Mind Games

 

By: Jelle “CD”

 

 

On a sunny day, Mercy was wandering through downtown with Philip and decided to treat herself and her younger brother a snack. The Rescue Rangers where off to work, trying to find out what happened to Boris, Leonard, Marcus, Justice and the crime lady Christy. And thus the two Stoneturners where all by themselves.

“Should we get something from the Taco Hell?” Mercy proposed and pointed toward the fast-food establishment.

“Yeah! I’m really hungry!” Philip eagerly agreed and dragged her sister over to the gates of Taco Hell.

“So what will it be?” The man behind the counter asked, who wore a red hat on his head with two yellow horns protruding from the sides.

“Two Inferno specials.” Mercy ordered and the ‘imp’ started to carry it out.

With a pitchfork he poked and turned meat, yelling ‘hot hot hot’ all the time. Finally, he turned back to Mercy and Philip and handed them two shells with meat, salad and chili sauce.

“Watch out, it’s hot!” He warned before he got back to shoveling meat.

Philip took one greedy bite and immediately understood the restaurant worker wasn’t kidding when he said it was hot. His face turned a bright red color and his eyes almost bulged out.

“Hot!” He yelled and ran outside, toward the fountain.

Mercy just shook her head in disbelief.

“The guy told him it was hot, why doesn’t he just listen?” She wondered out loud and took some of her own taco.

 

“Aren’t we going a bit too fast to scan the ground Geegaw?” Chip asked while looking through his binoculars to see if there was anything odd happening.

“Fast, this? Hah! Monterey Jack has seen faster things in his life. Why I remember that time on Rhodos, when I joined a bunch of Greek blokes dancing the Sirtaki, now that was fast!” The elder mouse shared his experiences.

“Well, we’ve been searching for any sign of trouble for days now but haven’t turned up with anything yet.” Dale joined in.

“But something is about to happen, I know it! Rat Capone, Thomas “Venice” and Fat Cat didn’t get those few henchmen back for nothing, something big is going on. And the sooner I find it the better.” Chip explained.

“But guys, the Rangerwing can’t be everywhere at once.” Gadget entered the discussion “You’ll just have to wait until I can build a new Screaming Eagle plane so we can split up and cover more ground. It should make things easier.”

“Eh, don’t rush yourself Gadget-love, we’ll do fine the way things are now.”

 

At the Happy Tom Cat Food factory, a meeting of the Mobster Extermination Coalition was in session.

“My honorable companions and conspirators, together we have done quite well lately. Very well in fact, but with success comes trouble. It has come to my attention that right now, we share a border with our opponent, Rat Capone. Our influence reaches into each other’s territory, creating a sort of no-one’s-land.”

“But isn’t that good news?” Phineas Ferret asked the rotund feline who organized the meeting.

“No it isn’t. All of Manhattan is already carved out, and we cannot expand further while maintaining our stance of non-aggression with Rat. But we have to be stronger before attacking, and Rat Capone is fortifying himself at this moment.” Fat Cat snapped back.

“Sir Fat, we recognize the problem and might have an idea.” The Siamese Twins offered, speaking their mind like one being as usual “You said that Manhattan is already divided, however the rest of New York is still ready for the taking. Unless Capone reacts quickly, we will have gained a strong foothold on the other parts of the city before him. And after that we can commence with the isolation of Rat Capone and crush him mercilessly.”

Fat Cat pulled his whiskers with an evil and happy glint in his eyes.

“Not a bad idea. But we indeed have to be quick or Rat will figure out our strategy and will try to take land as well. Bubbles, you and your henchmen are an excellent choice to expand eastwards. Phineas, you do as I say and will do some colonization to the southwest. Scarface can conquer the northern edges of the city while Desiree D’Allure and the Siamese Twins concern themselves with Brooklyn and Staten Island respectively. Maltese and I shall try to keep those gangsters occupied so the others can proceed with no interference. What do you all think?”

Christy Lighthead raised her hand to ask a question. Fat Cat pointed in her direction with one finger and she spoke her mind.

“What about me? Isn’t there anything for me to do?” She asked.

“Ah yes, that brings us to our next topic. Because it seems that our dear chipmunk lady Christy is dealing in drugs.” Fat Cat replied.

Everyone around the table grew nervous and began talking to each other. Fat Cat waited patiently for things to quiet down again but when that didn’t happen, he slammed a paw down on the table.

“I want to remind everyone at this table about the dangers of drugs, and the sale of them. Dangers that could cost us our necks” He warned and slashed his finger across his neck “I might have associates in City Hall, but drug trade is taboo. They don’t mind ninja mice, prizefights, smuggling or prostitution, but when the health of this city is at stake these guys suddenly get off their lazy butts.”

“Hold it, I’ve been dealing in these things long before I joined this group. And it’s not even hard drugs I’m trading, but aphrodisiacs.” Christy objected as she stood up.

“And besides,” Scarface “Q” Squirrel came to her defense “Look at the great profits we could get of this. It would buy us all the things we need to stop Rat Capone.”

“Ah, but what happens after that?” Fat Cat queried “I’ll tell you what will happen. When the smoke clears, we’ll have do-gooders nosing around to find proof we are involved with the sudden wave of morphine and heroin. I can’t let that happen, we’ll lose everything we build up for ourselves.” Fat Cat protested, Maltese D’Sade nodding in agreement.

“Fine, let’s do it like zis.” Desiree offered “Christy keeps her drug trade, it doesn’t seem to cause her any trouble. But that is as far as we go. Zis city does not need dealers selling zheir powders to school children.”

“Yeah, we can sell that trash to humans instead. Those are the real animals, their lives don’t bother me.” Bubbles added.

“I think the lady does have a point.” Fat Cat admitted while thinking it over “Alright, we will do as you proposed, but I insist on strict control over all this. We are gentlemen and ladies, and not a bunch of Columbians.”

 

Years had passed since Chip first declared his love for Mercy, and the two where now happily married, it seemed.

“Chipper!” Mercy demanded, wearing a bathrobe with her fur all wet “I thought you put the clothes in the dryer this morning. And now I find out they’re still in the washing machine!”

“Can’t you see I’m busy right now?” He replied, wearing a maid’s apron and holding a broom, making his fedora look out of place. “I was just cleaning up”

“Well you’re not fast enough. Right now I got nothing to wear, because all my clothes are still drying. This is your house to and you have to take more responsibility to keep things going! Sometimes it seems I’m doing everything here!” Mercy complained, placing her hands on her sides and giving her husband a stern look.

“Why do you keep pushing me around? You’re not my mother!” He spoke up for himself.

But he backed away when Mercy stepped forward.

“It’s simply because I wouldn’t get any alimony from you or we’d been divorced long ago! You lazy, incompetent, rude alcoholic bum!”

The reason why Chip took up drinking in the first place was because his married life disappointed him, it didn’t turn out the way he had hoped when he was younger. Lately, Mercy had been pressuring him to help with the house holding. But the last thing Chip needed after a hard day of work was the task of washing up, cleaning and helping the kids with their homework. Drinking had become his excuse for not coming home right after work.

But Mercy never seemed to understand that.

“Go to heck, you harlot! You always command me as your servant, like you can’t do those tasks yourself. I should have left you in the gutter where I found you!” He wished, pulled off his apron and dumped it on the floor.

“You kiss me with that mouth? Just insult me to your heart’s content, tonight you’ll be begging me on your knees for me to share the bed with you. But don’t be surprised if I say no.”

Mercy herself had managed to fulfill the task of a housewife until recently she became terribly exhausted by it. Her effort where never rewarded and she didn’t see a point to it anymore. Thus she placed the burden on her husband’s shoulder, who she was always cleaning up after. What she didn’t know was that her man wasn’t happy with the task either. Chip felt his anger rise, he was being played with by his own wife! She was toying with his self-worth, hurting him by making him her slave, the girl who had been his one true love. Now she was nothing more than a person who got in his way, who only gave attention to their kids and let him do all the dirty work. As if he was expandable, a cheap cleaner. He had enough of it and put off all the restraints he placed on himself to hold him back.

“I’m not going to beg you for anything! I’m leaving, so you’d better pick up that broom yourself if you still want this floor clean.” He advised, handed it to her and slapped her in the face.

Mercy was taken aback by his outburst, but she wasn’t going to let her husband abandon her with two children, a house and no money. If he did, she had only one thing in store for him as a goodbye. She raised her fist above her head and punched him across the face, knocking her ex-husband out cold.

 

Chip, who had watched over the city energetically during most of the flight, had finally given in to exhaustion and had fallen asleep, leaning outside the Rangerwing. One bonk from Dale however was enough to get him out of dreamland again.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Chip asked, smashing into Dale’s nose as he bolted upright.

“We’re almost home, I thought it best to get you up. You’re probably going to spend time with your girlfriend.” Dale explained, nursing his nose.

“Shut up, she’s not my girlfriend!” Chip denied.

“Don’t tell me that lover boy, I heard you confess to her, and I got Monty and Geegaw as a witness.”

“Golly Chip, you don’t have to be ashamed of being in love with someone. I don’t think I would have been if I ever loved someone.” Gadget interrupted them as she landed the aircraft on a tree branch outside Rescue Ranger headquarters.

However, her argument did little to stop the chipmunk’s bickering.

“Are so!”

“Are not!”

“Are so!” Dale finished and pulled Chip’s fedora over his eyes.

While Chip was trying to get the hat of his head, Dale jumped out of the plane and walked over to the door. When Chip got his hat back in its normal position, he ran after Dale and tackled him. A fight escalated between the two of them until Mercy opened the front door and scolded them.

“I’m trying to take a nap here, can you tune it down a little?”

The two ‘munks immediately stopped fighting and started flirting with her.

“Good day Mercy.”

“Hey, she’s my girlfriend!”

“I thought you didn’t like her.” Dale countered.

“At least she likes me!”

“What’s there to like about you?”

The two started another scuffle but where quickly interrupted by Monty who ran over to them and separated them. Mercy decided to help stop their arguing as well and stood next to the Australian.

“That’s no way to behave around a lady, lads.”

“Yeah Chip, behave!” Dale added and stuck out his tongue before entering headquarters.

Chip wanted to run after him and tackle him again, but Mercy stuck out one of her feet and tripped him before more trouble could be made over her. He looked over his shoulder to see Mercy looking back down on him, shaking her head.

“Teh teh, violence doesn’t solve your problems Chip. Just ignore him, why don’t we do something fun together?” She suggested.

“Yeah, how about a picnic?” Chip asked enthusiastically “But eh, what about Philip?”

“He’s still at school. And he can take care himself. We should have the whole noon to ourselves.” She explained and helped Chip up “Now why don’t you prepare something to eat?”

 

“You’re still doing fine dear, I don’t see why you need me.”

Steve got from behind his piano and approached his wife. He had been helping Flora practice her acting and singing talents, for she was worried that she was loosing her touch. But Steve didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

“Because, silly, I’ve not had practice in quite some time. And that’s because you forced me to stop singing.” She explained to him.

“Well, you’re still doing as well as ever. And the reason I wanted you to stop acting is because I’m worried about our baby.”

“A little dancing and such won’t ruin the health of our child.” Flora objected and gently rubbed her husband’s head with her knuckles.

“But still, why do you want me to help me with your singing if your voice is still as enchanting as ever?” Steve wondered

“Because it’s fun, that’s why.” Flora revealed and guided him back to his seat behind the piano.

 

He didn’t know how it happened. All of a sudden, Chip Maplewood, founder of the Rescue Rangers and international crime fighter, found himself in a ballroom decorated in French style, wearing a blue and white elegant dress, regal cloak and what seemed to be a cross between a Norse and Gaelic helmet. After taking in his surroundings he noticed he was on a balcony, and there was a snobbish mouse sitting on a throne. Several animals where gathered in the room in green suits carrying fences, guarding the place. Suddenly realization dawned on him, this was only a dream, a replay of the opera play he and the Rangers had once seen by mistake. The only difference was that this time, the king did not announce the beginning of the play. Before he could recover from the experience, piano music began playing and Chip suddenly started singing.

 

Oh cruel fate

Oh sad day

Oh that’s my father the king

 

“How’s this possible? Some weird perversion this is!” Chip thought, but even with the confusion and distraction, he kept singing. And some singer he was! Never did Chip realize he had such a singing voice, he wondered why he even had become a detective if he could make a fortune as voice actor!

 

And all because he’s a pirate!

If only he would return to me!

 

Chip waited with bated breath as to who would come crashing through the window. Last time he saw this opera, it had been Sewernose D’Bergerac, an opera crazed crocodile who wanted to outshine a real actor. The thought of having to sing with him was enough to make Chip nauseous. Then, there was a crash. And the hero of this play entered through the window. Despite the mask, Chip was able to identify the face of the hero, it was Mercy.

 

Hey, hey, hey, I’ve come to safe the day!

 

“Get that pirate scum!”

 

Chip’s savior and love interest turned her attention to the soldiers that had closed in to stop her. With skill that Chip had only seen from Dale and Clarence Dudley, Mercy disposed and disarmed them while playing her part.

 

Fair maiden

I have returned

And nothing

Nothing

Nothing

Will part us now!

 

With her last sentence, Mercy landed next to Chip on the balcony. He immediately took her hands and began singing again.

 

Our hearths are one

We will never part

 

“We won’t!”

 

Our love will last forever

 

“It certainly will!”

 

Our hearths are one

In life, love and passion

I will leave you never

 

“Hands off pirate scum!”

 

The command from the captain of the guard caught Chip by surprise. His singing with Mercy totally made him forget there was still another swordfight in this piece. He looked down to see who this guard captain was, and was surprised to see a face he fortunately hadn’t seen in quite some time, Jake Judgeson.

 

“What ho?”

 

She is the king’s only daughter

Not yours for the taking

Leave her be or face death.

 

Mercy had jumped down to deal with the last obstacle between her and Chip. Chip himself was actually excited and flattered that Mercy was the one fighting for her ‘damsel in distress’. And although he was unable to speak, he was cheering her on with everything he had.

“En garde!” The two of them spoke and started their duel.

The ex-chief of police attacked swiftly and without pause. And it didn’t look like he was getting tired anytime soon. Mercy had to be on the defense all the time but was looking for an opportunity to turn the tide. She dodged and parried swings without getting the opportunity she wanted. When they reached the stairs, she made a misstep and fell on her back. The corrupt chief immediately took advantage of her situation and swung his weapon. Mercy managed to quickly block the attack, but after a short struggle her opponent managed to disarm her.

“Oh no!” Chip gasped in panic.

Possibly because the script was broken, Chip suddenly felt he had gained control over his dream. And his suspicion was confirmed when he jumped off the balcony out of own free will and ran to Mercy’s aid. Just before he could pierce the girl’s hearth with his fence, Judgeson was jumped by Chip who clung to his back and refused to get off. Mercy saw her chance and jumped to her feet. She quickly elbowed her opponent in his stomach then gave him an uppercut to the jaws. Chip got off the ex-chief just before Mercy gave him a mighty push and he was send flying, landing in the fountain in the middle of the hall. Taking the fence Jake Judgeson had dropped, Chip cut the rope holding the chandelier in place. It dropped down on Jake and knocked him out. Chip then turned back to Mercy. Saying nothing, the two moved closer to kiss, until suddenly the dream ended.

 

“Oh drat! Why does this always happen at the most tender moments?”

Fortunately, Chip awoke next to Mercy, the real one. After having eaten their picnic, they had sat down somewhere out of view. They had placed one arm around each other’s waist and where holding hands, cuddling up. Apparently they had both fallen asleep because he noticed that Mercy had laid her head on Chip’s shoulder and was out of consciousness. He was quite touched to see her sleeping so peacefully, with a satisfied smile on her features. However, the moment was interrupted by her moaning. She moved her head and opened her eyes and looked around.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked her and she looked up to see him.

“Yes, a bit weird though. I dreamed about you being a sort of noblewoman being held by a greedy king and I rescued you. We also sang all the time, and then there was this sword duel I had with that jerk Jake Judgeson.”

“That’s strange, I had the same dream.” Chip commented.

“Yes it is. Perhaps it is because we are so close together, in more than one way.” She theorized.

“Whatever the case, this certainly isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve seen. And yet I have this feeling I haven’t even seen the weirdest thing yet. I’m positive one day we will encounter Gadget’s long lost sister who is out for revenge on her goodly counterpart.” Chip suggested and laughed a bit.

“Or perhaps we learn about a dark and painful moment in Monterey Jack’s life that he has kept quiet about for all this time. Because it caused him unimaginable heartache.”

“Well, I don’t know about Monterey. But the two of us are happy together, and that’s important enough for me. A number of months ago I wouldn’t have thought it possible and then I give up my hopeless flirting with Gadget and start a relationship with a girl like you.”

“Talk about weird.” Mercy joked and the two laughed.

“I guess we’d better clean up and head home. The others must be getting worried about us now, the sun is already going down.” Chip advised and started putting things back in their basket.

 

“I really don’t get it.” Chief Rensen stated while pacing through the room.

“Dale is convinced he saw him, Chip agrees with it, und I would ave assumed zhey where right if not for ze fact he’s still locked up.” Ulbrecht, the RBI field mouse reasoned.

“But the guys at the prison are sure Justice is still incarcerated. In fact, they can prove it. We have both seen the evidence of that, alive and kicking. So how could it be these two argue that the Jerk stalked Dale?”

“I have no idea.” The Luxembourgian admitted and rested his head on his hands “Perhaps he has a doppelganger. I mean, even some of ze Rangers have one. Steve und Chip, Gadget und zhat Hawaiian, Dale und zhat space alien.”

“That’s last one I dare say is highly unlikely.”

“True, but personally I think it’s simply confusing.”

“But what to do now? Should we place an order for arrest on a guy who’s already in prison? Or question Justice on this?” The chief wondered.

“Sounds stupid, he would laugh in our faces when we say zhere is another Justice Jerk out zhere.”

“But we have to do something. A lot of people will feel unsafe with a stalker around their neighborhood.” The chief protested.

“As I see it, ve should have our men watch out for whoever zhis lunatic is. And catch him when he shows his face again.”

 

“We’re back guys!” Chip announced as he and Mercy entered headquarters.

“Mercy!” Philip cried out and ran over to his sister and hugged her.

“How was your day at school? Learned anything useful?” She inquired and hugged him back.

“Well there’s this guy who keeps calling me four-eyes.” Philip declared.

“I know how you feel, people used to bully me ‘cause I got a red nose.” Dale chimed in “You know what I did to him?”

“Well?” Philip pleaded to know.

“I hit him right between the eyes. He never saw that coming!” The older ‘munk retold.

“Yeah, and then he punched you on the nose and it became blood red.” Chip finished.

“Aye guys, I got your mail.” The bird of the Pigeon Postal Services announced, startling the chipmunks “Let’s see. I got bills, postcards addressed to Monterey Jack, a comic book for Dale Oakmont, and a very formal looking letter for Mercy Stoneturner.” The pigeon summed up and handed everything to Chip “Gotta go now, bye.”

“Geeh, who would send me letters?” Mercy wondered and opened the envelope.

“What’s it about? You inherited something, won the lottery?” Dale guessed and tried to peek, but was thwarted by Chip who hit him on the head with his rolled-up comic.

“It’s from the courthouse here in Manhattan, I have to appear in court. According to them, there’s a whole list of things I did wrong and I have to answer for those. The prosecutor being A.M. Dimedealer.” She explained rather shocked.

“You didn’t do anything wrong lately! I can attest to that. There’s nothing these guys can do to you!” Chip tried to reassure her.

“I believe I might not have been as innocent as you think I am. A couple of times I got myself into a bit of a fix.” Mercy sheepishly admitted.

“Oh my, oh my Mercy what have you done?” Chip wondered, worried at once.

“Well she always carries a knife with her, self-defense reasons you know.” Philip explained “And there was this time in Saudi-Arabia where she got mad at some slimy prince.”

“(censored) my mother! I’m not going to play her game! There’s no way I’m going to sit in the same court as my mother.” Mercy furiously complained and crumbled the letter.

“You’ll have to, or else they come over here and take you there. And they won’t be very sympathetic if it comes down to that.” Chip tried to reason.

 “Let them come I say. There’s no way in heck I’m going to that court case!”

 

“Pretty interesting, anything else?” Minerva asked, taking another gulp from her drink.

“Well then I fixed the thing for him with a paperclip and it turned us back to normal.” Gadget told her, taking a sip from her coffee “Hello, don’t you have machine oil?” She asked the guy behind the counter, who looked rather confused.

“Funny, so you switch DNA with teammates when thing activated?” Minerva inquired further.

“I honestly don’t know for sure, I never took the trouble of running such a test on myself. But sometimes I do have this urge to eat walnuts and acorns.” Gadget confessed.

“Well let’s take hypothetical situation yes? Say that ‘modemizer’ did swap DNA, do you think it make you compatible with, say chipmunks?”

“Golly, I guess it would, I never really study Nimnul’s inventions.”

“But just think what could happen, you might have genes of your friend Dale for nose color, hair color and such things now. Just imagine, if we could control alterations modemizer makes, it would be perfect device for birth control! Married couples could have children with features they could not give through normal reproduction! All you need to do is alter sperms, ovum or embryo to make perfect child! Can you show me the lab of this Norton Nimnul?” Minerva enthusiastically asked.

“Well yes, I could drop you off at one of his laboratories with the Ranger Plane. But I wonder if it would be a good idea. Nimnul was rather mad and his inventions very unstable. More than once it where his own creations that foiled his schemes, not just us.”

“Great, let’s go!” Minerva let out as she took Gadget’s arm and dragged her out, leaving her coffee on the table and forgetting to pay for it.

 

At the edge of the city, in a wealthy neighborhood, a chipmunk girl rang at the door of a luxurious villa. After a moment of waiting an older chipmunk opened up.

“Ah, Mercy. It’s so nice of you to visit. I was wondering if you would ever show up. Come inside please.”

“Thanks for the warm welcome, you don’t get that everywhere anymore.” She thanked him and stepped inside.

“Come on and sit down with me.” The male offered and led her over to his living room.

As Mercy sat down on a couch, the other walked over to his mini bar to prepare two drinks.

“You want something?” He asked and looked over his shoulder.

“Just a cola.”

After he got their drinks ready, the older chipmunk put them down on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down next to Mercy.

“How have you been holding up lately?”

“Everything went well until I got this letter from the court here in Manhattan. My mother probably thinks she has enough proof to send me back into prison.”

“I knew she couldn’t leave you alone, she’s just to bossy.”

“I think it’s more because Philip now lives with me that she wants me out of the picture. Without me to protect him, she will probably get her hands on him pretty easily.”

“Philip? Who is he and why is Annie so interesting in him?”

“Philip is my younger brother. I take care of him and my mother can’t stand that. But being my father, you probably understand I can’t stand her either.”

“I know what you mean Mercy. You and your mother are both good looking, but Annie’s personality is just not appealing to me. But if you need any help in this case I could arrange a couple of things. A lawyer for example, or I could pay for all other necessities. After all, you’re my daughter, I can’t let them put you behind bars like that.” Archibald sympathized, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her leg.

“Cut that out, what you’re doing ain’t right!” She snarled and her father quickly backed off.

“Alright, if that doesn’t make you feel comfortable I’ll refrain from doing that. But what about my offer? Do you need any financial backup?”

“Who said I’ll even go to that stupid court? I wouldn’t walk in such a trap in a million years! That Derrick Dimedealer guy probably got all those politicians in his pocket, his status and wealth would be enough to tip the odds in his favor. If I go there, I can guarantee you I won’t stand a chance!”

“But you have to! You’ll only get yourself into trouble by not going!”

“I’ve faced bigger troubles than a detachment of AP cops searching for me, why risk my freedom, happiness and Philip by letting myself fall into the clutches of a corrupt justice system? Anyway, thanks for your time. For this might be the last time I visited.” She stated sadly and left her father’s mansion.

 

While Chip was taking a stroll through the park he thought off any arguments to convince Mercy to come with him to the court. He had taken a quick look at the documents and contacted the court to volunteer to defend Mercy. However, his efforts would be for nothing if she did not show up. And worst of all, she’d be in big trouble. His train of thought was de-railed when someone bumped into him.

“What? Who?” He asked in surprise and looked down to see the person who crashed into him down on the ground. To his surprise it was Tammy.

“Hey there, long time no see.” He said.

Tammy’s face just paled. She got back to her feet and took a few steps back.

“Are you real, or is this another illusion?” She simply asked, overwhelmed with emotion.

“As far as I know, I’m still in this plane of existence. You’re acting a bit weird, Monty told me something wasn’t right. Are you okay?” He asked worriedly.

“I guess, I don’t know. I’ve been very confused since I heard you where dead. And it seems everyone is suffering some kind of Elvis Munkley syndrome, they think you’re all still alive.”

“Me and the team still live, or else I wouldn’t be talking to you now. Why did you think I wasn’t?”

“I heard your plane crashed some time ago and my mother said you all died. But now that you’re back I’m very relieved.” Tammy revealed and hugged Chip.

However, Tammy’s display of affection unnerved the detective chipmunk.

“Cut it out, I don’t want my girlfriend to see us like this. She would get the wrong idea.”

“Your girlfriend?” She wondered, growing jealous immediately.

“Yes, I declared my love for Mercy some time ago. I know you might not approve of that, but there’s no way we could be together-”

Chip’s explanation didn’t comfort Tammy, in fact she felt tears welling up. She turned around and ran away from Chip, heading home.

“Oh dear.” Was all Chip could think of.

 

At the docks, a nasty jellyfish had just gotten his hands on another bag of coins and was going to hide it.

“Working for the professor pays off very well, and I can take that literally!” Liquid sneered, but the jellyfish looked rather tired “But why can’t that lunatic pay me in terms? Carrying these full bags is exhausting.”

The informant jellyfish dived underwater and with a couple of moves from his tentacles, he reached his secret stash of money. He pushed a big rock aside and entered an underwater tunnel. At the end, a whole lot of bags were stacked up. Liquid added the one he was carrying to the pile.

“That’s a nice booty I collected in the last few weeks. Now if the rumor mill keeps churning, I will soon be able to go with retirement.” The spy snickered and rubbed his two fore-tentacles against each other “Now let’s see if someone is willing to share the latest news.” He hissed and left the cave, sealed it off and swum back to the surface.

Once back at the harbor, the jellyfish climbed up unto the dock, which required a lot of physical exertion. He spotted a mouse happily taking a walk.

“See I can ‘squeeze’ him for information.” The thing chuckled and crawled after the mouse “Hey sir! Have you heard anything interesting?”

The mouse stopped and turned around to see Liquid at his feet.

“Why should I tell you? Just beat it or I might step on you.” The mouse answered and turned around again.

However, the jellyfish wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and grabbed the mouse by his ankles.

“You tell me because if you don’t…” Liquid hissed and quickly wrapped his tentacles around the mouse’s body, immobilizing him “I’ll paralyze you with poison!”

“I don’t know anything!” The mouse shouted in fear.

“I don’t believe you!”

“No I don’t know anything. I heard some crab talking about a court case against that former criminal Mercy Stoneturner the other day. If that interests you, find him and leave me alone.”

“And where do I find this crab?” The jellyfish interrogated while strengthening his grip on the mouse.

“He always hangs around at pier 12, at the seafood restaurant. That’s all I know, now leave me alone you slime.” The mouse confessed.

“Alright then.” Liquid said just before he rendered the mouse unconscious “It seems I am wasting my time here.” He murmured and slithered over the edge of the dock and splashed into the sea.

 

It was dusk, and Mercy was sitting on one of the branches of the Ranger’s tree. She looked dejected and seemed to be in deep thought. A voice snapped her out of her thinking.

“So here you are, what are you doing here? Does it have something to do with that case of tomorrow?” Chip asked and approached her.

“Yes it does, I probably don’t stand a chance.” She admitted.

“What makes you think so?” He pressed and sat down next to her.

Mercy sighed, took out her knife and pointed it toward Chip.

“You recognize this?”

“Yeah, it’s a knife. Probably best used for throwing and combat. Something you shouldn’t carry with you at your age.” He analyzed.

“Not only do I have it with me everywhere I go, I’ve even used it. When I was in Saudi Arabia I used this to defend myself from some sluggish prince who was trying to get a date with me. He ruined our day at the beach and when he wanted to hurt Philip, I beat him up. His gorillas stopped and he hit me back. I grabbed this weapon and tried to kill him and threatened his two friends. A couple of days later that bunch showed up at the airport to try and ice me. I escaped, but the whole affair was really messy. Although it  happened in another country, I got a feeling that my mother will use it against me. There’s no doubt this airport assault made it to the newspapers, and there must be a hundred of witnesses who could testify. It’s a lead my mother has surely discovered and investigated, which would lead her to that prince. Together they must have made a strong case against me. And there’s still a number of mistakes I made that she could use against me.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure we can win. You’re not a criminal Mercy, that’s behind you. And I’ve looked through the files the court send you, we stand a chance.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? I’m not going, remember?” Mercy objected and looked Chip right in the eyes “I’d rather go into hiding than let her win.”

“If you do that, you’re letting her win by default. You’ll be a fugitive and your chance of remaining out of jail will be even slimmer.” Chip decided he’d have to switch topics, because this discussion was pointless “When you’re rested up tomorrow, I’m sure you’ll see things differently.” He concluded and put an arm over her shoulder.

“I guess so. But I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”  Mercy finished and hung her head.

Chip was nervous for a moment but decided to break the silence.

“Mercy, I want you to know that no matter how this turns out, I love you.”

“Thanks, you’re a real special chipmunk to me.” She replied put her arm around his waist.

“It looks like a good night to watch the sun go down.” Chip noted.

The sky was colored red, and the unusual calm over the city made for a very romantic moment for the two lovers.

“It is, and this evening is good for more.” Mercy predicted, and then kissed her love.

Chip returned it with interest. Never before had he met a girl like Mercy, and probably never got as close with any of them as her. He hoped that he could win the case that next day, so that hopefully nothing could keep them apart anymore. And while the two chipmunks shared a romantic moment seeing the sun go down, a third was watching them with envy.

 

“Mind if I sit down here?” Alex asked a couple of elder chipmunks.

“Hush! You’ll wake up Mandy!” The female warned him and pointed at the young baby chipmunk she was carrying with her “Yeah, you can sit down. I know it isn’t easy to find in seat in these overcrowded Fokker’s.”

“Thank you.” Alexander replied and sat down next to the male chipmunk.

“Are you a war veteran? You don’t look like one.” Gus remarked upon seeing the Siberian’s white sergeant uniform.

“I used to be part of the Russian army, but I still like wearing it. Somehow, it gives me an air of authority and status.”

“So what do you actually do?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But if you insist, my full name is Alexander Rockforanov.”

“Huh?” The two Nutcrackers let out in unison.

“I though your dynasty was done for. And I never heard of a government change in Russia lately.” Gus countered.

“Well I’m not an emperor like my ancestors, merely the heir of their fortunes. I’m not into ruling countries, owning the Winter Palace is already a big burden enough. Anyway, I’m on a trip through the states. I’ve been spending the money left on charity. The last city I’m going to visit is New York because there are a few friends who helped me out a lot, and at the same time I can see how they’ve put my contribution to use.”

“Ah, we’re just going to visit some family. My daughter-in-law is pregnant and I’d like to see how she’s holding up right now.” Gus explained.

“Congratulations.” Alex wished and fastened his seatbelt, having noticed the flickering light.

Gus quickly followed his example just before the plane started moving. Ans had a bit of trouble, as she had to hold Mandy but managed to do so just in time just before the take-off, which pressed her right into her seat. Her baby seemed to really like the takeoff

 

Although it had cost him a lot of effort, after much arguing he convinced Mercy to come with him to the trail.

While Mercy, Philip and the Rescue Rangers where waiting outside the courtroom for the case before them to finish they argued about what to do, what could happen and whatnot. Chip stopped talking to Dale when he noticed three familiar faces in the crowd, and he walked off to approach them.

“Hello there, I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

Two heads turned to see who spoke to them. One of them lit up and was pleasantly surprised. The other was mixed with hostility and sadness, and the person moved a bit closer to the former.

“Chip, you’re here to defend Mercy right?” The first spoke.

“That’s right miss.” Chip answered and took his hat off “She’s my friend and love interest. So I’m here to help her out of this mess.”

“Yes, I heard you two are boyfriend and girlfriend. Tammy told me.” She replied and pointed toward her daughter “Don’t you have anything to say to Chip?” June pressured.

Tammy just hump-ed and looked away from them.

“You’ll have to forgive her, she’s hasn’t been herself ever since she heard the news. I’m sure it’ll pass. So what’s your opinion about this case?”

“My view on this case is rather foggy. I know how Mercy manages to get herself into a load of trouble, but I also know she doesn’t mean harm. From what she told me, she stands a good chance at winning, but she knows Miss Dimedealer knows thing that I don’t know, so I won’t act as if this is going to be an easy victory.” Chip opined.

“Interesting. Well personally I’m here as a juror. I don’t know why, but I suppose the court needs neutral people to represent the public opinion.”

“But you’re not totally neutral. You’re a friend of mine, but your daughter is my client’s rival.” Chip argued.

“Yeah, but I don’t think the officials know that. But anyway, I’m not going to let anything keep me from being fair. If I think what Mercy did was wrong, I won’t hesitate to reflect that in my judgment.”

“Fair enough. What would it take to make you consider Mercy innocent?” Chip inquired.

“You’re not talking about bribery are you?” June asked worriedly.

“No, I mean what arguments are sensitive to you?” Chip corrected her.

“I really don’t know yet. I hardly had time to read the case files. I think it really depends on whether she is tainted by criminal behavior rather than social-cultural views or that sort of thing. Anyway, from the rumbling inside that room I assume they’re ready and it’s our turn. Good luck on the case, I suppose.” Tammy’s mother finished and pulled Bink away from a standing clock she was about to climb.

 

“Order please, this court is now in session.” The judge, a raven, declared “The case of Anne-Mary Dimedealer versus Mercy Stoneturner. I, judge Mac Cabre, will head this court. The charges are four counts of physical attack, deception, damaging of private property and carrying a weapon inside an airplane, all against Mercy Stoneturner. She also has been sentenced for three years in prison and labor in a previous case, but did not sit out her sentence. The defendants entered a plea for innocent.”

Monty softly elbowed Dale’s shoulder and whispered.

“A black bird as a judge, definitely a sign of bad luck.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, those are just myths and fairy tales.” Gadget whispered, who was also sitting next to him.

“Are both sides ready to begin?”

“We are your honor.”

“Same for the prosecuting side.”

Mercy glared at the prosecutor, her mother. She in turn gave Mercy a ‘you’re in trouble’ look. Mercy would have preferred it was a battle of fists instead of words.

“Then I ask the prosecutor to speak.”

“People of the jury, I have to state that in this case I’ll be persecuting my own daughter in the name of justice. And it is a heavy burden to do so.”

“Hah, sure it is!” Mercy thought grumpily, but remained quiet “You’re practically asking me to raise an objection.”

“I raised her with all the love and attention I could, hoping she would grow up to become a model citizen. But instead she turned toward crime, and has been accused of criminal activities before. And that is a hard blow when you’ve done so much for your child.”

“Objection!” Mercy interrupted and raised her hand

Chip also raised his hand, to strengthen Mercy’s protest. He hadn’t grown up alongside of Mercy, but he was familiar with her mother’s attitude. The judge agreed to let Mercy speak.

“My mother did not raise me with love and affection. In fact, she saw me and my sibling as a source of income. Her idea of a family is similar to that of a laborer from 1860’s England!”

“Well, yes…I don’t honestly know what to do with this information.” The judge admitted “But I have to remind both sides lying in court will not be tolerated.”

“Mercy might have interpreted things that way, but I always had other children to take care of, I couldn’t be there for her on a whim.” Mercy’s mother explained “But as a child she was always rebellious and hotheaded. She always complained that she wanted new clothes and stuff. You know how children are. But I was poor at that time and could not afford such luxuries. One night, I was relieved of my worries when Mercy sneaked out of the house and started a life for herself. However, that she took almost all the food we had with her was less than good. On top of that she kidnapped my son. Who is, as I can see right here in this courtroom.” She commented and rested her eyes on Philip, sitting next to Mercy.

Mercy just returned a hateful look and put one arm around her brother’s waist and pressed him to her tightly.

“She lost him after that and was alone on the streets. My daughter got involved with the criminal underworld and ended up as a hood working for the rodent Mafia, serving the terrible regime of Alfonso Salamino. She was finally caught and it seemed the AP ended her criminal career. But she was freed by the gangsters who used to be her boss. And after that, Chip Maplewood appealed to let her go free. And I suppose the new chief of Animal Police is partly to blame for that. However my daughter did not stop her criminal pursuits, she continued. And I’m here to prove she has not changed like some people would want us to believe. Since nobody else does, I’m ending her evil right here.”

“Sure, it’s you day.” Mercy thought bitterly.

Having said her part for now, Anne-Mary sat down and made place for the defending party. Chip was the next one to speak.

“Animals of the court, as a friend and lover of the defendant, I see it as my duty to help her through this. She has been accused of using violence when it was her right to defend herself by means of her fists. To the other charges I cannot think of an argument in Mercy’s favor. Because I have been given only limited information, all I know I got from the accused. I cannot say either the court or Miss Dimedealer where really helpful to me in this case. Most of the charges raise questions to me, and even my client! The case is also very rushed, both me and Mercy where only given a day to prepare. I can smell corruption here, but there’s no going back now.”

The prosecutor looked like she was going to say something, but the judge beat her to it.

“I think we should move on to the next part now. I ask the prosecutor to present her evidence.”

“So far, so good.” Chip thought “I haven’t been able to prove Mercy’s innocence but at least I didn’t lose any ground.”

“You’re right sir. First I want to call forth one of the victims of Mercy’s physical abuse.” Dimedealer requested.

The first witness turned out to be the golf trainer who had caused Mercy some incredible discomfort a little while ago. After he was sworn in, the prosecutor began his questioning.

“Sir, when and where did you meet the accused when this incident happened?”

“That was five days ago, at the Golf Center where I work as a trainer.”

“How did the accused hurt you and where?”

“With a golf club and ball. I got hit on several places. My eye, neck and even my posterior.”

“I have no further questions.” Dimedealer finished and let Chip cross-examine.

“What did you do that could have given the defendant an excuse to hit you?” Chip started.

“Nothing, all I did was correct her stance so she could swing.”

“My client said that you touched her on some intimate places and didn’t like the way you behaved. She prefers to call your instructions ‘harassment’.”

“Perhaps so, but I’m an experienced trainer and never before did I get any complaints from my boss or golfers. Also, the defendant never told me I was making her uncomfortable.”

Chip gave Mercy an ‘I’m sorry’ look before turning to the witness again.

“I have no further questions.”

“Good, then I’d like to call forth my next witness for questioning.” The prosecutor declared.

A salamander was brought forward and sworn in. Mercy still recognized him, and the witness himself gave her a ‘now you get what you had coming for you’ expression.

“Sir, where and when did the event take place wherein my daughter attacked you?” Anne-Mary interrogated.

“It was in Saudi-Arabia, at the beach. Several weeks ago.”

“Describe the incident.”

“Me and two friends had just made a short trip with my speedboat and where hanging around at the docks. The defendant along with her brother where walking in our direction. I decided to flirt a bit with her, and that led to her attacking me. She delivered a couple of punches before my two friends interfered. She then grabbed for a knife she kept hidden somewhere in her dress. She effectively scared off my friends then tried to hurt me. After that she threatened my friends and left.”

“I guess this proves Mercy’s not above murdering those who bother her. Do the defendants want to cross-examine?”

“Yes, what exactly do you mean with ‘flirting’? Explain what you did to her.” Chip asked.

“I offered her to dine with me, but the defendant refused. And when I tried some complimenting her, things got hostile.”

“Is it true that you planned on hurting Mercy’s younger brother before she interfered?”

“No!” The prince lied.

“Liar!” Mercy shouted and rose.

“Order in this court!” The raven shouted and banged his hammer.

“And is it true you hit Mercy while she was restrained before she grabbed for her knife?”

“No!” The prince repeated.

“Your honor, this is the second time Dimedealer’s witness has lied.” Chip objected “He most certainly did hit Mercy, and he also intended to harm Philip Stoneturner.”

“Do you have any evidence of that?” Dimedealer suddenly joined in.

“You can have Philip for a witness, he was with me all the time.” Mercy answered.

“Philip is unfit as a witness. He is too young to attest to such things.” Dimedealer countered.

“Enough, I don’t need a witness. The thought alone that we have a liar here ruffles my feathers. If the witness denies the truth again there will be consequences.” The raven warned and let Chip continue.

“I’ve heard you and your friends showed up a couple of days after the incident armed at the airport and tried to kill my client. Is that right?”

Chip actually hoped the salamander would deny again. The airfield ambush was a fact, and he wouldn’t even have to call a witness to confirm that.

“Yes.” The prince stated shortly, realizing he could not lie again.

“And did you manage to hurt the defendant yourself?”

“She was shot in the leg by me.”

“I have no further questions.” Chip stated and dismissed the witness.

“Fine, I’d like the recall this witness later.” The prosecutor announced.

“Don’t think you can take legal actions against me! I got all of Arabia’s lawyers behind me, my daddy will-” The prince shouted in his own defense.

“COULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!” The judge replied, silencing the aristocrat while two guards led him away.

Dimedealer just shook her head before continuing.

“Anyway, my next witness is a guard at the airport where Mercy and my previous witness got into a clash.”

The witness took his place and everyone prepared for the questioning.

“Sir, it has already been revealed that Mercy possesses a knife. However, we are a bit in the dark about whether she carried it with her inside the airplane that flew to and from Saudi Arabia. Tell us anything important to this case you might have witnessed.”

“I did notice something peculiar. While the accused ran from the prince who was hunting her down, she passed the metal detector and triggered the alarm. After the incident was resolved, my superiors decided to let the airplane take off without searching the accused for weapons. If she really carried a knife with her then, she’d have it with her in that airplane. By the time I could inform them what happened, the plane was already gone.”

“Thanks, that would be all.”

“I have no questions.” Chip notified the judge.

“Then I’d like the call forth the third and last witness on the subject of Mercy’s use of knifes.”

A rat was called to be witness. And the prosecutor continued her interrogation.

“How, where and when did you meet the accused?”

“At a café, where she drank a cup of coffee. I own the place. And she showed up there one or two months ago.”

“What happened?”

“She damaged a painting. It was an antique image of a world map. And she damaged it using a knife.”

“And how is the painting now, what’s its condition and value?”

“It is damaged beyond repair. And any art expert would easily estimate the value of it at four thousand dollar. Now, it’s worth virtually nothing.”

“The security guards of this courthouse confiscated a knife Mercy carried on her person. I have permission to use it as evidence and would like to ask you to take a look and see if it’s the same she used to damage your painting.”

A bailiff handed the witness the knife and waited while he examined.

“As far as I can remember, this is the knife exactly.”

“Are you certain about that?” The judge wanted to know.

“Abso-positive-lutely.”

“Then I want to recall my witness.” Dimedealer declared.

The Saudi prince was brought back in by two security guard who stayed at his side during the questioning.

“Can you remain calm now?” The judge asked first, and the witness nodded “Then continue Miss Dimedealer.”

“I would like you to do the same thing as my previous witness; to identify a knife Mercy carried with her while entering this building and see if it’s the same one she used to attack you and your friends.”

The prince gave the object a look-over before speaking again.

“Yes, I suppose this is the same thing she used against me.”

“Fine, then you have served your purpose.” Dimedealer concluded poker-faced.

She turned to the judge and continued.

“Your honor, although we have no ‘smoking gun’ that directly proves Mercy carried a knife with her in an airplane, I would like you to keep this in mind when you speak your judgment. This whole story is very suspicious, and even if it’s not completely true it makes me shudder to think of what Mercy is capable of.”

Philip, who was by now very worried about the outcome of the case, interrupted to speak up for Mercy.

“Your honor, please don’t have Mercy locked up! All she did was defend herself, and she only had that knife on her in the airplane in case of trouble.” A little too late the chipmunk tyke noticed his slip of the tongue.

“Thanks Philip, you’re a great help.” Anne-Mary thought to herself “There’s no doubt any statement thus far was as convincing as my son’s. I suppose we have your ‘smoking gun’ right here.”

“Objection!” Chip chimed in, hoping he could still safe this case “Philip spoke without him being asked to, he should be ignored! Also, Miss Dimedealer and his court have already announced that they cannot take a minor seriously!”

“Objection ignored. The boy gave a statement whether we wanted to hear it or not. And me and the jury can hardly erase that bit of information from our memories.” The raven ruled.

“Also, on the subject of age, why is Mercy in this court anyway? She is under age as well, so she should have been in a juvenile court! In the previous case against her, her age was taken into account as well.” Chip pressed on, hoping to gain momentum.

“I would like to answer that question.” Dimedealer complied. “This is also where the charge of deception comes in. You see, after digging through some files I learned that Mercy does not want to be treated as an underage. I see this surprises you, but she has been lying for a long time now to society. Whenever she fills out a form, she fills in eighteen as her age, and as you know that is one year to much. So I figured; if my daughter wants to be like an adult, she’ll have to take the responsibility for THAT!”

Chip gritted his teeth. His every attempt to prove Mercy innocent resulted in failure, Anne-Mary’s defense was like a cement wall. She really was nobody’s fool if she could dodge the rules like this, he shuddered to think of what else she had in store for them.

“Also on the subject of age, it’s funny you brought that up. After all, you are somewhere in the twenties, and my daughter is only seventeen. You yourself claimed that you love her, and what other people have ‘relationships’ with girls who are under age?”

The other Ranger cringed, knowing what Anne-Mary was getting at.

“I think I could make a whole case out of your activities with my daughter as well mister Maplewood.”

“This romance is mutual, it’s nothing like whatever ideas you might have! I assure you I never want, will or have any form of sexual contact with Mercy without her consent. And besides, this court cannot charge me for my relationship with her as long as it considers Mercy an adult, it’s your own argument.” Chip countered smugly.

Now it was the prosecutor’s turn to be frustrated, but she didn’t let this setback bother her. From somewhere from the public a chipmunk spoke up for Chip.

“Chip and Mercy did nothing wrong! I can attest to that. I’ve been keeping an eye on Chip, and even more on Mercy.” Dale revealed.

The four other Ranger next to him looked at him disapprovingly, and not just because he broke the order in the court. Dale looked sheepishly and tried to hide his face in his shirt like a turtle. However the judge just ignored him.

“Point taken, this court will not go into that now.” The judge reasoned, not really willing to handle such things.

“Then I want to bring up my last complaint.” The prosecutor stated “Mercy was released from jail shortly after being sentenced three years. The reason for that was because she helped her attorney overcoming a group of gangsters. After that, mister Maplewood and the chief of police pleaded for her to be fired from jail. And they argued that a corrupt guard was abusing her in prison, and the another corrupt bureaucrat gave permission to have Mercy executed. While I don’t like bureaucrats and corrupt people myself,-”

“Then why do you surround yourself with them?” Mercy whispered angrily to no one in particular.

However, one of the jurors, a bat, heard it and didn’t like the comment.

“-I think it is not a good reason to have Mercy released from jail. And I hope that she will still have to sit those years out so that she learns her lesson.” Dimedealer finished.

“I see, is this all?” The judge asked.

“Yes your honor, this is it.”

“And what about the defendants?”

“We have nothing else to say.” Chip said.

“Closing arguments?”

 “Yes.” Chip declared and got of his seat “Mercy is not guilty of any serious crime. She tries to defend herself, and does so however she sees fit. Although her ways don’t comply with our system of laws, there is no reason the crack down especially hard on her. One reason why she does not comply is because she is convinced law and order just doesn’t work. It worked out for her against two corrupt people and against Steve Nutcracker when she was still a gangster, but she does not rely on policemen to keep her safe. If our system had paid more attention to children who where abused by their parents like Mercy was, she would have thought differently. It’s ridiculous to blame someone when you could have prevented that person from making mistakes in the first place, but where not willing to take the trouble. Do not crack down on those you ignored when they needed justice most. As her name says, have mercy on my client and close friend.”

“I have last arguments as well.” The prosecutor started “While my opponent tries to play your emotions to make you feel lenient, I want you to put ‘morality’ aside and act on justice alone. The accused did things wrong and no sad story can excuse that. That the charges against her are no major crimes doesn’t mean we can go easy on her! It’s these little things that must be punished so the more dangerous people in our society know they had better not do something wrong. Put her in jail so she can reconsider her mistakes!”

“If that is all, I ask both parties to take a break while the jury discusses the case.” The judge announced and slammed his hammer on the desk.

Everyone in the room complied and moved out of the room while the jurors got ready for their job.

 

When Chip returned after the break, he for the first time got an opportunity to look around. On the public gallery, next to the Rangers there was the chief of Animal Police, Rensen. Also present was Clarice, who Chip knew was a friend of Mercy. He could also see a chipmunk in a suit, who looked like he should have been in league with Anne-Mary Dimedealer. He could also see Tammy and her sister Bink, who where sitting in the prosecutor’s half of the room. He then turned his head toward the jury to see who where actually in it. The three jurors appointed by him, as an attorney of the defendant, where Foxglove, Pop Top and Rob, the foreign mouse who sells hotdogs. He had picked them on purpose, because he knew they where kind-hearted people, but none of them had close ties with the Rescue Rangers so there was no reason why it should be foul play. When he looked at the three jurors selected by Anne-Mary there was a reason for him to be suspicious however, they where all rich snobs and successful businessmen. And the last juror who was appointed by the court was June, Tammy’s mother. The judge banged his hammer on his desk again to get everyone’s attention.

“Animals of this court, I would like to ask the jurors whether they think the accused is guilty or not. Raise your thumb if you are convinced she is innocent, and if guilty simply lower it. Can’t be to hard, right?”

A grey bat in a suit was the first to react and lowered his thumb, if you could call it that with bats. Chip cringed, but was happy to see a mouse next to him, a guru who looked a bit like a hippie, considered Mercy innocent. Next where Rob and Pop Top who both pleaded innocent. The fifth, another juror selected by Dimedealer, took things to the extreme by lowering his thumb and slashing his other hand across his throat. Chip then turned to Foxglove who had still not made up her mind. She looked at Chip puzzled while made her verdict known as guilty. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat. If Foxglove had said innocent he would have won the case. He desperately turned to the last juror, June. She also seemed to be hesitant, but finally expressed her thought; guilty. Mercy gasped while Chip slapped his hand to his forehead in frustration.

“Based on the jury’s verdict I sentence Mercy Stoneturner five years in prison.” The judge spoke, but before he could finish the case officially, he was interrupted.

“Your honor, a prison sentence is impossible!” Chief Rensen protested.

“Could you please explain yourself chief?” The raven replied, annoyed.

“All jails in this state are full, we cannot lock her up.”

“Then why are the police not working on that problem?”

“You know it takes months before a motion can pass that permits us to take action, until then this court and the Animal Police are powerless.”

“Are you sure there is no place where we can still imprison this girl?” The judge continued on.

“Well, the only prison that still has enough empty cells is the South Manhattan prison facility, but we both know that’s no place for people like her!”

“Indeed, but with the shortage we have now we’ll have to make due.”

It looked like the Chief wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by someone else.

“Your honor! I’d also like to ask something.” The prosecutor chimed in “My daughter will be unable to take care of her younger brother, Philip Stoneturner, now that she’s going to jail. Shouldn’t I have to take care of him now?”

“Agreed, Philip Stoneturner is to be placed under the guardianship of Miss Dimedealer. Can I please sentence the accused now?” The raven asked and scanned the room for anyone who might raise another issue, but nobody did “Then I sentence Mercy Stoneturner five years in prison.” He finished and hit the desk.

The sound snapped Chip out of the daze he had been in. He had lost the case, while he had been so close to winning. What argument did he ignore or brought up that caused this outcome? He wanted to follow the rest of the people who where leaving the courtroom, but someone prevented him from doing. He turned around to see Mercy, who hugged him. Chip didn’t know what to say, but when he noticed Mercy was crying he thought it better to keep quiet. He simply gave her a ‘I’ll visit you often’ look before he exited the room.

 

Once outside, Chip was still plagued with the question what happened to make this case a failure. He had been convinced he could handle it, but found out things weren’t as easy as he hoped. His train of thought derailed when someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry Chip, but this is the way things had to end.” He heard a familiar voice say.

 He looked aside to see June, without her two daughters.

“It’s my fault, I thought I was right. But when I saw you two where so affected by my judgment I knew I was wrong.”

“No, it’s not you who’s to blame. I simply wasn’t up to the task. You did what you had to do and you did it right.” Chip comforted her, but only succeeded in her feeling sympathetic for him.

“Chip, a girl who loves you like she did cannot be a criminal. If only I knew that before handed.”

“How can you be so certain? Sometimes, Mercy is a mystery even to me.”

“I could simply see it the way you and her where like back there. I have a lot of experience with love and emotions, I should have let those experiences influence my judgment like always, then things would be right.” June stopped talking when she noticed Tammy and Bink entering the hall “I have to go home now. This is no place for Binky, goodbye.” She patted Chip on the back before leaving.

Chip looked around to see if he could find Foxglove somewhere, he wished to know why she had said guilty while usually she was a very forgiving person. He spotted her and made his way to her. She looked afraid when she noticed Chip.

“Eh, hi. The case didn’t go too well, right?” She said nervously.

“Foxy, why do you think Mercy was guilty? It’s not like you to think of someone wrong.”

“Well, I thought it was a test. You know, ever since I met Dale I’ve been around your tree from time to time. I’ve helped your team a few times so I thought you where interested in having me join the Rescue Rangers. When you asked me to be a juror in a court case I thought you where trying to test my judgment. That I had to overcome my nature and be lawful for the sake of my membership of your team.”

“Foxglove, if there is one reason why I would have you join us it’s because your nature. You don’t have to change who you are for me or anybody else.”

“You’re right, but it makes me feel bad about my verdict. I knew you two loved each other, but if I knew you where willing to soften your judgment of others for her sake I don’t think I’d still consider Mercy guilty.”

“What’s done is done. I only got myself to blame for not telling you my intent before this case started.”

Their conversation abruptly stopped when Chip felt something cling on to his leg. He looked around to see it was Philip, who seemed worried.

“Mister Chip, don’t let her take me! I want to be with you, I want you to let me visit Mercy, I don’t want to live with snobs!” He pleaded.

“Philip,” Chip sighed and picked him up “There’s nothing I can do to keep you out of her hands. The judge said you’re her responsibility. If I took you, she’d think I kidnapped you. That would get me in trouble and you’d still end up with her.” He then saw Philip’s mother moving in his direction and froze “Speak of the devil.”

“Release that child, and hand him to me!” Anne-Mary ordered immediately.

“Miss, why do you insist on keeping him when it’s clear he doesn’t like you?” Foxglove interrupted.

“Stay out of this, insipid insectivore. You’re not part of this discussion.” The other lady countered.

“I don’t mind her participation, and I agree with her completely.” Chip came to Foxglove’s defense.

“As a crime fighter, shouldn’t it be your job to neutralize these bloodsucking creatures?”

The bat didn’t react very well to Dimedealer’s remark. She shuddered before replying.

“I don’t like people who stereotype us bats the way you do.”

“That’s your problem. All I want is Philip so I can leave.”

“You can have him.” Chip agreed “But if you really loved him, you’d let him go.”

Dimedealer paid no attention to Chip anymore, she took her son’s arm and pulled him with her, ignoring his struggling.

 

When Chip exited the courthouse, he had already said goodbye to Foxglove. He couldn’t find any of the Rangers, and wondered if they left without him. And seeing as how he had lost this case and Mercy, the assumption he needed some time alone wasn’t stupid at all. His mind was set on how he was going to get Mercy free again, hopefully in a legal way. Suddenly, he felt a pat on his shoulder. He turned around to see an aging chipmunk behind him.

“You’re the one who defended Mercy Stoneturner are you? You are Chip Maplewood, right?” The other chipmunk asked.

“Yes, what do you want?”

The other extended his hand.

“Archibald Brassfist.”

Chip hesitated but decided to just shake hands and replied.

“What is it you want to discuss with me?”

“I want to tell you not all is lost. You could bring this case to a higher authority, this time you where very close to winning, and with all you’ve learned from this case you could secure a victory next time. Please don’t give up now sir, you can still get my daughter free.” The millionaire encouraged him.

“You’re Mercy’s father?” Chip blurted in surprise.

“I am, but as a long lost parent I’d rather see my little girl free than behind bars. That’s why I want you to try again.”

“But where would I get the money to do so? What you suggested involves more money than I have.”

“Heck, you just let me pay for that. I want my daughter out of the slammer, and revenge on that sleazy ex of mine. I got the money, I just need a man who could stand his own against someone else’s money. You do the talking and I handle all financial things, do we have a deal?”

Chip first couldn’t believe he was being given a second chance at getting Mercy out of trouble. But when he recovered, he took Archibald’s hand again to shake it.

“Sure, sure it’s a deal. I won’t fail you again sir, I swear.”

“You never failed me before.” Mercy’s father said and smiled.

 

Somewhere in the southern part of Manhattan, in the hidden world of animals, there was an old building. If it wasn’t for the fact it was still used, it would have been a ruin. It looked abandoned, but there was really activity inside. It was the South Manhattan Prison, the worst maintained prison in the country. Possibly the worst in the free world. The only thing it was still capable of was keeping felons inside its walls, and the place was starting to become less and less effective at that. It was constructed in the eighteenth century, and wasn’t designed to keep women imprisoned. But with the latest shortage of prison cells, judges and officials had begun to dump criminals wherever they could. And among those criminals was Mercy Stoneturner. After her arrival, she was immediately led over to be checked in.

“Welcome, could you first fill out this form?” The mouse behind the counter commanded as he handed the girl a clipboard and pen.

Mercy had already become familiar with prisons and all they needed to know of their inmates. After she filled out the form she handed it back. The mouse just put it on a pile of other clipboards.

“Aren’t you going to put those in the archive?” Mercy carefully asked.

“I would if I had the time, but I’m one mouse doing all the paperwork here. We’re badly understaffed, which doesn’t mean you’re going to get a chance at escape. We have enough guards, and there are enough police on the streets. Unless you where trained to enter and escape highly secured places, avoid guards and manage to cross the border you won’t stay out of jail. In any case, I’m going to have to strip search you.”

This was a procedure Mercy never likes, but luckily the mouse simply did his job and didn’t make her any more uncomfortable than she already was.

“Now I ask you to put on your uniform. You can use the changing booth.” The warden handed Mercy her uniform and pointed to his right.

It didn’t take much time before she was in a black and white striped uniform again. It surprised her however that if the prison was so short on money why they did have skirts for the female inmates like her.

“To finalize the process, I’ll store your belongings for safekeeping. I have a knife the court confiscated which I’ll keep for the rest of your sentence. Could you hand me your dress?”

Mercy obeyed and the mouse checked to see if there was something inside. When he couldn’t find anything, he folded it and put it in a box along with the knife.

“That’s it, the guard will bring you to your cell.”

Mercy was led out of the small office building and over to the main prison facility. The area outside was surrounded by a large wall with barbed wire on top. There was a court outside surrounded by a fence. But there was nothing entertaining on this court, except for a few benches. Once inside the cell building she immediately found herself in the mess hall, which had a double meaning. Flies should have been buzzing around because there was enough for them on the floor, tables, walls and even the ceiling. The walls had cracks on them. The tables didn’t look too good, but the benches where in really bad condition. The wooden planks where placed on cement cubes because the legs couldn’t even carry the weight of a single prisoner anymore. And it looked like the rotten planks could still break if you sat down a bit careless. The guard showed her the toilets, which was probably not a good idea. Mercy nearly threw up when she saw (and smelled) how bad things where. A number of the toilets and urinals had lost the ability to flush. Evidently there where some plumbing problems because the floor was flooded. One of the urinals had come off the wall, most of the toilets lost their seats and a few of them had sharp edges making them totally useless to women. The sinks didn’t look good either, and the mirrors where badly damaged. For a moment, Mercy hoped her cell was in better condition, but that hope was soon crushed when she was shown the cell block she was in. Just like the rest of the prison, everything looked really bad. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything looked like no amount of money could ever pay the restoration of this place. The cell doors where heavy solid iron doors with a viewing hatch. When she was finally shown the inside of her cell, a shiver went up her spine. The bed hanging from the wall didn’t look comfortable at all, the mattress was torn at a few places and springs stuck out of a few holes. The sight of it raised the question if she would be sleeping with some revolting creature, like a roach. There where rusty bars that let in some light, but also a lot of cold. The blanket she had for the night was in pretty poor condition too, and probably wouldn’t do a good job at keeping her warm at night. It also smelled funny. The only upside was that there was a sink in her cell.

“Does it work?” She asked and pointed at the thing.

“It does.” The guard explained “In fact it works so well that many males use it as a urinal.”

“Yuck, don’t you have any soap here?”

“Hey if we had soap, you’d even be able to wash yourself. In private no less.”

“You mean to say there aren’t any showers here?”

“We used to have them, but they put too much of a strain on the water bills.”

The guard closed the door, leaving Mercy alone.

“Well I’d better see if I can do something about that mattress.” She decided and lifted the thing up to see there where more springs protruding from the thing on that side “It seems it doesn’t get any better than this.” She thought and dropped the thing. Seeing as how she had nothing better to do, she plopped down on the bed to take a nap.

 

She was rudely awakened about an hour later by a guard banging on the door. Mercy yawned and sat straight up as the heavy door opened.

“Dinner’s ready, come on out or you won’t get anything.”

Mercy slowly staggered out of her cell and followed the other prisoners toward the mess hall. Once there, she sat down next to another female, a rat.

“What are we eating?” She asked while still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Pea soup tonight, eat up.” The guard carrying a stew pan announced as he plopped the thing down on the table in front of her and started to pour it down in the bowls of the prisoners.

After that he handed every prisoner one slice of bread before leaving. Her entire life Mercy had loathed pea soup. She smelled the contents of her bowl once and immediately felt the urge to puke well up in her stomach.

“Yuck, I’m not eating this!”

“You’d better reconsider, you’ll only get food twice a day. And believe me, if you skip one meal you’ll be feeling sorry after it.” The rat next to her warned.

Mercy had to admit she was quite hungry, but she wasn’t desperate. But if you really got food two times a day, she reasoned she might indeed get sick if she refused to eat what she didn’t like. If the unhygienic state of the prison didn’t make her sick first that is. She carefully picked up her bread and dipped it in the bowl. The sight of the green gooey stuff dripping from it almost turned her stomach. She swallowed and a few moments later the bread as well. But the taste still send a shiver across her spine and she wondered what had possessed her to do what she just did.

“Don’t take so long. The sooner you finish the sooner it’s over. Also, if you don’t manage to finish your meal in thirty minutes, the guards will simply send us back to our cells.” The one sitting next to Mercy advised.

Mercy tried to eat faster, but that wasn’t easy. And once she was finished, she was still hungry. With mixed feelings (and a rampaging stomach) she wanted to refill her bowl, but found the pot in front of her was already empty.

“Next time, be quicker to eat if you still want something extra afterwards. Prisoners here always fight for the last bits.” The rat advised again, which was starting to annoy Mercy.

“What’s your name anyway?”

“No conversations during diner time!” A guard shouted at them.

“By the way, where is the main course?” Mercy wondered out loud.

“Main course?” Mercy’s neighbor almost fell on the floor out of laughter “This was our main course.”

“I can’t believe it, I still could eat a horse…or an entire stable. I suppose we aren’t going to have dessert either?” She added hopefully.

“You know what would look good on you? A sign around your neck with the text: Warning! I’m an idiot, please speak slowly.” The rat joked, laughing even more.

“Didn’t I tell you two to SHUT UP!” A guard right behind them screamed, scaring the two.

Mercy and the rat cringed and hugged each other in fear, as the look on the guard’s face told them they had better be afraid.

“You two are going to bed without dessert!” He thundered.

“Yes daddy.” Mercy whispered, which the guard fortunately didn’t pick up.

“But we never get desserts here sir, your punishment means nothing to me.” The other girl pointed out.

“Oh yeah? Think again! Because this prison is exactly hundred fifty years old today we where going to treat everyone here. But you two just missed out.”

The rat looked at Mercy nastily.

“Thank you, now I missed out because of your questioning.” She pointed out accusingly.

“Me? You wanted to answer so badly!” Mercy stated defensively.

“Knock it off ladies.” The guard interrupted and grabbed the two girls by their collar “Or I’m going to make sure you’ll be cleaning the toilets tomorrow.”

“Now look what you did, you made him angry.” The rat continued when the guard separated them.

“Me!? You got some nerve to say that!” Mercy countered and wanted to strangle the rat, but was held back by the guard.

The rat chimed in again and kicked Mercy, after which she roughly pushed the guard out of her way and jumped at the rat. The guard wondered if he really should interrupt a fight between two girls. The entire mess hall had by now turned their attention to the two tussling prisoners rolling across the ground. One of the prisoner started to yell “Catfight, catfight!” but he stopped when he noticed another guard behind him holding his baton over his head threateningly. A guard moved over toward the fight to help his colleague put a stop to it. Together they managed to restore order.

“The warden is not going to like it two newcomers are causing trouble here so soon. You’re both in trouble now.” One guard said as the two where led out of the mess hall.

 

After dropping off her friends at headquarters, Gadget had spent some time downtown with other inventors. She had tried to visit her fellow scientist Minerva, but found out she wasn’t home. Probably still scouring professor Nimnul’s lab for anything to help her ‘take over the world’ or something. She got the chance to speak with Sparky and Buzz and exchange some stories. However with Buzz constantly reminding Sparky what they where talking about, things got very dense, even for Gadget. When she made her way back to where she had parked the Ranger Plane, her eye caught an advertisement.

“Golly, that sounds interesting. The first annual inventors contest, the winner receives the Unites Species’ Hackwrench Peace prize. Golly again, that’s the same award I won back in Brazil! This contest would be a great opportunity to demonstrate the Hydro Purifier I’m working on!” She exclaimed overjoyed “When the jury sees how it works, they might introduce my invention to the Middle East to put an end to the water shortages there! I’d better hurry, or it won’t be ready when the competition is held.”

She walked off again, determined to get home as soon as possible. She reached the alley where she had parked her aircraft, but noticed there was someone else there. A female chipmunk, with blonde hair, wearing a pink dress. She looked desperate, so Gadget decided to see what was wrong with her.

“Why are you crying, what happened?”

The chipmunk looked up to see the mouse she knew was Gadget Hackwrench, the Rescue Ranger.

“Miss, a bunch of hoods just mugged me in that alley. They took all my money, and now I don’t have enough to do the groceries for my mom.” She said in-between sobs.

“Gosh, that’s terrible to hear that. Did they hurt you or did something else to you?”

“N-no, they took my money, threw me down and ran off.”

Gadget fumbled in one of the pockets in her overalls for a moment.

“Here, this should be enough to buy groceries for tonight, and a little extra. I’ll see if I can find those muggers.” She said and handed the girl a few bills.

The girl thanked her and left. Gadget looked down the alley to see if there was any trace left of the mugging that had taken place. She stepped over a pile of rubbish while turning her head from left to right. She considered taking the Ranger Plane and searching from up in the air. But on the other hand, if she went by foot there was a change the thugs would try to rob her as well, which would make her search easier. She felt in her pocket to check if she had a Stun Grenade to help her take on the criminals. When she wanted to move forward, something slimy wrapped itself around her legs. Before she could understand what was going on, her feet where pulled out from under her. She wanted to cry for help, but when she hit the floor, she fell face first in a pool of mud. While she spat and gasped to get the dirt out of her mouth, a tentacle covered her mouth, muffling all other screams for help. She tried to reach her pocket again, but two other wet tentacles grabbed her arms and kept them in place. She realized she only had her tail left to defend herself, but after one move with it the creature attacking her caught it as well. The thing then proceeded to hold her arms and legs together and wrapped his two remaining tentacles around her waist. A sense of dread washed over her before it was replaced by excruciating pain. Wherever the assailant touched her, her nerves send out signals of pain to her brain. Gadget passed out after what felt like hours of torture, which was in fact a few moments.

 

At the airport, the Nutcracker family was having another reunion.

“So how’s my little sister holding out?” Asked Steve upon seeing Mandy.

“Better ask the question: how are we holding out with your little sister around.” Ans replied “That child has more energy than I had when I was young.”

“I hear you’re still terrorizing the house.” Steve concluded, smiling at his sister “I’m familiar with that.”

“Hey, guess what we bought.” Flora asked the two elders “Steve bought us a car!”

“Why did you get yourself one all of a sudden son?” Gus wondered.

“Well with Flora pregnant I thought it was about time a bought one. I’ll be able to drive her or the child around to school, work or wherever. But it’s nothing special, just an old four door Cadillac from the ’30s.”

“You’re still a classy guy, but you don’t know what’s totally in.” Gus commented.

The two young Nutcrackers led their family to where they had parked their automobile. The five got inside and Steve drove them back to his nightclub. When they went through a quiet backstreet, out of nowhere a small grenade-like object was thrown in front of their car. Steve was shocked and quickly hit the brake, and everyone in the car ducked. Upon detonating, the grenade released a blue wave that enveloped the car, abruptly stopping the engine. When nothing else happened, everyone exited the vehicle quickly and Steve took off his hat.

“Poor thing. I had it only a day and then it got hit by an EMP grenade or something.”

Gus took his Desert Eagle handgun out of his pocket and looked up to where the grenade had been dropped.

“Who’s there? Why did you throw that at us?”

The only reply he got where two gas grenades which where dropped from above. Before any of the Nutcrackers could escape, the fumes of the grenades started to take over and they started to lose consciousness. Steve dropped to the floor, wondering what was happening. Just before he passed out, he could see a rat wearing a black trench coat and fedora walking in his direction, smiling.

 

Philip was sitting next to his mother in her limousine, depressed. A few months ago he would have dreamed of being reunited with his mother, but the naked truth couldn’t live up to his expectations. Instead, it where Mercy and Chip who had become like parents to him in such a short amount of time. And when he learned what his mother was like, he started to look to Mercy instead for motherly love. A type of love Anne-Mary couldn’t provide him with, despite all the wealth she had.

“We’re here Philip, this will be your new home!” His mother said excitedly.

Philip looked outside to see a high-rise office building. His mother pulled him out of the car and guided him inside, through halls toward one of the four elevators. The two entered and Anne-Mary pressed one of the hundreds of buttons on the panel. Philip saw the two doors closing, cutting off his route of escape. He felt the elevator come into motion and the display showed him what floor they passed. Seeing how quickly they moved upwards, he simply couldn’t prevent himself from asking something.

“When I step out of this elevator, will I be at the pearly gates?”

“No wisecracks, this is a serious company. And I don’t want you acting like your despicable sister all the time.” His mother replied, her voice suggesting that she would wash his mouth with soap for even mentioning her name.

“But I wasn’t-” Philip tried to protest, but he was cut short when he saw the elevator doors open again.

Again, he was guided through a maze of corridors and halls until they reached a reception desk with a female field mouse who was minding her own looks rather than telephones and visitors.

“Hi miss, your husband’s currently unoccupied. You may enter.” She informed and got back to filing her nails.

They entered the office of Derrick Dimedealer, the richest animal in the world. The man himself was sitting behind his desk, writing a report. He immediately stopped when he noticed his wife entered along with her son.

“You must be Philip. It is a pleasure to meet you, you’re the greatest gift that money can’t buy. I hope this new home will be to your liking.”

The boy himself was too nervous to reply. Derrick noticed and looked a little concerned.

“You don’t like it here?” He quickly asked.

“I-I was just wondering if I’ll ever see my friends again.” Philip replied, sounding like he was being interrogated by the RBI, and seeing like how mister Dimedealer looked really formal he did have some things in common with an RBI agent.

“Who are your friends? You could invite them over if you wanted to.” The stranger continued.

“Mercy and the Rescue Rangers, they are my friends.” Philip answered, still afraid.

The multimillionaire sighed before replying.

“Boy, Mercy is nothing but a criminal. And the Rescue Rangers is just a bunch of vigilantes who shouldn’t be working together with the AP.”

“Mercy’s not a criminal!” Philip fiercely objected “She’s just…just…Misunderstood.” Was all he could come up with.

“Didn’t your mother try to convince you otherwise? If a court thinks she is, why do you insist she’s innocent?”

“This justice system is corrupt! Even the chief thinks so!” Philip countered “Guards can get away with prisoner abuse, fake judges can infiltrate courts, and the mafia was capable of sabotaging numerous cases!”

“Little guy, you’ve been brainwashed by your sister. She convinced you to see things her way, and you walked right into that trap.”

“Mercy would never do such a thing!” Philip protested, but their arguing was interrupted by miss Dimedealer.

“I think it would be a good plan to introduce you to your brothers and sisters. We can finish this conversation later.” She suggested and smiled friendly.

She gracefully but forcefully led the younger boy out of the office and once they where out of earshot from Derrick and his receptionist she took his arm and angrily replied.

“Don’t ever mention that name again or I’m gonna give you such a spanking!” She snapped and shook him before pulling him after her to where her family lived.

Philip was already starting to feel out of place, and wished to wake up at Rescue Ranger headquarters where him and Mercy where safe. Unfortunately, he was already awake, but in a sense he had landed right into another dream, a nightmare.

 

Mercy didn’t sleep well that night. Not only was she afraid of what was going on with Philip, but her bed was even more uncomfortable than it looked. She looked outside to see it was still very early in the morning, even the streetlights where still on. Seeing as how she was not going back to sleep even if she wanted to, Mercy waited until the rest of the prison woke up as well. But it felt like hours before Mercy was finally let out of her cell. As she walked over to the mess hall for breakfast, she remembered what she was told yesterday; that she’d better eat whatever she was served or be hungry the rest of the day. Imagine her disappointment when all she got was a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of milk. After a bit of stirring the oatmeal with her spoon and complaining about how hungry she was she quickly devoured her breakfast. When the prisoners where driven back to their cells, Mercy was still hungry. She was stopped when she reached the door that led outside the mess hall.

“What do you think your doing? You still have job to do. Didn’t we explain you and that rat yesterday that you’d be cleaning up today?” The guard reminded her while barring the way to the cell block “Here’s where you should be, the toilets.” He explained as he pointed her to the bathroom.

She grumpily made her way over to the room and grabbed a mop that had been placed there specially for her. The rat with which she got in a fight yesterday was also there, kneeling down next to a bucket and cleaning the floor with a rag.

“So we’re in this together?” Mercy assumed as she swept the mop through a pool of water.

The rat looked around agitated, having just noticed the other prisoner. She threw the rag in Mercy face before grabbing the bucket and splashed the water all over her.

“You deserved that.” She fumed and dropped the bucket.

Mercy pulled the rag off her head and grabbed the other by her shirt. She pushed the rat aside so she slipped over the wet floor and the rat landed on the floor, banging her head against the toilet.

“What are you two pests doing now?” The guard shouted and entered to see Mercy holding the bucket over her head, ready to throw it at the rat girl.

“That chipmunk took my rag and hit me with it, then she threw me aside to take revenge because of yesterday. She even wanted to harm me with that bucket.” The rat accused, making the word ‘chipmunk’ sound like an insult.

Before Mercy could object the guard replied.

“I’ve had it with you gals! You’ll be cleaning up for a week now, and not just the toilets!” The guard thundered and slammed the door shut, stomping off.

Now there was nothing to keep the two inmates from fighting. Mercy put the bucket over the rat’s head and she in turn quickly tackled Mercy and pinned her on the floor. The two rolled across the ground punching, kicking and throwing each other. Mercy finally lost the fight when the rat pinned her again with the mop stick on Mercy’s neck.

“If you know how to behave, I’ll let you go.” The rat hissed.

Mercy was too exhausted to continue fighting, and nodded, feeling humiliated. The rat removed the stick and Mercy recovered. She tried to spit at her tormentor, but hardly had enough strength left to do that. However the rat understood what she tried to do and gave Mercy another punch. She then got off Mercy who remained on the floor, breathing heavily. Mercy had been in many fights before, and also in prison, but this time the humiliation was so great she was growing awfully desperate. She started to cry as well as hyperventilate. The rat stopped and turned around again when she heard that. Surprisingly enough, she was no longer mad but instead she looked like she pitied Mercy.

“I-I don’t belong he-here. I wanna go home to Chip and Philip.” Mercy whined between gasps.

The rat didn’t even mind her talking like a little sissy. Instead she helped her sit down in a corner.

“Hey, sorry about what I did to you, but it had to happen.” The rat apologized, but she only left Mercy confused.

She noticed that Mercy didn’t really agree with her, so decided to expand a bit.

“Look if I hadn’t done that to you, someone else would have. ‘Know thy place’ is the name of the game. And apparently your place is right behind me.”

The statement probably would have ticked off Mercy if she had been in the condition to be. She looked down in shame and saw there where drops of blood on the floor! It didn’t take long for her to find out that she had a blood nose and possibly even more wounds. The rat noticed as well and pulled a handkerchief out of the top of her shirt and began cleaning Mercy’s wounds.

“Here, you can borrow this.” She told her while pressing it against Mercy’s nose “By the way I’m Lucy. I already know your name. I heard a lot about you when I was still free, about a month ago. Honestly, I would have you where a bit…tougher. You’re like a legend in the New York world of crime today. I never though I could beat you in a brawl.”

“I’m just not a fighter. All I want is to live a normal life, but my mother got in the way of things again.”

“Don’t we all want to live an American dream? And we all know where your mother’s from, she’s a bourgeois pig. The enemy of everyone here. Unfortunately us criminals don’t stand united against those sluggish coin catchers, or we could start our own revolution to overthrow them.”

“You mean what Lemming did at the start of the century? You believe in communism?” Mercy exclaimed fearfully.

“I believe that on paper it’s a wonderful system. But theory and reality are so far apart, we’d need an intelligent leader to bring those two together. But Lemming and his companions either never had enough time after their revolution to think about that, or they just weren’t smart enough. But let’s just stop about this subject, I know you’re no longer with us and it’s not worth it to try get you back.” Lucy concluded.

“Then what about this prison? Could you tell me why they use this ruined building to lock up criminals?”

“It’s all very twisted. This jail doesn’t get enough funds to keep it running properly, but all other prisons get enough to operate at their best. Like the Manhattan or East Side facilities. As a result, this place has to deal with a bureaucracy problem, inadequate maintenance and as you can see we don’t even have the opportunity to wash ourselves! We don’t even get inspections here, the people who should be doing that are afraid the place will collapse when they’re inside. The risk of a jailbreak is alarming.”

“If so, why don’t you just leave?” Mercy asked.

“I would have done that if the funding was just as bad at the police stations. This city and this area in particular are being patrolled by numerous officers. By the time you got outside you’d notice another cop had been waiting for you to put you back in place. Even after being here only a month I know that much! After being here so long I would do anything to eat something decent, sleep in a comfortable bed or have a nice warm bath.”

Lucy got back to cleaning and after she was done they had to go back to their separate cells. Before parting their ways Lucy hugged Mercy, which confused her a bit. Back in her cell Mercy thought about what Lucy had told her. She had all the time in the world to do that, because there where absolutely no activities for prisoners beside breakfast, dinner and a half hour outside to get some fresh air. And sitting in your cell the whole rest of the day was so boring that even cleaning toilets seemed a worthwhile activity.

 

Chip opened his eyes, but immediately closed them again when a bright light blinded him. At first he wondered if he was in the hospital again, but when he could finally see again, it looked more like he was in an incubator. The ceiling and walls looked more like those of a secret underground military complex or a villain’s lair. The glass covering the pod wherein he was kept barely left enough space for him to raise his head. When he looked to his sides he noticed other pods where in the room. The captive right of him woke up as well, but didn’t notice the glass covering the capsule he being hold in and painfully banged his head into it. To his surprise, it was Dale. His friend immediately panicked when he realized he was unable to move anywhere, and didn’t pay attention to Chip calling him. Or perhaps the pods absorbed all sounds, Chip reasoned. In the pod next to Dale’s, Gadget also seemed to have regained consciousness. In an attempt to break out of his prison, Chip forcefully pressed his hands against the glass. To his surprise, it opened. Then he noticed all the other pods had opened up as well, allowing those within them to escape.

“Too-ra-loo, this must have been the worst case of Claustrophobia I’ve had ever since…well, since ever.” Monty commented when he was out.

Chip noticed not only him and the other Rescue Rangers where being held in wherever they where. Also present where Alexander Rockforanov, Minerva Bilderpavsky, Clarice Tammiasara and Steve, Flora, Mandy, Gus and Ans Nutcracker along with Steve’s four friends. Before anyone could ask what was going on, a voice echoed through the room.

“So you’re all up! It’s a new day and there’s so much work for you.”

“I know that voice! But I don’t understand what or why.” Chip thought.

A large airlock door opened and they could all see a slender white rat in a lab coat standing in front of them. He was rather short for a rat and his voice was funny.

“Welcome to my wonderful world, my rare reality, my personal sanitarium!” The rat squealed merrily.

“Nimnul!?” Dale blurted out in surprise, speaking what was on the other Ranger’s minds.

“Correctamungo, you miserable vermin.” The professor confirmed.

“I don’t want to be rude, but…” Monty murmured and pointed at Nimnul.

“Yes, I’m a rat. So what, you have something against rats you land based blowfish?” Nimnul ranted, which confirmed he indeed was the smartest human ever, with emphasis on ‘was’.

“But what happened to you?” Dale asked the vital question.

“So you want to hear, well? Then prepare for the story of a man named Norton Nimnul!” Immediately after he said that, the lights dimmed as if he was on stage “I am the son of a Polish scientist, a human one. I grew up to become the smartest boy genius I have ever known, but could never grasp the reason why my father was so modest. He preferred to use his talents for the good cause, a thankless job that never got him any recognition. At school, people laughed at me when I told them about myself and my father, and called me a nerd! And that while I had the brains to think up pranks a thousand times more fun than the ones they pulled on me! When I finally finished my studies, I offered my genius to the world of science just like my daddy wanted and they laughed! They all LAUGHED! But, one man saw how valuable I was and recruited me: Aldrin Clordane. The man we all know and love. But even he treated me like dirt while it was I who made his dreams reality. After he was jailed, I tried to go legit and that didn’t work out. My static electricity generator seemed wrong to them, just because a few hundred kitties had to be rubbed for it. And my demonstration of the Fogie went sour. I guess you rodents know all about my schemes, you foiled them all! And after our last encounter they locked me up and called me insane! While we all know animals CAN talk, and flies ARE dangerous!”

“Uhm, yeah. But what turned you into a rat?”

“Actually, deep inside I’ve always been a rat. Just not physically. After I was locked up in the hospital I started thinking. My reputation as a human mad scientist was damaged and beyond repair. The cops knew virtually everything about my inventions, favorite targets and behavior. I couldn’t commit a single crime and get away with it, you rodents where always around to stop me. So I changed my priorities a little. First I’d deal with you pests, then I’d become supreme ruler of the universe. Once free, I dug out my metamorphoser blueprints and constructed a set. If I would no longer be taken serious by humans, I could at least try my luck in rodent society so I switched species with my lab rat, Pinky.”

Dale blinked away a tear and looked saddened.

“Gee, I never knew you had such a hard life Norton. I know what it’s like to be laughed at.” He interrupted.

The other Rangers just looked at him a bit annoyed for feeling sorry for someone who tried to kill them so many times.

“Actually, I made that all up. That stuff about my childhood was just to make this dramatic.” Nimnul revealed and continued “Soon after becoming a rat, I started to explore your world and was surprised. Even as a rodent, I could construct the most powerful inventions possible! And now that things where dire for me, I was getting really serious. I programmed the newest revolutionary computer program, a virtual reality! If you want to know how it turned out, look around you. This entire room was programmed by me. And you vermin will be having lots of fun in it! I also build a successful machine I call the ‘clone-o-matic’ which I will use to raise my own army to take over the world! But before I could accomplish what I just told you, I needed to think about keeping myself safe and informed. For that purpose, I enlisted the services of a few mercenaries. Why don’t you give them a hearty welcome?” Nimnul requested as five others appeared next to him, shrouded in the darkness.

A light revealed the first one hired by Nimnul, a jellyfish.

“This here is Liquid. Liquid, that’s vermin.” Nimnul cheerily introduced, while the jellyfish just wished that this show would be over soon “Liquid is an informant and spy. He provided me with all the latest news about you rodents along with any details about the past useful to me. Of course that wasn’t cheap, but I had more help.”

Three more spotlights shone down on three of Nimnul’s other henchmen.

“I guess you all heard of the triplets Amelia, Benita and Christina. The first chipmunk triplets known to rodent kind. The three who share a bond stronger than blood. But did you also know they are less ‘innocent’ than they seemed years ago?”

All of Nimnul’s captives took a good look at the chipmunk girls. Even for one egged triplets they looked very much alike. They all had a wonderful figure and seemed like the embodiment of health and grace. Their hair color was blond. Everyone dreaded the answer to how Nimnul corrupted them so much. The only way to tell them from one another was their hair style and clothes, something that made Dale think about the Powerpuff Girls. Amelia had her hair like a southern belle, and wore a pink dress. Gadget quickly recognized her.

“You! You where that girl who lost her money for groceries.” She exclaimed, and she smiled back before replying.

“First, I never lost any money. And second, I never had to do groceries for my mother. That was just a lie to get you inside that alley. Don’t worry about the dollars you gave me though, they’re in good hands. I donated them to the nearby church.”

However that didn’t keep Gadget from getting angry with her.

“You…oh! You lied to me!” She complained and stomped her foot on the ground.

“That’s right.” The jellyfish chimed in “It was to get you inside that alley so I could grab you. But I guess you felt that one, you just didn’t feel it coming!” Liquid snickered.

“Keep silent, if we wanted you to speak we would have paid you for it.” The girl next to Amelia reacted and put her foot on Liquid’s head.

The girl was Benita, who had her hair tied back in a pony tail and wore a blue dress. The girl next to her, Christina, wore green and had her hair hanging loosely.

“Why? Why would you serve this madman?” Chip managed, not believing this was all actually happening.

“For the redemption of this fallen angel.” Amelia spoke as she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.

“To be the perfect soldier.” Benita revealed and saluted.

“To kick some tail!” Christina let out and punched her fist in her hand.

Mandy, who was in Ans’ arms, squealed happily and threw her hands in the air. Everyone else threw her an annoyed look, except for Nimnul, his henchmen, and Minerva.

“You three galls are bonkers.” Monty opined and tapped his head with his index finger.

“Could be, but they fit right in.” Nimnul came to their defense and walked over to his number five henchmen “And now I reveal a mystery unsolved. Ladies and gentlemen I give you…Justice Jerk!”

Another light shone down on the shadowy figure. He was just like the last time the Rangers had seen him. A black fedora on his head, and wearing a black trench coat.

“That’s impossible, you’re in jail!” Chip exclaimed fearfully.

“In a sense, I am. The original is in jail.”

“The uh, original?” Dale scratched his head.

“I’ll gladly explain that.” Amelia interrupted as she took a remote control Nimnul handed her.

She pressed a button and a monitor popped out of the ground. It displayed the cell block where the police kept Justice prisoner in black and white. Suddenly a girl who looked very similar to Amelia moved into view, over to Justice’s cell and started talking to him. However, they could not hear what they where saying since the cameras of the prison did not record sound.

“Some time ago professor Nimnul send me to save him and offer him sanctuary. He needed his services. Because we could not break him out, Nimnul considered cloning him. So I visited him one day, acting like I was his girlfriend. He was quite polite, and soon understood his duplicate and the professor would owe him for his ‘service’.”

The videotape then showed how Amelia hugged and kissed Justice, after which Amelia disappeared again.

“While I shared an intimate moment with him for the camera, I took some fur from him for professor Nimnul to use.”

“And from there on it was easy for me to make a clone, as you can see.” Nimnul finished “Using all the means I had at my disposal I created an embryo with his DNA.”

“But if you made him start out as an unborn baby, why is he already an adult?” Gadget wondered.

“I thought that with your brains you figured that out by now. It should have taken 1.0 second to remember I have the Fogie.”

“Whatever it is, I’d rather have the blues.” Steve commented uninterested.

“No you nitwit, it’s one of my greatest inventions! Next to the metamorphoser, modemizer and clone-o-matic. It ages anything you use it on. Let me demonstrate it.” Nimnul explained and before Ans could react he had grabbed Mandy.

“My baby!” Ans cried, and tried to get her back.

However, Benita and Christina got ready to fend off anyone who tried to approach professor Nimnul. He took a device that looked somewhat like a bagpipe which Liquid handed to him.

“And this time I do have enough fuel! I’ll make her skip five years of her life in a few seconds.” The professor explained, aimed the invention at the baby girl and fired.

Mandy immediately started growing, and when it stopped she indeed looked like a young girl instead of a baby. Otherwise, she was still same girl. She shouted for help but quickly covered her mouth when she realized she could talk.

“You crazy rat! Why did you do that to her?” Ans shouted, hoping she’d get an opportunity to physically attack Nimnul.

“Well she’s not injured or anything if that’s what you’re afraid of. And look at the bright side of it, now she has to wait five years less before she can see those movies for sixteen years and older.”

“At least cover her with something if you have any sense of decency.” Ans demanded, forgetting she never dressed Mandy up before herself.

“I would love to.” Nimnul agreed and dragged Mandy after him.

He stopped when he reached a wall with a button on it. He pressed it and the wall slid open to reveal a couple of clothing racks with all types of clothing.

“Now let’s see what would look good at you. Oh, I know!” He took something from a rack and showed it to Mandy, it was a ballerina’s tutu “This is perfect! You’ll look marvelous in it. I know I’d look good in it.” The professor giggled, but Mandy just looked at him angrily.

“Out of the way, fool.” She pushed him aside roughly and started to look for something to wear herself.

She quickly dressed in what she seemed to like and rejoined her mother, who was a bit taken aback by her young girl’s choice of clothing. Mandy had sloppily dressed herself up in a camouflage jacket with under it a white shirt, a red cap on her head, a pair of jeans that where a bit too long and wide, a pair of red and white sneakers and white socks. Ans wanted to say something, but Gus put a hand on her shoulder and reasoned.

“She can make her own decisions now, you should be proud of her acting so mature at the age of zero.”

“Why did you capture us anyway?” Chip wanted to know, returning everyone’s attention to the nutty professor.

“To get back at you rodents of course! I can’t be a good villain if I don’t try to get revenge.” Nimnul explained.

“Then why did you take so many innocents? What do Clarice, Minerva, Alexander, Timbert, Hiss, Henk, Frank Steve, Flora, Ans, Gus and Mandy have to do with this?” Chip added and breathed deep.

“Well that white mouse over there I would have spared the trouble if she wasn’t snooping around in my lab!” Nimnul pointed an accusing finger at Minerva.

“There is absolutely no honor among thieves.” Minerva mused annoyed and crossed her arms.

“And that white chipmunk would have still been free if he wasn’t around when Christina gassed your tree.”

Chip looked at Dale worriedly, who seemed to know what question was on his mind.

“He’s right, after we got back at headquarters we got a visit from Alex, and a while later someone lobbed a gas grenade inside. I started to see all kind of weird things around me until another one was thrown inside, and I guess the fumes rendered me unconsciousness.”

Christina looked angrily at Liquid, who was laughing like a snake.

“Also, when Monty sniffed the gasses that where spread by the first grenade he got into a cheese-attack.” Dale added lastly.

“Then what about me? I don’t see a reason why you’d kidnap me!” Clarice interrupted.

“Yeah, and what about us? We’ve been trough a lot already, we don’t need whatever you got in store for us.” Steve asked on behalf of his family and friends.

“Do I need a reason? I’m a MAD scientist, those sort of people need no excuses. Why don’t you people ask serious questions?”

“Just what ARE you planning to do?” Monty countered.

“As I said, we are now in a virtual reality. And I plan to let you play a few games I set up for you. You know, those realistic games, with really realistic violence in them. And my Simulated Virtual Reality, SVR, takes violence in video games to a higher level: realistic wounds and possible death! But that won’t keep the kids from buying it, despite the protests from angry mothers. And you’re all lucky to be beta testers!”

“So that means if I broke your neck here you wouldn’t be able to go on outside this bloomin’ ‘as we are’? Monty asked hopefully, cracking his knuckles.

“You won’t achieve much by taking me out! Who’s going to let you out after he’s got tired with toying with you pests? That would be me! Not that I grow tired of my own inventions soon, you’d all probably be dead before I decide to unplug you. And besides, you can’t kill me! I’m a cheater, I’ve enabled the God mode-”

“Blasphemy!” Amelia interrupted, but professor Nimnul ignored her.

“Any wounds I incur will not carry over to the real world. And the same goes for my assistants, who are eager to play as well. Everyone else, however, has been subjected to my ingenious program DIAPE, Death-Injury Applying Program Experimental. And before I introduce that to the world of videogames, I’ll make sure the R of registered will be added.”

“Diaper?” Monty muttered and raised an eyebrow.

“Anyway, this program will use highly advanced patented Nimnul technology to give you the cuts and bruises you need. And if you die in SVR, you die in the real world of the same injuries inflicted on you inside the program, the body can’t live without the mind.”

“Wowy Zowy, just like in the Matrix!” Dale enthusiastically jumped up and down, but then grew worried and started to check his body for any extra holes.

“Anyways, enough small-talk, let the games begin!”

 

After Nimnul spoke those words, Clarice, Minerva and Alexander disappeared and materialized in a forest. Benita was with them, and was the first one to speak.

“Welcome recruits, to the reality that is as we are, created by Norton Nimnul. I’ll be your instructor for this crash course. You have to maneuver through a series of situations I set up for you and if I think you’re skilled enough, we’ll duke it out in a three against one battle. We’ll get started right away, so I can see what you’re made of. Bring in the cat!”

Apparently Benita was a girl of few words but many deeds. After she finished her last sentence, she disappeared and a large feline materialized in her place. The three had barely gotten over the previous surprises or they where scared by the appearance of a predator.

“So so so, a band of snacks. My luck, I was starving!” The cat spoke and licked his lips.

The three backed off and started running when the cat prepared to jump. They scattered in different direction and the starved predator chased Clarice. She ran like had never done before and managed run up a tree using only her two legs.

“This way my friend!” Alexander called out to the cat, grabbing a small branch and wielding it like a bat.

The cat was blind to Alex’s plan and charged the Siberian. When in reach, Alex swung the weapon at the cat’s face which stunned it long enough for Alexander to make a run for it as he dropped his remains of the wood. The feline quickly continued his chase and Alex led him under the tree Clarice had sought refuge. The chipmunk superstar threw an acorn at the pursuer which caught it’s attention. It stopped and looked upwards. When Alex noticed that his attacker had stopped he turned around and quickly devised a new plan. He ran and rammed into a large stone standing close to the cat. It fell down, right on the cat’s tail. The predator suppressed a scream and yanked on his tail to get it out from under the heavy object. When that was done, Clarice and Alexander where gone. The feline looked around quickly to locate his prey.

“This way boy!” A voice called out.

The cat turned around to see who was speaking to him. Although he was still seeing stars from Alex’s swing he could clearly see a figure with a dark red coverall and goggles.

“You try take a piece of me!” Minerva taunted, not moving a single inch.

“Woman? Well, you’re not my mother and I got a terrible hunger so…” The cat jumped his new target and opened his maw.

Once close enough he bit, and felt an incredible pain surge through his mouth. Before he could understand what was going on his teeth started to crack and fell out. The cat fell to the ground out of pure agony and shock, and whined about the pain he felt.

“Wow, good plan honey!” Clarice congratulated Minerva.

The mouse girl was only dressed in a white shirt, but didn’t feel embarrassed. Partly because she was too proud at the moment, and partly because she had her fur coverage.

“I improvised a bit on chapter 5 from The Villain’s Handbook: Tricks and Traps.” She explained as she shook Clarice’s hand.

“Stupid cat, can’t tell the difference between a stone and a mouse.” Alexander commented as he tapped the disguised rock Minerva had used.

“One of the important things about being evil mastermind is assuming you are smarter than enemy.” She said as put her goggles back and then her gloves “Anyway, let’s get away from here.” She suggested as she reclaimed her coverall from the stone and finished redressing.

“Good show, an excellent combination of speed, strength and stealth. Your advantages became obvious when I scanned your tactics.” Benita interrupted “And without further ado, you may proceed. Your boot camp training is completed.”

Just like before, the trio disappeared from the forest without a warning.

 

“Where are we?” Gadget asked as she looked around.

She and the other Rangers where standing in front of a fenced off area, which was at that moment used for a fun-fair. Two mesh doors lay on the ground, offering entry to everyone in the neighborhood. And that neighborhood happened to be one of the least attractive. One of Nimnul’s henchwoman was there as well.

“Welcome Rescue Rangers, my name is Amelia. I’ll be your hostess in this world.” She said “As you might notice, your group has been cut-off from your friends. That’s because the professor has something special in store for you. The meaning of all of this is that you work your way through the challenges set up for you and prevail. If you do that, I will give you the chance to take me on. But for now, have fun!”

“Wait, I want some answers!” Chip called desperately, but it didn’t help.

Amelia had disappeared again like she was just a hologram.

“So what now Chip?” Dale wondered.

“Spread out I guess, see what’s so special about the fun-fair. But be careful, you all know what Nimnul is like.”

“Only too well.” Monterey agreed and they split up.

Chip wandered off into the dark night to explore the site, a feeling of dread constantly following him. He stopped when he reached the back of one attraction. The backdoor was barred from the outside with a wooden plank. Chip easily removed it and entered.

“I wonder, what is this place? Looks kinda like a funhouse or freak show. But why did they leave the lights on?”

Several cardboard figures and boxes where placed here. He worked his way around the back area until he reached the ticket booth and entered the mysterious attraction. He entered the usual spinning tunnel after which he landed in a too realistic copy of central park at night. It did not look like some cardboard drawn world of madness, it was all too real. As if he was really in the park. He looked back to see that the entrance and the world beyond had turned into something that reminded Chip of Dale’s comics. He stuck his arm into the tunnel and was shocked to see it turn into 2D drawn limb. When he pulled it back, it turned back to normal again.

“What the…?”

He turned around but suddenly his sight went blurry. He moved forward a bit and was in for another weird experience. He moved in slow motion, everything was still a blur. And whenever he moved, Chip’s sight was affected. He started to run but then suddenly depth started to change as well.

“Is this…?” He started but cut himself short.

Something wasn’t right, he knew it.

“Rudolf!” A voice echoed through his head, the same voice Chip had used to name call Dale long ago.

“But Chipper-” Tammy’s voice.

“No buts Chip, you got to stop bullying others!” The voice of his mother, Annie Maplewood, told him.

“Chip who?” Mercy asked pressingly.

“We’re the Rescue Rangers!” He heard his own voice say.

Chip closed his eyes and put a hand to his head. He wanted to drive the voices out, but didn’t know how. When he opened his eyes again the voices faded away. He was looking down a long hallway, with several prison cells lining it. When he looked to his left he saw a sign. It read ‘Do you want to know Dale’s thoughts?’.

“His private thoughts are his and his alone!” He though, but then he saw the text on the sign fade away to be replaced with new.

‘You know you want!’ it now read.

Reluctantly, Chip moved forward, his vision still distorted. In the first cell to his left he spotted something that caught his attention. It was Mercy, sleeping in a prison bed which was in bad shape.

“Dale…” She almost whispered, causing Chip to back off.

Again, a voice sounded through his head, a very sinister version of his own.

“Admit it Chip, you know he has his sights set on her. Don’t say you didn’t realize it yet. The things he’d do to make this thought reality…”

He was startled by a conversation going on in the cell behind him, which showed him and Mercy having a heated argument at Rescue Ranger headquarters. He saw how Mercy slapped his duplicate and was accusing him.

“Jerk, if I had known how you treated your lifelong friend I wouldn’t have gotten this close with you. You’re dangerous Chip, you’ve been beating him on the head ever since you two met! That sort of thing can create an inferiority complex for the victim, and probably superiority complex for you! I thought it was a game at first, but only now I realize, after being in prison for five years, that suppressing others is no game. And you’ve done much more than cause him physical harm!”

“See what I mean? He’ll use her, turn her against you for his revenge. And to agonize you even further, he’ll steal her hearth as well!”

Chip wanted to get away from the voice that was by now whispering its assumptions through the hall. But again, his curiosity drew him to the third cell in line. It was a hotel room, and not a modest one. It was a luxury suite. And he saw Dale entering, carrying Mercy over the threshold.

“Here we are, our own paradise. The best of the best money can buy, for the most special girl in the world.” Dale spoke as he lay Mercy down on the bed.

He then prepared two glasses of Vodka at the mini bar and handed Mercy one, then sat down next to her.

“I’m glad I married the most charming ‘munk there is.” Mercy revealed and put an arm around Dale’s waist.

“See? Here they are husband and wife. Your friend will use his smooth talking he never used before to woo your girlfriend. But we both now who is the real prince charming, who should have married her instead right?”

“Stop it, I don’t want to see this!” Chip protested, but again stopped when he saw himself in the next cell to the left.

This time, he was on a garbage dump and it looked like he had become a depressed bum. He looked really miserable, sitting down hiding behind junk to protect him from the rainstorm. His clothes were ragged and in his right paw he weakly held a black and white picture. On it he could see Mercy and Dale, just married. The other Chip figured this spectral image of himself was not taking the marriage of Dale and Mercy well.

“And you’ll be like this as well if you don’t act. You must show Dale he can’t have her by any means necessary. Even if that means he should be murdered.”

“No, no I can’t do something like that! Just leave me alone, this won’t happen!”

“You prefer to see things that way? You want to be ignorant? I’ll tell you one thing Chip: Ignorance is only bliss as long as it lasts. When you find out you need to know everything, it’s too late.”

Behind him Chip could hear another conversation going on. Between two hospital workers this time. They were standing inside a ward with a single bed. From the equipment Chip deduced it was the Intensive Care.

“He’s pretty lucky to be alive. This is the worst weather we’ve had in this in a long time, and he happened to be outside in the rain.” The female doctor opined.

“Well, you how he is. Ever since that girl married his best friend he has been in a major depression. So he left the team, he was no good to them as a nerve wreck. They say his ex didn’t even stop him. Right after that his friend took over command and now this guy feels even more worthless. That’s why he didn’t care about the rain and such.” The nurse explained.

“You learn something new every day. I just hope this one learns something as well. We can’t afford to take him in every week or so.”

Chip looked over to the hospital bed to see himself lying in it. It was quite a scare for him to see himself almost petrified, kept in place by a number of wires. The Chip in the hospital bed stirred for a short moment.

“Mercy…” He could hear himself moan.

“Should you suffer because of his interference? Your sacrifice is not worth it, you get nothing in exchange. Stop him, stop him or he steals away your happiness right from under you!”

He panicked. When he turned around he was again confronted by a vision. This time, it was a court scene, with himself as the accused. Everyone in the room seemed angry with him, even his friends.

“Chip Maplewood, you are sentenced ten years in prison for the murder of D. Oakmont!” The judge declared.

The words echoed through Chip’s head.  In this future he ended up as a killer. He had murdered his long-time friend as an act of revenge. He turned to look at the next part where he was imprisoned in the same cell as the one he had seen Mercy a while back. And somehow, Mercy was locked up with him.

“Isn’t it ironic? The AP system is so throughoutly flawed that they give us the time we need to do some serious talking. And talking is just what we are going to do, right?” The other Chip asked while lifting Mercy off the ground by the collar of her prison uniform.

“You already hurt enough people, leave me alone you freak!”

“Me, hurting people? I caused others no more misery than they inflicted on me. And who are you to talk, miss seduce-others-for-my-own-purposes? You hurt me! And not just physically!”

The Chip on the other side of the bars was confused about what his double was talking about, but only then noticed the Chip in prison had his lower left arm bandaged. He didn’t notice that before because he had still been wearing his bomber jacket, which had longer sleeves that the prison shirts.

“Stop it, your words hurt me.” Mercy pleaded, struggling to escape Chip’s hold.

“And your knife hurt me. It’s your fault I murdered my best friend, it is because you left me!”

“Then you should have killed me and left Dale out of it, you show no respect for love.”

“I don’t kill women, hurting them goes against my old morals. But because I parted with my old self, there is nothing keeping me from taking out my remaining frustration on you. And crying to the warden has no use, you told me he has no time to deal with small things like abuse yourself.” Chip said and threw Mercy on one of the beds in the cell.

He kept her in place with one hand and drew back his fist. The real Chip quickly looked away, he hated this. He’d never hurt Mercy, this was only a nightmare he told himself. But hadn’t his ghost said something about ‘my old self’? He knew the duplicate was referring to him, and he also knew that people can change enormously when something totally changes their live. He hated to admit it, but he knew that this nightmare Chip, this monster, could indeed be how he would be later.

“You must do something about it Chip, this must never happen. You agree with me do you? Or are you really the maniac you see before you, who beats up your girlfriend out of jealousy, out of anger?”

Strangely enough, Chip found himself agreeing with the voice which had been like the devil to him just moments ago.

“There comes a time when you must choose, Chip. Will you choose wisely?”

Again, Chip turned around to face the next preview of his would-be future. He saw a door. Reluctantly, Chip opened it and carefully stepped through it. He was in central park again, it was still night, and close to him was a mouse sleeping with his head under a newspaper. Slowly, Chip lifted the newspaper off the mouse’s head and walked away with it to read it himself. Once he had found a place to read it in private, his eye immediately fell on a headline on the front page.

 

Homicidal Maniac Dies Of Natural Causes

 

After having found the body of Chip Maplewood, the crime fighter turned murderer, an autopsy revealed that the eighty years old chipmunk died of cancer. Chip Maplewood went insane soon after he lost his girlfriend to his best friend, which prompted him to take revenge on them. He was sentenced a prison term of ten years, but through a still unknown cause he was locked in the same cell as his ex girlfriend, the legendary Oakmont widow. Maplewood abused the girl in every way possible, but when a new warden was appointed Mercy Oakmont was pardoned by the governor and the president. After that, she emigrated to Austria, modern day Europe. Maplewood escaped custody and ever since then the city of New York had been in a grip of fear. No one was safe from the new Chip Maplewood, even his parents became one of his many targets. With the Rescue Rangers, a vigilante group Maplewood led before going mad, disbanded crime skyrocketed. Not only Chip, but also various crime lords, made the city a safe haven for thugs and other undesirables. Although the news of Chip’s death is very recent, many people have already spoken their concern that this is a big hoax and that despite the lowered crime rates, New York is still as unsafe as it has always been since the fall of the Rescue Rangers.

 

“No!” Chip managed to whisper.

He would become the bane of New York. The fate of the city was in Dale’s, Mercy’s and his hands. Dale really had to be stopped or he would unleash a terrifying chain of events that would affect the whole city. But was opposing Dale really such a good plan? Or would that lead to the exact same things he was experiencing now? His thinking was rudely interrupted.

“Stop him, there he is! Stop him! You got nowhere to run, we got you completely surrounded. We’re coming to take you away!” A voice enhanced by a megaphone shouted at him, and when he looked up he saw several AP officers who had pointed their weapons at him.

“We’re with only five people sir, and we can’t honestly say we got him completely surrounded.” He could hear another policeman say, but it didn’t matter to Chip.

“I surrender, even though I don’t know what you want from me.”

“You’re Chip Maplewood, we want a lot of things from you. Not least of them being your head on a pike.” The officer replied.

Chip was escorted to a police station, constantly guarded by the five officers who kept their weapons pointed at him as if he could disappear any moment.

 

At the police precinct, he was interrogated by a female squirrel, who was the chief of police.

“So ‘Chipper’, do you still recognize me?” She asked, looking at him angrily.

“Tammy?” He guessed, but then he noticed it wasn’t her “No wait, you’re Binky!”

“Exactly you monster! Finally we meet again. It was a mistake of you to let me live. I joined the AP, knowing that this day would come.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“What happened, what happened? Don’t you even remember anymore? Don’t you remember that it was you who visited our home one day, the home of a fearful family of squirrels? Don’t you remember what you did to my family then?” She snapped at him.

“No, and I don’t want you to explain that to me either. You got the wrong Chip.”

“I always knew this was a hoax. You never died, were laying low. Some Animal CIA guys must have faked everything to make the population feel better. But now the AP can do what those pencil eaters could not accomplish.”

“I ain’t getting through to you, I’m not the one who killed all those innocents. Just look at me, I’m too young to be the Chip that recently died.”

Bink was caught a bit off-guard by that statement, but she already had an answer to his excuse.

“Bilderpavsky’s makeover treatment, it does a body good, doesn’t it? I too got eternal youth with her longevity vaccine. You’re not getting away this time, you’ll pay for what you did to everyone around you!”

She pulled out her gun, pointed it at Chip’s head and pulled the trigger. In a flash of white, everything disappeared.

 

“Where am I, am I dead?”

Chip opened his eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh good, I’m not dead. But still far from safe.”

He was back near the entrance of the fun house.

“It was all a dream. Or was it?”

Doubt was creeping into his mind. Did he really dream all this? Was it truth, or a miserable version of it? Was this a setup from Nimnul? Did he know about his relationship toward Dale? Or was it perhaps a divine warning that bypassed the professor’s machinery? How should he interpret it? Was the funhouse, the fair, Nimnul’s deathtrap for real? Chip had the feeling he still wasn’t awake yet, but instead nervous to the core. Still a bit shakily he got up and left the place. He didn’t look back, and did not see the huge sign over the attraction: Chip & Dale’s Darkest Thoughts.

 

Dale meanwhile had entered the guard shack to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. He did find something worth his attention: a TV that was on.

“Address Unknown continues after the break…” An announcer said before the commercials started.

“Zowie, Chip should watch that series. I know he loves mystery thrillers! Maybe I can get him before the break is over.” Dale decided and turned around to get him.

However he was immediately nose-to-nose with him. And Chip didn’t look pleased.

“Uh, I guess you don’t like it?” Dale deduced from the look Chip gave him.

“Dale, we need to talk about Mercy.” He said, his voice just as stern as his look.

“What’s up with her? You think it’s my fault she’s in jail?”

“Don’t play dumb, I know you’re out to get her. And I won’t let you.”

Dale was quite shocked, he never thought Chip would take this more serious than with Gadget or Clarice. He was used to competing with him for girls and didn’t expect him to try take him out of the competition like this. It made him mad that his friend was getting so overly protective of her.

“So what, what are you gonna do about it? This is a free country, if I want to flirt with her I should be allowed to do that. And what are you worried about, she’s in jail remember?”

“She won’t be there for long. And when she returns, you leave her alone. Or I won’t be held accountable for my actions. If you two get too close, I might kill you.”

“Oh yeah?” Dale challenged, giving Chip an angry look as well.

However, he wasn’t intimidated, but just stared him down.

“Why are you being so selfish, you always try to keep me under control and charm the girl I set my eyes on.”

“Well then you’ll have to put up with that one more time. It’s for your own good.”

“Yeah and that bonking must be for my own good as well. But it’s not like I’m getting any smarter with you doing that!”

“Now don’t be a wimp and be reasonable!”

The two chipmunk’s bickering started to increase in speed. It wouldn’t have taken much longer or they would be fighting if they weren’t interrupted.

“Hey mates, come over here! We found something!” Monterey shouted from a distance.

The two chipmunks stopped their arguing and ran toward the direction of Monty’s voice.

 

It was break time, and Mercy was lying down on a bench, not knowing what to do. When suddenly a rat entered her field of vision, it was Lucy.

“Mind if I sit here?” She asked, and Mercy shook her head “Where you thinking about something, you have something to keep you distracted?”

“Not really, well maybe I was. I was just thinking about my boyfriend, Chip.”

“Oh him, I can’t say I have any pleasant memories of him. He’s our enemy.”

Mercy just rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.” She dismissed the comment.

“But at least you have something to keep you occupied, and to look forward to. And I, the girl who’s tougher, I got nothing like that. It’s ironic, really.”

“I don’t really believe in that hen-pecking system you’re talking about.” Mercy unceremoniously opined.

“Could be, but it’s a fact I beat you. You’re no longer hurting are you?”

“Why did you hug me this morning? It seemed a bit strange.”

“Oh that. Don’t get any ideas about it, I just needed someone to talk to. I’m lonely. I’ve always felt a bit awkward about being in jail, it just feels wrong. I committed a few crimes, but it feels like I’ve been imprisoned because my ideology. Like the Cold War is still going on without the USSR. Do you remember the witch hunts against communists? The president of that time pinned the blame on communists like Nutler did with rats. Even when you weren’t guilty of conspiring against the US, he’d have Feds subject you, your family and friends to what is called a Gestapo interrogation. And then they keep proclaiming this is a free country. As usual, the biggest darkness is right under the candlestick.”

“So we both think we’ve been wrongfully imprisoned.” Mercy concluded.

“That’s it, but I’m not really bothered about it. After all, it’s not like I got two meals a day when I was still free. And what was I supposed to do while free? I don’t have a purpose in life, perhaps I’d be better of as part of the collective. This prison ain’t so bad after you get used to it, and the guards are pushovers.”

“What!?” Mercy blurted out in amazement.

“I once saw one of them take pills after a short riot because his hands where shaking. If you ask me, I could overpower them with ease.”

“Don’t they even have money to train these people? Do they think numbers are everything?”

“Apparently, but you should bear in mind they are armed with shotguns, and are afraid to use them. The same justice system that pays these poor souls also warns them not to use them. I heard one of the guards was charged with attempted murder because he shot a prisoner with his rifle when the inmate threw a temper. This is really the only prison that has to deal with such problems.”

This news got Mercy thinking again. Nobody was safe in this prison, it sounded like the place was one step away from total anarchy. And if the guards couldn’t effectively protect her, she was in danger as well. She had to get out of here, any prison was better than this prison.

 

In a stormy night, the Nutcrackers appeared on a walled estate. The gate to the outside world was closed, there was no way out. In front of them was Nimnul’s assistant Christina. The building behind her was a few stories high and above the entrance hung a sign that read: The Happy Clown Mental Institute.

“Welcome people, to a descend to madness. Come in and see why this is called a nuthouse. The only asylum where the patients are in control. I’m the lead psychiatrist, Christina. Please come in, and you’ll understand what the professor went through.” She announced before disappearing.

“I don’t trust this place at all. And neither do I trust that vixen.” Flora said “Let’s just sit down here and wait until that Nimnul lets us out. Or until someone forces him.”

Fortunately, Ans and Gus where too distracted with their aged daughter to do as Christina told them.

“Are you alright Mandy?” Ans asked concerned and checked her body for injuries.

“Hands off mom, I’m fine.” Mandy protested and pushed Ans’ hands away “I’m glad I’m older, now I can tell you when to buzz off.”

Mandy’s mother was taken aback by that statement, but didn’t get a change to respond.

“Why don’t we find that rat who enlarged me so we can kick his tail, he’s a bad guy anyway.”

After Mandy said that, she proceeded to walk toward the asylum in front of them.

“Young girl, get back here!” Gus ordered, with what little parental authority he had.

When Mandy did not respond to commands, Gus ran after her and grabbed her arm.

“You’re not going in there!” He warned, but it didn’t help.

Mandy just looked at him annoyed before she punched her father in the gut, causing him to let go of her. Steve and Ans immediately rushed over to them and both grabbed one of Mandy’s arm.

“What an uncaring brat you turned out to be! Why did you have to hurt your dad like that?” Ans asked Mandy angrily.

The child just struggled to get loose. But no matter how hard she tried she could not escape. They where suddenly interrupted by a few raindrops that fell out of the sky.

“Oh great, rain.” Ans complained.

“No matter how bad the weather, I’m not going inside that place for shelter.” Flora stated and crossed her arms, her mind made up.

As if the weather gods knew her words, the few drops turned into a cloudburst.

“Flora please, you’ll get sick out here. If something happens to you, our child will get affected to.” Steve reasoned.

“Like I won’t get a heart attack from whatever is in that building. I don’t trade the evil I know for the evil I don’t.”

“I’m not going to endanger my family because of some stupid sanitarium phobia.” Steve proclaimed irritably “You’re coming with me!” He decided and quickly grabbed Flora’s arm, dragging her with him.

Next to the stair that led to the entrance of the mental hospital where two busts of clown heads. The building was clearly a manor from long ago converted into a municipal building. To fit the title of the place a bit more, there where a few statues of clowns scattered across the lawn and circus posters on the doors.

“Clowns, why did it have to be clowns?” Steve complained when he and his family entered the place.

“Don’t be a hypocrite, you know you’re with them.” Flora nastily chimed in but otherwise she didn’t resist her husband, even though it would have been easy for her to make Steve let go of her.

Inside they where in the administration area where visitors where welcomed and checked before they could see one of the guest. A fast and upbeat melody played through the speakers which probably would befit a clown well.

“Good, we’re inside. Where should we go now? How to get out of this hell hole?” Gus asked as he leaned against the counter of the administrator that was not on duty.

A rodent popped up from behind the counter and startled Gus so that he fell down.

“HELLO!” It shouted.

The person was a clown, with a white face, red nose, silly hat and a yellow suit.

“My name is Bozo, what’s your name?”

“You don’t need to shout, I can hear you perfectly from here.” Gus replied and poked his ear.

Bozo the clown jumped over the counter and over Gus and waddled his way toward Mandy, thinking of her as a friend.

“Hi, I’m Bozo the funny clown. Shall we play a game?”

“Shut up and get lost before I make you a sad clown.” She replied and narrowed her eyes.

Everyone looked at the two, a dreadful feeling settling in.

“What, you don’t like clowns?” Bozo said in a lower voice and lifted Mandy by her arm.

The other Nutcrackers looked on as Bozo transformed from a hospital mascot into a doctor. His talking turned into hissing. And the warden’s eyes twirled forebodingly.

“That’s a serious mental disorder. We’re forced to operate…aggressively.”

The happy tune turned into a sinister waltz, and Mandy tried to kick the doctor holding her.

“Let go of her.” Steve warned and hit the doctor on the back of his legs with his cane, causing him to fall down and drop Mandy.

The young girl landed on her feet and kicked the doctor between his legs in revenge. And the doctor’s eyes widened and he placed his hands between his legs.

“Mandy!” Ans scolded and restrained her daughter.

Bozo the hospital warden slowly recovered and got to his feet again.

“Diagnosis: Mad.” He spoke.

Suddenly, everyone heard a click and turned their heads to where Gus was.

The father was on his feet again, and had his gun aimed at the doctor.

“Leave my little girl alone you freak.” He said, and the doctor held up his hands.

Everyone else got out of the way so they wouldn’t get hurt if Gus started shooting.

“Now now, we can talk this through. You wouldn’t kill me right?” The doctor reasoned, sounding very understanding and calm.

“You’re not real, you’re part of the professor’s computer program. I have no objections to killing a lifeless character.”

“You played too many shooting games sir, this is the real world. Guns don’t kill video game people, people kill people.” The doctor slowly approached Gus “Give me the gun, we can talk this through.”

“I’m going to give it to you already…one bullet at a time.” Gus shakily replied and fired twice.

When the bullet hit the doctor he disappeared just like Christina had done a little while back. There was no trace left of the mad doctor and the room filled with happy music again, and everyone was relieved.

 

Philip was sitting dejectedly in his room. After he had been introduced to his other relatives Anne-Mary had brought him to his room and left him there. She hadn’t paid him any more attention after that, he didn’t get the warm welcome other children would have gotten when reunited with their parent. She didn’t even say anything along the lines of her being happy he was back. Philip felt like a trophy that was placed on a shelve never to get any attention from the owner anymore. His place wasn’t that bad, he had everything in his bedroom a child could ask for. But it meant nothing to him without having someone around who could understand him and share his happiness. Without such a person, Philip himself didn’t feel happy. He reasoned that, symbolically speaking, if Moses wouldn’t go to the mountain then he’d bring the mountain to Moses. He took the phone and dialed the number of the Rescue Rangers, which he had memorized on advice from Chip. But he got no reply. After waiting for two minutes Philip gave up, and put down the horn. Reluctantly he left off to explore the Dimedealer apartment. In the living room he found his mother watching TV, a soap opera with ridiculous characters in it. She was sitting down on the sofa with her feet on the table in front of her with a glass of expensive whisky in her hand and a plate of bonbons on the table. She had gotten rid of her exquisite dress and replaced it with a chamber robe.

“Miss…” Philip started uncertainly.

“What’s up Philip, what do you want?” She asked uninterested.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re telling me that with all the things you have you’re bored? What do you expect me to do about it, spoiled brat? Do I have to spend my time playing with you or something similarly pointless?”

“Well when I still lived with Mercy she…” Philip tried to explain, but Anne-Mary cut him short.

“You’re going to get it now Philip, how stupid can you get? I told you not to mention her name again.” His mother threatened and got up.

Philip thought it better to run lest he’d find out what his mother would do to him for mentioning her eldest daughter. Like a flash of lightning he ran out of the living room and through the hall. Suddenly someone grabbed his collar. At first Philip feared it was his mother who miraculously managed to catch up. But the voice that belonged to the person who caught him was certainly not Anne-Mary.

“Quiet brother, get in here.” A girl ordered him and pulled him inside a room.

She closed the door behind him and led him to the bed in her room. She quickly hid Philip under the sheets and laid next to him. She quickly grabbed a magazine and did like she was reading it. Shortly after that the door opened again and it was Anne-Mary in the doorway.

“Did you see Philip anywhere Wendy, did he come into here?” She asked, trying to sound calmer than she was.

“Mom! I-eh-I’m embarrassed. Can’t I have a private moment anymore?” The girl protested, acting like she was shocked to see her mother.

Mother Dimedealer approached her daughter’s bed and took the magazine she was reading.

“What’s this? Let me see.” She said and looked through the thing a bit “You actually read this trash!?”

“Eh, no! This is a picture magazine, there isn’t much text in it.” Wendy pointed out while blushing brightly.

“You’re unprintable Wendy, one of these days you’ll be an outcast as well.”

Anne-Mary shook her head and dropped the magazine on the bed and left. Wendy breathed a sigh of relief, but her relief faded when she saw Philip’s arm reach for the magazine. The boy snatched the magazine out from under her eyes and started looking it through as well.

“Give that back! It’s not yours.” She scolded and grabbed the magazine out if Philip’s hands.

“Did you say something?” Anne-Mary asked from outside the room.

“Nothing, just commenting on an agony aunt column.” Wendy lied and gave Philip an angry look.

“You’re lucky she didn’t investigate or else I’d be in serious trouble for sharing a bed with you, a young kid.” Wendy whispered angrily at Philip.

“Where did you get that magazine?” He asked curiously.

“I got it from a friend, if you want to know.” Wendy retorted, starting to get annoyed with Philip.

“Then why is your name on the sticker on the cover?”

Wendy resisted the urge to strangle her brother, and reluctantly admitted.

“Okay, I’m a registered reader. Yes, I’m a naughty pervert. Yes, I tried to hide that fact from my parents. And yes, my mother is going have me unsubscribed.”

“I hope I didn’t cause you any trouble.” Philip said apologetically.

“It’s really silly that you hope that, I’m most definitely in trouble.” She assured him and got out of bed.

This was the first moment Philip actually got to see her completely. His sister had blond hair, blue eyes, wearing a light blue dress. Philip could see only a few similarities between her and Mercy in terms of physical appearance, like their figure. In character they didn’t look a thing like each other.

“So would you tell me what Mercy is like? Is she like me?” Wendy asked as she started brushing her hair in front of a mirror.

“You’ve known her for a long time, probably longer than me so why do you ask?”

“I haven’t seen her in years! Well, excluding that short moment some time ago but my mother came along and separated us. But you’ve lived with her for a period, you ought to know what she’s like.”

“That’s right. But Mercy is really…unique in personality.” Philip started hesitantly.

“That’s to say she doesn’t do things by the book. Even in this secluded surrounding I’ve learned that much.” Wendy added and smiled smugly.

“It’s kind of the reason she’s imprisoned. So I prefer not to talk about her now. Perhaps, It’s better I’m not with her anymore. Her shameless and unorthodox methods are sometimes worth a laugh, but get people in trouble. She was a bad role model, and I looked toward her as my real mother.”

“Listen Philip” Wendy started while she sat down next to her brother and put an arm around him “You can spend your entire life trying to win your parent’s acceptance. But in the end you got to do it for yourself kiddo.”

“What’s your point?” He asked and sniffed.

“Anne-Mary and Mercy are not role models. They came from a poor families, and where destined to remain poor. And poverty breeds criminality. Don’t think my mother never committed something that was wrong, that’s wishful thinking. She bullied us around, me especially. Is that a moral that’s enforced by the middle class and rich in this country? Your way of thinking does not fit in with the likes of us. We’re all scum deep down. My mother’s entire family. But you are different, and so you don’t understand the rules. There’s a hidden culture for the rich and the poor in any country. Mercy, as I heard, was among good people and that would rub off on her. In time she would become how you are. But if she’s among people who are off worse than her that will have a ‘negative’ effect as you’d call it.”

“You mean she’s in a downward spiral while she’s among criminals?” Philip guessed

“Exactly, the longer she’s imprisoned the more it’ll ruin her future. Because, what is it she’s accused of?”

“Mainly some charges of physical violence. And her possessing of a fighting knife and some other things.”

“That hardly sounds like something for which you’d have to do time. At least to me it doesn’t. If you ask me there’s something that pushed the court in mom’s arm. Like force, influence or money.”

“Don’t you think Mercy was wrong herself? She beats up princes and golf instructors that get under her skin. I thought as long as no one objected her behavior was accepted, but apparently it was all a bit too much.”

“Hey, my golf instructor always makes me uncomfortable! I wouldn’t have any second thoughts about giving him a jab in the workshop, the hobby attic, the manufacturing bay. What this world needs is a bit of innocent mischief. But I’m supposed to act as this daughter-to-the-president type of girl all the time and I don’t want that!” Wendy opined bluntly, unhappy about the changes in her life “At school the other kids don’t take me serious because of my parents. Do you know how annoying it is to be mocked by others because of some stepfather you never wanted? My social life was much better without him, now I can’t even get a boy to like me. Instead I have to revert to more reclusive means to lead a social life. It’s not always good when you’re rich, so that’s why I look up to Mercy and actually envy her. She had all the freedom I never had, she avoided this sluggish, spoiled life. Putting her in jail is only a waste of her time, she really doesn’t have to change.”

“But it’s still a hard blow for Mercy. She can’t live a decent life anymore because of her record.” Philip argued.

“Oh, don’t be a fool.” Wendy dismissed “Do you think the world only remembers her crimes? People know she gained Maplewood’s trust, and everyone knows you need a whole lot more than just a pretty face and figure to get that. Everybody heard about her position in the mob mop-up, how she abandoned crime and turned on those gangsters. People are beginning to doubt her guilt and she’s close to being a legendary figure. Of course no one would admit that in the presence of my mom.”

 

On the edge of dark and mysterious jungle, three people appeared. All three dressed in a military uniform with a M16 in their hands.

“Where’s King Louie? Isn’t this his turf?” Clarice asked when she noticed the top of an ancient temple in the sky.

“This is the land of a fellow Khan missy.” Minerva corrected her while fiddling with her rifle “What? Why did I get the most worthless piece of machinery ever called a ‘weapon’?”

“We could better use a jungle patrol here ladies.” Alex opined, but the first comment from Benita on arrival shattered his hopes.

“People, you are the jungle patrol. Welcome to my Southeast Asian jungle. It’s a perfect recreation of a rainforest in Vietnam. You’re gonna teach those commies a lesson!”

“Oh, that explains the hollow feeling I have.” Alex said as optimistic as he could manage “I’m about to actually see combat! With tricky militaristic guerillas no less!”

“Because this is one of the wars the USA never won I reckoned it would be an excellent campaign to get my rookies some experience under their belts.”

“Training? You see this as mere training!? My mother lost a large number of friends in this forsaken country. This is a horrifying experience!” Clarice objected, Minerva following her example.

“This is so wrong!” She said, to which her new friends agreed “I am on the wrong side! The NLF are our allies! Do you expect me to shoot at the comrades of China?” She blurted and dropped her rifle, this time Alex and Clarice did not agree with Minerva.

Benita produced a socom  pistol from behind her back and aimed it at the white mouse in front of her, so the targeting laser highlighted her forehead.

“Warning: deserters will be shot.” Benita stated coldly and forcefully.

Staring down the barrel of a gun was clearly too much for even the mad mousette, as she shut up immediately and started to transpire. Even after the military girl would disappear it took Minerva some time to recover her attitude.

“Your mission objectives are as following: The ruins to your northwest are a hideaway for Vietcong fighters, and beyond those ruins lie several supply caches, enemy villages and attack routes. You must clear those ruins and eliminate everything beyond them of military value.”

“Having studied war I must add the VC even use trees and bamboo to further their goals.” Alexander interrupted.

“We don’t have time or the resources to deforest this area. So just leave the plant life alone, but be prepared to deal with tunnels, these backstabbers use them to full extent. Also, don’t get caught off-guard by booby traps, or you’ll be going home without your some body parts. Courage boy and girls, and show those reds what you’re made of.” Benita wished and faded away.

“What the heck is going on here? Why am I put through all this by that Norton guy, what does he have against me?” Clarice thundered.

“How should I know that? All I care about is getting out of this deathtrap.” Alexander retorted “And just how did you get captured?”

“Well all I can remember is that I was going to visit the Rescue Rangers and I got as far as the park where they live. All after that is blank, I have no recollection of anything after that. I got pretty close to the oak tree, but I don’t recall anything out of the ordinary.” She related.

“Then you where most likely knocked out by one of that madman’s cohorts who was going to abduct the Rangers. But that brings up the question how only a few henchmen managed to transport eight people from the park to wherever this Nimnul set up his lair.” Alex theorized thoughtfully.

“Are you two going to talk all day long? I want to see action.” Minerva chimed in, a bored expression on her face.

“But who’s going to lead us? The things I heard about this war weren’t very nice. No doubt this jungle is full of booby traps.” Clarice interjected.

“Since I got the most military experience I’ll lead. Minerva, you should be familiar with traps and jungles so you’ll be our pointmouse. And be careful, we could be ambushed any moment in this place.”

Still amazed and frightened by the realism of Nimnul’s jungle, the three rodents slowly moved through the jungle. Around them, they could hear apes taunting them with their cries and birds chirping merrily, too merrily.

The vegetation was blocking their view, making them easy prey to guerillas. Minerva suddenly halted and explained.

“I see something, it is a bunker. It is facing a road, we should sneak up on its occupants.”

“Yeah, I can see it to.” Alexander confirmed.

“How you two can see anything is beyond me. I’ll be seeing green long after this is over.” Clarice lamented and followed.

“I will go inside and deal with the guards.” Minerva whispered when they where closer.

“I actually pity those Vietnamese. She pulled something really nasty on that cat.” Clarice commented to Alex.

“What if they’re not even Vietcong? They could be US or ARVN.” He replied grimly.

“Then I have a reason to be concerned.”

Minerva returned soon, looking very worried.

“They’re all dead already!”

“There’s still hope, she’s looking quite pale. Not something a real killer would show.” Clarice thought to herself, relieved “Maybe she is a good person after all.”

“Four NVA KIA.” She reported “My sympathies to the families of these brave fighters.”

“Strike that, she’s with them.” Clarice added to her train of thought, then asked “What happened to your weapon?”

“Exchanged it for an AK-47, it is so much better to kill with this Kalashnikov. Also swapped that Colt for a Tokarev, it just feels better.” Minerva explained while she reloaded the rifle.

Clarice looked at her angrily, she just hated it how cold this mouse was about all of this. Alexander apparently noticed, because he felt the need to defend Minerva.

“Actually she is right. The AK-47 is many times more reliable than this M16. It doesn’t jam so easily and even in the worst weather conditions it will keep functioning. Also, it is much easier to get ammo for it in this place.” He explained and entered the bunker to take some supplies.

 

Back in the loony bin, Ans had taken her overgrown daughter aside for a small talk.

“Just what where you thinking!?” She demanded to know threateningly.

“What and when was I supposed to be thinking mom?” She retorted, not in the mood to have this kind of conversation with her mother.

“Well for starters, what possessed you when you selected that outfit? Just look at you! Why are you wearing shoes? Not to mention socks.”

“‘Cause I like them, alright?”

“It just gets in the way when you’re climbing. Are you planning to pull yourself up a tree with your bare hands?” Ans pointed out while pointing at Mandy.

“Hey, we’re city animals! We don’t need to climb. And as for climbing with two hands, I’d prefer I’d be strong enough to lift my own weight. And humans can climb when wearing sneakers, so why can’t we rodents?”

It was pretty clear to Ans she wasn’t going to convince her daughter easily to see things her way.

“There are only a few animals who wear footwear, and they have their natural abilities impaired. You think you can run on all-fours this way?”

Mandy rolled her eyes and replied.

“Why are you so bothered with me wearing them? Is this some sort of taboo that rodents can’t wear shoes?”

“That wouldn’t be to far from the truth. You look like a show off, most animals consider footwear clumsy. And many mothers complain when they lose socks in the washing machine, and I’m about to be one of them. Even your brother never took to wearing such a senseless invention.”

“NO! It is not senseless, it’s cool!” Mandy protested and stomped her foot on the floor furiously, causing her jeans to fall down to her ankles.

“And that’s another thing, those trousers that are too wide. Just one wrong move and you’ll embarrass yourself in public.”

“I do not! It’s better to be cool than embarrassed. They’ll shrink in the washing machine, and I can always rely on fur to cover me.” She reasoned and hoisted up her pants.

“Still, no daughter of mine will go outside looking like some street thug.”

“Like I ever wanted to be your daughter.”

This discussion wasn’t very good to Ans’ blood pressure. And she was starting to see Mandy more like an unmannered tramp rather than her daughter. Just in time, someone intervened before the mother would do some serious physical injury to her child.

“I don’t know what is being discussed here but I don’t like the tone you two are giving each other.” Gus interrupted “You’d better let me do the talking Mandy.” He shoved this kid away, and she was glad to leave.

Once she was out of earshot, Gus continued the discussion.

“Just what was this about? She’s been acting nasty to you again?”

“You know how she is. I try to teach her something about decent dressing and she suddenly gets all defensive.” Ans explained quite annoyed.

“If I know you, you let yourself get too involved and started to exaggerate. She speaks from a child’s perspective, wearing clothes that are considered ‘cool’ equals a good reputation. She doesn’t realize she does not have to humiliate herself if she does not want to, she thinks she’s popular that way. Of course she also doesn’t know other kids will laugh at her.” Gus reasoned, then blushed sheepishly “And I already know her pants are wide.”

“Okay, maybe I did get carried away. But why does that always happen to me? I couldn’t keep my mouth shut either with Steve back then.” Ans’ shoulder slumped and confusion was starting to trickle in.

Fortunately, her husband had more therapy in store for her.

“It is not uncommon for you to be afraid and to feel helpless. Many people, including mothers like you, experience something in their life that changes them for good. And as for you, you’re being kept away from your fatherland and childhood memories by climbing air fees. You lost a sister in some pointless conflict and your son when he was just a young lad. You then became overly defensive on Steve and now the confusion of Simon’s death finally caught up on you. As a result you look for Mandy as an outlet. Not appropriate, but understandable. Perhaps, you are protecting her from influences that could destroy her childhood. I do admit that for a five-year old she thinks like a teenager. Perhaps that bolt Numnil hit her with has effects we are not aware of.”

“Perhaps she is indeed a demon spawn.” Ans coined as an alternative, one that Gus didn’t buy.

“Puh-lease, not that again. Mandy’s fine, she might just have a mean streak in her but that’s possible. Don’t let your first impressions be so narrow and definite. Give her some time to adapt to the life of a kid, after all she never had a chance to adapt to life as a toddler.”

After they finished their conversation Gus and Ans joined their offspring again. Mandy kept looking at Ans sourly, and Flora somewhat depressed. Steve was the first to speak again.

“Would nobody object if we proceeded? The sooner we get out the better.” He suggested and when nobody objected he took the lead.

“Well I would object, but know it’s a lost battle.” Flora added a little late, a bit woozy from her surrounding.

They didn’t get far, a white bat with green eyes dressed in a purple suit approached them, who had a nasty smile glued to his face.

“Visitors! Welcome, my name is Dr. Arkham. My boss informed me about your arrival, so I will give you a tour of this facility. If you’d follow me.” The bat invited with a gesture of his wing.

The five Nutcrackers looked at each other a bit confused, but felt compelled to comply.

“We are currently in the administration wing. Here we handle all visits, file all patients coming in and going out, order medication, that stuff. We’re now headed for the treatment wing, where we talk to our patients, have check-ups, do surgery and other things. The man in charge is our psychiatrist dr. Schadenfruede, and this is where he works.” The psychiatrist knocked on the first door to his left and opened it.

The five Nutcrackers followed, and saw another bat who wore a coat and who was busy with some pills. The room had a desk, medicine cabinet and screen in it. A few posters of animal bodies’ insides and brain analyses lined the wall, as well as a few enlarged photos of Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein, probably his role models. He put down his medicine to turn his attention to the visitors.

“Sorry to disturb you, but the boss’ new friends have arrived. How are things at the prison you work in?” Arkham started.

“We have another one who thinks she is a hero or something. An albino bunny who claims she single handedly slayed a group of crusaders.”

“Strange. Anyway, these are the Nutcrackers, quite ironic don’t you think? And as you know by now this bat is doctor Schadenfruede. He’s an authority on sociology, psychiatry and criminology, but he tends to stick close to the ‘not-so-normal’ people in the padded rooms.”

“Is that interesting? Studying other people’s brains?” Flora asked, being the first to move closer to the doctor.

“The animal mind is one of the most fascinating things on this earth.” The doctor stated resolutely, then scanned the chipmunk femme who asked him the question “Of course the animal body is very interesting to.” He added with a sheepish smile and made another scan of her “Why can’t I print her to hang above my bed? Why are we inferior to machines?” He wondered to himself, then noticed something to which he had to comment “Sex: girl. Age: approximately three months. Species: chipmunk.”

“What is that about?” Arkham wondered inquiringly.

“I see unborn people.” Schadenfruede whispered, in a frequency that chipmunks could not hear.

“O-kay, we’ll be on our way then. Now don’t you confuse any others as well.” The other bat warned him and shoved the five outside “Or make body scans of attractive young women for that matter.” He added on another frequency.

“Yah, auf wiedersehen!” Schadenfruede called after his colleague.

“Good doctor, but his work at prisons made him somewhat dense and alone.” Arkham informed the chipmunks and led them through the building “Our next stop: the loony lockup. In this wing we keep the psychos and maniacs in their rubber rooms. We also have space for the non-violent types, but we’ll leave those in peace.”

Arkham slid a card through a barred door, a buzzer sounded and the door slid open. Beyond it was a hall with heavy doors, screams of agony and madness echoed from several of the rooms. The doctor walked over to one of the doors and looked inside before poking his finger between the bars that allowed him to view the patient. He then pulled his hand back and stuck out his tongue at the person inside.

“Rraaargh you anger me, you will pay dearly!” The one inside the cell shouted.

“Sure, but until then I’ll keep poking fun at you.” Arkham promised amusedly.

“Argh watch yer back, you will feel my bite!”

“That’s a raccoon who learned a thing or two from Hannibal Lector.” Arkham clarified.

Steve looked through one of the cell doors as well, but found out the cell was empty. Out from beneath suddenly the occupants jumped up, scaring the chipmunk nightclub owner. The brown, strange creature then proceeded to shout at him, saliva spraying out of his mouth.

“That’s a strange case from Tasmania. He just keeps spinning around and speaks an unknown language. What we do know from him is that he raids restaurants where they serve chicken.” Arkham explained and then motioned the Nutcracker to exit “We’ll get going again, toodless!” He said to the raccoon.

“Is there no one who will rid me of your irritating presence!?” It screamed and looked meanly at the Nutcrackers that passed by.

“The last section of the building is where we treat some serious disorders. We still have a working shock therapy room, diagnosis equipment and our staff rooms.”

Mandy turned toward her father and whispered.

“Are you sure you took care of Bozo properly? I still have a bad feeling as if he is going to come back to harass me.”

Naturally doctor Arkham, being a bat, picked up what she had said. He turned around to face the young child.

“What do you mean? Bozo is just a mascot, nothing more than paper and ink.”

“My daddy shot him dead when he attacked me.” She retold.

“Don’t mind her, she’s a kid. She still has an overactive imagination.” Steve covered up, realizing this was not a good situation they where in.

Doctor Arkham walked over to a nurse and stopped her. He kept his voice down so his guests couldn’t hear their conversation.

“Better get a few rooms ready, it seems we where send patients instead of people who wanted a tour.”

He then returned to the five to explain.

“I’m sorry but I think we have to bring you back to the lockup. I’m afraid I doubt your sanity people.”

“What are you talking about? Just because she is a child doesn’t mean she is crazy or something?” Steve countered.

“People, it would be better if you simply cooperate and not make any problems.” He advised seriously and reached inside his coat.

In an instant Gus grabbed his Desert Eagle and aimed it at Dr. Arkham.

“Drop your weapon.” He ordered.

Arkham didn’t, he also pulled out a handgun. Before Gus could react he was shot in his right shoulder, causing him to drop his weapon.

“Hospital security, freeze!” They heard and could see two guards on both sides, trapping them against the wall.

“Tssk tssk tssk! Didn’t the boss warn you this was the only asylum where the patients are in control?” The bat psychopathic psychiatrist reeducated them.

“We did nothing wrong! Mandy’s just a kid, there’s no reason to have her locked up!” Steve protested outraged.

This only caused Arkham to raise his weapon again, this time pointing it at Steve’s head. Without any emotion on his face, the bat pulled the trigger.

 

Chip and Dale arrived in a small storage room where they found Monterey, Zipper and Geegaw, along with what looked like a space rocket. The spacecraft was certainly made by Gadget, put together with firework, fans and metal.

“Ah, hello guys!” Gadget greeted them as she exited her newest creation from a door close to a scaffold.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Chip wanted to know, surprised and intimidated by the large thing.

“I was just thinking: If this SVR is so real and vast, would that mean we could try to find our friends back and escape together? To test how much freedom we have in movement, I went to the extreme and considered making a voyage through space. To see if we are on earth in a parallel universe. If this rocket works with no problems and our explorations bears positive results, we can start our looking for the others, assuming we aren’t put in separate universes.”

“You don’t mind if I don’t go with ya Gadget love? I’m still a bit nauseous from the last time we traveled among the stars.” Monty excused himself.

“Golly, but I need someone with enough stomach to make this voyage.” She hopefully replied, but it didn’t convince Jack.

“Hey, ye can hurt someone’s feelings by phrasing it like that!” Monty replied offended.

“Why don’t you ask your father?” Chip quickly suggested while he and Dale pushed Geegaw forward, hoping it would keep Gadget from remembering they had an astronaut training long ago.

“Hold it chipmunk! I’m an aviator, not Yuri Catgarin. What makes you think I have the skills to fly that spaceship?” Geegaw protested fiercely, picking up Chip and placing him in front of him, closer to the dangerous machine.

“Dad, all I need from you is to assist me with small things like confirming we are on earth. Well, not actually on earth because we’ll be in space. But right now we are on earth so maybe I should phrase it that way. Anyway I’ll be on the controls so I only need you when things get dangerous.”

Gadget didn’t know even her father would think he’d be used as a floatation device or airbag when things got dangerous.

“Have a little faith in your own daughter. We have tested many of her inventions and we are still fine.” Chip urged him on, and was relieved when the father recollected himself.

“You’re totally right.” Geegaw perked up, forcing the words up his throat “Gadget is a great engineer and all her inventions are perfect. From lawnmowers to space rockets.”

The mouse quickly strode over to the entrance of the rocket. Gadget entered and before Geegaw did he turned around to the other Rangers and waved.

“Farewell guys, farewell!”

“Farewell mate!” Monty shouted back while waving as well, but frowned when he realized what his longtime friend had just said “Farewell!?”

“Okay dad, sit down and strap yourself in” Gadget instructed when Geegaw climbed up to lay down in the copilots chair.

“How did you build this thing anyway?” He asked, hoping the thing was actually space worthy.

“I build it out of a trash can and added many components so it should be functional during takeoff and in space. The boosters are a welder and firework rockets and I made a few rotors out of fans.” She explained and put her hand on a lever between them “If you’re ready I’ll activate the rotors for takeoff.”

“Well I’m not ready, but go ahead anyway.”

“Alright, we’re off.” Gadget announced and pulled the lever.

As planned, the five rotors outside started spinning. The four remaining Rangers had taken their distance and were watching the thing lift off the ground when suddenly a realization struck Monty.

“Wait a bloomin’ minute, how’s she going to takeoff when there’s a roof over this shack?”

His question was answered when the main rotor on top cut through the roof and created a large hole in the ceiling. Slowly the entire ship disappeared through that hole.

“Ya know, I always thought Gadget was a bit crazy.” Monty commented when the space rocket was gone.

Zipper buzzed a question in reply, which Monty quickly answered.

“Now I think I’ve been right all along.”

Inside the rocket, Geegaw was clutching his seat, his knuckles turning white.

“I’m going to initiate the first booster, there might be a bit of a jolt.” Gadget warned as she pulled another lever.

“Right, just a small jolt.” Geegaw repeated, trying to reassure himself.

Instead of a small jerk, the rocket shot upwards into the sky.

“Gosh, I thought I made an error when calculating the speed of this machine. But now we’ll be outside the atmosphere quicker.” Gadget with a hint of pride “What do you think, dad?” She inquired and turned to Geegaw.

The mouse aviator had fainted, unable to deal with the excitement and the sense of dread plaguing him.

“Must have fallen asleep. I thought space travel would have made him more enthusiastic.” She commented disappointed.

When Geegaw awoke, he almost passed out again when he saw his daughter floating above him. Just in time he remembered what they were doing and concluded they successfully entered space.

“Good, you’re awake dad. Get out of your chair, this is great fun!” She encouraged him and removed his safety belts, then launched herself away.

“Good grief, this is not like I had imagined.” He commented annoyed as he tumbled about “Just let me try and find my bearing, I can’t figure out what is up and what is down.”

“Actually there is no up or down here, there is no gravity to decide that. But despite that it’s really fascinating! I’ve only been in zero gravity one time before this, but didn’t get the chance to enjoy it.” She stated.

“Right, but how about we do what we came here to do?”

“Sure, come over here.” Gadget agreed and they moved toward a viewing port from which they could see the earth.

“I can see Europe from here, but not much else.” Geegaw revealed.

“That is because we are actually still pretty close to earth. But even from here it looks fantastic. Those astronauts sure weren’t kidding when they claimed it was the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen.” Gadget opined, looking at the globe with great fascination.

“Well I hope it’ll remain beautiful no matter from where you look at it.”

“You think the world is so polluted that it’ll lose all it’s scenic sites if nothing changes soon?”

“Yes, it’s already bad enough those industrial pigs bother us with their presence but they shouldn’t make the world even dirtier.”

The two rodent’s moment of serenity was broken when the entire ship shook violently.

“W-what was that?” Geegaw panicked.

“I think we crashed into something, I’ll see if I can get this ship away and back into the atmosphere.” Gadget revealed and launched herself off to the controls of the ship. She quickly strapped herself in and initiated the boosters. Geegaw swam over to the opposite port to see what they had hit.

“We crashed into a satellite? I sure hope this is a parallel universe or I’ll miss “The longest day” tonight.”

 

“Blasted vermin!” Nimnul cursed, sitting behind a monitor to monitor the Ranger’s movements “This is a very delicate program, a disruption like that could shut off the SVR!”

The professor typed some command and watched the results with displeasure.

“There you have it! Group three joined the vermin! Now I have to rearrange the scenarios.” Nimnul ranted and continued “Argh, group four has been teamed up with group two! I hope I can correct all that.”

 

“How did you talk me into this!? Remind me what the heck I’m doing here!” Geegaw shouted over the noise of the boosters.

“You’re with me in case things go wrong.” Gadget answered, paying little attention to the nerve wreck next to her and focusing on the storm they were in.

“So things are still fine now? Do I want to know what you call a real disaster?” He asked enraged.

Only now Gadget became remotely aware of her father’s concern, so she decided to reassure him.

“We’ll be fine dad, this ship has a booster rocket.” She said and pulled a lever, but looked surprised when nothing happened “Strange, that welder was only half full when I added it to the ship.”

Geegaw screamed when he saw a church not far in front of them through the darkness. Gadget pulled the lever again and this time a flame ignited from beneath the ship. A strong gust of wind positioned the lower part of the ship against the church bell tower so the booster pushed the ship up vertically, burning most of the foliage that had grown on the wall of the church.

“Wahoo, don’t you get that funny feeling in your stomach when moving up and down like this, dad?” Gadget wanted to know and she kept toying with the booster rocket.

Geegaw did have feelings in his stomach, but none of them as pleasant as Gadget’s face. As the spaceship moved erratically in the storm, it was struck by lightning and disappeared from the sky.

 

“How long do you think it’ll take them to finish?” Chip wondered and scratched his head.

“Maybe they’ll be gone for years! Maybe they decide to explore the galaxy and crash on some remote planet where there are nasty critters hiding in the dark. And they just happen to arrive on a day when all the suns around the planet are blocked, creating a complete eclipse, awaking the monster hiding in the caves which will come out and will have free reign all over the planet and set out to kill any unfortunate adventurers that have landed on their planet.” Dale suggested, and was quickly bonked by Chip for it.

“I don’t think they’d have enough fuel fer such a trip. But yet I doubt it they’ll come crashing in in a few minutes.” Monty opined.

Just then, the spaceship Geegaw and Gadget traveled in came crashing into the shed with a lot of sound. The three males coughed as a cloud of dust covered them. Dale was the first to recover and stood triumphantly.

“That would have been my second guess.” He stated.

Chip bonked him again before he cleaned the dirt off his hat and jacket. The door of the rocket opened and Geegaw climbed out quickly. Once on solid ground he fell to his knees and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Now I understand why the pope kisses the ground whenever he lands in a foreign country.” He spoke and then turned to his daughter who had just climbed down as well “That was the most reckless, dangerous and nausea inducing flight in the history of spaceflight. This is the last time I went into space with you! And next time don’t ask me to test your invention ‘cause even your puppy dog eyes will not make me forget this day!” He scolded her harshly and stormed off “I bet she’d use dynamite next to get us into the air.” He muttered darkly as he passed Monty.

“Actually, she already did mate.” The Aussie added, wondering what he should think of this.

 

“So you’s delivered Pjotr’s shipment?” Rat Capone asked a flunky who led him to the storage room.

“Yah Rat. We got the finest items in our accessory. You’ll be pleased, we know that.” A short, accented mouse acknowledged.

“I don’t want to be the party pooper, but…” Rat pointed at the crates in the store room “I’s did not order winter clothes and drinks.”

“Don’t be fooled by the pictures on the crates, we have the right stuff.” The mouse assured him and lifted the cover from one of the crates so Rat could look inside.

Rat’s skeptical expression turned into a smile when he saw the contents, a smile he reserved for a successful deal. He took one of the items from the crates, an AK-47.

“See Ratsky, we are true to our word.” A female rat added who joined Capone’s side.

She put her arm around the mobster boss, who did the same as he put the weapon back in the crate.

“Gotta admit, that father of you’s is more honest than I am, Olga.”

Olga was the daughter of an important mafia under boss. This Russian crime syndicate had agreed to send Rat Capone weapons in exchange for whisky and other trivial goods. To seal the agreement, they had insisted that Rat would marry the daughter of one of their made men. Because that woman was beautiful, Rat didn’t protest for a minute. He had made sure she got plenty of jewelry from him, and the most expensive dress and hat from a Hungarian tailor.

“I trust you will dispatch the supplies we asked for soon. The other crates contain Dragunovs. And we added some old Simonovs and Pepeshkas to make sure you do not forget we are the best people you can deal with.” The hoodlum explained.

“Tell Pjotr, I’ll put these things to good use. And that he was too kind for letting me marry his godchild.”

 

Two chipmunk children entered the storage room of Rat Capone, which was located at the back of his new speakeasy. One of them was boy wearing a vertically striped white/light blue baseball shirt, cap and pants. The other was a girl with long blond hair done in a ponytail wearing a pink beret, matching vest and skirt, white undershirt and tights and black shoes.

“Elwood what are you doing here? This is Capone’s territory!” The girl hissed and followed him.

They hid between a few stacks of crates and spied on the aging gangster rat and his bodyguards, wife and a number of goons.

“You should have stayed with us! Not taken a ride on his truck!” She insisted and grabbed his wrist.

The boy wrestled himself free before answering.

“That mobster threatens this whole city! And you know what happened to our father because of him!” He replied accusingly, pointing at Capone.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here. Are you here to take revenge?” She guessed skeptically.

“Correctly.” The youth replied, lifted the cover of a nearby crate and pulled out an AK-47.

Rat was too busy with his illegal weaponry to notice the children, and so where his accomplices.

“Hey Rat!” He suddenly heard behind him.

He turned around to see a young kid holding a machine gun much larger than the infant himself.

“You’d better hurry and say your prayers because in a moment you won’t be saying anything!” Elwood threatened, catching the assembled gangsters by surprise.

Elwood aimed, and slowly pulled the trigger. In a matter of milliseconds the girl next to him was plagued with memories, inner conflicts, moral issues and what-if scenarios. True, Capone had sent the hit-rats after her dad. He was responsible for all the extortion, gambling, counterfeiting, murdering and corruption that had washed over the city like a flood. And was undeniably involved with Mafia organizations from Italy, Russia and Turkey. But was it worth killing him over this? The moment her brother pulled the trigger Capone’s thugs had no reason to hold their fire anymore, and the two of them would die. She would die, and all because she though it necessary to protect her impulsive brother. Deciding she had no time to think, but had to do whatever came into her mind first to avoid this bloodshed. She jumped forward and pushed the AK-47 in her brother’s hands away, causing his shots to miss. She then jerked the weapon out of his hands and threw it away. All of the hoodlums immediately produced their own weapons from where they had hid them and targeted the two chipmunks.

“Natalie what are you doing!?” Elwood shouted at his sister “I almost had him! I could have killed him!”

“Just be thankful I didn’t let that happen. You maniac, you’d get us killed!”

“Hey, you two get over here, now!” Rat Capone commanded, pointing his own Thompson at the couple.

Hesitantly they did, and with all those guns pointed at them they knew better than to run.

“Mister Capone, please don’t hurt us.” Natalie begged him “Let us go, we’re so young.”

Usually the sight of a little girl begging for her life to spared would unleash a lot of emotions with people. But Rat Capone just wasn’t someone who let his feelings guide him.

“What do you think Ratsky? She’s still a child. It would be cruel to murder her.” Olga reasoned, trying to charm the idea out of his head.

“You’re right on that.” Capone admitted honestly “But on the other hand they wanted to kill ME! AND they discovered something better kept secret to the outside world.” He countered angrily.

“You killed my daddy! It would have been better if I did kill you.” Elwood stubbornly pointed out, glaring at his sister, who gave him an apologetic look in return.

“I killed your dad? Oh yes, I did, Ha ha ha ha ha!” Capone laughed before becoming dead serious “Just like your daddy before you, you’s will die! Oh but don’t worry you’s two! I’ll get ya a special place on the Capone cemetery, the place all my victims are buried. And I’ll get you two a pretty unmarked gravestone. Would you prefer a cross or something else?” The rat joked before getting serious again “Turn around kids, turn around and walk, slowly.”

They did as they where ordered. The numerous henchanimals watched without blinking, waiting in suspense. Olga was silently praying her husband was indeed letting them leave. For a moment Natalie thought Capone was lenient on them, and was letting them go off with a warning. That hope proved to be misplaced when the godfather fired anyway, emptying a whole drum of bullets on two children. Olga shrieked in horror at the scene, barely audible over the sound of the Tommy gun. She covered her eyes to block out the grizzly child murder, crying like mad.

“Get the cleaners to mop up this mess and dispose of the bodies.” Capone ordered nonchalantly as he rested the Tommy gun on his shoulder and pointed at the scene with his thumb, walking off to the exit.

While Capone and all his minions left, Olga remained and cried. She was truly sickened by what had transpired, she never expected this from the man she came to accept as her loving husband. Although she was a respectable Orthodox Russian, she was going to ask for divorce. She would return to her father and tell uncle Pjotr about this, she knew he’d never trade with a child killer. She would tell the police about this, tell them everything about Capone. But first and foremost, she’d give these children a proper burial herself. She shakily made her way over to the twins her husband had brutalized. Whilst checking the girl’s clothes for any possessions she discovered an identity card, which she probably received from her guardian in case she got lost or in trouble. She looked it over to see the name of the child was Natalie Nutcracker, and her mother Flora Nutcracker/Firalda.

 

Steve woke up with a start. He sat upright with sweat gushing down his forehead, back and chest. He banged his head against something. And the distinctive yelp of pain he heard was definitely from his wife.

“About time, we’ve been trying for half an hour to wake you.” She commented while nursing her chin.

“I had a terrible nightmare!” He proclaimed in panic.

“And I’m in terrible pain! You caused me to bite my lower lip, now it’s bleeding!” Flora complained while trying to hide her pain.

“Rat Capone killed two children in it, and in the end I discovered they where my offspring. Worst of it all, in it I was already dead before it happened!” He recounted in sheer panic “It looked so realistic, I think that I’m really gonna die soon.” He clutched his hat with his right hand while biting on the fingernails of his left one.

“How old where those children?” Flora wondered.

“About seven years I guess, I think I saw the birth date of my daughter.” He expanded.

“See? That means you have at least eight years until that happens.” She calmed him and added “You can make it nine or so because I seriously doubt I’m carrying twins, I’m not as productive as to give life to two children in quick succession.”

“Oh, still eight years to go.” Steve tried to reassure himself, fanning his face with his hat “I can still get a date with Clarice Tamiassara, become the president of the USA and discover a cure for AIDS in that time.”

“You’re gonna have to scrap that first one of your ‘things to do before I die’ list. You’re a married man now.” Flora reminded him and placed her hand on her sides.

“My policies as president will probably upset you enough to divorce me.” He predicted smugly and grinned at her.

“Think you can get rid of me by fleeing into politics? You’ll have to do better! Don’t forget: I was the only one who helped you while you where a fugitive.”

“Flora, Steve, are you two coming? We need to get out of here.” Ans called and the two married chipmunks got up and left the place.

“Where are we now?” Steve wondered as he rejoined his parents and sister.

“You two where inside a funhouse.” Gus pointed out while pointing at the attraction they had left.

“And where are we going now?” Steve wanted to know, but before his parents could answer that they where interrupted by a crash.

They could see something had bashed through the wall of a nearby shed. The five went to investigate, and once near the place they could hear the voices of the Rescue Rangers.

“Chip, Dale? Is that you guys?” Steve called out carefully.

They entered and indeed found the six do-gooders. And a large modified trash can that lay in the middle of the shed.

“The Nutcrackers? How did you get here?” Dale asked, and Gus replied.

“How is not important to me. That we stick together is more of a concern. Do you have any clues how we can escape this SVR?”

“Not yet, have you had any trouble yet?” Chip wanted to know.

“Well we got stuck in an asylum for a while until a doctor misinterpreted us and almost killed my son. He hurt my husband, but I managed to find a first aid kit here to heal him. The only problem is that there weren’t enough pain killers in it to keep him on his feet for the amount of time that Numbskull wants to keep us.” Ans answered.

“Just what have you been up to?” Flora asked as she pointed her thumb at the ruined spacecraft.

“We traveled through space to do some research on this virtual reality. I did not find anything different from the real world, but I don’t know yet if that is a good thing or not.” Gadget explained “We crashed into a satellite, and when we returned to earth got caught in a thunderstorm somewhere in Germany or Great Britain. We got zapped by a bolt of lightning, but then we reappeared here on this fun fair all of a sudden.”

Having finished her retelling of their adventures, Gadget Hackwrench already found another subject to speak upon.

“Oh, I think I know why you are here! When Geegaw and I crashed into that satellite we must have destabilized the program, allowing you guys to escape through a gap in time and space. And causing our rocket to become vulnerable to falling into such a rift as well. The thunderstorm was the perfect condition for another gap to open.” She theorized, notably proud of her discovery.

“You shouldn’t have bumped into that satellite just a moment later, or my family would have been ready to lie down on the wrong side of the grass.” Ans commented thankfully.

“Still when you started out I had the feeling you where going to explain the meaning of life to me.” Steve inserted, which earned him a bad look from his wife and mother.

“If we can cause a disruption like that again, chances are that we can destabilize the program so badly that it will shut down. The more catastrophic the occurrence, the better. Something like, ehh, an explosion at a nuclear reactor or chemical plant.” She offered as an option.

“We flew over Europe, so you could try building a nuclear bomb and launch it at Rotterdam.” Geegaw suggested, but Gadget didn’t take the idea as a solution.

“Golly, no! There are millions of people who will die if I do! People who have nothing to do with this situation we’re in. How can you say that as a Rescue Ranger?”

“Hey, don’t forget we’re in virtual reality here.” Her dad said defensively “I mean, those people aren’t even alive!”

“How can you be sure? Maybe they seem ‘lifeless’ to us but are indeed living beings. No matter what I will not have a hand in mass murder, not even in computer games! Not even if the love of my life said it was okay! And besides it would be impossible to carry out. I used up all the supplies I could work with already, and an A-bomb would be even more complicated than a space rocket.”

While the two Hackwrenches where bickering, one of the Rangers became aware of a subtle and potentially dangerous smell. By the time his brain had registered what it was it was too late.

“Chu-eeeeeeeze!” Monty moaned, then proceeded to try find out from where the aroma had come from.

“Hey!” Steve exclaimed, surprised to the core “I know my feet don’t smell like flowers but it’s not that bad is it?”

“No Steve, it’s got nothing to do with what you might have between your toes but Monty always gets hypnotized by the smell of cheese, so strong is his desire to eat that stuff.” Gadget explained, and when she looked at Monterey again he had disappeared “Golly, where did he run off to?”

“Don’t know, but I do know where the restaurant at this place is.” Dale replied, after which he got bonked by Chip.

“Give your stomach a rest and help us get him back, dummy!”

“Actually the restaurant wouldn’t be a bad place to start looking, I suppose they have cheese there.” Geegaw reasoned.

“That’s what I was trying to say!” Dale defended his comment, but everyone already went to investigate at the place he mentioned.

 

Just as expected they found Monty, who was impatiently unfreezing pizzas with frozen cheese on them. He was snapped out of his trance when Chip turned off the oven.

“We’re trapped in a virtual reality and all mister Jack can think of is food. Is there no way for you to put cheese out of your braincase?” He scolded him, before he noticed something else “Where’s Dale, and Mandy?”

The two missing chipmunks where inside the pantry, staring at a Dame Blanche stored inside the freezer. Ready to be eaten. The chocolate covering had caught Dale’s attention, but so did Mandy. The disrupted baby girl had an appetite that rivaled that of the ‘adult’ Ranger. So it happened that when Dale pulled the ice cream out of the cooling, Mandy immediately pulled it towards herself. Their game of tug-of-war with ice cream was interrupted shortly by Ans and Chip who tried to settle the dispute.

“Dale, this is no time to follow into Monty’s footsteps!”

“Ah, c’mon! You know I can’t resist chocolate. Or ice cream for that matter.”

“Mandy you’re just not getting it! You shouldn’t be stealing, not especially from a guy two times your size!”

“Would you have trusted him with that ice cream?” The girl asked monotonously and unimpressed.

“Well I-”

Mandy could see Dale devour the ice, syrup and cream in one gluttonous gulp. Something Ans and Chip missed.

“I thought he would do that.” She commented, interrupting her mother, speaking the same way as just before.

Chip looked at Dale suspiciously, wondering where the Dame Blanche could have gone, and from the state Dale was in he deduced it was eaten. The Hawaiian clad chipmunk felt the cold ice in his mouth, and he tried to hide his discomfort, failing at that. Chip dragged his companion out of the pantry, leaving the other two chipmunks to settle their disagreement. Thinking her mother was no longer paying attention, Mandy retrieved a spray can of cream from the fridge, pulled off the lid and put the thing to her mouth. Her mother interfered and pulled the spray can out of her hands, then placed it on top of the fridge where Mandy could not reach it.

“What do you think I am, stupid? That stuff will give you a blood clot big enough to end your life before the next day.”

Mandy looked nastily at her mother who disappeared from the kitchen, then stuck out her tongue. She waited to make sure her mother was out of earshot before kicking the freezer, causing the can to fall off the edge. She held out her hands expectantly and saw the can fall down toward her, when suddenly two other hands snatched the object out of the sky.

“Hey!” She yelped in shock and looked behind her to see it was Dale who was getting ready to do the same as Mandy before Ans stopped her.

“Oh no you thief! This time there is no mother to keep me pinned.” Mandy stated and kicked Dale’s shin, which was enough to make him drop the can so Mandy could catch it.

Dale decided to find something easier, and left Mandy alone. She only gave him a bad look before putting the cream can at her mouth again and sprayed her throat full. She swallowed then sighed contently before putting the lid back on and then put the can in her jacket.

 

Their adventure through the jungle had left Alexander, Minerva and Clarice exhausted. It was decided that they would make a hut to sleep and continue the next morning. While Alex was gone foraging, Clarice and Minerva cut trees. It was hard work for someone who danced and sang for a living, and because she was the only one with no military training she could not keep up with the czar and the madmouse. The two where alarmed when suddenly a shot sounded, very close to their position. In a split second Minerva turned around and had grabbed her pistol, and saw who was attacking them. A native frog with a camo helmet and Mosin Nagant rifle. She said something which Clarice could not understand, probably Chinese. The frog didn’t sound impressed when he replied. Minerva rolled aside just before another bullet hit the ground she had been standing.

“No simple mercenary thug shall kill this mastermind.” Minerva stated before shooting back.

The frog hopped away, but groaned in pain as he disappeared. Minerva went to check if he was retreating, and found two fired bullets, some blood and the ground he had been standing particularly wet.

“I know he was afraid to death of me but could he not have held that inside? Now our campgrounds stink!” She complained and holstered her Tokarev, then went to check on Clarice “Are you uninjured?”

Clarice, who had been frozen in place during the fight, had to take some time before replying.

“Yes, yes I’m alright. Thank you.” She reassured Minerva and relaxed her body but immediately felt a sensation of pain in her lower back “Ahaahahaaah-I think I’m not alright.” She touched the area where she had felt the pain, and it didn’t feel right.

When she returned her hand she could see her fingers where bloody. Minerva shook her head in dismay but wasted no time healing her.

“Lie down on your belly.” She ordered and helped her down.

She then proceeded to remove the fatigues so her back was exposed and Minerva could attend to the wound. She made a discovery when she did that.

“Don’t you have stripes?”

“No I don’t have them because of some DNA flaw. But could you hurry up already?” She pressed annoyed, wincing when she felt the mouse touch her back.

“Such an impurity! It would not surprise me if people in your country look down upon you.” She assumed as she pulled the bullet out of her patient’s back with her bare fingers.

“You wouldn’t dare say that if I where in any fighting condition!” Clarice hissed threateningly, clenching her fists.

“If you are bothered by others knowing it I understand. I only look for full talent and strength. But was led to believe even those stigmatized by the western ‘civilization’ made a valuable contribution to the nation. Your secrets are safe with me, I would not care a bit.”

“Other girls, who discovered that during PE always called me ‘short stripe’ because it didn’t reach further than just above my tail.” Clarice reminisced.

“As I have noticed.” Minerva cleaned the wound with supplies from Clarice’s first aid kit.

“In a short while everyone at school knew of my shortcoming and even some teachers avoided or mocked me. My entire youthful life I had to deal with it. At high school the teasing and remarks only got worse, some of my boyfriends abandoned me when they saw my bare back. I don’t think even Chip and Dale know it, and I plan to keep it like that. I’m afraid that even old friends would break your heart and leave when they hear of such a trivial psychical problem. I hate this tiny stripe, and I hate all who don’t understand! If it wasn’t for progressive thinking and animal rights activists, who knows what could have happened to me in my career as a celebrity.”

Minerva finished bandaging and repacked her medical supplies. She then took a stanley knife out of her pocket.

“I will get back to work on that hut now. It must be finished before nightfall.”

Again, Clarice was disappointed by how cool the mouse handled this all. Like she was a field medic from WWII on Omaha Beach. Helping others without sympathy, just doing her job. Only half listening to her patient and giving monotonous replies that didn’t suggest interest in another’s story. The chipmunk maid wondered if during her life, Minerva had been a soldier in the Red Army, or whether it was this staged war that had numbed them. Her thinking was interrupted when there was a bright flash and she felt herself lift of the ground. She looked to Minerva to see her starting to float upwards as well, and she was equally surprised, or intrigued, in this sudden loss of gravity.

“Wow, what in goodness’ name is happening here?”

“You cannot change the laws of physics Nimnul!” Minerva shouted, hanging in the air.

With another flash of light, the gravity returned and the two were painfully brought back to earth. The impact with the ground send a shock of pain up Clarice’s back. Minerva landed on her belly, knocking the wind out of her and her pistol which had floated above her now landed on her head, firing a shot, scaring all the bird nearby.

“That guy is insulting me! After I figure out how he did this I will use the same method to twist into the shape of a pretzel.”

From the bushes they could hear someone mumbling and a mango came rolling out into the clearing. A moment later Alex followed, carrying a pile of fruit and nuts in his arms.

“Well this area sure isn’t infertile. But they could have at least warned me they were going to turn of the gravity.” He complained as he dumped the food in front of his traveling companions.

“Because you are back early, you can take Clarice’s place. We still need to set up this hut.” Minerva instructed as she grabbed her utility knife off the floor and started cutting vines to use as ropes.

“No rest for the wicked it seems. But why don’t I get any rest either?” Alexander complained and got to work.

“Because wounded cannot work. And I do take a rest sometime.” Minerva answered, then resumed working.

 

At the queue line of a rollercoaster, Mandy looked in awe at all the guaranties given by the sign, with things like: “The last thrill of your life!” and “Terror unmatched by Hassan Sudijn”. In a corner, hidden from her view was a sign ‘must be six years or older to ride’. Even if she had seen that sign she was to excited to comply. Because the line was empty, it was no trouble for her get through it.

“Why did you take that can from Mandy back in the restaurant? She got quite upset over it.” Gus asked his wife, with whom he was having another meeting at a popcorn car nearby.

“How came you know our every move without actually being around to see things? And as for your question to me, it would be rather unhealthy to devour the contents of an entire can now wouldn’t it? And besides it’s downright thievery.”

“Have to agree with you, but you’re only driving your own daughter away from you. She’s really stubborn and lively, and the former trait makes sure she remains adventurous. She’s not going to change just because you want her to. Something like that requires patience and a soft approach.”

“Talking about soft,” Ans reacted and pointed over Gus’ shoulder “You let your guard down! She’s climbing up the stair of that rollercoaster!”

The two parents immediately hurried off to catch their daughter, Ans going much faster than her docile husband. Having arrived at the top, at the station, Mandy put one of her feet on the seat of the front car and with the other the kicked the lever that brought the rollercoaster in motion. She quickly sat down and pulled the two bolts toward her for safety, sitting down in the middle. When Ans arrived at the station, the train with Mandy was already leaving. She ran to the end of the platform and jumped on the last car before it got away. As the train climbed upward, Ans did the same to get to her daughter.

“We need to talk.” She insisted, but it was clear Mandy wasn’t listening.

To make matters worse, the train had arrived at its highest point, and from there it could only go downhill. Ans sat down and pulled the bolt toward her before the rollercoaster plummeted downward. Mandy squealed in delight and raised her hand in the air, after which the train went into a looping. After that was straight track, and quite coincidentally there was another track next to it. Less of a coincident it was that another train was right ahead of them, on the next track. And an outright set-up was that there was someone else in the last car of the other train. Ans quickly identified him when their train passed his, it was Nimnul’s henchman Justice, with a dagger clasped between his teeth. He smiled at her wickedly before he jumped aboard the train with the two Nutcrackers. He landed just in front of Mandy, who could do nothing while being kept in place by the safety bolt. The assassin drew his dagger and prepared himself to stab the kid. Fortunately, Ans hadn’t drawn the bolt of the seat next to her, and she managed to get out and jumped Justice. She punched him in his face, and being a very strong female the rat felt much pain. She then rolled back and threw Justice over herself and Mandy, and the rat landed in the seat of a car at the back, face first. Ans was on top of him in a matter of millisecond, but was stunned by Justice elbowing her in her face. This buyed him enough time to get up and push the chipmunk mother back.

“I usually don’t kill a lady when the job doesn’t require it, but it is people such as you who leave me no choice.” He threatened, brandishing his knife to take a swipe at Ans.

She dodged the swing, but had forgotten she was fighting him on a rollercoaster train. Her foot got stuck on a car, she stumbled and fell backward, almost to her death if she hadn’t grabbed hold of the car. She was now dangling on the side of a rollercoaster train which could go into a sharp turn or looping any moment for all she knew.

“Humph, that takes care of one.” Justice dismissed and prepared to deal with the child.

However, Mandy herself had freed herself from the bolt by sliding out from under it. She had snuck up on the two fighters and when Justice turned around he was face to face with Mandy again. Standing on top of a seat gave Mandy a height advantage over Jerk which she thankfully used to its fullest. Kicking the rat in his face, while wearing sneakers, was enough for him to drop his knife and stun him. Punching the rat across the face, she managed to make him see birdies. He stumbled about and soon fell after Ans, but managed to grab hold of the mother’s foot.

“You freak, let go! Don’t you dare look up now!” She demanded, not that it helped.

Mandy helped her mother get back on the train, but Ans was at the same time trying to prevent the rat from climbing up and kicked him in the face. Justice wouldn’t let go, and stuck to her like glue. Until finally he got enough and jumped at another car and swung himself aboard, getting ready to fight the two Nutcracker to the death. He approached them and Ans moved forward to protect her daughter. The two wrestled each other atop the rollercoaster train for a while until interrupted.

“Corkscrew!” Mandy shouted in alarm, and both fighters looked to see she was right.

Deciding it was time to wrap this up, Ans kneed Justice between his legs, grabbed Mandy and took a seat in a car, pulling the bolt in place. She had hoped gravity would finish this, and it would have if Justice hadn’t recovered quickly enough to clamp on to something right before the rollercoaster went through the corkscrew.  He drew a knife from somewhere in his coat and advanced on the Nutcrackers again. This time, both where kept in place and there was no one to stop Justice “Jerk”. Soon, Ans felt a stab in her right shoulder and wanted to hold on to Mandy for dear life, which she figured wouldn’t last much longer. Ans and Mandy braced themselves for the coming kill, when a sudden flash illuminated the night sky. They had passed the photo session and the camera blinded Justice. He lost his weapon and covered his eyes in agony. Mandy took advantage of his temporary blindness, turning backward and pushing the murderer off the train. He plummeted downward whilst shouting and cursing the Nutcrackers. He landed on the ground hard, and no longer moved. Then his body faded out slowly, pixel by pixel.

 

It was afternoon, and Mercy was asleep again. There really wasn’t much else to do for her, besides counting the springs sticking out of her mattress, which got boring pretty quick. A knock on the iron door woke her up, and she looked to see who was there. A guard looked back at her through the viewing hole and explained the interruption.

“You got a visitor.” Was all he said before disappearing again, a moment later a familiar face appeared.

“Chip!” She squealed in delight and was at the door in a second.

“Hello Mercy. It’s good to see you again, I just wish it wasn’t through these bars.” The chipmunk detective said with suppressed glee.

“You got to get me out of here! This jail is without a doubt the worst I know.”

“You know I cannot do that. Although I wouldn’t want anything more than for you to be free, as leader of Rescue Ranger I don’t have authority over the city’s jails.”

“Then convince them to place me somewhere else. This place is just as safe as a nuclear reactor in a forest fire. The guards are hardly in control and the authorities dump anyone here regardless of species, gender or track record. For crying out loud, someone got away with beating me up even after I told the guards, being able to show them convincing injuries!” She continued pleading, but Chip’s expression didn’t give her much hope.

“I know you’re having a hard time. And I’ll really try to make things as easy as possible for you. But this system is in an iron grip of officials and judges. Don’t expect that what I say will be carried out.”

“So the chances of improvement are abysmal. At least I now know what to expect.” Mercy replied sadly and hung her head, her hopes crushed.

Chip noted something, and was somewhat afraid to ask.

“Do I smell something?”

“Yes you do.” Mercy confirmed “Hygiene is a real top priority here, right after everything else. The showers consume too much water so they shut them off. They told me the sink in my cell works, but apparently they lied. Neither my uniform nor myself have been cleaned since I got here. And when I really needed to go last night there was no one to let me out. Not that a visit to the bathroom here is any more hygienic than letting it all go. Can you say: spill on cell block 4?”

“At least you can still make jokes about your situation. You’re gonna be alright, just don’t do stupid things.”

“You must know you’re asking the impossible here.” She stated, her mischievous attitude reminded Chip what he liked about her.

“Hang in here, I love you Mercy.” Chip reassured her, looking down at her lovingly.

Mercy approached the door and stood on her toes. It was enough for her lips to make contact with Chip’s. They spend an eternity sharing a single kiss, and both wished it could have really lasted that long, so they could at least forget the total mess they where in.

 

It was afternoon, and Mercy was asleep again. There really wasn’t much else to do for her, besides counting the springs sticking out of her mattress, which got boring pretty quick. A knock on the iron door woke her up, and she looked to see who was there. A guard looked back at her through the viewing hole and explained the interruption.

“You got a visitor.” Was all he said before disappearing again.

It had all been a dream. Chip had not visited her, but strangely she could feel his presence. She could still feel the kiss they had shared in her dream, she was full of love and at the same time frustration that they could not be together. If only he could visit her here, share an intimate moment she had been longing for. Why was she locked up when she could be spending time with her lover? It was a moment like this that made her truly regret her past mistakes. Should she escape? It was so easy, but the dreaded thought that Chip would bring her back here regardless of their relationship prevented her from carrying out the plan, out of fear that it could be reality. When she remembered someone wanted to visit her, she looked at the door, and this time her visitor was not friendly at all. It was her mother, who had naturally come to pick on her.

“What’s your problem? Why are you so cruel that you have to bother poor criminals with your presence?” Mercy snidely asked.

“Should I sympathize with you now? Or are you talking about those burglars, killers and rapists who are your friends?” Anne-Mary asked sounding sincerely oblivious to the insult.

“At least they didn’t get away with their crimes. You, on the other hand, are still free to do what you want. The guys locked up here have more right to live than you.” Mercy replied embittered, her hate for her mother clouding her reason.

“Even a good prison sentence does nothing to change your attitude. How did I break the law and did I become just like you?”

“You never had a heart and a sense of responsibility. I have both.”

“You have a heart? Then why did you rob people of their money, or get involved with the Mafia?”

“I honestly am in love with someone, you’re just a fraud. And I did what I did to make money, you let others cover your expenses. You are really sick mother, I feel dirty for having shared a physical bond with you. Words can’t describe how much I loathe you. We, your children, deserved much better than to have you for a mother! You greedy, bullying, deceptive, lecherous, irresponsible prostitute!”

Anne-Mary was never very patient with others. And even after having won a court case and taking Philip from Mercy, she felt like a victim. A heavy iron prevented her from beating Mercy like she did years ago.

“Just wait Mercy! I’ll get you for that remark!” She warned forebodingly and left furiously to find help.

 

Soon after the incident with Justice, the train arrived in the station again. The safety bolts where released and Mandy jumped out before her mother could stop her. Ans decided to run after Mandy again, who this time headed for the entrance to a swinging ship. By the time Ans had caught up, Mandy just finished pulling the lever, then jumped aboard the ship as it slowly started up. Without knowing what she was doing, Ans did so as well and managed to get aboard and seated in time.

“Mandy, you got to stop riding these things! This is not a holiday, it’s a matter of life and death! Considering we just witnessed someone die, you are really too calm under all of this!”

“That fiend is only game over remember? Nimnul and his goons can’t die in here. So just shut up and make yourself scarce before I throw you overboard.”

Ans would have replied to that threat, but a bigger one had just presented itself. The ship was going higher with each swing, and Ans was getting sicker with each passing second. Mandy raised her hands every time the ship went up or down, enjoying the view, the adrenaline rush, the feel of gravity that tried to put them in line again. While Ans simply kept her head down and wished the thing would stop, suddenly realizing that breaking the laws of gravity was the greatest sin. And that justice always collects its due. She also seemed to be the only one hearing every creak and moan from the machine as it swung. She even wished that Mandy would have pushed her out when the ship was still swinging slowly.

“Hey guys, look up here!” She suddenly heard her daughter shout.

Looking around she noticed the Rangers on the ground, who had noticed her predicament. Without any second thought Ans shouted at them.

“Get this {censored} thing to stop right now!”

Had she looked the other way, she would have seen Mandy gave her a nasty look that showed her dislike for her mother. But Ans would have been to fear-stricken to notice it anyway. On the ground, Chip and Dale rushed toward the control panel to do what Ans asked them. Dale took the simplest and most practical approach to the problem: he grabbed a few loose wires that powered the machine and pulled at them hard, they snapped immediately. This immediately earned him another bonk from Chip.

“You dummy! This platform has a brake for a reason!” He scolded while pointing “If we had hit the ‘stop’ button we could have made a proper and faster landing for that thing.”

Just like Chip had predicted, it took quite a while for the ship to come to a stop again. Just long enough for Ans to lose herself completely. She froze, and didn’t move until the ship had completely stopped. She then got out like a zombie after Chip and Dale had managed to get the safety off by touching the two ends of the wires against each other and pressing a simple button.

“Idiots, you ruined everything!” Mandy complained to the two Rangers, whilst not forgetting her mom, who had been the sole reason this happened in the first place.

But Ans was gone, and at the moment wouldn’t have cared a bit about her daughter’s opinion of her. She had found the little chipmunk’s room and knelt down in front of one of the toilets for some anti-peristaltic movement. The rocking of the boat had made her seasick. When she saw her reflection in the mirror she saw herself pale, as if her fur had turned a brighter shade of brown. Still feeling dizzy, she staggered out of the public toilets to find back the rest of the group. But they where no longer at the site of the swinging ship. She wandered until she was in front of an attraction named ‘Haunted Castle’. This was a fitting name for the fake Celtic castle ruin. The place itself had the potential of appearing in nightmares to haunt you for your entire life. More disturbing where the sounds emanating from the castle. A clock sounded somewhere in the back of the attraction. Ans carefully approached the entrance, hoping she’d find the rest of the group here.

“Hello, anybody there?” She shouted, her voice echoed through the hallway.

She was answered by what sounded like a man who was being strangled. The bell had stopped and the resonating bangs had stopped. Slowly, she dared step into the castle. She was startled by a heavy thud behind her and when she looked over her shoulder she could see the door had slammed shut behind her. She turned around and tried to press the door open, but to no avail. She had to proceed through this cheap horror castle. Her heart pounded faster than was healthy, and she took her time adjusting to the darkness. With one hand against the wall, she slowly walked further into the castle. But she was surprised to learn the wall was cold, and felt like real stone. The hall bend to the left and then half a circle to the right again. In one niche she found a collection of skulls.

“Fake.” She thought as she stared at the eyes in the bare skulls which stared back.

But as she proceeded further into the castle the eyes inside the deadheads rolled over to keep track of Ans’ movement. In a dark alcove she saw two large green shining eyes which quickly dimmed. Nothing could be seen inside even when Ans was standing right in front of the recess.

“H-hello, is something in there?” She asked in a quivering voice.

A very loud roar knocked her backwards as the two eyes reappeared and looked at the chipmunk maid threateningly. If Ans was having a rapid pounding heart just moment ago, then this could be a jump-start in comparison. She clutched her left chest with her right hand, fearing a heart attack. The eyes disappeared once again, and it seemed like nothing had happened here. She picked herself up when the alcove remained calm and left. But when she heard an amused, bestial laugh behind her from the alcove a shiver ran down her spine and she stopped. Things quieted down once more and she wasted no time in proceeding. She then arrived in a round room. It was the foundation of a large tower. There was another hall across the room, dark as well. Coats of Arms lined the walls of the tower, and imp statues holding candles provided illumination. But clearly not enough, and for some strange reason the eyes of the statues gave light as well. Ans crossed the room, but failed to see the huge chandelier above her that swung threateningly. It was held in place by a big, hairy arm protruding through the ceiling, hanging from the index finger. It looked like this circle of light could fall down any moment, and there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t. While exploring the other hallway, she came across light again. There where large spider webs covering the ceiling, but the symbols written on the walls caught her attention. She was not into medieval writing but understood the meanings of a few of them. Inverted five-pointed stars and encircled six-pointed stars, amongst others, lined these walls.

“Like them? They’re free-mason and cabal symbols. They always reassure me when I close my eyes for the day.” A pitched, raspy voice behind her said.

Ans didn’t dare to turn around to see who was talking to her, but her curiosity won. She did, and was face-to-face with a large, fanged, light brown bat with a horn on his forehead.

“What…are…you…?” Ans slowly managed, her mouth wide open.

“I’m a witch familiar. I’ve studied the arts to guide my mistress through her rituals. This is a gathering place for cultists and undead you see.”

“I understand. Would you…mind…if I… left again?” She timidly requested as she slowly sidestepped her way back, praying the entry doors where open for her to escape.

But the familiar extended one wing, blocking Ans’ way.

“Praying won’t do you any good here. Your god has no power in this place.”

Ans mouth fell open again out of shock and awe.

“Yes, I read minds. So I also know you are afraid.” He placed his hands against the walls, trapping Ans “And to be truthful, you have a reason to be.”

Ans went numb, she wanted to be unconscious. Not be able to feel pain when she was going to be brutally slaughtered and sacrificed by whoever was doing ceremonies here. The bat-monster smelled her fear, so he commented.

“Should have found yourself a place to get rid of those body fluids before entering. Now we have to clean that up.”

“W-what are your people planning to do with me?” Ans stammered.

“You have something we could use. We need hearths, and yours’ full of motherly love. Such a tragedy you couldn’t raise three of them right?”

It was just too bizarre for Ans to be true. Here was a demon that could discover her inner demons by merely delving into her most secret thoughts. She felt vulnerable, naked, embarrassed, helpless, meaningless, humiliation.

“Oh, you want me to retell your experiences with your first boyfriend? Relive the time when your mother caught you with the cookie jar one too many times? Experience that painful moment when you broke your hymen again?” The monster offered with a matter-of-fact face and attitude, as if he was the only one permitted to talk about those recollections.

Not that Ans ever wanted to converse with others about how she fell on a beam during PE, or that when she was spotted trying to get the drum of cookies down it dropped on her head, after which the ladder she was using collapsed so she fell to the ground and afterward still got a spanking and punishment. A rainbow colored bolt passed right between the noses of the chipmunk and monster-bat, and a man shouted at the familiar.

“Get away from that lady, she’s mine!” Said a mysterious man in a white robe with a hood covering his head, with a strange resonance in his voice, and Ans dared to bet it was not an echo.

The monster flew away and the robed figure took his place. Ans could see nothing of his face, which was covered by the darkness and the hood. She could only see his pale snout, and guessed this was a mouse. The stranger held a candle in his hand which he held close to Ans’ face so he could see her. In the process, Ans could get a clear view of her attacker, who’s face was pale. Actually not pale, but transparent.

“I know you.” She said with what little courage she had left “You must be one of those mice-power freaks!”

“I don’t know about what you are talking of. I merely worship my master, and there is no ‘freakiness’ in his power, only glory. And all shall feel his power when our wish has been granted. He shall come down to earth to smite the normals, show them their puny gods and saints cannot stand against our might!”

“I don’t like where this is going. Isn’t there a way for me to leave this place and forget all of this?”

“But then you would miss the ceremony. We want you to be part of our ritual, so you will be part of the master’s legion.” The robed monk explained.

“What if I refuse?”

“You will be sacrificed anyway. Only then you will arise in his world as a minion and not as a warrior for his army. You will not be there when the army from hell conquers the world, you will work for all eternity.”

“Over my dead body!” She states and punched the doomsayer.

Instead of going right through him, she actually hit the would-be ghost.

“As you wish little infidel mortal.” The man said as he outstretched his hand and a ball of energy formed in his palm.

Ans started to run, back to the round room, through the entry hall. The imp statues dropped the candles they held and flew down toward the murdering monk to help him. The creature in the alcove jumped out of its hiding spot, and turned out to be a huge black hound. It tried to block Ans’ path, but she dropped to the floor and slid under the hell hound. One gut punch was enough to stun it, and the monster started to cough streams of fire from its mouth. Her pursuers did not dare get too close to the small inferno the hound was coughing up, buying Ans some time to get up and run. As she passed the skulls they once again turned their eyes to follow her movements, and later when the group chasing her passed they did the same.

“This place isn’t the same anymore with that new guy right Murray?” One skull with a snake through his head said.

“Arr, ye prefer the time when this place was dead?” One with a kerchief inquired.

“Bah, dead men tell no tales.” One with a judge’s wig protested.

Ans was at the locked door, and couldn’t get it open. She banged, bashed and pulled but nothing worked. Her attackers stopped when they had her trapped, and she turned around to face them.

“You could have cooperated, but now you’ll be wasted. Such a pity about those good body parts that could have been of use to us.” The cultist declared as the sparkle between his hands grew in size.

The intensity of the light increased as the ball grew bigger. The monk outstretched his hands forward, focused on his spell and prepared to finish off this trespasser.

“Destroy!” He shouted as the projectile shot forward towards Ans.

She saw the thing close the distance between them. Half-instinctively, half-planned, she jump-rolled aside and dodged the energy missile just in time. It tore through the door, leaving a gaping hole in its place. Ans used this opportunity to make a run for it. And she didn’t stop until she had reached the Rangers and her family again. She was out of breath, had experienced the scare of her life, still had her hearth pumping at full speed, but otherwise she was doing fine.

“Hi Ans, where have you been?” Chip wanted to know, and the mother responded by slapping him in his face.

“Don’t you guys ever leave without me! Next time, people are going to die!” She warned, addressing the astonished group in front of her.

“Uh, everyone. Perhaps we should now investigate that lead.” Monterey attempted to draw their attention away from Ans’ situation.

“What lead?” The recovered housemother wondered.

“Why, we found a water ride that bears our hostess’ occupation. Didn’t you notice she seems to have a preoccupation with religion?” The Australian mouse continued.

“I found something that has ties to worship and faith, but I’m not going back.” Ans stated steadfast.

“Well then, enlighten her master Monty.” Dale suggested, and Monterey Jack led them to the place he was talking about.

 

Anne-Mary was hosting a party to celebrate Philip’s return to her family. But Philip himself saw no reason to celebrate. He was confused, he had lost his mother figure, which was replaced by a real mother he didn’t like. And now he was in a suit, being introduced by said mother to total strangers who kept pinching his cheeks, kiss his face and say ‘ahw’ upon introduction. Seemingly oblivious to his cold and lost expression.

“Do you like it in your new home?” One old lady asked him, going trough the entire admiration process Anne-Mary approved of.

‘Certainly, I have everything I want here!’ would have been the answer this old hag expected, but Philip was not so readable.

“No I don’t. I feel neglected.” He stated shortly.

“I’m certain you simply need to adapt. And that your mother respects that.” The lady assured, but Philip didn’t change his mind.

“She doesn’t care. When I was with Mercy, she’d play games with me, we where a team.”

“Mercy, that’s the girl who’s in prison now right? Aren’t you glad she is safely behind bars. She is a criminal plain and simple.”

Anne-Mary excused herself and left the throng of women she had been talking to. Grabbed her son by his arm, and pulled him out of the room, smiling at her visitors. Once in the hall where no one heard them, she started to verbally dress him down.

“What are you doing? I told you not to talk about that girl, yet you do. To others. What are they supposed to think of me, that I’m her mother?”

“But you are!”

Anne-Mary got angry again. She twirled Philip around, and with every word she spoke spanked him hard.

“I-am-not-her-mother-any-more. I-dis-owned-her!”

She was furious. She seemed unable to erase Mercy from her life. Others continued talking about her, her visit earlier that day to prison was an insult to her. And the media paid more attention to her daughter and Chip Maplewood than they did to her, the wife of the wealthiest person alive.

“Mercy never punished me like that! You are the worst mother in the world!” Philip yelled angrily, tears flowing down his face.

He turned around and ran, so that Anne-Mary missed by an inch when she attempted to kick him.

 

Sergei was at the docks. He was waiting to board the ship that would take him to Cuba. It was a real hassle for rodents to do that, and Sergei had to infiltrate a boat headed for Guantanamo Bay and find his way from there. He had already unsuccessfully tried to get Boris with him, but the rat saw more in staying with gangsters. He was not as dedicated to the cause as the Siberian himself. Sergei wanted to study in Havana and try to convince the local powers to support him. He felt sure that when he returned to America, it was to lead an uprising. Like Lemming had been received from a train station by hundreds of revolutionaries, Sergei would be greeted in New York when he got off the ship. But first the chipmunk had to acquire funds, material and contacts to fuel his march on the corrupt United States government.

“Da*n American transit, it never arrives on time.” He muttered scornfully, but stood corrected when he saw the ship appear on the horizon, not that he would admit that to himself.

He grabbed his luggage cases and joined the line of passengers who wanted to get aboard as well. In a few days he would be at his destination. In a few days he would be plotting the revolution.

 

It was a new day in the jungles of Asia, or at leas the simulated version of it. The three soldiers where up early, only Clarice had trouble getting up at this time. Her eyes where half closed as she walked after the two others through the jungle, keeping her bandage pressed to her back with one hand, holding her M-16 in the other.

“I hate this! I hate this! Could she not have forced us to watch all episodes of ‘Teletubbies’? Even that is more bearable than this jungle tour with a risk of dying.”

“I dare challenge your opinion on the dangers of that British excuse for children edutainment. The mental damage sustained from watching that would make me silly, not mad. I find much more joy in this than even forcing captives to watch that.” Minerva reasoned, but her reason didn’t appeal to anyone.

“Hold it! I think I hear voices.” Alexander warned and the three ducked behind a fallen tree.

Four others soon entered the small clearing. A lizard, woodpecker, rat and mouse. They weren’t native to Vietnam, and their language revealed they where indeed American.

“Don’t move!” Alexander shouted as he got from behind his cover and pointed his weapon at the four. Minerva followed his example and Alex dreaded that she would shoot without restraint. Clarice was in no shape to join the ambush.

“Don’t fire, we’re friendly.” The rat spoke “We’re captives of Norton Nimnul as well, I saw you earlier.”

“You’re right. Why are you here in this jungle?” Alex inquired.

“We’ve been wandering aimlessly. We where hoping we could tag along with some others.” A mouse answered.

“We can use a few extra hands. Come with us, at least we have a goal to achieve.” Alex invited before explaining their mission “We are heading for the ruins there. Somewhere over there we should find an exit or whatever.”

“Anything better than going nowhere. Let’s ride!” the lizard said, after which the four followed Alexander’s lead.

A bit of conversation started up between newcomers and the recruits send to the depths of the jungle by Benita. The lizard told Clarice about how his boss owned a club and about how popular she was. Minerva and the other mouse shared stories about biology, chemistry, but mostly Minerva’s schemes and future operations. Alex, the rat and the woodpecker talked about their adventures and life story. They continued to do so until they where at the foot of a huge hill. At the top was a native temple ruin. Up there where the enemies Benita told them about, although some wished the enemies where on holiday.

“So there you are! You people are the reinforcements aren’t you?” A gravelly voice shouted from behind them.

The group looked around to see a squad of soldiers, with a low ranking officer. The commander stepped forward to inspect them.

“Let’s see what those measly mustached misers in Saigon send me.” He said before starting to bark commands “Stand in line, attention.”

He then looked the group over, but the flags on the uniforms confused him. Apparently Benita had given them all a nationality mark. There was nothing wrong with Henk. To see two females in the group was already suspicious. A Frenchman was not out of question given France’s old claims on Indochina. A Canadian was rare and out of place here. The officer did not recognize the white-blue-red Russian flag. But when he saw a Cuban flag he was alarmed. And totally outraged upon also seeing a Chinese.

“Is this a joke? You girl are an insult to this army! What in heck are you?” He thundered, addressing Minerva.

“Chinese, and proud of it.” Minerva retorted stoutly, messing up the situation even more.

“What is a demon spawn like you doing amongst simple American liberators? Don’t give me that cool look!” The officer was now infuriated, his face red with anger, matching the red of Minerva’s flag.

To diffuse the situation, Minerva grabbed her gun and placed it against the commander’s nose in an instant.

“Listen here worm feed. You are liberating no one here. You get in my way and China’s. I should shoot you for even coming here.”

Minerva’s wonderful diplomacy skills resulted into the other soldiers targeting their rifle at her. Her traveling companions took cover behind rocks, trees and shrubbery. Minerva did not need something like that, she positioned herself behind the commander and fired her pistol at the soldiers who quickly hid as well. After she had emptied her magazine, she pushed the officer forward and hid to. After that a GI-Joe fire fight started wherein neither side could kill anybody. It conveniently ended when a stray bullet hit a wasp nest above the commander and his men. The wasp guards immediately unleashed their wrath on the American soldiers, who beat a hasty retreat. Minerva aimed her Kalashnikov at their retreating forms, but Alex pushed it down and gave her a scolding look.

“With that done, perhaps we should travel up the mountain and find what’s so important over there.” Hiss advised “The Americans won’t be gone forever.”

They did so, but soon they could see they where not alone on that hill. The Vietnamese where in the trenches and in their gun nests, fighting off a US assault. The attackers had already gained some ground, having taken some of the trenches for themselves, but it a high cost it seemed. Gunfire and explosions constantly assaulted the ears of the seven captives.

“Medic here, we got wounded!” One called out.

“We’re running low on ammunition!” Was the reply from another trench.

“Where is that air support that they promised us?” Yet another cried desperately.

The Vietnamese fighters, in turn, where shouting at each other and their opponents as well. The whole part of the hill had been turned into a war zone. Where there would have undoubtedly have been green everywhere there was now dirt, razor wire, felt trees serving as barriers and bodies.

“My goodness! We got to help these people.” Clarice urged, but their leader disagreed.

“If you go out there, you’ll end up in worse shape than those people calling for their mommy.” Alexander cautioned, keeping one eye on Minerva in case she ran off to help her people “You are no Helvetian healer who can run around the battlefield helping anyone who’s sick or injured.”

“But we have to do something. Benita ordered you to take the hill.” Timbert reminded Alex, brandishing a Winchester.

“I’d rather not, there are people here who don’t want to have their hands stained with blood.” The Siberian replied, softly nodding to Clarice.

“So we will stay here forever. Is that what you mean?” Henk argued.

“And besides, I’m not that someone who is too squeamish to shed some blood.” Minerva protested, ready to defy the Russian and storm into the heat of the battle.

It was clear to Alex now he was in a huge dilemma. He doubted he could keep everyone on the sidelines, and might only incite a rebellion from Minerva. But if he joined the Americans then innocents would kill and get killed, only to have the US force turn on them when they saw a Cuban and a Chinese, just like a short while ago. War was ugly. It took Alex some time, but made a decision.

“These people are not real. Minerva, Clarice and Hiss, you follow me up the hill. We’ll try to reach the top and clear it as was expected. The rest of you stay behind and cover us. But above all try not to attract too much attention from either side, not even the Americans.”

“Why can’t we join the fun?” Minerva asked offended.

“Because you and Hiss attract too much attention, and Clarice and you are female.”

“So what? Are you discriminating against us?”

Alexander just rolled his eyes before replying.

“Women couldn’t join the army at this time yet.”

“Oh, well, their loss.”

Alex led his team past the defenders, who fortunately didn’t pay much attention to their flank. Once they reached the top they split up.

“You just worry about getting your people in the temple. Us three will stay behind and protect your rear, until everything is safe.” Timbert reassured as he, Frank and Henk entered the bunkers and took them so they could get a good shot at the Vietnamese below who where fighting.

 

At the fair Monterey had guided his friends to an attraction that looked like a big, obvious, cheap replica of an ancient citadel. A sign above the entrance read: ‘The passion of the holy water slide’. There was also some controversial material scattered around from a controversial human film, and a big warning sign ‘must be 16 years of age to ride’ along with symbols that indicated that the faint of heart, invalids, pregnant women and film critics had better think twice before entering. Just then, they where joined by Ans’ daughter who had run off again to help herself to some food.

“Are you going to put that back from where you stole it?” Ans asked as she gave Mandy a look over.

She had stuffed the pockets of her jeans and jacket with candy, held a cotton candy in her right hand and had her mouth full with something sticky, like toffee or caramel-chocolate.

“Dis blace is faike mam.” She managed with her mouth full, and fortunately swallowed before speaking again so she could be understood and nobody had to look at the unsightly chewed candy anymore “Nobody is gonna miss it when this world is rebooted.”

Ans reluctantly admitted she was right, but didn’t feel comfortable with it that her daughter learned morals in a place everything was possible.

“Ahum, about this water ride…” Chip interrupted and pointed at the entrance.

Ans took one look at the place, then tried to identify any of the conditions on the warning sign on herself. Bluntly, she was trying to find an excuse, which there was.

“I’m staying with Mandy.” Ans declared, not willing to put her heart to the test after what she just went through.

“Who’s says I want to be responsible for you? It’s not my problem you have a mental handicap.” Mandy retorted, once again shocking the others with her snide remark.

“Well you can’t come with us. This attraction alone is unsuitable for the minds of children.” Chip denied her access to their find.

“I’m old enough to put up with whatever this Numbskull throws at us. Now step aside you authority freak, let me in.” She demanded as she managed to push Chip backward and storm past him.

“Stop her!” Ans shouted, something she didn’t have to repeat.

Putting Mandy’s safety before her own, she ran into the trap. The others following to make sure neither got in trouble. Mandy had stopped at the station, only because there was no boat in which to escape her guardians. Ans grabbed her elbow to prevent her from going anywhere and began shouting at her.

“What do you think you are doing, running in and out of trouble like this? It’s about time I started to teach you obedience. I would stop being so reckless if I where you or I’ll…”

Mandy didn’t even listen. She grabbed her mothers arm and using her strength she flung Ans into the waters of the attraction. The mother gasped in surprise, just as everybody else. Ans struggled to get ashore again, but the chain that moved the boats across the river ride was a serious and mortal threat to her. She tried to keep her feet as far away from where she thought it was. Dale bend over to grab her arms and tried pull her up again.

“No you dummy! Turn it off first, you’re going to get her killed that way oh my goodness I can’t stand this!” Chip scolded in ultra fast chipmunk speak, placing his hands in front of his eyes instead of using a fist to bonk his dimwitted companion.

He heard a tear and went totally numb. He dared to peek through his fingers and could see Dale was still struggling to get Ans up, while she let out a wail of pain, the water around her turning slightly red.

“Somebody turn that off! Shut off this infernal contraption!” He pleaded while his stomach turned, ready to make his lunch exit through the wrong end.

Monty was the only one who was quick enough to respond and ducked into the control room. Most unfortunately he had to fiddle with the keys before getting them sorted out. His hands where shaking so badly he needed some time before he finally stuck the silver key into the emergency override, and to his frustration it was not the right one. After more fidgeting he finally inserted the gold key and shut off the ride. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw everything stopped and that they could now safely remove Ans out of the water before any more damage could be done to her body.

“Crickey, and in the real world yer supposed ta use those bloomin’ keys to reactivate the whole place.” Monty thought and he went back to help his comrades.

With Geegaw and Gadget’s help the Australian managed to release Ans from her fatal position. Once on dry ground they inspected the injury she had received. The chain had cut off a large part of her lower dress, and her left leg had been cut, a very nasty gash that gave people a view on her leg from the inside. For that reason, most turned their head away. Only the three mice could suppress the urge to vomit. Ans was always a beautiful person deep inside, but none of the people present could say that at the moment.

“Is there a first aid kit somewhere?” Gadget wondered and looked around, but she had no such luck “Gee, I should have known someone like Nimnul was rotten enough to not give us what we really need.”

“Since it was you who caused her this pain, you will have to compensate.” Chip advised, in a tone that didn’t imply it was a mere suggestion.

He pulled Dale’s shirt off and gave it to Geegaw who used the thing to try and make some makeshift bandages. Gadget did the best she could to wrap up the Nutcracker’s injury, but was furious she didn’t have the proper supplies for healing. Not even a small bottle of iodine. However, Ans’ husband did have something to help.

“Take a painkiller, I still have one left.” He offered although Ans tried to protest “You need them more than I do right now, I can handle myself without them.”

“Yeah right.” Ans managed weakly but took the medicine anyway.

“There was still some stuff left in that kit she found. I’m going to get it to see if it can serve her.” He declared and ran off to find the funhouse.

Meanwhile, Chip was busy with the one who caused all this. He grabbed Mandy by her shoulder and shook her hardly.

“What where you thinking? Where you thinking at all?” He uttered angrily.

“She touched me, I don’t like it when I’m harassed.” She answered coolly, giving him an uncaring look.

“Don’t tell me that’s a reason to throw her in that water course.”

“To me it is, she should have kept her paws to herself.”

“Do you know that if we had been unlucky she might as well have been dead by now? Heck, who’s saying she is going to survive?”

“Get a hold on yourself ego man, you sound like you actually believe that would be bad.”

Chip had just about enough of this kid, and now understood why Ans was so irrational around her. He grabbed Mandy’s arms and looked at her murderously.

“No, I won’t do it. It wouldn’t help Ans if she heard I dismembered her daughter.” He told himself, but found it incredibly difficult to fight back the urge to throw this kid in the water herself.

Not knowing what to do, he left Mandy alone to contemplate in silence. Mandy herself did as well, sitting down on the edge of the station, her feet dangling above the waters below.

“Da*n, this really could have ended a lot worse. If that fat boy hadn’t shut this place down I had been a killer. What would society do with a young lady who killed her own mother?” She rested her head on her hands, and sat unnoticed by everyone else “Why couldn’t she leave me in peace? Why did I have to do that? Why am I trying to have fun in a place that is most likely going to be the death of us? I need a break.”

Mandy got up again and quietly left, nobody tried to halt her even though they saw her leave. This only increased the probability that nobody would like her anymore for her. She exited ‘The Passion of the Holy Water Slide’ and wandered around the fair, aimlessly walking to wherever her feet would carry her. When she looked up again, she was standing in front of a huge castle. It radiated a sense of dread, but in her current state Mandy didn’t notice, she was too wrecked to sense doom.

 

At the South Manhattan prison, someone else who was wrecked sought out Mercy. While lounging on one of the benches outside, safely away from the other lowlifes, she was surprised to see a crying Lucy come to her.

“Hey Lucy what’s wrong?” She asked and sat upright to help her.

The Marxist rat sat down and buried her face in Mercy’s chest. The chipmunk girl was surprised again, but did not protest without knowing what was going on. Lucy sniffed and clutched her companion tightly as if she was the only person in the world left who cared about her.

“Lucy?” Mercy tried again, but with little result and she pressed on “Who did this to you? What is wrong with you?”

The rat recollected herself and told Mercy about her experience.

“I-I was just about to be led outside for the break…This guard…He pinned me to the bed instead of letting me outside. I-I-I tried to fight him off but…He was too strong. It was terrible! Mercy h-he just mo-”

“Don’t say it.” Mercy requested, she was disgusted.

From what she had heard before this seemed inevitable. But she had always dreaded it that it would be more likely her than this rat to be violated like this.

“A couple of my pals saw it happen! I thought we had a strong bond, the closest thing to friendship possible in this place. But-but they just smiled! They enjoyed it how that guard used me for pleasure! I-I thought I had a certain degree of respect in this prison.”

Lucy cried, sobbed and whimpered as she used Mercy as more than a shoulder to lean on. Blowing her nose using her comrade’s shirt. Mercy of course despaired that she might get sick with no way to clean up in any way, but remembered this was arrogant thinking considering her companion’s situation.

“I always saw myself as the strongest, capable of overcoming anyone. W-What a naïve fool I was! There’s no one who can’t be defeated, there’s always someone stronger. What am I supposed to do?”

“Go talk to the warden?” Mercy proposed carefully.

“He won’t even let me see him! No matter how urgent something is, he always considers his overdue bureaucracy more urgent!”

Lucy continued to weep uncontrollably about what had been done to her. It only stopped when Mercy had to leave her to return inside. She didn’t see Lucy anymore after that, but she knew that fortunately the guard from her cellblock was now off-duty. And that he’d be working in other places for the rest of the week, giving Lucy some much needed time to recover herself. She almost prayed that in that one week the guard would meet his end.

 

Just outside a nearby cafeteria, the same guard was having an appointment with a rather unusual female.

“From what I understand, you work at the prison located nearby. And are upset with your wage.” The lady assumed, the guard nodding in agreement “Then I could help you out. Make your job a little less boring while you get some extra cash to spend.”

“Tell me more.” The officer pressed with interest.

“I know a girl in there that is a bit troublesome. She’s a prisoner in cellblock C, locked away in #1. She needs to be taught a little bit about discipline, but is a hard learner. Make her an offer she can’t refuse.”

“And what if she does refuse to change?”

“Let me say that if she happened to end up dead I would not blame anyone for that. A lot of people would have an easier life because of it. She would have no one but herself to thank for her untimely demise.”

“What you are suggesting is murder.” The guard replied stone-faced “I have no objections to that if it makes my life and that of others easier.”

“Excellent! You certainly will be doing everyone a favor with your deed. As a policeman it is your duty to rid our society of unfriendly elements like her! The decency of whole New York is at stake.” The instructor spoke approvingly.

“And just how much is the reward for this ‘holy deed’?” The corrupt guard inquired tactfully.

“Five hundred should cover it.”

“Ten times as much would be a better price.”

“You do ask a lot for such a worthless life! Alright sir, but I will only give it when she is properly eliminated. Which means no fool should be able to object to our good deed. Then, meet me here next week for your suitable reward.” The woman offered and extended her hand.

“It’s a deal. Now I have an excuse to get back at those hoodlums for ruining my life! Your target will have it worse than that red rat slut I brought in line today!” He shook the lady’s hand, and they parted ways, both in a good mood and scheming.

“Hah, your ‘suitable reward’ will be a few years at the other side of the bars! I’ll have you arrested, make sure you face justice, and eliminate all suspicion towards me by sticking up for my poor daughter who I fought so hard against. Then people will respect me, honor me like the merciful saint I am. And my son will finally appreciate all I have done for him!” The illustrious lady thought, smiling brighter than the sun.

 

On a mountain in what was supposed to be South-East Asia four soldiers exited a tunnel that ended inside a temple ruin.

“Good, it seems most of them are downhill, defending this place. That should give us time to look around and escape with what we found.” Alex estimated and began to scout ahead.

However he tripped over a small wire, falling down and a construction of pointy bamboo stick whipped over his head. The Siberian rolled over to see what had just missed him, and his mouth fell open in shock.

“You really shouldn’t have fallen…” Minerva commented with an insane smile, but changed her attitude when she noted the two others’ disapproving look “…for that trick.”

“Wow, if I hadn’t fallen for it literally I was now a Prince-kebab.”

“It is nice to see more people with a morbid sense of humor on the battlefield.” Clarice said annoyed.

Being careful not to set off anymore traps, the four explored the temple. With very few Vietcong left up the hill it wasn’t difficult, until they found an officer in one room, studying maps, messages and documents. Although he was turned with his back the explorers, and could be easily avoided, one member of the group had not noticed him yet. It was Clarice, who was fed up with this game of ‘search and destroy’, who dropped her weapon with a loud clatter and stated.

“To (censored) with this mission! I’m risking my neck while I was lot safer in the jungle. I’m going, I’ll ask those US soldiers if they have any flights bound for the homeland which I can take. I’m not supposed to be in the army anyway in this time period.” She protested and turned around, leaving the temple complex.

“No Clarice! Don’t do that!” Alexander hissed, hoping that if he sounded threateningly he could persuade the girl.

There was still fighting going on outside from he heard, and the gunfire was drawing closer. Which meant the Vietnamese where retreating toward their position. The prince tried to follow Clarice, but Minerva extended her hand and pushed him back. She blocked his path when Alex tried to sidestep her.

“Let her, we are better off without her. She does not have the guts.” Minerva countered, not keeping her voice down like she should.

Hiss was gritting his teeth while keeping and eye on the officer. It was unbelievable he didn’t notice the turmoil only a few feet away from him. The lizard gripped his weapon even tighter when Alexander foolishly started shouting at Minerva, wondering why he didn’t just shoot the commander. Or both of them.

“She’s going to die if she runs into any VC! She is not carrying a weapon, she’s easy prey! And you expect me to let her go? Let me past or I will waste your life to save hers!”

Minerva was very quick with hands, and in a split second had drawn her pistol and placed it at the Russian’s throat.

“You think you can do it? Do you feel lucky, punk?” She wanted to know, her voice darker than her hair.

Fortunately, circumstanced where very good for Alexander. Minerva wasn’t feeling trigger happy. But better was that he had kept his weapon lowered, the mouse didn’t pay attention to his fidgeting, and the clips of his Kalashnikov where banana shaped. He held the rifle by the muzzle, placed the ammo clip attached to it behind Crazy Mina’s left leg, and pulled it back. He managed to trip Minerva before she could know what was going on and the prince ran to catch up with Clarice. But once he was outside the temple, he heard three bullets ricochet of the wall next to him, convincing him to turn back, and hope that Clarice was away from danger. He had abandoned her for his own safety, but a feeling of guilt that would haunt him for the rest of his life was already embedded within his conscience. When he returned to his group, he found out Hiss had had enough of waiting for the Vietnamese officer to turn his head. The bird who had been studying his files had a nasty lump on the back of his head, right where Hiss had mauled him with his carbine. However the lizard didn’t seem relieved or satisfied at all.

“That parrot was deaf!” He said more to himself than anyone else in frustration.

“Fortunately, these maps show a lot of detail on the surrounding area.” Minerva cheerily added, probably having forgotten about her indignation at Alexander’s hands “Villages, towns, everything! Enough places to pillage to keep us busy for a night!”

“Good, but we have no time for this. The Americans are closing, and they are pressing the NVA in our direction. Tie that big bird up and run!”

“You’re right, no time to lose!” Timbert agreed as him, Frank and Henk joined them “The Americans just send the Vietnamese soldiers running. There is no time to waste.”

“Did you guys see Clarice? She’s not with us anymore. I fear she might have been overpowered by the Vietcong.” Alex questioned quickly.

“Not in person. But heard one American shout that the NVA fighters where getting away with hostages, blowing up a tunnel to cover their escape.”

The Russian lowered his head. This must have been the fate his former teammate had met. Clarice was now vanished without a trace, and it was his fault for not being able to safe her. Yet, as always, he had to struggle onward. He had to get the team outside the temple and down the hill again before the US force returned.

“Everybody, proceed deeper into the compound. There must be a second way out the Vietnamese used.”

They ran off, and soon found their way out, but it was unlike anything they had expected. The floor of the hall they ran through collapsed, and they fell down into one part of the humongous tunnel network the Vietnam used for their wars. It took a lot of time, energy, and willpower to navigate through the claustrophobia inducing narrow passages, but at last they left one exit at the foot of the hill and the group was in front of a large river. Or anyway, that’s what they thought it was. They soon discover it wasn’t a river, nor a huge lake, but a giant stretch of morass. Swamp wherever you looked, reaching higher than the waist, and at some places you could not even touch the bottom with your toes. The sun was setting, casting a foreboding orange glow over their surroundings. And unfortunately, this was a time when Mosquitoes where brimming with energy, ready to hunt for blood. Once the group crossed one stretch of swamp, making it to one tiny island after repeatedly risking drowning they rested up.

“This-is-not-evil! This-is-downright-pointless!” Minerva complained as she took off her uniform and unzipped her leather coverall, swamp waters gushing out of her suit instantly “I almost drowned, I couldn’t breathe for moments!”

“Now you know how it is to be at the receiving end of misfortune. Next time, be a little less sadistic towards other now you know what it’s like to be struck with bad luck. Comments like yours only increase the suffering.” Alexander tutored her, not something she liked.

“Assuming there is a next time.” Hiss solemnly interjected, remembering what had happened to Clarice.

“Ah come on! This is like facing the inferno! I am already soaked and there is more yet to come!” Minerva defended herself as she sat down and pulled her coveralls off altogether, leaving her in her undershirt once again, which was also drenched to the last fiber.

Pulling off her gloves, goggles and throwing down her guns alongside her suit she sat down to dry. She wrung out her shirt as well before putting it on again.

“I propose we spend the night here, and take turns in taking watch. Since I am doing most of the dirty work for you guys I will take this opportunity to finally have a rest!” She stated in a way that demanded no objections to her sleeping it off.

The madmouse lay down and placed her hands behind her head to drift off to slumber.

 

Upon entering the copy castle, fear overtook Mandy like her numbness had simply faded out. The dark halls where a real challenge for her eyes. She barely noticed half of what her mother had seen here. But the sinister ambience she did notice. She passed the symbol walls where her mother had run into the familiar and the cultist. She did not see the demonic chiropteran anywhere, but he was in fact very close by. He was hanging from the ceiling in the dark, but fortunately asleep. It was like a miracle that this creature with a bat’s hearing did not notice an intruder, add to that his enigmatic powers and it could be like a divine intervention that the familiar did not wake up. A little further was a set of heavy doors. Mandy carefully pressed against one, then tried harder. She managed to open it and peeked inside the room. Inside there where pillars circling the room, and candle standards, and in the middle was an encircled pentagram. Carefully Mandy entered the room and closed the door behind her. She slowly stepped forward. Something had drawn her here, it was like she was connected to this place. From far away a dog howled, or was it a wolf? It was unlikely such an animal lived in the city, but it sounded more like it. She approached the middle of the room and stood on the pentagram wonderingly.

“What am I doing here? I don’t know nothing about occultism or whatever. So why did I go here in the first place?”

She looked around to see there where four other doors that led to this shrine. Maybe that was where the local prophets resided, or maybe the sect kept it’s dark secret or ceremonial equipment there. But Mandy didn’t feel like investigating. It would carry her deeper into the stronghold, with the risk she would find or be found by the caretakers of this abysmal place. Without a warning, all of a sudden a loud voice boomed through the room she was in.

“We feel your presence. Speak, mortal!”

“What? Who is…” Mandy wondered as she looked around in fear.

A spectral appearance revealed itself in front of the girl. A red-skinned humanoid wearing a black tunic, with white eyes and horns on his head. He had his arms crossed and looked at her demandingly.

Mandy backed away, but the vision closed the distance instantly with every step. She wondered how a little girl with spunk could do something against such a ghastly demonic force.

“Ah, Mandy Nutcracker. I see you sought me out, albeit unwillingly.” The thing spoke rather loudly.

“You-stay away from me! Don’t even think about making me sign a contract in which you claim my soul!”

“Hah! I don’t even need to! You’ve been a very bad girl. Now, if something where to happen that gets you killed, you will be mine!”

“No way! I’ll never be what you want me to be! I’m going to change myself if that is what it takes, but you’ll never have me as your slave!” She stubbornly refused, which sounded unlikely to the spirit.

“Ha, it’s in your nature. You can’t change who you are deep inside, you’ll always be cynical riff-raff. And to assure myself of your soul, I will have you killed!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Mandy spoke defiantly, but knew this wasn’t a bluff.

She tried to kick the holographic demon king, but it moved backward as she moved forward. A swing of her fist also met nothing but thin air. Then, the thing disappeared with a bang, and Mandy was left like a prey for the hunters. Figuring she had to get out before something or someone found her, she pushed open the door through which she had entered. However, she immediately ran into an enemy. The familiar, which had been sleeping just a minute ago was now awakened by his master’s call to arms. The darkness in the hall had been driven back as the bat-monster now radiated a soft white light from his body, revealing himself to the young girl.

“Not so fast Mandy. We might have not captured your mother, but you will do more than suffice.” The creature spoke as he turned his head to face Mandy straight instead of upside-down.

“No, you die!” She shouted and punched the thing.

It avoided the attack, then grabbed Mandy by the lapels of her jacket, lifting her off the ground and pressing his nose against hers.

“Your thoughts betray you. I see you have an appetite for destruction. But I find your lack of self-control disturbing.”

“No! I’m not like what you think I am!” She protested and struggled to get free.

She slipped out of her jacket and ran. The psychic left his sleeping spot and flew after his prey. However he didn’t need to worry. The swarm of tiny animated statues was on top of her before she even reached the middle of the round chamber. They started scratching and tearing at her flesh and clothing. She saw little chance to fight back. They tried to sink their teeth in her flesh, but unfortunately for the imps their stone teeth weren’t very sharp.

“That’s how to do it, my animated brethren. Tire her out so that I can devour her myself.” The larger bat said approvingly, looking at the scene with much pleasure.

Her fight with the small devils was sapping her strength, she felt more exhaustion, pain and humiliation with every second. She started to give in to the overwhelming numbers of imps, letting them pull at her clothing and scrape at her body. She would never apologize to her mother or make up for what she had done to others she thought. She didn’t know whether it was because one of the things pierced her chest, or because she had just broken her heart, but a sharp pain struck her upper torso just before she realized the consequence of losing this fight. In a last-ditch effort she kicked and swung her arms around her to drive off the buggers. Most of them dodged away, allowing her a second to gain her footing. The monsters where on top of her in an instant again though, but she had enough momentum to stand up again and run. She kicked at the imp holding on to her right shoe, the only piece of clothing still on her body. The little dastard was stunned, but as he was thrown back he held on to Mandy’s sneaker, which got loose leaving the demon spawn holding it and her right sock. She ran out of the room, and before her pursuers could give chase they met their destruction at the hand of Mandy’s extreme luck. Or at least, the giant’s hand. It suddenly opened at if the owner to which the arm belonged had been hit with extreme force. The chandelier fell down to the ground, crushing all the imps to little tiny pieces, missing little Mandy barely. The psychic bat covered his face with his wings and shrunk together to avoid the flying debris. Mandy didn’t hesitate for a moment but entered to entry hall, where the hound was already lying in wait once again to stop the one escaping. Mandy was a little more hesitant to attack this beast unlike her mother, but recovered herself and launched herself at the hell hound, pummeling it in its face and climbing on its head, jumping off at the other side and ran again. The lumbering guard dog had difficulty turning around, buying Mandy a little more time. However, time was no ally when she saw she was trapped. The front door had been restored after the last pounding it received, and was again locked tightly. Mandy couldn’t open it no matter how much she bashed and screamed. She quickly tried to calm down and look for an escape, and thought she saw a chance. As the monster bat and the guardian of the castle reached to portal that led outside, they could not see Mandy anywhere. But the familiar didn’t rely on sight to find things he wanted.

“Peek-a-boo, I can see you, hanging from that stone arch up there thinking I would not notice.” It said as he looked in amusement at how Mandy clung to the wall, attempting to conceal herself in the darkness.

Darkness was not much of a barrier as all of a sudden a torch under her ignited and the flames started to lick at her tail. She let go with a loud ‘Aaawo’ and landed on the ground in a sitting position. She turned around to see the bat with his long, pointy tongue outside it’s mouth, licking his lips. Mandy stood with her back to the wall, and it took the monster a while to pry her away from it. The psychic stood behind her as he grabbed both her wrists and pulled them towards himself, making it hard for her to escape while her attacker drew closer to her neck. She could feel his breath and it caused every hair of her fur coat to stand up. She bowed her head every time she felt like the monster was going to bite, until she could no longer avoid him. But just when the bat’s teeth touched the child’s neck, Mandy delivered a swift kick to the creature’s crotch, stunning him with excruciating pain. She then smashed her head into his nose, further injuring her assailant. But it wouldn’t matter, the thing wouldn’t let go. He drew her closer to him and wrapped his wings over her arms and body, prohibiting her from making another attempt like that. This time he made sure to keep his nose away from the back of her head while he moved his fangs around Mandy’s neck. In this compromising position, there was nothing she could do but wait for the end. She kicked around but couldn’t hit the bat anymore. However, when the creature holding her inhaled the dirt that she kicked up it lost focus on its prey. Mandy could feel him sneezing into her neck, but she struggled to get free and finally succeeded. She threw her arms around the creature’s neck to strangle him, but ended up dangling above the floor behind his back.

“Gasp! I can’t breathe-” It managed to say while attempting to pull Mandy’s arms off.

“Let me go, then I’ll let you go.” She demanded as she bumped up and down to make the bat more uncomfortable.

“Okay, okay!” It pleaded and as if by magic the two huge doors opened to reveal the fair behind it, and never before did it seem so attractive to Mandy.

She immediately let go and ran outside. But her two attackers weren’t just planning on letting her escape. The bat took flight, while the big hound ran to catch up. Mandy sped away on all-fours, but it seemed both of the monsters where too fast for her. The flyer crashing into her, causing Mandy to fall, roll over the floor, and come to an abrupt end when she smashed with her face into a wall, then slumped down.

“You’ve been a very nasty girl, and now you must be punished!” The bat stated and he dragged Mandy away by her feet.

She had scrapes all over her body, but pain wasn’t the least of her concern now that she was in mortal danger. She tried to claw herself away, but she was reeled back every time she tried with more force. She kicked around and screamed for help, but that didn’t matter either. Finally, the bat lifted her up by her feet, but in doing so presented Mandy with a vulnerable target. He found out the error of his way when her fist contacted with his stomach, and she repeated doing that several times. But never to be outfought, the bat kicked his captive right in her face, which caused her more pain than the bat. To emphasize the futility of her actions he continued kicking her until she had been bloodied enough. However, the bat knew other ways to make his victim suffer, and pummeled her in every place where Mandy could feel pain. No mercy, no taboos, no restrain. Even the places most vulnerable to permanent damage weren’t left alone. Mandy went totally numb, not keeping track of anything anymore, and finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

 

When she woke up a little later it felt like things couldn’t get any worse. She felt pain at every place that moved, and she wondered why the monster bat wouldn’t put her out of her misery.

“Please, kill me now.” She begged, no longer caring about her unfinished business.

She got no reply. With a lot of willpower she looked back to see she had been abandoned where she lay. The monsters where gone, and she couldn’t think of any explanation. Using all her energy she got up to her feet and staggered away. She ended up at the shack where earlier that night Chip and Dale had a short squabble. Ironically, there was now a cheap horror movie on the TV. Her eye rested on a white kit, with a vague red blur on it. She took a while to focus her vision, and was ecstatic when she saw it was a first-aid kit! She quickly opened it, and sorted through its contents. The painkillers inside where like a gift from heaven. She didn’t hesitate and put one in her mouth, then took the whole box and tried to find her parents again. She no longer felt anything, but to say she was fine again from a total mistake. She was still dozy, and hardly conscious. But she succeeded in getting back to ‘The Passion Of The Holy Water Slide’. And upon entering, she immediately attracted attention.

“My goodness! Mandy, you look terrible.” Chip exclaimed upon seeing the child.

She murmured something like ‘I can see why they call you a detective’ but then collapsed to her knees to gain some breath.

“The lass looks horrible indeed. But I’ll have her fixed up in two shakes of a dingo tail.” Monty promised as she took the first aid kit Mandy carried and did what he could to stem the bleedings and cover the most serious injuries. But the kit contained not enough of the materials he needed, so Mandy only had her chest patched up, while the many scrapes covering her could not be treated.

“Who did this to you?” Dale asked horrified, hoping this wasn’t the infamous boogieman.

Mandy told of her adventure in the castle, till the last detail. Her mother started to cry as she heard what those monsters had done to her child, and that her daughter was indeed haunted by demons as she had insisted before.

“Cultist eh? Why, I remember back in Japan I met the Kobe Komodo Dragon Clan, which wanted ta make virgin sacrifices to the divine Koko Kabuki, king of clowns. But then all o’ the girls said they where happily married.”

Nobody paid much attention to Monty’s story, but where worried about Mandy. The girl herself crawled over to her mother and tried to sit in her lap.

“Mommy, I’m terribly sorry for what I did to you. And not just recently, I’ve been very wrong and hope I can still redeem myself. That experience in the castle opened my eyes to what kind of person I really was. And if you want me to stop wearing jeans to make up for being lousy to you, than that’s just cool.”

Ans was touched by how her daughter promised to reform. It was a miracle that such a tragic event could still do so much good. She helped her daughter sit down with her and hugged Mandy.

“Maybe now we can be like a happy family.” She hoped as her mind drifted off to their possible future.

 

In the middle of the swamp there was a group of animals sleeping a peaceful slumber. One certain female mouse was having a great dream. It was a guilty pleasure of her about ballet, a huge performance of the Swan Lake in a New York Broadway theatre, an audience with rich and influential people watching ballerinas in tutus. And soon she, Minerva Builderpavsky, would forever leave a mark in history with her act, with her bomb planted in the cellar. As she envisioned the night ending with a bang, her dream was ended with a pang. Rifle fire awakened her and everyone on the isle.

Hiss was the first one to regain his consciousness and assess the situation.

“Americans at the edge of the swamp, they spotted us!” He warned, and everyone dove into the water.

They all gathered behind the mound they had camped on a moment before. Machine gun fire disturbed the peace in the jungle and panicking flocks of birds flew in random directions.

“Who was supposed to stand guard?” Frank wondered, but nobody knew the answer.

“It’s no good talking to them, we have to escape.” Alexander reasoned as he crouched through the muddy waters, and soon the bog reached his chin.

The other followed his example, swimming under the water level to avoid detection, while the US soldiers kept firing and entered the swamp as well to keep up wit their targets. More of them poured out of the forest, encouraging every member of Alex’s team who looked behind them to hurry. But the sun was still on the horizon and gave their enemies a better view of the marsh. However they where close to two stretches of dense vegetation, and after those there where many more patches of trees and shrubbery. Alexander tried to lead them through the maze of swamp and forest, but ended up in a dead end after a wrong turn. Though they could not see the Americans approach from behind, from the shouting they knew they where still searching for them.

“No place to run, no place to hide.” Frank spoke what was on the others’ minds.

“Wrong, we can take cover behind that wall of leafs!” Alexander corrected him.

A number of willows and other trees hanging over created a cover that was hard to look through. They hid behind it, but Minerva didn’t feel much for hiding from the enemy.

“Come on you grasshoppers, you cannot be that cowardly!” She complained, but she was making good use of the leaf curtain as well.

“Whatever you do, don’t make any sound.” Alex instructed the team.

“This will look bad on my statistics. No criminal mastermind will take me seriously before I liquidate a couple of innocents.” Minerva lamented, not helping the group’s cover.

“Sssh! Do you want to get us killed?” Alexander hissed threateningly.

“Actually…” Minerva replied, putting one hand to her chin and struck a thoughtful pose.

But she shut up after that. Timbert flew into the trees where he was even harder to find, and Hiss used his amphibian abilities to stay under water. Alexander pulled Minerva to the ground as well just when a patrol came in sight. Everyone ducked even lower, using their noses to breathe air. The patrol got quite close, dangerously close for most. They inspected the dead end throughoutly, but left the bend where the objects of their search where hiding alone. Still none dared to breathe and submerged their heads completely when the patrol turned around again to head back. The patrol left as quietly as they had entered the area, and being a lizard, Hiss could keep track of their movement under water. He signaled everyone once the enemy team was gone, and they all expressed their relief with a giant breath. Even Minerva wasn’t unaffected by this all. The sun was now going under, and the dark night replaced the eerie orange glow over the swamp. Stars and the dark blue galaxy could be seen in the sky now. And all the nightlife of the swamp was active now, including its less desirable elements. Even though the US soldiers where now gone, the team waited for a long while before deciding to leave again. They used this time to come to terms with their situation and rest up in the little forest behind them, that surrounded the swamps. Just before they wanted to go again, Minerva came to a realization.

“I left my possessions at that island!” She exclaimed and took a look at herself wearing only a shirt “I am a disgrace to myself!  I need my weapons and gear to kill!”

“We need to leave this place to find shelter! Don’t do anything stupid.” Alex cautioned her, but the mouse dove underwater and swam away, back to the island where her uniform, other clothes and guns where. Alex, Frank and Henk ran after her, but running was not as effective as swimming. Once she reached the island the three where just close enough to watch her surface. Minerva checked the mound impatiently but had to give up by the time her companions reached her.

“This is bad. I lost everything. My weaponry, identification papers, my suit.”

“Do you realize you’re setting us all up as targets now? You’re risking lives to get back some lousy guns and personal belongings.” Alexander scolded loudly.

“Then go back to your leaf curtain to cower. I want to know what happened to what belongs to me!”

“I suppose the American forces took everything on this little isle.” Henk suggested.

“In that case they must pay!” Minerva decided enraged.

But before she could storm off to find the thieves, her hands where grabbed by the Siberian chipmunk. She wanted to brutalize him for that, but after a short click she found out she could not move her arms freely anymore.

“I’m sorry for having to do this, but you are your own worst enemy Mina.” Alex excused as he recollected his Kalashnikov.

“You will indeed be sorry when I get free and find out you set yourself up as my true worst enemy!” She hissed back threateningly and shook with frustration.

“Where did you get those handcuffs?” Frank wanted to know as he inspected them.

“Found those on the officer’s body as well. Must have been the camp’s commander slash jail keeper.” The prince informed him.

“I wish I could take a slash at you. I wouldn’t waste that chance.” Minerva chimed in with disgust evident in her voice.

It was her task as an evil genius to make people her captive, not to become the Prisoner Of War of some amateur chipmunk lieutenant. The entire situation was all very distressing and shameful.

“Quite. Now move it if you don’t want me to carry you. And I got a gag in case you decide to scream.” Alex ordered as he drove the mouse before him.

“You will pay dearly for this offence!” She warned, but cooperated grumpily.

The entire team traveled through the swamps, with no light except from the stars that shone through the cover of trees. They kept their eyes open for attackers, and repelled gnats with a wild swing from their rifle butts. Once the swamp got less deep, the team suddenly noticed smoke on the horizon. All but Minerva, who quickly got her gag so she wouldn’t give away their position to get revenge. They traveled closer to where the fire was. As they suspected, it was a bunch of soldiers camping in an abandoned village. Their uniforms certainly weren’t US, and their species where native to South-East Asia. While the five males spied on the Vietcong encampment, they left the mad mouse alone, which was a fatal error. As a villain-in-training, Minerva also needed knowledge on how to escape bondage and locks. With one very slow, grizzly and yet effortless move she moved her shackled arm over her head so she had her hands in front of her again. She ripped off the gag and immediately shouted a warning in Chinese to the Vietnamese in the town. In the confusion that followed she quickly selected her target and stalked up to him. She threw her arms over Alexander’s neck and used the chain of her handcuffs to strangle the man she perceived as her betrayer.

“You people should have cleaned your weapons after leaving the swamp. Now they will not function, and all will fall before the might of China and its allies!” She declared triumphantly and happily cut off the Siberians air supply.

All of a sudden, everything froze in place. Only the mouse, chipmunk and Steve’s employees could move. Time seemed to have stopped in the SVR.

“I don’t know which militia you’re from, but I advise you to back down, now!” A very familiar voice said just behind Minerva.

She turned around to see it was Benita who had pointed her Socom at her at point-blanc range, ready to blow the mouse’s brains out. Because of the interference Alexander could escape and gain his breath.

“I thought you knew the rules Mina, but yet you disappoint me.” Benita stated sternly “I’m giving you one last chance to switch allegiance. If I see you turning on your comrades again, I will pull the trigger next time I intervene. Is that understood?”

Crazy Mina just nodded yes, cowering like a little girl when threatened with her life. Or maybe the puppy dog eyes where to convince Benita this was the last time.

“Good, then I suppose these aren’t needed anymore.” She stated as she removed the handcuffs with a key she had with her for no reason “I had expected you to be a better leader Alexei. This situation is also your fault.”

Minerva managed to stick out her tongue to the group leader without the game host noticing, causing Alex to be angry for once.

“Use this momentary pause to cleanse your weaponry gentlemen, especially the barrel. And reaching out through space and time I shall give back the lady what was hers.” Benita spoke and an AK-47 materialized in her hand, which she gave back to Minerva.

The crazy mouse lady pressed it against her chest and stroke it like it was her baby. While the others followed Benita’s advise and did what they could to make their guns functional again. Once time started to regain control of the game, all six where waiting in ambush for the Vietnamese fighters. A few of them ran up to them confused and one uttered something in a strange language, which only Minerva understood.

“Guess again freak show, All I care for is to see you bleed and scream in terror!” She replied in normal (accented) English.

In the following gunfight, every Vietnamese soldier that got hit disappeared into nothingness. Pixel by pixel. And afterwards, the team of captives had wiped out the enemy force without sustaining any casualties. That was Benita’s cue to reappear again to debrief.

“Well done, you actually made it. And I hope the experience you gained is enough because this was a walk in the park compared to what I got planned next.” She stated, which gave five out of six a bad feeling in the pits of their stomachs.

Once again, they all disappeared from the scene to reappear somewhere else.

 

In the South Manhattan Mercy had almost fallen asleep when she heard the rattling of keys outside her cell. She realized someone wanted to see her and sat upright as the door was unlocked and opened to reveal a guard.

“Mercy “Gorgeous” Stoneturner, I hear you have been a very bad girl.” He presumed and stepped forward.

“Who told you that?” She asked, still on the bed while the prison guard bend over to look her into the eyes.

“Your mother.” He said to her silently.

Mercy stared back defiantly and denied his accusation.

“Mommy wasn’t there. She should have seen me take care of her son! I did a better job than she ever will. I went up against the Mafia once. I am more respected than she is. She should be proud! I only harbor resentment for her because she gave me such a bad start, and now she has wrecked it once again.”

She got off her bed when the look on the guard’s face became irritated. She backed away while the guard moved forward slowly.

“You kidnapped that kid, twice! You switched sides against the mob when it was in your best interest to do so. And you are more controversial than a religious-political debate.” He said with unwavering dislike “You’re a snake, lady. But I know how to handle those!”

He dashed forward and grabbed Mercy by her shirt. He lifted her up and pressed her against the wall. She wanted to kick the brute in his netherlands, but he was quicker in punching her groin in a preemptive attack. She curled up, or at least tried to to protect herself. She was promptly hurled onto the bed again and the big guard started to tug down her skirt. She grabbed her pillow and threw it in the guard’s face which kept him busy long enough. Mercy stood up, letting her skirt drop to her ankles and jumped the corrupted guard. She clutched on to his backside and began to pummel him on the head and anywhere else she could reach. He threw her off onto the ground where she landed painfully with a thud. She grabbed the tail which lay next to her and tugged hard so the mouse it belonged to felt pain in his rearside. She rolled herself under the bed, but the prison guard grabbed her arms and pulled her out from under it again. He dropped her and himself on the bed, using his weight to make sure she couldn’t escape again. Mercy understood that if she didn’t do anything quickly, she’d end up just like Lucy. She punched her harasser’s head, who responded by placing his left hand on Mercy’s right arm, pushing himself up a bit to use his other arm to deliver a couple of crushing blows to his victim’s chest.

“Don’t you worry. The commmy secretly liked it, and so will you.” He sneered, but did not take Mercy’s left arm into account when he bend close to her again.

She jabbed him on his snout with full force, her fear had given her strength. The mouse went out like a light and fell of Mercy. She got on top of him to deliver a couple of more punches, hoping it would keep him unconscious. She then came to the point of taking revenge on him.

“And these are because of the awful things you did to Lucy!” She shouted and pummeled him some more.

She was enraged, and when she calmed down enough to search the guard for keys and other useful items she came upon a knife in one of his pockets. It certainly wasn’t used for prison duty, and was shaped to be a fighting knife, much like the one she had kept.

“I suppose you haven’t really learned your lesson yet. This will come in handy in teaching you respect for us women.” She mused forebodingly.

Once she was finished with her handiwork, she grabbed her skirt and pulled it back on while she fled. A moment later she returned however to get the keys and knife again. She slowly made her way to cell block B and sneaked inside. The guard was gone, probably to get some coffee. She unlocked the cell in which she knew Lucy was being held. She stirred the sleeping figure on the bed who moaned in protest, and weakly tried to slap the one touching her.

“It’s me, Mercy. We’re going to get out of here.” She whispered, which managed to get the rat’s attention.

Lucy looked up to see Mercy, and wondered why she was talking about ‘getting out of here’.

“We’re getting transferred?” She yawned as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

“No, I overpowered a guard and got his keys. We can make it out of here now.”

“What if we get caught?” She replied distrustfully.

“Would you rather stay here after what happened this afternoon?” Mercy argued, which did convince the rat.

Together they fled the jail and got out into the court. At one place where the razor wire on top of the wall had an opening the duo placed a number of benches, then Mercy climbed up with support from Lucy. They managed to both get over the wall and fled to a dark alley across the street. Hiding behind the garbage cans they discussed the situation.

“We did it Mercy, we got away! I can’t believe it.” Lucy whispered ecstatically.

“You’ll have to thank my mother for sending her dogs after me. The guard I knocked down was send to convey a rather expressive message, and it was also the one who terrorized you today.”

“Thank you so much. I hope now he learns we jailbirds can fight back.”

“Also, rest assured that if you are captured again by the law that particular guard will never do such a thing again to you.” Mercy informed her and handed her new friend the knife, which had traces of blood on it “Take this, so you will be able to defend yourself out there. Good luck Lucy.”

The rat took it and hugged her savior while shedding tears. She kissed Mercy on the face three times and smiled.

“From Russia, with love.” She said and ran off into the darkness.

That was all Mercy saw and smiled as well.

“Good luck finding a new life…comrade.”

 

Three of the captives of Nimul’s SVR where transported to sea, onto a Fletcher class destroyer. They where Minerva, Alexander, and Clarice.

“Clarice! Thank goodness you’re alright. I feared the Vietcong had killed you!” Alex immediately blurted out upon seeing her.

“Well I got captured by a group of them that was running from the US army. But once they had time to deal with their hostages they decided a female was no threat to them. They did not even abuse me in any way, insult my person or hurt my feelings.” She replied, a bit confused from the ordeal.

“Did they hurt any others?” Minerva asked eagerly.

Alex shot her a mean look, but Clarice found it worthwhile to answer.

“No! Well, not from what I saw. The group of survivors split up and the one with the Prisoners of War where going to take them over the border. But I got to travel with the NFL force and they sheltered me in a nearby camp. They gave me a generous ration of food and something to wear beside a uniform. They even treated the wound on my back with the medical supplies they had. I got my own hut to sleep and they behaved kinda nice considering we stand on opposite sides. I guess I misjudged them.”

“Wasn’t it all to indoctrinate you?” Alex wondered.

“I don’t think so. The group’s English speaking medic promised me they planned to have me send back to the south once they reached civilization.”

“Now you know our cause is just. We would never bombard fellow Vietnamese with napalm. Although personally I would approve of a neutron bomb.” Minerva interjected, which rubbed Clarice the wrong way.

“Shut you psycho! If I wanted your opinion I would beat it out of you. You would have ratted out those NFL fighters the moment you think you’d benefit from it!”

“Hmm, do not expect me to heal you the next time you get yourself hurt.” Minerva replied as she looked the other way.

“I wonder why you’re with us if you where taken hostage.” Alexander pondered “Maybe it is because survival is paramount in the SVR and these ‘missions’ are only set by Benita to reach the next level alive.”

Another female joined them. A mouse officer from the British army.

“Good morning. I am here under orders from Benita to brief you. It’s 6 July 1944, the hour is 0600 and we are a little off the coast of Normandy. We will soon land troops on the beach which we shall call ‘Sword’. Our only objective is driving the Germans from the surrounding area so we can capture Caen. This landing won’t be swell, so courage lad and lasses.”

With that, the officer left again. Leaving the three confused and worried. A different officer who saw them decided to put them to work.

“HEY YOU! GET IN THAT LANDING CRAFT WITH THE REST AND MOVE IT. THE OTHERS ARE ALREADY EN ROUTE TO THE BEACH!” The man shouted to be heard over the rustling of the waves and the cannons that started pounding the shores.

Not to make the man even angrier the threesome jumped into the nearby boat, but found out they weren’t alone.

“Hey that’s my neck you’re sitting on!” One soldier complained to the Russian prince.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know this seat was taken.” Alex replied whilst smiling at the man who stared irritably.

“Safe the surprise attacks for the Germans. Because I doubt we’ll get many opportunities.” Another joined in.

“Oh I hope we do catch them by total surprise. Those fiends don’t deserve better than to have their brains blown out without a last word.” The first soldier opined.

“Everybody hates the Germans.” Minerva stated to a squirrel in front of her “Bunch of colonial gate crashers, wiener chewing, beer guzzling, Luther lovin’, Mercedes hugging…” She shouted with frustration bending over the squirrel who by now had slumped down against the landing craft hull in fear.

Alex decided to safe the young lad and placed his hands on her shoulders in a soothing manner.

“Steady Mina, calm down.” He said understandingly, which helped enormously.

Two other soldiers started whispering to each other.

“Did anybody tell her that squirrel is a refugee from Bremen?” One said.

 

“Those three are getting too close!” Nimnul complained to his henchmen, sitting at a table with the five others in his laboratory “I’ve seen too many successes from my prisoners yet all of you have failed to kill at least one Rescue Ranger.”

“They are getting close to nothing. You said yourself they will be inside the SVR as long as you want.” Liquid lisped.

“I did, but after they managed to screw up the program when that mouse girl bumped into that satellite I am not so sure anymore. And the scenarios you three programmed are too full of action.” Nimnul pointed an accusing finger toward the three chipmunk ladies.

“I thought you liked a little excitement.” Christina assumed.

“Sure, but I also hope you three will stand in for the consequences if it all blows up in my face!” The nutty professor cautioned them.

“But what do we have to fear? Until now only the mouse girl knows how to disrupt the program and she won’t have the materials to do that before my sister takes control of the situation, right Amy?” Christina reassured professor Nimnul and elbowed her sister.

“Don’t do that, you do it too hard.” Amelia pleaded before getting to business “And only fate decides if I can control the situation. I have full confidence in my lord’s decision, whether that means failure to accomplish the professor’s aims or the end of the Rescue Rangers.”

“Well better pray it’s the latter because I’m not going to buy it that God was responsible if you can’t do what I told you to do. I’ve promised you three some very sensitive things and until we all are satisfied you must do as I say.” Nimnul reminded them.

“It’s precisely why I still waste my time carrying out your vendetta. And we only acknowledge you until you are satisfied, and we won’t hesitate to turn on you if you do not repay us with our respective favors.” Benita in turn repeated while slicing an apple she had taken from the fruit bowl standing on the lab table.

“What, are you threatening me!?” He angrily objected as he got off his chair and pressed his hand on the table top.

“Feel free to scream.” Benita answered with no interest.

“You know, I think it’s better if we continue focusing on these Rangers and discuss later.” Justice declared, the sooner the professor had gotten revenge to sooner they could all talk about their rewards again.

 

On Sword beach in virtual Normandy a fully loaded landing craft had banked on the shore and the hatch was being lowered. Using the nameless soldiers as living shields the three players stormed over the sands into France. A hail of bullets and explosive shells rained down on their surrounding location and the line of bunkers on the cliffs. The Atlantic wall was easily the most heavily defended shore in 1944’s Europe. But this beach, in contrast to Juno and Omaha, was a piece of cake. Minerva, Clarice and Alexander reached the foot of the cliffs, above them would be a nest of Germans who would not hesitate to shoot them on sights. This was a kill-or-be-killed situation, and that suited Minerva just fine.

“Now how do we get up and terminate those dogs?” She asked and looked up, having difficulty to see the cement bunkers above her.

“Well, we could take the paths that lead up the hill and assume it leads to the enemy base.” Alexander suggested with a sigh.

“That will be fine.” She complimented him and began to run to the road uphill.

“Keine Bewegung!” One enemy guard shouted who came running down the road but slipped when he tried to stop himself, falling over.

“I have no idea what you just said. But I advise you to back down.” Minerva warned the other mouse as she pointed her pistol at him.

“He said ‘don’t move’ if you need to know.” Alexander offered, which Minerva received quite well.

“Nice of him to warn his comrades of what to do.” She said pleasantly as she smiled back and turned back to the incompetent soldier who raised his hands, still lying on his back “Doesn’t change the fact however that your bosses are uncultured barbarians and allies to the evils of imperialism.”

“Forget your country’s enemies Mina, just disarm him and we’ll be on our way.” Alexander stated as he walked past Minerva up the hill to tie up the German.

“Fine.” She replied and took the Russian’s colt pistol from its holster “But you can call me miss Who.”

Once atop the cliff their job had become quite simple. English where now swarming toward the German positions and the three captives found their job being done for them. Bunkers where being cleared out with grenades and flame throwers. Motor vehicles hijacked to serve the Allies, stores raided and hostages taken.

“Just great.” Minerva lamented as she stood alone at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the deserted beach “We where to slow. Now these yokels will go around stealing the credit, I should have set a good example to them.”

While she was utterly displeased with finishing second to the English army, a number of said army was busy disarming an enemy soldier. This particular raven didn’t believe defeat would come to his side, even though six machineguns against one told him otherwise. The Allied soldiers didn’t really want to waste him outright, but convincing this one to lay down his weapon first was not an easy task. Like five years before, diplomacy failed, and the raven selected the first thing he saw as his target and fired his MP40 at Minerva who still had her back turned to the whole negotiations happening a number of meters away. A number of rounds cut through her attire and hit her back, stunning her and causing her to fall of the cliff. The six Allies responded, but everyone had already turned to see who was shooting. And only Alexander and Clarice immediately recognized the person falling down. There where no rock outcroppings on which Minerva could hit herself, but also nothing to stop her fall. Disbelief was all that crossed her mind as she saw the edge she had been standing on grow distant. The moment between falling and impact with the ground was the only time in which she realized that now she never would accomplish her ultimate dreams. She landed hard on the turret of a derelict tank. Her head on the hatch, body on the steel plating, and feet on the barrel which slumped down to their respective sides of the cannon as she went totally numb. She was out cold and broken. The two Colt 1911s landed beside her on the turret as well. Her two team-mates rushed down to see how she was, while most of the Allied soldiers tried to figure out what went wrong.

 

“Well, what do you think sir Hospic?” Alexander asked the Allied soldier taking care of Minerva “Is she going to live?”

“Yes, she will survive. But how is totally beyond me. I treated the bullet wounds on her back, and because she still breathes I must assume her fall was not lethal. But I am totally baffled.”

“What do you imply by that?” Clarice wondered.

 “To be blunt, she should have been dead ten times over. That cliff is many feet high, not even with godlike endurance could you survive a fall from up there.”

“But-she is still alive!” Clarice corrected him while confused.

“Indeed, but a normal person can’t life to talk about how she got her back riddled with bullets, fell from a cliff and landed on a hard surface.”

“Is this going to leave a mark?” Alex asked reluctantly, not sure if he wanted an answer.

“I can’t be sure without an expert saying so. But you must prepare to accept she broke a lot of bones, and is quite possibly permanently crippled.” The medic reported while he repacked his supplies and left them.

“How could she have survived at all?” Clarice asked out loud when the man was gone.

“I think I have a theory. We both heard Nimnul talk about an injury program that deals the same damage to the body as received in this program. But it was experimental, so not fully functional. This program is being test run, and might be just as unstable as Windows.”

“That’s so not funny.” Clarice scolded with narrowed eyes.

“Sorry, wrong moment I agree. But what I’m trying to say is that this ‘diaper’ might have been shut down, skipped a number of wounds, or malfunctioned in another way that has allowed Minerva to cheat death. If her body is functional outside the SVR, she is present here.”

“Do you mean to say she has become immortal?” Clarice asked with a flicker of hope in her voice.

“Maybe, but it’s not wise to test that. She escaped death once, but never test her luck. Understood?”

“Sure then, but wouldn’t it have made everything easier if she was unstoppable?” She reasoned.

“Indeed, but ask yourself if you want to see Minerva on a killing spree because nobody can stop her anyway. And I think it’s clear you shouldn’t let her put herself in harm’s way again.” Alexander taught her.

 

In the Dimedealer building Philip was alone in his room. Until he heard a knocking on the door. The boy really had no desire to see anyone, he just wanted to get some sleep, hard as it was. Reluctantly he walked to the door and opened it, relieved to see it was only Wendy, not his parents.

“Oh, I’m glad it’s not my mother.” He commented.

“Sure I’m not, she doesn’t ever knock. May I enter?” Wendy asked, and Philip nodded so she did.

She decided to get down to business right away and explained her visit.

“I know you don’t like being here. So I did a bit of planning. I think there’s a way to get you away from here legally, but first you must tell me with who you’d rather live.”

“Mercy of course!” Philip answered enthusiastically.

“That’s a no-no, she’s locked up. I hear your sister and Chip have something going on. Maybe he could take you in.”

“I suppose he could. What is it you’re considering?”

“To get your story out to the world. There’s enough people concerned with the rights of children to put heavy pressure on my mother. And after they hear what I got to say, they have to be stone deaf if they don’t demand that you be placed in a better environment.” She unraveled her plan.

“How do you do that?” Philip wondered doubtfully.

“I have an interview planned soon with the Mouse News Metropolitan and Animal News America League. Those are not run by my father, so it wouldn’t be censored if I where to say things that places my mother in discredit with housewives and American Dreamers.”

“I get your plan, very clever.” Philip complimented her and smiled.

“I’ll be sure to convey your message that you want to be living with Chip. He owes it to your sister to take good care of you. No matter how biased a court is, they cannot get away with ignoring a complaint about child abuse. And you can expect me to attest to Anne-Mary’s bad behavior. I wanted to get back at her a long time, and helping you away from her is going to be a great satisfaction.”

Wendy’s plan sounded very good to Philip. He knew only a little about law and order, but someone like Wendy seemed mature enough to pull him through this.

“This plan has got me all creamy already. I feel compelled to sing ‘it’s a hard knock life for us’  to the interviewers. But I have to play the part of a traumatized girl.”

They where suddenly interrupted by a voice shouting just behind the door.

“Philip! Can we talk to you?” Dimedealer’s voice.

“Uh ow.” Wendy exclaimed and ran for the closet in which she hid.

The door opened without Philip giving his consent. His mother and stepfather entered.

“Philip, we just heard some news we thought you might find interesting.” Mr. Dimedealer started.

“The news just reported that the Rescue Rangers have gone missing. They where last seen at the court case, and after that a few times by random citizens.” Anne-Mary forwarded the news to her son, who took a really bad.

“That’s terrible!” Seeing how Wendy’s plan was partly ruined, and that his father-figure was in danger.

“What’s worse is that the chief of police expects help from everyone to get them back. I pay the state taxes for my own safety, not so they can conspire with rogue agents who steal from humans and don’t give a penny for our economy and government. The chief must be plain mad if he thinks he can do what he thinks is moral.”

“How can you say that? If it wasn’t for the Rescue Rangers this city was in chaos!” Philip protested outraged.

“Police and military can take care of crime organizations, not five amateurs with some crude garbage tools.”

“You just don’t understand it do you? This city would have been razed to the ground ten times over without the Rangers, and there are six of them!” Philip pressed on.

“Don’t raise your voice like that to your own father! Those people are trying to KILL us, or else they wouldn’t have brought back those cats after they disappeared.” Dimedealer tried to reason, but he knew almost nothing of the Rescue Rangers’ accomplishments while Philip did.

“Then what do you think destabilized all those buildings? Or what kidnapped so many mice? And why was the entire city on a swing tour? The Rescue Rangers could tell you who did that, and you’re not my father!” Philip countered on the verge of screaming.

“You don’t talk that way about your mother’s husband!” Philip’s mother intervened “And I sure don’t have the answers to all those questions, but would not be surprised if the Rescue Rangers made a show out of it to suit their egos.”

“I don’t want you to be my mother! I want Mercy to be that and Chip Maplewood for a father! You are the worst parents I could ever get!” Philip cried, causing his mother serious psychological harm once more.

And when Anne-Mary Dimedealer was having psychological pain, the logical part of her just disappeared to leave her psychopathic. And that always led to beatings and other forms of bad treatment. In this case Philip received a slap in the face that almost knocked him down. He was now really tense, nervous and ready to execute any unreasonable plan that came to his mind. And the first thing he could think of and thus did was hitting his mother hard in the gut, then biting her right hand and scratching at her waist, tearing her dress apart. Anne-Mary was to shocked too retaliate, she wasn’t used to it that her children fought back. And she never had seen this young, virtuous kid as someone who could fight back. Before Mr. Dimedealer could interfere Philip raced out the open door into the hall. And before his two parents could chase him Wendy had come out of hiding, grabbed the carpet the two where standing on and pulled it out from under them when they attempted to get Philip. She knew now she’d be in trouble with them both, for helping their runaway kid and sneaking into his room, but if Philip could be free she gladly faced her punishment. And she was overjoyed to do this for her favorite sister as a service and cause some of her own mischief in the process. Philip ran down the hallways trying to navigate his way to an elevator. He was almost certain that his parents would catch him if he didn’t get there soon, but in the evening most of the employees of the Dimedealer family where off home. He finally found one ready and waiting for a passenger and entered it. He rapidly pressed the ground button and wished the doors would close sooner. His two parents came around a corner and saw him just before the door started closing. They sprinted toward the elevator, and Philip thought he wouldn’t make it. His mother leaped forward to get inside the elevator. Philip saw how the doors shut at last and his mother disappeared from view. A loud clunk testified that Anne-Mary had unknowingly launched herself headfirst against the door, and on the other side of the door she felt it. The elevator was now on its way down, and Anne-Mary saw no option beside running down the stairs quicker than the elevator, which she could never accomplish.

“I’ll override the elevator control.” Derrick offered, but he was met with a negative reply.

“No! I don’t trust him with that elevator! You will not tamper with it while my son is in it!”

Dimedealer saw no other option, but remembered in time his security systems. There was an intercom he could use to warn employees. He quickly returned to his office to get to his microphone. He turned it on and clicked some switches before speaking.

“Everybody, there is a child on the loose. He’s bespectacled, wears a blue shirt with red horizontal line and is my wife’s son. Whoever catches him will not have his salary lowered. Make sure he won’t come to any harm! Orders from the boss in person.” He warned, then rejoined his wife.

Dimedealer didn’t notice someone else creeping into his office when he left it unlocked and in a hurry.

“Can we go search for him now?” Anne-Mary asked impatiently when she saw her husband return.

“There is a number of elevators somewhere else on this floor we can take. Your son is going nowhere with everyone on the alert.” He assured while he and his wife left the place in search for Philip.

The boy himself also heard the warning, and made it a point to maneuver to the exit as stealthily as possible. There weren’t as many workers on the ground floor as on the others, but there where quite a number of people who did not work for Derrick Dimedealer and there was no way to tell if they would turn him over to his stepfather. He got very close to the doors that led outside. But the hall was filled with people doing business. There was no way for him to escape this way without being noticed. But suddenly the PA system came to life again, this time it was playing music for some insane reason. A very dark song that would have ‘Gothic’ written all over it filled the halls, rooms and offices of the entire Dimedealer building, confusing everyone inside the commercial building. After some time the volume decreased and a voice filled the speakers, one that Philip identified as Wendy’s.

“Hey (censored)-holes! I hope you like this music, because I don’t!  Wanna hear a joke? What does a cannibalistic neo-Goth eat for breakfast? Hammond’s organs!”

Wendy’s crazy comments stupefied everyone who listened, but Philip understood she was trying to help him escape, and made a mad dash for the exit while she continued cracking jokes.

“A neo-Goth and a psycho clown meet at the train station. The clown says: you’re not a happy person are you?”

Philip reached the door, and he noticed he did when he felt his chin connect with it. He struggled to get it open and escape. Meanwhile his mother had noticed him and pushed aside everyone in her path while she ran to catch up with her son. Philip opened and closed the big door just in time to get away, and Mrs. Dimedealer slammed into it just as it closed. She rubbed her nose while she pushed the heavy door open again and gave chase. But Philip was much faster than she had ever imagined, and she chased him through many streets until they reached a less desirable area of New York where someone like Anne-Mary dared not venture alone. She gave up, because she knew that in these darkly slums she was a prime target for muggers and scum. She abandoned Philip in the criminal neighborhoods to fend for himself and returned to the safety and luxury of the Dimedealer building. She’d call the police to let them do the dirty work.

 

In the surreal reality of Nimnul’s design the Rangers and their friends where at the fun fair licking their wounds. Mandy, Ans and Gus where wounded. Chip was losing himself. Dale was wondering why his friend no longer seemed to be able to respond positively to anything.

“Guys, we have to proceed.” Geegaw suddenly announced, conjuring up questioning looks and confusion directed all at him.

“Why should we? Aren’t we in bad shape as it is?” Steve argued.

“I know, but we would all benefit from it if we could find a hospital. We’re not going to find one here. We need to get out of the SVR.”

“Isn’t it clear to you yet that we can’t?” Ans reasoned a bit agitated.

“But we can! Gadget knows we can escape if only we proceed. She’s thinking of a way to cripple this virtual reality, but we must find an opportunity, and it won’t come to us unless we continue.”

“Then you go. We’ll stay and take care for ourselves.” Steve stood up for his family, but more so for himself because he feared what else could happen.

“No way, if we go we go together.” Dale argued as well.

“Tell me how a three wounded, a paranoiac and a pregnant woman could help you and we will.” Steve offered, to which Dale did not have an answer.

“We can’t just abandon you here! Not in this place.” Chip protested “You five don’t stand a chance if some creep decides to come and get you. Only we stand a chance against Nimnul’s craziness, and even we might not be up to the task of saving you all.”

“He’s right, we can’t stay behind.” Ans joined in “Just because I’m out of actions doesn’t mean I want to sit here and wait for the end. I want to continue to see whatever is in store for us through.”

“But-” Her son tried, and was met by his mother’s stern gaze.

“I hate it when I have to go against you Steve but I’m telling you to stop being a chicken and let us go.”

Steve had no choice but to give in now. He didn’t get much support for his idea and he did realize staying behind would not be wise.

“In that case, start the attraction Monty. We’ll see where it takes us.” Chip ordered.

“Right-o lad!” The mouse saluted and ducked into the control booth again.

In a few pushes of buttons and turning of switches “The Passion Of The Holy Water Slide” came to life again and boats traveled the water course again. All got in one boat, with Chip and Monty helping their injured friends with entering. Naturally, Dale was in the front, but he never considered the fact that whatever danger awaited them would befall the ones in the front first. It was a bit of a tight fit, because those boats where designed for nine passengers. Chip, Dale and Monty sitting in the front. Gadget in the middle with Mandy, Ans and Gus. Leaving Steve, Flora and Geegaw to the back. This suited the cowardly nightclub owner just fine, this way he’d be less likely to spot anything gruesome without getting a warning in advance from the people up front. In the time it took for the boat to leave the station an eternity passed for the occupants who where expecting anything to happen. The boat went down into a tunnel, picking up speed and made a turn at the end of the downhill slope. After the turn it immediately went down again. Gadget started to wonder how a fun fair attraction could go underground like this, but dismissed that because this wasn’t the world as they knew it. As the course level straight again and the boat slid to a slower pace again it send water flying in all directions. As they where confronted with the first scene in this ride they figured it was a very personalized place. It depicted Amelia shortly after birth, being taken care of by a hospital nurse. The display wasn’t a photo, movie or animatronics work. It looked very real, except for the fact neither the nurse or the baby reacted to the boatload traveling by. Gadget’s only explanation was this was a Pepper’s Ghost used on the stage, that being the hospital nursery. To Chip it looked just like in his dream. For a moment the scene seemed to be more than a projection as child and nurse turned toward the visitors, but the moment was similar to the photograph that appeared in newspaper years ago. The triplets’ birth had received quite much media coverage. The next scene displayed her arguing with a couple of schoolboys. Because the excerpts where muted nobody heard what it was about. But from seeing that one boy pushed her down and from Amelia’s angry expression and remark it was clear she was being pestered in this scene. The next scene was about a college graduation and Amelia held a diploma of her own. Without a warning the boat tilted downward and slid down the track and accelerated very fast. All felt funny in their stomach  and there seemed no end to the descend. The darkness of the tunnel only had more downward water track in store for them. Dale, Ans, Flora and Steve started to scream or whimper. But the Rescue Ranger only did so because he was enjoying this. Thus it took a few tries for Geegaw to get their attention.

“Guys. Guys, don’t look back now. But we’re being followed by a scaly monster.”

Everyone else did despite Geegaw’s words to see they where indeed chased by a flying, green, horned, snakelike creature.

“Wow, it’s a dragon! How did that get in here?” Dale cried in amazement.

“Do you mind if I don’t try to explain that? Because I think it is intent on killing us!” Gadget pointed out “If only I had some tools, then I could prevent it from getting us.”

Everyone started to search their pockets for anything that Gadget could use. Mandy was a bit startled when she realized she was doing so as well, and that it was not pointless of her to do.

“I got my clothes back!” She let out in amazement.

“But you where stark naked when you entered this place.” Gus recalled.

“Would you mind sorting that out later? Maybe it’s just the program’s failure.” Gadget offered, because she needed something to work with immediately.

“Yes! I still have it!” Mandy cried triumphantly and held up the spray can with cream.

Ans had a scolding expression on her face, which caused Mandy to duck her head. But Ans knew that Mandy’s spray can might be the solution to their problem.

“Great, give it to me!” Gadget ordered which Mandy did.

The mouse lady got in the back and took careful aim, pressing one eye shut. Her years as a Rescue Ranger had given her excellent marksmanship skills. Combined with the lightning calculator in her head it was no trouble for her to draw a bead on the big monster and figure out the right angle. She pressed the trigger with one finger and a stream of the white goop shot out which hit the green fire-spewing reptile right in its face.

“Here Gadget! I still got a party balloon.” Dale offered and held out the objects to her.

Gadget looked a bit puzzled, and not because she didn’t know of a way to utilize it against the dragon.

“Dale, that is no balloon.” She pointed out, which made the chipmunk blush.

Chip looked rather annoyed and envious at him, having a good idea why Dale was carrying it along.

“Honestly, it’s not mine!” He defended himself, not that it was worth believing.

Given the high integrity of the rubbery object Gadget managed to blow to enormous size, until it almost filled the tunnel. She then released it and the escaping air propelled it backward. The balloon plowed into the dragon and pushed it back a couple of meters before the monster regained control of the situation. The inflated thing was still blocking his vision and he could hardly get past. As the balloon decreased in size however, the dragon wriggled past and gave chase again.

“Darn, running out of objects here.” Gadget cursed, then caught sight of something ahead in the tunnel.

She leaned outside the boat, something prohibited by worldwide safety regulations. She almost fell out doing so, but she was someone who took danger with a grain of salt. She grabbed hold of some loose wallpaper and ripped it off, then held it out and threw it over the dragon, again making it lose sight of its prey and limiting movement. But once the dragon got free, Gadget was out of material to use.

“Do something luv!” Monty shouted, using his hands to paddle.

“Wait, why didn’t I think of that sooner!” She let out as she retrieved her pepper grenade from her pocket.

With a well-aimed throw she hurled it in the dragon’s direction. Unfortunately it caught to stun grenade with its mouth and swallowed it with one audible gulp.

“Golly! It really is hungry.” Gadget commented and stood perplexed.

But the effect was still there. The dragon became teary eyed, smoke protruded from its nose holes, its breath became uncontrolled. It started coughing flames, but whether it was the hot chili pepper Gadget added or its own ability was unclear. Soon, it was no longer in any condition to pursue the Rescue Rangers and their friends.

“That takes care of that.” Steve dismissed with relief and wiped his forehead, then turned around to see he celebrated too soon.

The lively nightclub manager covered the eyes of his wife who sat down straight again, who was irritated by this.

“Believe me, you don’t want to see this.” He warned her in advance, which was not enough for her.

Flora pushed down Steve’s arm to see what he was seeing, and had to agree she could have done without this sight. The end of the track was in sight. Their boat would soon be launched off a ramp, and even Gadget’s quick thinking could do nothing to change the situation.

“Grab yer chutes mates, ‘n don’t forget yer vomit bags!” Monty cried as he crushed the rail he was holding on to with his strength.

The boat ended its descend, and after the ramp launch it began to ascend. But after what felt like a minute the boat tilted down and again it was going down. There was no more water course, there was no tunnel, the entire ride was replaced with blackness.

“Mom, dad, don’t mourn for long when I’m a goner. And grandma, I’ll visit you soon.” Dale stated with his hands folded.

Ahead of them, the ten could see the ground drawing closer. Numerous sharp, shiny, long spikes where all over the floor, ready to impale them. Without a warning the boat was jolted upward and flew upward.

They looked around and behind them could see the dragon again. It had caught the rear of the boat with its huge mouth and flew them to safety. Whether it was to eat them in peace they occupants didn’t know.

“Don’t tell me you all gave up on miracles.” They could hear the huge serpent say.

“Amelia?” Chip asked when he immediately recalled the voice.

“You are an enlightened chipmunk. But let’s not stay in this scenario for eternity.” She said and with a swirl of energy they all disappeared, including the boat.

Upon re-emergence, the Rescue Ranger could see they where still sitting in the boat. But the Nutcracker family was gone. The dragon in front of them transformed with a graceful swirl into the lady chipmunk they recognized as Amelia again.

“And now it is just us seven.” She said with a smile which discomforted the Rangers.

 

Minerva recovered her senses, but felt her head was throbbing, and suspected it was a headache. She was once again dressed in only her undershirt and her hair was a mess. She sat upright to asses the situation and discovered she was in an ambulance with her two team-members. But she could not feel any pain anywhere, not even the headache she thought she had. This raised the question why she was even transported this way. She looked to the side and was met by Clarice’s gaze.

“Could you explain why I transported like this?” She asked while trying to wake up “Wait I start to remember. I stand on cliff, then fall off and gunfire. Was dishonorable German raven! He pay must with he life!” She let out enraged, wide awake instantly.

“He was shot after that. You’re left with a stain on your reputation.” Alexander explained her.

“Stupid Brits! Me should kill all, they get in my way.” She lamented while she reorganized her hair “Where we going?”

“This ambulance is headed for Caen. The main invasion force wants to take the city.” Clarice briefed her.

“And they take ambulances for siege?” The other girl asked incredulous.

A loud explosion outside blocked out any reply she might get. The three peeked outside the ambulance to see the British army was engaged in a battle with German tanks. Everyone tried to blow the other side apart.

“I don’t think they have the decency to hold their fire against an ambulance.” Alex commented and ducked inside again “What now? Do we even have the means to fight back against armored vehicles?”

“I didn’t study at Beijing for years and no learn demolition!” Minerva announced who was still looking around the battlefield before jumping out and running toward one of the trucks the Germans had missed.

She entered, and after a few moments jumped out with a backpack, satchel and small bags attached to her body and a set of grenades.

“She’s going to blow herself up!” Clarice exclaimed incredulously.

“She won’t, it just doesn’t seem like her to get suicidal.” Alex denied “Although, she does seem to be unable to grasp the real threat our enemies pose to us.”

Minerva ran toward an approaching tank and hid in a small hole. When it passed she got out and pulled the pin out of one of her grenades.

“Hope they like shot-putting, because I do!” She whispered as she hurled the grenade through the backside view port with perfect accuracy.

A few shouts, screams and an explosion later the lumbering hulk of a tank stopped moving and began to emit smoke. Minerva immediately moved on to eliminate the next one that was approaching the battlefront. She stopped at a hollow tree and shoved a bunch of explosives in it.

“IRA would be proud!” She predicted with a smile and walked backwards to a bush while laying a fuse.

She set down the detonator, waited for the tanks to pass the tree, then pushed down the handle. The explosion pushed the giant armored vehicle over so it was standing on its turret. With that one taken care of as well, Minerva used the toppled tank as another cover. Another tank was approaching, and the two remaining grenades she had retrieved she rolled in its path. She put her fingers in her ears and when her grenades exploded, she had effectively crippled that tank as well. She moved between the wreckages to see another tank that had parked in the middle of the battlefield and the turret gunner was making sure no British would move to approach with their puny grenades. She whistled to get the German’s attention who looked around to see Minerva. She threw a bundle of explosives at him with a fuse attached to them. The gunner caught them with both hands then inspected his catch. Minerva drew her detonator and pressed. Another explosion and scrap metal was flung in random directions.

“Sayonara scumbags.” Minerva commented nastily as she dusted herself off and assessed the damage she had dealt.

She had just handed out some real damage to the 21^st tank division of Germany, and set the example to the British she had hoped for. To her, this was the best comeback she could have wished for. Allied soldier where regrouping and followed her example by engaging the remaining force with their launch tubes. But it was quite certain the Germans didn’t have the resolve to keep going with the loss of four tanks in a short time. Alexander and Clarice ran up to her, having come out of hiding.

“That was the most reckless and suicidal operation I’ve seen in my life!” The Russian thundered “I liked it!”

“Heh, like Chinese new-year firework.” She responded.

“That’s worth a medal of honor just for the show.” An all too familiar voice added in.

The three turned their heads to see Benita approach them.

“If this could rewrite history, Caen would have fallen in the next few hours. But now you’ll get a chance to really impress me, not that you will.” She promised and made their team disappear.

 

Mercy was in danger. She was chased by every policeman who saw her wearing a prison uniform and her attempts to escape capture had led her all the way to China Town. She jumped and climbed over a wooden fence to escape another patrol that spotted her crossing the illuminated streets and landed in a back alley. Her attackers where too lazy or too bulky to climb over as well and ran around the block to get to her. Mercy knew they’d find their way to her soon because she had already spotted two entryways to her position. A little further she spotted a very welcome looking heavy iron door of some club or bar and decided to knock on it. She knew this area was run by the cat criminals who styled themselves as the Siamese Twins. Every public meeting place was under their protection here and every single bar owner gladly played along with their organization for the extreme kick it gave to mess with the AP. Her bonking on the door was answered by a black, slightly fat feline with a blue shirt and a bowler hat.

“Ah, I see. Come in.” He said, without giving Mercy a moment to explain her situation.

She just dismissed it as her uniform being an obvious message that she needed shelter. Of course the Siamese Twins never helped someone without expecting something in return, and neither did those who followed them. But Mercy knew she could work out an agreement with the man who ran this establishment. Like ‘convincing’ her boyfriend Chip it was unnecessary to get in the way of the gang of Chinatown. The cat led her around to the back of the club and he started to explain her some things.

“I bet you’re here for the fight. You’ll get hundred dollar for winning, and twenty in case you’re knocked out. No use of weapons, that’s about the only rule we have here.”

“Huh!? Wait I didn’t come here to fight, just to escape some cops!” She explained hastily.

“Oh, so you’re not even here to watch? My bad then.” The cat apologized then resumed “Nevertheless we need a second combatant and our audience would love to see Mercy Stoneturner get a beating or put one over on her enemy. So just play along.” He offered while he grabbed Mercy.

“No! Let go of me!” She cried and tried to push the cat’s paws off her.

The thug just carried her over to the fighting stage under his arms while not paying attention to Mercy’s fierce protests.

“Get your hands off of me you goon! I’m not going to fight for your prize fighting ring!”

“You’ll think of that differently when Jack starts pummeling you in the face.” The cat replied as he entered the cage, dropped his recruit on the floor and left the stage, locking the door behind him.

Mercy knew this was going to be another one of those moments of serious pain and humiliation. Her opponent was a grey rat wearing a white shirt and black leather jacket. She knew that this was a lost fight because she was not even half as strong as her opponent. Shouts and insults where flown across the club by the crowd watching them, and Mercy didn’t feel very welcome amongst these people. A bell ringed which drew Mercy’s attention back to the fight. Her opponent crossed the distance between them and lifted her up to his face by her shirt. She was then flung over his shoulder and crashed in the middle of the ring. Before she could get to her feet the rat had planted his foot on her back and denied her the chance to stand again. He put all his weight on her back, which caused her some crushing pain to her chest. When he stopped his crush for a moment, Mercy took advantage of that by rolling to her left so she was right under her attacker. This gave her an opportunity for a cheap shot which she took. The audience winced empathetically as her fist connected and Mercy recovered while the rat was stunned. She made a foot sweep while getting up so the rat fell to the floor. But her opponent recovered quickly grabbed her quickly. He turned around and ran her into the bars of the cage. Mercy responded by grabbing hold of a horizontal bar above her and kicking the rat’s chin which send him backwards a bit. Mercy climbed up against the cage’s wall to escape the brute below, who walked back a little without letting his eyes off Mercy a bit. Two of Jack’s accomplices who watched the fight from the sidelines wondered if that was to make sure she didn’t gain a tactical advantage or because Jack was admiring the view. The faint smile on the rat’s face would have been enough for the two chipmunk knaves to decide. Mercy was considering how to use her height advantage and literally jumped at the opportunity she was given. She launched herself at Jack who was too shocked by her sudden move to defend. Mercy grabbed him, flipped him over with a complicated maneuver and manipulation of physics so Jack landed hard on his back and Mercy a lot more gently. At this moment she was more than thankful she had spend so much time with Philip playing ‘Meet Fighter Omega’ and even losing to him playing as Torre la Vega. With the crowd cheering, she relaxed thinking she had won the fight. But when Jack placed his foot on her chest she was convinced otherwise and panicked. He spun around on his foot to face her, grinding his heel into her torso more. Once the two could see each other’s face again he stomped his foot on her again and Mercy tried to curl up under the impact. Mercy scratched at Jack’s leg with her claws to try get him off. He pulled back his leg, but while Mercy crawled back up he grabbed the back of her skirt and lifted her in the air. The elastic pressed against her abdomen and she lost her balance, falling forward and landing face-first on the floor. Jack dismissed the piece of clothing he was left holding to the hollering crowd and grabbed Mercy’s right leg on lifted her from the floor. He stood holding his opponent upside down for a moment then turned and threw Mercy away. She crashed with her back into the cage wall again and slid down and landed on her bottom quite hard. Jack looked like he was already feeling victories, and Mercy was starting to get enough of it that this rat was toying with her. She dashed at the rat who was being too overconfident and delivered a hard punch to his jaw. One of his loose teeth popped free and he stumbled backward. Mercy followed up with a kick to his chest and used her momentum to hit the rat in the face a second time. She pressed his face down and kneed him in his head twice, then hit him on the back of his head with her fist. She could feel the rat go numb and when she let him go he fell to the floor unconscious. The cat entered to make sure if Jack was down and counted from five to zero. On the last second the rat moved, but could not get to his feet on time to prevent Mercy’s victory.

“Mercy Stoneturner is tonight’s winner!” The cat shouted and held up her arm in triumph.

The crowd cheered, but Mercy wasn’t convinced that it was because they wanted her to win. The cat led her out of the cage and back to the iron door to let her out.

“We hope to see you here again soon.” He smiled as he pressed hundred dollars in her hands and respectfully let her go and closed the door.

“Well don’t count on it!” She thought as she gave herself a look over.

Mercy didn’t feel well, but this was not the time to be wimpy. She ran out of the alley and bumped into someone at the corner. Both of them landed on their behinds.

“Watch where you’re going!” She exclaimed before she could see who it was she bumped into.

Philip didn’t see who he had ran into because his glasses had fell off. He felt around until he found them and put them on his nose. Although his spectacles where smudged from lying on the filthy alley floor, he could immediately make out the face of the other person.

“Mercy!” He shouted in surprise.

“Someone might hear us! Ssh!” She warned him while placing her index finger to her mouth.

She then grabbed her brother and took him in a crushing embrace.

“It’s nice to see you to little brother. Are you doing fine?”

“Not that well, I think I busted my ankle when I ran into you.” He admitted honestly.

“That’s no problem, I am already glad that we escaped both from our oppressors.” Mercy admitted warmly “Now let’s get to a safe haven to calm down.”

Mercy pulled him to his feet, then pulled off the prison shirt she was still wearing. She wasn’t accustomed to stripping down to her fur with people present but Philip seeing her naked didn’t bother her and she couldn’t go around in prison clothes, it was more likely to attract attention than to go all natural. She dumped the thing in the dumpster next to them, then sneaked into the back area of a nearby apartment. There was a clothes line on the ground floor belonging to the person who lived there. She pulled off one jacket and a parka. She put on the latter and made Philip wear the other.

“It’s to make sure we aren’t recognized.” She explained while zipping the jacket up.

“But-” Philip said, trying to protest her act of stealing.

Mercy placed the money she had received from the cat in a pocket of a sweater that also hung on the clothes line, which was good enough for Philip.

“Come on, let’s get going.” She said as she led her brother out of the alley.

 

Chief Rensen was on the phone talking to one of his colleagues. He had received an urgent call from the South Manhattan prison.

“Escaped you say? One mutilated guard and two prisoners missing.” He repeated.

The warden who was speaking to him sounded rather annoyed, especially because he had found an excellent time spot to archive some files until the alarm was sounded.

“May I ask why that guard was in her cell in the first place?” The chief asked, and for a long time he got no reply.

“Yeah, jailbreak is a jailbreak. Gotcha.” He agreed mockingly “Sure I’ll get as many patrols as possible to look for miss Stoneturner.”

He put the horn on the receiver then contacted one of the patrols.

“Patrol 56, you’re in the southern part of the island right? You can return to the precinct and go home. Why? Well we need the car for the annual check-up. I remember several complaints about the sirens of brakes not functioning. Dismissed.” The chief finished and then prepared to contact another patrol. “Number 3? Yes, you need to go to Brooklyn, we have a report of some disturbance on the other side of the bridge. Yes I know it’s a fair distance, but there are not enough patrols in the area to do so now. Good, and step on it.”

 

Clarice, Alexander and Minerva materialized on an obstacle course of an army base, and Benita on the other side by a barracks. It made the three wonder if the chipmunk hostess had considered going back to the basics after their adventures on the beach and in the tropics. The military girl pressed a button on a terminal that was attached to the wall of the nearby building, which turned on a speaker that was close to them.

“Welcome again, to what I intend to be the last level.” Benita’s voice sounded over the speaker so she could be heard throughout the entire camp “As a favor to my boss I’ll personally see to it that you three will not proceed any further! Although I must say I loved the show, he thinks you are becoming a nuisance and must be obliterated. So if one of you where to die, It will be long overdue. On purpose, you three are all unarmed and stripped of your personal belongings to-”

“Oh no! She’s right!” Clarice affirmed when she saw she wasn’t even wearing her dress.

She attempted to cover herself, but had nothing to do that with. Alexander and Minerva weren’t as modest.

“Don’t be silly, it’s not like you’re a human.” Alexander reminded her.

“Even though outdated decency code says otherwise.” Minerva added.

“-and unable to cause damage. Please don’t interrupt when I speak, thank you. I have a long range rifle and the ability to use it with skill. To make this hunt somewhat fun I have this obstacle course here so you can hide and I can maneuver to get a clear view. If you die, you lose. If I die, then it could only be of boredom. By the way, if it’s really that important to you Clarice, you can get your dress back because from what I’ve seen I doubt you could lift a finger against me anyway even if not frozen in place by a sense of modesty. You know, I’ll let Minerva have her shirt as well and Alexis his casual wear. It wouldn’t matter anyway.”

In an instant the clothes reappeared on the threesome’s bodies. Clarice checked herself from her back to her hands and over.

“Well, it just feels finer.” She mused as she tapped her head and checked her shoulder to notice she had her hat and boa back to.

“If she can, why cannot I have back my stuff!?” Minerva inquired enviously.

“Because, my dear lady, I know your suit is made out of hard leather and that could stop the bullets I’ll be sending your way.” Benita replied over the loudspeaker.

“How come you can hear us all over there?” Alexander wanted to know.

“It all has to do with this control terminal I’m using. But enough chitchat, get running before I can get a clear shot.” She warned and turned around to aim her sniper rifle at the three in front of her.

Quickly, the three dashed toward the sandbag wall that could give them cover. But their feelings of safety where only temporary.

“Oh, I’ll just get up into that watchtower and shoot them from there.” Benita shouted, obviously trying to give them a fair chance at survival.

Minerva left the safety of the sandbag wall and a moment later Alexander as well who dragged Clarice along by her wrist.

“Wait are you crazy!?” She protested, but she stopped talking when she saw Alexander was trying to drag her into a mud pit.

She took a deep breath before she was laying with Minerva and Alex in the dirt. For Benita it was hard to hit her prey when they where submerged and unseen. She decided to wait until the three came out of hiding again; they could not stay underwater forever. But when they did she was unprepared. Minerva, followed by Alexander and Clarice crawled into a cement tunnel to anticipate their next move.

“My clothes! They’re ruined!” Clarice complained.

“They’re worth less than your life.” Alexander hissed back.

“Well it wasn’t my idea to get stuck in this hell hole, excuse me.” She remarked nastily.

“Spare me your whining! We need to escape this madness and the quicker the better.” Alexander pointed out.

“If I can get to control terminal, I can learn about SVR and perhaps hack it to shut down virtual reality.” Minerva whispered as a suggestion.

“Sounds good, but someone has to occupy Benita for the time being.” Alexander alerted them.

From the way Clarice was looking at him, it seemed clear to him he was going to have to do that. Benita was no longer up inside the tower, but had come down and was approaching the crawling tunnels. Alexander dashed out, jumped in the mud ditch, making sure to splash around enough for Benita to hear him. He then hid behind a log wall.

“Ah, I see you are running in fear Alexei. Soon you’ll understand why.” She predicted and slowly moved away from the tunnels to get to Alexander.

Clarice and Minerva crawled out and run toward the barrack where Minerva tried to access the terminal. It was a keyboard and small monitor attached to the wall and Minerva scrolled through the menu to the words ‘Exit Program’. She pressed enter when it was highlighted, then cursed when it asked for a codeword.

“No choice than to hack it.” She told Clarice and started to type commands to try override Nimnul’s SVR.

“Gotcha!” Benita declared triumphantly as she put her sniper rifle against Alex’s head, who was still crouched behind the log fence.

“Very good, but maybe you should also pay attention to that control panel and my fellow prisoners.” He countered smugly.

“What, how do you mean?” She asked and turned around to see the two others at the terminal “No! Stop that!” Benita protested and aimed her rifle at them.

But Alexander jumped her and held her in place.

“Keep your hand to yourself!” She shouted in anger and struggled to get loose.

“I found password for terminating program!” Minerva declared happily and began typing again.

“NO! I have to succeed in my mission!” Benita cried and thrust the butt of her rifle in the Russian’s face which caused him to let her go.

She then aimed her sniper rifle and pulled the trigger just as Minerva finished typing the keyword and pressing enter.

 

“Golly, what is this place?” Gadget was the first to ask, trying to drink in her surroundings.

“That should be obvious, even for you. We are inside a church, as I chose. It’s a simulated sanctuary.” Amelia explained and allowed her six captives to view the place.

The interior design suggested it was a Catholic or Anglican church, the architecture was clearly gothic. Several leaded windows allowed sunlight to enter the building without showing the outside world, but still displayed some impressive images. Candles on standards provided illumination. There where of course many benches and an altar at the back.

“Why do I get the feeling we ain’t safe in this house?” Monty wondered and cringed.

“Speaking of safety, what happened to the Nutcracker family?” Chip demanded with urgency, hoping for Amelia’s sake they weren’t in trouble.

“I left them in the care of my sister. Like they where intended to be. Unfortunately, the tampering of that inventor defiled this already unholy reality.” Amelia replied while pointing an accusing finger at Gadget, speaking about her occupation with loathing.

“Golly, you can’t hold it against me that I want to find a way out. I’m just trying to safe my friends.” Gadget defended herself.

“Don’t suggest that you are innocent, you witch! I’m everything that you are not.” Amelia interrupted, then turned around and walked up to the altar while continuing “You took it upon yourself to defy what is right and behave like you where a man! You use your mind for science, without grasping the truth about self-destructive your path is! Your tinkering would not even be justifiable if you where indeed of a different gender. Remember that it was science that brought the A-bomb and it’s evils to earth. Innovation that spawned Nietzsche’s philosophies. Free thought that made people skeptical about religion.”

“Well, I wasn’t saying I am pure of conscience.” Gadget countered meekly.

“The reason you aren’t is because of the example set by the first living being to receive the female sex. All of us girls are the children of the woman who first sinned and seduced her companion to do the same. We all want to bask in ungodliness and get our male comrades to do the same. I seem to be the only person to understand and act against it. A woman’s place is behind her man, and her purpose to bring more souls into this world. You not only seem to think of yourself as better than men, but even independent from them.” Amelia ranted and climbed upon the altar.

“Quite sophisticated sense o’ right and wrong that lass got.” Monty said to Geegaw.

“I bet she isn’t very popular in feminist circles.” He replied.

“Hold it.” Chip interfered “If you say that Gadget is without rights because she’s a woman you are discriminating against yourself to.”

“Do you think that I will let that prevent me from being righteous?” She demanded to know as she twirled around to face him “I pity you! You are unenlightened, and so is everyone else who does not follow the laws set by the holy book. It is better for me to serve during my earthly life, than to burn my eternal life. If it is my duty to only obey my future husband to redeem myself for being sinful by nature, so be it. And all I try is to make it clear to all.”

“Golly! I mean, sure you can live your life like that if you want, just do what you feel is right. But you shouldn’t enforce your will on others and say you are ‘protecting them’ because that is tyranny! I like inventing and science, so I should be able to pursue my hobby for the sake of freedom.” Gadget objected.

“And there is a lot of things science and innovation accomplished. Like blood transfusion, the invention of railway trains, space research.” Chip stood up for his teammate “There’s no reason why we should stop trying to unlock new secrets, we might just discover the secrets of life itself.”

“Hah, to think people need science to explain something already clear to us. Men in their arrogance claim to understand the nature of creation, and device elaborate theories to describe its behavior. But always they discover in the end that God was quite a bit more clever than they thought.” Amelia dismissed “But I have enough of this religious skepticism. I have been asked to obliterate your group, and your godless vigilantism will end here!” Amelia declared, and turned her back to them.

She walked up to a statue at the back of the altar. The praying angel leaning on a sword came to life as Amelia approached it, presented it’s blade to the lady which she accepted, and the statue returned to its inanimate state.

“Am I hallucinating?” Monty asked in surprise.

“Of course not, this is the SVR as you should remember.” The fanatic woman said with annoyance in her voice.

“Wait, why are you doing this? Why would you kill us for being ‘godless vigilantes’ and work for a scientist?” Chip asked, hoping it could somehow lead to Amelia reconsidering her hypocritical allegiance to what she considered a faithless intellectual.

“Because I can hit two birds with one stone. After this is over I will take this SVR from him even if it means I’ll have to kill him. It has its uses, although Nimnul doesn’t realize it. To him it is a mere torture device. To me this is the harbinger of orthodoxy. It can convert many souls to the true path and safe millions! Of course, knowing your history, your misguided ideals would certainly cause us to cross paths so I consider this fate that you die before you can stop me from achieving my victory for Christianity.”

“To right we will stop you! What you’re planning is brainwashing plain ‘n simple.” Monty shouted.

“Then I would like to know how you intend to stop me. It is thanks to that fool Norton that I am immortal.” Amelia reminded him with a bemused smile, leaning on the sword she had retrieved.

“You’ll enslave the world when you put Dale Oakmont to the sword. I wish you good luck in that.” Dale challenged as he ran up to a nearby standing suit of armor and pulled the sword out of the thing’s ‘hand’.

“It is just sad how you heroes have to die defending a lost cause.” Amelia said regretfully as she grabbed the handle of the sword with her hands “If you allow me time to pray, it might yet result in a miracle that makes you six see the light.

“Don’t do it Dale, you’ll get yourself killed!” Gadget warned him desperately.

“No Gadget! Go ahead anyway Dale, give it all you got!” Chip interjected when an idea struck him.

“Chip have you gone insane!?” Geegaw growled as he violently shook the chipmunk in front of him.

“Trust me, he can defeat her.” Chip assured him.

“Unlikely!” Amelia laughed “You can hurt me if you want Dale, I won’t even retaliate.” She offered.

“Take advantage of that!” Chip encouraged his friend.

While Dale ran over to his opponent, the other Rangers wondered whether they should knock some sense in their leader, or prevent Dale from sacrificing himself.

“Normally I never strike like this when it’s not to disarm, but if you actually ask for it…” Dale said as he drew back his sword and swung at Amelia’s side.

To everyone’s surprise and horror, the blade cut through her dress with ease and Amelia let out a shriek of pain when the sword cut her right side as well. Dale abandoned his attack in shock and jumped back, fearing a counterattack. Amelia tried to support herself using her own weapon, but fell to the floor when the pain became too great.

“I knew it. Nimnul would never let you live after you so openly confessed your intent to betray him.” Chip explained with satisfaction “And it would be blasphemous to be immortal, or at least you should think so.”

Amelia was too horrified to even hear him. Despite her injury she crawled up to the pulpit. The terminal was hidden behind it and Amelia attempted to disconnect herself from the SVR. She knew that she needed medical help, and she wasn’t going to get any of that inside the program.

“Y-you might have defeated me easily, but never forget I am still the game master! O-only I can set you free, and after this I only hope…you Rangers have a slow death!” She managed before she hit enter, expecting to be recalled to the real world.

But nothing happened. She remained where she was. She looked up at the terminal to see a message telling her she did not have the authority to disconnect. Amelia mouth fell wide open. A moment later she was surrounded by the Rescue Rangers, and was now at their mercy.

“I…I think you have me now.” She gasped before falling into unconsciousness.

“Monty, dad, could you try to treat her injury? I think this terminal might yet grant us an exit.” Gadget theorized.

“There isn’t much we have to make bandages from. Luckily, she wears a lot of clothing.” Geegaw observed and he and Monterey took Amelia aside to heal her.

“What do you got in mind Gadget?” Dale wanted to know.

“I think that if I can re-wire this terminal, I can successfully use a simple command to stop this SVR completely.” She shared while disassembling the terminal with a screwdriver she had extracted from her coveralls “It might be complicated, but even the slightest change should be enough to damage this program’s integrity and terminate it.” She explained while rerouting wires and then used the keyboard “Okay, back to menu, and hopefully back to the real world as well.” She said and pressed enter.

 

The five Nutcrackers, upon reemerging, where face to face with Christina in an old western city.

“Where are the Rescue Rangers?” Mandy asked immediately.

“In the capable hands of my wimpy sister. She’s a pushover so don’t be concerned about them. Better concern yourself with me.”

“And what exactly are you planning to do with us?” Gus carefully asked.

“I’m planning to kick your family out of town. It ain’t big enough for our two families.” She revealed and pulled a revolver from her dress.

A wave of energy that washed over her transformed her into a mean looking cowgirl. The four Nutcrackers clung up against Gus in fear.

“You-you wouldn’t s-shoot a pregnant woman w-would you?” Flora asked in a tiny voice.

“O-or women with children?” Ans added pathetically.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’d do such things.” Christina denied.

Gus drew his own gun as subtly as he could, but Christina noticed and aimed her revolver, then fired. The fact that he couldn’t feel any pain would indicate a miss. But a shriek right behind him told him otherwise. Ans stumbled back before she fell backward. Flora kneeled down and caught her to prevent her falling to the ground.

“Mother!” Steve screamed, about to faint from shock.

They could see the bullet had hit close to her body’s main blood pump, and the amount of blood indicated how quickly she was drained of life. Flora peeled off Ans’ upper dress to what little she could to stem the wound. But the moment she touched her in-law’s bare chest, Ans disappeared. In a moment she was gone like she had never been part of this SVR.

“No!” Steve shouted and fainted for real this time.

Flora started to cry, and Mandy was already in tears.

“Oh, I think I just caused a lot of suffering.” Christina said with a slight tone of regret in her voice, but certainly wasn’t the type of regret from when someone died “Let’s see if I am ahead of my sisters yet!”  She exclaimed ecstatic and ran down the street to the bank where there was a terminal next to the door.

Mandy ran to, and pulled her dad’s pistol out of his hands. She ran like mad towards the chipmunk who had just killed her parent. Her father tried to stop her, but couldn’t even feel movement in his legs and his pace was to slow to stop Mandy. Once she felt she was close enough she pointed the Desert Eagle at Christina who still had her back turned to her captives. Mandy shot, and the force of the gun knocked her off her feet so she fell in the dirt. The bullet missed, but drew Christina’s attention. Mandy quickly aimed again and fired several times. Their game host instinctively rolled aside, causing one bullet to hit the terminal instead.

 

Steve awoke to see he was in a pod, similar to the one he had woken up in earlier. This one, and all the others in the room where opened because the program had shut down. But the chipmunk didn’t know that, and could only wonder if that was the case. He sat up straight to look around him and noticed Gadget was also awake, and standing next to a nearby pod. Fidgeting with what was in it. Steve silently stepped out of the thing he had been lying in. He approached the pod and Gadget, peeked inside and almost received a hearth attack, another one if he had remembered what happened in the SVR a few moments ago. Gadget was busy cutting up his beloved mother! Or at least, that was what first came to his mind. He stormed over to the mouse, grabbed her wrists and pushed her away from the pod, anger written all over his face.

“You monster!” He managed a bit weakly.

“Golly! It-It’s not what it seems!” She defended herself.

“Hey, that’s right.” Steve realized, now remembering what had happened in the western town “But why are you carrying a knife? The one you dropped in the pod.”

“Golly, that’s my pocketknife 1000. With scissors, saw, bottle opener, corkscrew...”

A minute later.

“...file and blade. Made in Switzerland.”

“Okay, so you where just cutting bandages, right?” Steve asked for certainty.

Gadget nodded.

“And not busy with something gruesome?”

“Golly, what do you think I was doing!? Oh wait, don’t answer.”

“So is she going to survive?”

“Well, I didn’t get to checking her for vital signals yet, I only tried to stop the bleeding. If you let me go I can continue.”

Steve was perplexed he had just tried to prevent someone from saving his mother and not realized it. He let her go and hoped the time he wasted was not going to mean the difference between life and death. He waited long for Gadget to heal his mother, approximately thirty seconds, before asking the pressing question.

“Is she going to make it?”

“Well, I got good news and bad news. Which is that your mother is not dead. On a less positive note, she will be if no professional healthcare is giving soon.”

“How long is soon?” Steve asked nervously, dreading the answer.

“I’d say we need an ambulance here in roughly thirty minutes.” She replied, which was not the answer Steve had feared.

In the meanwhile, several others had woken up from their pods. Chip and Zipper where to first ones to join the two others who had woken up earlier.

“Hi Chip, Zipper. Did you happen to see a telephone here? We could use medical help.” Gadget greeted them.

“Maybe I can help?” Someone else offered.

Steve and Gadget turned around to see it was Minerva. Gadget knew her new ‘friend’ excelled at biology and would surely make a better medic than her. Yet, there was something that caused them to reject the Chinese mouse’s offer.

“If you say so.” She replied when she was rejected.

The rest of the Rangers and captives had gathered around them and Steve quickly explained his mother wasn’t doing well. Chip turned to his fly companion and started handing out orders.

“Zipper, go to the nearest hospital and tell them where here with wounded. And an emergency case. The rest of you Rangers stay here and help while me and Dale try to find Nimnul.”

The fly saluted and flew outside. While Chip sneaked out of the room with Dale following.

 

Amelia woke up gasping for breath and struggling for life. She immediately noticed she was in one of the pods hooked up to the SVR, indicating she had escaped with success. She didn’t ponder how, she just hoisted herself out, and felt her wound stinging her side.

“I...I knew a s-scientist cannot be...trusted.” She whispered and pulled herself out.

She fell to the floor, and could no longer stand up no matter how she tried.

“I must find sanctuary. I need a doctor!” It went through her head and she crawled to where the exit to this chamber was.

Suddenly she could feel herself being lifted off the ground by her arms and looked to her sides to she who it was. It turned out to be her two sisters, Benita and Christina, who looked grim.

“Sisters! P-please take me away!”  She requested.

“Of course we will. Nimnul still has something he wants to talk to you about.” Christina reassured her, not that it sounded reassuring to Amelia.

“Wait, you wouldn’t sell me out to him right!?” She said alarmed.

“You double crossed him, we still have a chance at receiving what we wanted if we deliver you to him.” Benita bit back as the two hauled her off while Amelia struggled and tried to yell.

She couldn’t find her voice, not even when she was dumped in front of professor Nimnul, with her two sisters flanking her. She pressed herself up with her hands, but it was barely enough to look the professor in the face, let alone look unafraid.

“So, you think I’d just let you take my inventions and die with a stake through my chest, whimpering for mercy?” He dared her and felt great while sounding dominant “You’ll take my SVR when you’ll pry it from my cold dead hands! But seeing how you are doing, I wonder who’s the first to die.”

“I-do not think I’ll...decide on that. But you’ve damned yourself a thousand times, so it won’t be me who will regret her actions when in the afterlife.” Amelia managed in defense, but Nimnul was hardly impressed.

“Uhm, professor. I need to ask what you’re planning to do with your prisoners. They’re free, Justice has ran off and Liquid is nowhere to be seen. Unlike in the SVR, we are totally defenseless against superior numbers.” Benita informed Nimnul.

“What!? Oh gee that’s right! We got to get out of here! What should we do?”  He panicked.

“Finish her off and move out?” Christina offered and nodded to her sister on the ground.

“Hold it Nimnul!” Chip shouted as he threw the door to this room open.

“You’re not going anywhere but jail! Because rodents got ‘em to!”  Dale added.

“Uh ow, the cavalry arrived.” Benita warned and looked at the two Rangers in surprise, fearing there where more of them.

“I’ll get in touch with you later.” Christina promised while the two chipmunk women turned and ran away on all-fours to avoid capture.

“Hey, a man can dream right?” Norton Nimnul shrugged with a hopeful voice.

“It’s over Nimnul, you’ve lost.” Chip declared.

“Hey, I’ll just do what any sensible mad scientist does when things go sour. I’ll run!” He predicted and left the building as well through the garage door in the room which his consorts had already used.

“Not so fast Norton!” Dale protested and ran after him.

Suddenly the rat turned around and pointed something at Dale. To the chipmunk it looked like an alien blaster from the movie ‘Killer Turds from Uranus’.

“Are you a ‘munk or a mouse? I don’t know why I ask the question, prepare to squeak!” Nimnul said and pulled the trigger.

A blast of electric energy hit Dale’s chest. While he was going through pain, Nimnul ran off again.

“No!” Chip screamed and panicked.

It seemed all of a sudden people where dying on him. First Ans was revealed to be in danger and now Dale had been shot! He wondered if he could still catch up with Nimnul. Get revenge for whatever he did to his friends, and especially his best one. He could still make sure the madman disappeared behind bars. But would it leave him any time to safe Dale? If it wasn’t too late already.

“I just hope I’m not making the wrong decision.” He thought while he lifted Dale’s body off the ground.

 

At Rescue Ranger headquarters, two chipmunks had settled in for the time being. With the Rangers gone Mercy had to take care of Philip by herself.

“Hope the ice won’t melt. I don’t feel like mopping up water.” Mercy said and placed a pillow behind her brother’s back.

She then plopped down beside him and grabbed the remote. She turned on the television to watch the news for animals.

“Let’s see how much chaos my escape has caused up till now.”

On screen was a news reader who was about to start.

“The Rescue Rangers who went missing earlier this day have been found again. They where in a warehouse at the harbor. Inside the place was a large amount of animal scientific equipment and high tech looking devices. Not much is know yet about what happened and who kidnapped them, but the team itself is with the exception of one chipmunk doing fine. But some other innocent animals have been wounded and one has been reported to require immediate medical help. We could not find any of the victims who was available for comments. But we have at the scene of the crime a news crew to interview the chief of police...”

“What!? I didn’t even know they where missing! I thought they where just gone.” Mercy exclaimed in alarm.

“I forget to tell you that.” Philip admitted regretfully “My mother and stepfather said they where before I escaped, but I hoped it was just a malicious lie.”

“Chip might be hurt! I got to go and see him. I bet they are at the hospital right now.” Mercy stated and wanted to leave.

When she opened the door she could see her path was blocked by a familiar animal.

“Oh hello. I was just about to knock.” Foxglove apologized, hanging in front of the doorway.

“Doesn’t matter, I was just about to leave.” Mercy countered.

“Wait, aren’t you in jail? I thought the jury considered you guilty.”

“That means you to. And I escaped, that place was not safe and I don’t feel like going back anymore now Philip is free as well.”

“I no longer think you where guilty, I thought it was…never mind. How is your brother doing then?”

“He’s got a busted ankle but he’s fine. If you want, could you baby-sit him for a while? I need to go somewhere and can’t leave him by himself.”

“Sure I’ll help you. It’s the least I could do for thinking you where wrong.”

“Don’t forget to put him to bed soon. And he still needs a bath. Anyway, I’m going now, good luck!” Mercy wished and ran away, en route to the hospital.

 

“How is he doing?” Chip asked right away when a nurse left Dale’s room.

He had been waiting outside for the results. The hospital crew didn’t allow him to be present because of the nature of the wound. They never had heard of anyone being zapped with electricity gun with the magnitude Nimnul’s had.

“His situation is stable for now. But is not out of danger by far.” She explained while Chip followed her “He might get better tonight, but I don’t foresee it that we’ll take him away from Intensive Care in the following week.” She sternly explained.

Chip followed her until she stopped.

“If I told you everything already, why are you still following me?”

“I don’t really know either. Is there any place I can wait?” Chip inquired.

The nurse opened a nearby door and let Chip in.

“You can stay here at the hospital security room. It’s empty right now, nobody will mind if you drink the last coffee in the machine. You are a Rescue Ranger after all.”

“Thanks. I’ll be here if you have further information.” He said as she closed the door.

He sat down on the cough in front of the TV. There wasn’t much to do here for him, so he let his mind wander off to think about what happened. He wanted to understand his dream wherein he saw his supposed future. He didn’t know if getting Dale to the hospital was ‘the wisest choice’ as the voice in his dream had referred to it. What was this voice actually? A demon who blinded him with false images? A guardian spirit trying to warn him in advance? His ego trying to idolize Chip to himself? And would Mercy and Dale really make a good couple if things didn’t work out ‘right’? Had he been pressuring Dale too hard, was he too obsessive? Or was his behavior really necessary to prevent a catastrophe? Would it really be so bad if their love subsided and it’d turn out that Dale and Mercy where a better couple? Too many questions, not enough answers. Or even clues to look for the answers. He decided to use his logic skills and try to compare him, Mercy and Dale. He grabbed a piece of paper, a pen and scribbled down a quick comparison. It actually reminded him of the old days when he’d compare the two of them to Clarice, Chi-Chi, and other chipmunk girls. He looked at the results, which seemed to be in his favor. But his face saddened quickly and he tore up the paper. He knew better than to pursue things that would never be his. If this dream wasn’t an illusion, he didn’t want to be blinded with envy when the time came to face the facts.

“You learn quickly, unlike your counterpart little britches!” A voice in his head complimented him, perplexing Chip.

This was a different one than the one in his dream, and somehow familiar, and it felt like he was touching with one or more different universes. He decided to relax himself, stop worrying, even if just for the evening. He decided to let the TV dominate his attention, and saw that currently there was an episode Griffin Boobs Y. Wherein heroes constantly sought seven young griffins to attract the big magic Griffin who’d give them anything they’d desire, Dale’s words. A reflection on the TV screen caught his attention. It had come from the security monitor on the opposite part of the room. Chip got up to see if he had just seen it right. It took him a little while to learn how to switch from camera to camera but finally learned the controls and found who he was searching for. Justice Jerk was in the hospital, and searching the Intensive Care! Chip’s hearth was beating furiously because it didn’t take him long to think why he was here. This rat had never been a good sign for him, and was only little trouble to guess why he had come to this hospital. He was still working for Nimnul! And trying to take advantage of it that Dale was now in the hospital and security was not yet adjusted to accommodate a VIP. But the rat had probably not realized that Chip was around and ready to outsmart him at every turn. The adventurous chipmunk ran back to IC and into Dale’s room. He was still unconscious and unaware he could die. Chip quickly mobilized the bed and life support. Without pause he carted Dale out of the room and over to the elevator. The elevator couldn’t arrive quick enough for Chip at that moment. And he desperately hoped Justice wasn’t using the lift he had called. He got in when the doors opened and send it down to the basement. He looked around when he exited and found a hiding place. Not the best he could think of, and certainly not the most comfortable, but only a sick mind would look for the living at the morgue. He pushed the bed inside the room and locked the door behind him. It reminded him of the crime movie he watched long ago, the classic amongst gangster films. They where safe now, and it was only a waiting game before the other Rangers stumbled upon Justice after their visit of Ans was over. There wasn’t much to talk with her about, she was as silent as his companion, which unfortunately reminded him of the other silenced persons in the room.

“Think happy Chip, this door is metal, the glass is bulletproof. He can’t get inside even if he found us.” He said to himself, trying to cheer himself up.

Dale was his only real friend he had. His bond with the other Rangers and Mercy didn’t go so far back or as deep as his friendship with the other chipmunk. He had opted to stay with him after the rest went to check up on Ans. His life was quite important to him. He regretted being cruel to him at times, this bitter moment amongst the dead made him realize the importance of Dale. The thought that he might kill Dale didn’t sit well with him, and he didn’t want to forsake his friend. He didn’t know how much time he spend sitting on the floor next to the bed and remembering all he and Dale had done in their lives, but a knock on the door brought him back to the world. He looked over his shoulder and his mouth fell open when he saw who was there.

“Found ya!” The sinister person proclaimed.

“You! How did you find me here!?” Chip asked Justice.

“This was my first choice to check after I found Dale’s room empty. Ready or not, here’s Johnny!” He announced and attempted to enter.

Chip didn’t even have to react, the door was locked, and Justice found that out.

“I must disappoint you, but I don’t want someone like you to enter.” Chip explained calmly.

“Well it’s not a problem. We’ll see who can wait the longest. Nobody hardly ever comes here, our contest won’t be interrupted.”

“I’d sooner starve than let you in.” Chip swore “There’s a sink here for water, so this could take days. And you won’t have days because sooner or later they’ll realize Dale is gone.”

Justice started pacing with an annoyed face. He knew Chip wasn’t bluffing, and he wanted to get this over with quickly anyway. He needed to draw Chip outside, or convince him to open the door for him. Neither was going to be a cakewalk. Suddenly, he got an idea when somebody entered the hospital from the underground garage nearby. He politely stepped away from the door to let the person pass by. As she passed the morgue, Mercy could see Chip inside from the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked inside and find out to her surprise it was him.

“Mercy! Get away from him!” He shouted, but was too late.

Justice put one arm around her neck and put a knife to her throat quickly.

“So you know this girl? Better! Open the door or there will be an unnecessary death.”

“No! Don’t do anything stupid. Can we just talk about this first?” Chip tried to reason.

“If that leads to you opening up we could.”

“But what assurance do I have you don’t kill us all if I do?”

“I can only assure you that at least one person will die whether you open the door or not.”

“So I’m to choose between the evil I know and the evil I don’t?”

“I can give you time to consider if that’s what you need.”

Chip really did need time to think. A moment ago he vowed himself to protect his friend, but could he go back on it to safe his love interest? He couldn’t let Mercy die after all that had happened, she deserved better than have her throat cut. He could open the door, take Mercy and run. But the full picture popped into his mind.

If he wanted he could let Dale die without having his blood on his own hands. Prevent his dream from happening and have Mercy all to himself. This scenario was selfish and cowardly. Nobody ever got a girl to love him because they let their best friend die. Mercy might not be the kind of woman to let that happen and get angry with him for it. Then he’d lose everything. But keeping Dale safe would mean she’d die, and Chip never would get over that. Mercy was special, a gift from heaven he’d have to cherish and protect. How could he keep her and not betray his friendship with Dale? He thought he figured out how to treat the Dale+Mercy issue, but now it was bugging him at the worst possible moment. He’d have to fight till the end, not let Justice hurt either of them.

He opened to door. Justice immediately stormed in and punched him in the face, sending his flying. He landed and slid over the morgue counter, crashing into lab equipment that fell to the floor and dropped to the floor when he fell off the edge of the counter, landing face down and having the wind knocked out of him.

“That was not my battle plan!” he thought to himself and tried to breathe.

Justice bend over to Dale, holding his knife in his hand. This was fortunately the moment when Dale woke up screaming, with sweat on his forehead, and tried to get up. He banged his head into Justice’s face by accident then backed down. He looked around to see the vaults in the wall and a Jack the Ripper rat standing over him, then immediately fainted again. Justice rubbed his nose a prepared to stab his victim while Chip tried to get to his feet. But fortunately chip wasn’t the only one to fight Justice. Mercy tried to get him in a headlock which infuriated the rat even more. With one swift sweep from his foot and push of his elbow he caused Mercy to fall to the floor on her back. Justice turned around and bend down to thrust the knife into Mercy’s throat. She grabbed his arms and tried to push him away. But the rat was stronger, and the blade was hanging over her face threateningly. Chip stopped their wrestling by slamming a waste bin on Justice’s head, causing him to drop the weapon. The object fell and landed on Mercy’s chest, leaving a nasty cut which made her faint in horror. Chip lifted the bin over his head and brought it down again, this time covering Justice’s entire body except feet with the objects. Chip placed the waste container back on its wheel and carted it outside the morgue. He stopped when he was inside the underground parking lot and kicked the container away. And rolled for a while until it came down the slope to the second basement level and accelerated. The thing stopped rolling when it tripped over one of the parking thresholds and flew through the air and landed in front of an approaching car. All this tumbling had created a hole in the underside of the bin and Justice stuck his head out to see the headlights of the car in front of him. The car stopped, but right over Justice in the bin, effectively trapping him. Meanwhile, Chip was already back in the morgue and had locked the door again. Dale looked fine, but he had to revive Mercy. He kneeled down on sat on her stomach while checking her over. He wiped off the blood on her chest with a tissue he retrieved from the box next to him. Then started checking her out further. For a moment he saw her regain awareness and open her eyes. Fear crossed her face for a moment until she succumbed to unconsciousness again. He heard a noise coming from the stairs, and the voice he heard was encouraging as well.

“Where could the lads have ran of to Zip? The docs need him if he’s to recuperate.”

“We’re over here Monty!” Chip shouted, which was enough for the mouse to hurry down.

When he saw the scene at the morgue he didn’t know whether to be concerned or amused.

“Chip, you don’t want the use this room yet. Believe me.” Monterey assured him with a smile.

“Ha-ha, very funny. Now help us get back up. You can carry Mercy, she needs to be taken to the first aid.” He ordered.

 

In the warm, exotic waters of the Caribbean sailed a ship. It was a galleon that led an English fleet that consisted of merchant ships converted to warships. This expedition was a joint attempt between England and its ally to raid the Spanish. And this raid was to be commanded by admiral Edward Chips. He wasn’t officially admiral, his role was downplayed enormously when Portuguese and Spanish complained to the English court that it was violating the peace. But Chips fancied himself a better naval leader than that idiot Duncan Drake, who always reminded him he was considered a full fledged Commodore. All Chips wanted was prove he was no less than his Dutch counterparts who had been raiding Portuguese colonies and Spanish ships. He idolized most of those captains, but hoped to become a role model to other sailors as well. He already possessed the stalwart composure he used right at that moment checking his map, standing by his helmsman’s side. It always gave him a rush to stand on deck and have the wind blow through his fur. The lesser boatmen also seemed to think it suited him.

“Five degrees portside!” He commanded.

“But sir, why do you constantly say that and switch between portside and broadside?” The helmsman, Dale Lincoln, questioned.

Admiral Chips bopped him on the head with his rolled up map before answering.

“I need to have text! I’m supposed to have a say aboard this floating soapbox.” He scolded the other chipmunk.

“Whatever you say.” Dale agreed.

Chips decided to do something else than check maps and grabbed his spyglass. He scanned the surface of the water, even though it was still a few hours before they where on the route the trading fleets of Spain used. Nothing to see, except seagulls and other such birds. And a single fish jumped out of the water. Chips backtracked, that wasn’t a fish! The thing he saw surfaced again and Chips didn’t believe his eyes. It was an elusive mermunk. A female, looking for a mate. Chips always had wanted to see one of those up close! He stepped up on the railing and leaned forward to see better. His helmsman abandoned his wheel and grabbed the admiral by the tails of his jacket. But Chips wouldn’t be restrained by a mere henchman. He dropped his spyglass and pulled himself out of his jacket. He plummeted down into the sea beneath him and swan toward the mermunk.

“Man overboard!” He heard Dale shout, but he wouldn’t allow his simple rowing boats to catch up and take away this unique chance.

“What’s the matter mate?” The brawler Montgomery asked Dale.

“I think I see what’s the matter.” Dale replied saddened while looking through the spyglass “He’s been seduced by the beauty of a mermunk! Those lovely half fishes, half chipmunks have an enchanting effect on land based chipmunks with their immense beauty and only few can survive their swimming contests. Very beautiful, but also very…uhm…” Dale couldn’t find the words to describe it, he just stepped unto the railing as well and wanted to walk off.

“Deadly, I guess.” Montgomery finished and grabbed Dale’s tail “Pally, we should get in the boats and try to find our admiral.”

“Hmm hmm.” Dale mumbled.

Their rowing boats weren’t much help, they where too late. Chip had already disappeared under water. Montgomery and Dale had to return to the ship and tell the fleet the bad news. Yet, there could be no time for mourning, they still had an assignment to accomplish. Their ships continued, hoping they could still intercept the Spanish merchants.

 

Mercy the mermunk surfaced, carrying a limp body in her hands. The admiral who she lured to an early death with her grace wouldn’t die if she had anything to say of it. She dropped him on a flat rock carefully. She unbuttoned his vest, leaving the admiral unclothed. She pressed his belly with both hands, causing him to burp slightly and seawater escaped from Chips’ mouth. Mercy hoisted herself onto the rock and lay down on the admiral’s prone form. She breathed in the salty air, placed her lips on his mouth and breathed out. She continued for some time until she noticed he was regaining consciousness. Admiral Chips’ was hardly aware of his surroundings or what happened when he woke up. He heard the rustling of the waves, the splashing of the waters, and the screaming of the seagulls. And when he opened his eyes, he saw the smiling face of a girl. A gracious chipmunk woman was over him and staring expectantly at him. Suddenly he remember, and understood why he was on this rocky bottom with a girl over him. It was the mermunk he saw. He finally had gotten his chance to get close to one. Mercy was overjoyed as well. Forget male mermunk mates, she’d just pick this chipmunk sailor! She pressed her lips against those of her patient again. Chips could feel her scaly tail between his legs, her furred chest pressing against his. He could smell her scent, and he’d never imagined he’d fall in love with that salty smell that always hung around on fish markets. He saw the features on her face. No lady in England would ever put a spell on him after seeing her! Chips kissed her back, placed his hands on her back and pressed her closely. Her tail wagged swiftly, and Chips crossed his legs over it. A powerful sensation coursed through him, one he’d never felt before. And he was determined he’d never leave her side again. He cuddled with the mermunk for hours, and it was the happiest few hours in his life. Until she lifted her head to see a ship was approaching them. She quickly escaped the admiral’s grasp and jumped back into the water.

“Wait, no! Come back with me to England! I’ll give you anything you’ll ever want just don’t abandon me!” He shouted after her, but it was no use. She swam away, and disappeared beneath the waves. A little later he was picked up by the ship, which was fortunately English. It belonged to governor O’Plato from Jamaica, an Irishman who had joined the much hated English.

“It’s a wonder we found you lad, I wasn’t planning to go anywhere specific but I received word about your fleet. It appears the Spanish had been aware they would be harassed by English warships so they set a trap together with those French. Your ships fell for it to easily, I was wondering how it was possible they could fool you. Now I see you weren’t even around.”

“That’s right, I had a bit of bad luck I guess. Or not, depending on whether I could have saved the expedition.” Chips replied.

“We’ll get you to my palace. From there I can arrange for you to be brought back to your homeland.”

Chips stayed with O’Plato for a while. Although the dog was very good for his guests, Chips didn’t tell him about how he met the mermunk. Other people who had an encounter with those creatures and told their stories about how they messed around with them where all considered perverts. Chips agreed this was much better than falling in love with a normal chipmunk, but he wouldn’t even admit it to a mute beggar that he had made love to one in the Caribbean, while his fleet was being shot to pieces by Spanish and French.

 

Mercy awoke with a smile. She had a lot of dreams lately, but this one would definitely remain her favorite one for some time. She always had wanted to grab hold of Chip and kiss him passionately and hold him for a long time. She rolled on her side and yawned. She snapped wide awake when she realized she wasn’t in her own bed. And she saw she was in the hospital instead. She remembered why she was here, but not why she was being treated here. Then she understood as she remembered seeing Chip sitting on top of her in the morgue.

“Poor girl, sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. To think they liked each other a lot makes me wonder why he’d betray her that way. She wasn’t even able to defend herself, but at least she didn’t experience it because she was unconscious.” She heard someone outside say.

“She does have a number of caring friends, they send her some flowers quickly after they heard about the rape.” Another voice said.

Mercy actually didn’t dare look beside her, but she spotted a vase of flowers on the nightstand beside her bed. She started to feel dizzy, but that was just one of the things she felt.

“I can’t believe he’d do that! Yet…the evidence is indisputable. Why did you have to do this?” She thought sadly.

It wasn’t the first time she was unwillingly forced into something, but if even a good guy would do it, what did she have left in this world to place her trust in? She had been let down by Chip, and now had nobody left beside herself. It saddened her, but that quickly ebbed away to make room for anger. She got out of bed. The drugs had numbed her, but they couldn’t numb her rage. She grabbed the vase and flung against the wall, causing it to shatter. With one sweep of her arm she knocked over a moveable table, and the pills and medicines where strewn across the floor. She stormed out of the room, or stumbled more accurately. She quickly found Chip, who was waiting outside it the hall. He was surprised to see her stumbling through the hospital in only her gown.

“Mercy! Are you doing alright? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

He was surprised when Mercy’s look told him he had better be afraid. Before he could understand it she put her hands around his throat and squeezed as hard as her weak hands could.

“*gasp*! What’s this about? Are you *cough* crazy!?” He managed while he struggled to get her hands off.

“You sick coward! I thought I could trust my life with you, and now you do this to me! You could have just asked, and instead you violate me in a sudden power trip! You wouldn’t have the guts to do it when I was still conscious would you? Just try that with me now!” She dared him and pressed his head back, so Chip had to bend his back and knees to prevent falling “Do you have any idea what I did to the last one who even tried? Why did you rape me?”

“*gurgle* I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh no?” She asked skeptically.

“Do you think I’d stick around if I did *cough*? Who told you this craziness?”

“My gawd! Miss, stop that!” A doctor shouted and interfered.

It wasn’t the smartest thing to do to cross Mercy when she was berserk, but fortunately she had already been heavily sedated by the drugs and the adrenaline wasn’t going to hold back its effects any longer.

“Just what is going on here?” The doctor asked.

“He raped me!” Mercy immediately cried and continued to wrestle herself free.

“No I didn’t!” Chip protested and held up his hands.

“But the flowers…the girl who got assaulted by her friend! That’s just got to be me!” Mercy pressed on.

“No, you got it wrong. I was talking with my colleague about someone else, believe me. You only have a flesh wound that we had to close.” The doctor reassured her, which calmed the other woman down a bit.

“Oh! But why where you sitting on top of me in the morgue?” Mercy wanted to know from Chip.

“The knife had hit your chest, I wanted to make sure you weren’t dead and was glad to see you show signs of life. I’m sorry if it came across too uncomforting.”

The doctor let her go, and when Mercy didn’t show any desire to strangle their visitor anymore she left again.

“I’m sorry Chip but I’m quite jumpy when our relationship is jeopardized like that. And don’t ever do what I thought you did. I’ll give you my consent if you’d only ask.”

Chip was a bit nervous with this heart-to-heart talk in a public area, after he had been attacked. But he approached her and took her hands.

“That’s okay, just don’t ever let yourself be pressured into something. Not with me, not with anyone else. My physical attraction is only a part of why I want to be your sweetheart.”

“Sure Chip, but I don’t see it as pressuring, only when you don’t ask.”

She kissed him. Chip joined it and after it was over he asked her.

“Are you sure you don’t need to be in bed a little longer?”

“Gee, I don’t think so. I left Philip in Foxglove’s care and I don’t think they’ll need me here any longer now the injury is taken care of.”

“Alright, I’ll ask the rest of the team to take you home with them. I have to stay here with Dale, I at least owe him that much for what I’ve done to him.”

“You don’t have any debt to him, but stay here all you want if it pleases you.” Mercy responded and left to get ready to go home.

 

Once they where back at the tree the door was opened for them immediately by Foxglove.

“I could hear you coming, so welcome back.”

“That’s right lass, It feels like I’ve traveled a whole year now and how long ago was it?” Monty tried to get an idea of how long ago they had been kidnapped.

“Anything noteworthy happened here while we where gone?” Geegaw inquired.

“Well yes. Mercy’s mother, as I recall her visited earlier this evening. She said she had come to take home Philip.” The bat retold.

“Philip? You didn’t let her in did you!?” Mercy replied worriedly.

“No, I remembered Philip didn’t seem very fond of her at the court. He was already in bed and I managed to convince her he wasn’t here.” She assured them.

“Good move, my little brother wouldn’t have a good life if he fell in her hands again.” Mercy thanked the bat maid, which made Foxglove feel she had made the right decision.

“Well, Golly! But I think it’s time we got some rest now. Thanks for your help Foxy, I’m sure Dale would appreciate it if he was here.”

“What would you mean? Isn’t he doing well?” She asked in a quivering voice.

“He’s in the hospital after receiving a devastating load ‘o electricity to the chest. But I trust the good doctors and ol’ Chipper can make him pull through.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. I hope he will want to see visitors once he’s doing better.”

“Don’t worry Foxglove.” Gadget comforted her with a pat on the shoulder “We all saw the reports the hospital staff made and they by now agree he’s no longer in mortal danger. There’s and 84% chance he will survive and not suffer from any permanent side effects.”

 

A few days later the team was busy fighting crime again. Their first stop was Fat Cat’s casino. They thought it would be important to find out what the crime cat had been up to. They had some help from Steve and his wife who where curious as to what the Ranger’s nemesis had been up to. And because the team had to miss both Chip and Dale for a while the accepted their help. Through an air vent that gave them a view of the casino they peeked at the situation. It was day so there where no gamblers. Fat Cat was there, and his cronies where busy cleaning everything in sight.

“Don’t stumble around you banana brains! I’ll bend your bodies as well if you don’t hurry!” The kingpin roared with his paws clenched.

Nothing had changed much at first sight. Fat Cat’s gang was fully staffed and still pushed around by their employer. But the reports and witnessing of crimes and fighting indicated the gangs of New York weren’t what they used to be. They seemed more concerned about each other than their own gain now, this would require action from the police and the Rescue Rangers didn’t plan to sit on their tails while this was happening.

“Say Fat Cat.” Mole called to their leader, holding up a crate with chips bags “Should these cheese nachos go with the other chips or with the cheeses?”

The Rangers minus Monty gasped. The Australian didn’t even have to smell the cheese this time, the word was enough to trigger his standard response to matured dairy products. He tried to get to the crate Mole held despite the others struggling to keep him back. He pressed the entire team against the air grate, which gave under the pressure. The five infiltrators fell to the ground and made enough noise for Fat Cat to notice them.

“Oh, that hurts on the thighs.” Flora remarked, having on the floor with her legs split.

“Are you going to be alright? Isn’t the baby going to suffer? I told you not to come with us!” Steve fired questions at her and offered her a hand in getting up.

“As thing look right now, you two might not even survive until childbirth.” Gadget deduced from the several faces that had turned toward them.

Fat Cat didn’t look mad or power hungry, just surprised. He blinked twice before he could ask a question.

“We’re closed people. Please use the door next time for entry.” He said, in a casual voice.

“Uh, golly. We where only spying on you. And aren’t you mad at us because we always foil your plans?” Gadget dared to ask.

“Should I go ape over things that happened in the past? I got a bigger fish to fry, I don’t have time for vengeance.”

“Gee boss, that remind me of the time with that gorilla when you-” One of his henchmen started, only to be bopped on the head by Fat Cat.

“That’s not what I mean with ape Mepps!” He cut the alley cat short.

“So you’re not planning anything criminal that we are supposed to halt?” Geegaw returned to questioning.

“It’s not all legit, but morally justifiable. I’m trying to give Rat Capone a hard time using the means at my disposal. He’s not just a threat to the law, and I hope you’ll see the benefits in leaving me alone for a while until that upstart backs down again.” Fat Cat reasoned “Surely I don’t expect you to trust me, or be prepared to leave me be. But I would like to warn you in advance I do not intend any harm unto your group for the time being and only aim to protect myself. In a situation like this, I can see how invaluable your skills are against Capone’s mafia. It would ease my mind if we can both stay out of each other’s way and both do our bit counter Rat’s strength.”

“Well that’s nice to know. But we need to go again. We’ll be leaving now if you don’t mind.” Gadget explained.

“Sure, just concentrate on that Rat, he’s a greater backstabber than you think he is.” Fat Cat cautioned them, while the Rangers exited the casino again.

“But boss, why don’t you kill them now you got the chance?” Wart asked incredulously.

“Because right now they are too important to this city, I can’t afford to lose them now.” Fat Cat told his flunky, while his mind knew the real reasons and plans for the future.

“Blimey, Fat Cat on the right path? This is as unsettling as hearing all cheese has become infected with disease.” Monty opined, the though giving him the creeps.

“Actually, I’m quite glad that cat doesn’t want trouble with us. Even though I know who said that.” Geegaw said.

“I don’t expect his good behavior to us will last, but I would keep it in mind for as long as it’ll last.” Gadget decided “We already know why we can’t trust him, so it’s a relief if he doesn’t bother us.”

“Right, but you’d better discuss this with Chip and prepare for the worst.” Steve suggested before him and Flora left to continue their own lives.

 

That evening the team didn’t have anything to do. They where zapping through the channels on the television until Mercy interrupted.

“Hold it, go back!” She requested.

Gadget complied and Mercy’s thought where confirmed.

“That’s my younger sister!” She stated and pointed at the screen.

It was an interview by the Animal News American League. Philip remembered her talk about it before he fled.

“So miss, you live with your mother as Derrick Dimedealer’s stepdaughter now, how does that feel to you?” The reported asked.

“It sucks! My new dad is a no-nonsense workaholic with no life and my mother is still a miserly bully. All that money only made that (censored) more egoistical. Her society ‘friends’ would do well to know I’m an illegitimate child because of my mother’s irresponsibility and greed. She has nothing better to do than planning to demonize my older sister and get her son back to the fold when she’s not basking in her undeserved wealth. She’s violent, quick to anger and doesn’t even tolerate it when people around her mention her oldest daughter’s name. Wherever you might be sis, I’m glad you still hate our mother as much as I do. And I can also open up a whole book on how my mother isn’t the best mother for my brother Philip.”

She did just that in front of the reporters. Mercy didn’t know where she picked it up, but Wendy was a better speaker than the average president. She had the fierceness and charisma of a revolutionary leader. The people doing the interview even forgot to ask their                 questions. Afterwards the news reporter came back on screen.

“The revelation has caused a stir amongst many interest groups. They demand that Anne-Mary Stoneturner place her children in a better environment and give up her attempts to get back her son Philip. They even advise Derrick Dimedealer that he divorce his wife. In other news today, there have been riots today in protest against the Animal Police. The hooligans oppose the decision of courts to dump prisoners wherever they can, widespread corruption in all layers of the justice system, unwillingness of the Brooklyn and Staten Island police to investigate the rise of gang violence, the Manhattan police chief’s decision to recall squads from southern Manhattan after a jailbreak and the inability of the police to prevent crime organizations from becoming a major threat to the entire state. They see Mercy Stoneturner, who is Anne-Mary Dimedealer’s child, as a hero and an example to follow for revealing one case of prison abuse and her disobedience. The law enforcement officials say they ‘won’t listen to these hoodlums’ while polls show the trust in the current AP system is down to only 10%. Many of the demonstrators say they don’t even know if the current government is right. The AP itself has used riot police against many of the street terrorists and even used water cannons, teargas and helicopters. In many cases this escalated into major fights between police and citizens. But the police also forcefully removed many protestors who wanted to bring their point across with a sit-in. Many of the non-violent demonstrators have been beaten in the progress, reducing support for the AP even more. And more news, the courts of Manhattan want Mercy Stoneturner to again show herself in the halls of justice because she escaped from jail, assaulted and castrated a prison guard. The anti-AP movement has stated that they don’t want to see her in jail again and threaten with more protests if the case isn’t dropped soon. On to world news now, once again there are killings in Somalia-” Gadget turned off the TV to discuss state news.

“Castration?” Monterey muttered quizzically.

“That guard already had broken the law, he didn’t deserve better.” Mercy dismissed “I’ve dealt with enough abusive prison guards for the rest of my life. I don’t plan on going to a court again.”

“Animal Police skepticism…can’t say I’ve been a big fan of them either. That chief Rensen seemed nice enough, but in the current environment there’s no chance he could last. Too moral, not cruel enough to fit in. And with the RBI shrinking, it was the AP’s duty to stop the likes of Fat Cat and Rat Capone, which it didn’t do. I think the last parking fine raise was just too much.” Geegaw opined.

“But dad! The Animal Police is the foundation of our justice system! Without them criminals would be running rampant.” Gadget countered.

“Might be lass, but I haven’t seen anyone besides Rensen lift a finger against Rat or Fat Cat either. And the way they keep harassing Mercy here doesn’t sit right with me. She ain’t above the law, but courts seem to be things you can hire to settle a family dispute the way Anne-Mary used it against her. I gotta agree with Chipper here, she didn’t deserve so much flak from a failing government. What bothers me it that all those fair cops will be the first ones to fall when push comes to shove.” Monterey chimed in.

“We’re at the verge of a new era. And I shudder to think what would happen if it all went wrong.” Geegaw theorized “Those gangs of Fat Cat and Rat Capone are about to cause mayhem to the entire city. The AP has obviously spent all the credit giving to them by the population. And Nimnul is still on the loose, along with other undesirables. It’s time for intelligent people to come up with a solution, but I think even my own daughter wouldn’t be able to. At least we can still do what we think is right.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Chip agreed, who had just entered headquarters.

“Hey, you finally feel it’s time to leave Dale’s side?” Mercy asked.

“It’s just for the night. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to check up on him again. But please dear, explain something to me.”

Mercy looked a bit wonderingly and waited for him to ask his question.

“Why does the court of Manhattan want you to stand trail for castration, amongst other things?” He asked, honestly confused.

“Eh, that’s a bit of a dirty can of worms. It comes down to it that some people should learn to keep their hands off girls.” Mercy apologized, and when she saw it didn’t change Chip’s expression, she added a shy laugh and smile.

Chip’s face seemed to brighten as well. Not that his mind was at ease.

“Well, you’ll have to tell me later tonight. But for now, I have plans for the two of us. Get your most expensive dress and let me be your companion for the night.”

 

Epilogue

 

Mercy didn’t have any expensive dresses, but she was able to borrow one from Chip and Dale’s disguise box. It was the pink dress she had seen Chip wear once, along with wig and necklace to complete the look. Chip had joined in the dress-up as well by donning his old tuxedo which he rarely wore. After they had prepared themselves Mercy allowed Chip to escort her downtown. It was a clear night and the sky above them was filled with stars and a full moon. The streetlights added more illumination to their evening. The park was quiet, and Mercy would have easily settled for a simple walk at such a lovely night. She didn’t bring it up to Chip, she knew he had the evening planned out as usual. He led her outside Central Park and over to the nearest subway station. They entered and took the first available train. Chip didn’t tell her where they where headed. Once they got out, Mercy guessed they where at the western part of the island, as she could see the sea. They strolled over the promenades, until Chip led his girlfriend over to a nearby restaurant.

“What? You have to be kidding! That place looks like a quick trip to the toilet costs you ten dollars!” Mercy exclaimed incredulous.

“I am serious. I haven’t had a decent meal in a long time. I didn’t even have a meal at all for some time! Monty is okay for a resident chef, but cheese gets annoying after too long.”

“Then you must be planning to let your status as a Rescue Ranger take care of the ridiculous prices.

“Not at all. These cooks deserve their wage just as much as you deserve to dine at an accomplished restaurant.” Chip insisted “Besides, I don’t want any fan admiration to spoil our evening. From this moment you can refer to yourself as madame Mercy. And you can call me…”

“Sir Edward Chips.” She inserted.

They sat down outside so they still had a great view at the water and the rest of the promenade. Soon a waiter arrived to take their orders. A formal, well-dressed man with a French accent.

“Have ze two of you decided on something to drink? Or on a meal?”

“Well, I studied this drinks card and am tempted to go for some wine.” Chip revealed in a successful British way of speaking.

“Ah non! Thou knowest I je déteste alcohol Edvard!” Mercy protested, playing her part but still voicing her own opinion.

“But it is the main export product from your homeland! Surely you can’t tell me you won’t at least try it just for the occasion.” Chip insisted, keeping his accent “And wine hardly contains enough alcohol to make you drunk with one bottle. You may get a tad tipsy, but this is a date right?”

“I agree zhen. Vhat do you have in mind mon Guilleret?”

“A fine one, a Burgundian from 1981. Do you have any of those left in store?” Chip asked and put down the card.

“Certainly monsieur, I’ll retrieve it for you.” The waiter obeyed and left.

“This is a good time to study the bill of fare.” Chip suggested and handed one to Mercy.

A little later the waiter returned with an elegant bottle bearing the name of the province it was processed. As he set it down, Chip ordered himself a champignon soup, walnut salad and smoked salmon. And for Mercy a plate of cheeses, fruit and nuts, and lasagna. The waiter left them again, and Chip took it upon himself to open the bottle with a show of manners and elegance. Fortunately, this ceremonial approach did not lead to a hilarious disaster, he simply screwed the tool into the cork and used its nifty features to ensure the bottle came to no harm while he pulled out the cork. It popped off perfectly and Chip stood up.

“Allow me.” He requested as he poured the glass Mercy was holding out to him.

He filled his own and clinked it with Mercy’s glass.

“A toast to our relationship!” He cheered before taking a sip.

“For someone who drives on ze wrong side of ze road, thou arest a fine gentleman.” Mercy compliment, continuing the stereotypical act.

“And you are of marvelous beauty for a lady who bends down over the lo.” Chip responded smiling slyly.

They continued talking to each other, never dropping their accents or accidentally referring to each other with their true identities. The reminisced, laughed and kissed until their foods arrived.

“Arest thou sure thou can’t stand cheeses anymore? Zhese are ze main export product of mon home country.” Mercy prodded as she held a cube of gouda in front of his face, ready to feed it to him.

“No my love, I’ll indulge in chipmunk favorites instead.”

“Zhey have fromage from over ze entire world. But it seems thou doesn’t care Guilleret. It vould have been a grande opportunity to taste other cultures.” She teased and threw the bit of cheese into her own mouth.

Their dinner continued in a pleasant fashion. Mercy admitted she had never eaten in an expensive restaurant, and liked the experience. After they where finished the waiter removed their empty plates and asked them if they where interested in a dessert.

“Well, maybe some coffee. But not French, I never liked the taste of it.” Chip admitted.

“What? No English coffee zhen! I never knew coffee could taste so displeasing as in England!” Mercy countered in an offended manner.

“You two don’t need to argue over this. Everyone knows the best coffee in the world comes from Italy.” The waiter settled, quite surprisingly.

“What about Irish coffee?” Chip added.

“Or Turkish? It’s has a very exotic taste.” Mercy continued “And why would thou want coffee at zhis hour? Thou needs to go to sleep after zhis.”

“Alright then, I’ll just have some ice-cream. Do you have any sorbets?”

“Sure sir. And what about you madame?”

“Une Dame Blanche si vous pliez.” She ordered.

After they had eaten those as well, Chip poured them the last wine in their bottle and wanted to pay.

“Zhis was a vonderful evening.” Mercy opined as she sipped from her glass.

“It had better be.” He replied upon seeing how much he had to pay “I was planning to leave a tip but I’m glad I have enough to pay.”

He left the money on the table, then discovered some writing on the back of the coupon. He read it, with a semi-bemused smile on his face.

 

If you two are a Frenchwoman and Englishman I’m Louis XIV.

I know you are actually just Chip Maplewood and Mercy Stoneturner.

Use a better disguise next time.

 

They headed home again, and Chip told his girlfriend how they had been recognized. Mercy then came up with a marvelous idea to fool the next person who recognized them.

“We could try to role-play each other. We can change clothes behind a bush, then have a bit of fun with whoever addresses us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Chip agreed “Won’t you mind it that we change in front of each other?”

“Certainly not, I trust you Chip.” She explained and pressed his nose.

After a bit of undressing and dressing-up they had swapped clothes. Mercy was wearing a tuxedo and Chip a dress. Fortunately their figures seemed to adapt to their clothes. With a shirt and jacket Mercy’s chest seemed very flat as opposed to when she was wearing a dress.

“My gawd Chip, you have a fabulous décolleté.” Mercy teased using Chip’s pseudo English accent.

“I don’t know who you are referring to. My name’s Mercy Stoneturner.” He corrected in an effeminate voice.

Mercy gave him a mild slap on top of the head.

“That’s not how I talk! You aught to try better.”

“Okay, if you stop gawking at my bosom.” Chip promised with a giggle.

As they entered the park again, they got a chance to play their little act. A nerdy squirrel came running toward them with an admiring look on his face.

“You two are Chip Maplewood and Mercy Stoneturner right? I’ve heard of you, can I have an autograph?”

“Sure.” ‘Mercy’ agreed and signed the book he was holding out to them.

‘Chip’ did so as well, after which the squirrel left again a bit dreamily, so he never noticed that ‘Chip’ had put down Mercy’s autograph and ‘Mercy’ his.

“We got that one.” Mercy said and winked at her boyfriend.

As they entered the tree they also got a chance to fool Monty and Gadget who where still watching television.

“You two are showing traits Dale has.” Mercy disguised as Chip said.

“Did you have a good evening?” Gadget asked them.

“Sure, but it’s late now so goodnight.” Chip said with his own voice, still able to fool the two sleepy Rangers.

He escorted Mercy back to her room.

“Well, this was it for tonight. I hope you liked it.” He said.

“Of course I did.”

“I won’t keep you any longer, goodnight.” Chip kissed her, and she did to.

“We don’t have to part here.” Mercy replied and scooped the feminine Chip up in her arms.

She entered the bedroom and laid him down on her bed. She sat down on the other side and got under the blankets. She encouraged Chip to do the same.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He wondered.

“Do you? I’m not planning anything too intimate, like what I accused you of in the hospital.”

“Oh.” He uttered, part of him relieved, the other disappointed.

“But I do want to hold on to you. I know you can use a bit of cuddling, you’d worry yourself sick otherwise. You seem occupied by Dale’s health, Nimnul’s plan, the gang war. I don’t want you to after you had your first date with me.” She explained, and Chip knew she was right.

“That’s true, I wish I had more time to live normally. But we just had to fall in love in such a turbulent time. And now I ponder about my and the team’s future every night.”

“Well stop doing it for tonight! You’re being way too serious.” She sternly discouraged him.

“You’re right, this situation is probably going to last for some time so I can think about it later.” He agreed.

“Good.”

She put her arms around his waist and pulled him close to her. She rested her head on his shoulder while he caressed the back of her head and pulled the blankets over them. They fell asleep without even changing for the night.

 

At the United Species Hackwrench Inventors Peace Price ceremony, the jury had decided on its winner. The several inventors assembled had lined up, and all but one where intimidated by the tension in the room. More intimidating however, was the only inventor who wasn’t nervous. A white mouse wearing dark red leather coveralls. She was sure she would win, she had used her persuasion skills to ensure the other scientists and engineers where a bit more modest. For they would not have allowed anyone else to win the price otherwise. Her research in Nimnul’s old laboratory had paid off, she had perfected Nimnul’s DNA altering technology and had come upon a way to use it to alter someone or something’s genes. The invention she was showing the United Species was just it’s little brother: The Geneticizor. It’s purpose was to make couples of a different species capable of having children after treatment in a lad, by altering the code of a sperm or egg. In the same manner it could also alter the codes for hair, nose, eye and fur color, the gender and many other things. This invention not only solved the crisis that interspeciesphiles run across, ensured parents would have a child that fulfilled their expectation, but would also open a new world of discoveries to researchers. But the Genetitron, the one Minerva planned to use, would alter the animal’s physical attributes. Enlarge muscles, increase brain capacity, regenerate lost organics and cleanse the animal’s system of disease. It was the holy grail of science that Indiana and father Jones has searched for, it would grant virtual immortality to the one who possessed it. And it would one day help her take the world. But for now, she needed the money from the award.

“For the first year we got quite some nifty gadgets and machines. We had to decide on one but it was well worth the hours of research and pondering. The one invention, along with the others, have a great effect on society. And we are proud that such intelligent people in this world contribute to progress. The winner of this years Hackwrench Peace Price for Inventors is…”

“Wait, not yet!” A mouse shouted from back in the audience.

Gadget struggled to get past the animals until she was in front of the podium and held out her own contribution.

“I’m not too late am I? I have something that could really bring us peace!” She promised, and the speaker gave her objects a look over.

“Well I’m sorry, but we have already selected the winner.”

“You don’t understand! I signed in on this competition, my invention deserves inspection just as much as the other ones even if I’m a tad late.”

“Of course we would do that, but the rules dictate you show it to us long before the deadline. During the ceremony we hardly even check the inventions themselves, we might only discuss if it’s a winner or a failure.”

“But it’s really an important one! And I’m the one who gave name to this ceremony!”

Everyone who heard this started to talk to each other.

“Well, you could at leas tell me what it does exactly. But you won’t win the price anymore, if that’s all you’re after.” The juror offered as a compromise.

“It’s a compact water purifier pump. Powerful, inexpensive and a gift from heaven for water-starved communities.” Gadget explained swiftly.

“That’s very impressive, but I’ll need to continue the ceremony now.” The man said and continued his speech “Anyway, the winner is Minerva Bilderpavsky with the Geneticizer!”

The mad mouse stormed forward the claim the reward before someone else might.

“I want to thank every brain-dead yak’s rear-end that voted me for winning peace price!” She started her speech, and the audience shrugged her insults to their intelligence and warmongering words off as a cultural difference.

Gadget was disappointed, angry even. This was a peace price ceremony. How could Minerva’s invention contribute to that? There where animals in the third world that didn’t even have a water tap in their own house. She hardly got a chance, while she had spend the last few days in her workshop. Her pump was a trail and error process, but it was now the cheapest and most durable water utility known to rodents or humans. And now she was beaten in her own contest, by a mouse who always managed to induce cramp and delirium to people who listened to her. She was disappointed, and returned back to home with her invention. She’d call Koffee Manna and ask if he had the right contacts to introduce her Water Purification Pump to the world, it just wouldn’t set an example to fellow gadgeteers and inventors. For a moment she was worrying if she only had joined for the recognition.

 

Steve Nutcracker was not having the best time in his life. He was at the hospital with his wife and parents. His family had already healed up long ago, what was bothering him was the end of his wife’s pregnancy. After a while, babies had to get out, and that was usually the worst moment involved. He was very stressed and panicking, and all he was supposed to do was watch. Flora was having a hard time bringing their child into the world, and no amount of painkillers or reassurances could calm her.

“It’s almost over, I think I can see the top of the head.” Steve tried to comfort her, even though this news meant the worst pain was coming and it would still take a lot of time.

“Steve, do me a little favor and SHUT UP! I’m trying to concentrate!” His wife blew up against him.

It did shut Steve up, but he still had to suppress the great urge to reassure his love.

“Try to do it quickly, once the head and shoulder have been pressed out it will go a lot better. Now push.” The doctor instructed, and with a lot of force his patient pushed out the baby’s head “Once more, then you’re almost done.” With one more press the baby’s chest was forced out as well “Now you only have to do the hips. Those might give you quite some discomfort.”

The doctor was right, chipmunks have rather wide hips in comparison to the rest of their bodies, and Flora let out a wail just before the baby popped free. The doctor took the newborn to clean it and start it’s life outside a womb. A little bit later he returned to Flora with a breathing and softly crying chipmunk, clear of the lubricants and fluids that had gotten stuck in its fur.

“It’s a girl, I hope you are proud of yourself.”

“Sure I am! I’m her father after all.” Steve proclaimed as he held out his hands.

“He’s talking about me stupid, I’m the one who had to go in labor here after all.” Flora corrected him as she accepted her child and rested it on her chest.

Steve let his parents in and excitedly told them how he was now the parent of a wonderful daughter.

“This time you’re not exaggerating.” Ans said as she looked down on her grandchild.

“Do you have a name yet?” Gus asked.

“Of course, we decided on that long ago. We decided to call her Anne Nutcracker.” Flora told them.

“Silly, Anne Nutcracker Nutcracker. You might want to leave out her second name.” Ans suggested with a smile.

“Anne’s going to be a great girl, I’ll make sure of that. She’ll be a smart, handsome, cunning lady when she grows up.” Steve predicted with enthusiasm.

“Everything you always wanted to be if I understand.” Gus teased.

“Very funny dad, I’ll have you know I’m more attractive than you.”

“In my old days I was twice as capable of winding women around my finger as you.”

“That’s why I found you totally single, and with a black eye to boot.” Ans joined in to make her husband stop bragging “Your son has been quite a bit more capable than you think.”

“Eh, that eye was from a fight I got into. Not from a girl who rejected me.”

“A-hah, sure!” Ans sarcastically added.

“Nice to hear you reminiscing your pasts, but I think need rest. You’ll get to see me and Anne again when we’re rested up.” Flora told them, and the four Nutcrackers where left by themselves to talk about the new addition to their growing family.

 

In the following years, animal society took a turn for the worse. The constant fighting between Fat Cat’s Mobster Extermination Coalition and Rat Capone’s gangster family increased and became a hazard to innocents. Although Fat Cat ensured the corrupt government remained on his side, the advantage of this was weakening by the month. AP skepticism increased to unknown heights, and the decline of the police force was a fact. Without the police, the gangs had free reign. The Rescue Rangers had no grip on the situation, the two sides where too powerful to oppose. And the politicians warned them it was ‘the police’s concern’. Mercy never went to the court she was ordered to appear in, and the system of justice lacked the strength to force her. The shady councilors where one reason why Chip didn’t even bother convince her to go to that court, and the stories she told him about her most recent experiences only further convinced him this was not a law system anymore. Living conditions decreased in New York, but the Rangers and their friends remained relatively safe. The power of Fat Cat and Rat Capone brought forth a second gangster age, only this time a great depression was the result, not the cause. Nimnul was never heard of again, but the professor himself was still plotting constantly to finish off the Rangers for good and seize control amongst the chaos of the Fat Cat-Rat Capone gang war.

 

The End

 

This was my eight fanfic, and it took me perhaps almost than a year to write. But I finished, and don’t plan to write so much again in one fanfic. There’s another one in this series I’m going to write, and another.

 

The Rescue Rangers, Chip Dale, Monty, Gadget, Zipper, Fat Cat and gang, Rat Capone and gang, Norton Nimnul, Clarice, Desiree D’Allure, Bubbles, Tammy, Foxglove, Tammy’s mom, Bink, Maltese D’Sade, the Siamese Twins, Sparky, Buzz are all copyrighted Disney. Scarface Q Squirrel and Phineas Ferret only appeared in comics but are copyrighted Disney. Steve, Flora, Ans, Gus and Mandy Nutcracker, Mercy, Philip, Anne-Mary and Wendy Stoneturner, Derrick Dimedealer, Alexander Rockforanov, Minerva Bilderpavsky, Amelia, Benita, Christina, Liquid, Justice “Jerk”, Henk “Snagger”, Timbert “Screek”, Hen “Hiss”, Frank “Mousestein”,Sergei Tcharkovsky, Archibald Brassfist, Christy Lighthead, Boris “Bowler”, Marcus “Agave”, Leonard Longtail, Thomas “Venice” are my creations. Dr. Schadenfruede is a creation of Loneheart and used with permission. The name June for Tammy’s mom was first used by John Nowak. The name Tammiasara for Clarice was first used by The JAM (so nobody will forget, like I did). The nickname “Guilleret” was used by Chris Silva and Indy in their fanfic “The Spy Who Loved Monty”.