Price to Pay
This is the sequel to The Return of Thrax. Osmosis Jones, Thrax, Leah, Drix and The Chief are all copyright to the WB. Draco, all eight of the Strykers and any new characters are copyright to me.
Chapter 1: The Search
Sirus was what Draco would refer to as "one of her fathers lackeys". The Strykers always referred to him as an "asslick" who would never accomplish anything. Unfortunately for them, this asslick had accomplished a lot over the past few days. Sirus had gone from the right hand man to the VIN Commander to the VIN Commander himself.
Sirus was currently positioned in another office since his new office, which had belonged to Draco's father, was being repainted. It seemed that the cleaners couldn't get the bloodstains out of the walls, which didn't surprise Sirus since Draco's father was shot at close range by a .50 caliber sniper rifle. Those things always left a nasty mess.
Sirus was put in charge of VIN since he was the next in line, after Draco, who had the qualifications to do the job. As he sat at his temporary desk, staring at his laptop, a smile came over his face. He knew he would have never managed to come this far with out the assistance given by Draco. She was his latest problem. Her and her stupid AWOL Strykers.
The folder containing all of their profiles and the current information on the situation was sitting on his desk. Sirus had barely even touched it. He was commissioned to bring in Draco and the Strykers and punish them according to their crimes. Draco was currently looking at Death Row for the murder of her father. Stryker Team Alpha would be in prison until Draco was dead and then they would be re-instated to VIN, whether they liked it or not. Sirus hated the idea of re-instating Alpha but unfortunately for him, they were and are still the best at what they do, hands down.
However, Sirus delighted in the idea of seeing Draco killed. He had never been fond of her, in fact, he hated her. The reason for this was that she was always better than him at everything, even when they were children he was always bested by her. That was one of the reasons why she had been assigned to the position of Commander of Stryker Team Alpha and he, an office Nazi. He let out a sigh.
There was another folder sitting on his desk. This one he had actually taken the time to read. The information in this folder was on the other virus that accompanied Draco when she returned to VIN. His name was Thrax and according to his files, he was very good. He had had much success when it came to killing bodies. Although Sirus did not believe, that he would pose a threat to his mission. There was knock on the door.
"Come in." He replied looking up from his computer screen.
A blue virus with orange hair entered the room. He was holding a manila folder.
"What is it now Strep?"
Strep was Sirus' errand boy. He ran information for Sirus.
"Well sir. I think that our tech team has found them." Strep replied, handing his boss the folder.
"Are you sure it's them this time?" Sirus asked, taking the folder from Strep.
"Yes sir. See for yourself."
Sirus opened the folder to find copy of a newspaper printed out on some computer paper. The newspaper was entitled "The Daily Frank". He began to read the headlines. "Viral Attack on Brain Finally Ends" The sub-headline read: "Mayor killed in attack by Deadly Virus".
"This sounds like another routine viral attack." Sirus said, glaring at Strep.
"I know sir but this one we didn't order and we had no idea that it was going to happen."
"Well you know things like that seem to take place all the time, or at least they did. But they won't anymore, will they?"
"No sir. They won't. You may wish to read over that article."
Sirus replied by putting his glasses on and staring down at the article. Minutes passed before the new VIN Commander spoke again.
"Strep."
"Yes sir?"
"Do we know where this City of Frank is?"
"Yes sir." Strep replied. "The boys in the tech room have him on satellite tracking."
"Great. Assemble Stryker Team Beta. We're going to take a little trip to the City of Frank."
"Yes sir." Strep replied with a salute.
"Oh and Strep."
"Yes?"
"Good work."
"Thank you sir."
"Tell the team I'll meet them at the heliport in twenty minutes."
"You're coming too sir?"
"Yes. I wouldn't miss this for the world Strep. Not for the world." Sirus replied with a grin.
The City of Frank, One Day after the Siege
The City of Frank had been busy over the last day or so repairing the damage done to the brain and to their hearts. The police had spent the last day cleaning up the mess and tracking down the where abouts of the assailants 24 hours before the attack took place. This had led the police to the Liver, where they found the abandoned warehouse where the ten viruses made camp before the attack. It had also led the police to The Zit where the viruses had partied the night before they put the ball in motion. The police also spent the last 24 hours comforting the families of the victims who died during the assault.
Thrax and Draco were confirmed dead and the Strykers were confirmed missing. A search team was deployed to find them but they came up empty handed. Where ever the Strykers were, it was not in this body.
As of now, The City of Frank was without a Mayor. Elections were going to be held the next day and the job would be given to anyone who was willing to do it. Whether or not it was done well, was another matter entirely.
As for Osmosis Jones, him and Drix were honored once again for their bravery above and beyond the call of duty. The two of them hung around City Hall to supervise the clean up and answer any questions about the incident that any cell may randomly ask. Above all of the questions asked was this one, "Is Thrax really dead this time?" Osmosis was very careful when he answered this question. He told anyone who asked basically what the police had released to the press, that Thrax had landed into Frank's stomach acid and dissolved without a trace.
Ozzie himself knew that Thrax was finally dead but there still seemed to be something bothering him. What was bothering him was that nagging feeling in the back of his subconscious that told him that Thrax was not dead and that this was far from over. Osmosis dismissed the idea with the support of the evidence. Thrax was dead and that was that.
Lymph Nodes, 3rd Precinct 7:02 AM
When they landed there was a panic by both the officers on the scene and the general public. Three black helicopters touched down in front of the 3rd Precinct, the tornado created by the whir of their blades sent garbage on the street flying into the air. The Chief of the FPD, along with over thirty armed officers came out of the doors of the precinct with stern but alarmed looks on their faces. They watched with their weapons drawn.
When all three of the choppers were on the ground, it took a few moments for their blades to stop. When they finally did, The Chief saw a virus wearing a brown trench coat and wire frame sunglasses step out of the chopper and walk toward him. He was the same species as Thrax and Draco but he didn't look anything like them. This virus had short, black hair, was tall and very thin. To The Chief, he looked like he had never set foot inside a gym and was not built like the viruses he had seen during the attack. In fact, this one looked weak, like germ that had spent his entire life in an office pushing papers for some overpaid executive.
"Are you The Chief of the FPD?" he asked, removing his sunglasses.
"Yeah, who are you?"
"My name is Sirus." He replied, sticking out his hand. The Chief took it and they shook hands. "I am the Commander for VIN, the Virus Intelligence Network."
"Okay, why are you here?" The Chief asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm here because of the recent viral attack on your body."
A surprised look came over The Chief's face. "Why don't you step into my office?" The Chief said, leading Sirus inside.
"Yes, of course." The virus agreed, following The Chief's lead.
Upon arrival to The Chief's office, Sirus was told to take a seat. Sirus sat down in a chair in front of The Chief's desk. The Chief sat down behind the desk and put his elbows on top of it.
"Now, tell me. How did you know about our recent attack?"
"It's my job to know. That's one of the things our organization does. We find out what goes on in every body on the planet so we can regulate what happens to the human population."
"You mean you kill bodies."
"To put it frankly, yes. We monitor and regulate the human population by using viral strike teams to take bodies down. We also monitor the number of humans killed by independent viruses and stop them if necessary."
"I'm going to assume that your not here to kill this body, right?"
"Correct."
"Then why are you here?"
"I'm here to catch criminals to our organization. The viruses that were responsible for the attack on your body are who I'm after." Sirus said, tossing a folder over to The Chief. The Chief opened the folder.
"The first eight photos are of the members of Stryker Team Alpha, our AWOL attack team. Recognize any of them?"
The Chief flipped through the contents of the folder and handed a few pictures to Sirus.
"Yeah. I recognize a few of them. The short guy with the rocket launcher who took out most of my choppers and the two who posed for one of our security cameras."
"Ah yes. The first one you're referring to is Demo, the team's explosives expert. The other two are Raven and Shade. They are the team's snipers. Every member of the team is the best in the world at what they do. Now if you don't mind flipping to the final picture in that folder. Do you recognize her?"
The Chief flipped to the last picture in the folder. It was picture of a female virus that he knew all too well.
"Yeah, I do." The Chief said with a sigh.
"That's Draco, Stryker Team Alpha's homicidal commander. She's wanted for the murder of her father, the former VIN Commander."
"I don't think you have to worry about getting her."
"Why?"
"She's dead."
"What!" Sirus said, shooting out of his chair and to his feet faster then a rocket.
"You heard me. Dead. Draco died when she fell into Frank's stomach. Witnesses saw her being dissolved. As for your Stryker Team, they're not in this body anymore. They're gone. If you want to, I can take you down to the stomach to prove it."
Sirus sat back down in his chair.
"Yes, that would be fine. Please allow me to go back to the chopper and pick up a DNA scanner to make sure that what you say is true."
"Sure thing. I'll arrange a police escort down to the stomach for you."
"That would me most appreciated." Sirus said, getting up and walking out the door.
When Sirus left, the Chief immediately picked up his telephone.
City Hall 7:20 AM
Osmosis Jones almost jumped out of his cytoplasm when his cell phone rang. He reached into his pocket and flipped the phone open.
"Hello." Ozzie said into the receiver.
"Jones."
"Hey Chiefy Weefy, wassup!"
"Be serious Jones."
"Sorry man. Whatcha need?"
"I need you to escort someone down to the stomach, pronto."
"Who?"
"The Commander of VIN."
"Wha?"
"The Virus Intelligence Network."
"Virus!"
"Yeah, a virus. The VIN Commander came here looking for Draco and her team. He's got a DNA scanner and wants to make sure that Draco is dead so he needs a lift down to the stomach, and you're going to give it too him. Got it Jones?"
"Yeah, Chief, I got it."
"Then get moving. Be down here in ten."
"Sure. Bye." Osmosis said flipping his cell back up and stuffing it into his pocket. He had a disgusted look on his face as he walked over to his car. "A virus. Great, just what I need is another virus."
The Scalp 7:26 AM
Although Osmosis Jones didn't need anymore viruses, he was going to get some anyway. On Frank's scalp, at the base of a hair were five helicopters. In front of the helicopters sat eight green viruses around a newly constructed campfire. The group had been camping there for over a day now, waiting.
"Do you think they're okay?" One of the spoke aloud.
"I don't know D, I really don't know." The short one replied.
"Well, it's not like we've heard anything from either of them and even though the papers say they're dead, doesn't mean they actually are." One of the snipers said. "We can't give up hope just yet."
"You're right Raven." Diego said, lifting his head up. "Those two have got to be still down in there. I mean you can't believe everything you read in the newspaper."
"Yeah man. You know how those media types love to exaggerate." Raven said with a laugh.
"Xion?" Diego asked.
Xion was sitting in front of his laptop with a cup of coffee. He was still holding Draco's DNA bracelet in his hand, wrapped around his claws.
"Yeah Diego?" Xion replied flatly, not looking up from his computer screen.
"What's the status? Did those guys leave yet?"
"No D, not according to the GPS they didn't. Those VIN choppers seemed to have landed in front of the third precinct. They've been there for the last hour." Xion replied.
"Alright, do we have any idea who VIN put in charge after the death of Draco's father?"
"Not a clue. I've checked but VIN hasn't updated their information as of yet."
"Wonderful." Diego said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"So D, what's our plan of action?" Zen hissed. Zen's eye had not yet fully healed so he was wearing an eye patch over his right eye.
"I'm not sure yet." Diego replied, crossing his arms. "I think we'll wait it out for another hour or so and if nothing changes, then we'll go in." There was a pause. "Spike?"
"Yeah D?"
"Are all of the choppers working?"
"Fully functional D."
"Great. In one hour, we're going in to find the commander." Diego said confidently.
"Yeah!" The Strykers yelled.
"We can't give up hope just yet." Diego said to himself. "We'll find them, I know it."