So here is the next chapter! Sorry it took so long to update. to my one LONE REVIEWER, e-cookies and my eternal gratitude. love you! To the REST of you philistines who can read and not review, i'm continuing . . . WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!!!!!!
*maniacal laughter*
Sorry . . . . i didn't take my pills this morning . . .
I yawned and stretched. "Good Lord that seemed to take forever," I sighed, climbing off of the plane. My red and black skull bag was full to bursting with random junk and my Army-issue duffel bag was full of black clothing. Needless to say, I didn't have much stuff.
"Jink, look what I found on the plane!" Roger came up to me, holding a pin with wings out for me to see. "Wings? On a plane? isn't that funny?"
"Dude, that's AWESOME!" I said, smiling. "That's gonna look so cool pinned to your vest!"
"But . . . it's too thick," he pointed out sadly.
"I KNOW!" I dug into my bag and pulled out one of my nondescript stocking caps. "You can pin it to this!"
He put the pin on the hat, and the hat on his head.
"See?" I said. "You look SO cool right now." I pulled out my other hat - it had the BPRD patch sewn on (it came with that) and an MCR patch (that I sew on). "Now we match!"
"C'mon, let's MOVE it!" Captain Daimio yelled to us. "Hey Roger! What happened to those pants I go to you?"
Roger hurried ahead, but I lagged behind.
"Goddamn sonuvabitch thinks he can boss me around," I muttered angrily as I climbed onto the helicopter.
"What was that?" Liz asked.
"Nothing," I sighed, pulling my heet to my chest and my hat over my eyes, and grabbing my penguin from my bag.
"What is that?" Daimio asked. "Is that a stuffed penguin?"
"Got a problem with dat?" I asked tiredly. "Cause it is."
"Why on earth do you have a penguin?" he asked, almost disgusted at the fact I had a stuffed animal.
"I've had it since I was seven," I snarled. " . . . Hellboy gave it to me for Christmas."
"You don't wanna question the penguin, Captain," Liz warned him. "She might hurt you . . . seriously."
I grinned to myself. She'd learned that about nine years back, when while mocking my penguin, the toaster mysteriously sparked so bad her sleeve caught on fire.
"So, Liz," he turned his attention to her, "Set me straight if I'm wrong, but you don't seem to happy. I can call you Liz, right?"
"Happy doesn't have much to do with it, Captain," Liz crossed her arms. "Being effective as a team, that's what matters here."
"How about you just tell me what's on your mind," he suggested.
"We know almost nothing about you," Liz stated. "And this place, this new headquarters. You found it, have all the data on it, but you haven't said a word to us."
"Uh-huh, that's a point," Daimo admitted. "See, right after the second world war . . ."
Oh God, he's telling a story, I thought, and stared out the window. I closed my eyes for just a second. I must've dosed off, cause the next thing I knew Roger was shaking my shoudler.
"You gotta see this!" he was saying. I sat up and looked out the window.
"Is that it?" he asked Daimio. "That big place - is that it?"
"Yep," Daimio replied confidantly. "Welcome to your new home."
"That place is HUGE!" I said. "Can you imagine all the great hiding places in there?"
"You're it first!" Roger said quickly.
"Fine," I sighed. "You can hide first. Hope you - and I - don't get lost."
"Do these two always act like this?" I heard Daimio ask from behind me.
"Oh yes," Johann assured him. "They act like children sometimes, but they get the job done."
"Oh God," he muttered.
"Welcome to Hell!" I said cheerily.
*************
"Oh . . . my . . . God," I groaned, looking down at myself. "I can't beleive Mr. Zombie Man has me in a freaking uniform."
"He just wants us to look like a team," Roger said.
"I'm in even more shock that he made you don pants," I sighed, looking over at Roger. "Do you justice, they don't."
We were going into the FREAKING HUGE room with all sorts of computers and electronic crap.
"I am gonna have some SERIOUSE FUN here," I grinned.
"Uh oh," Roger muttered. "You have that look again . . . "
"Hey, nice," Daimio looking at Liz and Johann. "Makes you look more like a team."
"Yeah, I have to admit, I've seen worse," Liz said, looking down at herself.
"Glad we agree on something - sort of," Daimio admitted. "Now where's the girl and the goofball?"
"Oh," I interrupted, "You mean Jink and Roger? Well, I'm right here!"
"Hi," Roger said, "I have pants on."
Daimio gave Roger one glance and glared, "That's even worse. Let's forget about the pants."
"Okay," Roger shrugged.
"Okay, you have really TICKED OFF my LAST NERVE!" I snarled.
"Whoa!" Liz grabbed my arm before I could inflict damage on Daimio.
"What?" I asked innocently. "I was only gonna give him a friendly pat on the back . . . or face . . . whatever is closer . . ."
"Leave Ben Daimio alone," she warned in a low voice. "We don't need him breathing down our necks. And if you piss him off, he can do all he wants to make your life a living hell."
"B-But, look how he's treating Roger!" I protested. "Captain Zombie is not only crossin' the line, he set it on fire, pissed on it, then danced on the soggy ashes!"
"Go cool down, Jink," Liz sighed, letting go of my arm. "We don't need any lightbulbs bursting in here."
I walked away, grumbling under my breath.
*************
I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. It had to have been midnight or so when I finally kicked back the covers and got out of bed. I looked down at the yellow pajamas.
"Damn zombie even made me change my pj's!" I sighed dejectedly. I opened my new dresser and pulled out a random band shirt and exchanged it for the one I had on. "That's better."
Just as I sat down on my bed, I heard this noise. Like . . . the sound of people running . . . .
So I open up my door, to find Liz and Roger running right past it. I run after them trying to keep up.
"Wassup, guys?" I asked lightly. "Someone forget to tell me about the midnight run y'all was plannin'?"
"We didn't plan this," Liz panted. "Johann kept saying that he could hear something-,"
"Do you hear that?" I interrupted. There was this incesant tapping sound - it was annoying.
"Yeah, like that," Liz continued.
"No - can you hear it?" I asked again.
We kept running to catch up to Johann, who had stopped in front of the service elevator. He had keyed something into the pad, and the doors opened. We jumped in just before the doors closed.
"Johann, where are we going?" Roger asked in a worried tone.
"How did you know the access code to this elevator?" Liz asked.
"Is it okay to be sorta freaked out yet?" I asked. It was the weirdest sensation - as we went lower down, i could feel my electricity loose more and more. By the time the elevator doors opened, I was struggling to keep myself from sparking. I stayed behind when they followed Johann to another part of the wall.
Everything was staring to get really fuzzy. I felt physically sick. I fell to my knees, holding my stomach, body doubled in pain. I concentrated on taking deep breaths, letting my mind clear of anything else. I really must've spaced off, because the next thing I knew, Liz was looking me straight in the face.
"Can you walk?" she asked quickly.
I didn't say anything. I just stood, albeit shakily, and got into the damn service elevater. I didn't want to talk about what happened. I leaned onto the wall, the feelings of unease dissapating as we went up. Not only was it freaky, it was plain scary.
And I'm never gonna admit that.
*************
"Fourth sub-basement?" Daimio asked in surprise. "I've seen the flourplans to the joint myself, and there is no fourth sub-basement."
"Yes there is," Roger said simply.
"Come down and see for yourself," Liz said, getting frustrated.
"Let me rephrase that - We are not going 'exploring'!" Daimio exclaimed.
I did nothing but fiddle with the volume of my iPod.
He whirled on me. "Don't you got anything you wanna add?" he half-growled.
I looked up at him with a nuetral face. "Whatever is down there is messing with my system," I said cooly. "I almost lost it. I felt physically ill. I wanna know what's down there so I can rip it limb from limb. But I ain't goin'."
"Wow - that seems somewhat normal coming from you," commented Liz.
"Watch it, Liz," I warned. "All I'm sayin' is no way in hell am I goin' back down there. But you guys are totally welcome to."
"Fine," Daimio spat. "I'll get the damn drill."
*************
"How's it goin' guys?" i asked through the headset. "By the sight through the camera, it looks like it did last time - moldy and decrepid."
"It is," Roger agreed. "And I can feel the electricity in the air."
"See?" I pointed out. "That's why I'm not down there. I'd blow and people would die."
"Not die," he pointed out. "They'd probably be paralyzed for life, that's all . . . "
"Thanks for that," I said dryly. "Makes me feel so much batter . . ."
What was I doing, you ask? Why, I'm coordinating the mission! Yeah!
. . . . no I'm not. I'm observing, and pretending that I'm actually there when I'm not. What? I'm not going down there when I can loose it so easily. I'm sorry, but I value myself (and Roger) a little too much to do that.
"Wait - what's that!" I said excitedly. "Roger, turn to the left and look at the yellow/tan box thing!"
"Why?" he asked as he picked up the brown handle. "It feels kinda heavy . . . ."
"Do you know what that is?" I asked, incredulous. "That's the Deluxe 100 Edition Portable Manuel Typewriter! Grab it for me!"
"Don't you have a laptop?" Roger asked slowly.
"Have you ever typed on one of those bad boys?" I asked. "It works like a dream. You would love it."
"DO YOU SEE THAT?"
THAT was a cliffhanger! Those who've read The Dead, you know what's going down. As for the rest of you . . . YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR ME!!!! R+R, puh-leeeeze?
I'm not crazy! I'm eccentric! . . . nope, wait, i'm crazy. all the more reason to review - I have access to a computer! Never underestimate the power of crazy and a computer!!!!
~Izzy