TCRM-3- Divided and Conquered?
Dawn the next day saw the Storm Hawks and Glaciers hard at work doing what they could to fix the Condor with the limited supplies on hand.
Stork and Simon were outside checking on the hull damage. Simon tapped the ice sheet covering a six foot tear in the skin of one of the pontoons with a black-furred knuckle, "Hoo-wee, that's gotta be two foot thick at least. Whaddya think did it? T'weren't no storm did this alone eh."
Stork hugged one arm around himself and prodded the ice with a hand-held scanner, "Hmm, according to this, the ice has the same density as diamond." He shrank further in on himself, trying to keep warm. "Let's go, I'm sure I have hypothermia already." The merb stalked back toward the Condor's access ramp muttering darkly about amputation due to frostbite.
In the hangar BB and Junko were fixing up the vehicles. The Glacier's ultra tough ice grinders had made it through the crash with barely a scratch; unfortunately the same could not be said for the Storm Hawks skimmers. So far it seemed to only be minor damage, but it was enough to keep them grounded for now.
Aerrow and Tuomas were studying a map of Terra Midgard Stork had just happened to have handy and they were helping Piper to roughly triangulate where the distress call had been sent from.
"Aerrow, I think the signal came from here," Piper tapped a spot no too far from the Condor, "but I can't be sure, the signal was being bounced around all over the terra."
"Good job Piper, let's go help that kid!" Aerrow smiled warmly at his navigator, "Right Tuomas I'll need your squadron to take point, you know this sort of terrain better than any us. Piper, I want you and BB to stay behind and get the medical supplies ready, we don't know what's wrong, but it sounded pretty bad." Piper nodded and ran off in search of BB.
The others had assembled in the hangar bay, ready to move out. Aerrow moved to the front of the group, "Those of us going on the rescue mission will be split up into groups of two in order to cover more ground. Stork, I'll need you to stay behind and do what you can to fix the Condor. We're going to try and find that signal before we lose the light."
"I wouldn't go if I were you, there's bound to be all sorts of horrible, most likely fatal things out there. Hypercanes, ice storms, hideous beasts," Stork ticked off the many perils on his fingers, "but if you insist on going, I have just the thing for this situation," he rooted around in a crate with a snowflake painted on the lid, he re-emerged with several pairs of goggles, he threw a pair to each of the rescue teams, "These goggles will let you see in the storms; they detect body heat so you can avoid snow beasts hiding in the snow; and thus avoid a slow and painful death, being eaten alive." Stork grinned evilly at Bobby-Lee's frightened expression.
"Alright, awesome." Finn slipped on the goggles, "Hey, I can see Piper," he pointed to the far wall of the hangar which formed one wall of Piper's workshop, "she's coming this way with that Blizzarian chick." He pushed the heat-seeker goggles up onto his forehead, careful not to mess up his freshly-gelled spiky hair.
Piper and BB walked into the hangar with handfuls of the hand scanners Stork had been using earlier. She handed one to each of the rescue teams, "BB helped make these last night; they'll help you track the signal," Piper explained, "I've programmed in the distress call so it should home in on the original site. The arrow on the screen will point to the signal, in theory." She paused, "It only has a short range though and heavy snowfall might interfere with it."
Aerrow handed his scanner to Radarr, "Good work you two, these should help us when we get to the signal site on the map; let's ride!" Radarr jumped on the back of one of the ice grinders with a squawk and snapped on the heat-seeker goggles. Aerrow gunned his borrowed ice grinder's engine and roared out of the hangar and down the ramp followed by the others, Jay and Junko, Tuomas and Bobby-Lee and Simon and Finn.
"Be careful." Piper watched the boys until they were out of sight.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan until they were about a mile from the Condor, Aerrow screeched to a halt in a flurry of snow, "There's something wrong with the scanner!" the others stopped and checked their own scanners; each one was now pointing in a different direction to all the others.
"What do we do now eh?" asked Tuomas after watching the arrows dance for a while.
"I guess we split up." Aerrow said doubtfully. "Just follow the signal and keep in radio contact at all times."
"Rock on, let's ride!"
The boys spun their ice grinders in the direction of their own signals and sped off into the unending whiteness.
Aerrow and Radarr headed south, following the steady beeps of the hand scanner. They flew across the tundra looking for a sign, the wreck of a crash, anything. Radarr chirped and shoved the scanner under Aerrow's nose; it was beeping madly and the pointer was vibrating with urgency.
"We must be getting close Radarr, keep a sharp eye out." Aerrow swung the ice grinder around to follow the signal which now seemed to be on the move.
The beeps were now an almost uninterrupted hum now, "We must be right on top of it!" Aerrow exclaimed, "Hey!? What's going on?" a snow storm had sprung up, seemingly from nowhere. Radarr screeched frantically and pointed, Aerrow took the goggles from his co-pilot ad slipped them over his eyes; there was a human-sized heat signature in the centre of the blizzard. Aerrow called out and tried to drive into the storm, but the figure lifted one arm and the storm doubled in fury.
Aerrow cursed and turned his ice grinder around, "It's no good buddy, we have to turn back." He began to head back to the Condor, harried the whole way by a storm that seemed to have a life of its own.
He flicked the radio button on the ice grinder, "Aerrow to Condor, I'm heading back, there's a storm on the way; better batten own the hatches."
"Condor to Aerrow, I think after that crash we have no hatches left." Came Stork's dry response.
"I wonder how the others are doing? I hope they had better luck us" Aerrow mused as they raced the storm.
Five miles to the north of where the signal went nuts Tuomas and Bobby-Lee's ice grinder crested a ridge, "How're you holding up Bobby?" Tuomas let the powerful engine idle.
"I-I'm okay, m-my arm hurts a little, b-but B-blue p-p-patched it up real g-good." Bobby-Lee waggled the fingers on his left hand, which was supported in a makeshift sling made from his scarf, "It does m-mean I c-can't use m-my c-crossbow."
Tuomas smiled at his friend reassuringly, "Well hopefully we'll not need it eh." The older Blizzarian gunned the engine and the ice grinder began to slide down the snow bank, "Lookie there eh, smoke!" Tuomas pointed and began to drive toward the black column, "Maybe its them kids."
Bobby-Lee held on awkwardly with one arm as the ice grinder picked up speed. He peered over Toumas' shoulder, "W-wait! Cyc-cyclonians!" he pointed at the symbol on a large piece of metal sticking out of the snow.
"Oh no, this looks bad eh." Tuomas looked around warily; it looked like something big had exploded, "There's a building over there eh, maybe that's where the survivors went."
"Th-there's someone there!" Bobby-Lee pointed to a cloaked figure standing by the building's chain link fence. Tuomas turned the ice grinder uphill; the masked figure raised the hand holding a halberd and pointed it at the boys.
"I think we're in trouble eh," Tuomas spun the machine around and opened the throttle as far as it would go just as a cone of ice from the hill hit where the yound Blizzarians had been a moment before.
They fled back toward the Condor; being chased by the snow. Bobby-Lee looked back, but the figure had disappeared.
Jay and Junko weren't faring much better to the east; Jay tapped the scanner's screen despondently; they'd suddenly lost the signal and were now aimlessly criss-crossing their tracks in the hopes of picking up the trail again.
"You hungry there Junko?" drawled Jay as they stopped to check for the signal again.
"Well, now that you mention it I am kinda am hungry." Junko said, Piper's sandcakes seemed a long way away out here in the wilderness. Junko leaned the ice grinder over on its kickstand and hopped off the machine.
Jay rootled around in his bag, "I got some snowberry pie from Terra Nord." The blond Blizzarian offered Junko a slice of the pie.
"It's not frozen is it?" Junko asked doubtfully, remembering his last experience with Blizzarian pies. The brain freeze he had gotten had lasted for hours.
Jay flashed the wallop a chip-toothed grin, "Naw, not after sitting on these engines for hours; it's a pity snowberries are best froze eh." Jay chomped his slice down in one and smacked his lip appreciatively.
Junko took a careful bite; it was still cold, but it tasted good, "mm, tingly," Junko licked the crumbs off his fingers, "they taste like strawberries."
Jay's ears twitched, "You hear that eh Junko? Sounds like a storm's coming, a big one." Junko picked the scanner up off the ice grinder's seat, "I think we should get on out of here eh Junko."
Junko checked the scanner again, it was now pointing back the way they had come from; back toward the Condor. "I think there's something wrong with these scanners, maybe it needs a new crystal or something."
The two lads hopped back onto the ice grinder, completely unaware that they had been watched the entire time by a figure wearing a white cloak.
It pointed its poleaxe to the sky, calling down more snow and icy winds.
The figure pricked up its ears, listening to the sound of the storms its sisters had started. She pointed her staff toward the Condor's crash site, on a path to join with the other storms to form a hypercane.
Meanwhile Simon and Finn weren't having much success either. As Simon raced across the Terra Finn scanned the horizon. Privately Finn thought it wasn't likely they would find anything in the wastelands, but after Simon's outburst he decided to keep that to himself.
The ice grinder jumped over a snowdrift and Finn spotted something to the right, "Hey! There's something over there!" he pointed and Simon swung the ice grinder around.
The black bundle Finn had spotted scrambled to its feet and began to struggle away from the snow; the child looked back fearfully over his shoulder.
"Lookie there eh, it's another Blizzarian; but he's just a kitten, he shouldn't be out here." Simon slowed the ice grinder as they caught up with the child, "Hey there kiddo, we's not gonna hurt you eh."
Fin leaned forward, "Do you think he's the one who sent the message?"
Simon shrugged, "I dunno eh; but a kit shouldn't be out here alone." He pulled alongside the terrified boy, "Hey there, whatcha doing all the way out here on your own eh?"
The boy looked over and pushed the fur-lined hood of his coat back, revealing a almost Blizzarian face; instead of the ice blue fur Blizzarians were known for, the child was covered in black fur from head to toe with only a small white blaze across his nose. He pointed at Simon, "You look like mommy, are you here to help her?"
Simon blinked, but smiled widely, "Uh huh, we heard your message and we've come to help you and your mom."
Finn pulled off the heat-seeker goggles and leaned over Simon's shoulder, "Yeah, where is she anyway?"
When the youngster saw Finn he panicked and screamed, "No! He's a talon, he's a bad person! I won't go back! You can't make me!" he turned and scrambled away over another snowdrift.
Confused the two teen exchanged glances, Simon shrugged and bounded after the boy, his long legs carrying him quickly over the deep snow. He caught up to the child in a few strides, "Hey there, what you running from eh?" Simon crouched down in front of the sobbing child, "What's your name kit?"
"D-Dillan." The boy scrubbed away the dampness the tears had left on his fur, "Are you a prisoner too? Mommy said the Talons are bad people and he looks like one of the Talon's who guarded us at the Facility." He folded his arms and frowned, "If you're a prisoner too how are you going to help mommy?"
Simon smiled and ruffled the boys hair, which like his own refused to stay flat, "I'm not a prisoner, I fight the Cyclonians and so does Finn who isn't a Talon at all. We came all the way from Terra Nord to come and help you and your mom. Do you know where that is?"
Dillan shook his head, "I ain't never been off the Terra, we only escaped from the Facility a few days ago; I wanted to look for help but it's a lot bigger out here than the Facility was," he leaned forward as if to impart a secret, "and there's no signposts out here if you get lost."
Meanwhile back at the ice grinder Finn was pacing, trying to keep warm now a cold wind had sprung up. He sighed and then jumped as the radio crackled into life, "-ecue teams…bad storms crackle -ad back to Condor."
"aw man." Finn shivered and yelped as a large clump of snow found its way down the back of his shirt. He hopped onto the ice grinder and drove in the direction the blizzarias had gone, unmindful of the hand scanner which was lying in the snow where he had knocked it off the ice grinder's seat.
Dillan saw the ice grinder approaching and whimpered, hiding behind the big Blizzarian, "You promise he won't hurt me?" he began to shake and clung tighter to Simon who smiled and patted the boy on the head, "Finn's one of the good guys, I promise, but if he misbehaves you can hit him."
Finn stopped the ice grinder, "Hey guys, we'd better get going; there's a storm coming and I don't know about you but I wanna get back to the Condor before that happens."
Dillan peered around Simon's legs and sniffed the air, "You won't make it, the storm's only a half mile away." He looked up at Simon, "You told me you were going to help mommy, why are you going away?"
Simon lifted Dillan onto the ice grinder behind Finn, "Don't you worry none eh, we're going to take you home now. I bet it's a hell- uh heck of a lot closer than the Condor anyway, right?"
Dillan nodded and pointed over the hill ahead of them, "Mommy's over there with Daisy." Snow began to fall around them and the wind picked up, whipping the snowflakes into hundreds of tiny tornadoes.
Simon squeezed onto the now overcrowded ice grinder and roared off in the direction Dillan had pointed; the snow hot on their heels.
A white-cloaked figure emerged from its hiding place in the snowfield, it picked up the hand-scanner Finn had dropped and frowned. The offworlders ere not supposed to find the children. The figure pushed its hood back and began to toy with the gold hoop in one candy pink ear. It turned to reveal a female Blizzarian with all pink fur; she shivered, she really didn't want to tell the Priestess she had failed.
She sighed and pulled her hood back up and began to follow the tracks of the ice grinder. If she failed in stopping them finding the children, she's make sure they couldn't leave. Ever.
AN: many thanks to all the reviewers, you lovely, lovely people. Reviews make me happy :)
For those who review this chappie can get a nifty hand-scanner (made in a hurry so no guarantees!)