Over The Hedge 2
Chapter one: In which a turtle feels unwelcome, and an opossum becomes fearful
"Heather! Heather honey, where are you?" Ozzie yells, cupping his paws around his mouth as he walks through the woods.
"Daaad, what?" Heather says, dropping from a low branch on a tree.
Ozzie squeaks, and falls over dead. Heather rolls her eyes, linking her arms in the 'Ugh, again?' pose.
"Dad, get up.." Heather says. "Honestly, you don't have to do that each time."
Ozzie opens an eye and looks around nervously.
"Was that you in the tree?" He asks.
"Yes dad."
"You can...?"
"Yes dad."
"But when?"
"Since I was four months old, dad."
"Oh, well that's a good thing, sweetie! Now you can escape land predators!" Ozzie exclaims happily, reaching out with his paw to hold hers.
"Dad, I'm sixteen, I can walk myself." Heather says, slightly annoyed.
"HEY! Ozz-man!" R.J shouts from behind-Ozzie squeaks again, and leaps behind Heather, peering over her shoulder.
"Ugh, R.J, I just calmed him down.." Heather groans.
"Ah, sorry man. We need your possuming skills for this next heist-You two up for it?" R.J asks.
Heather grins, and Ozzie gets that odd twinkle in the eye, and asks; "What's the plan, 'coon?"
"Picnic, 12 o'clock, sir!" Hammy whispers hyperactivly, holding his tail in his paws.
"Good, Heather, inflate the liferaft." R.J commands. "Verne, come here."
"What?" Verne asks, shuffling over on his short turtle legs.
"Hehehe. You're the fear factor." R.J says, pushing him over and pulling his shell off.
"WHAT? No! Get back here with my shell!" Verne yells, grabbing for RJ.
"Jeepers, Verne, it'll just be'a few seconds, all you gotta do is scare those freaky girl scouts off again." Penny says, looking at his eyes.
"Yeah, it'll just be a few seconds." Stella says.
"THEN WHY DON'T YOU DO IT!!" Verne yells at Stella.
"Boy, what is THAT supposed to mean!?" Stella shoots back angrily, eyes flashing.
"Nothing, nothing, it's just my tail is-"
Verne was going to retort, but stops and sighs. What's the use? RJ has made stubborn pigheads out of the people he called faimily.
The only person whom really understood Verne, and really the only one left that comforted him was Heather.
"Don't worry, Verne; if anything happens, i'm just a jump away from your side."Thanks Heather. I have no doubt in you, but, please. Don't risk your life if you know you can't handle it. The last thing I want is someone else getting hurt over me." Verne replies.
Heather nods, and smiles at Verne. She climbs up the tree near the life raft.
"Oh, Heather, how is that bruise?" Verne shouts up.
"It's healing!" she shouts down, and disapears into the leaves.
Verne smiles, and begins to walk towards the hedge. Ozzie walks past following Heather, and whispers;
"Good luck."
It's amazing how much fear these two words can inspire.
Verne sighs, seeing no way out of this. He walks through the hedge, his eyes falling apoun the picnic with the two girls sitting around it. Dolls are propped up all around it, like some sick taxodermist party. To his utmost disgust, a life-looking turtle sits there too.
"Oh,why am I here..these people are going to skin me for sure..I'm doomed." He mumbles. A persian cat walks past him, tail flicking.
"Tiger?" Verne asks.
"Go get your shell on, I'll handle this." Tiger says.
Verne stumbles back through the hedge, sodas and drinks being tossed over the hedge onto the life raft. He's furious at himself for not acting quickly, and furious that Tiger stole his spotlight. He'd never felt this way before. Mabey it was because he so desperatly wanted to prove himself to the the gang, and R.J..But again, had failed.
"Maybe I'm just..holding everyone back. I don't belong here.. I should be with people more like myself. Really, who ever heard of a faimly consisting of five porcupines, two opossums, a racoon and turtle a skunk and a hyperactive squirrel?"
Verne ponders the thought as he gathers what few belonging he has... And a bit of Heather's hair for memory's sake. He doesn't know why, but sometimes this seems to calm him. Packing a bit of foraged food, and Spuddies, he wanders off into the woods.
"YEAH!" RJ shouts, slapping Tiger a high five.
"That was so totally awesome, Tigerious! You kept them so captivated, I bet a rabid squirrel couldn't even break their gaze. ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL HEIST!" Stella yells.
"That was great, Tiger." Lou congratulates.
"Where's Verne?" Heather asks, looking around. The others too look puzzeled, besides RJ.
"Heh, heh, bet he's crackin' mad over you taking his shell, RJ." Ozzie says.
"Hammy, do us a favor, and find us that old turtle, would you?"
"YES SIR!" The squirrel says, and salutes, running off like a speeding bullet.
"Let's get back-"
"He's not in the woods!" Hammy says, appearing next to him.
"Gah!" RJ yells, stumbling back. Regaining his senses, he asks "What do you mean, not in the woods!? Verne never leaves the woods, unless he's forced to."
"We should look for him!" Penny declares.
Everyone but RJ agrees with Penny.
"Oh, PLEASE. He'll be back. Just give him some time..to..Heather. RUN." RJ starts softly, but ends yelling. Everyone is backing away from Heather.
"What?" Heather asks, and turns to see what they're all looking at. A human grabs her around her middle and picks her up.
"AAH!" Heather screams, and does the only thing a brave opossum can do in such a situation. She goes into nervous shock, and fakes death.
"HEATHER!" Ozzie screams, and runs for her-The human kicks him back.
Ozzie hits a tree, yelping out. As he limply slides down, the world blackening, he sees the humans face. A girl..red hair, and braces. And she is walking away with his daughter..his..sweet..Heather..
"Ozzie..Ozzie..Wake up, Ozzie.."
"H-Heather...sweetheart?" Ozzie asks, in a trance, his eyes still closed.
"Um- no. Open yo' eyes, buddy."
Ozzie opens his eyes, the gang hanging over him. His tummy hurts, and he notices that Verne is gone, and..
"HEATHER!" He yells out, and tries to get up, but doubles over, wincing. RJ holds out his paw to help him up, but Ozzie ignores it. He curls into a ball, and weeps.
"Guys.." Stella starts. "He needs some..alone time, to pull himself together. Let's leave him be, for now.."
Chapter Two: 'Lost in the Super Market' Breakin' the Bonds fanfiction.
Ozzie went through the hedge. R.J. always told him to never go without him, but he didn't care. He had to save Heather, and all they'd do is complicate things for him. They'd try to get into an intricate plan over something as simple as getting Heather back.
"Hey! Hey, Ozz-man, where you going! You're not going out there alone, I don't care what kind of plan you got in your head." RJ shouts, running up from behind him. Penny and Lou are following, hobbling along on their two stubby legs.
"RJ is right, sweetie, it's suicide to go out there without a guide, and without friends..." Penny says, trying to talk him out of it.
"No!" Ozzie yells. He's yelling at them now. Penny and Lou cower back as if struck-Ozzie had never shouted, besides in his drama acts of fake death.
"No." He says again, lowering his voice. "Every second wasted could be another second towards my daughters..I don't know."
"Well then, Ozz-man. We better start scheming, 'cause it's about time we got saving Heather." RJ says.
"Now dat's da spirit! Cheer up, Ozzie, we'll find her!" Lou says.
Snap. "CHEER UP? CHEER UP? Hahahaha. Cheer up. Honestly, would you be in a cheerful mood if YOUR daughter was kidnapped?!"
"Now, I diddn't mean it that way-"
"OH DID YOU NOT!That's how I saw it, porcupine!" Ozzie shouts back harshly, crossing his arms.
"Guys, GUYS, focus here. If we're getting Heather back, we're going to need teamwork." RJ commands. "Come on, let's get to HQ."
"Alright boys, here we go. Hammy got us our supermarket blueprints from the bank. This is not a heist mission, this is a rescue mission. We have intell reports from the nearby neighbors, and Nugnet that the girl is going shopping with her mom today. This will prove the oportune time to tail her home. After tailing her, we need a contact from the inside-Hammy, we'll be needing you and your friend for this. We need to know exactly what we're up against, and how to combat it once we're in her house. That's the laydown of the operation." RJ says, and continues, unrolling a blueprint. "Bucky, Spike and Quillo will go in through the vent and sabatoge the cameras. Once this is done, me and Ver-I mean, I will go in, and tail the girls. Penny, you will go in the right side, through the produce section, Lou, through the left side in the deli. I'll go up front and center. Stay out of sight as much as possible-Do NOT get caught in the open."
RJ tosses them both shortwave radios. "Keep those close, it's out way of comunication. Spike, on second thought-Hot wire those cameras, and use them to keep a lookout for humans in blue iniforms, alright?"
"Yes sir!" Spike says.
"Now, there is a camera here.." He points at a place on the map indicating a circle. "Here..Here..Here..Here..And here. ...And here, triples here..however, the vents, so stupidly were left without alarm or motion sensors. This should be easy for our three infiltrators. Hammy, I ment, go get your friend and be ready." He says, tossing Hammy a shortwave radio too.
"Friend, and be ready! Anything else?!"
"Not that I can think of. Be waiting outside. Ozzie tells us she's red haired, pale and wears funny things on her teeth." RJ says.
Hammy runs off in a flash, dust and old leaves swirling up.
"Alright people. Let's commence to attack phase." RJ commands. "WHO'S IN?"
"AYE!" They yell, all putting their hands ontop of each other's. Ozzie stands off to the side, listening and hoping. He smiles, knowing they had a chance.
Verne stumbles through the undergrowth. He'd already crossed the black road, away from 'Suburbia' as RJ called it. Good riddance, in his mind.
He'd left hoping he would find a utopia perfect for him, but all he found was a thornbush to the nose, and an unlucky scuffmark on his shell from tripping over a vine. Some 'utopia.'
Verne barrels through some bush, and comes out the other side. Standing on nothing.
"...Aaaaahhh!" He yells, falling down the short cliff into a pool of water. He hits the water with a large splash, creating small waves in the pool.
Sputtering, Verne drags himself to a shallow end, and mutters under his breath; "Perfect. Just perfect. What next, natives?"
"Hi." A voice says from behind him.
Great. Natives.
Verne turns slowly, and is confronted by the scariest thing he'd ever seen. A hawk.
"YYYYYYYYAAAUUGHHH!" He screams, and ducks back into the water.
"Waait, wait! Noooo." The hawk coos, flaping it's wings and picking Verne up with it's talons. Verne just screams more.
"Shh, quite you dipstick, i'm not going to eat you. . " The hawk whispers franticly, as if worried something might hear.
"Wait-what?" CLONK. The hawk drops him into a tree, his shell rattling. "HEY, hey! Easy on the shell!"
"Oh stop acting like a galah." The hawk snaps, and looks around. "You is lucky to not wake up the Badger. You fell right over his cave."
"What? A badger?" Verne asks nervously, eyeing the hawk.
"Yes a badger. And don't worry-" It says, staring back at him. "I'm a vege eater. I don't like meat. It's just somthing about eating things that have some kinda intelligance that gives me da heebee jeeves."
"You don't eat meat? That's just plain odd." Verne says, eyeing the hawk supisously.
"Well, ain't you just a knocker!?" The hawk retorts.
"A what?" Verne asks, stupified.
"A knocker, ye dipstick. Means you a' criticiser."
"I do not!" Verne says defiantly.
"Yeah, whatever. Name's Susie, 'come from the great big Oz, if you know where dat is."
"You come from the movie?" Verne asks again.
"Ugh. No, I come from Aussie, man! You ain't got the lingo skills to understand me, do yah?"
"No. No, not really. Listen, I really should be going." Verne says, backing away.
"Aww, what's the hurry! Come, you look tired. Join me up in my roost for tonight, it'll be like a sleep over, with dinner!" Susie exclaims.
Verne isn't thrilled. "No, really, I should get going.."
"Don't be a spolier! It'll be, for lack of a better word, a ripper!"
Verne gulps, and solemly follows. Mabey being weird was better then being dinner.
Heather kicks the metal mesh-wire on the side of her cage angrily. Stupid human kidnaps me from my home, and sticks me in another one of these PRISONS. She didn't seem like a bad human. She HAD given her water, and...some kind of pellet stuff that tasted like dirt, but still. She was content where she was previously. She's dieing for a M&M.
"Rebecca!" A voice calls from downstairs. "We're headed to the store now-coming?"
"Yeah, mom! Give me a bit." Rebecca yells back down. "Now, you behave like a good little fuzzy creature. I'll be back soon. D"
Behave. Behave was not generally a term in which the female 16 year old mind understood. And tonight was not an exception. As Rebecca walks out the door, Heather rams the side of the cage with her shoulder. No use, it doesn't budge. Heather sighs misrebly and slumps down to the shavings on the floor. Atleast she's not being tortured. But, it's only a matter of time, she supposed. Just a matter..of..time..
Heather yawns heavily, and her eyelids slowly close. She wrenches them awake. She has to stay awake, and stay alert, so she forces herself to rise, and pace the cage. Some kind of..wheel in the corner, and a orange tunnel leading up to the top, with a..with a latch on it! Bingo! The only problem was that a possum is just too big to fit through that hamster sized pipe. Heather sighs again, seeing no other way out of the cage. Besides the latched-from-the-outside door. She'd already tried to get that open, and failed. The mesh was just to closly spaced to fit her fingers through.
"The bitterness of defeat, I suppose.." She mutters to herself, out of loneliness. She misses her father already-It's amazing how much of a part he had in keeping her together..Now that he wasn't there to comfort her, she's..just losing it. Talking to herself, giving into nervous chittering. She wonders if this is how opossums felt all the time away from their parents. It would explain her father's constant spasms and 'cases of the jitters'.
Heather sits on the shavings again, and looks around the room. Paper covers every bit of the room, from lined paper with sqigglies on it, to posters of animals and strange drawings of green people. One of the animals was a large four legged animal, pure white with white hair spilling over it's neck, with a giant golden horn protruding from it's head. It looks vicious to Heather, but beautiful at the same time. She wonders what it was, as she continues to look around.
A poster of an ugly, large and greenskinned man is next to the white thing. Huge, and muscular looking, he has yellowed teeth, one missing here or there. A pair of tusks protrude from the bottom jaw, and itears a fur breastplate and helm, with a large..axe in it's right arm. Ugh, that thing looks horrid.
She turns fully around, and stares out the window, at the night sky. A star twinkles.
"Oh, I hope you come soon, daddy..and I hope you're alright." She whispers to herself.
"Fire two!" Spike says. Bucky grins, and rolls an eightball through the vent opening in the ceiling. CLONK! The security guard whom was drinking his coffee drops to the floor, a large bump forming on his head.
"Hahaha, good shot Bucky!" Quillo says, grinnin' from ear to ear, and drops down from the vent onto the padded chair with an 'oumfp'. "Clip!" She shouts up.
"Clip!" Bucky repeats, and drops it down.
Quillo catches the clip, and drops it to the concrete floor. "Drop me the gameboy, and make sure that padding is on good!" She shouts up again.
"Gameboy!" Bucky says, and drops it. It falls, and hits the chair cushion and bounces. Right off the chair.
"GAH!" Quillo yells, and reaches out to try and grab it-She manages to nad the end, and is almost imeadiatly pulled to her chest on the edge. "Help!"
Bucky and Spike drop down from the vent, rushing to their sister's side. With their combined strength, they manage to pull it back up.
"Alright, Bucky, Spike, get down there and catch it when I drop it down." Quillo commands. They silently nod, and do as she bids. They don't have much of a time interval to do this in.
Quillo shoves the gameboy over the edge of the chair, right over Spike and Bucky. Clack! An uncovered edge hits the concrete, but it didn't damage it. Lucky. Quillo jumps down, collecting the clip, and leading them towards the back of the desk where the multiple security moniters are.
"Alright. The analog wire is gray, fat and thicker then most other wires. It shouldn't be too hard to find." Quillo says, looking 'round the tangle of wires.
The radio buzzes. "Hey, squirts, any update on the video?"
"We're getting to it, RJ, stop rushing us." Spike replies through the radio. He had it for their group.
"Got it!" Bucky exclaims. Quillo quickly runs a black wire from the clip to the gameboy, and hooks up the chewed wires.
"Alright, if we press left on the D-Pad, we should be able to cycle through the cameras.." Quillo says, pressing the button experimentivly. It works!
Spike buzzes in RJ. "We have video, no sign of the kidnapper."
"Afirmitive, Spike. Hammy, what about you?" RJ buzzes in.
"No sir!"
"Where is she..? RJ mumbles, moving a cereal box aside to crawl the small area of shelf behind it. "Penny, Lou. are you two in position?"
"Yep, RJ." Lou responds.
"Jeepers...Look at all them fruits 'n veges.." Penny replies through the radio.
"F-focus, Penny." Lou says through his radio. It's cold in this freezer, but he won't complain. Not with the whole faimily at stake at any rate.
"Suspect spotted! Front main doors." Hammy yells into the radio.
"Hammy, did you see their car?" RJ asks.
"Yeah, yeah! It's, uhm, long and white with slidy door things on the side!"
"Ugh. I hate minivans. Ham-squad, get on that minivan! Take Ozzie with you. Find a place to hole up in there, and stay away from the front part of it! I'll contact you when it's time."
"OKAY!" Hammy replies, and zips down the parking lot with Ozzie folowing behind.
"Spike, report!"
"Subject moving down the aisle two, mom, your up. Canned goods section!" Spike says, thouroughly enjoying the drama.
"Yessiree, Spikey, movin' in." Penny replies, and shuffles away from the pineapples towards aisle two.
A baby in a cart stares at Penny as she pases. Penny winks, and grins hapilly as the baby laughs. Penny too seems to be loving the super market. And being surrounded by food.
Up ahead, Penny sights her target. She knows the girl has seen her before, so she ducks behind a pile of cans as she turns around to pick something up for her mother.
"Target in sight..Is Stella in position?"
"Negative, Stella is enroute to aisle four now." Spike replies through the radio.
"Got Spikey. I'll tail her 'till there.. All units report to aisle four?" Penny says.
"Negative, mom. We don't know their shopping plans. Stella, go topside, so you can get around easier. You'll be harder to spot topside." Quillo says through the radio.
"Afirmitive, Quillo." Stella replies through the radio, and climbs up one of the piles with holes in it for shelves. She jumps off at the top, and lands on the top of one of the bakery aisle shelves, near the cereal. "In position, RJ."
"Units, get ready to pack up and get out, quick." RJ says.
"Spike, pop the vent cover, get us ready to move out. Leave the clip, we can find another one.we're taking the gameboy." Bucky commands. "Quillo, keep your eyes on the screen."
"The girl is in aisle three, mom. Clear to move in on her. Keep an eye on her, untill Stella can deploy."
"Chu got it, honey." Penny replies.
Penny begins shuffling out into the aisle, looking at all the food as she passes. Things called 'Beans' and 'Squash' and 'Yams'. Who would want to eat something called 'Squash'?
"MOM, hide somewhere, FAST!" Quillo yells into the radio. Penny immeadiatly dives onto a empty space on the shelf, as Rebecca rounds the corner.
"Sometimes I worry about my mother's memory.." Rebecca mutters, grabbing two cans of the 'Squash', and turns again to go back to her mother's cart.
"P-Penny, a-are you alright..?" Lou asks.
"Yes, sweet. Justa' little scared there for a minute. I'm right on her now." Penny replies, staring at Rebecca, hidden from sight by a bag of toilet paper.
"RJ, Camera is going offline. Dis human is starting to stir, we gotta pack up and go. Like, right now."
"Can't you stay just a bit longer?"
"No! this human is about to catch us." Quillo responds quickly. She shouts an order, leaving the radio on. "Bucky, disconnect this and help me wrap it up in that padding!"
RATS! A man's voice yells.
"Drop it! Drop it and run!" Spike yells.
"AUUGH!" Quillo is heard yelling, the man yelling out with her.
"Quillo, quick!"
"Those rats hakced my video feed.The man mutters, unhooking the gameboy.
"Wait. Those RATS hacked my video feed?!"
"Bucky? Quillo? Spike?" RJ asks franticly. "We lost them, presumed ca-..escaped."
What? No-They aren't lost. They can't be lost.Lou says, forgetting he was supposed to be cold. For a moment. Then he shivers, rubbing his arms with his paws.
"Listen, I know they're not lost. But we all have to focus here. There are too many people here at stake to lose your cool. Penny, report."
"They is moving into the fourth aisle.." Penny mutters, thoughts running through her head.
RJ sighs. "Stella, do you see them?"
"Ye, I see 'em. We ready to bolt?" Stella asks.
"Lou, Penny?" RJ asks.
"Ready when you are, RJ." Lou replies.
"Spike.." Penny responds.
"Right." Rj says. "Stella-fire at will, Master Blaster."
"You got it, sweet."
PALOOOF. The building fills with a haze of green, foul smelling gas. Humans run around in a panic, coughing their lungs out. Rebecca drops a box of angel food cake, and covers her nose in disgust.
"Mom, I want to leave!" Rebecca moans.
"We are. Come on, this place smells horrible.." Her mother replies.
"Subject leaving." Stella says triumpatly through the radio.
"Yes.." RJ yells happily. "Alright guys and girls. Let's roll, stay under cover of the fog untill we're outside, then make for the weeds on the hill. Travel the weeds untill we reach the edge of the hedge."
"Ham-squad, you've got the girl headed for you, with her mom. Get ready to roll. Might I suggest the top of the van?"
"That's affirmitive, RJ." Ozzie's calm voice comes over the radio.
"Ozzie, where is Hammy?" RJ asks suspiciously.
"He's next to me. I'm using the radio right now." Ozzie replies.
RJ and the gang hits the weeds, parting them like a ship would part water. He switches off his radio. "You guys are meeting Hammy at the log, and he'll fill you in on the location of the girl's house. I'm going to go look for Penny and Lou's kids."
"Yeah. Let's go." Stella says.
Lou and stella start off, but Penny hesitates. "I want to go with you, RJ..." Penny says.
"I know you do.." RJ says, placing a paw on Penny's shoulder. "But you have a greater purpose to serve in this operation. I will make sure your kids are alright."
Penny looks up, a sparkle in her eye. A tear..
"I know you will, RJ." Penny turns, rubbing the tear from her eye, and leads the group through the weeds.
The End.