Disclaimer: "Happy Tree Friends" is a copyright of Mondo Media
[I know – it's been weeks! Sorry about updating it so late, so here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for it.]
Happy Tree Friends: Blood & Fire (2)
Chapter 09 – Infiltration
"I'm going too!"
"No, you're not – you're staying here."
"What? But you helped with my training!"
"Change of plans – you're staying home, and that's final!"
"Guys, please…" Splendid muttered. Flaky wanted to be part of the rescue team, but Splendont insisted she should stay in Happy Tree Town instead. "He's right, Flakes," Sneaky explained, "Rescuing Flippy and Moonlight could already be a handful. If you get yourself in trouble, it'll hinder us – no offense."
"I can handle myself!" the red porcupine insisted, "I didn't go through all that shit for nothing." Splendid nodded to Splendont; both boys walked out of Sneaky and Flaky's earshot. "We had to do the same thing last year – why not now?" the blue squirrel asked. "If the plan fails, we'll lose them; we can't afford to lose another," his red 'twin' replied. Splendid realized he's right. But just as he was about to tell Flaky, she was gone.
Sneaky suggested she must have gone home anyway; asked if they've seen Mouse Ka-Boom. "I'm right here," said the yellow mouse, lugging his huge bag of explosives, "Just like old times, eh?" As they boarded Sniffles' Stealth Jet, Splendont told them to wait up as he wanted a last-minute conversation with Flaky. "Hurry up with that!" Splendid yelled over the jet's engine.
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"Flippy…you okay?" asked Flipqy, finding him leaning against a tree and staring gloomily at the sky. "Are you even listening to me?" the insane bear asked. Flippy sighed and began to walk away, only to be followed. "What's wrong?" he persisted, only to receive silence.
"Just leave me alone, okay?" Flippy finally replied, "This is the only time I find peace from the shit I've been through." Flipqy's shoulders slumped, not convinced with this answer. "Look, you're getting out of that place – with or without a rescue team," he said, "And you're getting out NOW." And with that, he unsheathed his army knife and stabbed his counterpart in the stomach as he turned around; blood gushed onto his coat as the wounded bear collapsed. "W-Why…" Flippy rasped. "Sorry kid, but this has gone too far…" Flipqy whispered soothingly as he used Flippy's beret to stop the bleeding, "Sleep it off." As he watched Flippy vanish as he 'died', he concentrated and landed in Moonlight/Eclipse's mind world.
He found his golden-eyed sister sitting at the cliff, staring up at the stars (as usual). "Hey, are you up for some rough-housing?" he called out. Eclipse turned to him with a questioning look in her eyes. "I believe it's about time we helped these guys out," he added. "You know I can't escape this place unless Moonlight sees fire," Eclipse reminded, "And with that therapy she's been getting, I've been stuck here for who knows how long!"
"Is that the only thing that gets you out?" Flipqy asked, holding up a matchbox and looking suggestively at Moonlight. The blue-eyed wolf was not far away, gloomily stacking and knocking down some dry twigs with a small stone in a makeshift game of 'skittles'. Eclipse smirked; walked over and grabbed Moonlight by the arms. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" Moonlight demanded, eyes widening in shock as Flipqy lit a match and set the twigs ablaze. "This may hurt a bit…" Eclipse growled, suddenly shoving her counterpart directly into the campfire. "AAH!" Moonlight shrieked as she tried to extinguish the flames; failing miserably as she burned faster than anticipated, she collapsed into a smoldering heap.
Flipqy and Eclipse blinked, finding themselves chained to the walls. Golden eyes narrowed in concentration, he concentrated on slipping his hands out of the cuffs. "Damn. Okay, plan B…" he muttered, grasping his thumbs and – with a sharp twist – dislocated the bones before letting out a choked scream. "That's gotta hurt…" Eclipse jeered with a smirk on her face. "No pain, no gain – right?" he replied as he slipped out of the cuffs and relocated his thumbs.
"Your turn," he snickered as he walked over to his sister. Stuffing some old cloth in her mouth to act as a muffler, he grasped her thumbs and repeated what he had done to himself. She shrieked, biting hard into the cloth as she shed a few tears. "I'm gonna kill you…" she half-sobbed; winced as the bones were relocated. "Suck it up – it could've been worse," he whispered, hugging his sister close until she stopped crying. "Let's get going before our 'goody-two-shoes' wake up and take over," he ordered, earning a nod from her.
Flipqy studied the steel door, running his fingers along the edges for any flaws that could assist them; growled as there aren't any. As he studied the lock, he realized it's a pin tumbler cylinder type. Eclipse happened to find a hairpin on the floor and handed it to her brother, who immediately began working on the lock. After several tries, he slowly pried the door open and peeked through the crack. 'Hmph, clever bastard…' he thought as he spied a camera trained directly on his door.
Meanwhile in the security control room – a tiger soldier was sipping some coffee when his eyes landed on one of the monitors. For a moment, he thought he saw the door to Flippy and Moonlight's cell open just a crack and a glaring golden eye peek out before it disappeared. "Hey, you!" he called to his comrade as he passed by the door, "Get down to the cells – we may have a possible prisoner escape."
Back in the prison cell, Flipqy grunted as he pulled hard at the cuffs and chains which were holding him earlier. "Whoa!" he yelped as his fell free, falling backwards onto his surprised sister. "Weak wall…why didn't I see that earlier?" he muttered as he stared at the worn out concrete. "Get…off…me…" she growled. He rolled off her as footsteps thudded just outside their door; took his place behind it, clanging metal in hand.
"You're not going anywhere!" a tiger soldier yelled as he kicked the door, hitting Flipqy square in the nose. Eclipse roared and pounced; began feasting hungrily on his flesh, giving her brother enough time to recover and attack the soldiers pouring into the cramped cell. "Huh…that was easy," the insane bear mumbled as he wiped blood off his nose, "I thought they'd be sending more down here." Eclipse was too busy gorging on tiger flesh to care; offered him a severed arm, saying he looked starved despite being fed half-rotten prison food.
After their quick – yet disgusting – meal, the siblings fled the prison cells through the base and found themselves at the exit after a few turns. They were close to earning freedom when he felt a sudden stinging sensation on his neck. "Gah!" he yelped as the collar sparked, forcing him onto his knees; Eclipse screamed as pain burned through her neck as well.
"Tsk, tsk…" said the Tiger General as he walked through the door, "That was a great escape, I have to admit. Too bad your shock collars have a limited range…" He then kicked the siblings, sneering as they groaned. "You can run all you want," he added, "But you'll never get out of this base." He then clicked his claws and watched as two tiger soldiers hauled the defeated prisoners back to the prison cells.
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"What kept you?" Splendid asked as Splendont approached the Stealth Jet. "Uh…she was…" the red squirrel replied, "She was emotional. I tried to explain the reason, but –"
"She'll understand," his blue 'twin' assured, "Now come on, we're running behind schedule!" Sneaky was already at the controls, tweaking them and pressing a few buttons while Mouse Ka-Boom read the instruction manual to him. Sniffles had added some modifications to his Stealth Jet: it's now slightly smaller and slimmer with an improved cloaking ability, newly-installed heat-seeking rockets, automatic submarine morph (should they happen to land in water), and emergency generators in case they ran out of fuel.
"Alright, we're good to go!" Splendid announced as they strapped themselves in. Sneaky taxied the jet along the runway before finally taking off, his eyes occasionally checking the onboard map as he steered.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Splendid noted his red 'twin' was nervously clutching his seat with his eyes shut. "Are you okay?" he asked. Splendont turned to him and flashed a reassuring smile. "I-I'm fine – never better!" he said. The blue flying squirrel shrugged and relaxed in his seat, smiling as he recalled his first date with Moonlight.
"Moonlight? I wanna tell you something…" Splendid began. "What is it?" she asked. "I…" he replied, swallowing a lump in his throat, "I…"
"You~?" Moonlight prodded. Splendid took a deep breath and looked straight into her eyes as he held her hands in his. Flaky could be heard squealing with Lumpy trying to stop her from rocking the boat as she jumped in her seat.
He leaned close for the third time…Moonlight could feel herself being drawn into it, ignoring the confusing mix of emotions that danced in her stomach. "Too soon to say this since we only met a few days ago…" he confessed, "But I…"
"Just say it, damn it!" Flippy ordered, unable to wipe that smile off his face. Ignoring him, Splendid exhaled and said, "I…I love you. I can never stop thinking about you – no matter how hard I've tried." Moonlight gasped. "Oh Splendid…" she breathed, "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard…"
The two smiled affectionately and leaned even closer…until their lips brushed, finally locking together as they closed their eyes and shared their first kiss. Ignoring the hoots and squeals from their impromptu audience, they held each other close in a hug – not wanting to let go of themselves or the moment.
"Activating cloaking device," Sneaky announced as he pressed the button. Almost suddenly, a series of dying whirs was heard through the entire jet. "Idiot – that was the EMF button!" Mouse Ka-Boom scolded as the jet began to plummet. "SACRE BLEU!" he screamed while the others yelled.
SPLASH!
"My bad…" Sneaky apologized, blindly feeling around for the button before deactivating the EMF. "And I thought I was clumsy at times…" said Flaky as she looked out the window to the calm blue sea –
Wait a minute – Flaky?
"What are you doing here?" Splendid asked, "And where's Splendont?" He then caught sight of the 'disguise ring' on her finger. "I-I-I…w-well…" she stuttered as he glared at her, silently demanding an explanation.
"Flaky, you home?" Splendont asked as he let himself in. Following the sound of quiet sobbing, he found the distraught porcupine curled up in bed. "Hey…don't be upset," he whispered as he stroked her quills soothingly, "I'm just concerned about your safety; I bet Flippy will be too."
She raised her reddened ruby eyes to the flying squirrel, forcing a smile on her sad face. "We'll bring him and his sister back in one piece," he assured her, "That's a promise." As he turned to leave, his foot got caught in a mound of clothes piled on the floor near the bed. "W-W-Whoa!" he yelped, falling face-first and smacking his head on the bedside table's edge.
Flaky gasped and knelt beside the unconscious flying squirrel; shook him, but received no response. 'What should I do?' she thought, 'They're probably expecting him to get back by now!' Her eyes then locked onto the 'disguise ring' Sniffles had given each of them. "Sorry, Splendont…" she muttered as she slipped the ring off him and onto her finger, "Looks like I'm going after all."
As soon as she disguised herself as Splendont, she dragged the unconscious squirrel onto the bed and draped a blanket over him. She then rushed to the bathroom, grabbed some aspirin and a glass of water, and left the items on the bedside table; finally left home and joined the others on the Stealth Jet.
Splendid did a facepalm, silently growling at the sudden change of events. "I guess we have no choice now," he muttered, "We'll continue as planned." But as he was about to explain their tactics as they gathered around, some unexpected radio static interrupted him. It was then followed by the Tiger General's voice…
"You've done well, Mouse Ka-Boom. But has your pathetic and guilty little mind decided to bring back your comrade and his sister? Too late for that now…"
As their adversary's laugh died along with the message, three pairs of angry eyes were trained on the yellow mouse. "Fine, fine – I'll tell you," Mouse Ka-Boom admitted as he stared guiltily at the floor.
Mouse Ka-Boom was having a solo early morning jog when he suspected someone was following him; turned his head and noted there's no-one there. 'Just your imagination,' he told himself. He then bumped into someone in his path. "Je suis désolé –" he began, gasping for air as the figure grasped his neck and half-choked him. As he struggled, he winced as the metallic claw cut through his skin.
"Nice to see you again, Mouse Ka-Boom…" the Tiger General greeted, his red robotic eye trained on him through his eye-patch, "Perhaps you can do a little favour for me." Keeping his hold on the frightened yellow mouse, he explained that if he brings Flippy and Moonlight to him he'll ensure his friends (and everyone in town) will be spared. "And if you don't…" he growled, "You'll wish you were NEVER resurrected in the first place!"
The sound of excited laughter drew the tiger's cerulean eyes away from the mouse – Flippy, Moonlight, Splendid and Flaky were just heading to the park for the town's snowball war. "Remember soldier: their lives or yours…" he reminded, finally releasing Mouse Ka-Boom. By the time the mouse stood up, he was gone…
"Hey!" Sneaky called from behind, "You alright?" Mouse Ka-Boom turned and nodded, saying he lost his footing and slipped in the snow. "I was just heading to the caféteria for breakfast – wanna join?" the dark-green chameleon asked. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up in a while," he replied, running towards the same direction Flippy and the others had taken.
Hiding himself within the trees, he watched as the non-identical twins hurled snowballs at the opposing teams. Flippy then threw himself to the snow, barely dodging a snowball as he landed right before Mouse Ka-Boom. "Oh hey," Flippy greeted as he stood up, "Didn't see you there." Just as he was about to ask why he was hiding in the shadows, Mouse Ka-Boom suddenly hit his temples so hard he fell unconscious almost immediately.
If twins could sense what had happened to their sibling, Moonlight had just that. "Flippy?" she called as she left the group; gasped in shock as she found her brother unconscious in the snow. "What happened? Did he –!" she demanded, her sentence abruptly cut off as she received the same treatment Flippy had.
'I'm so sorry!' he mentally cried as he dragged the unconscious twins away; nobody noticed as he was hidden by Splendont's snow bomb. Deep in the snow-covered woods, the Tiger General waited for him. "Good boy…" he growled, "Now listen carefully: you haven't seen or heard me." A few seconds ago, they were standing before each other; the next, the Tiger General was just gone...leaving only Flippy's dog tags and Moonlight's star pendant.
"Then I pretended not to know of their kidnapping," Mouse Ka-Boom explained, earning a hard slap to the face from Flaky. "How could you?" she yelled, "He was your friend!" Splendid held the enraged porcupine back, his blue eyes glaring daggers at the mouse. Sneaky was simply frozen on the spot; emotions swirled within him – anger due to his comrade betraying one of their own, and sympathy because his life (as well as those involved) was threatened.
"But believe moi, I've joined you to get them back…" Mouse Ka-Boom added, shedding a few tears, "I was my fault they're getting hurt. I should've let the Tiger General kill me right then and there…" The burning anger within Flaky's eyes fizzled into nothing; gently shrugged off Splendid and placed her hands onto Mouse Ka-Boom's shoulders.
"I'm still pissed off about what you did, and I believe we'll handle this mission without you…" she said, "But then you wouldn't have a chance to make it up to them, right?" Teary topaz-yellow eyes glanced up at her ruby-reds. "She's right," said Splendid as he petted his head, "Now pull yourself together – we have twins to save."
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Night had fallen…
Flippy and Moonlight made no attempt to escape as they were escorted out of the cells and into separate shower rooms, shivering as ice-cold water pelted them like miniature hailstones. Using a provided rag and some soap, they washed off the grime and dried blood. Although their wounds have scabbed-over, they could still notice them barely hidden under their fur. They also noticed their shock collars are waterproof, and it annoyed them.
As soon as they were given a fresh change of clothes, they were then escorted to the Tiger General's office. "You remind me of your parents," said the Tiger General, "Inseparable, even when given the worst treatment." A series of clicks and whirs could be heard faintly as he turned and walked to them. "I'll ask you one last time…" he added, "Join me, and I'll make sure you get treated as equals."
The twins were silent and avoided eye contact with their adversary. Slightly peeved, the Tiger General walked up to Moonlight and grabbed her arm; said wolf whimpered as she was slammed onto the wall. "Let her go!" Flippy demanded, one green eye turning golden as Flipqy prepared to take over. "I will…if you agree to my terms," the Tiger General growled. Moonlight blushed harder as she felt a claw stroke against her pants, sending shivers through her warm nether regions.
"Please…don't…" she begged, screamed as she suddenly got slammed onto the table with her legs spread out. "Unhand her!" Flippy demanded, but he was ignored as the Tiger General started rubbing his crotch against his sister's. "No! Stop!" she begged, squirming as she tried to free herself. The blue tiger smirked lustfully and proceeded to rub harder, snickering as he felt the wetness spread through to her pants.
Flippy couldn't take in the scene and knocked the Tiger General off him, allowing his sister to escape…but their chance was short-lived as the shock collars activated, forcing them onto the floor as they shook involuntarily. "You're more stubborn than I thought…" their adversary muttered as he held a remote in his hands; released his hold on the button as four tiger soldiers entered the room.
"Take them away," he ordered. As soon as they were helped up, he looked Moonlight in the eye and said (while ignoring Flippy's glare), "I'll have my chance with you later…" As soon as the non-identical twins were taken away, the Tiger General turned to glance out the window and smirked as he thought of the unthinkable tasks he'd do to the wolf…
Meanwhile for Flippy and Moonlight – they had just recovered from their 'shocking' experience when they noticed they're nowhere near the cells. "Just keep moving!" one of the soldiers ordered. "Where are you taking us?" Flippy asked, "And where are we going? The cells are that way!"
"Are you telling me you'd rather stay in a dirty cell than get out for some fresh air?" asked another soldier, "That's unlike you, Flips…" The war veteran's ears pricked at the sound of that name; just realized the first tiger soldier had a French accent. "Mouse Ka-Boom? Sneaky?" he whispered, earning a wink from the so-called tiger soldiers; Moonlight noticed and a smile crept onto her face. And by the behavior of the other soldiers, she could tell one was Splendid (since he was holding her left arm gently) and other was Flaky (since she was glancing around uneasily).
But just as they were about to walk out the door, Flippy and Moonlight screamed as the collars zapped to life…which in turn shorted out the 'disguise rings' on their fingers since they were at close range. "Uh oh…" Flaky whimpered as their disguises wore off. Fortunately, they were alone. As soon as they recovered from their shock treatment, the twins quickly explained they couldn't waltz out of the base as long as their collars are on.
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"
CLANG! Z-Z-ZAP!
"Zut!" Mouse Ka-Boom cursed as electrically-charged metal bars blocked their exit. "This way – hurry!" Splendid ordered as he led the group, glancing occasionally at an electronic map Sniffles had provided them…and realized they're suddenly surrounded by the tiger soldiers. Just as he was about to bash them out of their path, one of the soldiers threw in a Kryptonut and disabled him.
"Take that!" Mouse Ka-Boom yelled as he threw a grenade, blowing up and sending tiger soldier's guts in all directions. "Gah!" Sneaky yelped as a dart struck his neck, paralyzing him instantly as he collapsed to the floor; within seconds, the rescue team and the prisoners were lying motionless on the floor as paralyzing darts stuck out of their bodies.
Some of the tiger soldiers parted as the Tiger General strolled up to the group. "Well, well, well…looks like our 'little yellow traitor' brought some friends for Flippy and Moonlight," he said, smirking, "The more the merrier, I should say." Clicking his claws, he snickered as his soldiers dragged the six prisoners down to the cells.