Armageddon Z

The Fall of Boulder Hill

[Author's note: This story certainly jumps around, in terms of when each chapter takes place, but I'm not going to apologize for that. When it is done, all the information will be there for a complete picture. This chapter is more of a MASK episode following the 85 cartoon, not the current comics, but since the inclusion of the Specialist Trakker figure as part of the GI Joe team, it still fits in the category. More MASK characters will be appearing in later chapters too. There is so much I want to do with this story, it is intimidating, and this chapter is longer than originally planned to include everything it needed too..

One of the reasons for the delays for updating this story is that it was such a difficult chapter to write, while I am still working on the other stories. I also have been spending a lot of time working on an original story, The Serpent Fleet, which is available at amazon... but enough of that, on with the story.]

It was an odd place for a gas station, built into the mountainside on that desert road, but it was in just the perfect location for the car that was on the verge of running out of gas. A young teenage girl with reddish blond hair climbed out of the passenger side and started pumping gas into the car's tank.

The girl's actions were being observed by two others, from inside the gas station.

"She's…" the young man started.

"Yes, I bet she is from Jasper," the older bald man with a greying red beard said, totally misreading what was on his young friend's mind. "I'll go find out."

Alex stepped out of the station, and walked over to the front corner of the car, standing at a respectful distance. "Are you passing through?"

"No, we're moving here," the girl answered.

"We have had quite a few new arrivals here lately," Alex said, "Must be hard leaving your home."

"Not always," a shadow crossed over the girl's eyes, and Alex knew she was one of the refugees.

"Well, my name is Alex Sector, my friends and I run this little gas station, but most of the time you can find me in town at my office, tending the local animals."

"Oh, I guess we look forward to seeing you around."

"I'm Scott—Scott Trakker," Scott announced, still out of breath from running out of the gas station office.

Alex smiled at the interest Scott was showing in the new girl, as he went back inside the station where his friend and leader met him. "I may have found a new way to keep Scott distracted."

"Later," Matt Trakker said, "Venom is on the move, we need to establish their endgame."

"I'll keep track of the mission from here so you can be mobile with the Thunderhawk."

"Just what the computer recommended."

Outside the gas station, Scott's conversation was brought to an end.

"Sierra, come on, we have to go," the driver of the car said.

"Sorry, but I really need to get going," Sierra said.

"Okay… but, maybe we will see each other again sometime?" Scott asked.

"I hope so, I would like that," Sierra climbed back into the car and it drove off.

Scott stood there, watching it drive away, when the gas station garage opened up, and his dad's Thunderhawk, Brad's Condor and several other cars drove out of it, heading down the road.

"Aw… I missed going on the mission," he said to himself, kicking a rock and heading back into the gas station.

-0O0-

"So, Dad, how did the mission go?" Scott sat at the overly large dining room table, across from his dad.

"It wasn't very productive. They split up and we lost them. We'll have to wait until they make their next move before we can figure out what they are up to."

"Huh… Miles' plans aren't usually so drawn out."

"You're right," Matt said, "It feels like there is a change coming, and we will need to be ready for it."

Scott returned to his meal, although he was more picking at it than eating.

"Is there something on your mind, Scott?"

"I was thinking about maybe going to public school."

"We've had this conversation before, Scott. I need you where you will be safe, and the education you get here is above top notch. I can already guarantee you'll be accepted into whatever college you choose."

"Oh, so you will let me go to college. It's not like your keeping me safe…"

"No, not the way you tend to sneak away on missions."

"I don't have any friends, Dad…"

"Sure you do…"

"No, I don't. No one my own age, no social activities! For goodness sake, my best friend is a robot!"

"Is this about that girl you met today?"

"Yes! No. It's about a lot of things."

"The nature of my position, Scott… it's vulnerable."

"I know all that Dad. I don't want to make things hard for you, I just want a normal life… for a little while."

"Alex said she was from Jasper."

"That's where the mission you never talk about happened, isn't it?"

"She and a few others were sent here because they were especially helpful during that mission."

"So?"

"The point is, that while it may be very improper for me to do so… I can get her address if you want to see her again."

-0o0-

As a scooter, T-bob transported Scott away from the Trakker mansion, and into the suburbs.

"Is it so bad that I'm your friend, Scott?" T-bob asked.

"No, T-bob. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings… I just got so angry with my Dad and how he tries to control every aspect of my life. I'm glad you are my friend."

"You know, you could build a female robot, then we could both have a girlfriend."

Scott laughed, "I wouldn't want a girl robot coming between us, T-bob."

The white egg-shaped robot pulled up to a stop in front of a house with a moving van in it's driveway. "Well, this is it," T-bob said. Scott climbed off, and T-bobs wheel folded up into his body, while his handles extended into arms with claw like hands. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," Scott said, "I've never gotten this far before."

The boy braced himself and willed his legs forward. He never imagined that talking to a girl could be so difficult.

-0o0-

Sierra had been seeing Scott for a couple of weeks before Scott finally gave in to his father's request to have her over for dinner. She would never mistake the Trakker home for Wayne Manor or an old British estate, but it was still an imposing size, just not very tall. When Scott brought her inside, there seemed an air of artificiality to the place.

"T-bob, could you go tell Dad we're here. I'm gonna show Sierra my room."

"Sure thing, Scott," T-bob said and waddled off into the house.

"Your room? How long before the food is ready?" Sierra said with a sly smile.

Scott blushed, "Nah, you never know where my Dad has camera's hidden in this place."

"I can see the need for security, but there are limits. You need your privacy too," she said.

"Well, my Dad doesn't really own this place. He has it as part of his work."

"I could get behind a job like that."

"It is exciting… but I really can't talk about it."

"I know the story. My last almost boyfriend had a thing like that."

"Almost boyfriend?"

"We liked each other, but we could never get things to work out, so I wound up dating a guy who was a jerk most of the time. And then he was gone. Wait, you keep asking my about past relationships, but you have yet to tell me about any of yours?"

"I don't really have any. I'm home schooled by my Dad or a Venture Home Learning Pod, and I've been all over the world with my Dad for his work. I have friends all over the world, but no close friends; certainly no girlfriends."

"I know you fooled around some."

"Yeah…" Scott blushed, remembering a time when he and another girl, he forgot her name, had gotten very friendly with each other while hiding from Venom in a barn. They had to do something to pass the time, she had said.

There was something standard about the house they walked through. Every time she thought there ought to be a picture, there was. Usually a landscape, and under it was always a small side table, small battery powered candles and some other accent piece.

Scott opened a door. "Here's my room."

Scott's room was the first room in the mansion that looked lived in, with old transforming robot toys on the shelves, and a plastic space ship and some planes hanging from the ceiling. It was still a large room, with a good-sized bed, made up with its blue comforter.

Sierra spun around and fell back on his bed. "Now this is nice. All that sneaking around, we should have just come here."

Scott sat down next to her, with a grin. "I wouldn't have changed a thing." He leaned down and kissed her.

Scott's romantic gesture was interrupted by the sound of a man clearing his throat at the doorway.

Sierra thought Scott could have hurt himself with the speed he went from leaning over her to standing up. She sat up more leisurely, and thought something looked familiar about the blond-haired man in a suit who was standing in the doorway. She couldn't shake the idea she had seen him somewhere before.

"Sierra, this is my Dad," Scott sheepishly said.

"Matt Trakker," the man said, stepping forward to shake her hand, "It's good to see you again. I look different when I'm not in my work clothes."

Her mind flashed back to running the nurse's desk during the final days in Jasper, helping inspect the students and other civilians for injuries. Specialist Trakker was part of the military force sent to investigate, and organized the evacuation.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine, Scott, sorry." She stood up. "I wanted to thank you for your help back there."

"I was just doing my job, the thanks goes to you."

"Okay," Scott said, "It was fine when just one of you was keeping a secret from me, but if the both of you are in on it, somebody is going to spill the beans."

"It's not really a dinner appropriate conversation," Matt said, and the subject was dropped for the moment.

Sierra followed Scott as he moved to the door, but stopped when she saw a photo sitting on his desk of a little boy with a blue shirt standing in front of a burgundy truck. "Is this you?"

"Yeah, back when I was younger."

Matt chuckled, "Even then, I could never keep Scott from tagging along on my jobs."

"You really buffed up since then," Sierra rubbed Scott's muscled arm.

"Well, since the arcade closed, about the only thing to do around here is work out in the gym."

"You have a gym membership?"

"He means the one down the hall," Matt said.

"Wow."

Matt led them into the dining room, with its massive table. Plates were already set out, full of food, waiting for them.

"So how are you settling into your new home?" Matt asked once they had settled down to their meal.

"It's okay. It doesn't quite feel like home yet, but Scott is helping."

"I suppose that is natural," Matt said, "and Scott has always tried to be helpful. He has been in much better spirits since the two of you met, too."

"Dad…" Scott protested.

"Sorry, this is new for us. I don't mean to embarrass anyone."

"Sierra said she would help me with my next robotics project," Scott said.

"Really?"

"Yes," she answered. "I'm not a robotics genius like Scott, but I can help with the lifting and assembly, and some of the more basic programming."

"Are you going to replace me?" T-bob asked.

"Of course not, T-bob," Sierra said.

"Besides, didn't you say you wanted a girlfriend?" Scott teased.

The robot's answer was an untranslated series of beeps and light flashes across his 'mouth.'

A computerized beep sounded from elsewhere in the house. Matt immediately put down his fork. "Excuse me," Matt pulled out a remote control and pressed a button.

The top half of the far wall slid upwards into the ceiling to reveal a high tech looking computer with monitor that was showing a News 44 program with anchor Hector Ramirez. The tagline behind him read "Bikers of the Living Dead."

"Details are still sketchy at this point, and the military is pulling us back, while evacuating several local towns down in the Florida Everglades. Most witnesses report attacks from zombies or, more colorful accounts even report zombie bikers."

Matt turned off the TV, and the wall slid back down. "I may be busy in the coming days, Scott."

"Zombies? That can't be real, can it, Dad?" Scott asked, but when he turned to look at Sierra he noticed the haunted look on her face.

"Yes, Scott. I'm afraid it can. I have to go look into this. Jasper wasn't a MASK mission, Scott, so I couldn't go into it, but in light of this…" Matt paused. "Sierra, I'm officially giving you permission to talk about the Jasper incident with Scott. It may not always seem like it, but he can keep a secret."

Matt Trakker stood, and walked to the near wall, where a section of it opened for him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked.

Sierra nodded. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

"Okay, we'll go back to my room. T-bob, keep an eye on dad, let us know what's going on."

She allowed him to help her up and the two of them went back to his room where the two of them sat down on the side of his bed. "It started on an ordinary day like any other, except my boyfriend didn't make it to school. I never found out what happened to him, but I know he's dead. So many other kids didn't show for school either… but that was just the beginning. I missed the real horror, of family members dying, and tearing apart the living. I think Raff had it the worst…"

Scott comforted her as she described the events, and the horror she had felt during the zombie epidemic Cobra had started that resulted in the town of Jasper being razed to the ground. The feelings of having to deal with the destruction of her home, and everything she had ever known, saying goodbye to what friends had survived. She told him about the last stand, and the discovery that living transforming robots had been hiding out in their town, and risked their own destruction as they held the line to give the humans a chance to escape.

Even for Scott, who was used to AIs, transforming vehicles and masks that could perform near miraculous feats, it was a lot to take in. It did explain some of her mood swings and reluctance to discuss her old home. Although he did enjoy some of the stuff they did together when she tried to distract him from thinking about it.

-0o0-

A few weeks later, life had already resumed a new sense of normalcy.

"Good morning, Mr. Trakker," Sierra said, arriving at their estate.

"Good morning, Sierra. Today isn't a school day?"

"Teacher work day. Any more zombie indications?"

"No. The situation in the Everglades has been contained, but we have no idea what started that incident."

"Hmm. I'm sure you have some ideas."

"Well, a few theories, but nothing definite."

"You mean its classified?"

"Yes."

"Scott and I were going to that new shop in town."

"Sounds like a good idea. I had been planning to go into town with Scott myself so we could get flu shots. Maybe you could stop by a pharmacy for a flu shot?"

"Da-ad… you're always trying to keep me safe. You don't have to," Scott said. "Let's go Sierra."

Instead of taking T-bob, Sierra drove them in her car. They stopped at an old fashioned general store where they looked at magazines before getting sandwiches and sodas. It was a much more innocent date than they frequently went on, but they just did what felt natural.

Their final stop was a pharmacy. Sierra stocked up on a few feminine products, while Scott went to the pharmacy area for a flu shot.

Thanks to the line, she finished up before Scott did, she found him just as he was receiving his injection from a nurse.

"Hey, are you ready Scott?"

Scott rubbed his arm. "Yeah."

Sierra glanced back at the nurse now that she was back on the other side of the counter. Something looked familiar about her. "Do you recognize that nurse from anywhere?"

"Her? No. Never seen her before."

"Great. This is going to drive me crazy until I figure it out."

"Where to next?"

"That food festival thing should be starting soon, we could go to that."

"What type of food? BBQ? Greek?"

"I don't know, does it even matter."

"Nope, let's go."

Sierra turned the car towards the down town area. The entire time she kept thinking about where she had seen that woman before. Was she confusing her with some actress? No, that didn't feel right, she didn't have those kind of looks. She hadn't been in town long enough to have that many friends, certainly not with Scott taking up so much of her town, and the woman was way too old to be a schoolmate. She would have remembered if she was a teacher. Someone from somewhere else then… There was only one memorable somewhere else. Maybe she was a member of the GI Joe team? No, she was someone from school.

Despite his seatbelt, Scott slid across the seat as Sierra did a rapid U turn, and sped back towards the Trakker house.

"What's happening?" Scott asked.

"I need to talk to your dad," she said, "I think I remembered where I saw that woman before."

It was a miracle she wasn't stopped for speeding, and Sierra didn't slow down when she reached the Trakker's driveway, as a result the car wound up stopping up on the sidewalk in front of the mansion.

"Come on, Scott, lets go!" the young woman ran into the house, and up and down several of the long corridors, calling out for Mr. Trakker, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where is he?"

"Wait here, Sierra, I'm gonna check something." Scott left her in the hallway and ran into his dad's study, where he triggered one of the many secret doors into the inner workings of the house. "Computer, where's dad?"

"Matt Trakker's current location: MASK Headquarters!" the high-pitched computer voice said in its loud monotone.

Scott triggered the intercom, "Sierra, how important is it you see my dad right now?"

"Did you not see how many traffic laws I broke getting us here?"

"Okay, I know where he is, let's go." He flipped a switch and another secret door opened in front of Sierra, allowing her to join Scott in the house's computer room. "Come with me." He led her into an elevator that deposited them in a strangely shaped subway tunnel, where a car was already waiting for them on the track with its glass windows, and raised door.

The two sat down, and the door closed. "MASK Headquarters," Scott said. The car started to hum and hover just above the track as it took off down the tunnel at an incredible speed. "Dad's not going to be happy I brought you here."

The car slowed to a stop, and waiting there for the door to open was Matt Trakker, and two other men wearing strange masks that covered their entire heads. Trakker was wearing the same grey utility outfit and armor he wore when she first saw him.

"Scott…" Matt started to talk but then stopped, trying to collect himself. The anger in his voice was powerful. "This is not how you impress a girlfriend, no matter who she is!" he finally said.

"Mr. Trakker, how many were relocated here?" Sierra blurted out before Matt could stop her.

"Five families," one of the other men said.

"Did any of them work at the school?"

"No," Matt said, an element of caution was starting to dilute the anger in his voice at her presence in such a highly classified instillation.

"I think I saw the nurse!" She blurted out, "The Nurse from my old school."

"Where?" Matt demanded.

Sierra started to cow, and took a step back. "In the pharmacy. I think she gave Scott his flu shot."

"Quickly," Matt grabbed Scott by the arm and dragged him down a hallway.

"I guess you had better come with us," one of the other masked men said, sounding more friendly.

"Don't be scared," T-bob waddled over to walk beside Sierra, "they are all really nice, honest."

Matt was already in the room Sierra and the others entered, while Scott was behind a curved glass wall.

"Computer, begin scan."

"Scan commencing," the same computer voice as from the house said. "Warning: Compound Z detected."

"Computer," Matt began…

"This is the part where he asks for the agents best suited for the mission," T-bob quietly told Sierra.

"Call in everyone," Matt finished, "and contact Dr. Greer at the Pitt."

"What does that mean?" Sierra asked, but she knew what it meant.

"Is Scott going to be all right?" T-bob asked.

"We are going to do everything we can for Scott," Alex Sector came out of the shadows, he was the bald man with the beard she met when she was first coming into town. "And one thing it means is that our assumption that your old school nurse was the distributor of the Zombie pathogen was correct."

"Get Julio and anyone else with any medical knowledge in here now," Scott said.

"You can bet Scott isn't the only one she infected," one of the other masked men said.

"The rest we will need to get into the city," Alex said. "We don't know when the infection will kick in, but once it does, we need to contain it, immediately.

"Find her!" Matt said. "She doesn't know we're on to her yet. I don't want her leaving town."

"She may have an antidote," Alex said.

The collection of men and women, each wearing a unique outfit that matched the mask they wore, steadily increased. A total of fifteen different men came in, and were dispatched either to search for a miracle cure for Scott, or to face the threat they now knew was developing.

"Doc can't make it," one man said to Matt, "He sends his regrets, but he is dealing with another outbreak elsewhere."

"Another outbreak?"

"That's what he said. There's some bad mojo going on out there. He also said they have yet to discover a cure."

"If they couldn't find a cure, then we will, and fast."

-0o0-

On the Condor, Brad reached the pharmacy first, traveling by laser guided hyperspeed. The display in his mask showed the others would be there shortly. He pulled his gun, the one piece of equipment MASK agents rarely carried. But today was different, it was personal, and the stakes had never been higher.

After injection, Compound Z typically took up to 12 hours to kill and resurrect its victim. Time was not their friend. Brad activated his Hocus Pocus mask and entered the pharmacy.

"Don't move; you're under arrest!" Brad shouted, his gun leveled at the nurse, who was about to administer yet another shot to an unsuspecting victim.

She dropped everything and turned to run, only to find her path blocked by a massive police officer, his arms crossed, staring down at her, as if daring her to do something.

Brad quickly handcuffed her, and started walking her out towards his bike, and the freshly arrived Rhino truck. "Come on, you have a lot of questions to answer."

The large cop vanished, revealing itself to be a holographic projection from Brad's Hocus Pocus mask.

-0o0-

"I have nothing to say to you," the Cobra agent spat defiantly at the MASK agents who surrounded her cell in their Bunker Hill headquarters.

Trakker and the rest all wore their Masks, standing around her in imposing silence, except for asking questions.

"We know you are a member of the Crimson Guard, one of Cobra's elite. What is your mission here?"

She held her tongue.

Matt Trakker adjusted the subharmonics his mask was producing, the captive winced in obvious pain.

"What's wrong? Do you need an aspirin? Why has Cobra sent you here?"

She cried out and doubled over, clutching her head. "The Commander doesn't tell us why, just what to do!"

Trakker thought about rewarding a truthful answer, by reducing the amount of pain; instead he intensified it. "You came here to infect people with Compound Z. Give us the antidote."

She spoke through her painfilled cry, "I don't have it. I don't think it exists."

Trakker's temper flared, and their prisoner passed out from the pain, although, at that moment, if his sonic torture had caused a brain hemorrhage, he wouldn't have minded.

"We needed her conscious, Matt," Alex said.

In a different room, Sierra and T-bob waved through the glass at Scott who lay on a bed surrounded by more electronic sensors and medical equipment than an entire hospital wing.

Scott smiled and waved back, before his attention was diverted by Dr. Lopez shining a light in his eyes to check his pupil dilation.

"Are you going to give me an antibacterial shot?" Scott asked.

"No," Dr. Lopez said, "Antibacterials, or anything else we do to increase your white cell count, will only increase the development of Compound Z. Don't worry, though, Nurse D, at the Pitt is the leading expert on this disease. I told her about the situation, and she is sending us the formula's for the newest experimental compounds to combat the disease."

"Has anyone been successfully cured?"

"It wouldn't bother me in the least, if you turned out to be the first, so don't give up on me, because I certainly haven't given up on you, and neither has your lady friend, from the looks of it."

The computer's voice had been muted, but the readout listed the disease's progression at 45%.

"I sure hope Scott is going to be okay," T-bob said.

"He has to be," Sierra replied.

The progression readout continued to climb upwards towards 100%, even after Matt volunteered their prisoner to assist with nursing duties. He hoped that either the guilt of having hurt Scott, or the fear that he would turn and infect her, would convince the Cobra agent to be more forthcoming.

Scott continued to grow tired, the comforting voice of Dr. Lopez and the beep of his heart monitor contributed towards lulling him towards sleep. He was too tired to even care when the doctor's voice became alarmed, or the beeping became slower and slower until it turned into a steady tone.

"What is happening?" T-bob asked. "I don't understand, how is Scott?"

Sierra couldn't answer, her throat wouldn't work, and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Matt Trakker approached Sierra, walking like a zombie.

"When is Scott going to be better?" T-bob asked.

Matt reached over, behind T-bob's head and flipped a switch. The lights in the robot's eyes, mouth and buttons dimmed off and the robot unceremoniously collapsed onto the floor.

Sierra and Matt hugged each other tightly enough to hide their respective tears from each other, while still sharing their mutual grief.

"I'll send you back to the house," Matt's voice broke, as he tried to force himself to focus on the business at hand. If he did that, maybe he could pretend to function for a little longer. "Once there, you should get out of town."

"I'm sorry," she said. The two of them walked back to the automated tram that was waiting.

"I know, me too."

A commotion started to build with increasingly raised sounds and voices from the rooms Matt was escorting her away from.

"He bit me," a male voice said, followed by another voice shouting, "Get into quarantine."

A shrill woman's voice started screaming, "Get me out of here! Get me OUT!"

"I should stay and help," Sierra forced her voice to work, part of her mind moving past the grief.

"No, you get someplace safe," Matt said, closing the door of the tram behind her, "I'll take care of things here. Take here to the mansion."

The tram car hovered up above the track, then started speeding down the track back towards the mansion.

After the tram sped off, Matt put on his Spectrum Mask and turned to the situation behind him.

0oOo0

Sierra sat alone in the eerily silent tram car. Not even a robot for company. She had never before felt so alone.

The lights flickered.

That didn't seem right… had something gone wrong behind her at MASK Headquarters? Although, if Scott had turned, then that meant that people all over town were dying, and coming back as zombies to attack anyone nearby. Something like that could easily be happening at the power plant too, but surely an instillation like MASK Headquarters or the Trakker Mansion had its own emergency power supply.

The lights went out again, both inside and outside the tram. The magnetic field that kept the car suspended over the track gave out, and the car dropped, creating sparks, and sending it cattycornered into the wall.

The lights flickered on once more, before the blackness was permanent, only briefly broken by the sparking of cables from the wrecked tram car.