Madame Medusa stormed through the airport terminal, not even bothering to put up a façade of politeness as she snatched her ticket and pushed and shoved her way past other customers. She had gone to a lot of trouble to find the Devil's Eye, the largest diamond ever struck from the earth, and she wasn't going to let that chubby fool Snoops ruin everything!

She fumed especially for that ungrateful little brat, Penny. Snoops had caught her sending out messages in bottles, begging for help. Of course there was little, if any chance of it ever being found, but if it was… Medusa shook the absurd idea from her head as she boarded the plane, mercifully short on passengers.

The airplane engines began to hum and she tapped her elbows anxiously, waiting for movement. Time was money and Snoops and Penny had already been down there in that smelling cesspit, aptly named Devil's Bayou, for three months! The Devil's Eye was her business's last best hope for something more than just scraping a meager existence in the bowels of New York City. She would get it if it were the last thing she ever did!

"You really want it that badly don't you?" a deep voice whispered in Medusa's ear. She turned and gasped in shock at a man who wasn't in the chair a second ago. He was tall, and painfully thin. His skin was smooth, but tightly stretched. Long jet-black hair hung down past his shoulders and down his sleek, slender frame. If not for the deep, gravelly voice, Medusa might have mistaken him for a woman. Even his long black robes seemed effeminate.

"That diamond, Ms. Medusa," he went on. "You really want it so bad as to go through all this trouble. Even to kidnap a child and coax her into service with the false promise of freedom and a bright future."

Medusa's eyes bulged. There was no noticeable condemnation in his voice, but somehow he knew everything! The flabbergasted woman gapped and soundlessly mouthed words of astonished denial. What did he want with her? Would he demand a share of the diamond?

The man in black gave a smirk that made Medusa's blood freeze. "Worry not, Madame. I have no interest in your diamond, or your methods of getting it. In fact I find it very cleaver, a child with no future, young and impressionable, easily intimidated. A delightfully underhanded scheme," the stranger whispered on, though Medusa heard every word loud and clear.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Cobb. And I have a business proposition for you," he said.

"I'm listening," Medusa gulped.

"As I said, I have no interest in the diamond you seek. But the girl in your possession," he paused to lean closer to her face. His eyes locked with hers in a hypnotic stare. "It is Penny I seek, for purposes that are my mine alone. She will find your diamond soon and when she does you will hand her over to me. And in exchange I have means to make your entire venture run much more smoothly. Outside forces will try to take the girl away from you, and that fat friend of yours and your pet reptiles will not be enough to stop them. Give me your word that you will hand the girl over to me, and when this transport arrives at your destination, you will find armed men waiting for you. They will obey you as they would a master. And they will also have transportation that will make your travels through the swamps much more convenient. Have we an agreement?" he finished, slowly holding out his hand for her.

It was so much to take in, but after a moment in thought Medusa smiled awkwardly as she shook his hand. She didn't know what this strange benefactor wanted with Penny, nor did she care. All she wanted was the diamond. Once the little brat had delivered it from the ancient pirate's cave Mr. Cobb could do whatever he wanted with her or to her.

"How nice," Cobb remarked after abruptly letting go of Medusa's hand. "A woman who knows not to tax my patience!" he said with a surprised grin. "The men will be waiting for you, don't forget our agreement, Madame Medusa. And don't disappoint me…" he finished.

Medusa smiled and nodded in compliance when the plane lurched forward to take off. She blinked in surprise that she had barely noticed the plane moving into position. Then her eyes nearly shot from her skull as she turned her head to find Mr. Cobb had vanished.

…

Bernard signed deeply as he and Bianca watched helplessly as Penny was dragged back to the long abandoned steamboat wreck. The hoodlums were rude, coarse, and brutal. He wasn't sure which frightened him more, the hoods or Nero and Brutus (Medusa's pet alligators). It had hardly been a challenge to sneak past the armed guards to make contact with Penny the day before, but getting her out would be just short of impossible now.

Even as the three of them had put their heads together the night before, they couldn't come up with a plan to get away from the armed guards. If it were just the gators, Medusa, and Snoops, the entire thing would have been much easier. They could have trapped the gators in the ships elevator, set off Snoops fireworks as a distraction and fired up Medusa's swamp mobile to escape. But now it seemed their rescue attempt had been in vain.

The armed guards rode their own swamp mobiles in constant patrols around the wrecked ship. And they kept a keen eye on Penny, cursing and shouting her back into her room if she even so much as stared too long out at the horizon. Some of the words they used around that poor girl made Bernard want to sink his teeth into their ankles! What's more something seemed unnatural about them, some dark haze seemed to cling to them at all times and their eyes had a hint of yellow light.

"Oh Bernard!" Bianca sighed in defeat. "Whatever will we do? That poor little girl!" The million dollar question and Bernard had no answer for her.

"Just sit back and relax, because the cavalry has arrived!" a friendly voice announced behind the two mice. Both turned around to stare up in shocked at a smiling human police officer. Though his weapon, helmet and equipment were more akin to the battlefield than police work. Bernard and Bianca turned to each other in question. What should they do? A human had seen and heard them!

"Over here, guys, I found them!" the officer called. Two more policemen sauntered up.

"Oh! Bernard and Bianca!" one of them in a ski mask said in recognition, both mice blinked in confusion. "Don't worry, we know you're with the Rescue Agent Society, and we're here to help."

"There's no time to explain," said the black one with a white cross indicating first aid on his uniform. "I'm Medic, these are Recon, and Noob," he introduced his squad mates, who waved casually. "More squads are moving in to encircle the ship, then we'll strike and rescue Penny, then we'll grab a swamp mobile and get her and you out of here!"

"There is one more of us coming, though," said Recon. "Just try not to let him spook you, he's harmless… To us anyway…"

"Wait, he's not going to?" Medic began but was cut off by a maniacal laugh that seemed to emanate bolts of lightning. Bernard and Bianca clutched each other nervously as a bearded police officer approached holding a rocket launcher.

"He is," Recon answered.

"AH, HA, HA, I'M A GOD!" Engineer cheered his own glory.

"No you're not," Medic sighed.

"FOR I WIELD THE RPG OF JUSTICE!" Engineer went on.

"Say it a little louder, I don't think they heard you at the wreck!" Recon grunted.

"Chill out guys, once the other squads are in position things are gonna get plenty loud, then I get to use this little baby!" he giggled giddily.

"No, don't do it!" Recon gasped.

"You might hurt Penny!" Medic cut Engineer off before he could object. "We've been over this before, just because we can't team kill it doesn't mean NPCs are immune to explosions!"

"But they've got vehicles!"

"We need to take at least one swamp mobile intact to get Penny to safety!"

"Hey guys!" another soldier ran up. "Level Cap and the Colonel are in position! But we're missing that freaking blueberry!" Ammo Guy frantically explained. "Seen him?"

"Who?... Blueberry?" Noob scratched his head!"

"He means SIMON!" Engineer bellowed.

"Oh!..." Noob gasped in realization, causing his three squadmates to roll their eyes. "No haven't seen him since we left the Garden."

"Well get him on the radio or something!" Ammo Guy demanded. "I'm itching to use this baby!" he said as he unslung his own RPG!

"Oh dammit!" Recon sighed.

"You too!" Medic grumbled.

"SEE! Told you!" Engineer growled. "You do NOT want to play Hardline without an RPG!"

"Never mind that!" Medic broke in. "Right now we need to find Simon. Everyone needs to be in position, if one thing goes wrong this whole plan is a scrap! If one person charges in there."

"Oh no!" Ammo Guy cut him off. "There's no freaking way anyone is dumb enough to just charge in there now!" The faint rumble of a swamp mobile echoed.

"Oh shit! The Heartless must have sent out a patrol!" Medic gasped.

"WHERE IS IT?" Engineer and Ammo Guy both demanded in unison, bringing their RPGs to the ready. They argued over who should get the first shot once the enemy came into view, eventually settling on first to spot it. Medic tried to defuse them, urging them to keep quiet and let it pass, buying them time to find Simon. As if on cue, the Swamp mobile emerged out into the bayou, making a b-line for the wrecked river boat.

"JIHAD SWAMPMOBILE!" Simon's voice carried as he sped by. The soldiers and the mice watched with dropped jaws as Simon bailed out before the vehicle struck the side of the boat, in the middle of all the enemy's parked swamp mobiles. Moments later the faint click of a detonator was followed by a deafening explosion, sending all the swamp mobiles and half the river boat up in a blazing inferno.

"Oh my god!" Recon gasped.

"Did he just?" Medic asked in shock.

"Yes he did!" Engineer answered.

"Okay, everyone stick to the plane! Stick to the plan!" Medic insisted over the radio, trying to rein in the chaos. Ammo Guy and Engineer both fired their RPGs in unison and cheered with glee at the resulting explosions. "Oh dammit! Attack, everyone attack!" Medic barked over the radio. Noob opened up on the scrambling enemy with his habitual chattering to the beat of his LMG.

"YEAH!" Noob cheered. "LET'S SAVE ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL!" The rest of the squad roared to life as they pelted the Heartless criminals with lead. At the opposite end of the bayou, the squads under the command of Level Cap and Colonel followed suit. Enemy snipers moved fast, made it to the upper levels of the boat and started picking them off. Medic soon had his hands full reviving squad mates. Recon kept to cover, picking off the enemy snipers. Engineer crouched nearby and fired his RPG at one sniper hiding in one of the upper rooms. The blast of the RPG was compounded by the sporadic blasts of fireworks. Engineer blinked in surprised, then remembered this movie from his childhood; the fat creepy guy with the glasses kept fireworks to light up the swamp when the little girl tried to run away.

When the last of the snipers went down, Colonel led the charge, hopping on a swamp mobile and gunning the engine towards the boat. Medic knelt to let Bernard and Bianca climb onto his shoulder before doing the same with his squad.

…

Penny scampered helplessly through corridors of the boat, holding tight to her teddy bear. The extra weight of the stuffed animal and the alien hardness inside it was of little concern to her. She had managed to snatch her favorite toy away from Medusa and duck away while the fireworks wreaked havoc. Partially because the initial blast had knocked Medusa and Snoops off their feet. Bullets and rockets filled the air, thankfully the scary, shadowy adults with weird voices were too busy firing back at the attacks to notice her.

The horrible screeching voice of Medusa echoed over the cacophony, driving her on through the narrow, often shattered, walkways of the wrecked boat. Fired blazing throughout blocked her path, causing her to double back and nearly wander right into the crazed, shotgun-wielding Medusa. Penny reached the main deck and made a dash for the side, maybe she could make a run for it. She hoped the water wasn't too deep.

The terrified girl came to a sudden stop as the hungry eyes of Nero and Brutus locked with hers. Medusa's pet alligators were blocking her way. Freezing a moment in terror, she turned to run away, suddenly a strong hand grabbed her arm. "This way, kid!" a friendly voice said. She looked up in surprise at a police man wearing a helmet dragged her into the nearby cage-elevator. She trembled in terror to be caught in the very trap she had intended for Nero and Brutus.

"Okay, Gators, you have the right to remain SILENT!" the police man screamed as he frantically fired his machinegun. Penny plugged her ears, but blinked in surprise that none of the bullets were hitting the oncoming alligators. Unplugging her ears she also noticed the policeman was chattering to his own gunshots. Eventually his gun clicked dry and he casually went about reloading, as if completely oblivious to the flesh-eating reptiles closing in. Penny clung desperately to the policeman's pant leg as Nero and Brutus charged with fury. The frightened girl recoiled in shock as the two gators exploded just as they reached the elevator, nothing remained of them but a red splatter.

"Oh yeah, that's right," the policeman said, unfazed. "I'm a Claymore Master!"

"Wow!" several other policemen gasped from the deck.

"Good one, Noob!" said a bearded one.

"Yeah, I know! That one took forever though!" the other policemen grimaced in confusion. "I laid like a hundred claymores all over the deck. I'm surprised just those last two got them." The others collectively sighed in disappointment.