This is my first try at a Perfect Dark fic, so bear with me. This takes
place about four years after the whole Skedar/Maian thing. With that, let's
get on to the story.
It was pitch black in Antarctica, the location of the Columbian Drug Cartel's biggest drug warehouse and processing plant.
Inside the small security room, two men were viewing the surveillance videos from the past few days. There was a dead guard lkeeled over in his chair, and one of the men promptly shoved him off, while the other showed a little disgust. The first man was a tall Russian, with a large build, and sharp features. The second was somewhat short, and had wrinkles on his face.
Alex Cortez, the most powerful drug lord in the world, was at a seemingly abandoned proccessing plant, which only a few days ago had been his biggest warehouse for producing cocaine, with his chief officer, known only as Volkov. Volkov was an ex-KGB hitman who was occasionally called upon by Cortez to take care of growing. . . problems.
"Well, everything seems normal, go to Friday's tapes." Cortez instructed him.
The video showed two men standing at the entrance to the grounds of the Drug house. The camera turned away from the men, and when it turned back, the two men were lying on the snow, missing their heads. Cortez's grip tightened on the Desert eagle he had in his hand.
"Killed with silenced weapons while the camera was turned. A professional, no doubt." The Russian said.
"Yes, but who?"
The tape switched to the hallway adjacent to the security room, and a group of men armed with AKs were patrolling the area. As the group of guards walked past the security door. It opened silently, and a figure clad in lack approached the men, snapped the first one's neck with practiced ease, and put a silenced pistol up to the other's head.
"I'm going to need your level 3 clearance card." The assailant told the guard.
"You'll never get it from me." The guard said bravely.
Volkov saw the assailant's eyebrow raise in amusement, and he saw something on his eyes.
"Is that eye shadow?" Volkov announced, pausing the tape.
"What?"
"Zoom in on the assailant's face." The Russian said. Cortez did so, and sure enough, the assialant was wearing eye shadow, a female cosmetic product.
"I don't believe it." Volkov siad quietly to himself.
"Don't beleive what?"
"This, my friend, is Perfect Dark."
"Perfect Dark? Who in the hell is Perfect Dark?"
"Well, I suppose she's a British spy. She has a British accent. However, this is the first time I have heard her voice, so I could be wrong."
The camera view switched to the big warehouse, and dead bodies were all over the place.Huge piles of cocaine filled the room, and some of the piles had spots of blood on them.
"My god, she's good." Volkov said in amazement. in all his years, he had come across about five people who had the ability to clear an entire facility. He had killed all of them.
"Dammit!" Cortez yelled, slamming the Desert Eagle on the chair. The Columbian Drug Lord turned to Volkov with murder written on his face.
"I want you to find this 'Perfect Dark', and kill her. No, torture her, then kill her." Cortez said angrily.
"With pleasure."
Joanna Dark was certainly having the time of her life. She was in the middle of one extremely large rain forest, and it was pitch black outside. If it wasn't for the Night Vision Goggles they were given, the opposing force just might have taken them out.
She was laying just inside the entrance to her team's bunker, which consisted of one small room where their case was sitting.
Joanna's left leg had a .223 bullet in it, and it was bleeding profusely, and unlike most simulations, she could feel it. And it hurt like hell.
Her M-60 machine gun was sitting their, supported by a bipod. Jo wasn't sure how many simulants had died at its hands.
"Do you see anything Jo?" Jonathan asked, causing Joanna to jump and instinctively pull out her larrge Bowie knife.
"No. Not a damn thing. I still don't understand why they haven't attacked for a half hour. What could they possibly be doing? Even Darksims don't sit in one place this long." She said, a little irritated at the lack of action.
"I'm not sure. Daniel did say that he didn't expect everyone to make it out alive." The blonde team leader responded.
Joanna was the leader of the team, but she relinquished it to Jonathan after she had gotten shot. Joanna glanced inside the dimly lit bunker. It had thick grey walls, and there was one small gas lantern hanging from the ceiling that illuminated most of the inside of the bunker.
Joanna shook her head to shake the sweat off. She was wearing fatigue pants and a dark green tanktop. The tanktop was soaked in sweat, sticking to her upper body and showing off all her features. Jonathan took a moment to admire her bust, and then turned his attention back to the forest.
"I saw that." She said, pursing her lips.
"I know." He said, smiling despite himself. She was cute when she was mad. Jonathan forced that image out of his mind, and tried to change the subject.
"That new sniper is quite a shot. What's his name again?" Jonathan asked.
"Jack. Jack Farris. And yes, he is. You know he used to be a Navy SEAL."
"Really?"
Joanna nodded.
"We have company." Jonathan whispered.
Sure enough, small greyish green dots appeared on the horizon, moving slowly, staying relatively well hidden.
Joanna shouldered her M-60, and was about to set her finger on the trigger when three distinct noises caught her attention.
Boom, boom, boom. Three shots rang out in the distance, and simultaneously three of the sims fell to Jack Farris's .300 Winchester Magnum rifle, their heads disappearing in a puff of red.
"Atta boy Jack." Jon said to himself.
Two more booms ensued, signallng the fall of two more sucker AI. The sims began to return fire, the ch-ch-ch of their weapons echoing in the distance.
Finally, the shooting stopped, and Jo could make out a few more shapes in the distance, heading quickly towards her position. She put her finger on the trigger, but waited for some sure sign that they weren't friandly.
"Jo, hold your fire. Mike and I are coming in. The poor bastards walked right into our ambush." She heard Jack say through her earpiece.
"That's great, but where is Ben? He hasn't checked in for at least fifteen minutes." Jo asked him.
"You sound concerned. You aren't going soft on us, are you?"
"Look, he's the reason I have one bullet in me instead of two. I owe him at least that much."
"Whatever."
As soon as Jack and Mike waltzed through the entrance to their base, Mike checked Joanna's wound.
"You moved. I told you to stay still." He said sternly.
Mike Johnson was a fairly new recruit, having come from the Delta force a few months back. He had quickly become friends with Jo and her team, and after Jo put in a good word for him, he was appointed the medic for her and her team. Her team consisted of her, Jonathan, Mike Stiller, Jack, Ben Stone, and Velvet Dark, Joanna's little sister.
Mike was about as tall as Jonathan, with jet black hair and a degree in battlefield medicine. Jack Farris had dark brown hair, eyes that sparkled at the mention of a challenge, and was a little short, but could easily bench 250.
A year ago, the Institute had celebrated its union with the U.S. Government. This meant that the Carrington Institute now received its funds from the U.S. and The United Nations. Unfortunately, it also meant that the Institute had to help the U.S. in wartime. A few days ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency presented the institute with a version of the combat simulator software that could simulate a wartime environment. With Daniel Carrington's permission, Joanna took her team to NASA'a headquarters to test the simulator.
It was a little more advanced than the Institute's simulator in that the players could feel pain, they could sweat, get a dry mouth, taste blood, etc. while in the simulator.
So, Jo and her team set up a capture the case game against the simulants, who were known to be the only ones to always win against a team of SEALS.
Jo's team was doing very well. The score limit was set to ten, and both the sims and Jo's team sat at eight points. Each time they captured the case it was two points. Ben was currently out trying to place explosives on the wall of the sims' base, and he hadn't reported back yet.
"Ow." Joanna said, wincing as Mike put fresh bandages on her leg.
The pain was intense, but she bit it back. It wasn't good for morale to show any weaknesses as a leader.
He finished bandaging up the wound, and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him with a pained expression.
"I don't want you getting up for any reason other than a sim getting too close. I'm serious. If you need anything, have Jon get it for you." Jon smirked and Jo narrowed her eyes, "I'm serious Jo. If you lose anymore blood you'll pass out. Then you'll be as good as dead to us. If Ben manages to get the explosives placed, he's going to need everyone of us over there to help him."
The plan of attack for the sims' bunker was to place explosives on the back wall and detonate it, blowing a hole in the wall and clearing the area of sims long enough for them to grab the flag and get out. They had managed to get a few explosives placed, but they were discovered before Ben, the demolition expert of the team, had been able to place them all. Jo had been point guard, and Ben had pushed her out of the way of a sim's bullets, sparing her a bullet in the chest, but allowing her a bullet in the lower leg. The rest of the team had gon back to the base, but Ben stayed a distance away from the sims' place to await his chance at placing the rest of the explosives.
Jack sighed and sat against the wall, grabbing his canteen and taking a long drink.
Mike sat opposite him, stuffing his fatigue pockets with fresh magazines.
They sat there for a few minutes, Jo and Jon scanning the forest and Mike and Jack sleeping with their eyes open.
Finally the silence got to Jonathan, and he tried to make conversation.
"So, do you have a sweetheart Jack?" He asked the sniper.
Jack shook his head. "Nope. I don't like having a girl. All they want is for you to spend money on 'em."
"Amen to that."
"Jack, you have figured out what most men spend there whole lives learning." Jo said. The team chuckled.
"How about you, Jon?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, actually. I met this girl at a bar. Name's Jennifer. We have a date tomorrow."
"If I could count how many girls you meet at bars..." Jo left it hanging. Mike and Jack laughed. Jon looked hurt.
"How about you Jo. Is there a special someone in your life?"
"No. I had a bad experience in my teenage years, and I think my career would take too much time away from any relationship."
Jon was surprised. Jo usually never opened up to anybody like this. Her past was a mystery. Everyone knew she came from England, but she never talked about it. Jon decided to let her talk in the hopes that she might open up a little bit more.
"And what kind of bad experience might this be?" Mike asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it..."
"Oh, come on. The best way to releive stress is to talk about it."
Jo opened her mouth to protest revealing anything about her past, but closed it as her comm started giving her static.
"Say again, over." Mike said into his earpiece.
"I repeat, the bait is in place, just tell me when to let the eagle know we're in her nest." They heard Ben say, his voice betraying his efforts to hide his exhaustion.
"Received." Jo said back.
"Well, shall we?" Mike said to Jon and Jack, gesturing towards the exit of their little cement stronghold.
Jon nodded, checked his Magnum to make sure it was loaded, made sure that his AR-34 had a fresh mag, and followed Jack and Mike outside.
Jo could only sit and watch as the three men started through the forest quickly and silently, like a spider going after a bug caught in its web. Her wounded leg destroyed her ability to walk, thus making her a permanent sentry unit.
She sighed, and got into position behind her M-60, once again lazily scanning the darkness with her NVGs. She could just barely make out the shapes of Jon, Jack, and Mike, but soon they disappeared into the maze of trees, and Jo was once again alone.
From what Jo remembered from the previous trip to the enemy base, they had trekked across roughly two miles of thick rain forest. It would be about twenty minutes to a half hour of silence before she would hear Ben set off the explosives, and then they would bust in, take down anyone inside, and grab the case. Less than thirty seconds after the explosion they would probably be on their way back.
After Joanna and Elvis had arrived back on Earth, Carrington had immediatley pulled Joanna into a long and boring debriefing session.
The long awaited meeting between the U.S. and Maian governments had finally taken place, and after an alliance was signed, the U.S. President had hosted a party where there were drinks and dancing. Jo had turned down countless men who had wanted to dance with her, but finally allowed Jon a dance as thanks for his help in defending the Institute from the Skedar.
Three years later, The Institute had agreed to receive its funds from the U.S. Government, with their disguise being that of an energy company to replace Enron. There was another party in which Jo danced with Jon, but he was the only guy she danced with.
She had spent most of the rest of the three years in the combat simulator, busting drug lords, and finally shutting down the famous coke plant rumored to be in Antarctica.
She had finally acheived the rank of Perfect on Combat Simulator, which allowed her to do Matrix style moves. She had discovered that she actually had relatives in the U.S., and they were having a family reunion next month. Jo was still considering attending.
Jo was suddenly jarred from her thoughts by a green dot appearing in the distance. It went into a crouching position pointing towards her, and instantly she ducked for cover. Milliseconds later, a bullet whizzed past her head, splintering into the wall behind her. As she began to return fire, she noticed five more shapes trying to flank her on the right, crawling silently through the grass.
Joanna decided to humor them, so she started to return fire to the sniper in the distance. When the other five got about fifteen feet away, Jo stopped friring, pretending to reload, but actually drawing her Bowie knife. She threw the knife at one of the sims, seeing him fall to the floor, unmoving. By the time the other four had noticed their downed comrade, Jo had already retreated inside the base, putting out the small lamp.
She sat against the wall, her Falcon 2 scoped drawn, waiting for the sims to pop in.
Three of them rushed in, and at the same time Ben detonated the ezplosives in the distance, causing the sims to do a double take. Joanna seized this opportunity to take all three of them down, putting .45 ACP slugs in their chests.
The last two sims were a bit tricky. They came in at the same time, but ran to different sides of the small cement base, allowing Joanna to only kill one of them. The last sim crouched low and let loose a burst from his assault rifle, catching Jo in her left thigh and her right shoulder.
She cried out in pain, dropping her Falcon and grabbing her wounds. Blood was pouring out of her leg, and she started to see colorful stars at the side of her vision.
Instead of finishing her off, the sim chuckled, set his rifle dwon, and pulled out his knife, slowly walking towards her.
The simulant got so close to her that she could feel its warm breath on her neck. She felt the tip of the knife trace her skin lightly, not enough to cut her, from her neck down to her tank top. The simulant smiled wickedly and drew its hand back.
From the corner of her eye, Jo saw her two of her teammates return, and she looked at the sim.
"Good game." She said to it, smiling.
Before the sim could react, it was showered with 5.56mm rounds from Mike and Jon's AR-34s.
Mike immediatley rushed to her side, setting up IVs and giving her a shot of morphine.
She felt the pain dull, and now that she could think clearly, she frowned at Jon.
"Where are Ben and Jack?" she asked worriedly.
"They're coming with the case. Just realx, Jo."
"I'm loaded with morphine, how could I not relax?" Jo said, smiling.
Jon shook his head, and Jo felt her eyelids closing.
Suddenly, Jo was no longer in pain, but she was flying through some sort of white tunnel. In the distance she could see some sort of opening, and as she neared it, her world went from white to black.
She was sitting in a very cushiony chair of some sort, with her hands and legs strapped in with velcro. Their was something on her head, which a lab technician in a white coat removed, undoing her straps.
Jo just sat there for a moment, until it finally hit her that the game had ended and they were all back in the simulator room.
"Don't get up too suddenly, Ms. Dark. You'll be very sorry." The technician informed her.
Ben, Jon, Mike, and Jack had gotten up, and were standing in front of Jo.
"Did we win?" Jo asked wearily.
"Yep. We won by two points." Jack said, a huge grin plastered all over his face.
Jo breathed a sigh of relief, and started to get up. She soon discovered that to be a bad idea, as intense pain racked her left leg and her shoulder.
She collapsed back into the chair, groaning in pain.
Mike and Ben helped her out of the chair, and eased her down on a small bench.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Jo demanded of the technician.
"Well, right now your body is confused. A few moments ago your brain was telling your body that it was in intense pain. Your body still believes it is in intense pain, and so you feel pain. Its very complicated, don't ask me to go into the details." The technician said.
"How long will it last?" Mike asked.
"Not long. I'm going to give you some sedatives, and by the time you wake up, the pain should be totally gone." The techie siad, drawing a clear liquid from a bottle into a needle.
He inserted the needle into her arm, and instantly Jo felt a state of relaxation come over her. Her eyelids slowly closed, and for the first time in twenty-eight hours, she let the blissful state of sleep take over.
Well, how was it? Please review.
Undertaker out.
It was pitch black in Antarctica, the location of the Columbian Drug Cartel's biggest drug warehouse and processing plant.
Inside the small security room, two men were viewing the surveillance videos from the past few days. There was a dead guard lkeeled over in his chair, and one of the men promptly shoved him off, while the other showed a little disgust. The first man was a tall Russian, with a large build, and sharp features. The second was somewhat short, and had wrinkles on his face.
Alex Cortez, the most powerful drug lord in the world, was at a seemingly abandoned proccessing plant, which only a few days ago had been his biggest warehouse for producing cocaine, with his chief officer, known only as Volkov. Volkov was an ex-KGB hitman who was occasionally called upon by Cortez to take care of growing. . . problems.
"Well, everything seems normal, go to Friday's tapes." Cortez instructed him.
The video showed two men standing at the entrance to the grounds of the Drug house. The camera turned away from the men, and when it turned back, the two men were lying on the snow, missing their heads. Cortez's grip tightened on the Desert eagle he had in his hand.
"Killed with silenced weapons while the camera was turned. A professional, no doubt." The Russian said.
"Yes, but who?"
The tape switched to the hallway adjacent to the security room, and a group of men armed with AKs were patrolling the area. As the group of guards walked past the security door. It opened silently, and a figure clad in lack approached the men, snapped the first one's neck with practiced ease, and put a silenced pistol up to the other's head.
"I'm going to need your level 3 clearance card." The assailant told the guard.
"You'll never get it from me." The guard said bravely.
Volkov saw the assailant's eyebrow raise in amusement, and he saw something on his eyes.
"Is that eye shadow?" Volkov announced, pausing the tape.
"What?"
"Zoom in on the assailant's face." The Russian said. Cortez did so, and sure enough, the assialant was wearing eye shadow, a female cosmetic product.
"I don't believe it." Volkov siad quietly to himself.
"Don't beleive what?"
"This, my friend, is Perfect Dark."
"Perfect Dark? Who in the hell is Perfect Dark?"
"Well, I suppose she's a British spy. She has a British accent. However, this is the first time I have heard her voice, so I could be wrong."
The camera view switched to the big warehouse, and dead bodies were all over the place.Huge piles of cocaine filled the room, and some of the piles had spots of blood on them.
"My god, she's good." Volkov said in amazement. in all his years, he had come across about five people who had the ability to clear an entire facility. He had killed all of them.
"Dammit!" Cortez yelled, slamming the Desert Eagle on the chair. The Columbian Drug Lord turned to Volkov with murder written on his face.
"I want you to find this 'Perfect Dark', and kill her. No, torture her, then kill her." Cortez said angrily.
"With pleasure."
Joanna Dark was certainly having the time of her life. She was in the middle of one extremely large rain forest, and it was pitch black outside. If it wasn't for the Night Vision Goggles they were given, the opposing force just might have taken them out.
She was laying just inside the entrance to her team's bunker, which consisted of one small room where their case was sitting.
Joanna's left leg had a .223 bullet in it, and it was bleeding profusely, and unlike most simulations, she could feel it. And it hurt like hell.
Her M-60 machine gun was sitting their, supported by a bipod. Jo wasn't sure how many simulants had died at its hands.
"Do you see anything Jo?" Jonathan asked, causing Joanna to jump and instinctively pull out her larrge Bowie knife.
"No. Not a damn thing. I still don't understand why they haven't attacked for a half hour. What could they possibly be doing? Even Darksims don't sit in one place this long." She said, a little irritated at the lack of action.
"I'm not sure. Daniel did say that he didn't expect everyone to make it out alive." The blonde team leader responded.
Joanna was the leader of the team, but she relinquished it to Jonathan after she had gotten shot. Joanna glanced inside the dimly lit bunker. It had thick grey walls, and there was one small gas lantern hanging from the ceiling that illuminated most of the inside of the bunker.
Joanna shook her head to shake the sweat off. She was wearing fatigue pants and a dark green tanktop. The tanktop was soaked in sweat, sticking to her upper body and showing off all her features. Jonathan took a moment to admire her bust, and then turned his attention back to the forest.
"I saw that." She said, pursing her lips.
"I know." He said, smiling despite himself. She was cute when she was mad. Jonathan forced that image out of his mind, and tried to change the subject.
"That new sniper is quite a shot. What's his name again?" Jonathan asked.
"Jack. Jack Farris. And yes, he is. You know he used to be a Navy SEAL."
"Really?"
Joanna nodded.
"We have company." Jonathan whispered.
Sure enough, small greyish green dots appeared on the horizon, moving slowly, staying relatively well hidden.
Joanna shouldered her M-60, and was about to set her finger on the trigger when three distinct noises caught her attention.
Boom, boom, boom. Three shots rang out in the distance, and simultaneously three of the sims fell to Jack Farris's .300 Winchester Magnum rifle, their heads disappearing in a puff of red.
"Atta boy Jack." Jon said to himself.
Two more booms ensued, signallng the fall of two more sucker AI. The sims began to return fire, the ch-ch-ch of their weapons echoing in the distance.
Finally, the shooting stopped, and Jo could make out a few more shapes in the distance, heading quickly towards her position. She put her finger on the trigger, but waited for some sure sign that they weren't friandly.
"Jo, hold your fire. Mike and I are coming in. The poor bastards walked right into our ambush." She heard Jack say through her earpiece.
"That's great, but where is Ben? He hasn't checked in for at least fifteen minutes." Jo asked him.
"You sound concerned. You aren't going soft on us, are you?"
"Look, he's the reason I have one bullet in me instead of two. I owe him at least that much."
"Whatever."
As soon as Jack and Mike waltzed through the entrance to their base, Mike checked Joanna's wound.
"You moved. I told you to stay still." He said sternly.
Mike Johnson was a fairly new recruit, having come from the Delta force a few months back. He had quickly become friends with Jo and her team, and after Jo put in a good word for him, he was appointed the medic for her and her team. Her team consisted of her, Jonathan, Mike Stiller, Jack, Ben Stone, and Velvet Dark, Joanna's little sister.
Mike was about as tall as Jonathan, with jet black hair and a degree in battlefield medicine. Jack Farris had dark brown hair, eyes that sparkled at the mention of a challenge, and was a little short, but could easily bench 250.
A year ago, the Institute had celebrated its union with the U.S. Government. This meant that the Carrington Institute now received its funds from the U.S. and The United Nations. Unfortunately, it also meant that the Institute had to help the U.S. in wartime. A few days ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency presented the institute with a version of the combat simulator software that could simulate a wartime environment. With Daniel Carrington's permission, Joanna took her team to NASA'a headquarters to test the simulator.
It was a little more advanced than the Institute's simulator in that the players could feel pain, they could sweat, get a dry mouth, taste blood, etc. while in the simulator.
So, Jo and her team set up a capture the case game against the simulants, who were known to be the only ones to always win against a team of SEALS.
Jo's team was doing very well. The score limit was set to ten, and both the sims and Jo's team sat at eight points. Each time they captured the case it was two points. Ben was currently out trying to place explosives on the wall of the sims' base, and he hadn't reported back yet.
"Ow." Joanna said, wincing as Mike put fresh bandages on her leg.
The pain was intense, but she bit it back. It wasn't good for morale to show any weaknesses as a leader.
He finished bandaging up the wound, and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him with a pained expression.
"I don't want you getting up for any reason other than a sim getting too close. I'm serious. If you need anything, have Jon get it for you." Jon smirked and Jo narrowed her eyes, "I'm serious Jo. If you lose anymore blood you'll pass out. Then you'll be as good as dead to us. If Ben manages to get the explosives placed, he's going to need everyone of us over there to help him."
The plan of attack for the sims' bunker was to place explosives on the back wall and detonate it, blowing a hole in the wall and clearing the area of sims long enough for them to grab the flag and get out. They had managed to get a few explosives placed, but they were discovered before Ben, the demolition expert of the team, had been able to place them all. Jo had been point guard, and Ben had pushed her out of the way of a sim's bullets, sparing her a bullet in the chest, but allowing her a bullet in the lower leg. The rest of the team had gon back to the base, but Ben stayed a distance away from the sims' place to await his chance at placing the rest of the explosives.
Jack sighed and sat against the wall, grabbing his canteen and taking a long drink.
Mike sat opposite him, stuffing his fatigue pockets with fresh magazines.
They sat there for a few minutes, Jo and Jon scanning the forest and Mike and Jack sleeping with their eyes open.
Finally the silence got to Jonathan, and he tried to make conversation.
"So, do you have a sweetheart Jack?" He asked the sniper.
Jack shook his head. "Nope. I don't like having a girl. All they want is for you to spend money on 'em."
"Amen to that."
"Jack, you have figured out what most men spend there whole lives learning." Jo said. The team chuckled.
"How about you, Jon?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, actually. I met this girl at a bar. Name's Jennifer. We have a date tomorrow."
"If I could count how many girls you meet at bars..." Jo left it hanging. Mike and Jack laughed. Jon looked hurt.
"How about you Jo. Is there a special someone in your life?"
"No. I had a bad experience in my teenage years, and I think my career would take too much time away from any relationship."
Jon was surprised. Jo usually never opened up to anybody like this. Her past was a mystery. Everyone knew she came from England, but she never talked about it. Jon decided to let her talk in the hopes that she might open up a little bit more.
"And what kind of bad experience might this be?" Mike asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it..."
"Oh, come on. The best way to releive stress is to talk about it."
Jo opened her mouth to protest revealing anything about her past, but closed it as her comm started giving her static.
"Say again, over." Mike said into his earpiece.
"I repeat, the bait is in place, just tell me when to let the eagle know we're in her nest." They heard Ben say, his voice betraying his efforts to hide his exhaustion.
"Received." Jo said back.
"Well, shall we?" Mike said to Jon and Jack, gesturing towards the exit of their little cement stronghold.
Jon nodded, checked his Magnum to make sure it was loaded, made sure that his AR-34 had a fresh mag, and followed Jack and Mike outside.
Jo could only sit and watch as the three men started through the forest quickly and silently, like a spider going after a bug caught in its web. Her wounded leg destroyed her ability to walk, thus making her a permanent sentry unit.
She sighed, and got into position behind her M-60, once again lazily scanning the darkness with her NVGs. She could just barely make out the shapes of Jon, Jack, and Mike, but soon they disappeared into the maze of trees, and Jo was once again alone.
From what Jo remembered from the previous trip to the enemy base, they had trekked across roughly two miles of thick rain forest. It would be about twenty minutes to a half hour of silence before she would hear Ben set off the explosives, and then they would bust in, take down anyone inside, and grab the case. Less than thirty seconds after the explosion they would probably be on their way back.
After Joanna and Elvis had arrived back on Earth, Carrington had immediatley pulled Joanna into a long and boring debriefing session.
The long awaited meeting between the U.S. and Maian governments had finally taken place, and after an alliance was signed, the U.S. President had hosted a party where there were drinks and dancing. Jo had turned down countless men who had wanted to dance with her, but finally allowed Jon a dance as thanks for his help in defending the Institute from the Skedar.
Three years later, The Institute had agreed to receive its funds from the U.S. Government, with their disguise being that of an energy company to replace Enron. There was another party in which Jo danced with Jon, but he was the only guy she danced with.
She had spent most of the rest of the three years in the combat simulator, busting drug lords, and finally shutting down the famous coke plant rumored to be in Antarctica.
She had finally acheived the rank of Perfect on Combat Simulator, which allowed her to do Matrix style moves. She had discovered that she actually had relatives in the U.S., and they were having a family reunion next month. Jo was still considering attending.
Jo was suddenly jarred from her thoughts by a green dot appearing in the distance. It went into a crouching position pointing towards her, and instantly she ducked for cover. Milliseconds later, a bullet whizzed past her head, splintering into the wall behind her. As she began to return fire, she noticed five more shapes trying to flank her on the right, crawling silently through the grass.
Joanna decided to humor them, so she started to return fire to the sniper in the distance. When the other five got about fifteen feet away, Jo stopped friring, pretending to reload, but actually drawing her Bowie knife. She threw the knife at one of the sims, seeing him fall to the floor, unmoving. By the time the other four had noticed their downed comrade, Jo had already retreated inside the base, putting out the small lamp.
She sat against the wall, her Falcon 2 scoped drawn, waiting for the sims to pop in.
Three of them rushed in, and at the same time Ben detonated the ezplosives in the distance, causing the sims to do a double take. Joanna seized this opportunity to take all three of them down, putting .45 ACP slugs in their chests.
The last two sims were a bit tricky. They came in at the same time, but ran to different sides of the small cement base, allowing Joanna to only kill one of them. The last sim crouched low and let loose a burst from his assault rifle, catching Jo in her left thigh and her right shoulder.
She cried out in pain, dropping her Falcon and grabbing her wounds. Blood was pouring out of her leg, and she started to see colorful stars at the side of her vision.
Instead of finishing her off, the sim chuckled, set his rifle dwon, and pulled out his knife, slowly walking towards her.
The simulant got so close to her that she could feel its warm breath on her neck. She felt the tip of the knife trace her skin lightly, not enough to cut her, from her neck down to her tank top. The simulant smiled wickedly and drew its hand back.
From the corner of her eye, Jo saw her two of her teammates return, and she looked at the sim.
"Good game." She said to it, smiling.
Before the sim could react, it was showered with 5.56mm rounds from Mike and Jon's AR-34s.
Mike immediatley rushed to her side, setting up IVs and giving her a shot of morphine.
She felt the pain dull, and now that she could think clearly, she frowned at Jon.
"Where are Ben and Jack?" she asked worriedly.
"They're coming with the case. Just realx, Jo."
"I'm loaded with morphine, how could I not relax?" Jo said, smiling.
Jon shook his head, and Jo felt her eyelids closing.
Suddenly, Jo was no longer in pain, but she was flying through some sort of white tunnel. In the distance she could see some sort of opening, and as she neared it, her world went from white to black.
She was sitting in a very cushiony chair of some sort, with her hands and legs strapped in with velcro. Their was something on her head, which a lab technician in a white coat removed, undoing her straps.
Jo just sat there for a moment, until it finally hit her that the game had ended and they were all back in the simulator room.
"Don't get up too suddenly, Ms. Dark. You'll be very sorry." The technician informed her.
Ben, Jon, Mike, and Jack had gotten up, and were standing in front of Jo.
"Did we win?" Jo asked wearily.
"Yep. We won by two points." Jack said, a huge grin plastered all over his face.
Jo breathed a sigh of relief, and started to get up. She soon discovered that to be a bad idea, as intense pain racked her left leg and her shoulder.
She collapsed back into the chair, groaning in pain.
Mike and Ben helped her out of the chair, and eased her down on a small bench.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Jo demanded of the technician.
"Well, right now your body is confused. A few moments ago your brain was telling your body that it was in intense pain. Your body still believes it is in intense pain, and so you feel pain. Its very complicated, don't ask me to go into the details." The technician said.
"How long will it last?" Mike asked.
"Not long. I'm going to give you some sedatives, and by the time you wake up, the pain should be totally gone." The techie siad, drawing a clear liquid from a bottle into a needle.
He inserted the needle into her arm, and instantly Jo felt a state of relaxation come over her. Her eyelids slowly closed, and for the first time in twenty-eight hours, she let the blissful state of sleep take over.
Well, how was it? Please review.
Undertaker out.