The Magnificent Seven, Chapter One
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, Kurosawa, or United Artists. Rating: M Time: Season Seven or later.
Rick Castle hurt all over when he woke up. His mouth felt like something had crawled inside it and died. He was laying on something hard and his face was being pricked by something. He pushed himself up with his hands and was overcome with vertigo. He collapsed on his face, but not before throwing up. Luckily, all he had in his stomach was coffee. He'd bought coffee for himself and Kate just a while ago.
"Kate?" He mumbled. "Crap!" He pushed himself up again and dry heaved. This time he made it to his hands and knees. The hard thing he was laying on was an assault rifle and his face had been scratched by dry leaves. Leaves? He thought. How the hell did I get outside?
He staggered to his feet, grabbing a nearby tree to steady himself. "Kate?" What he had intended as a yell had come out as a croak. He tried again. "Kate! Where are you? Honey, are you okay?" This he managed in a nearly conversational voice. He swallowed and tried again. "Kate!"
"Castle! Are you okay?" Kate's voice was close. Her voice sounded as bad as his did.
"Yeah! Where are you?" He yelled.
"By a tree."
By a tree was no help. He was in a damned forest. How the hell did I get here? He saw something move not a dozen feet from him. He pushed his way through waist high brush and found Kate with her back against a big tree. He knelt beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked, relieved to have found her.
"I hurt all over, but I don't think anything's broken. My head is pounding and I feel like I'm going to throw up."
"Let me check you out." Castle ran his hands over Kate's body, carefully examining her. "I think you're okay. Want to stand up?" Kate nodded and Rick helped her to her feet.
"Where did you get the clothes?" She asked. "And the weapons?"
"What?" He looked down. Instead of the suit and sport shirt he'd started the day in, he was dressed in a camouflage uniform, with a protective vest and had an assault rifle hanging from a sling over his shoulder. He looked at Kate. "Same place you did, I guess."
Kate looked down at herself. She was dressed in camo as well, and had an M4 carbine over her shoulder. She checked her right hip. Her Glock was in a holster there. She checked herself further and found her backup Glock in a pocket on her thigh.
Rick checked himself as well. In addition to his M4, he had a Glock in a holster, spare ammo and other items in pouches on his vest and he found he had a small pack on his back. Kate was equipped the same.
"How did we get outside? And who changed our clothes?" She asked.
"We were…" Rick began, but stopped when his head started pounding.
"We were in an abandoned slum building. A homeless woman found a body there and told a uniform. We got there before Ryan and Espo. We were in a hallway and…"
"There was a huge flash of light. Like lightening!" Rick finished.
"Yes! A flash of light like lightening!" Said another, female voice. "What did you do to me? Tell me! I demand that you tell me."
They turned around to face an Asian woman, also in a camouflage uniform, but of a different pattern from theirs. She was holding some sort of assault rifle on them. Both of their weapons were slung.
"I said, tell me!" She gestured with the weapon. "I was in the desert outside of Kashgar, now I'm here. How did you transport me here?"
Kate realized that the woman was quite young and very frightened. She had to calm her down before she started shooting. "Relax, we're no threat to you. We have no idea how we got here either. Or where here is. We were in New York City and now we're here. All we know was that there was a flash of light. Like what happened to you? We need to cooperate."
"You're lying to me. You were in America and now you're in China! That's not possible." She was screaming.
"All things are possible with God." Said a male voice from behind and to the side of her. The newcomer was also in cammies, but they looked like they were for a desert area. Around his head was a red and white checked keffiyah. Most importantly to Rick and Kate, he held am M16 rifle in his hands, pointed at the woman. "I too was in the desert, but not in China, in Jordan. There was a flash of light, and then I was here. And here is not a desert. We should look elsewhere for the cause of our misfortune, I think."
The woman slowly lowered her weapon and then slung it over her back.
The Jordanian spoke again. "I am quite curious, however, as to how two Americans and a Chinese woman speak such perfect Arabic?"
The three opened their mouths to speak, but another male voice beat them to it. "Arabic? But certainly you speak Italian as I do?" He walked out from behind a tree. Another camouflage wearer, this time carrying an M4 carbine with a full set of web gear and a red beret on his head.
Everyone began to speak at once, all insisting they spoke their native language, and only that language. While everyone shouted at each other, a confused looking blonde woman, also in cammies and carrying an AK 47 walked into the group. Everyone stopped to stare at her. "Where am I?" She asked. "Where are we? Who are you?"
That set everyone off again, a half a dozen people all arguing about what language they spoke, where they were, how they had gotten here, and who was responsible.
They were finally interrupted by loud laughing. Everyone turned to see a small, black man, also dressed in cammies and carrying a huge backpack as well as a rifle with a telescopic sight, walked out into the middle of the group. "You look but you do not see." He announced. "You," he pointed to the Chinese woman, "say something. Everyone! Watch her mouth. Look and see! Look and see."
"I don't know what you want me to say. Who are you? Did you bring us here?" She started to unsling her rifle.
"I see it!" Kate announced. "I can't really read lips, but I can tell that she isn't speaking English, but when she speaks, that's what I hear."
The small man ran up to her. "Oh, very good! Very good! You have solved part of the riddle. But how we all do this is the other part of the riddle."
"Do you have the other part of the riddle?" asked the blonde.
"No. I have a greater riddle." He ran towards a small hill a few hundred feet away. Halfway there he stopped and waved them to him. "Come! Come, you must see. It is a wonderful riddle."
They all followed him to the top of the small rise and looked down into a small valley with a little creek running through it.
"I have seen water before." The Arab said.
"No! No!" Cried the small man. "Look! What do you see?"
"Oh, crap!" Castle said. "I see a big, green moon. A really big, green moon."
"Yes! Yes!" Cried the little man. "And?"
"A fast moving, smaller red moon." Kate said, taking Rick's hand in hers.
"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." Rick whispered.
"Where are we?" Asked the Italian.
"We're not on Earth." Kate said.
"We're not in our solar system." Castle added.
"Where are we?" Asked the Chinese woman.
"I believe I can clear that up." Said a voice from behind them.