Chapter 29 'Green Is Our Colour' or 'Rebreathers Save The Day'

DISCLAIMER: OK Mr Hatter, you're on. That's all, little girl? I will gladly do so. We all want to say thanks to the fine folks whose creations we are permitted to use. We claim no rights to any of that stuff. However, we do claim rights to anything we ourselves have created. Anyone who wants to can use our creations so long as we get the credit for their creating.

A special thank you goes to Mr Haruka-San Takachiho who created our fabulous Angelic darlings Kei O'Halloran and Yuri Donovan just to name the two main heroines of our tales of derring do! How was that, mum? Shut up Whitey! This babe is mine! You can have that cute redheaded Italian Stallion captain Gina Phillips!

Rio's MY woman! OK over to you Subby DelCroix! Mad Hatter is signing off. Thank you very much for allowing me to read these documents for you, Love.

Thanks Mr Hatter, sir! Hullo folks. Diana Prince here. Quite a bit has happened here since our last meeting at the end of Chapter 28.

Folks, we, that is, my party consisting of Will/Woodsman, Scary Scarecrow, Leo the Cowardly Lion, Tinny the Tin Woodsman Robot Guy, Dorothy 'Dottie' Gale, her little doggie Toto and me, Diana/Snow White, had arrived at the destined rendezvous point.

We were camped out beside a lake at the entry road to the Field of Sleepytime Flowers as we awaited the arrival of our Boss Lady Edie Jordan/Lara Croft and her party consisting of an almost two metres tall white rabbit named Whitey, a 'Mad Hatter', a dormouse, Alice Liddell and her kitty cat Dinah and whoever the Hell else she'd picked up along the way.

Where in the dickens my father LeMont Cranston aka The Shadow or as Edie called him 'Shadow Daddy' had gotten to was anybody's guess. The last time we'd seen him he was masquerading as Old Pew the blind man! He had told us that either the Red Queen of Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz was probably our quarry, the elusive time jockey Lord Leviathan.

Edie had comm relayed me on the walkie-talkie to say that the Red Queen was legit so it looks like our Emerald City wizard was the goods! Edie had been told by the Queen's gardeners/playing cards that the 'Mad Hatter' knew how we could return to the Citadel of Gallifrey after we had nabbed Lord Levey in this blasted MATRIX!

Someone and don't ask me whom (I forgot) told me that the Western Wicked Witch knew the same thing- how we could get back home! Confused? Join the bloody club! I hadn't a clue as to what was what or who was whom baby!

"Pardon me, your ladyship? I deduce that you are Lady Diana Prince sometimes known as Wonder Woman. I am Sherlock Holmes and this fine fellow is my friend and associate Dr John Watson. We are on the trail of the dastardly Professor James Moriarity and I have deduced that he is masquerading as the Wizard in this Emerald City over yonder. Do you mind if we join your party? I see that you are waiting for Miss Jordan now known as Lara Croft the explorer. You are quite fetching as Snow White and that rapscallion there must be Will the ancient Terran American truck driver now known as Rolf the woodsman.

"Watson! Come over here and minister to this lady's ankle. Just a sprain I perceive but it will be quite painful to her when the liquor wears off. Sit down, milady. Aha! A bucket of water. Just the thing to soak that ankle within, eh Doctor? Very well. This is a case where I can do little but you can do much, my dear fellow." said a tall and lean clean-shaven chap with a hooked nose. He was wearing an old-fashioned Terran Victorian Inverness cape and a brown deerstalker cap. He was smoking a huge Calabash pipe. A shorter and chunkier and much more er mature gentleman with a fine mustache came bustling over and began to examine my right ankle!

"Well judged, Holmes. A rather severe sprain. A little cotton wool bandaging and a shot of Laudanum (Liquid Opium) for the pain should turn the tide for this fine young lady. There, my dear. How does that feel?" asked the kindly old fellow and I must admit that I had had no idea that I had sprained the darned thing.

"Ah, Watson. Always the ladies with the auburn hair-" chuckled Mr Homes and Dr Watson went as red as a beet!

"Oh I say, Holmes! Steady on there! I- How the deuced did you know that the young lady had a sprained ankle?" demanded my benefactor angrily.

"Elementary! (AN: Holmes said 'Elementary" and he said 'My dear Watson' from time to time but NEVER did the Literary Agent (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) have Holmes combine the two phrases! That never stopped Hollywood though who had Holmes saying 'Elementary, my dear Watson!' every time he turned around! We will keep to the Canon's words whenever we can!) Not only was she walking with a decided limp (Was I?) but the blood had collected in an angry welt just above her shoe. She more than likely stumbled when she pulled herself out of the lake after she had rescued the small doggie in the child's arms.

"You will note the grains of sand between her toes and her left foot is still a trifle wet. So is the small doggie. Therefore, the deduction was an obvious one. I say, could you kind people spare us a cup of tea? Perhaps a bit of food?" said the tall stranger.

"How absurdly simple! I feel like such a fool!" shouted the short and stout medical man.

"And so you should, my dear fellow. It is all there for anyone to see, plain as a pikestaff. You know my methods but you never seem to apply them, my dear Watson." chortled Mr Holmes. Dottie and Tinny had served him a few repped sandwiches while Scary was pouring him and the good doctor each a big mug of tea. I was beginning to feel sleepy and those red and white flamingos flying over the lake with green hedgehogs in their beaks were making me quite uneasy.

"Of course you and Dr Watson may join us, Mr Holmes, sir." I croaked and the dear doctor insisted that I needed rest. Will repped up a camp bed or cot along with oodles of cushions and soft pillows for me. The tent was cold after I had changed into jammies and I started sneezing like mad.

"Some cod liver oil for those sniffles, dear child." said Dr Watson and before I could say 'no thank you', two big tablespoons of the foul smelling and worse tasting gunk had slid down my gullet! Meantime Will had arranged a circle of small and medium sized stones around my bunk. Then he ignited his laser sword and used it to heat them up. Soon it felt warm and toasty.

Mr Holmes announced that he would take the first watch, then Will and finally Dr Watson. Tinny cleaned up the camp and banked the campfire while Leo did up the dishes. Tonight I really and truly felt like a queen. Eat your heart out, Mama!

I awakened quite refreshed and I was all for bustling about doing my exercises, cooking breakfast and the hundreds of other things I was used to doing. However, Dr Watson soon put paid to those ideas! I went back to bed but long before noon I had arisen again, dressed in a cool pantsuit and boots and started to do some duck walking until-

"Lady Diana! Please, Your Highness! That ankle is still tender and weak. Sit down by the fire. Does it still pain you?" asked the dear doctor. I winced a bit.

"Perhaps you need another Laudanum shot?" he suggested but I shook my head no. Then I lied blissfully and told him the pain was all gone! I was going to be asking Father Zeus for forgiveness for my sins when I got back home to Paradise Island and I was gonna be in his temple a whole month at least!

I found out much later that Edie and her gang had encountered many adventures along the way to join us. When they finally strolled in two days later, Edie looked like she'd been through the wringer! She was riding a coal black stallion behind a guy dressed all in black. This guy was masked and had a cute 'stache and he was always smiling at us! The kid behind him was riding a chestnut mare and he too was grinning. He wore a white peasant shirt and trousers and sandals. He didn't say much. In fact, he didn't say a darned thing!

Felipe was adept at lip reading and sign language and had soon made friends with all hands especially Dottie and Alley. The nasked guy was Zorro the Fox and he too was lost. His quarry was the Eagle, a guy adept at science stuff and something he called alchemy! It seemed that Zorro had heard that this Eagle was pretending to be a magician of some kind and he was holed up in a city made of green-coloured glass or crystal! Lord Levey? Did this renegade time guy have any friends anywhere?

We rested another day while Edie and her group got some much needed sleep. Zorro handed me a strange looking piece of parchment. I unfolded it and lo and behold! It was some kind of chart or map and it showed a secret way into this Emerald City!

"Mean anything to you, my dear lady?" whispered Zorro the Fox while he was trying to kiss my gloved hand! Edie sure could pick 'em, man! I soon discovered that the entrance to this passage was underwater! I already knew that most of our company either could not swim or could not be immersed in water. I thought and thought but there didn't seem to be any easy answer.

All the while we were poring over the map which Zorro had 'borrowed' from some Alcalde's office, Felipe had dumped out the contents of my carefully packed rucksack all over the grass! Suddenly he held up a curious looking trinket. He passed it to his master who examined in minutely with his own hand lens (magnifying glass). He slowly shook his head.

"I have never seen its like before, Lady Diana." he admitted. Edie might know what it was but she was asleep and I was not about to wake up the poor dear.

"Capital idea, Felipe! Are there any more of them? Can we, what did you call it, 'rep up' more of them? (We all looked at him like all of us were blithering idiots) This allows one to breathe under the water!" shouted Mr Holmes.

"Yeah and it's called a 'rebreather', sir. Why would we need that thing, Mr Holmes?" demanded a yawning Edie Jordan.

I snapped my fingers.

"To use the secret underwater passage into the city! That's OK for the ones that can go into the water but-" I began.

"The 'cold suits', girlies! They inflate! Remember?" yelled Will and all of a sudden our final hurdle had been leaped!

Tinny and Scary and Leo who were either afraid of the water or who couldn't enter the water could be encased in the inflatable suits and by using the rebreathers, we could all enter the Emerald City unseen. Undetected? Lord Levey's mind control did not seem apparent here but that could be because the Field of Flowers was blocking his powers. That close to his domain though could make him as powerful as Sauron the Dark Lord in that cool novel trilogy I had read on the vidscreens last Christmas!

Now Zorro and Felipe as well as Dr Watson and Mr Holmes were being dubious about our 'cold suits'. Then Dr Watson came up with a very bright idea for us.

"My dear lady! Your poor ankle! You must rest for at least two days!" advised my new medical man but Edie shook her head and I was mad as Hell.

"Ain't gonna happen, Doc. Not necessary either. Go ahead and examine Di's ankle if you don't believe me. It's healed. (Dr Watson was amazed when he did as Edie had bade) Deep space or a planet other than Terra, your Earth produces amazingly speedy healing processes. Now climb into those 'cold suits' and stick the rebreathers in your mouths. Whitey, you too and the guy with the hats. Felipe, put Alley and Dinah into the same suit and be sure each one has a rebreather. Di, that goes for Toto as well. He can go in the same suit with Dottie." ordered Edie Jordan/Lara Croft.

I found out later that Daddy Shadow. Pardon me, Edie. I meant to say Shadow Daddy, my father. Anyhow, he had placed his thoughts inside the minds of our balky compadres. Now I began to think that we might not be able to convince Lord Levey to surrender to us after all the trouble we were enduring. Suddenly Daddy was inside my mind!

"Never fear, my dear child. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit and soon Leviathan shall discover that crime does not pay. You will be successful, Diana Prince but hearken to my words. When you visit this wizard of Oz and I am almost certain sure that he is Leviathan because ever since we reached this section of Oz, I have been sensing a mind almost as powerful as my own. Anyway be careful that you do not let him suspect that you know of his true identity.

"Yes, I know he can read minds so you must block yours off from him. That goes for all of you! ("How?" I asked him mentally) You must think hard. Empty your mind of everything else. Do not think of Edie, Will, your friends, your enemies, the time lords, the 3WA, not even of me and especially you must not think of Leviathan! Instead you must concentrate on a high and unyielding, thick stone wall between your conscious and your subconscious minds.

"He will more than likely set you a task or some such idiocy. You must play along with him, Diana and agree to do whatever he asks. When you have accomplished this and only then will you demand him to identify himself. Remember that when he sets your task, you must demand that he agree to grant you any boon or wish any of you may ask. That will trap him and as soon as he reveals himself, everyone he has been manipulating will realize that this is not Oz, Wonderland, ancient Los Angeles, ancien Victorian London, Middle Earth or wherever else they thought they were. Instead they will realize that this is the MATRIX within the Citadel on Gallifrey.

"The Hatter and the wicked Western Witch alone know how to send you back home to the Citadel. However, they don't know how to do so yet. Only when the fool reveals his true identity openly will they realize this and tell you how to leave this MATRIX. Do you understand me, Diana Prince? Rest assured that I will be with all of you until the conclusion of this mission."

Daddy had given me a lot to think about. I found out later that at the same time as he had been inside my mind, he had also been inside of Edie's, Will's, our friends' and our compadres' minds even Dinah's and Toto's! We decided to wait for nightfall before we entered the sewer pipe for the Emerald City.

As soon as dusk had passed us by, Edie and I assembled our teams. We flipped a coin and I lost. That meant I got to be the vanguard and lead the way with my gang. As soon as we were all within the city, I was to find the anteroom to the throne room and take up position somewhere either inside of the room or close to it. I was then to give three short taps on my walkie-talkie as a signal to Edie that it was OK for her and her group to follow us in.

If I ran into trouble, I was to give one long tap and hold it before I whispered the word Karnac. Edie/Lara would then lead half of her team in to our rescue leaving the other half as a reserve unit under Zorro's command. He was to wait an hour and then follow us in or go to the Great Green Gates of the city and demand an audience with the wizard. The decision would be the masked man's alone.

As it turned out, the city's security was worse than Kagura's! The 'cold suits' we deflated and left in the sewer tunnel. We left Whitey and Hatter to guard them while we quickly made our way to the anteroom which was deserted and dark. I wasted no time in signalling Edie to follow us. She too left their suits in the tunnel and she left Felipe and Dr Watson to guard them. She also left them a walkie-talkie. The slightest sign of trouble (same code as before) and they were to either try and join us in the anteroom or bolt for the main gates of the city. We'd rendezvous at our starting point by the lake on the other side of the Field of Dreams which we had crossed with only the dormouse dozing off. Hatter told us that was normal for the little guy and we finished our trek safely.

As soon as Edie's group had joined mine all of the lights in the anteroom activated and the whole place was flooded with light! We soon saw that this room was more like a great hall. In fact, fifty of our Angel 2 dining halls could have been fitted into it with room to spare!

"Sign the book! State your business clearly! Make haste! Time is credits!" roared a voice of thunder which seemed to emanate from nowhere and everywhere! Then I saw the huge ledger upon the massive table beside me. However, no writing implements were visible.

"How? I see no pens or PDOs, sir." I shouted and miraculously those words appeared on the page before me! Mind writing?

"Lara Croft, Snow White, Woodsman, Strider and company. We seek audience with the wizard. Our business is with him and I have no intention of writing it down in a public journal, sir." said Edie/Lara firmly.

"Well spoken, Edna Marie Sharon Jordan. You and Diana Prince and Will may enter my throne room. You three and only you three. Enter." roared the voice and the huge portals at the far end of the long hallway opened to reveal another long carpeted hallway with a dais and throne at the far end of it. The throne was empty!

END of Chapter 29. Chapter 30 'Do Me A Favour' or 'Fixing the Nets' will follow soon. Getting interesting huh? Hiya it's me, Rio DelCroix again! Please R/R/S away and let us have your thoughts. Ya know we all loves ya, right? Have a swell spring and the guys hope to post Chapter 30 before summer gets here. Have a ncie day- Sub-Ensign 2nd Class (jg) Rio DelCroix, 3WA tro-con in training and Academy cadet signing off.