STC 6B: The Citizen
T'Phai was stationary sitting on his bunk watching the rest of the squad sleep when he couldn't. Half the time, he was staring at the still folded blanket at the foot of his bunk trying to concentrate on a question-- why they ever bothered giving Tophettis a blanket when they were in full power suit all the time. It wasn't much of a question but it served its purpose to distract the colonel on what's really on his mind. Could Earth's military government leader really be an arachnid? His hand went over the folds of the blanket but didn't feel anything through the power suit. If it is true and the real Sky Marshal had died, then control bugs were out of the question. How was the bug keeping its form? He unfolded the blanket slowly and lifted it up. It was slightly shy of covering him fully. They should've given him a bigger blanket. Tophettis were after all, taller than most humans. Impostor bugs with brain capabilities was what General Redwing had said, but if so, then why haven't the pre- cogs caught a glimpse of pretense? He folded the blanket back careful to use its original folds. He really couldn't understand why they gave Tophettis human blankets.
Suddenly, from across the dark space, he saw a figure sit up as if he was being pulled by a string. T'Phai counted which bunk it was from the right corner to check on who it was. "Private Jenkins?" He called out tentatively to who he thought was sitting down. T'Phai turned on his bunk's personal light. His eyes adjusted quickly to the sudden brightness. He was right. The squad's pre-cog was the one who just woke up. But Carl had his eyes open staring into space not even blinking. T'Phai quietly walked over stopping in front of the trooper. He bent down slightly to examine him. He waved one hand close to Carl's face but he didn't move a muscle. T'Phai nodded remembering that he had read about this human condition.It was like sleepwalking. The human shouldn't be moved because he was still asleep. He was about to get back to his bunk when he saw the pre-cog blink. The colonel watched as the trooper's eyes became more focused, his expression more serious.
Carl Jenkins looked at T'Phai with fear in his eyes. "Colonel, they're coming." He said almost calmly. Then as if he just realized what he just said, T'Phai watched the psychic shake the people around him to wake up. "They're coming! They're coming! Wake up." He shouted. He only stopped waking Dizzy Flores when she sat up rubbing her eyes. Carl then started with the other girl.
"Carl, what's happening?" Dizzy asked slightly annoyed that she was unceremoniously awakened.
T'Phai placed both his hands on Carl's arms to stop the psychic from shaking Andy anymore-- she was awake and looking sleepily at the psychic. "Earthquake simulations aren't cool in San Francisco." She yawned before slumping back down on her bunk. "Came back from sim room a few hours ago C.J. Give me five minutes."
"They're coming! T'Phai, let go of me. We have to get everyone up." He yelled angrily at the Skinny as he struggled from the Skinny's grip. "Johnny, wake up!" The troopers started to rouse with the noise.
The colonel took hold of the shouting boy again. "Private Jenkins," he said sternly, "who's coming?"
"The bugs! Who else?" He answered exasperatedly.
Higgins was stretching his arms while he yawned. "Did you say Bugs?" He asked watching the odd scene unfold-- a Skinny was trying to get a hold panicked human psychic while people were just starting toss in their bunks hoping they'd keep quiet.
Carl rolled his eyes and tried to get way from T'Phai again. "Yes. The types that want to kill us. Now let me go colonel!" T'Phai let the boy go afraid he was harming him by holding him down too forcefully. He crossed his arms instead keeping watch at the manic psychic.
"You sure you didn't just have a nightmare Carl?" Rico asked while fluffing his pillow. Before the psychic could answer, the red light inside the room started to spin. The sirens followed a second later bringing those who were half awake to fully awake. The computerized voice filled the air as it instructed those who are stationed at the base to arm their battle stations. Carl gave mocking look. "Okay, I stand corrected." Rico said getting out of bed.
--
The San Francisco base had literally become a war zone. The automatic motion senors at the perimeter were working at full force as the bug horde advanced. There were troopers on the perimeter unable to do anything else but hopefully hold their lines.CHASes were deployed at every major point. But after awhile, every piece of land became a major point and the CHAS were ordered to help secure parts of the base that were starting to get over run. The bugs burrowed underneath by passing the ground defenses of wires, weapons and mines just to pop up in the middle of the base. Troopers scampered off various bulging areas ready to face whatever came out. Tanker bugs were almost always first as they could survive most of the salvo the troopers launched countering with its own offensive. The bugs behind them, blisters, warriors etc were able to scamper out of the tunnels protected by the fiery Tankers. Fliers swarmed the skies above, some purposefully disabling the automatic systems set in place weakening the perimeter defenses for their crawling relatives. The Fliers had also taken out the base's hangars forcing a delay in air support because they had to come from other SICON bases.
Rico slid under a low flying hopper shooting as he landed on inside the fox hole. They had just gotten through to the quad when they were forced to take cover. By then, the quad was already riddled with holes on the ground from previous assaults coming from both sides. He turned, his eyes widening upon seeing a small group of blasters ready to let loose.
"Cover!" He shouted. The Roughnecks ducked before fire blasted overhead. Rico caught a glimpse of his psychic friend. "You're not allowed to wake me up ever again." He said.
Carl gave him a dry smile. "Next time I'll let the bed bugs bite." He replied. The fire above them cleared. Carl quickly chucked a hand grenade underneath the blasters. The troopers took cover again.
Higgins looked around. He saw a familiar lump forming only a few feet from them. He stowed his camera quickly and grabbed Zim's attention. "Sarge, we need to get out of here." He pointed at the growing lump panicked.
Zim saw the top soil starting to break apart. "Abandon fox hole troopers." The troopers filed out quickly only to be met by a the warrior bugs that had started to filter in from the perimeter defenses.
"This is starting to get ridiculous." Doc said reaching for another clip from his pack to face the warrior bugs heading their way.
Dizzy Flores was already shooting down the warrior bugs with a small smile on her face. "You only noticed that now?" She replied to the larger man beside her.
Zim blocked off their banter because his immediate concern just arrived. He was shooting the bug along with Brutto and Gossard but to no avail which was to be expected with the tanker's exoskeleton. "Anderson! Tanker." He called out to the trooper that was shooting fliers off the sky. She automatically turned to face the tanker, went down to one knee and aimed. The tanker screeched furiously letting out a blast of fire. Andy shot a grenade from her morita to, what she hoped, was the big bug's mouth before rolling away from the line of fire.
She stared at the bug slightly confused and checked the setting of her morita. The bug was still moving forward but she was sure she launched a grenade. If she missed, there should've at least been an explosion nearby. She looked at the tanker while shooting another grenade towards a group of blisters. "Blow up already!" She yelled in frustration. The tanker stopped moving. She heard a muffled explosion and smirked when she saw the tanker fell with smoke coming out of its mouth and exoskeleton. The girl nodded.
"See? I told you she was freak." Brutto said to Gossard who just rolled his eyes at the boy.
"Killer Indigestion." Dizzy cheered as she exchanged hi fives with the other girl who headed back to killing warriors.
Higgins' jaw dropped. "Oh no. Now there's two of them." He said sarcastically.
T'Phai was looking at the sky shooting down the fliers that were passing by. He looked at the crawling bugs that were flanking them curiously. "Lt. Rico, they all seem to be heading to one direction." He said to the man that had just dodged a firefry flame.
Rico looked overhead at what the colonel was pointing at. The skinny was right. The bugs seem to be heading towards the only part of the facility that wasn't surrounded by open land or water because it was embedded on the foot of the Berkeley Hills. "Doc," he called out, "you've been here before. What's over there?" He asked.
The medic glanced at the direction Rico was looking at before being shoved aside by Carl. "Officer's quarters I think."
"Which officers are there?" T'Phai asked.
Doc shrugged. "The higher ups usually. Why?" He answered.
Zim and Rico looked at each other. Zim nodded changing his morita settings. "You're kidding." Rico said dryly. "Tell me your kidding." Zim just shrugged.
"Hey guys, we could use your help here?" Carl said motioning towards the new onslaught of crawlers that have just gone above ground through a now dead tanker worm headed their way. A spider jumped towards him and Carl hit the ground instinctively. Suddenly the spider was hit in mid air by a still accelerating muddy black pickup truck. He stood up watching the pick up turn sharply before ramming into a warrior in front of T'Phai.
Gossard's face broke into a big smile when he saw the familiar face behind the wheel. "Sarge, I didn't know you joined the demolition derby." He said climbing in the back of the pick up continuing th shoot the new wave.
"Why should I when you didn't invite me to your party?" Sergeant Brutto tilted his head to one side cockily.
Higgins climbed on board. "You can crash our party anytime." He said with a grateful tone.
"Dad?!" Max Brutto opened the passenger's side door and hopped in followed by Rico.
Everybody else filed in behind. The engines revved again and the pick up accelerated out of the quad. The troopers behind kept firing at the arachnids until it was safe enough to put up a firewall. Sergeant Brutto glanced at the long blue wall stretching laterally on the quad behind them and sighed knowing that the relief he feels is temporary as he saw plasma bug fire rain down from the sky randomly.
Rico faced his old sergeant and signaled him to turn around. "Um, Sarge, we're kinda hoping to go to the officer's quarters?"
"Kinda hoping?" Sergeant Brutto rolled his eyes while he mimicked Rico's tentative sounding request. He pressed hard on the brake turning the wheel and bringing the vehicle to a skidding 180 degree turn. The pickup paused for less than a second before accelerating again.
There was a loud pounding sound on top of them "You don't impress me much Sarge." They heard Dizzy yell sarcastically. The pickup lurched right as the sergeant tried to avoid hitting a dead bug. "Oh my god, we're going to die." They heard Higgins terrified voice say.
Max Brutto pounded on the top of the cabin. "Stop your whining." He shouted back to the troopers as machine fire once again echoed through the pickup. He glanced at Rico's side mirror and saw that a swarm of fliers were following them. "I swear! They won't be following us if we throw Goss over." He said.
There was another pound on top of him. "I heard that." Gossard's voice said.
A hand hit the back of Rico's head. Rico massaged his probable new injury. "What the-- Sarge! What was that for?" He exclaimed as the man made the vehicle lurch left.
"I told you to watch the squad's back, Lieutenant." He said emphasizing Rico's new position. "Not lead them to suicide." The vehicle went in between buildings and a much smaller quad was in view. The crawlers haven't infiltrated the quad yet but the sky was swarmed. In front of them was a building built within a a mountain. Parts of the dimly lighted building sparkled with machine fire bursts. Various troopers were starting to emerge from the building-- only they were crawling before standing upright.
The fliers started screaming as the pickup came out of the shadows. "Dad, the bugs." Max Brutto pointed at the windshield as the bugs started diving for them.
The Sergeant wasn't done berating the lieutenant and continued to eye Rico "You're lucky the bugs came. I was ready to kill you after I visit Maxi."
"Bugs!" The younger Brutto shouted out. Sergeant Brutto turned his attention to the scene in front of him. His eyes widened as the fliers were diving too near. He jerked the wheel to the left too suddenly. The pick up became unbalanced and rolled over.
--
Sergeant Brutto opened his eyes. The sound of weapons fire filled the air. It sounded all too familiar. He tried to stand from his sitting position before he remembered that he couldn't use his legs anymore. He saw a trooper stow her morita and helped him to his levi-chair.
"Can I just say," she said as she steadied the chair, "you guys look like clones."
Higgins smirked. "That's assuming they're not." He said.
The sergeant grinned. "Maxi gets his good looks from me." He answered the girl while he eyed Higgins and looked around. It looks like he was the last one to get up. The Roughnecks were holding their own in part of the two buildings they had passed between that had turned into ruins. The ceiling had crumbled in some places blocking any way of finding safety through the building they were in and allowing the fliers to get near. The windows were large-- almost floor to ceiling in length. Each of the troopers were hiding in between or under the window frame every time they fired. But there were things he didn't quite fathom. He could understand how the fliers and crawlers kept going at them. But the troopers in front of the officer's building were shooting at them too.
"Private Anderson never said anything about young Brutto looking good." A calm voice said behind him. He saw Gossard, Rico and Carl chuckle at T'Phai's comment when he turned around.
" Oh that's got to hurt." Doc shook his head grinning as he ran pass the sergeant to help Dizzy and Brutto with their fliers.
Dizzy looked at Brutto grinning as she launched missiles upwards to fliers. "Maxi?" She teased.
"Shut up Isabelle." Brutto fired back much to Doc's amusement when the girl was left with a wry smile.
The older Brutto saw Gossard's face light up like a switch was just turned on. He knew that look. He watched as mechanic headed towards Rico and Zim leaving a gap in between T'Phai and the girl that helped him out. "Hey Gossard! You just broke line." He called out but it was too late. He could hear the fast technical talk coming out of his mouth.
"If the Sarge..." He looked at Zim and corrected himself. "The other sarge, still has gas on his tank and we hit it right, we blow it up with plasma. The gas should mushroom cloud and get the flies. If not, the shrapnel would do it. We also get a nice big firewall until all the gas has evaporated." He said a little excited about the plan.
Zim nodded and Rico smiled. "Bring on the fireworks." He said while shooting a salvo at the troopers in the other building. Three troopers went down just to come back up again a few seconds later.
"T'Phai, Flores, Anderson, on Gossard's mark!" Zim shouted.
Sergeant Brutto looked around in confusion as three troopers changed their morita settings to plasma. The three flipped their visors down but one of them flipped it back up after a second. He saw Gossard look up to the sky gauging the flying population. "Hit the deck!" The mechanic yelled. The three troopers launched their plasma fire and ducked. The sergeant's jaw dropped as he did lowered his upper body. The pick up truck exploded just like Gossard predicted it would. The bugs in their vicinity dropped dead. When they raised their head to see the damage, they were relieved to see a massive firewall in place stretching across the quad and preventing even the fliers from coming through.
"Someone tell me what's going on?" Sergeant Brutto demanded. The troopers spun around to face the angry trooper sitting on the levi-chair with his arms crossed.
Dizzy Flores eyed the old sergeant curiously. "Well sarge," she said slightly tentative why she's explaining their actions, "there are bugs. We want them dead. So-- boom!" She clapped both hands together to emphasize the explosion. "Dead bugs."
Doc nudged the girl beside him playfully. "Nice. I see we're back in middle school, Diz."
"What's the matter sarge? Had enough time to forget trooper life?" Gossard teased.
"Hey! You can't talk like that." Max Brutto jabbed a finger at Gossard's chest. Gossard raised both his hands still grinning at his little come back.
Brutto instinctively growled in frustration knowing he won't get a straight answer from anybody that used to be under him-- he never did. "Now that you idiots, those troopers." He swiveled his chair to face Zim. "Please. Make. Sense." He said gritting his teeth.
Zim let his morita lean on his shoulder a little too smugly for the sergeant's liking although nobody else had reacted. "Modified versions of Impostor bugs, Sergeant. Half bug half human DNA. Bugs can take human form." He answered with his usual no nonsense tone. "There's a theory that SICON has been infiltrated up to the top level." He continued cautiously not revealing anymore details knowing that the sergeant has already been honorably discharged from duty.
"Then what are you still doing here?" Lt. Rockford said from behind them. Zulu squad entered through the large window frames behind Sgt. Brutto. They laid their 2 injured against the wall where the ceiling hadn't fallen before facing Alpha with a grin on their faces.
Doc elbowed Gossard. "You should maybe give his mechanical eye a check." He mumbled so that only mechanic could hear.
"Bugs Lieutenant. Haven't had time to clear an exit." Rico said eying the medic. Doc winced realizing that he had heard the comment even if Lt. Rockford was acting like he hadn't.
Lt. Rockford looked at the pile of rubble he was talking about. He nodded at Sgt. Zim. "Sgt. Lavigne!" He called out. Sean Lavigne ran up to the lieutenant and saluted. "Clean it up." He ordered without so much as giving the trooper a passing glance.
"Sir yes sir!" The sergeant answered. He took his triple grenade launcher and a few steps back. The trooper's eyes grew wide as they scrambled for cover. The sergeant grinned as he pulled the trigger and quickly hit the deck. There was a large blast. Dust was thrown up to the air but as it cleared, the debris that had been blocking their potential exit had been loosened enough that there was a way through. As the dust settled, the troopers from both squad gathered in the middle of the room.
Lt. Rockford faced Lt. Rico. "Take your squad in. We'll distract those bugs and come in through the front door when it's all clear." Zulu's officer said motioning to the newly created hole in what used to be a wall. Rico looked at the lieutenant slightly confused. "We can't let the bugs know you're not here." Lt. Rockford explained before moving to a window. "Zulu!" he yelled out.
"We're going to pretend to be you. I call dibs on Higgins! Always wanted to be reporter." Bryan said gleefully as he passed by Max Brutto.
John grinned. "I'd rather pretend to be Lady Flores. Now who has red hair dye?" He winked at Dizzy the stopped in his tracks and frowned glancing at Lt. Rockford. "Hold on. But then I'd have to get it on with the"
Lee hit his friend before he could finish the sentence. "Don't. Even. Dare." He said giving a mortified Dizzy an apologetic look. He picked a window and propped his morita. The blue wall in front of them had started to lighten. Some spots were already starting to clear. "Firewall's about to go." He warned the other squad.
"Alright Roughnecks, let's go." Rico yelled. He went as few steps forward before he stopped and turned. Andy, Dizzy, T'Phai and the two Brutto's hadn't moved from their positions.
Sergeant Brutto levitated towards Gossard and Doc. "Give me whatever you don't need in close quarters. Now." He ordered before meeting Rico's confused glance. "It's not a marauder you know." He tapped on the levi chair.
The two troopers unloaded some of their ammunitions on the man's lap at the sight of a familiar threatening scowl. "A Brutto with that much ammo." Doc shook his head. "What have we done? We've doomed us all."
Max Brutto rolled his eyes at the medic. "I'm with him." He said following his father past Rico.
"What?!" Rico exclaimed. " T'Phai? Andy? Diz?" He turned to face the two girls and the skinny who were already holding up their moritas to their chosen windows.
T'Phai smiled. "Zulu is outnumbered Lt. Rico." He said calmly. "We will follow when able."
"Have you seen them aim?" Andy pointed at the last standing Zulu troopers, Sgt. Lavigne, Lee and the twins. "They don't." The Zulu boys booed at her comment. She stuck her tongue out at them. "Don't even try to deny it. You know I'm right." She taunted.
Dizzy felt Rico and Carl's eyes on her. She shrugged. "T'Phai's right." She said. "Besides, there are more bugs out here to kill." She added with a big grin on her face.
Rico gave up and threw up his hands in defeat knowing that they've made up their minds. It would be useless to try to convince them otherwise. They didn't have the time to argue either. "Fine." He said. "But you have to promise to be here when I get back."
"You have to promise to come back." Dizzy shot back.
Sgt. Brutto sighed listening to their conversation. "Just go get us some wine for that cheese Rico." He shouted aloud earning a few chuckles from those around. He heard foot falls behind him-- a tell tale sound that Rico's group had left-- just in time. A second later, the firewall completely disintegrated. The bugs were coming again screeching as they attacked. A familiar surge went up his spine changing his previous annoyed expression to one with a more sinister smile. He raised a missile launcher taking aim at a swarm to his left. The smile grew wider on Lt. Rockford's command.
"Troopers, engage!" Weapon's fire filled the air once more.
--
General Redwing rolled on the ground reaching for a fallen morita before hiding behind a post. She shook her head. It was hard to tell which one was which anymore when she looked down the hall. Troopers came in to evacuate the generals and the sky marshal apparently by Lt. Walker's orders. But somewhere inside the building, a large group of troopers started shooting at them. The sky marshal had yelled and screamed about insubordination and mutiny which General Redwing thought was ridiculous. One sure shot to the stray troopers had confirmed her suspicion. The trooper changed into bug form charging towards them until it was shot down. They were bugs.
The generals quickly grabbed whatever weapon they could from fallen troopers and bugs pretending to be troopers alike. They were however, being pushed back. Their 'escorts' numbers started to dwindle as more trooper bugs seem to replace every one they shot down. That was putting it mildly. General Redwing took a headcount of how many were engaged in combat with the bugs including the SICON officers. She sighed when she realized there were only twelve left-- four troopers, the seven generals, and the sky marshal. She saw a trooper in front of her collapse and immobile. Correction, her number was now eleven-- three troopers, seven generals and the sky marshal. She was only thankful that the window's reinforced glass hasn't been compromised. The fliers haven't been able to come in. She muttered a curse under her breath as she watched the Sky Marshal retreat to a position behind her. She couldn't keep tabs on him enough when he was in her line of sight because of the bugs. But now, it'll be virtually impossible to check on him.
"Behind you General Takamiya!" A trooper shouted as he took aim at the now bug form trooper that had appeared from the corner. The trooper's shot was good which made the Asian general sigh in relief. But another problem had just presented itself. The stairwell they were hoping to escape from was now, they could only guess with the bug surprise, infested as well. The eleven troopers suddenly found themselves trapped within their own building. Almost automatically, the eleven were split into two groups engaging the enemy in front and behind them.
There was an explosion in the stairwell throwing dead bugs from the stairs down. General Redwing's smiled when she heard the voices echoing through the weapon's fire. "Um, Sgt. Zim, maybe I should take the triple launcher away from you." One sarcastic voice said. "Someone's excited." Commented another trooper. "That's putting it lightly!" exclaimed another trooper. "I said one grenade was enough to create structural damage. One. Not three. One." Said the same voice. "I wonder why he was rushing." Said a much deeper amused voice. "Guys, the bugs?!" A panicked voice warned. "Carl?" Asked the first voice. "One flight down." Answered the second voice almost automatically.
In a few moments, the troopers they were heard arguing came into view as they forced their way down. General Redwing sighed in relief as the troopers rushed to reinforce their line. "Impeccable timing." She said when Rico passed by to settle in the post in front of her.
She saw the Lieutenant she had promoted smirk. "Sgt. Zim got trigger happy." He answered shooting a bug of his own.
"That's actually scary." General Redwing smiled as she felt the energy of her people around her lift at the arrival of the new troopers.
Carl Jenkins smirked as he made his way to a post across her. "That's the understatement of the year."
There was a large explosion behind them. All gun fire ceased for a moment only to see Sgt. Zim coming back from where the stairwell used to be. The bugs screamed and started their offensive again but at least there wasn't any crazy bugs from behind. "Maybe he's overheated again?" Higgins looked at Gossard as he traded his camera for a morita.
Gossard chuckled. "We should have Doc look at him this time." He flipped his visor down. His eyes widened when he saw the amount of Impostors there were in front of them.
"Don't need to. I recommend a section 8. No questions asked." Doc said automatically as he rolled to the other side of the hall to get a better shot. Out of the corner of Doc's eyes he could swear that the Sky Marshal was grinning when another trooper from the original escort group succumb to the trooper bug's bullets.
Zim watched the trooper fall silently behind the Sky Marshal then eyed Sky Marshal Sanchez with suspicion. He had seen troopers fall because of enemy fire before. He was sure this one wasn't hit by the bugs but by someone behind the trooper. He met his friend's eye as she looked back to check where everyone was. He motioned his morita slightly to the direction of the Sky Marshal. He saw her wary expression become more disturbed. They needed a plan to check for sure that the sky marshal wasn't a bug.
Carl Jenkins could tell what was happening without having to look around. The two adults were worried that friendly fire had been the one killing off their own troopers and not the bugs. They all knew that there was only one real way to check but it's too risky for anybody else to do it. "Johnny!" He called out. The lieutenant turned to him confused. Carl tilted his head to one side and shrugged.
Johnny Rico suddenly found himself in a bad situation and it had nothing to do with the fact that the Impostor bugs weren't going away. His eyes turned to saucers when he saw his friend's gesture. "You've got to be kidding." He said for the second time that night.
"You know another way?" Carl Jenkins answered back when he got back to shooting the impostors.
Rico grimaced at the thought of what he was being asked to do. But amidst the bickering of Higgins, Doc and Gossard, the various calls for shot and ammunition from the generals, the sound of weapons fire and the screams of the bugs, he suddenly found himself remembering an old question asked by his old lieutenant and high school teacher. "What is the difference between a citizen and a civilian?" Lt. Razak had asked him that day when he was caught more engrossed with Carmen Ibanez than the lesson, the day Carl Jenkins had to remind him of the question, and the day he gave Dizzy Flores a reason to call him an idiot. His answer had somewhat redeemed him in the eyes of his teacher-- "A citizen knows how to live with the choices he makes or how to die defending them" Rico opened his eyes and took a deep breath. It looks like he might just die defending his. He brandished his hand gun, waited for his hand to stop trembling and aimed in Sky Marshal Sanchez' direction.
Rico pulled the trigger.
--
Max Brutto thought he was imagining things when the bugs, for one brief second, the impostors at the other end stopped shooting. It didn't matter, they kept shooting anyway and downed every bug they can. "Did they just stop?" He asked everyone there. And as if the bugs heard him, they started going at the troopers again.
"You jinxed it!" Dizzy Flores yelled as she changed her morita settings.
"I didn't do anything!" He shouted back. He saw Lee shake his head with a small smile on his face. "What are you smiling about Zulu?" He asked rudely.
Lee shrugged. "You called it out Alpha. International Rules of Jinxing say that you jinxed it." He answered calmly.
"International Rules of what? That doesn't exist!" Max Brutto answered back.
John traded his morita for his missile launcher. "Actually, mini me-- mini him," He corrected himself pointing at the older Brutto, "it does exist."
Bryan grinned evilly as he hid behind the walls of the building ruins. "There's technically only one golden rule." He replied.
"I am curious to know what this rule is." T'Phai said curiously much to Brutto's dismay.
The twins grinned. "He who calls it, jinxed it." Andy, Lee, and the twins answered in unison. Dizzy Flores couldn't help but smile when he saw Brutto hit his head with the palm of his hand.
Sgt. Lavigne sighed. "Andy, Lee, twins, if he shoots you it's not my problem." He warned but the four continued on their conversation about Jinx rules completely ignoring him. Suddenly, there was a roar overhead as fighter planes passed by their air space. He grinned seeing T'Phai automatically turning on his communications link. Just when he thought there weren't any sane troopers in alpha, the colonel had seemingly redeemed the squad.
"This is Private T'Phai of Alpha Squad to fleet requesting aerial reinforcements over." T'Phai said over the links.
"This is Lt. Ibanez. I've got your position colonel. Sorry it took so long, traffic was a killer." A smile formed on the Skinny's face when he heard a familiar voice over the links. "Lt. Daniels," she continued, "care to join me on this run?" She invited another fleet pilot. T'Phai saw Sgt. Lavigne's face light up at the sound of the other girl's voice.
"You got yourself a wing lady." They heard Lt. Daniels answer.
--
The six generals froze along with the impostor bugs when the Sky Marshal held his hand to his cheek. The bullet Rico let loose grazed the Sky Marshal slightly. The Sky Marshal's shocked face turned instantly to anger. "Lt. Rico did you just shoot me?" He shouted angrily releasing his hand from his cheek and coming out from the post he was behind. He raised his morita at Rico. "Did you just shoot me?" He asked again. His eyes blazed with anger as he headed slowly at the insubordinate lieutenant.
Higgins was wide eyed staring at the immobilized impostors. He quickly changed from his morita to his camera. He had to get this scene. He focused his lens at the angry Sky Marshal heading towards Rico and gasped. "Um, Sir," He said stopping the sky marshal in his track. "You're... bleeding... green?" He finished his sentence slowly trying to convince himself of what he's seeing. The cut on the sky marshal's face quickly disappeared.
"I heard of blue blood but green?" Doc said deciding to raise his morita to shoot at the frozen impostors.
"She IS alien." Gossard replied raising his own morita and pulling the trigger on the impostors. Zim followed suit. The impostors fell one by one under the fire of three troopers. The Sky Marshal screamed in anger as the 6 generals just stayed at their place frozen and shocked.
General Redwing brought her weapon up and aimed at the Sky Marshal and saw that Rico and Carl Jenkins had done the same. "You are the Queen aren't you?" She asked threateningly. "The real sky marshal died in the Trojan."
The Sky Marshal laughed when he saw the dire situation he was in. With the threat of the impostor bugs gone, Zim, Doc and Gossard had their own weapons aimed for the Sky Marshal. "Pitiful humans so easily distracted. It was almost easy." He said suddenly in a different tone and voice. General Redwing took that as her confession. The Sky marshal closed his eyes and suddenly, in front of them was the man they all honored-- Lt. Razak. He faced the wide eyed Rico. "Gutsy." He said.
Miriam Redwing's hand trembled at the sight of her fallen friend. "Are you going to shoot me Miriam?" Razak asked taking a step towards the general. Redwing tried to keep her hand steady as he turned around and faced Zim who had lowered his own weapon slightly as well. "And you Charlie?" Razak smiled. Before any one of them could strengthen their resolve, the lieutenant returned to its original bug form. It lashed out it's long limbs hitting and throwing those that had threatened her aside. Carl Jenkins opened his eyes just in time to see the Queen walk on the ceiling trying to scamper away. He rushed over to his fallen friend. "Rico!" He called out.
"The Sky Marshal, he.. Lt. Razak!" Rico mumbled as Carl helped him up. He wobbled slightly before he found his footing and winced when he noticed that his left shoulder had been dislocated from the fall and his helmet nowhere to be found. But they didn't have time.
"Listen to me Johnny, that was a bug, not Razak." Carl handed the boy his morita which he received with his right hand. "She's escaping." Carl said. Rico nodded and the two ran after the Queen before any of the others could ready themselves.
When they turned the corner to a darkened hallway, Carl suddenly collapsed holding his head in pain. "Carl!" Rico rushed over to help his friend. Carl Jenkins waved him off weakly with one hand before the pain in his head doubled forcing him to shout in shock. "It's too dangerous to leave you here."
There were foot falls coming from the hallway. The lights were flashing unevenly with the unstable electrical system. Rico pointed his morita at the lone figure running their way but lowered it when he saw who it was. "Johnny!" The lights revealed a bloody Dizzy Flores running towards them. "What happened to Carl?" She asked kneeling down beside the pre- cog.
"I don't know Diz, he just fell over." He answered obviously panicked that his friend was in a lot of pain.
Dizzy stood up away from his view and looked around. There were sounds of weapons fire coming from the darkened hallway. "Rico, give me your gun." She said. Rico gave his handgun without much thought.
The pain in Carl Jenkins' head increased. His body was starting to go numb in shock. He looked at Rico and shook his head. "Diz." He tried to say his eyes widening.
"What?" Rico asked. "Carl, you should just relax. I'm sure Doc would be here" Rico stopped in mid sentence and froze. He felt cold steel touching pressed against the back of his head.
Dizzy Flores' voice changed. "You've been a threat for too long. Too bad, you would've made a great arachnid." She smiled as her finger started to move.
"No!" Carl Jenkins screamed. In a split second, pushed Rico to one side as the trigger was pulled. The Queen hit the space where Rico would've been. Carl's features wrinkled as he mentally knocked the hand gun away from the hands of the arachnid royal. Rico reached out for his morita and aimed it at the Dizzy Flores in front of him but he couldn't find it in himself to pull the trigger.
The Queen grinned. "So weak." She rolled her eyes reaching for the writhing psychic's weapons. She threw away the knife and reached for the handgun and launchers instead. Carl Jenkins quickly opened his eyes concentrating on the Queen before she could get anything. The arachnid was taken aback at the psychic assault, grabbing her head screaming as her Dizzy facade changed into her bug form. Rico pulled the trigger on his morita. Followed immediately followed by the generals and troopers that had just arrived in the scene to see the transformation from human to bug.
The bug slumped. The gun fire stopped. Gossard and Doc quickly went by their friends' side. They placed the two in a sitting position against a wall for Doc looked them over. The generals were at a loss as General Redwing and Zim started explaining what had just happened with Higgins still filming.
"The Queen is dead. Here in SICON's San Francisco base..." Higgins started making his report."I think she liked you." Rico told Carl smiling weakly.
Carl Jenkins smiled and leaned his still throbbing head on the wall behind him. "She did get frisky." He replied.
Gossard grinned. "Ladies man." He said.
"We missed it!" They heard a boy complain. "Unbelievable." Max Brutto exclaimed. Zulu and the rest of Alpha team had just appeared from the darkened corridor. They lowered their weapons as they headed towards the disheveled group. Lt. Rockford saluted the generals when they got near enough, an example followed by the rest of the troopers-- at least those who could salute. The edgy feeling didn't leave the troopers as fast as it had the generals, the lot of them were watching fleet fighter pilots trying to shoot the fliers from the skies.
Dizzy Flores slowly walked over to where her two friends were being checked over by Gossard and Doc. But she caught a glimpse of a ripple where the dead bug lay. Her eyes grew wide as the bug turned into a bleeding Sky Marshal Sanchez kneeling down with a knife in his hands. She traced the direction he was looking at. "Redwing!" She shouted as she ran.
The fallen Queen had let loose a throwing knife she had gotten from Carl only a few moments earlier and aimed for the general's neck. Rico pushed Doc away from fussing over him just to see Dizzy Flores lunging for the General. He saw Carl reach out for the knife. There was one lone gun shot followed by morita fire. Rico froze-- it happened too fast.
The next thing anybody knew, the general was on the floor with Private Flores right above her. Rico rushed to the two helping Dizzy first by instinct. He saw that Zim was already by Redwing's side allowing him to do concentrate on the girl he was pulling up.
"Doc!" Zim called out after he propped Redwing to a sitting position.
"Diz, you ok?" He asked putting both hands on her shoulders gently. He looked her over with concern.
Dizzy Flores broke into a smile very much amused. "I'm fine Rico. Nothing serious." She answered she said massaging her neck with one hand. To her surprise, she found herself in his sudden embrace. It took her a second to relax and return the gesture.
"It's about time." She heard Doc exclaim walking pass them to check on the generals. She caught a glimpse of Carl Jenkins wink as he passed by behind Rico to pick up the fallen knife a few feet away.
Carl picked up the Queen's knife and examined it He wasn't surprised to see a slight dent on one of the enamel handle. The knife fell a far from where it would've been even if Dizzy had tackled the general first before the knife could do the damage. The bullet from the gunshot had redirected the knife somewhere else. He sighed in relief. He knew he couldn't stop the knife with the headache he had. It was just too fast and too sudden. There was only one thing he can do-- try to slow it down. He smiled as he saw Andy who John and Bryan McKenzie was trying to help the shaken girl off the floor with Sgt. Lavigne berating her. "Time continuums don't exist, Andy! Things don't just slow down." Sgt. Lavigne shouted. Lee pried the handgun from her trembling hands joining the Zulu sergeant in his rant while the girl just nodded somberly between the uncharacteristically quiet twins.
The Queen had returned herself into bug form as the moritas stopped shooting. "Circle." Sgt. Brutto ordered. T'Phai, Max Brutto and himself surrounded the queen. After the ditch attempt she made, Sgt. Brutto couldn't help but glanced out of the window to watch the troopers on the quad battle the organized bugs. "She's not gone yet. Wait for it." He ordered still watching the window. After a few moments, the tide turned as the bugs were suddenly acting in disarray and confusion. He exchanged grins with Max Brutto beside him.
"At ease." Sgt. Brutto ordered.
The two troopers stowed their moritas with relief. T'Phai heard a click beside him. He watched as Higgins turned his camera off for the first time without being told or having any danger around. "Is it finished?"He asked.
Higgins looked out at the quad filled with dead bugs and then back to the Queen. "I hope so." he replied
Doc stared at the pre-cog wryly as he slumped down to a sitting position near the medic. " Couldn't stop a speeding knife huh? How would you do bullets and fly?" He smirked.
"Not in a cartoon show, Doc. No super powers." He answered with the same tone closing his eyes.
Gossard took a seat beside the psychic. "It sure sound like a cartoon show." He replied. "It's the only logical explanation why we're still all alive-- get this, Higgins' actually survived.," he pointed at the reporter still standing, "the clones," he waved to the Bruttos' direction who were walking away the queen with T'Phai, "a new alien race," he pointed at T'Phai, "the chameleon Queen" he pointed to the still bug, "and that ending," he pointed to Dizzy and Rico still hugging.
Carl let out a weak laugh. "Someone's bitter." He commented.
"Oh come on." Gossard waved the comment away. "We all knew how that was going to end. She was Rico's girl from the start."
