CHAPTER 10: Prayer of a Medic
"Well, this just stinks!" griped Pietro as he peeled a potato, "After the battle with Lifeline and Bree yesterday and after single-handedly saving their hearts and the Pit from being totally wasted, General Hawk sends us to KP duty all because we stepped outside of the bunker for several minutes!"
"To be fair, we did disobey General Hawk when he ordered us to stay in the bunker whenever a Heartless attacked," Wanda pointed out dryly as she peeled alongside her brother, accepting of her punishment of KP duty gracefully, wisely seeing that not much would get done by complaining about it. And she was not alone. Following the usual rules of engagement, Shipwreck, Blind Master, Cover Girl, and Roadblock were assigned to join alongside the twins, Lina, Fred, and Justin as they all peeled a considerable mountain of vegetables in the Pit's galley, making all aforementioned teenagers feel a little guilty.
Thankfully, most of the adults understood why the kids wanted to try and help out, and what lessened the seriousness was that at least Wanda and Pietro helped Lifeline and Bree recover their hearts after the battle and that the Maximoff twins gained magic and Keyblades as well. And to everyone's further surprise, Wanda's Vengeful Blaze Keyblade managed to lock Bree's heart afterwards (Lifeline, on the other hand, didn't manifest a keyhole).
Still, it didn't stop General Hawk from sternly handing out punishment as a further dissuasion to prevent future foolish bravado.
"Well, at least you guys now have Keyblades and magic and stuff, so you won't need to stay confined to the Pit like we do anymore," Fred highlighted, though he was trying his best not to moan with jealousy. After all, not a lot of people like getting left out in battle with cool abilities in addition.
"If it makes you feel any better, Freddy-boy," Pietro carried on blithely without even thinking, "You probably wouldn't have been given one anyway."
"Pietro!" hissed Lina as Fred looked incredibly angry and hurt at that thoughtless remark, but before a fight could escalate, Roadblock strongly interrupted the tension as he dropped another vegetable in his bucket.
"Cool it, both of you!" he ordered, "Give it a rest! Fred, just keep peeling and Pietro, quit being a pest! We have a lot more spuds to peel by the end of the day, and having you two fight and insult each other won't make them go away."
"Well, I'm just saying, maybe it's a given that we'll be given Keyblades and magic too!" Blob protested, still not willing to let the subject drop, "I mean, there's three more symbols on that scepter of Althea's, and only me, Lina, and Justin don't have magic and Disney character-friends! So why not? It could be possible, and I want to fight the Heartless to!"
Roadblock didn't press the matter, although he had an inkling of why this stuck so badly in the Texan's craw. With so many of his friends gaining powerful abilities, Fred was simply feeling left out and useless, something that rather piqued and tormented his issues of rejection and self-loathing.
"We can't leave it up to chance, kid," Shipwreck said, sighing with fatigue, his fingers aching, "Saying 'coulda' or 'shoulda' isn't going to mean that it's definite. And like Hawk and the rest of us have said before, there could be three other people who get those magic that aren't Misfits, like the Slayers or the Justice League or the Titans or even the X-Men. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the X-Men learn this magic stuff since they're in this as much as we are."
Fred grimaced, groaning, as he griped, "Great, Jean 'Perfect Princess' Grey getting magic and being even more snobby and self-righteous. Thanks, Shipwreck! That's enough to make me even more depressed! The thought of Jean being better than me!"
"Huh? You mean it's not the general truth?" blinked Pietro with mock innocence, and thankfully, Wanda smacked Pietro in the back of his head before Fred could think of a rather unorthodox way to use his potato peeler.
"Will you shut up? Geez, I wonder why the heck were you chosen to have a Keyblade is beyond me!" the Maximoff sister griped.
"If I recall correctly, we only know it's a specific person who's doing the choosing and that it somehow relates to strength of heart," mused Lina, remembering the discussion they had in the living room with General Hawk. Pietro then managed to reveal that the voice actually slipped with a rather significant statement when advising the speedster about using his Zephyr Keyblade on Falco.
Why he thought you had a strong heart, I'll never know…
That along with the indication that Falco wasn't their enemy made Hawk and the other Misfits even keener on discovering who were their mysterious benefactor and informant, provided that they were two different beings.
"And why anyone would think that Pietro has a strong heart does boggle the mind," Fred quipped dryly.
"It does raise some valid points we haven't even considered," Blind Master said with some afterthought, "Whoever is behind the voice that contacts a person whenever they've been chosen for the magical gifts and abilities and the Keyblades, he or she somehow knows about us or is watching our movements, as if checking to see that we have certain criteria that makes the person capable to handle the enhancements."
"Not only that, but it also indicated that they know exactly what's going on with all this Heartless and the Gathering of Twilight," Cover Girl said, "Something tells me that whoever's behind this magic stuff, he or she is pulling strings and making sure that everything happens here on Earth."
"Too bad that jerkface Falco and Octavia aren't on our side," Shipwreck thought aloud, "It's a given that they know exactly what's going on, and they have access to the same type of magic Al and Pietro have, but they won't tell us what's up. And it would be a big help if someone could just tell us what's the big deal with the Organization and the Heartless."
"That's right!" remarked Justin, his eyes lighting up, "Pietro, your wing magic is called 'Aeroga', the same thing Falco uses to do that dash-attack thing. That means you both can do wind magic."
"Too bad we don't know who makes the decision on how a person gets magic or whatever qualifies as a strong heart," Blind Master sighed, "Although it does make sense. Since the Heartless are evil creatures of darkness, you would entrust a Keyblade to a person who has a strong heart and not evil, otherwise there's no point in fighting these monsters if you give the weapons to people in the Hellfire Club of Wolfram and Hart."
"What makes this more complicated is that we're not sure if this isn't a game," Roadblock versed, "It could be that the Thirteenth Order's trying to trick us and sending these things to make their jobs easier and drive us insane. Let's face it: it's really likely that this is some sort of plan, and the Organization and Inner Circle are exactly the types to pull this type of twisted scam."
"Marvin's got a point," Cover Girl mused as she finished peeling a potato, "We don't know who's behind all this and if they're working for our benefit or theirs. And if this being knows Falco and Octavia, I'm willing to guess that it's the latter."
"And we still don't know where this magic is coming from," repeated Lina in slight frustration.
"Actually…" and with that, Fred stopped, causing all eyes to fall on him as they momentarily stopped peeling.
"Yes? You were going to say something, Fred?" Blind Mater pressed encouragingly, letting Fred know that whatever he was going to offer wouldn't be laughed at.
Fred swallowed before continuing, "Did anyone ever think that maybe Pluto has something to do with this? I mean, if you think about it, the Heartless have been popping up on Earth for a while, and yet all this Keyblade and magic stuff only pops up when Pluto came to the Pit."
Upon response, everyone turned a bit to the corner of the galley where, lying on a stack of potato sacks and snoring quietly, was a sleeping Pluto, his black nose popping up and down rhythmically as he rested.
Shipwreck looked dubious, but managed to say, "Well…stranger things have happened since we've been in G.I. Joe. And it does have some sort of logic to it, Blob, don't get me wrong. But not only have we got no proof, but it does seem a little out there, you know?"
"Yeah, exactly what sort of help can we expect from our resident flea-farm?" chuckled Pietro. Had anyone continued taking a close look at Pluto, they would have seen that the golden-furred hound opened one eye a crack before continuing his façade of his peaceful and innocent slumber. Though the canine was a bit worried, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Misfits and Joes would wise up and discover his secret.
---
"Dragonfly, I need medical assistance, stat! Code Blue! Code Blue!" the Joe named Doc yelled as he wheeled into the infirmary with a twitching, bloodstained Joe on a gurney. Doc was a tall, lean African-American wearing a green uniform and dark shades, and Lina knew him to be an excellent doctor and army surgeon, equal with Lifeline. Which was why he took over as temporary head medic while Bree and Lifeline were recuperating in the medical bay; considering that their Heartless infection was only yesterday, neither of the Steens were well enough physically and mentally to resume their duties.
The insect-girl jumped up and brought over the defibrillator and a ready IV unit-stand before she went numb as she viewed down upon the critically wounded Joe. There, lying on the cot on his back, blood staining his Hawaiian shirt on his chest, was the brawny yet tender-hearted Phillip Provost, also known as the Joes' undercover agent, Chuckles. He was one of the new recruits trained by Beach head when Cobra tried to use the BET machine to infect humanity and allow the residents of Cobra-la to become the supreme rulers of the planet.
Dragonfly even recollected the first time when she was adopted by Cover Girl and the other Misfit handlers and taken to the Pit. Lina thought she would die of shame and humiliation as she nervously walked around the army base, seeing many of the soldiers glance her way, and the girl nearly broke down when she came face to face with the sandy-haired Joe, huge, intimidating, and certainly scary.
But Chuckles surprisingly didn't spit at her in contempt like Mr. and Mrs. Chakram did.
In fact, the first thing out of Chuckles' mouth wasn't a disparaging remark but rather, a warm and merry, "Somebody call Disney cause Tinkerbell's better-looking, long-lost, younger sister's about to break out with her own contract to stardom, huh, honey-bun? What's your name, kid?"
"Li…Lina…" she murmured a bit fearfully.
"Ah, short for 'Angelina'. Hmph, I have a niece who's named Angelina too, surprisingly. Hope she turns out as well-adjusted and cute as you are, kid. Welcome to the Pit. I'm Chuckles, and it's a pleasure ta' meet ya."
Despite herself, Lina back then was shocked at how the man could be so accepting and non-freaked over her mutation, much less joke about it in such a kindhearted manner. And as it turned out, all the other Joes were pretty much the same. But Chuckles made the strongest first impression. And since then, Lina could admit that each time she saw the Joe, during one of the scant times Chuckles wasn't on a mission, Lina always made sure to say a shy hello, in which Chuckles would always warmly return with a smile.
Lina remained numb and froze as she looked into the man's face, blood trickling out of one corner of his mouth as she then saw the gaping entry wound of the bullet as Doc ripped open Chuckles' shirt. Right below the heart, a sure kill. Lina's hands shook so much that it was a miracle that she was able to ready the epinephrine injection into Chuckles' arm vein and ready the IV.
"What – what happened?" Lina choked hoarsely.
"Undercover mission in Italy gone wrong," Doc hissed as he tried to stabilize the now convulsing Chuckles, going into seizures and jerking erratically thanks to the blood loss from his bullet wound, "Tried to stop a Cobra drug cartel deal and ended up getting hit in a firefight, and Flint used a Mass Device teleporter to bring him here since we couldn't risk exposing Chuckles in the local hospitals. Damn it! The bullet punctured his lung, he's got a hemothorax!"
Indeed, it was true. Chuckles' breath was coming out in weak gasps as blood surrounded his lungs, nearly whistling and the monitors were showing his rapidly decreasing blood-pressure. The two did everything they could to stabilize Phillip, but in a matter of two minutes, even with the chest tube, Chuckles flat-lined and Lina just stared in horror as Chuckles hand went limp and cold in hers, his dead and glazed eyes staring up at her.
They couldn't save him. Doc tiredly rubbed his eyes.
"Time of death…" Doc intoned in a professional yet somber voice, looking at the clock, "One thirty-one P.M."
Doc wearily turned to Lina, already evaluating what needed to be done and how to tell Hawk to inform Chuckles' next-of-kin.
"Lina, can you get me Chuckles' medical file so I can give it to General Hawk while I help prepare him?"
Lina just stood there, shock-still and lightly quivering, her breath coming out in miniscule and shaking whimpers and her face pale and clammy, almost as if the blood drained from her head. All she could do was stare at Chuckles lifeless, glass eyes and the blood smeared all over his torso and body.
"Lina?" Doc asked, now growing concerned and worried, but before he could touch her, Dragonfly just bolted out of the door and ran aimlessly outside, foregoing her duty as she reached the nearest alley she could find between buildings. Lina nearly collapsed before she leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position weakly, her back sliding against the weatherworn wood and metal. God, her stomach churned. She felt so sick, and her breakfast was threatening to make a return from its deposit this morning…
To her surprise, Dragonfly felt a warm head and body brush against her out of nowhere, touching her chilled skin, and the insect-Misfit blinked back to see that it was the canine, Pluto. Pluto whined and affectionately rubbed the side of his face and snout against Lina's leg, and it was clear that he was attempting to comfort her.
"Oh…Pluto…" Lina choked as she hugged the dog close to her body, and in understanding, Pluto just allowed himself to be fondled as Lina cried a bit, mourning for Chuckles and feeling some guilt and fear over his death. And it wasn't that unexpected. Despite being a Misfit raised at the G.I. Joe Pit, Lina was pretty much still a teenager, and the prospects of death and fighting always scared her, striking a chord.
Seeing the man and a friend die right in front of her was a new experience, and one that she realized she would see over and over again in this lifetime, as a medic and as an army mutant.
"You know, no matter how well trained a doctor or medic is, no matter how much they are told and prepared for the eventuality, when they go through their first death of a patient, it always shakes them to their core," a voice said quietly from the sidelines. The female Misfit and hound turned to see that it was Cover Girl, leaning against the wall alongside her daughter. She had somehow managed to find the youth.
"Doc told me what happened after you left the infirmary. And don't worry, he's not mad," Courtney explained softly, and Lina did know what to feel about that, but she certainly had a gauntlet of conflicting emotions inside.
The Joe, in understanding, sat down next to Lina before she offered, "You know, when Bree came by for the first time to be a nurse here at the Pit, regardless of her care-free and gung-ho attitude and her nursing training, she actually broke down and wept after she witnessed and failed saving her first Joe casualty. And even afterwards, she still cried for several more times of the friends and fellow Joes she and Lifeline couldn't save as time went on."
Dragonfly blinked before she offered a weak smile at the attempt to cheer her up. Pluto barked happily as he laid a paw on Cover Girl's leg, and the soldier giggled a bit as she scratched the hound's head, hitting the right spot behind his right ear. For several minutes that soon dragged on to half an hour, Lina, Pluto, and Cover Girl just watched various Joes amble across the Pit with their usual activities, and for good fun, they saw Lance running around with Simba, with the geokinetic actually riding gleefully on the lion's back.
Lina then coughed, almost a sob, before she admitted, "I…I don't know why it bothered me so much. I mean…I've seen death so many times before. Gideon nearly killed Allo, the Furies over on Apokolips, the H.I.V.E. students' corpses when Trigon arrived, the officers and civilians over at San Francisco. I…I saw all of them and it didn't affect me as much. I was sad, yes, but…"
"But it's nothing like watching the patient you are trying to save die despite your best efforts, and that we all take the deaths of our friends and allies much harder than those of the H.I.V.E. students or the San Francisco PD…because we've known them more intimately. And Chuckles was one of the first Joes who was nice to you, joked around and made you feel welcome," the female Joe finished in understanding.
Cover Girl paused before she commented with great sadness and regret, "He was a good man."
Lina, as a rare act of helplessness, rested her head against Cover Girl's shoulder, a shoulder that had unquestionably been there without condition for her since her parents left her.
"Does it ever get any easier?"
"No," murmured Cover Girl, being truthful, "If anything, you being in a medic's position or in General Hawk's position considering that he has to notify Chuckles' family makes it even more difficult."
"This was my first death with a patient I actually know," Lina murmured, feeling comfort at Pluto's tongue licking her hand, "It wasn't even something I saw from the sidelines like Selinda's death at H.I.V.E. Academy. This…this was just…"
She broke off, not sure how to explain it, but Cover Girl got the general gist of it. Heck, no one would be able to get over seeing the death of a friend or acquaintance in front of their eyes unless they were truly heartless (no pun intended).
The white-haired girl exhaled through her nose wearily, her antenna bobbing up and down.
"It's funny…I thought being a medic would allow me to avoid fighting since I'm not as well-trained and battle-eager as the others while making sure I could live out my dream to be a doctor. But now…oh, I don't know. Maybe I should have been a lawyer like my brother or a violinist…"
"A violinist?" echoed Cover Girl raising one eyebrow.
"When I was a kid, I used to take violin lessons, and it turned out it was an enjoyable hobby, or at least it was to me. No one else in my family had the patience to learn a musical talent, and I used to play until I got the notion that I would actually be a good doctor when I was in junior high," Lina wearily explained.
"Lemme guess…you wanted to be a doctor because a family member died and because it prompted you to help people, right?" Cover Girl asked wryly. She was familiar enough to know that for a majority of aspiring doctors and youths entering the medical profession, it was the number one, clichéd reason why they pursued such an occupation.
Lina hesitated before she replied softly, "Actually…I wanted to be a doctor because my parents wanted me too."
The female Misfit handler blinked at Lina; that response was unexpected.
"I…I don't know why…but I still miss them. A lot. Even after all the mean words they said, even after they marched up to the judge and said that they would never acknowledge that they had a daughter, even after my mother slapped me…oh! I can't forget everything I had with them! Anwar and my other brothers and sisters, the times we'd sit down to my mother's homemade curry, my mother letting me try on her wedding dress, my Dad buying me my first bike for my tenth birthday and teaching me to ride it…"
Cover Girl said softly, rubbing Dragonfly's shoulder, "In other words, you still love your parents even though they disowned you, and being a medic was probably the one pleasant thing your family expected out of you, something good that you remember about them. So you wanted to hold on to that."
Lina sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand before she nodded, a bit ashamed, as she clarified, "Oh! I wish…I wish it was just plain black and white, that I didn't have all this loyalty and love for my family, even after what they did to me! I just wish this wasn't so fickle, that…that…"
"That you could just hate them because it could make your life so much easier," Cover Girl replied.
Lina nodded, a bit breathless and apprehensive. She liked Cover Girl too, but sadly enough, it wasn't as strong as the love she used to have for her old family. She wondered if the handler would be incredibly insulted, but the Joe put Dragonfly's fears to rest.
Cover Girl's voice was then firm.
"Lina, let's get one thing clear: I'm not sad or offended that I can never take your parents' place and if anything, I'm glad that you've come into my life and gave me the chance to experience what it's like to be a role model and a maternal figure. If anything, I don't want you feeling guilty that you still love your parents as much as you hate them. It's a good thing."
Pluto panted, nuzzling against Cover Girl.
"Just remember that no one wants to see their friends die, and that there are other ways to do that without being a medic. If you want to be a medic, make sure that it's what you want to do, not because it's something that you thought would make people proud of you. And…when you're ready, I'm sure Doc and Lifeline would be all right with you leaving the medical profession if that's what you want," Cover Girl finished.
Lina nodded, numb emotionally. This was so much to deal with; she felt that she needed several hours to cope with her turbulent thoughts.
Suddenly, Wanda, Xi, and Bambi appeared in their line of vision, heatedly chasing a terrified Pietro and all three of them covered with shaving cream thanks to one of Quicksilver's pranks.
"Get back here and die, Pietro!" screamed Wanda as she kept hurling hexes, which her brother was rather skillfully avoiding.
"Yeow! Bambi, that hurt!" wailed Pietro as Bambi managed to give a powerful leap and rammed his head into the speedster's butt painfully. Even with Quicksilver's super-speed, the fawn was surprisingly able to catch up with Pietro.
"Good boy, Bambi!" praised Xi as he continued his pursuit, murder in his eyes.
"Speaking of trying to prevent more people from dying, you might want to let Doc know that he'll be getting another patient soon," Courtney sighed as Pietro started screaming in a falsetto voice as one of Scarlet Witch's hexes found its mark on his hair, setting his tresses on fire.
---
Three days later, it was actually a beautiful spring morning, with warm sunshine and cool breezes. Still, the general populace of army soldiers at the Pit was slightly tense if not wary and apprehensive. Though Lifeline and Bree were back to normal and were now running around the infirmary and B.A. caused yet another explosion in the galley thanks to his seaweed-potato chowder recipe he had been working on, the semblance of normalcy did little to qualm the fears of the other Joes. True, they would always care about the Misfits and would fight to the last breath to protect this planet and each other, but it still didn't stop from the suspicion and unease to spook the men and women. Any one of them, from the senior officers to the newest recruits, could be the next victim of being turned into a Heartless, and it would only be a matter of time.
Heck, there was even a betting pool on how many days would it be before the next Heartless attack by the Organization.
Still, Cover Girl decided to take advantage of the peace as she came back from the motor pool, finishing her work alongside Cross Country and Breaker on working on the tanks, deciding to go back to the Misfit Manor and perhaps help fix that hole in the floor from Trinity's silly-putty experiment, grade some of the history tests from the last class, check on the babies, perhaps a bubble-bath should the mood strike…
The Joe female was then brought out of her musings to hear a sniffled wail coming from next to white tool shed that was a bit out and away from the Misfit Manor in the front yard, where Shipwreck kept the lawn equipment. Curious and concerned, Courtney strode over in a half-run to see, huddled out of sight behind the storage unit, was a piteously sobbing and heartbroken Lina, her green eyes and nose streaking.
The Misfit handler was immediately concerned and vexed as she quickly rushed over to her adopted charge and knelt down.
"Shhh…hey, Lina? What's wrong? What happened?" Cover Girl asked, worried and eager to get the insect Misfit out of any danger immediately, her mind coming back to the bunker Hawk prepared for the non-powered Misfits.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Cover Girl, it's awful!" wept Lina as she hugged Cover Girl tightly, unwilling to let go and her body cold as ice and shaking, trembling.
"What happened?" Cover Girl repeated.
Lina then stopped weeping and said in a cool, collected tone, dropping her sadness and scared demeanor instantly, "It's awful that you will now be a Heartless."
And before the words of alarm could set off in the woman's brain, Lina shoved the Hellfire Heartless pod directly into Cover Girl's back, right between the shoulder blades.
Cover Girl wheezed as her chest felt like it was going to burst from all the iron-clad pressure torturously squeezing all around her, her lungs feeling as if they had been doused in gasoline and acid and her blood feeling cold, like veins of ice slowly seeping everywhere in her muscles. Before she lost consciousness, the Joe collapsed on her side and gasped, "Lina…?"
"Lina" gave an evil smirk before she was encased in a cloud of darkness to reveal a young-faced man, a teenager really, with messily combed yet stylish dark hair, a complete stranger, but Cover Girl could still distinctly recognize the black, hooded cloak.
It was a clever ruse, a disguised illusion to catch her off guard. And had Cover Girl not been in pain, she would have mentally chastised herself for being so easily duped.
Zexion just wordlessly smiled a bit triumphantly as Cover Girl's sight blurred…
---
"You guys, another Heartless attack! This time there's two Heartless attacking the Pit! I just got a call from Hawk on my communicator! The other Joes are trying to hold down the fort!" Althea yelled as she ran back into the Misfit Manor along with Todd and the Triplets, her voice nearly breaking from the intensity of her yelling. However, it was enough to get everyone's attention as they immediately acted, hearing the explosions in the distance followed by the general demonic roaring.
Spirit turned to Fred, Lina, and Justin as they all just stood awkwardly in the center of the living room and watched on. The Joe ordered gently, "You three, go to the bunker and lock it. Do not come out until the battle is over! All right, young ones? That is an order! You all are not to leave the safety of the holding cell until we say so."
The three teenagers nodded morosely, speechless. Quicksilver, upon suiting up in his silver and green battle uniform in several seconds thanks to his super-speed, just couldn't help but quip, "Ah, don't worry about it! Just leave the Heartless slaying to us chosen Keyblade wielders! And hey, you guys will get a good view of the action on the cell's monitors!"
"Somehow, that doesn't exactly make us feel better, Pietro," Fred griped, frowning.
"It wasn't supposed to," the speedster said bluntly, and Justin quietly orbed himself, Fred, and Lina as he grabbed their hands, gracefully avoiding any more snipes, over to the bunker where they would be safe.
"Misfits, let's move out! Let's teach this Heartless what we're all about!" Roadblock yelled as he loaded his machine gun.
Meanwhile, over at the middle of the Pit, things were getting quite hectic as General Hawk and Beach Head led the other Joes for a distractive strike upon the two monsters of darkness as they tore up everything they could within their reach while aimlessly searching…
"Keep it up! Don't let them get to the Misfit Manor! Drive them back, soldiers! Drive them back!" Hawk roared over his communicators before he let loose with a high-powered blast from his laser pistol, setting a intense and combustive discharge into the face of one of the invaders.
There were two Heartless now, ravaging everything they could get their hands and claws on, and yet a few such as Hawk and Snake Eyes could additionally sense that the two Hellfire Heartless were searching for something. No doubt that destroying the base and trying to go after the mutants with Keyblades wasn't a high priority on their list. One of the Heartless looked exactly like the dark monsters that attacked Jump City several days ago and San Francisco during the battle for the Nexus.
However, the second Heartless was much more unique and unorthodox. It was clearly a feminine creature of darkness, judging from the slim frame and curves and distinct bosom, with the red and black Heartless symbol imprinted on its chest. However, though its torso and face were distinctly human (even the glowing yellow eyes were feminized with long eyelashes), the rest of its body wasn't. To put it quite bluntly, the female Heartless was also part-tank. The Heartless' arms were actual tank-turrets, the barrels of the gigantic guns large enough to fit a full-grown average human inside, and its lower portion from the waist-down were treaded tank wheels, tracked and completely swift and agile and even remarkably able to turn and swerve in impossible angles upon a moment's notice. Add the fact that the female Heartless was also decked in thick, steel armor along its chest, back, and neck, and it was literally a force to be reckoned with.
"Yow, the thing's fast!" Beach Head yelled, cursing the Heartless' agility and cunningness, as the rocket missile he fired from his bazooka struck only ground where the tank-Heartless had been only a mere second ago, sprinting quickly on its treaded wheels and leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.
"Potions!" yelled a voice from behind, and there was a flash of blue light before, to the soldiers' collective puzzlement, several small glass vials filled with colorful liquids appeared out of nowhere before they peppered both of the Heartless, and with a roar, upon the moment the containers shattered, there was a huge combustive effect as both fiends literally were engulfed with blue, red, and white fire and magical energy.
The Joes turned to see Piper, Phoebe, and Paige Halliwell, all of them wearing black jumpsuits bearing the Ghostbusters insignia, and Phoebe was holding a wicked, double-edged sword with a golden handle. It was Paige who attacked both of the Heartless with her potions and teleorbing.
"The Charmed Ones?" blinked Iceberg after sending a missile to distract the two experiments.
"Where are the others? The other recruits or the Justice League?" Gung Ho asked as he ducked a shaft of black lightning and fired back with his pistols.
"They're in Metropolis fighting with Dr. Polaris! And the Titans can't come because they're in Steel City, trying to stop Cinderblock and Dr. Light! And Jenny could only spare us because the rest of the Ghostbusters are out recruiting as well trying to fight a small demon mercenary uprising sent by Wolfram and Hart over in the city of Transylvania to assassinate the Monster Fighters Incorporated! It's just us!" Piper yelled as she tried to freeze both of the Heartless with her temporal stasis.
Unfortunately, the time-freeze didn't work, and both Heartless continued sending their attacks, with the Hellfire Heartless releasing powerful surges of black lightning and the female Heartless aiming both of its tank turrets at the group of Joes and the Charmed Ones and firing.
"Duck and cover, man!" yelled the Joe, Footloose, as they Joes ducked intense energy attack of dark energy from the first Heartless, some of the army soldiers scurrying and rolling for cover as the lightning struck the various buildings, tanks, armored vehicles, and the ground, leaving some craters (Piper tried but she couldn't freeze the lightning either).
"Turret blasts!" Paige yelled, her quick thinking allowing her to raise a hand right before Cover Girl shot out two gigantic and presumably destructive tapered cannons, the black, pointed missiles remarkably bearing the Heartless insignia, but with a soft noise and a flicker of blue and white sparks, the ammunition vanished before it could hurt the Joes and the witches. With another wave of her hand, Paige telekinetically orbed the explosives to reflect back to the Heartless, causing a gory explosion that ate away at the monsters' bodies and flesh, leaving ragged and bleeding wounds, although the tank-Heartless was less injured due to the armor.
Piper then tried freezing the two drones of the Organization again, but like before, the Heartless just remained fully mobile as they continued their assault.
"Uh…Piper? They didn't freeze!" Paige said slowly.
"Gee, thanks Paige, I can see that," drawled the eldest Halliwell with great irritation and sarcasm as she then flicked her hands again, causing a noticeable explosion and actually causing a few worrisome dents in the tank-Heartless' armor. She was grateful that her molecular combustion still had a desired effect.
"I think the Thirteenth Order apparently put the Nexus they stole to good use," groaned Phoebe as she ducked alongside Beach Head and General Hawk, "Thanks to the energy from the Nexus and Gaia forces, the Hellfire Heartless they keep sending must be stronger than the ones we fought in San Fran! That means possibly that they're more resistant to our spells and some of our Wicca attacks!"
"Remind me again why Hawk thinks you Charmed Ones are so helpful?" Beach Head couldn't help but snap rudely and bitterly as he let loose another blast with his missile launcher. Phoebe glared at Wayne but chose to ignore the jab.
Meanwhile, the Organization member Zexion teleported to the hidden and reinforced holding cell where Lina, Fred, and Justin were safely hidden. Or so they hoped…
"This was hardly a challenge," scoffed the dark-haired youth as he approached the door, ready to kill the three remaining, defenseless Misfits, but to his surprised, his gloved hand was violently thrown backwards as an incredibly surge of magical energy flickered to life and flared up, shielding the doors. Zexion frowned at the defensive barrier. Apparently, despite luring out the Keyblade wielders and their parents, they were smart enough to make sure that their other worthless kin would be safe. And despite being a powerful member and master of the Heartless and Nobody, Zexion wasn't invincible and the Joes' efforts in this case were enough to prevent him from carrying out his orders.
"Lucky little annoyances…" growled Zexion, seeing that he wouldn't be able to easily enter the barracks without some noticeable and difficult effort, one which the young male was hardly willing to endure. Unlike the other members and the Superior, fighting was not something Zexion truly valued nor enjoyed.
Still, he wasn't known as the "Cloaked Schemer" for nothing as another plan began to form in his head. If he couldn't get to Dragonfly, Blob, and Whitelighter, perhaps he could draw them out…
"I might as well enjoy another show," chuckled Zexion rather vindictively as he utilized a powerful illusion over the battlefield…
At the same time, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were scanning the Heartless to see if they could detect anything from the two Heartless as the Misfits and their parents rushed to battle.
"The first Hellfire Heartless is clear! There's no one inside it!" Daria exclaimed.
"Yeah, but the second one isn't!" Brittany gasped in horror as her scanner revealed the Joe inside the tank-Heartless, displaying Cover Girl being mercilessly and sadistically dangled and hung upon the wisps of black smoke, the Hellfire Heartless spore beating within her chest.
"Cover Girl!" Spirit moaned, realizing it and wondering why it took them so long to figure out why their female Misfit-handler was missing in action, feeling incredibly stupid for not figuring it out sooner.
"So let's take them out and get Cover Girl back!" Avalanche yelled as he laid his hands against the ground, invoking his magic from the earth kingdom, yelling, "Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!"
Unfortunately, this proved to be ineffective as both Cover Girl and the other Heartless madly jumped and strafed to avoid it, the fault-line and tremor bringing forth the seismic energy and devastating attack missing it narrowly. The Delgado Triplets shared a look before they invoked their magic.
"Stopra…Time Freeze!" they yelled, and with a click and a surge of pink light, the Hellfire Heartless was forced to halt in mid-air and it madly jumped out of the way of Avalanche's magic, remaining stuck and frozen in time and space, encased in a bubble of time energy. Unfortunately, Trinity was only able to freeze that one, for the Heartless that was once Cover Girl shrieked with rage before barreling towards them with full-force, ready to mow them down.
At the same time, to General Hawk and the other Joes along with the Charmed Ones, surprisingly, they didn't see the Misfits fighting the two Heartless at all. What they were viewing, each and every one of them, were a group of familiar figures in black cloaks, charging directly at them, along with the two Hellfire Heartless.
"Organization members!" gasped Paige, realizing who they were.
"Fire! Don't let them get close!" yelled Duke as he continuously let loose with his laser rifle.
The Misfits and their Joe guardians, busy trying to stop Cover Girl, were surprised to say the least when they were encountering fire from lasers, missiles, and the occasional molecular blast from Piper herself while trying to simultaneously avoid Cover Girl's assault.
"Hey! What's going on, yo?" Toad yelped as a bullet grazed past his forearm painfully.
"What the hell? They're firing at us? What the hell's going on?" Low Light exclaimed in disbelieving outrage as he transformed into adamantium, allowing the bullets to ricochet off his chest and leaving a few holes in his uniform.
"Watch out!" yelled Blind Master as he and Xi grabbed the Triplet out of the way of an incoming bazooka blast, the explosion on the ground causing them to go flying, pitching forward. Unfortunately, they additionally had to deal with several shuriken from Quick Kick's attempts to keep them busy, narrowing dashing in various directions as the metal stars whizzed by. One even managed to nick Gabriel on the ear.
"Yow! We can't keep this up!" yelled Shipwreck, realizing it wasn't going to be good to fire upon his own teammates until there was absolutely no choice (and even then, the sailor was incredibly loathed to perform such an act) as the tank-Heartless fired another consecutive round of blasts from its arms again.
"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver yelled, holding out his left hand, and thanks to his quick thinking, the turret missiles bounced off the orb of silver winds invoked by the speedster's magic, leaving them to reflect back upon Cover Girl.
Althea reached to a decision as she ducked one laser shot, yelling, "Split up! Half of us take out the Heartless! The rest of us will try to figure out how to stop Hawk from firing on us!"
At the same time, Lina was watching this with growing frustration, horrified that the Heartless was Cover Girl and unwilling to just stand by, the gnawing grief and helplessness eating at her gut like acid. Though it was foolish, she could tell that fighting the Heartless and fighting amongst their own allies left the situation very bleak for her family. Dragonfly then understood why Lance was so willing to fight and die to help save Spirit when he was infected.
"We have to help them!" Lina wailed before she whispered to herself, clasping her hands together, "Oh by Vaishnava, please…just let me save her! I don't want more people to die in this war like Chuckles!"
Fred and Justin shot each other a fearful look, hesitant and wordless.
"If you two won't help me, then I'll go by myself!" Lina snarled furiously as she immediately set her teleporter watch to activate the Mass Device and send her directly into the battlefield. But Fred's voice then rang out.
"OK, OK, we'll go, we'll go! You're not goin' alone!" Fred practically roared.
"We will?" gulped Justin, wide-eyed and not exactly willing to break the rules, "But…but General Hawk - "
But Fred wasn't going to give his friend a chance to object as he grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt before nodding to Lina, holding on to her, and without further ado, Lina teleported the three of them out of the bunker.
"Just as I thought," chuckled Zexion as he saw Lina, Fred, and Justin appear in the middle of the battlefield, trying to avoid the attacks as Toad and Scarlet Witch combined their magic together.
"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!"
"Fire Crimson Whirlwind!"
With that, a beautiful and rather loud, crackling roar rang throughout the army base as a wave of red flame surrounding by a snaking stream of orange lightning shot at the opponent, and this time, it struck the Heartless dead center, heating the metal rather painfully and causing it's skin to scorch and sizzle on contact.
"It wasn't enough!" cried out Quinn, "My scanner says that it wasn't weak enough to change Cover Girl back to normal!"
"Watch out!" yelled Lina as she took to the air and flew down before snatching Quicksilver out of the way from one of the Heartless' tank blasts.
"Huh? Dragonfly? You're fighting? I thought you were back at the bunker since you're usually not the fighting type!" Quicksilver couldn't help but blurt out upon looking into the face of his savior, and on retrospect, that probably wasn't the best thing to say under the given situation.
"Not when Cover Girl's life is in danger!" snapped Lina, but then she stopped when Fred, Pietro, and Justin were all staring with eyes as wide as saucers and their jaws collectively dropping wide.
"Lina! Your forehead! It's glowing! You're gettin' magic now or something!" Blob gasped. Indeed, on the Indian girl's dark skin was a contrasting hue of a crest of sky-blue. It consisted of a single orb, like all the others, but a curved streak similar to the shape of a backwards question mark, snaking from the left side of the filled circle and almost completely surrounding it. And at the very top of the curved mark were seven small, jagged spikes, ridging the top surface of the curve like peaks of a mountain-ridge.
Dragonfly, I hear you…
"Huh?" gasped Dragonfly, nearly startled out of her wits at the voice, and had she been looking at her reflection, she would have noticed that her forehead was beginning to glow in the same color as Pluto's eyes were.
"Who – what?" the girl stammered, for once speechless at a stranger's voice being in her head.
I'm answering your prayer…
"Shiva?"
Hardly. I'm not God, and I sure as heck don't pretend to be, Lina…
Then Lina realized who it was; it was the same anonymous being who blessed the other Misfits with magic and Keyblades before in the past attacks.
"Can you help me? Please! Cover Girl's a Heartless now! Please!" Dragonfly begged.
Yes, I can help you, but only if you're willing to learn the magic of the ice kingdom. I can give you magic that can help save your mother, but this means that there's no turning back. The gift will stay with you for the rest of the war…and you will risk being a target and seeing your friends and family getting killed as well as you.
Lina paused, the fear creeping in and conflicting with her desire to help her adoptive mother.
There is no turning back if you accept to this to help fight against the Heartless, Lina. The whole world'll rest on your shoulders. You'll have one of the most difficult positions in the fight against the Heartless.
Lina took a shuddering, deep breath before she nodded, saying, "Yes, I'll take it! Please! I just don't want more people to die!"
The voice chuckled, understanding and compassionate, as it said before it faded, Good 'cause I don't want more people to die either. May the blessings of the Blizzaga Kingdom be with you, Dragonfly.
As Pluto ceased his session, out of all the Misfits being too immersed and distracted by the battle with the Hellfire Heartless, by pure chance, Blob cast a look around to suddenly spot Pluto, trying to remain inconspicuous, as his eyes gave off the last flickering glow of light-blue.
Pluto then blinked as innocently as he could as he then realized that the obese Texan was staring at him.
"No way…" Fred murmured.
Meanwhile, thanks to divine intervention, Bambi, Simba, and Dumbo emerged from Xi, Avalanche, and Wavedancer's weapons only to form a line in front of the Misfits, and to Zexion's horror, his illusions couldn't disguise the Disney summons in the slightest. The elephant, the deer, and the lion were out in full view, protectively getting in the way and line of fire in front of (to the Joes and Charmed Ones views) the Heartless and the Organization members.
"What the hell?" the Joe, Airborne, remarked as he viewed this from his position in his helicopter, stunned and pausing right before he was about to shoot several missiles upon the targets below.
"Hey, what gives? Simba and Bambi and Dumbo are protecting those Organization guys? They're getting in front of 'em!" the pilot named Slip Stream gasped from his Black Hawk helicopter.
"What are you dumb animals doing?" roared the paratrooper, Rip Cord, trying to get a clear shot with his firearm, "These are guys from the Organization Thirteen, the bad guys trying to destroy the world with the Heartless!"
Dumbo just shook his head, hooting from his snout in a high-pitched distressed manner while Bambi whined, pleading, and Simba gave a guttural and fierce roar of anger, as if trying to tell all of the Joes and the Charmed Ones something rather heatedly.
"I don't get it! Why are they protecting them? Did the Organization bewitch them or something, maybe brainwash them?" Iceberg said, completely blown down and the rocket launcher limp in his hands, but then to everyone's surprise, the Joe ninja, Snake Eyes, shook his head as he gave a few motions with his hand to Scarlett whose eyes widened when she got the message in sign as Genie, Mushu, Scarlet Witch, Trinity, Quicksilver, and Toad all kept trying to subdue Cover Girl.
"What did Snake Eyes say?" Duke asked the red-haired woman who relayed the message.
"Snake Eyes says trust the animals! He can sense something! Not everything is what it appears to be!" the female Joe yelled in a strong voice, and though she was confused, she had faith in Snake Eyes' judgment and ninja senses (much to Duke's irritation).
"But…what's going on? We don't see the Misfits anywhere, and yet their summon Disney sidekicks are protecting the Organization hoods! What's there to this 'not everything is what it appears'?" Airborne asked over his communicator.
The Charmed Ones then guessed it correctly as they all shared a look before they joined hands and chanted a spell, invoking the Power of Three.
"For those who want the truth revealed, open hearts and secrets unsealed, banish those who deceive and lie, reveal the evil one's disguise! Leave us those of good and true, show us those that fight the evil through!"
With a swirl of soft winds and the laws of white Wicca, to the Joes' amazement, the figures of the black cloaked opponents in front of them disappeared, melting away as ethereal and ephemeral as dew in the morning sun, to reveal a rather annoyed and defensive bunch of teenage mutants, with a red-faced and frustrated Wavedancer, mad as hell.
"What are you guys doing? Why were you shooting at us?" the raven-haired leader demanded, one hand on her hip.
"The Misfits?" gasped several of the Joes, and Phoebe held out a hand to cease the arguing as she explained.
"We thought you were the hooded people from the Organization Thirteen! There was some sort of illusion spell cast on the Pit that altered your appearance in our eyes and made us see you as our enemies! It was some sort of glamour-spell in reverse, so that we saw you as our enemies instead of the Misfits, hoping that we would fight each other! If it wasn't for Dumbo, Simba, and Bambi, we would have never guessed it! It was a trick from the Thirteenth Order! Sorry about that."
"Easy for you to say, Phoebe," grumbled Shipwreck, "You didn't nearly get blown to bits with a missile launcher!"
Rip Cord looked incredibly embarrassed as he actually turned to Dumbo, Simba, and Bambi, feeling his face flush as he said contritely, "Hey…sorry about the 'dumb animals' crack I said earlier."
The elephant, lion, and deer fawn just nodded, giving affirming and non-condemning noises of forgiveness.
"Gr, I wish I could get my hands on the creep that cast that glamour-spell," growled Low Light, and as if one cue, thanks to the Charmed Ones' powerful Wicca, Zexion suddenly felt the invisibility shields he cast on himself suddenly weakening. As hard as the youth tried, the dark magic from him were nowhere near as powerful from the might of the three most powerful Wiccans ever, not to mention it took him completely by surprise.
Zexion felt his cloaking influence wane before he shimmered into full view a bit from the sidelines, close enough to see the angry and murderous glares from the Joes, Misfits, Charmed Ones, and Disney summons. He was now fully exposed.
"Just my luck…" Zexion grumbled, making a grimace.
"Yeah, and all of it bad, dickhead," Piper growled before she flicked her hands at the Organization member and blasted him with her molecular combustion, sending him flying with the general explosion and causing him to crumple into a sore and charred heap, his robe now tattered and smoking from the Halliwell's magical attack. Thankfully, he was strong enough and had the powers of the Nexus flowing in him that Piper wasn't strong enough to vanquish his life immediately. Zexion glared with indignation in his eyes before the other Joes fired with their weapons, and Phoebe and Snake Eyes charged with their swords out and ready.
"You're not getting off that easily, asshole!" growled Althea as she and Xi struck simultaneously, "Aquara Water Dragon!"
"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!" Xi called out, but with a fling of his hand, Zexion managed to deflect the magical attacks of the pounding current of clear water surrounded by the cloud of razor-sharp and glowing leaves off-course, though just barely as it shot out at an angle, as if hitting an invisible barrier. Had the two been a little bit stronger in their magic…
"Potions!" Paige commanded, causing the lethal bottles in her hands to flicker in a blaze of Whitelighter essence before she flung them with her telekinetic orbing, the magical brews ready to break and combust the opponent into oblivion.
"Another time…" the servant of the Thirteenth Order muttered as he shimmered away in a dark aura, teleporting just before Snake Eyes' katana and Phoebe's broadsword could descend on his head.
"He got away!" growled Paige, frustrated, as her vanquishing vials missed their mark.
"Doesn't matter!" barked Low Light as he aimed with his sniper rifle, "Just help us free Courtney! She's under the Organization's control!"
No one bothered to mention that the Joe sniper was quite concerned over Cover Girl's unfortunate predicament. Meanwhile, Lina yelled as loudly as she could, "GET CLEAR!"
With that and facing Cover Girl as best as she could, Lina brought her hands together, her vision blurred with watering fright and determination as she called out her magic, feeling the first words from her mind spring into life through her tongue.
"BLIZZAGA…"
There was a sudden flash as an orb of light blue appeared in Lina's hands before it took shape and solidified.
"What on Earth?" Dragonfly gasped softly as she paused in mid-spell to see that what appeared into her hands. It was a beautiful, translucent violin, sized perfectly for the insect-teenager, made out of foggy yet shining white ice, and the strings themselves were thin and delicate strands of ice crystals, all of them radiating a bright glow. And along with the violin was a bowstring fashioned exactly the same way.
Dragonfly felt there was no time to wonder considering that Cover Girl was still up and running, so desperately, the Misfit grabbed the violin before she started playing it, the bow sliding over the strings like silk and the familiarity of playing an instrument she hadn't practiced with since childhood coming back to her in a rush.
"…ARCTIC REQUIEM!"
To everyone's amazement, each string on the violin began to radiate even more fiercely, and upon each time Dragonfly played, actual streams of ice and snow began to emerge, flying all around the field like artic comets. The entire ground and air was filled with chunks of glittering ice and snow crystals, dancing on air as then seven gigantic bursts of ice magic flew out from Lina and towards the tank-Heartless that once was Cover Girl. Desperate, the monster tried to scurry out of the way, but to its rage, the minute the ice emerged in view, the Heartless discovered that the entire surface of its treads were cased in ice, making the wheels and lower part of its body immobile.
In short, the tank-Heartless was frozen-stuck.
The Heartless then shrieked in fury as it tried to blast all the Misfits using its turret guns, but within a matter of seconds, its metal hull and armor had zero resistance to the cold, and as a result, the frost from the ground clambered upwards, encasing and cocooning the dark-skinned ogress until it was enclosed in a cover of thick, shimmering hoarfrost, frozen solid and trapped.
All that remained of the Heartless that was once Cover Girl was a gigantic tower of misshapen and wildly-formed ice, with the faint and blurry figure of the enemy entombed inside it. And now the Heartless had been effectively weakened enough…
"Al, she's ready!" Quinn screamed, reading the energy levels on her scanner, and Wavedancer didn't even hesitate as she pointed her staff, invoking the ten sigils and the trinity symbols invoking the pillar of light.
"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" she yelled, and instantly, Cover Girl was encased with a blinding illumination as she roared…
Flash!
The Heartless vanished, reverting back to the familiar figure of Cover Girl as she toppled to the ground, the Heartless pod and her heart emerging out of her body. And there was another sight that caught everyone's eyes as an orb of light blue flickered to life in front of Dragonfly, forming a long object before the Misfit's very eyes.
Dragonfly's eyes were shining with amazement and grateful tears. She knew right then that she was blessed with a Keyblade of her own, one that she could use to help protect and save her friends. Her Keyblade was light-blue and white, like the colors of ice and snow, and was somewhat translucent like foggy crystal. The key potion consisted of a head that was made of three, large, sharpened icicles, and at the tip of the blade was a beautiful, twinkling butterfly made of ice and yet intricately detailed. The crossguard was made entire of smooth, white material that was layered and grooved, depicting a bell-shaped outlined made of multiple layers of ice. Interestingly enough, on both sides of the crossguard were artistically-placed and miniature insect-wings, those found on a dragonfly, each side displaying five each and protruding out like sparkling thin sheets of crystal. And hanging from the pommel was a crystal chain with a carving of a white dragonfly against a red plus-sign, the symbol of first-aid and the Red Cross.
The voice whispered in her head gently.
Keyblade…the Icewing Keyblade…
"Cover Girl's heart!" Low Light yelled, getting everyone's attention.
"And I think you know what that means!" Wavedancer yelled as she and the other Keyblade wielders rushed towards it, but to their surprise, Falco and Octavia appeared in front of them from above, landing softly on the grass. They calmly stood there, blocking the Misfits' path to the unconscious Cover Girl and her glowing heart nearby, despite being surrounded by General Hawk's soldiers and the Charmed Ones alongside the army mutants.
This was surprising to say the least. None of the heroes expected the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark to just actually appear out of nowhere and get in front of their faces like this. Low Light and Shipwreck, however, didn't seem to be in the mood for mind games.
"Get the hell out of our way!" the Joe sailor growled as he aimed one Desert Eagle pistol at the two.
"Please, don't make this difficult," Octavia said slowly, "If the heart's not a Talisman, we'll let you have it. You have our word. We're giving you one chance to see that we're not your enemies and that our mission to get the Talismans is for the greater good."
"Then why the hell are you doing this, yo? Why couldn't you talk to us before?" snapped Toad.
"We're talking to you now at least," emphasized the female warrior, "And we're at least trying this now to see if you Misfits could see this so that you can't hinder us in the future and let us carry out our missions without interference."
"Boy, you're even stupider than you look if you think that we'd just smile and say 'go ahead' after everything you two have done to us!" snapped the Joe, Quick Kick, fingering two ninja stars in his hand.
"I told you there's no point reasoning with them," Falco muttered to Octavia, crossing his arms over his chest and sulking, as if he argued that to the octopus woman many times. Octavia looked a bit regretful but still hopeful that the Misfits and Joes would be willing to take the path of least resistance.
"Please understand: to save all worlds and defeat the Heartless, a few people's hearts sacrificed isn't a high price to pay, especially if it brings back the worlds the Organization conquered before in the past," she pressed.
General Hawk decided to diffuse the situation before it got violent as he raised a hand, signaling to the troops to hold their fire, as he growled, "Falco, Octavia, there can't be any negotiations regarding the safeties of my men and women. You may not be our enemies and against the Heartless, but you certainly aren't trusted among us, especially since you're endangering innocent people to get your mission accomplished. We're in no obligation to help you. And I'm sure the X-Men, League, Ghostbusters, and the Titans would agree with me. I'll give you one chance to back off, and we won't fire. Otherwise, I'll give the command to shoot to kill. You have one chance."
Falco then finally smirked as he scoffed, "You won't kill us."
"Don't tempt us, asshat," Low Light snarled as he aimed his sniper rifle at the avian's head, but then Falco pointed at the Hellfire Heartless from behind, the one everyone else forgot temporarily in the excitement and confusion.
"I wasn't tempting you. I was merely saying that your two Misfits, Blob and Whitelighter, are now Heartless fodder," the bird droned snidely, and to everyone's realization, the remaining Heartless roared as Trinity's time-freeze spell vanished and wore off, and with that and remembering Zexion's instructions, the black-skinned charged towards Fred and Justin who were still no longer under the safety of the bunker and in plain sight of the enemy.
"Goddamn it to hell!" roared General Hawk, "I told them to stay in the bunker!"
"No!" yelled Wavedancer and Avalanche as they saw the Heartless' arms stretch and elongate like rubber before it grabbed the two teens and slammed them both against the wall of a nearby building within a blink of an eye. Justin tried to orb, but he forgot that any energy from his mutant power just made the Heartless stronger, and as a result Blob and Whitelighter couldn't do anything but writhe and howl in agony as the Heartless began to glow and grow bigger and bigger, absorbing their energy by mere contact.
Falco then got to the point as he said, "Looks like either you can try to fight us and get Cover Girl's heart and let your two Misfits die in the process, or you stop the Heartless, save your friends, and let us see if her heart's a Talisman. It's your choice: us or your friends. Considering that only the Misfits' magic can fully kill that Heartless, and there's a chance that your Joe's heart isn't a Talisman, I suggest you do what's easier."
Damn, it was an effective and near-stalemate.
"Bastard," spat Althea as they saw that Octavia was already scanning the pink crystal of Courtney's in her hand, but without further argument, all the Misfits (bar Lina), their handlers, the Charmed Ones, and the Disney summons charged to rescue their two teammates. Before Hawk could decide to command the Joes to fire at will, Octavia sighed and tossed the heart crystal back to a stunned Dragonfly.
"It's not a Talisman," she explained.
Lina exhaled with relief as she rushed to Cover Girl and placed it over the woman's chest. With a flash, the crystal disappeared and an actual Keyhole formed, causing Lina's Icewing Keyblade to glow. Realizing what this meant, Dragonfly stood up and held out her weapon, and with a gleam of light blue, there was the ominous clicking noise and the keyhole disappeared, sealing Cover Girl's heart safely.
Dragonfly sighed, but she turned to the falcon and the octopus-humanoid with some confusion. She asked warily, "So you just gave it back?"
"We gave our word," Octavia said simply.
Falco coolly looked upon the scene before the avian instructed emotionlessly, "Octavia, let's go."
With that, the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark turned back and ambled away, calmly and without the slightest urge to hasten. The Joes nearby were stunned with disbelief and fury.
"So that's it?" growled Leatherneck, "I thought you were fighting the Heartless! Hell, are you against Organization Thirteen or not?"
"We are," Octavia said brusquely as she continued walking.
"There's still one more Heartless! Why aren't you taking it down then? Aren't they your enemies too?" yelled the Joe, Lieutenant Falcon, Duke's half-brother.
Falco then actually stopped and glared at the Joes, one wing cockily resting against his laser pistol, as if a warning, before he retorted, "It's not our problem. Whatever issues you have with the Thirteenth Order isn't really our concern. Just because we're on the same side doesn't mean we're on the same team. You made it clear you won't step aside and let us do our job of finding the Talismans, so we're sure as hell not going to help you settle your feuds with the Thirteenth Order. And we're not going to trouble ourselves with every single Heartless that pops up. Anything that's not important to our mission for the Talismans, we'll just leave it up for you to take care."
"And let people die trying to fight these things?" raged Scarlett.
"It is a shame and a tragedy…but we are not obligated to save everyone. Especially since you can't see things our way," Octavia said, her eyes showing a bit of sympathy but still resigned to just walk away along with Falco.
"You're just as bad as the Organization, ya' yellow-feathered varmits!" Wild Bill shot back with venom. He was contemplating taking his Colt pistol and firing directly into the bird's chest, but before he could, Duke placed a restraining hard on the soldier's shoulder.
"Look, all of you! There's no point arguing with them! Let's just help take that Heartless down and save Fred and Justin!" Duke roared, and seeing that he had a point, the small group of Joe charged to join alongside the Misfits and other Joes, guns blazing. Before he sped towards the ruckus, General Hawk turned fiercely to Octavia and Falco.
"When you two will be in need of help, don't come crying back to us," he warned, and Falco snorted as he left alongside his companion.
"Don't make me laugh, Joe. That'll never happen," and with that, Falco and Octavia disappeared.
The stray Hellfire Heartless meanwhile was gaining much vigor and vitality as Whitelighter and Blob grew weaker and weaker in its claws.
"Aaaah! It hurts, it hurts!" shrieked Justin as he felt the violent withdrawal seep out of his skin and flesh painfully and into the Heartless' body.
"I…so…weak…" choked Fred, his eyes half-open and his struggles to squirm out of the Hellfire Heartless' claws diminishing by the second.
"Let go of them!" roared Roadblock and Blind Master in insane fury as they both charged, with the machine-gunner brandishing his empty gun as an effective club and the ninja master using his drawn katana blade. Yet barely worried, the Heartless snarled and another blitz of black lightning at the two, and the men fiercely had to temporarily sidestep and cease their rush unless they wanted to be struck down by the attack.
"I got it! Just take out big and mean!" Genie yelled, absorbing the black lightning by transforming into a lightning rod upon a moment's notice.
"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!" Wanda yelled.
"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Lance added a second later, but to both of the Misfits' collective dismay, nothing happened.
"Aw, shit! We used up all our magical reserves! We don't have enough energy to try a second spell right now!" cursed Avalanche, his eyes wide with horrified loss.
The voice then rang one last time in Dragonfly's head before it vanished.
Dragonfly, you have a Keyblade attack like Quicksilver and Trinity. Trust your Icewing Keyblade…it'll follow your heart if you want to help your friends. It'll listen to your desires. Just point your Keyblade at the Heartless and use the Sonic Blade technique.
Tossing caution to the winds and eager to save Fred and Justin (who were in danger because of her foolishness in the first place), the mutant adolescent complied immediately, knowing time was of the essence.
"Sonic Blade!" yelled Dragonfly as she bent her right knee forward and pointed her Keyblade at the Heartless. To her amazement, before she could comprehend what was happening, the Keyblade in her hands began to glow before she was actually propelled forward, gliding on the ground as if sliding at incredible velocities on a sheet of ice, leaving a stream of sub-zero artic energy in her wake. To be precise, it was as if Lina was charging like Quicksilver would in his super-speed mode. And with the Keyblade in her hands, Dragonfly's attack was deadly and sharp as she rushed into the arms of the Hellfire Heartless.
Sshhhhhooooooooossssssssmmmmm!
Whitelighter and Blob just groaned as Dragonfly's Sonic Blade tore through both of the Hellfire Heartless' arms, completely and thoroughly cleaving through it's appendages at the wrists, and once freed from the enemy's grasp, both Fred and Justin toppled to the ground, nearly unconscious but still alive. Now the Heartless had nothing but bloody stumps where its claws used to be.
"Dumbo, get them, quick!" Wavedancer yelled, almost fearful her partner wouldn't make it, and with that, before the Heartless could attempt to absorb the two mutants and continue, the flying elephant swooped down from the skies as quick as he could and snatched the teenagers in his trunk (amazingly, he was strong enough to fly both Blob and Justin), leaving the black monster to strike nothing but bare grass and dirt.
Althea, despite being so fatigued, then tried one last time with her scepter.
"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" she cried out, raising her weapon over her head, and the Hellfire creature screamed before the lights engulfed it.
KABOOOOM!
The Heartless let loose an ear-piercing wail before it died, disintegrating and collapsing into dust and smoke before fading into thin air. Althea, now seriously weakened and her energy spent on that last attack, crumpled, feeling faint, and alarmed, Shipwreck and Todd caught the hydrokinetic before she could hit the ground.
"Al, you all right?" Todd asked, out of his mind and clammy-faced, but Althea managed to open her eyes and nod, panting and her breathing shallow and painful. Her head was swimming so much, it was no wonder she couldn't stand on her own two feet.
"Wow…I guess using those scepter attacks really takes a lot out of me," Althea gasped as Dumbo wailed softly and rubbed her forehead affectionately and lovingly with his nose.
"Which is why you shouldn't be doing that often, kid," Shipwreck scolded, but still infinitely grateful his daughter was safe.
"Are you two all right?" Roadblock asked worriedly as Lifeline finished laying his glowing hands on Justin and Fred's foreheads, healing them from their close brush with death.
"Yeah…I guess so," Fred managed to croak through his dry throat and Lina, overjoyed, gave him a ferocious hug.
General Hawk was now giving an absolute glare that would have instantly incinerated Lina, Fred, and Justin to ashes within seconds as he said in a very displeased and serious tone of voice, "Privates…exactly what part of 'stay in the bunker whenever there is a Heartless attack' did you three not understand?"
"More KP duty, sir?" Justin asked meekly, shriveling up under the Joe leader's eyes.
"Like there's no tomorrow," rumbled the general, his temper bubbling underneath his game face.
"At least we have another Misfit who now knows magic, General," Low Light sighed with relief as he cradled an unconscious Courtney in his muscular arms, cradling her protectively against his broad chest.
"Too bad we still don't know how they're gaining the magic in the first place," Phoebe sighed.
Blob just turned with suspicious eyes towards the dog Pluto, and he found that to his further skepticism that the golden hound was trying his best to not meet Fred's gaze as he stared at the floor.
---
Later that night, Doc wearily went over to the morgue section of the Pit's medical bay, where he, Lifeline, and Bree have kept the bodies of their fallen comrades from various past battles, those who have died nobly in their fight to protect the country. He needed to check up with Chuckles, especially since, after the embalming, he still needed to be prepped up so he would look suitable for the funeral services, especially since Phillip's wife, Jessie, requested an open casket.
And despite the apparent importance, Doc didn't find the time to stitch up Chuckles' body after the preservation procedures until now, primarily because of the Heartless attacks and a recent argument between the Joes Leatherneck and Wet Suit that resulted in a black eye, a broken arm, and several third degree burns because of the fact that they were fighting in the galley right when B.A. was bringing a dish of seaweed flambé.
As Doc entered the morgue, he was surprised to see the metal tray containing a pale-skinned yet peaceful body of Chuckles, modestly covered with a cloth, and next to him, stitching his bullet wounds on his chest skillfully with inconspicuous thread was a calm Lina, gently sowing with tender care.
Lina just looked up at Doc, not the least bit startled, and just said softly, "I thought I could help finish him up since he needed to be shipped back to his family tomorrow."
Doc, despite his bewilderment, offered a small smile, understanding. The Joe doctor pointed out, "You didn't need to make a special trip up here."
"I was here anyway, checking up on Cover Girl and making sure she's all right, and I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Pluto is keeping her company, sleeping next to her bed," Dragonfly replied gently, and her face was serene and composed, almost nonchalantly cheery, despite nearly losing her adoptive parent.
Doc's smile went wide. He asked, "And how's Courtney doing?"
"She's already complaining about being bored and threatening Lifeline bodily harm if he reminds her that she can't have any sugary treats or coffee while recuperating in the infirmary one more time. Already, Cover Girl's been begging me to help sneak in a cinnamon roll for her…with extra frosting," giggled Lina.
"You need any help?" Doc asked, indicating with his head at Chuckles.
"No, I'm almost done. And…I wanted to do this by myself, as a way to say good-bye to him."
"Is this what you really want?" the man asked, and Dragonfly knew instantly that he wasn't referring to patching up Chuckles.
"Yes, more than anything. I realize that now," Lina said softly but with unyielding steel, and her green eyes were determined and sure. Doc smiled again; he couldn't have been more pleased.
---
"Experiments 243 and 244 have been defeated, my Lord," Zexion said as he teleported into the realm of the fountain of the Oracle where the Superior and the other members of the Thirteenth Order had finished viewing the events in the scrying pools of water.
The Superior was now incredibly livid, doing his best to restrain himself, quite a change from the last time Xigbar and Lexaeus returned with news of their failures. Of course, Zexion's I-told-you-so tone of voice wasn't helping either.
"And you didn't think of trying to assist the Heartless or tried to directly kill the girl and the dog before either of them could harness the forces of the Blizzaga Kingdom?" he hissed, growing annoyed and irate.
"I was busy trying to play my mind games and illusions on the Joes and the Misfits to even bother," Zexion said rather airily, as if bored and far above mere physical violence. Apparently, this wasn't the right thing to say considering that the Superior actually grabbed the youth's robes on the front of his uniform and jerked the member of the Organization so that they were face to face, the pressure around Zexion's collar threatening to strangle him.
"I would highly advise you to not take that tone of voice with me, Zexion," growled the leader, "Just because you were one of the original apprentices of Ansem and one of the founding members does not make you expendable, especially if you stand in our way of gaining power and becoming complete beings again. Is that clear?"
Zexion nodded, his face grave and stoic, betraying no emotions of fear; he was stubbornly prideful. With that, the Superior released his hold on the dark-haired man before turning his attention to another male, this one with piercing cold blue eyes and a hardened, chiseled face, battle-hardened, and with long, black hair tied in a series of dreadlocks, dropping over his shoulders.
"Xaldin, from what I have learned, Hamilton and those in the Inner Circle tell me that we are quite seriously depleting the number of Hellfire Heartless pods available in our reserves, so to prevent complete usage and build an adequate supply for the harvest, you may only take one pod to the Pit. However, you are free to act towards the Joes and the Misfits as much as you wish. However, take extra care to either eliminate the dog, Pluto, or the remaining non-blessed Misfits. I daresay those two children should hardly be a challenge for you."
"As you wish, my Superior. I will not leave until Blob and Whitelighter have been slain and their hearts become ours," Xaldin said with a cunning and sadistic smile as he left, a cold wind blowing in his wake.
Author's Notes: Next week, check back for the chapter, "Every Blob Has His Day" as Pluto realizes that his secrets may not remain hidden for long now that Fred is starting to have his suspicions. And with only Blob and Whitelighter being the remaining Misfits not protected by magic, the Organization is now thoroughly gunning for the two as Xaldin makes his siege into the Pit, but with the added complications of the Starr brothers as well as General Whithalf visiting the Pit, can any of the Misfits truly remain safe? Check back next Friday, and until then, read and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome!