, hoping she’d somehow make clear she wasn’t comfortable with being stark naked.
“My, my Mandy. Be a bit more open, show a bit more openness, just think like the years ‘60’s. It’s not like I’ll do this live on TV for the kick of it,” Ans consoled.
She couldn’t
understand why Mandy was such a hand full. Changing her diaper always caused
the usual havoc which was fortunately kept to the minimum this time. Mandy had
proven herself to be a holy terror, she once nearly damaged Ans’ picture of her
as the yodel champion of the young girl corps from when she still lived in
“There, that wasn’t so bad right? We’re finished.” Ans declared and picked up her newborn.
Yeah sure, you say that every time. But you always repeat it. And now you’ll probably hold me close to your face for some sick ritual. I’ll get you this time, the ‘angelic’ baby thought and awaited her chance.
Ans held Mandy close to her head to nuzzle her, but realized too late the evil intent of her offspring. “AUWH you little FIEND!!!” The mother screamed and closed her eyes and held Mandy away from her.
Carefully she lay her child in her bed and staggered to the door. She opened it and fell in the arms of her alarmed and confused husband.
“What happened here, what’s going on?” Gus asked worriedly, fearing something happened to either his wife or his baby.
He inspected the face of his love, who had collapsed in his hands. It didn’t take him long to figure out what happened to Ans.
“That doesn’t look to good dear. I’d better call you a doctor,” he stated worriedly and helped her to the living room.
His wife said nothing, and Gus had to set her down carefully on the sofa before grabbing the phone.
The doctor had come and gone and Ans was still sitting down, with a washcloth pressed to her left eye. Gus was very relieved that the report the doctor gave him was less serious than he had feared. When he first saw that his lovely wife had been poked in her eye by his child he had wondered if she’d ever see again. The damage could have left her permanently blind or it could have affected her brain, resulting in death. According to the doctor, the worst thing possible was that Ans was from now on blinded on one eye. The poke had done some serious damage and Gus hoped, begged and prayed his woman wouldn’t live the rest of her life like that. Mandy was vast asleep now, so Gus could put his attention to his injured wife which was absolutely nerve-wracking to him. Ans had insisted that Mandy had done this on purpose, calling the kid several names Gus hoped his daughter would never become. He had reasoned that a child her age was curious and wanted to explore, perhaps show her affection to it’s mother. Ans would have nothing of it and was seriously considering to let the orphanage handle her. Although Gus had been able to calm her a little, he still wasn’t certain if Ans had forgiven Mandy. His train of thought was derailed when he heard the phone ring. He was about to lift the horn of the receiver when he noticed Ans had beat him to it, and backed off to give his wife the space she needed.
“Nutcracker residence, Ans Nutcracker speaking. Who’s calling?” she said somewhat weak.
“Hi, it’s me Flora. Your daughter-in-law,” the person at the other side of the line answered.
“Oh, it’s you. How are you doing?”
“Nothing new, we’re resting up from our last adventure.”
“I know making love can be exhausting but why call it an adventure? Is this your first time?” Ans asked half teasingly.
“Haha, you know what I mean. If I meant our private life I would have said ‘romance’. We’ve mopped up a smuggler ring. By the way, how are you doing?” Flora asked, not realizing what a can of worms she was opening.
“Bad, Mandy just poked out my eye. Gus doesn’t believe it but I tell you that girl has been seduced by the devil. Some evil intent took over her mind,” Ans revealed.
Gus sighed inwardly. Now his love was telling others Mandy was demonic.
“You don’t say!” Flora exclaimed amazed.
“Should you and that son of mine ever get kids, get rid of them when they start to act like Mandy. I fear it’s a family trait,” Ans warned half-heartedly.
“Don’t be silly, Steve never tried to poke out your eye did he? Blame Mandy’s personality on the milkman!” Flora joked good-naturedly.
“For some reason you made my day a bit less grim. What’s the reason of your call?” Ans continued, a bit relieved now.
“Would you believe me if I told you I’m pregnant?” Flora asked.
“Does that mean I’m going to be a grandma? That’s a bit early isn’t it?” Ans objected friendly.
“Not to mention Mandy. She’ll be an aunt at early age,” Flora added.
“Thank you Flora. Now she’s going to set an example to your offspring and before you know your kid pokes out your eyes as well,” Ans countered in a humorous fashion.
“What I wanted to know is if you happen to have any useful items left from when Steve was a baby. Wouldn’t it be fun to see our little Nutcracker grow up in the same baby chair as my husband did?” Flora explained, giggling a bit.
“I don’t have anything you could use anytime soon. I already need most of that stuff to raise Mandy. I do have a number of items that can help you learn how to become a successful mom like I am. I got them when I was a pregnant woman for the first time. I don’t need it anymore and I thought it would be nice to pass it to the next Nutcracker to need it,” Ans offered.
“That would be great! Could you send it to us so I can use it? You do know our address right?” Flora asked worriedly.
“No worry, I got your address written down. I’ll send it by mail when I got it back. No need to thank me, it’s nothing.”
“Well thanks anyway. See? Protests are useless!” Flora pointed out.
“You’re too kind Flora. Just take care of that grandchild of me, and don’t forget my son while you’re at it. He needs to be watched after a lot!” Ans warned.
“I learned that one by now. Thanks again, bye!”
“Cheerio!” Ans said as she hung up.
“It seems you’ve forgiven Mandy.” Gus noted carefully.
“No I didn’t. I still hate her with passion!” Ans countered but the tone of her voice and her smile gave her away.
“Hereby I award the Rescue Rangers with the Silver Nut of honor for the extraordinary bravery you’ve shown throughout our campaign against the forces of those smugglers. Wear it with pride,” Petro Mendoza declared as he pinned the medal on each Ranger’s chest.
The Rangers and their companions had dressed in BATS uniforms for the occasion. Geegaw was naturally in an aviator’s suit. Gadget and Flora both wore a bodysuit, beret and boots. Monty, Zipper and Steve’s henchanimals were all dressed as commandos. And Chip, Dale and Steve as officers. Alex was also decorated, wearing his old Russian uniform.
“I’d still like
to issue some other awards to some people in specific. Chip
“I’d like you to accept this Ruby Walnut award for your skill at handling a campaign against terrorist elements and refrain from panicking in dire situations. You’ve proven yourself worthy of commanding an army. If you were ever to join our faction I’m convinced you’d rise through the ranks quickly until you’d be my superior,” Petro complimented and saluted.
“Thanks sir, but what I did was a group effort. I’ve always achieved my goals together with the other Rangers,” Chip tried to avoid having all the honors bestowed on him.
“I’ve not
forgotten them at all. The next person I’d like to award is your teammate
Gadget,”
“Golly, I never would have thought I’d contribute to world peace. Much less get decorated for it,” the young Hackwrench admitted.
“Your advanced research in harmless weaponry and non-lethal firepower is more than worth the award the United Species council has named after you, the Hackwrench Peace prize. You should be proud to be the first to receive this medal,” Petro Mendoza praised as he handed her the award; a golden medal with a cogwheel covered by a hammer and wrench with two wings on the side. “Before you start shying away I’d ask you to stay for receiving the next medal along with Dale and Monty who did a great job as sub-commanders,” the colonel declared. “You three have earned the Bronze Acorn for obeying orders from your superior and handling a covert ops. mission. I hope you three are satisfied with yourselves.”
“Zowie! I got another one! Thanks Colonel!” Dale exclaimed enthusiastically.
“I should be thanking you and your team instead,” Petro backfired the word of thanks.
“One bonzer ceremony this is! Too bad there are no medals in your size Zip,” Monty commented a bit disappointed to Zipper who was on his shoulder.
“And now I’d like to decorate miss and mister Nutcracker and his friends for their contributions to this struggle, however small it might have been. Even civilians should be acknowledged for their contributions to world peace. I hope these Copper Leaves can do something to make up for any possible discomfort suffered,” the BATS commander hoped as he handed the group their pins.
“That’s great, now we’ll have evidence to show our future children when we tell them of our adventures,” Steve said and pressed his wife to him and stole a kiss.
“Please keep it decent.” Colonel Petro smiled as he moved on to Geegaw. “I hope this Silver Propeller medal covers the debt we owe you for your air coverage during the operation and your scouting work.”
“I think it does, this is my first award ever since I stopped working as a freelance pilot.” Geegaw confirmed and inspected the shiny prize.
“There’s one last person left I’d like to reward now,” The Colonel concluded and approached Alex.
“Me?!” the Russian wondered, confused. He never suspected honorable people would ever praise him again.
“Sure, you did show
extreme bravery doublecrossing your oppressors. While what you did was treason,
it’s perfectly clear you were not supporting them willingly. I’m glad to
forgive a person like you so I give you a special award: a Golden Star. You are
as courageous and bold as your ancestors,”
“Gosh, I never expected this. But I’m regretful to tell you I’m not sure of my heritage,” Alex admitted, accepting the valuable object.
“But I am. Because our database did not have any information on you, we contacted some of our colleagues and requested some files.”
“You’ve been digging up my personal info?” Alex cut him off, a bit shocked.
“It’s routine, we always try to get some background on our prisoners of war. And it turned out that through many complex ties, you are the sole survivor of the Rockforanov line.”
“Me? Related to
ancient
“Congratulations, it’s great to hear we saved royalty!” Chip offered as he shook Alex’s hand, who was still somewhat dazed.
However he recovered and grew a bit worried. “If I’m really the descendant of the Czar of Russia, does that mean I have claims on all remaining palaces, landmarks and sovereign rulership of my country?”
“Well, I suppose you have those claims, but I doubt Vladimir Pudding would let you take over his job,” Petro reasoned and shrugged.
“I wouldn’t try to anyway. I’m just glad to know who I am,” Alex reassured him.
“Too bad you are already leaving. It has been fun, but all nice things have to come to an end,” Minerva said her goodbye’s.
“Then why do you have your luggage with you? We’re the ones leaving, not you,” Gadget asked, somewhat confused.
“I am heading
for
I guess they meant more than her knowledge on engineering, Geegaw thought sourly.
“Hey, perhaps you could get a ride with us!” Dale offered, an idea that shocked Geegaw.
“NO!” The elder mouse shouted, quickly recovering to give an argument for his refusal “The Screaming Eagle was build to be a plane for five rodents! There’s no place for another passenger!”
“If I did not know you better, I would say you hated me.” Mina said disappointed.
“Come on dad, I can stand a tight fit,” Gadget countered, eager to talk to someone with knowledge of highly advanced science and biology.
“But…Eh-what about Zipper? Where is he gonna sit if there’s no space left?” Geegaw insisted, starting to grow desperate.
“Blimey, what’s gotten into you Geegaw, old mate? Zipper always sits on me shoulder if we got an extra passenger,” Monty chimed in.
“Pleeeeaase?” Gadget pressed, looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.
Geegaw knew he wasn’t going to win this one, so he just sighed and led the others over to his plane.
“My, you’re acting weird all of a sudden,” Dale commented as he picked up one of Mina’s luggage cases.
The group made their way over to the airfield and entered the hangar where the plane was parked. Geegaw quickly got behind the controls while Chip and Dale loaded all the cargo. Monty quickly helped the two ladies up and plopped down next to Geegaw.
“Where are you from actually? You don’t sound American,” Gadget asked, quick to start up a conversation with her new friend.
“I’m a Russo-Sino,
born in north
“
“That is right, the Middle Kingdom has plenty of ‘nukes’, sweet essence of doom!” She replied, hugging herself.
“You like that?
Do know what these weapons did to
Mina just grinned. “That is just a physics class joke, I am not mad. Well, not completely anyway.”
Terrible, Geegaw thought Imagine that for the rest of the flight.
Epilogue
Alexander
Rockforanov found himself in the halls of the
“Would you kindly take your filthy (censored) of the furniture?” The man requested, in Russian.
“You have no realization that you are speaking to the lord and owner of this estate,” Alex bragged, enjoying the sound of it.
The caretaker
looked like he was going to reply, something along the lines of ‘you sir, are mad’
if it where not for
“Ah, you must be
Alexander. Now would you please explain to me why you requested to meet me in
the
Alex just smiled as he opened his suitcase and started explaining.
“Have you ever noticed, while studying the Rockforanov family tree, that the dynasty ends with Nathalie Storkenzollern, with only a query mark as her offspring? Well it seems this child, who has passed into obscurity, is in fact my father.”
“You don’t say!”
“That’s why I
brought these analyst reports. I think these should make it clear that I am the
rightful heir to
Upon studying the results, the Siberian chipmunk named Pudding was shocked to learn they were reliable, correct and that Alexander was the owner of the land he was currently walking on. It took him some time to regain his composure. “You can’t have it! There’s no way in heck that the people of this country will allow you to become sovereign ruler of our federation!”
“Relax, I haven’t come here to show you the way out of your office. You and the current government can stay in place if you like. What I do want is the wealth the Rockforanovs owned.”
“What are you
planning to do with it?”
“Simply put, I
have friends in
“Since you can back up your claims to the Rockforanov fortunes, I have no choice but to agree,” he finally agreed.
“And one last thing, it’s a bit personal and if you don’t want it I won’t force you to, but I’d like to inherit this palace as well.”
“I can’t support you on that one. It’s a landmark of our country and property of the state. But that does not mean you aren’t in the right to demand inheritance. You’re going to have to wade through everything our bureaucracy can throw at you, take many oaths and sign numerous contracts. But in the end, you’d probably win the case. But what are your intentions with it?”
“Well…” Alex started as he scratched the back of his head nervously “I’m currently homeless.”
Vlad went pale.
If had been able to scream he’d be heard all the way back in
“And the museum could bring in lots of money, which I’d donate to the Red Cross or charity,” Alex finished.
“If you wanted my heart to stop ticking you could have simply asked. For a moment I though I was speaking to a greedy pig that wanted this place as a summer resort,” the Premier finished.
“If I were like that, I wouldn’t have allowed you to stay president,” Alex smiled.
Back in their
apartment in
“This time I won’t land or your fireball!” Mercy explained as she avoided a projectile being launched at her.
There was a loud bang from the screen and Mercy’s expression changed. “Philip, you won’t be watching “Duck Tales” today.” She stated.
“At least you were spared to humiliation of being beaten again,” Philip comforted her “But you should open a window, so the smoke can get out.”
“A good idea, that way I shove this heap of junk outside right away,” She agreed and got up.
Mercy opened the window and, according to her words, retrieved her now worthless television and threw it out the window, so it landed right in the garbage dumpster that was parked below.
“At least this gives me an excuse to buy a new one.” Mercy declared as she turned off the game console.
There was a ring at the door and Philip was quick to open it. There was a beautiful chipmunk lady in the doorway, and Philip recognized her immediately.
“Hi there Philip. I see you’re practicing so you can later become a servant,” Clarice joked and stroked his head.
“Nice of you to stop by. Your planning is perfect, the TV just gave away,” Mercy explained in greeting.
“How was your trip to the Gulf, seen any pyramids?” She questioned and suppressed a giggle.
“Well, we saw a lot of sand. We even took some of it home, and not because we liked it so much. But seriously, it was surprising. You’d think there was little to see there, but they all kinds of eye catchers: Mc Burger Bat, Mousecedes, Coockoo Cola…”
“No mosques, oil fields or palaces?” her guest wondered.
“Oh yeah, those too. But isn’t it surprising that our country managed to gain influence in regions where we are hated so much?” Mercy pressed on.
“I guess so, but maybe we should try and perfect your acting skills. You wanted to become a movie player if I remember correctly?” Clarice reminded her student.
“Right, let’s get serious,” Mercy agreed.
Back in
With his
superiors once again beaten, Marcus was once again workless and wandering the
streets of
“Say, weren’t you on the submarine that transported us here?” he asked as he recovered his hat that had dropped to the ground.
“Yes, I recognize you. You’re the one that everyone ordered around simply because they felt like it. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Leonard Longtail.”
“Let me guess, you’re wondering where to go to now as well, are you?” Marcus gambled, sounding a tad annoyed.
“Actually, no. We already have a destination in mind,” The lizard replied.
“We? You and who else?” Marcus asked, interested.
“I’ve decided to cooperate with a rat named Boris “Bowler” and a Siberian who goes by the name Sergei Tcharkovsky. We’re all planning to pay back the Rescue Rangers who once again caused me to become workless.”
“Hmm, do you three have place for someone else interested in teaching the Rescue Rangers a lesson? I’d sign up on this plan immediately,” Marcus offered immediately.
“Yes, I’m sure
we could use someone to do the heavy work. You’re hired,” Leonard agreed. “I’m
on my way now to find a ship to take us to
“Well, we’re home,” Steve announced as he gently kicked the door to his nightclub open, carrying his wife inside.
“Finally we can relax after so much adventuring. But with you Steve, I doubt we’ll get much time to do that,” Flora predicted as she tickled him under his chin.
“Hey, if I had the choice I never took part in any adventure. Just be glad your life isn’t boring,” he defended himself as he passed the double doors, entered the elevator and waited for Flora to push the button.
They exited and arrived in Mr. Nutcracker’s office, which hadn’t changed a bit ever since Steve left it. He entered the bedroom the two of them now shared and lay his wife down in the bed, covering her with the sheets and kissing her forehead.
“There, now close your eyes and get some shuteye,” He ordered as he took off his hat and lay down beside her to rest up as well.
The End
This is the end of my sixth piece of fanfiction now. If someone liked it, I’m glad. If someone didn’t, that’s a shame. The United Species is an idea from John Nowak, I hope he does not mind it I used it as well. This is by no means an offense to Arabs, Russians or Brazilians. It is, by all means, an offense to smugglers, psychopaths and Stalinists.
The Rescue Rangers, Chip Dale, Gadget, Monty, Zipper, Geegaw, Fat Cat and goons, Rat Capone and goons and the fruit bats are property of Disney. Steve Nutcracker, Flora Nutcracker, Mercy Stoneturner, Philip Stoneturner, Timbert, Frank, Hen, Henk, Marcus, Leonard Longtail, Boris, Sergei, Petro Mendoza, Pèpe, Minerva Bilderpavsky, Chief Rensen are all my own creations. Vladimir Pudding is a parody of Vladimir Putin, and no harm is intended. All other people and trademarks referred to are property of their own company.
bravenet.com