Disclaimer and Such:
The Thunderbolt Squadron and all respective characters involved are the creation of RustyD, who's been really cool with letting me use his guys for a guest spot in this fic. If you want to see more, you should check out "The Fighters II" or "Storming Skies" by RustyD. Or any of his stuff is really worth looking at.
-Advance Wars 2
--Death Array
---Chapter 12: Last Stop
I could see and hear the lone operating missile car reposition itself to let loose a volley of anti-air missiles. The fire and squeak of the barely operating turret made it easy to see that the Thunderbolts were coming in head on. I'm pretty sure the whole urgency of warning them about it was just to make me feel better, but any mission involving Black Hole is asking for trouble. I figured they could use all the help they could get.
Andy was pacing the flatbed car as I got their frequencies from Sami. I had to tell the flight leader they were heading right into the crosshairs, and to know if that recent fire had hit anyone.
"Hello? Anyone receiving up there?" I asked quickly, while watching the missile battery reposition itself, it was locking on to someone.
Man, what was the range on that thing anyway?
"This is Glenn Gordon, flight leader of the Thunderbolts. What's going on?"
It was the muffled kind of response, like they were speaking through a helmet and facemask, you know, the type normally associated with flying a fighter jet.
"Look, you guys need to stay south of your target... and you better hurry up! They got a missile car, and it's shooting at someone up there."
The way I saw it, the Death Ray was a big shield from the side I had blown their missile battery up. They'd have to fire into or up and around, which was impossible, to tag any enemy fighters after them. The second car was supposed to eliminate this problem, but I kinda blew it up.
"Copy that, let's move 'Bolts'. Now you guys on the ground better take some kind of cover, we're about to drop the sky on your position."
Hell, he didn't have to tell me twice. I figured, maybe we ought to get back into that Neotank. It had to be the most armored thing on this train, especially after I leveled two cars with it's cannon. Frantically, I waved Andy back into the tank and shut the hatch tightly. I swear, if I had it, I'd be using duct tape. I hoped this new giant Neotank could take an air strike from fighter jets, or our asses were cooked.
Then we could both feel it, a single thump that seemed to quicken as the train moved on. What was one, soon became two, then three, then four, in a rapid succession until we could hear the explosions land on the tank. It took some punishment, but eventually it's systems shut off leaving us in the dark. Damn piece of junk. My heart nearly stopped when a piece of the hull snapped off like a busted toy and the roaring explosions from the missile strike rushed into the tank.
It was deafening, if I didn't know better, I'd say those guys were shooting at us. But I forgot, we were two cars down from the Death Ray. Almost ground zero no matter what you do and I was sure as hell they were hitting it with everything they had. Soon, the both of us were thrown forward as the train came to a screeching halt. I prayed they didn't derail the damn thing, I was tired of being thrown around in this tin can.
Before too long, everything was silent, and only the wind was making any confirmation we were still alive. Man, I also don't really know when I popped the hatch and soon tumbled out of the tank. They HAD derailed the train, or at least the section closest to the Death Ray. Our car and a couple others had gone with it and when the flatbed jumped the tracks, it sent the Neotank rolling into a tree
Now I was lying on the grass looking upwards trying to get my bearings after that air strike. When you looked at the Neotank, you knew they hit that train hard. The legs had been blown off, and the shiny black paint job had been burned off to reveal the bare gunmetal gray color associated with metal.
"Uh... Andy, it's all clear, come on out."
He moaned something back to me along the lines of 'I'm okay', but stayed in the tank for awhile. I was looking around, seeing all the trees that were either on fire or crushed under debris. Only a burning skeleton of the Death Ray remained as it's dish had been punched through like a fist into a piece of paper. Parts of the train had been thrown everywhere, looked like a damn... uh... it looked like a train wreck... I could vaguely hear jets flying by overhead, they were pretty low.
"Wolf? Wolf? You there?" I could hear Sami's voice, it sounded anxious.
"Yeah I'm here... just barely though."
I heard a big sigh on her end.
"How did you survive?" She couldn't help but asking. "Actually, never mind, save it for the debriefing. We're sending copters to your location for immediate evac. Just sit tight... and outstanding work Wolf."
When the call was over, Andy crawled out of the overturned tank with his hair sticking up like he put his fingers in an electric socket. I helped him up and we both began to walk alongside the tracks of the wasted train. To observe the damage. Man, these guys didn't destroy the train, they wiped it from the face the earth. And it was precision striking too... the forest looked relatively unharmed if the debris from the train didn't flatten them.
"Damn, those guys don't mess around." I muttered.
"Of course not. They're only the best squadron Orange Star has." Andy told me.
I did a double take, and then really started to think about it. Oh hell... those Thunderbolts? With... Glenn Gordon? The ex-Green Earth fighter pilot guy who was on the news? What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I've flown jets before... but I'm more of a guy who stays on the ground when it comes to vehicles. Urg... I think I came off rather insulting with the whole, stay south of the Death Ray stuff.
"Dammit Andy, why didn't you tell me sooner?" I turned on him, just angry at myself at that point.
"I thought you knew... I mean really... It's not like it was a secret or anything."
"Oh well, I think I was a bit preoccupied with Death Rays and guys named Glock shooting at us to really think about it." I answered sarcastically. "But no, it didn't cross my mind for a second."
We probably could have bickered like that for a bit longer, but we had made it closer to the front of the train, and now we could see bodies.... or what was left of the bodies. I saw some mercenaries and some alien guys... But I was really looking for Black Hole VIPs... surely they got taken out all in one strike... Course, that's wishful thinking on my part, cause I didn't see anyone.
"Man... where's their bosses?" I mumbled. "They couldn't have gotten far..."
Rotors soon filled the air, and we looked up expecting to see some orange paintjob of a transport copter. But instead it was pitch black... Black Hole copters... It was flying away from us, and keeping really low, probably to avoid getting picked off by the Thunderbolts. Course I didn't know if they were still around after blowing the train up. That's one thing you can count on Hawke for, a good escape if things turn sour. After the disappearing act he pulled during "The Great Sea Battle" you could almost call him a master of escape.
"Aw man..." Andy groaned.
I could see what he was groaning about. The door was still open and we could see perfectly Flak, Lash, Hawke, and the rest of them. None of them were looking at us, just kind of staring off into space as if they didn't believe their little toy just got ripped up by a flock of fighters. Andy and I just watched as their copter disappeared over the tops of the trees and into the horizon.
"I bet you twenty bucks they'll be back." I told Andy.
"I'm not taking that bet." He fired back, and we both gave a small grin.
----------------------------------------
Copter rides were so much fun after all that. I didn't have to run, or slide, or hide anymore. I could just sit down on cold seat in a T. Copter and relax. I got on one when I radioed to Sami it was all over. Good thing Black Hole took us home with their train, so when the copter picked us up... all we had to do was enjoy a short ride to Dawn Airbase where Sami, Nell, and who knows who else could meet us halfway.
Andy was real excited, cause he didn't have to play the part of the prisoner anymore and could get back to his commanding job. I was sure as hell going to stick with the groups the next time. I still can't believe I subjected myself to a solo mission willingly. Course, I did make it out alive more or less... so maybe it wasn't the worst idea. I think I snapped out of my retrospect when the pilot told us we were about to land.
I remember stepping out in my torn, burned, cut, and overall crappy orange uniform in the face of my CO and supreme Commander. Andy was real excited to get back home and didn't waste a second greeting Sami. Seemed like he just got all his enthusiastic energy back. Couldn't say I was as happy as he was, I was just really tired. Explosions and tanks and Death Rays... all kind of exhausting really.
"Heckler! Good job on a mission well done!" Sami greeted me out in the middle of the helipad. "I'm proud of you soldier!"
We began to move away from the noisy copter and towards some hangars. I could see some fighter jets and a group of eight people... But Sami had my attention right now.
"Yeah well..." I started slowly. "Wasn't much of a mission. Hawke was onto me the whole time. That Groling guy was actually one of theirs... With me running around, I was just keeping you from bombing the place."
Sami kind of frowned in that way that made you stand straight up and think over your words. You knew you made a mistake and you just hoped there was a chance to make up for it in the future.
"You forget about saving Jess so quickly? Green Earth owes you a bit of thanks, in fact after this, they want you to meet with their leaders for a more direct gratitude. You can count on Eagle and Drake being there too."
As honorable as that sounded, I didn't really look forward to any sort of long distance travel. I just wanted to stay home and sit on my ass for a few days, and remember what it was like when you were just a nobody soldier in Orange Star. I don't know why I was so negative in all... I think I wasn't feeling well.
"Yeah, so I saved a couple big wigs. I sure as hell didn't blow any Death Ray up. Why don't you go congratulate the Thunderbolts? I just kinda pointed them in the right direction."
"About that." Sami began. "The pilots want to meet you, the 'Crazy Wolf' as one of them put it."
Errrrr.... as fun as that sounded. I still remember how I tried to talk to them like they were a bunch of guys out of flight school. The moment kinda rusted my memory. If anything it was me who wanted to meet them. The Thunderbolts. You know, that's just as good as meeting the president or anyone else who was a celebrity. Especially since they took on a Black Cannon. Wow. You felt like if they could destroy that thing, anything else Black Hole had was peanuts.
Then I remembered the eight or so pilots I saw earlier coming out of the hangar. Oh man... it was them. So soon? I needed to think up a good apology too... Too late for that now I guess. Yeah, like I said, eight of them, all in flight suits with helmets in hands. Man, they had such shiny new stuff... and I was all raggedy and looking like I came out of an chimney.
But before I could even say a word, this one guy with a cocky grin rushed over to me and began to shake my hand like there was an earthquake going on.
"Well well, if it ain't the Crazy Wolf! We need more nutcases like you on the ground, makes our job a whole lot easier!" He laughed.
"Huh?" I could only utter.
"Easy Tux, he's been through a lot." I recognized the guy's voice as Glenn. "Why don't you go easy on his arm before you break it."
First time I saw him really. It's funny to hear someone and then meet them or maybe my logic was short circuiting with the lack of rest. He had brown hair. Man, what I would give for normal hair after mine was changing colors like a fuggin' rainbow because of Lash's operation. When you look at him, you know why he's the flight leader. I figured cause he was ex-Green Earth. Which means he got the best possible schooling on how to fly a fighter from Eagle. But it wasn't that, it's cause he always looks so under control.
"Aw... come on Glenn." Tux began. "I'm just thanking him for setting the train on fire like he did. That way we didn't have to shoot at the ground like a chicken with it's head cut off!"
"Hey Tux." The blond headed female pilot spoke up. "You aren't the only one who wants to meet him."
"Yeah of course Rainey." He answered with a smug grin and stepped back to give her room. " It's just it's not everyday we can blow up Black Hole's baby. I can't wait to put that on my resume. And I got to meet the Crazy Wolf! Bout' time something interesting happened around here. That reminds me, how come I don't have a codename?"
"You'll probably get one when you do something relevant." Rainey told him.
The Tux guy went on about some other stuff... I wasn't really paying attention. My view had shifted to these two guys standing off to the side. Wow, they were stark contrast to their other wingmen. One guy looked like a someone from Blue Moon... I guess it was the nose or something. I'd seen it before somewhere. Then there was this big guy... his build reminded me of Flak. Even though he was nowhere near the size of Black Hole's muscle man, he still had the same body build.
Glenn glanced over his shoulders knowing who I was looking at and introduced them, even if they didn't want to do it themselves.
"Those two are Zodo Gallow and Fel Banon."
Then, as if Zodo and Fel had felt that had participated enough, walked off after being identified. Heh, friendly folks those two, but I guess they wouldn't be on the Thunderbolts if they didn't have some skills. Reminded me of Victor on my old unit. The guy never talked, but he knew his explosives. I didn't give it much more thought, maybe they were as just as tired as I was.
Of the last three who I hadn't got acquainted with yet, there was a really young guy for being a fighter pilot... But hey, with Andy as a commander, I suppose if you're good you're in or something like that. Glenn said his name was Tristan Royal and he was ok. Tux was sure to open his mouth and fire off a couple comments or two. But I wasn't really listening... man, how did you fly with a guy like Tux on your team?
"Hey there, I'm James Heckler." I greeted the last two guys with.
The smaller of the two didn't say anything, but shook my hand and vaguely nodded. If I didn't know better, I'd say he barely understood a word I said.
"You'll have to excuse ol' Achmed." The larger guy spoke up. "He's not exactly from around these parts."
Achmed vaguely nodded his head. From my perspective, I couldn't say he was from Yellow Comet, and that was probably the most foreign place I could think of off the top of my head. But no, he wasn't from Yellow Comet, Achmed was probably from one of those neutral territories that aren't even on the map. You know, no military and no designation.
"I'm Bubba Boggs." The big guy spoke up again after a time. "Nice to meet cha'. You look like a pig who's had himself a mud bath."
"Yeah, I feel like it too."
"He'd go perfect with your ol' junk heap you call a truck." Tux laughed.
They got into a seperate conversation and I found a perfect moment to get back over to Glenn Gordon.
"Hey Gordon..." I began. "What was it like when you were well known? I remember... you were on the TV."
He gave a small laugh and tilted his head back.
"I remember getting tons of calls from news stations, watching the TV didn't help, and until I got back in the air I felt like crap. I don't recommend retiring after stuff like this. You should stick with what you're best at."
Well, we probably would have talked some more, but we had to move off to debrief with our superiors. Oh well, it's always nice to meet important people. Those couple minutes with the Thunderbolts are just as good as with any CO in my book. We were giving a farewell salute when Nell approached... and keeping in respect, we had to do it again to greet her.
"It's soldiers like you that make Orange Star the best." Nell smiled. "If you don't mind, Lieutenant Gordon... I would like to meet with your squadron later."
He didn't seem to mind... at least, as far as I could tell and took off along with the others. Well, this scene seemed familiar. Nell calling me up and escorting me to a secure location to talk.
"Congratulations on a successful mission."
"I don't suppose I'll be getting any press conferences?"
"Well, Wars World already knows about the Death Ray. Another is no big secret. But I would like to classify your mission for certain reasons."
"Hell..." I was too tired to think at that rate, to care about cussing in front of a superior... the supreme commander of all things. "Just don't call me for these type of missions again. I'm actually looking toward getting back into my unit ma'am. If you don't mind."
"Not at all."
I gave a weak salute and began to walk off across the base. Oh man... I forgot about that damn debriefing. Maybe they wouldn't mind too much if I saved it for later... much later. After ten years of sleep or something. This feeling was all to familiar... But it's not like I could help it. Where's the nearest bed?
-The End
--Thanks for Reading
Author's Notes and Such:
Woo! It's done! My longest fic yet! 12 chapters. Oh well, that may or may not be very long to some people. But I hope I kept it going for a decent length before finishing it up.
Oh yeah, and RustyD, if you somehow want to include James Heckler or any of the guys in his unit in a small cameo or whatnot since I used your Thunderbolt guys. Feel free. It'll be along the same conditions you gave me. No killing or disfiguring. Hopefully, I handled your characters the best I could and didn't write Tux up too wild. Thanks again for letting me using them.
Anyway, for anyone and everyone else who read the fic. Thanks for tuning in! Until next time. Oh yeah, real quick. On a small note, I've begun to put "The Blue Moon Show!" into the works. We'll see how that turns out. Thanks for reading!
The Thunderbolt Squadron and all respective characters involved are the creation of RustyD, who's been really cool with letting me use his guys for a guest spot in this fic. If you want to see more, you should check out "The Fighters II" or "Storming Skies" by RustyD. Or any of his stuff is really worth looking at.
-Advance Wars 2
--Death Array
---Chapter 12: Last Stop
I could see and hear the lone operating missile car reposition itself to let loose a volley of anti-air missiles. The fire and squeak of the barely operating turret made it easy to see that the Thunderbolts were coming in head on. I'm pretty sure the whole urgency of warning them about it was just to make me feel better, but any mission involving Black Hole is asking for trouble. I figured they could use all the help they could get.
Andy was pacing the flatbed car as I got their frequencies from Sami. I had to tell the flight leader they were heading right into the crosshairs, and to know if that recent fire had hit anyone.
"Hello? Anyone receiving up there?" I asked quickly, while watching the missile battery reposition itself, it was locking on to someone.
Man, what was the range on that thing anyway?
"This is Glenn Gordon, flight leader of the Thunderbolts. What's going on?"
It was the muffled kind of response, like they were speaking through a helmet and facemask, you know, the type normally associated with flying a fighter jet.
"Look, you guys need to stay south of your target... and you better hurry up! They got a missile car, and it's shooting at someone up there."
The way I saw it, the Death Ray was a big shield from the side I had blown their missile battery up. They'd have to fire into or up and around, which was impossible, to tag any enemy fighters after them. The second car was supposed to eliminate this problem, but I kinda blew it up.
"Copy that, let's move 'Bolts'. Now you guys on the ground better take some kind of cover, we're about to drop the sky on your position."
Hell, he didn't have to tell me twice. I figured, maybe we ought to get back into that Neotank. It had to be the most armored thing on this train, especially after I leveled two cars with it's cannon. Frantically, I waved Andy back into the tank and shut the hatch tightly. I swear, if I had it, I'd be using duct tape. I hoped this new giant Neotank could take an air strike from fighter jets, or our asses were cooked.
Then we could both feel it, a single thump that seemed to quicken as the train moved on. What was one, soon became two, then three, then four, in a rapid succession until we could hear the explosions land on the tank. It took some punishment, but eventually it's systems shut off leaving us in the dark. Damn piece of junk. My heart nearly stopped when a piece of the hull snapped off like a busted toy and the roaring explosions from the missile strike rushed into the tank.
It was deafening, if I didn't know better, I'd say those guys were shooting at us. But I forgot, we were two cars down from the Death Ray. Almost ground zero no matter what you do and I was sure as hell they were hitting it with everything they had. Soon, the both of us were thrown forward as the train came to a screeching halt. I prayed they didn't derail the damn thing, I was tired of being thrown around in this tin can.
Before too long, everything was silent, and only the wind was making any confirmation we were still alive. Man, I also don't really know when I popped the hatch and soon tumbled out of the tank. They HAD derailed the train, or at least the section closest to the Death Ray. Our car and a couple others had gone with it and when the flatbed jumped the tracks, it sent the Neotank rolling into a tree
Now I was lying on the grass looking upwards trying to get my bearings after that air strike. When you looked at the Neotank, you knew they hit that train hard. The legs had been blown off, and the shiny black paint job had been burned off to reveal the bare gunmetal gray color associated with metal.
"Uh... Andy, it's all clear, come on out."
He moaned something back to me along the lines of 'I'm okay', but stayed in the tank for awhile. I was looking around, seeing all the trees that were either on fire or crushed under debris. Only a burning skeleton of the Death Ray remained as it's dish had been punched through like a fist into a piece of paper. Parts of the train had been thrown everywhere, looked like a damn... uh... it looked like a train wreck... I could vaguely hear jets flying by overhead, they were pretty low.
"Wolf? Wolf? You there?" I could hear Sami's voice, it sounded anxious.
"Yeah I'm here... just barely though."
I heard a big sigh on her end.
"How did you survive?" She couldn't help but asking. "Actually, never mind, save it for the debriefing. We're sending copters to your location for immediate evac. Just sit tight... and outstanding work Wolf."
When the call was over, Andy crawled out of the overturned tank with his hair sticking up like he put his fingers in an electric socket. I helped him up and we both began to walk alongside the tracks of the wasted train. To observe the damage. Man, these guys didn't destroy the train, they wiped it from the face the earth. And it was precision striking too... the forest looked relatively unharmed if the debris from the train didn't flatten them.
"Damn, those guys don't mess around." I muttered.
"Of course not. They're only the best squadron Orange Star has." Andy told me.
I did a double take, and then really started to think about it. Oh hell... those Thunderbolts? With... Glenn Gordon? The ex-Green Earth fighter pilot guy who was on the news? What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I've flown jets before... but I'm more of a guy who stays on the ground when it comes to vehicles. Urg... I think I came off rather insulting with the whole, stay south of the Death Ray stuff.
"Dammit Andy, why didn't you tell me sooner?" I turned on him, just angry at myself at that point.
"I thought you knew... I mean really... It's not like it was a secret or anything."
"Oh well, I think I was a bit preoccupied with Death Rays and guys named Glock shooting at us to really think about it." I answered sarcastically. "But no, it didn't cross my mind for a second."
We probably could have bickered like that for a bit longer, but we had made it closer to the front of the train, and now we could see bodies.... or what was left of the bodies. I saw some mercenaries and some alien guys... But I was really looking for Black Hole VIPs... surely they got taken out all in one strike... Course, that's wishful thinking on my part, cause I didn't see anyone.
"Man... where's their bosses?" I mumbled. "They couldn't have gotten far..."
Rotors soon filled the air, and we looked up expecting to see some orange paintjob of a transport copter. But instead it was pitch black... Black Hole copters... It was flying away from us, and keeping really low, probably to avoid getting picked off by the Thunderbolts. Course I didn't know if they were still around after blowing the train up. That's one thing you can count on Hawke for, a good escape if things turn sour. After the disappearing act he pulled during "The Great Sea Battle" you could almost call him a master of escape.
"Aw man..." Andy groaned.
I could see what he was groaning about. The door was still open and we could see perfectly Flak, Lash, Hawke, and the rest of them. None of them were looking at us, just kind of staring off into space as if they didn't believe their little toy just got ripped up by a flock of fighters. Andy and I just watched as their copter disappeared over the tops of the trees and into the horizon.
"I bet you twenty bucks they'll be back." I told Andy.
"I'm not taking that bet." He fired back, and we both gave a small grin.
----------------------------------------
Copter rides were so much fun after all that. I didn't have to run, or slide, or hide anymore. I could just sit down on cold seat in a T. Copter and relax. I got on one when I radioed to Sami it was all over. Good thing Black Hole took us home with their train, so when the copter picked us up... all we had to do was enjoy a short ride to Dawn Airbase where Sami, Nell, and who knows who else could meet us halfway.
Andy was real excited, cause he didn't have to play the part of the prisoner anymore and could get back to his commanding job. I was sure as hell going to stick with the groups the next time. I still can't believe I subjected myself to a solo mission willingly. Course, I did make it out alive more or less... so maybe it wasn't the worst idea. I think I snapped out of my retrospect when the pilot told us we were about to land.
I remember stepping out in my torn, burned, cut, and overall crappy orange uniform in the face of my CO and supreme Commander. Andy was real excited to get back home and didn't waste a second greeting Sami. Seemed like he just got all his enthusiastic energy back. Couldn't say I was as happy as he was, I was just really tired. Explosions and tanks and Death Rays... all kind of exhausting really.
"Heckler! Good job on a mission well done!" Sami greeted me out in the middle of the helipad. "I'm proud of you soldier!"
We began to move away from the noisy copter and towards some hangars. I could see some fighter jets and a group of eight people... But Sami had my attention right now.
"Yeah well..." I started slowly. "Wasn't much of a mission. Hawke was onto me the whole time. That Groling guy was actually one of theirs... With me running around, I was just keeping you from bombing the place."
Sami kind of frowned in that way that made you stand straight up and think over your words. You knew you made a mistake and you just hoped there was a chance to make up for it in the future.
"You forget about saving Jess so quickly? Green Earth owes you a bit of thanks, in fact after this, they want you to meet with their leaders for a more direct gratitude. You can count on Eagle and Drake being there too."
As honorable as that sounded, I didn't really look forward to any sort of long distance travel. I just wanted to stay home and sit on my ass for a few days, and remember what it was like when you were just a nobody soldier in Orange Star. I don't know why I was so negative in all... I think I wasn't feeling well.
"Yeah, so I saved a couple big wigs. I sure as hell didn't blow any Death Ray up. Why don't you go congratulate the Thunderbolts? I just kinda pointed them in the right direction."
"About that." Sami began. "The pilots want to meet you, the 'Crazy Wolf' as one of them put it."
Errrrr.... as fun as that sounded. I still remember how I tried to talk to them like they were a bunch of guys out of flight school. The moment kinda rusted my memory. If anything it was me who wanted to meet them. The Thunderbolts. You know, that's just as good as meeting the president or anyone else who was a celebrity. Especially since they took on a Black Cannon. Wow. You felt like if they could destroy that thing, anything else Black Hole had was peanuts.
Then I remembered the eight or so pilots I saw earlier coming out of the hangar. Oh man... it was them. So soon? I needed to think up a good apology too... Too late for that now I guess. Yeah, like I said, eight of them, all in flight suits with helmets in hands. Man, they had such shiny new stuff... and I was all raggedy and looking like I came out of an chimney.
But before I could even say a word, this one guy with a cocky grin rushed over to me and began to shake my hand like there was an earthquake going on.
"Well well, if it ain't the Crazy Wolf! We need more nutcases like you on the ground, makes our job a whole lot easier!" He laughed.
"Huh?" I could only utter.
"Easy Tux, he's been through a lot." I recognized the guy's voice as Glenn. "Why don't you go easy on his arm before you break it."
First time I saw him really. It's funny to hear someone and then meet them or maybe my logic was short circuiting with the lack of rest. He had brown hair. Man, what I would give for normal hair after mine was changing colors like a fuggin' rainbow because of Lash's operation. When you look at him, you know why he's the flight leader. I figured cause he was ex-Green Earth. Which means he got the best possible schooling on how to fly a fighter from Eagle. But it wasn't that, it's cause he always looks so under control.
"Aw... come on Glenn." Tux began. "I'm just thanking him for setting the train on fire like he did. That way we didn't have to shoot at the ground like a chicken with it's head cut off!"
"Hey Tux." The blond headed female pilot spoke up. "You aren't the only one who wants to meet him."
"Yeah of course Rainey." He answered with a smug grin and stepped back to give her room. " It's just it's not everyday we can blow up Black Hole's baby. I can't wait to put that on my resume. And I got to meet the Crazy Wolf! Bout' time something interesting happened around here. That reminds me, how come I don't have a codename?"
"You'll probably get one when you do something relevant." Rainey told him.
The Tux guy went on about some other stuff... I wasn't really paying attention. My view had shifted to these two guys standing off to the side. Wow, they were stark contrast to their other wingmen. One guy looked like a someone from Blue Moon... I guess it was the nose or something. I'd seen it before somewhere. Then there was this big guy... his build reminded me of Flak. Even though he was nowhere near the size of Black Hole's muscle man, he still had the same body build.
Glenn glanced over his shoulders knowing who I was looking at and introduced them, even if they didn't want to do it themselves.
"Those two are Zodo Gallow and Fel Banon."
Then, as if Zodo and Fel had felt that had participated enough, walked off after being identified. Heh, friendly folks those two, but I guess they wouldn't be on the Thunderbolts if they didn't have some skills. Reminded me of Victor on my old unit. The guy never talked, but he knew his explosives. I didn't give it much more thought, maybe they were as just as tired as I was.
Of the last three who I hadn't got acquainted with yet, there was a really young guy for being a fighter pilot... But hey, with Andy as a commander, I suppose if you're good you're in or something like that. Glenn said his name was Tristan Royal and he was ok. Tux was sure to open his mouth and fire off a couple comments or two. But I wasn't really listening... man, how did you fly with a guy like Tux on your team?
"Hey there, I'm James Heckler." I greeted the last two guys with.
The smaller of the two didn't say anything, but shook my hand and vaguely nodded. If I didn't know better, I'd say he barely understood a word I said.
"You'll have to excuse ol' Achmed." The larger guy spoke up. "He's not exactly from around these parts."
Achmed vaguely nodded his head. From my perspective, I couldn't say he was from Yellow Comet, and that was probably the most foreign place I could think of off the top of my head. But no, he wasn't from Yellow Comet, Achmed was probably from one of those neutral territories that aren't even on the map. You know, no military and no designation.
"I'm Bubba Boggs." The big guy spoke up again after a time. "Nice to meet cha'. You look like a pig who's had himself a mud bath."
"Yeah, I feel like it too."
"He'd go perfect with your ol' junk heap you call a truck." Tux laughed.
They got into a seperate conversation and I found a perfect moment to get back over to Glenn Gordon.
"Hey Gordon..." I began. "What was it like when you were well known? I remember... you were on the TV."
He gave a small laugh and tilted his head back.
"I remember getting tons of calls from news stations, watching the TV didn't help, and until I got back in the air I felt like crap. I don't recommend retiring after stuff like this. You should stick with what you're best at."
Well, we probably would have talked some more, but we had to move off to debrief with our superiors. Oh well, it's always nice to meet important people. Those couple minutes with the Thunderbolts are just as good as with any CO in my book. We were giving a farewell salute when Nell approached... and keeping in respect, we had to do it again to greet her.
"It's soldiers like you that make Orange Star the best." Nell smiled. "If you don't mind, Lieutenant Gordon... I would like to meet with your squadron later."
He didn't seem to mind... at least, as far as I could tell and took off along with the others. Well, this scene seemed familiar. Nell calling me up and escorting me to a secure location to talk.
"Congratulations on a successful mission."
"I don't suppose I'll be getting any press conferences?"
"Well, Wars World already knows about the Death Ray. Another is no big secret. But I would like to classify your mission for certain reasons."
"Hell..." I was too tired to think at that rate, to care about cussing in front of a superior... the supreme commander of all things. "Just don't call me for these type of missions again. I'm actually looking toward getting back into my unit ma'am. If you don't mind."
"Not at all."
I gave a weak salute and began to walk off across the base. Oh man... I forgot about that damn debriefing. Maybe they wouldn't mind too much if I saved it for later... much later. After ten years of sleep or something. This feeling was all to familiar... But it's not like I could help it. Where's the nearest bed?
-The End
--Thanks for Reading
Author's Notes and Such:
Woo! It's done! My longest fic yet! 12 chapters. Oh well, that may or may not be very long to some people. But I hope I kept it going for a decent length before finishing it up.
Oh yeah, and RustyD, if you somehow want to include James Heckler or any of the guys in his unit in a small cameo or whatnot since I used your Thunderbolt guys. Feel free. It'll be along the same conditions you gave me. No killing or disfiguring. Hopefully, I handled your characters the best I could and didn't write Tux up too wild. Thanks again for letting me using them.
Anyway, for anyone and everyone else who read the fic. Thanks for tuning in! Until next time. Oh yeah, real quick. On a small note, I've begun to put "The Blue Moon Show!" into the works. We'll see how that turns out. Thanks for reading!