Mixed Messages
Chapter 16
Fixer-upper
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The princess stared at the briefing report, and then at the short man standing across the other side of her desk. She gritted her teeth and slammed her fists down. Her steel blue eyes flashed matte gray without the slightest hint of white and a ghost of silver shimmered over her brown hair. She flew to her feet and said "What do you mean the mission was compromised! Unacceptable!"
He shuddered, backed up a step, fidgeted in his brown suit, and started stuttering. He said, "Your highness, we still do not know what happened. The intelligence is unclear. They claim the facility was attacked the day before the operation was planned. Their team leaders were performing reconnaissance, and were able to intercept and rescue six of the girls. The other eight were lost."
"Someone attacked them? I want to know who! Are we sure this isn't a ruse?
"Thirty-one men were killed including Ivanov."
"Ivanov was killed? Alexi Ivanov? His head of security? The iron fisted Siberian who beat men to death with his bare hands?
"Yes your highness, only four escaped, with the girls."
"How did Ivanov die?"
He slid several pictures of a headless, brown suited body, and one of a brown haired head, across her desk. "Both of his femoral arteries were slashed, one carotid artery was slashed, he was stabbed thirty-six times, and decapitated."
"Decapitated? Not shot?"
"No, your highness. The only men who were shot appear to have been shot by either their own men, or by police."
"Vancouver is nearly the United States! It's full of gun crazy cowboys, nobody there even knows how to use a knife. How many were cut up like that?"
"Nearly all of them had cut or stab wounds. Nine were killed by stabbing, slashing, or having their throats ripped out. Eight appear to have been chopped in half. Seven were decapitated. The remaining seven were shot."
"There were cameras inside the building in Vancouver? I want the video!"
"Your highness, there is no video. Apparently the system failed."
"You're full of good news for me aren't you. Well, then, now you tell me the girl was hospitalized? How?"
"She was visiting family and fell out of a tree."
She walked around the desk and stood up straight, all six-foot two inches plus her red three inch heels. She scowled and stared down into him, arms crossed, through sticky gray eyes and watched him fidget and nervously back up. She said, "What? Fell out of a tree?"
"The report claims she fell while climbing a tree, at her aunt's house, in Washington."
"This makes no sense! Give me the report! And I want video from the hospital."
"But, your highness!"
"The video!"
She stood over him. He snuck a glance straight up into her dead eyes and winced. He trembled, stared down at his feet, and wogued, revealing chattering buck teeth and a slick pelt of golden fur. He cowered and stammered, "Yes, your highness!"
"Out!"
She stomped past the fireplace, and slammed the doors shut, then grabbed her tea cup and hurled it into the fire place.
She pulled out the hospital report and a map of Washington State. She tapped a pen on the map, at a city on the main highway between Seattle and Vancouver. She stared through the dead eyes at pictures of a swollen, purple girl, then gritted her teeth and slammed her fist against the desk. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and her eyes turned steel blue. She said, "Amanda! You don't have any family in Washington, so how did you get hurt so badly. Did you have something to do with this?"
She pulled out a dossier and laid out fourteen pictures of girls, removed six and threw them into the fire. She pulled a second dossier out, found photos of cheerleaders in blue uniforms, and laid them side by side. She stared at the pictures and slid one out. She put the picture of one cheerleader next to the second dossier picture of the heavy set, black haired girl, and thought, Decapitated?
A few minutes later a blonde haired man in a black suit stood before her. She slid a stack of pictures out and said, "Lukas, Ivanov was killed yesterday, along with most of his advance security detail. Take a look. Was this professional?"
He flipped through, glancing at them, and said, "Vicious, obviously determined, but not professional."
"Yes. I agree." She slid three pictures out, and said, "I think it was her. We have to assume that if we know, so does he, but he will be tied up, temporarily, finding a new security chief and getting a team in place. We'll have to advance our time table substantially. Get things in place to move immediately. We have to take advantage of his weakness, and hers, now."
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Misty knocked on Amanda's door, and said, "Honey, you ok?" She heard a muffled mumble, and asked, "Can I come in?"
"Ok"
She opened the door into the dark room, and found Amanda balled up, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, hiding under the purple covers. The front of her pink shirt and a lock of brown hair were soaked with tears. Misty rubbed a soft hand on Amanda's shoulder and said, "Mandy? You've done nothing but cry since you got back. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." She turned away and faced the wall, sobbing. "It's all my fault!"
Misty softly rubbed her shoulders, sighed, and said, "Shhhh, honey. Wook is coming over in a little bit with Jeremy and Ronnie from the gym."
"Wook?" She pulled her legs tightly into her chest, buried her face into her knees, and cowered under her pillow.
"At least get out of bed so you can come down and say hi to him."
"Mom, no." she sniffed, and pulled the purple comforter over her head.
A few minutes later, Wook's voice filtered up the stairs. His heavy footsteps tromped down the hall, then a dark shadow filled the doorway. He said, "Amanda, you in here? Your mom said you were up here."
She sobbed, shuffling herself deep underneath the purple unicorn trimmed bed, while he walked up next to it, loudly sighed, and said, "Your mom told me you fought it out with a tree and lost."
She sobbed and quietly muttered, "Wook, it's all my fault. My best friend is probably dead because of me. They're all gone."
"They aren't dead. People are working on it. Look, Amanda, these things happen. You need to heal and get better so you can get back to training."
"You should have let me die."
"Amanda, don't say that. We're not going to leave you."
"I hate being a Grimm. I just want it to go away."
"It's who you are. You can't make it go away."
"But It's my fault, I ruined everything!"
"And did you learn anything?"
"We kept hitting locked doors. They were chained shut. We got lost so many times. They had guns, and kept shooting at us."
"So no preparation or recon gets you killed. What else?"
"They just kept chasing us, yelling, and shooting. We kept getting cornered and I had to fight. She was so freaked out, and weak, she couldn't climb and could barely even run."
"Right. They hardly fed those girls anything for the last two months. Think, how bad would it have gone if you managed to get all fourteen girls loose?"
"Fourteen? We never would have been able to hide. They would have shot them."
"Yep."
"Me too, probably. I tried to shoot one of their guns, but it went crazy, and burned my hand. The bullet shell things are so hot. They got in my shirt and left burns all over me."
"Amanda, you're incredibly lucky. You never go in alone, especially if you are trying to rescue people. Can you come out from under your bed?"
"You're not mad?"
"No. I'm glad you told Lauren, and I'm glad you are alive."
"She's gone because of me."
"No, work transferred her overseas. She was about to get on an airplane when you called her. Another half hour and she would have been in the air."
"They would have killed me."
"Yep. And that's why you have to train and work with a team. Never do stuff like this alone, plan, prepare, and of course, learn to fight your way out of a jam. How did going to the ground work?"
"Bad. They kicked me. A lot."
"Right. You're going to have to learn to fight differently. It's not competition fighting. You can run if you can stay on your feet. If you can escape, you live to fight another day. We're going to start training you differently, once you get healed back up."
She slowly shuffled and peeked one eye out from under the bed.
He slid a red envelope out of his pocket, laid it on the corner of her dresser, and said, "From Lauren. She never got to say goodbye. It's ok, your mom already read it."
She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and stared at the envelope.
He said, "You going to at least give me a hug?"
She sighed, crawled her way out from under the bed, and stood next to him, looking at her toes. He wrapped her up in a huge hug, and said, "I was so worried."
She grimaced, winced, and her knees wobbled from the stabbing pains in her chest.
He tousled her hair, and said, "Ribs?"
She said, "I don't remember much. Was there another Grimm?"
He leaned down, and whispered in her ear, "Can't talk about that."
Then he stood back up, and said "I hear you lost a few teeth. Let me see."
She stared down, scrubbed the dust bunnies and hair off her clothes, then finally looked up and smiled, showing several large black gaps.
He patted her on the shoulder, fist bumped, and said "Well, Mandy, you're officially in the club. Nobody ever tells you that being a superhero is rough on your smile. I've had most of my teeth knocked out. Come on, let's go down stairs. Ronnie and Jeremy came along to check on you too."
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A few days later, Adalind and Rosalee brought eight youngsters and some strawberry ice cream for a little "Cheer up and get well visit.
Amanda sat with Diana on the floor next to her bed while the thundering herd bounced downstairs. They giggled while watching an online video, made glittery butter slime, and painted their nails. Finally Amanda sighed and said, "I think Mr. Burkhardt helped rescue me. I don't remember much, but I think I saw him. I wish he could come visit too."
Diana flashed her eyes purple, touched Amanda's hand, and said, "I know, but he's trying to find your friend. You can't tell Mom, or your moms."
Amanda's eyes became glassy, she sighed deeply, and said, "I know, I just want to meet him in real life."
"Don't worry, you will. Come on, let's paint our toe nails!"
"Ok! This is so much fun."
Half an hour later, Diana and Amanda bounced down the stairs. Adalind laughed and said, "So, what color did you pick this time?"
Diana wiggled her toes for her mother, and said "Purple!"
"You always pick purple, silly girl."
"Mom! I like purple."
Rosalee and Adalind admired the girls' glittery purple toe nail polish. Rosalee said "Sandra, I understand Amanda got pretty banged up."
Sandra looked up from bouncing and teasing little blonde haired Chuck, and said, "Yes, she got a pretty good concussion, some bruised ribs, a broken nose, and a bunch of broken teeth. She's been on antibiotics to get the swelling down. We're starting with the dental work next week, but it's going to take months to work through all the caps, crowns, and implants."
Adalind sighed and shrugged. "Life with a Grimm. You just don't know how often Diana and I patch Nick and Monroe up when things go crazy. I can't tell you how many stabbings, teeth, and broken bones we've fixed, and don't get me started on when they drag him back dead."
Terror crossed Misty's face. She set down her drink, gulped, and whispered, "Dead?"
Adalind shrugged, sipped her lemonade, and said, "Sure, Rosalee, how many is it now, with Nick? It has to be a couple hundred, if you count all Diana's tantrums."
Rosalee shrugged, and said, "I know we've brought Monroe back to life, what, at least two dozen times."
Sandra's face turned green. She squeaked out, "Dead? Like dead dead?"
Adalind nodded at Rosalee, then said, "Sandra, Diana and I are pretty good at fixing up Grimms. Diana's grandmother taught me. If you are ok with it, we'll fix Amanda up. You just wouldn't believe. I think Nick gets a tooth knocked out or stabbed every week."
Sandra rubbed her hands across her face and into her hair, stared at the floor, then mouthed, "Sure, yeah. Ok, I guess."
Diana took Amanda's hand and said, "Mandy, Mom is going to fix your nose, teeth, and stuff."
Amanda hesitated, and said, "Does it hurt?"
"It stings a little, but it's ok."
"Ok."
Rosalee took Sandra and Misty's hands and said, "She has to do this wogued, as a Hexenbiest. Are you going to be ok?"
Misty started fidgeting and sweating. She looked around at everyone, the color drained from her face, and she gulped.
"Misty, let's go in the kitchen and get a drink while she does this."
Misty wiped her brow, exhaled, and quietly said, "Thanks Rosalee."
Sandra said, "I'd like to see this, if it's ok with you."
Adalind said, "Sure. Ok, Amanda, are you ready? I need to wogue to do this. Now, if it starts to hurt too much, just tell me and I can help with that. After we fix you up in Kehrsite mode, I'll have you wogue and we can make sure nothing is injured in your Lowen mode either."
Amanda said, "Ok, Mrs. Burkhardt."
Adalind twisted her head and transformed into an ancient mummified witch corpse. She ground bony jaws and held out a leathery hand. She laid a curled hand on Amanda's face, focused her shrivelled eyes and slowly rubbed over Amanda's broken nose.
A few minutes later, Amanda pushed and pulled lightly, sniffed in slowly, and said, "Wow, cool. Mom! My nose! It's fixed!"
Hexen-Adalind ground bony jaws together, and said, "Ok, ready to open wide?"
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The ancient witch corpse rubbed a leathery finger into the gap in Amanda's mouth where a missing fang once lived. Adalind touched her other bony hand on Amanda's mane and said, "Ok, ready? Please don't bite my fingers."
Amanda breathed in, then jumped and winced as a long fang sprouted out of her left jaw. Adalind pulled bony fingers out of Amanda's mouth and said, "You ok?"
"Yes, Mrs. Burkhardt. It just burns."
"Here, tell me if this helps." Adalind massaged a curled hand on Amanda's face and squinted.
Amanda's eyes became glassy, she smiled, and said. "Mmmm. Yes, thanks."
"Ok, ready?" Adalind put her fingers on Amanda's gums and rubbed. New bright white teeth sprouted one after another, and refilled the holes between the older teeth. She slowly massaged her hand over Amanda's hairy ear, across the side of her head, and around the back of her skull. Amanda winced, gritted her teeth and inhaled with a jerk, then slowly exhaled and relaxed.
Sandra stared, mouth wide open, slowly closed her mouth, rubbed a hand on her face, and her mouth fell wide open again. Finally, she said, "How are you doing that? She had teeth missing."
The ancient witch corpse smiled, ground her jaws, and said, "I've had a lot of practice. It's just life with a Grimm."
Adalind rubbed a mummified hand across Diana's shoulder, and said, "Diana, do you mind checking your sister to see if we've missed anything?"
Diana flashed her eyes fiery purple, said, "Ok mom." She put her hands on Amanda and squinted. She rubbed over Amanda's right ribs, down over her liver, over her kidney, and down to her hip. Amanda gritted her teeth, arched her back with her head back, raised up all the way up on her tip-toes, and gripped claws deep into the arm of the green love seat. Tears rolled down her furry cheeks, and claws sliced through the toes of her shoes. A crackling sound echoed as her claws slowly ripped gouges into the wood floor.
Adalind rubbed a hand on her back and said "Amanda, honey, are you Ok?"
Amanda hissed through her teeth, winced, and grunted out, "Mmmmmmm! Ugh! I'll be fine, it just burns."
Finally, Diana finished. Amanda came down off her toes and retracted her claws. She transformed back to normal and wrapped the ancient witch corpse into a huge hug. She said, "Thanks, Mrs. Burkhardt! I feel so good now." Then she turned and wrapped Diana into a huge hug, and said, "And you too!"
She bounced over to Sandra and said, "Mom! Look! All my teeth are back, my ears aren't ringing, and I can hear in this ear again. Yay! I'm going to show Mom too!" She grabbed Diana's hand and ran into the kitchen.
Adalind transformed back to the beautiful young woman who looked perennially twenty-five. Sandra stood up, wrapped her into a hug, and said, "I can't thank you enough."
Rosalee poked her head out and said, "Ok?"
Adalind winked and nodded. Rosalee brought Misty back out, and said, "It's pretty important for Amanda to have an extra-high protein and calcium diet for the next couple weeks. Amanda, you're in luck, that means lots of ice cream, milk, peanut butter, and meat. You're going to need to make sure you eat an extra scoop of ice cream with us today, doctor's orders!"
Sandra and Misty laughed while Amanda giggled and shovelled another spoonful of strawberry ice cream into her mouth. Adalind chuckled and said, "Doctor's orders."
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Connie Prentice's eyes slowly opened in the darkness. She squinted through the dark at the buzzing phone, flapped her hand across the bedside table, and finally the clock.
She grumbled under her breath, then answered.
"What? Now? No, it wasn't supposed to be for two months. Two days? Where? Seattle?"
She groaned and then shook the man next to her. "JJ. Wake up. We're doing this now."
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3.2k 12/31/20 r1