Wetsuit's Rescue
An Extinctioners fan-fiction
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. Eamon (Wetsuit) and Icebreaker are mine's.
Author's notes: Before you begin reading, some background regarding the whole Rescue concept is necessary to understand what's going on. Several years ago, the GSIF (Global Secondary Intervention Forces) Club, a group dedicated to the adventures of a fan-created team of auxiliary Extinctioners, came up with a group writing project. The concept was this: the Extinctioners and some of the Solar Foxes were captured by the Mahn Empire and imprisoned aboard one of their starships, where they were guarded by their enemies. The writers who participated in the project had to choose an Extinctioner or Solar Fox that their GSIF character would rescue. Now I'm finally getting into the act with a Rescue story of my own that introduces my GSIF character, Wetsuit (though he doesn't earn that codename until later on).
This fic clashes with GSIF canon as it occurs in a few of the other Rescue stories (namely Archae's Rescue), but since the project never seemed to be completed and the club itself has been defunct for a few years now, I hope no one minds that little fact. Wetsuit's Rescue takes place after the second half of Nova's Rescue concludes.
Chapter One
Micro, or Jacob White-Eye as he was also known, stood there, large rounded ears pulled back and a look of trepidation on his face. The marsupial mouse knew that an armed Skull Hunter, the humanoid cyborgs the Mahn Empire used as foot soldiers, was standing right behind him just in case he tried anything. He already had a restraint collar on, so it wasn't as if he could call on his size-changing powers anyways, he mentally lamented. When Jacob and the other Extinctioners, along with the Solar Foxes, had gone out on a training exercise, their foes had discovered their locations and got the drop on them. Only the Solar Foxes, his leaders Warfare and Phenix, and he himself hadn't been captured. That had changed when the seven of them ventured onboard the Morning Glory, the Empire's huge starship, to free their comrades. That human Hunter and his Siberian husky Tracker had ambushed him while he had been hacking into one of the Morning Glory's main computer data junctions. Jacob felt ashamed for letting them get the drop on him. 'If only I had just paid more attention to my surroundings!' He thought.
In front of Jacob stood Bajer Blaquestrype, the humans' willing collaborator and one of their most powerful humanimal agents. He easily towered over Jacob, who was only four foot six at his normal height, and was about as broad as a brick wall. A cigar was clamped between the honey badger's jaws. Jacob coughed as a puff of foul-smelling smoke was intentionally blown his way. Why did he like those things so much? Jacob remembered from his time with the humans before that all Bajer seemed to do was smoke cigars.
Bajer chuckled gruffly at the rodent's discomfort. "Welcome back to the fold, kid." He said, almost sounding friendly. It was fake niceness, even Jacob knew that much.
For his part, Jacob bit his lip, but stayed silent, unsure of how to respond.
"You know, you and the rest of your little buddies have been quite the pains in the tail for us. You're smart. You know what the humans are capable of. So why try fighting the inevitable? You should wise up and get with the winning side."
Jacob turned his brown gaze away from the despised mobster. How could Bajer just turn on his own kind the way he had, he wondered? After all the awful things he'd witnessed the humans do? "I'm not a traitor." He muttered sullenly.
Another chuckle, darker then the first one. "Oh but you are, my little friend, you are. You betrayed the humans. They made you what you are now. If they hadn't, then you'd probably be stuck out in the boonies somewhere as mouse chow for some predator."
Jacob tried to repress a shudder at the mental images Bajer's words conjured up as he went on. "And yet you ran out on them to be with some rag-tag bunch of losers. Do you wanna be like those losers? Right now I'm sure they're all receiving a warm welcome from my colleagues."
The implied threat hung in the air, much like the scent of Bajer's cigars. He didn't know where his friends had been taken after Hunter Excalibur and Tracker Flashpoint had caught him. Jacob felt two emotions: anger and fear. Anger at what these horrible individuals were probably doing to his friends, and the fear that they were being hurt. He may not have been as close to some of the other Extinctioners as he would've liked to have been, but they were all still a team, and he didn't want see any of them hurt… or worse.
"If you're willing to help us again, I'll put in a good word for you with Mahn and the others," Bajer's tone was cajoling. "They'll probably go easy on you."
Taking in a deep breath, Jacob determinedly squared his shoulders and looked Bajer right in his white, pupil-less eyes. "No! Do what you want to me, but I'll never help you."
Sneering, Bajer jabbed his cigar at Jacob and addressed the Skull Hunter. "Get this cheese-eater outta here. Maybe sometime in a cell will get 'im thinking clearly again."
Close by, two more Skull Hunters were working. Between the two of them they carried – well, more like dragged - a young humanimal, a Caspian seal, along with them, holding him up by his arms. He had gone limp, partially from fear, and partially to make it harder to move him. His flipper-like feet scraped against the corridor's cool floor.
The seal, whose name was Eamon, didn't know where he was being taken. He wasn't even sure what was going on. No one would tell him anything, and he'd learned the hard way not to talk too much earlier. Soon, Eamon found himself inside a large, circular, sterile-looking room that had a high ceiling. Whatever this place was, it looked like a mad scientist's lab. There were electrical cords and what looked like several large containment tubes and operating tables everywhere.
The Skull Hunters took Eamon over to a large plate-shaped table which was positioned at an upright angle. None-too-gently forcing Eamon back against it, the brutish duo then restrained his arms inside large metal cuffs and secured a strap around his midsection. Eamon wanted to fight back, wanted to get up and run right out of this horrible pace without so much as a second glance, but these creatures had guns. He could clearly see them hanging from their belt holsters. Eamon was willing to try his luck with some things – he liked to surf, and even though he didn't intentionally try to do dangerous or unsafe things, a tiny bit of danger naturally came with the territory (that's why surfing was fun). But he did not want to be shot.
From his position, Eamon noticed that across the room from him was a male polecat who was restrained on a table very similar to the one Eamon was on, but both his arms and his legs were in clamps. Like him, the polecat was completely nude. He stared back at Eamon, fear and dread written all over his features. But, as Eamon started to gradually realize, it wasn't him that the polecat was scared of. Eamon fidgeted uneasily as the collar he'd been forced to wear was removed and a restraint like the one the polecat had on was placed around his forehead. Their work done, the Skull Hunters left the room. Well above the floor of the chamber, inside the observation room, two humans, a man and a woman, activated the switches which controlled the equipment in the room. The polecat's table began rising into the air with a mechanical whir until he was seven feet off the ground, then stopped. Eamon glanced around, terrified of what would happen next. Nothing in his nightmares could compare to this experience. It was silent, then -
A sharp gasp escaped Eamon as an indescribable agony abruptly overtook him. It felt like his mind was literally being torn apart. His thoughts and his memories – the good, the bad, and the in-between - slipped away from him like leaves down a gutter in a rainstorm. What was happening?! The polecat was screaming in anguish, but Eamon's own pain left him deaf to it. He didn't realize that he was screaming too.
Eamon couldn't say how long this torture lasted. Mercifully, everything finally came to a stop: the agony, the sounds of the machinery around them. Weakened, Eamon slumped forward. If it weren't for the cuffs holding him up, he would've fallen flat on his face.
The Skull Hunters returned and undid his restraints. They didn't bother to catch him as he fell to the floor, breathing heavily. Looking up through blurry vision, Eamon saw one of the cyborg holding a collar in one hand, coming closer.
The Skull Hunter halted as what could only be described as looking like some sort of transparent blue substance spread out over the seal's sleek body, enveloping him entirely. Getting over his surprise, he tried to put the restraining collar back on the prisoner, but the strange blue substance was making his task impossible. It was like he was surrounded by a pliable force field.
"Problem down there?" A somewhat annoyed and bored-sounding voice drawled over the intercom that was situated high up on the wall.
"Sir, I think it's his powers – I can't get the collar on!"
The other Skull Hunter made to grab Eamon by his shoulders, but he just might as well have tried grabbing a wet bar of soap. He was unable to maintain a grip on Eamon, who just kept slipping out of his hands. For his part, Eamon was very confused by this new development. Hoping his rubbery legs would support him, he tried standing, but instead shot forward across the room. Shouting in astonishment, the Skull Hunters gave pursuit.
"Control that animal!" The same voice from before shouted over the intercom.
Eamon had slid in between two of the large plastic or glass tubes. He attempted to get up again, but was unable to remain standing upright. The slippery substance around him caused his legs to keep slipping out from under him as he futilely struggled to gain a purchase on the floor. By now, the Skull Hunters were on him. One pulled his handgun and aimed it at his head. "Don't move, seal!"
Letting out a yelp of fear, Eamon covered his face with his forearms. This act caused him to finally lose his battle with gravity, and he fell on his back. Once he struck the floor, he went sliding again, right into the legs of the gun-wielding Skull Hunter and knocking him down.
The intercom came on again, the speaker sounding more harried this time as his message was broadcast all over the ship. "All available Hunters and Trackers, report to the Mindswiping Room immediately! We have a rampaging hybrid here!"
Relieved he'd gotten away from his pursuers for the moment, Eamon, still lying on his back, had a quick look around. Pure adrenaline was coursing through his body now. He didn't want to find out who these Hunters and Tracker were. Escaping was going to be a definite problem, seeing as how he could barely even stand. He'd managed to sit upright when The Skull Hunter who he had crashed into opened fire on him. Eamon made to throw himself out of the way, desperately hoping his move would work and he'd be out of the line of fire. But he knew outmaneuvering a bullet was nigh-impossible. This was real life, not some Chuin Chao movie, but Eamon didn't care. He was willing to try anything to survive.
At first, it seemed like nothing happened. Eamon knew he had moved, but didn't feel himself land on the floor.
That was when he realized that he was hovering in mid-air.
Furious, the Skull Hunter shot at him a second time. Eamon was struggling to get over one shock when the deafening sounds of gunfire roared out. Cringing, he closed his eyes, waiting to feel the impact of the bullets. There was no question whatsoever that being shot hurt like kenal. But no pain came. Daring to open his hazel eyes, he saw the Skull Hunters standing there, looking puzzled. The second one fired his pistol at Eamon. The bullets hit him dead center, but ricocheted right off the blue substance.
'They can't hurt me.' Eamon realized with mounting glee. 'So nothing can touch me, and I can float. I wonder?...' Holding his arms up over his head, he kicked out with his legs as though he were swimming. He rose into the air, slowly at first, then a little faster. He was sixteen feet off the ground now, well out of the Skull Hunters' reach. Eamon's mind quickly put two and two together. Somehow, the aliens had turned him into some kind of superpowered mutant! But why?
Turning, he noticed that the polecat was still there. Truthfully, he'd forgotten all about him. Although the polecat was conscious and looking his way with surprise in his eyes, he looked like he'd been through the wringer. Eamon was wondering how and if he could get the poor guy free when he was distracted by muffled shouts.
Turning his head, he found himself looking into the booth. Inside were more of those weird, furless, flat-faced aliens he'd seen earlier when he had first been brought aboard the starship. There seemed to be quite a few of them onboard. They resembled the Skull Hunters, except that they lacked their creepy skull faces and came in more of a variety of shapes and colors. Both aliens looked panicked; a fat one that had short black hair on its head was pointing straight at him, its mouth moving, while another one that had longer hair was talking into a small black handheld device nearby. Of course, Eamon couldn't hear a word they were saying because they were behind glass.
He suddenly remembered that the Skull Hunters were still there, and apparently had help on the way. 'I probably can't go out the way I came in, and I don't see any other way out.' Eamon thought. 'Except…' He looked at the booth again. If bullets couldn't hurt him, then why would glass shards be any different?
Waving his arms, he pushed himself in the opposite direction, putting some space between him and the booth. The humans seemed to realize what he was about to do, because they were staring at him in terror. Gathering himself, Eamon shot forward, arms outstretched in front of him as he hurled himself at the plate glass window.
Story terms:
Humanimal: Used to refer to any anthromorphic creature.
Hunter: Either a humanimal or a human soldier who works for the Mahn Empire. They are higher-ranked then Trackers, particularly human Hunters.
Hybrid: A humanimal who is born with superpowers.
Kenal: Used by humanimals; what we knows as the word hell.
Tracker: A humanimal who is partnered with a human Hunter.