Chapter 3: "Phantom Punch"

It was a slow day at Ranger Headquarters. There were no cases to alleviate boredom. Not that they didn't have things to do. An off day is a perfect opportunity to clean up. Monterey was in the kitchen, cleaning dishes. Zipper did his best to put dishes away.

"Zipper, me pal!" Monterey said grabbing the large stack of dishes Zipper was struggling under. "Maybe you should try a few less next time."

"Sorry." Zipper said with a buzz.

In the living room, Chip ran the sweeper, while Gadget cleaned the viewing monitor. Dale walked in with the trash, and accidentally spilled it everywhere.

"What'd you do that for?" Chip said.

"It was an accident!" Dale said.

"You're an accident!" Chip shot back!

"No I'm not!" Dale said.

"Yes you…" Chip started, before turning around to look at Gadget, who was now staring a hole straight through him. "It's ok." He said through his teeth. "I'll help you clean it up."

Dale laughed. "You're so whipped." Gadget shot the same look at Dale. "Some people like that kinda thing." With a huff, Gadget went back to her cleaning.

At that point, Gadget grabbed her face, and fell off of the ladder she was standing on. Chip and Dale ran to her side. "You alright, Gadget?" She simply lay there, clutching her right cheek. "Dale, go get Monty, quick!" Dale ran out of the room.

"It's time." Something was familiar about that phrase. Taryn got up, and walked toward the door, which led into an aircraft hangar. He looked up and saw a large black aircraft, the crescent and bolt of the LWC emblazoned on its side. Rez stood in front of it. Taryn walked up to him.

"You aren't going in unprepared this time." Rez said. "We're sending you in the new IT45 Inter-dimensional Tactical Transport. It's similar in controls to a normal transport, but sports much more sophisticated technology."

"It's a bit big, isn't it?" Taryn said.

"It will serve as your base of operations for the trip. This is a stealth mission, meaning no use of powers." Rez said. "So we're sending you with enough gear to do your search without raising suspicion."

Taryn looked into the cargo hold of the craft. There were weapons lockers loaded with thunder blasters and lightning rifles, a few sabers here and there, and even a rocket launcher and a sniper rifle. There was also a vehicle strapped down to the floor.

"Yeah, real inconspicuous!" Taryn remarked.

"Hey, the only thing we're worried about is Bastion finding you." Rez said. "If he never knows you're there, all the better. The mission is simple: find, observe, and protect."

"Wait, what do you mean "observe"?" Taryn asked.

"We mean you are not to contact the target directly."

"What!?"

"It is for her good, Taryn." Rez pleaded. "On your last encounter, you suppressed her memory. We have yet to study the effects of introducing memory triggers to a person with suppressed memories. It could have a detrimental effect on her mental health."

"OK, you're right." Taryn's head hang.

"Once Bastion plays his card, you will need to take him out." Rez said. "He is extremely dangerous, and must be taken down at all cost."

Taryn's head rose back up, and he grabbed Rez's hand. "I won't fail!"

Rez returned the farewell. "May you always have power, friend."

With that, Rez left the platform. The intrepid warrior entered the craft, and got to his seat. He activated the main engines, which slowly came on. The uplift jets came on next, which lifted the craft into the air. The control room opened the hanger doors. The craft slowly crept out of the hanger. As soon as it was clear of the building, it sped off. Then, it sent a flash of light trough the air, opening a dimensional tear. A second blast provided the link, and the transport flew through.

"Gadget-luv! You a'right?" Monty asked his friend as she came to.

"Ugh. I think so." She sat up, still clutching her face.

"What happened?" Monty asked.

"I was cleaning," she said, "and Dale had just delivered one of his really bad puns," she looked at Dale, then back at Monty, "when all of the sudden, my cheek broke out in pain. It still hurts."

"Gee, I didn't know my puns hurt so bad." Dale joked.

"Not the time, Dale!" Chip said.

"Well you look a'right to me." Monty said. "Just one nasty shina' is all"

"Gadget, can you remember anyone ever hitting you that hard in the face?" Chip asked.

"Um…no." Gadget said. "I think I'd remember this."

"Are you sure?" Chip asked.

"I'm pretty sure." Gadget shot back. "I did get thrown from the ladder, you know."

"Well, we've got to find out about this 'phantom punch' before it hits you again." Chip stated. "And I think that the answer lies in that lovely head of yours."

"If you're thinking about having Foxy…" Gadget started.

"We are." Chip said. "I'm not going to let this go! If there's anything in there that can let us know what's wrong, we need to find it!"

Gadget felt defeated, but agreed to the procedure. "OK. But only me, Chip and Foxy. AND NO DALE!" She looked at Dale. "I don't want to wake up thinking I'm a chicken."

Dale shrugged. "That only happened once!"

"Taryn to base." Taryn said over his headset. He had assumed squirrel form, and the ship and its contents matched his size.

"Base Ops here. Good to see you made it." Rez responded. "Remember, don't tip our hand. Find her, and keep a low profile."

"Will do, I'm scanning for a place to touch down."

"That shouldn't be too hard…You'll…if…Taryn!..." Rez's voice began to break up.

"Base, can you hear me?" The signal had completely faded now. "REZ!" Nothing came back over the com. "Looks like I'm on my own, now."

Suddenly, a blast blew up beside him. It shook the ship quite violently, but did no damage. Taryn barely had the time to react before another shot came in, this one hitting home on the starboard engine.

"What was that?" Taryn turned on the radar to find a small, round orb's signature on the screen, and there was writing under the blip. "A trackerbot? They were all destroyed!"

Another shot hit the ship, launching Taryn out of his seat.