Revenge
By Sammie Spitz
Chapter 3
"Poison 46." Grimshaw read.
"Chemical warfare?" Velvet asked.
"Possibly. Let's see what else we have here. Here's the symptoms. Headache, stomach pain, fatiuge, faintness, nausea."
"Aren't these some of the symptoms you said Joanna had?" Elvis asked.
"Yes. What else is there?"
"Uh-oh." Grimshaw suddenly said.
"What?! What is it?!"
"Apparently, it's lethal. If we don't get the antidote in time, it will kill her!"
"But, she's leaving for..and she's..oh my GOD!" Velvet rushed out towards the hanger.
"Joanna!" She called. But, she caught a glimpse of a small craft leaving. Her panic grew worse. She couldn't go out there and fight in the condition she was in. As she stared up at the sky, trying to think of what to do, one of the hanger engineers came up next to her.
"Anything wrong, Velvet?" He asked, wiping some grease from his wrench.
"I need to catch up to my sister, Shane!" Velvet paniced, "She's in trouble!"
"Was she the one heading off to Morgan?"
"Yes and she's getting in over her head. Listen, I'm going to get some weapons together and get some permission from Dr. Carrington. Do you think you can find something for me, so I can catch up to her?"
"Sure." As Velvet rushed off, thanking him for his help, he walked back into the garage area, still rubbing his wrench with the rag. He then said, thoughtfully, "Looks like Elliot's gonna get his field test."
As Velvet was rushing back for the elevator, she crashed into Johnathon. Elvis finally got a chance to catch up. Grimshaw had found one more piece of important information and sent Elvis to give it to her. However, Elvis was unfamiliar with Earth elevators. He fought with it for a while and then finally decided to forget about it and take the stairs.
"What the hell?!" Johnathon screamed as Velvet crashed into him.
She helped him up and said, "Sorry, but it's an emergency! Come with me!" She grabbed Johnathon's sleeve and dragged him to the elevator. Elvis rushed in, not about to go hiking up the stairs again.
Carrington was busy shuffling through paper work. As he was, he was startled by hearing his office door open and a familiar voice suddenly yell, "Sir, we have a problem!"
He started, causing his paper work to go flying all over the office. He looked around at the papers, now scattered all over the floor and let out an annoyed sigh. Velvet stood in the doorway, holding Johnathon by the sleeve. Elvis followed, exhausted from keeping up with her.
"I just finished sorting this and getting it perfect after Foster came rushing in to show off something."
"Jo's in trouble! She went to Morgan!"
"I know. She told me about it. Swearing and cursing like a mad woman because Helen made threats."
"It's a trap!"
"Excuse me?"
"A trap! Helen was the one that made her sick!"
"Oh my.."
"I need to go after her!"
"Hold on, now. We need to handle this with a little reason. Do you have any idea if there's an antidote?"
"Yeah, but we don't know where it is." Velvet said.
"Grimshaw might have found out." Elvis interrupted, "They put map in the file and marked something on it. It's in some kind of hidden lab they have about twenty miles outside of the city limits. That might be where the poison was made and they might have an antidote there."
"Alright, we've gotten somewhere." Carrington mused, "Johnathon, go look into this and see if you can find anything."
"Yes, sir." Johnathon gave a salute and left.
"Sir, there's still the matter of Helen de Vries." Velvet said, "I need to get there and try and stop her."
"Velvet, are you sure you should-"
"Please, sir! I can't just stay here, waiting and hoping this whole thing ends without her dying."
"Well, if you really think you should-"
"Thank you, sir! I promise you won't regret it!" Velvet rushed out the door. Elvis, confused since everything went by so quickly, went back to see if he could help Grimshaw anymore.
Left alone in his office, Carrington picked his paperwork back up again, then fell back into his chair. He muttered to himself, "Damn, what are the consequences of actually letting her do this..."
Shane was working on a hoverbike in the main hanger when Velvet came back. Before heading back to the hanger, she ran into the weapons lab and borrowed a Crossbow and Falcon 2.
"Shane, I'm here!" She called. The engineer looked up and smiled.
"There you are. I was wondering when you'd get here. Elliot's been pretty anxious."
"Elliot? Who's Elliot?"
"You'll see. Elliot!" He called. There was a clanging sound from a doorway. He laughed a little and continued, "It's alright, Elliot. Don't be shy."
A robot stepped out of the doorway and walked towards them. It was a giant robot cat, about the size of a large horse. It's blue-eyed sensors looked the garage over, clearly his first time out in a while. The creature stopped next to the engineer, who patted him on the head.
"This is Elliot." The engineer said, "He's going to be your ride to Morgan and kind of a partner. Elliot, this is Velvet, the girl that you'll be with."
Elliot looked at her. Giving a smile, he greeted, "Hi."
"Hello there." She said.
"You'll have to have some pacience with him. This is gonna be his first field test and he's not very experienced."
"So," Elliot said, "You ready?"
"I guess." Velvet said, nervously, "So, I'm riding him?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." Elliot told her, "I haven't lost a rider yet."
"Have you even had a rider yet?"
"Don't worry. Just climb on." Elliot bent down to let Velvet on, since he was so tall. Velvet was unsure about it. Then, she decided that he was her best chance at getting to Joanna before Helen pumped her full of lead. She slid onto his back. When she was on, he stood up, scaring her a little. She didn't think he was THIS tall.
"So, what happens if I fall off?" Velvet asked. She then found herself being held on by metal restraints at the ankles and waist. She smiled a little, "Thanks."
"Well, if we want to catch up to your sister, we'd better get moving." He turned on his anti-gravity engine and folded up his legs.
Before he left, Shane said, "Remember, Elliot, this is a serious mission. No horsing around."
"When have I ever let you down?" Elliot said with a smirk. He then zoomed off out the garage door.
"Just come back in one piece and I'll be happy." Shane muttered.
Joanna stood on the roof of Fort Morgan. The abandoned military base was in the middle of nowhere. It was located about sixtey miles away from the area the CI was located in. She had her Falcon 2 in one hand, the Laser strapped to the other and the Callisto strapped to her hip. As she looked out at the vast scenery, memories started coming back of her first mission.
Joanna walked cautiously onto the roof, Dr Caroll close behind them. The jumpship haden't arrived yet, so they were going to have to wait a few minutes longer. As they did, a familiar voise behind them asked, "Going somewhere?"
Joanna turned around to face Cassandra, her Falcon 2 ready to fire. However, she decided against opening fire when two of Cassandra's body guards came up next to her, guns ready. She let the gun down. Dr Caroll moved behind her. He didn't want to get into anymore crossfires.
"Something I can do for you, old woman?" She asked, unphased.
"Return our sapient immediatly! You don't know what you're doing!"
"Yes I do." she answered. Dr Caroll folded himself up and dropped into Joanna's hand, "I'm leaving."
She turned to leave, but turned around again when she heard the bodyguards' guns click. Cassandra demanded, "One last chance. Give it back! And you can come and work for me."
Luckily, that was about the time the jumpship arrived. Seeing the doors open, she made a dash for them, calling, "Sorry, gotta shoot."
As she jumped in, she heard the guard's guns go off. She turned around in midair and returned fire, causing her to land roughly against the wall. She wasn't sure if she'd hit anyone, but she thought she heard a scream. Shaken by the mission, she just sat down, trying to catch her breath.
As Joanna stood, lost in thought, she failed to hear footsteps behind her or the sound of a rifle being loaded and readied. She did take notice, however, when the gun fired and missed her feet by half an inch. She turned and saw Helen near the stairs. She was dressed like one of Cassandra's body guards and had her hair tied back. She let the rifle in her hands down for a minute.
"So, you actually showed up?" She said, "For a minute, I was wondering if you'd even come, Dark."
"I never turn down a good challenge." Joanna smirked.
"Then, you're in for a treat." She looked like she was about to fire the rifle again. But, in a split second, she pulled out a pistol and fired it at Joanna. She quickly tried to dodge to the side. Helen thought she saw her trip. Joanna raised her arm and fired a laser at the rifle. It struck the rifle and caused it to spark. Joanna stumbled past Helen and almost fell down the stairs as she slipped into the store room below the roof. This all happened in a split second.
Helen threw down the broken rifle in frustration. She growled to herself, "Lousy bitch!"
Then, she looked down on the floor. A trail of bloodspots lead from where Joanna was standing and down the stairs. Helen smiled and slowly crept into storage room, whispering, "Looks like you didn't quite get away, Dark."
"I keep getting your sister's radar signal." Elliot said, "It's coming from a large building up ahead."
"That must be it." Velvet replied. As the zoomed across the landscape, Elliot suddenly heard an engine. He looked over and saw a hovercopter speeding towards them. Elliot ducked, the copter flying over and coming within inches of Velvet.
"God damn Sunday pilot!" Elliot screamed, "Bastards like you should have their lisences revocked!"
"Elliot, watch out!" Velvet screamed. He looked foward and found himself about to crash into the side of the Morgan base. He put his paws up and planted them against the metal of the building, his magnets sticking them securly to the building.
"Are you alright?" Elliot asked.
"Once my pulse comes back, I'll tell you." She paused a little and asked, "Do you know which floor we're at right now?"
"Between fourty-seven and fourty-eight. I think I see a loose vent on fourty-nine we can get in." Elliot carefully made his way up the building, Velvet clinging onto him for dear life. When they got to floor ninety-eight, another copter sped by the building, almost hitting Elliot. By now, his patience was running thin.
"Get your eyes examined, dipshit!" He yelled.
"Elliot!"
"What's wrong with these stupid pilots!? They fly like their the only people in the whole damn area!"
"Elliot, be quiet!"
"What's wrong, Vel-" She quickly grabbed his mouth.
"This is a stealth mission." She hissed, "If they catch us, we're going to be in such a mess!"
"What the hell was that?!" A voice yelled from inside. Velvet made sure to pull Elliot away from the window. A dataDyne guard kicked the door down and snuck in with his gun ready. He looked carefully around the room, pointing his gun at everything.
"He didn't see us yet, right?" Velvet whispered, nervously.
"I don't think so." Elliot whispered back, "We don't have a rifle pointed at us. So, I take it he hasn't. Should we try and get up to that vent now or is it too risky?"
"I'm not sure. I'm pretty new at espionage. But, Jo's counting on us, weither she knows it or not. We might as well chance it, Elliot. But, be quiet about it."
Elliot carefully made his way up the wall, towards the vent. But, his metallic feet made stealth nearly impossible. The guard suddenly realised that there was a metal noise outside. He snuck to the window and carefully opened it and pointed his rifle out, in case an armed intruder was there.
Elliot happened to look down and notice the rifle barrel being pointed out the window. He started to panic and whispered, "Velvet. Velvet!"
"What? What is it?"
"I think he's-"
"What the hell are you two doing up there?!" The guard shouted. He'd already stuck his head out and caught sight of them climbing up the side of the complex.
"Oh, shit!" Velvet cursed to herself.
"I said, what the hell are you two up to?! Get down here RIGHT NOW!"
Velvet loaded her Crossbow while Elliot readied the laser gun in his tail. This provoked the guard into firing. As Velvet struggled with her weapon, Elliot managed to hit the guard in the head.
"Thanks." Velvet said, "But, that might have attracted a little attention. We'd better hurry up and get in the vents."
"Roger that." Elliot got up to the vent and let Velvet climb over him and into the vent. Then, he crawled in himself.
Joanna hid among the crates of the store room. Her breathing was erratic from the fright she got and her heart was just about pounding out of her chest. It got even worse when she suddenly heard slow footsteps. And they were getting closer causing her pulse to go through the roof.
'And I didn't think it could get much faster.' She thought. She then heard a crate get kicked over. A shot of pain suddenly came to her head. She said, 'Oh no! Not now!'
Helen picked up a gun on the wall and searched around the area, looking for any sign of her target. Every now and again, she'd tease her a little by calling "Where are you, Agent Dark? We're not done playing." However, she became increasingly frustrated when Joanna didn't show. Suddenly, she listened carefully and noticed a small noise. A groan. She looked at a stack of crates. She gave a sly smile and aimed the gun.
Joanna was suddenly startled by hearing shots fired right in her direction. Suddenly, the crates she was hiding near toppled over. She barely dodged it, but dropped her Falcon 2. As she made a mad dash for another hiding place, Helen spotted her. She immedietly lifted her rifle and fired at Joanna. She managed to hit her in the leg and the arm, also wreaking her Crossbow. Joanna tripped from the leg wound and fell against a pile of crates. Her weight hitting the pile caused it to fall over on her.
Helen walked over to the pile with a smile on her face. She heard a groan. She pulled some crates off and found Joanna. She was alive, but injured. Helen picked her up by the arm and propped her up against a wall. She then held the rifle to Joanna's neck.
"Well, well." Helen smirked, "This is Carrington's best agent? Not so great now, eh?"
Joanna looked up at her, with a weak but angry glance.
"Has the cat got your tougne?" Helen smirked, "Well, any last requests?"
"As a matter of fact," Joanna groaned, "I wanted to know something."
Helen gave her a look but said, "Go ahead."
"If you want to see me dead so badly, why are you beating around the bush?" Joanna asked, "Are you afraid of having a murder on you conscience?"
"No," Helen replied, keeping her gun trained on Joanna's neck, "I'm simply more intent on watching you suffer than watching you die."
"Aren't you quite the raving lunatic?"
"After what you did to me, why shouldn't I be?"
"What did I do?"
"What did you do?" Helen repeated, calmly and with almost a laugh, "Oh, what did you do?" She then suddenly jabbed the gun into Joanna's stomach, then brought it away from Joanna.
"I'll tell you what you did!" She continued, "You caused my sister a great deal of pain and misery! But, what really drove me to this was what you did on the Skedar ship. Remember?"
Joanna thought back a bit in response. The Skedar ship? What could she have done on the Skedar ship that lead to this?
Joanna started to recover from the blow she took. As the throbbing headache she had finally died down, she tried to remember what happened. That Skedar knocked over a pile of crates, which fell on her. Upon remembering that, she got a bad idea about where she was right now. She groaned, "I'd better not be where I think I am."
As she got up, an all too familiar voice responded, "And it's worse than that, my dear. Just look who you've got for company." She looked up and was shocked to find Cassandra de Vries, standing right next to her.
"You?!" Joanna started. She got to her feet and poised herself for any potential attack as she continued, "I thought you managed to escape! We found no trace of you at all!"
Cassandra just looked at her and said, "You couldn't find me." She started walking casually around the cell. Joanna moved in unison. She wasn't sure what harm someone as old as Cassandra could do, but she didn't trust her any farther than she could throw her. She continued, "But there was no hiding from the Skedar, as you and Mr Carrington just discovered."
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and a terrifying, low roar. Then, the sound of footfalls followed.
"This is it! Wait there." Cassandra told her, "I'll make a distraction. That will give you a chance to get out. Use it, or we'll both die."
Joanna was shocked. This woman was a power-hungery conspirator. She was her worst enemy. So, why was she suddenly deciding to help her? She asked, "Why are you doing this, Cassandra?"
Cassandra positioned herself next to the door, saying "The Skedar used me, Joanna. You are my best chance..for revenge." They could hear the computer sounds of the lock's buttons being pressed. When the doors opened, Cassandra rushed out the door and towards the waiting Skedar. The last that was heard from her was a frightened scream.
"Is that why you called me here to fight you?" Joanna asked.
"Indeed it is." Helen answered, "It will also answer any sickly feelings you've been having."
In response to the odd look she got, she continued, "That's right. I poisoned you. I wanted you to feel as much pain as humanly possible. I've waited many years for this moment. Revenge."
"Helen, you don't understand." Joanna said. She was trying to see if those negotiating lessons back during training would finally help her, "That wasn't me. It was the Skedar. She threw herself to it and it killed her. Don't do something you'll regret later."
"Oh, beleive me. I won't regret a minute of this" Helen growled. She put the gun against Joanna's neck again, "Say good night, Agent Dark."
Joanna, beleiving this was it, closed her eyes and turned her head away. Helen was about to pull the trigger when she suddenly heard something banging around in the vent above. Suddenly, a part on the vent came loose and crashed down between her and Joanna. She backed up as Velvet and Elliot came crashing down with it. Velvet quickly sprang to her feet and pointed her gun.
"Drop it or your dead!" She demanded. Helen gave her a questioning look. She just stared at her, only bringing the gun slightly away from Joanna.
"You heard me!" She demanded again, "Drop the gun and put your hands in plain sight!"
Helen chuckled quietly at her. Velvet was loosing her patience. She screamed, "This is your last chance! Put the God damn gun down!"
"Beleive me," Helen finally muttered, "You're in no position to make demands." Quicker than anyone could blink, Helen suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed Velvet in the arm. She dropped the gun, but kicked Helen in the leg to distract her. In response, Helen pistol-whipped her in the side of the head. She fell down, stunned but not hurt badly. She looked up, recovering from her stun. She was shocked and terrified to find Helen standing over her, rifle in hand.
"You'll regret trifling with me, girl." She growled, aiming the rifle. Velvet closed her eyes. Suddenly, she heard a gun fire, but nothing hit her. She then heard the sound of a gun hitting the floor and the sound of someone running. She looked up and saw Elliot, with a laser cannon sticking out of his back.
"Yeah, you better run, you coward!" He screamed. He then noticed Velvet run past. She went over to Joanna. By now, she was barely consiouss. She seemed to be breathing harder. Velvet checked her fever again and was shocked to find that she was burning up.
'Oh no! She can't die!' Velvet thought in a panic, 'Not now!' Velvet picked her up. It was hard, since Joanna was a little taller than her, but she was panicing. She was running out of time!
"Elliot!" She called. Elliot trotted up to her, "Elliot, do you think you can carry two people?"
"I'm not sure. I tried it once before, back in the garage, and things got pretty messy."
"Then we need a new way out. I wonder if Jon's nearby." She worked her comlink a bit and said, "Jon. Johnathon, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear." replied the voice on the other end, "Any luck?"
"Yeah, I found Joanna alive. But, she's getting worse. We need to get her to the hospital and get the antidote in her as fast as we can."
"No problem. I just got out of the building with it. I'll be right over."
Velvet paced nervously outside the emergency room door of the CI's hospital wing. Johnathon had come by with the jump ship to get them. They injected the antidote in there, not wanting to waste time. She didn't improve right away, which made them even more nervous. She went directly to the ER once she arrived. Velvet was able to bandage her own stab wound, which really wasn't that bad.
"She'll be fine." Elvis told her, sitting in a nearby chair, "She's strong. She can handle this."
"Do you realise how sick she was?! What if we didn't get the thing in time?!"
"Ms. Dark?" A nurse asked as she walked in. Velvet, startled, jumped a bit. She relaxed, turned around and faced her.
"How is she?" She asked.
"She'll be fine. But, she'll need to be under observation for a couple of days to make sure it's really over."
"Can I see her?"
"Of course, right this way." Elvis decided to go tell Johnathon the good news first, before visiting, and left to find him.
As Joanna lay in the hospital bed, she heard a knock on the door. She propped herself up a little and called, "Come in."
Velvet came in and smiled to her, greeting, "Hello. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes. I'm still pretty tired, but at least I'm not getting headaches anymore."
"Glad to hear it." Velvet sat down next to the bed. The two were silent for a while. Then Joanna finally cleared her throat.
"So, you were the one that helped me, weren't you?"
"Yes, but I wasn't alone. Jon helped out a lot. Elvis helped a little, too. And then, there was Elliot."
"Elliot? Never heard of him."
Suddenly, there was a clang outside the window. They looked and saw Elliot, hanging off the side of the bbuilding with his magnetic paws. Velvet sighed and saied, "That's Elliot."
She went to the window and opened it. Since Elliot had two paws on the window frame, he lost his balance and fell into the room. Elliot stood up and shook himself. He looked at Velvet as she asked, "What the hell were you doing, Elliot?!"
"Visiting." Elliot said, "It ain't a crime for a robot cat to visit in a hospital, is it?"
"I suppose not, but you're going to give the nurse a heart attack if she finds you."
"What better place for her to have a heart attack than a hospital?"
Joanna giggled at Elliot's comment and said, "Quite the character, isn't he?"
"I guess you can call him a new recruit. Trust me, you will grow to hate him."
"Well, I'd love to stay, but Shane only wanted me here for a little while. Better shake a gear and leave. Nice meeting ya." He went out the door. There was a sudden shreik. He came rushing in and said, "On second thought, I'd better take the window." He zoomed out the window only a few minutes before the nurse came rushing in.
"What the hell was that?!" She shreiked.
"Oh, don't worry about him." Joanna said.
"Yeah," Velvet added, "He's just a visitor." The nurse gave a frightened sigh and left, muttering about how crazy this medical wing could get, between spies and guards and robotic visitors.
The two sisters sat in silence again until Velvet said, "Joanna?"
"Yes?"
"I really have to get something off my chest or I'm going to go mad."
"Alright, let's hear it."
"Listen, you really gave me a scare when you got sick like that. In fact, there are a lot of times when I just about have panic attacks worrying about you. I'd really appreiciate it if you were a little more careful during your missions. Ever since the Skedar.."
"You really do get scared over this, don't you?"
"Well..."
"Alright, I'll try and be a little more careful."
Velvet flung her arms around her and said, "Thanks."
The two hugged for what seemed like hours. When they finally seperated, Velvet said, "Well, I'd better leave you alone so you can get a little rest."
"Alright. See you around, Velvet." Joanna yawned a little then layed down and went to sleep.
"See you." Velvet said, as she left.
THE END
By Sammie Spitz
Chapter 3
"Poison 46." Grimshaw read.
"Chemical warfare?" Velvet asked.
"Possibly. Let's see what else we have here. Here's the symptoms. Headache, stomach pain, fatiuge, faintness, nausea."
"Aren't these some of the symptoms you said Joanna had?" Elvis asked.
"Yes. What else is there?"
"Uh-oh." Grimshaw suddenly said.
"What?! What is it?!"
"Apparently, it's lethal. If we don't get the antidote in time, it will kill her!"
"But, she's leaving for..and she's..oh my GOD!" Velvet rushed out towards the hanger.
"Joanna!" She called. But, she caught a glimpse of a small craft leaving. Her panic grew worse. She couldn't go out there and fight in the condition she was in. As she stared up at the sky, trying to think of what to do, one of the hanger engineers came up next to her.
"Anything wrong, Velvet?" He asked, wiping some grease from his wrench.
"I need to catch up to my sister, Shane!" Velvet paniced, "She's in trouble!"
"Was she the one heading off to Morgan?"
"Yes and she's getting in over her head. Listen, I'm going to get some weapons together and get some permission from Dr. Carrington. Do you think you can find something for me, so I can catch up to her?"
"Sure." As Velvet rushed off, thanking him for his help, he walked back into the garage area, still rubbing his wrench with the rag. He then said, thoughtfully, "Looks like Elliot's gonna get his field test."
As Velvet was rushing back for the elevator, she crashed into Johnathon. Elvis finally got a chance to catch up. Grimshaw had found one more piece of important information and sent Elvis to give it to her. However, Elvis was unfamiliar with Earth elevators. He fought with it for a while and then finally decided to forget about it and take the stairs.
"What the hell?!" Johnathon screamed as Velvet crashed into him.
She helped him up and said, "Sorry, but it's an emergency! Come with me!" She grabbed Johnathon's sleeve and dragged him to the elevator. Elvis rushed in, not about to go hiking up the stairs again.
Carrington was busy shuffling through paper work. As he was, he was startled by hearing his office door open and a familiar voice suddenly yell, "Sir, we have a problem!"
He started, causing his paper work to go flying all over the office. He looked around at the papers, now scattered all over the floor and let out an annoyed sigh. Velvet stood in the doorway, holding Johnathon by the sleeve. Elvis followed, exhausted from keeping up with her.
"I just finished sorting this and getting it perfect after Foster came rushing in to show off something."
"Jo's in trouble! She went to Morgan!"
"I know. She told me about it. Swearing and cursing like a mad woman because Helen made threats."
"It's a trap!"
"Excuse me?"
"A trap! Helen was the one that made her sick!"
"Oh my.."
"I need to go after her!"
"Hold on, now. We need to handle this with a little reason. Do you have any idea if there's an antidote?"
"Yeah, but we don't know where it is." Velvet said.
"Grimshaw might have found out." Elvis interrupted, "They put map in the file and marked something on it. It's in some kind of hidden lab they have about twenty miles outside of the city limits. That might be where the poison was made and they might have an antidote there."
"Alright, we've gotten somewhere." Carrington mused, "Johnathon, go look into this and see if you can find anything."
"Yes, sir." Johnathon gave a salute and left.
"Sir, there's still the matter of Helen de Vries." Velvet said, "I need to get there and try and stop her."
"Velvet, are you sure you should-"
"Please, sir! I can't just stay here, waiting and hoping this whole thing ends without her dying."
"Well, if you really think you should-"
"Thank you, sir! I promise you won't regret it!" Velvet rushed out the door. Elvis, confused since everything went by so quickly, went back to see if he could help Grimshaw anymore.
Left alone in his office, Carrington picked his paperwork back up again, then fell back into his chair. He muttered to himself, "Damn, what are the consequences of actually letting her do this..."
Shane was working on a hoverbike in the main hanger when Velvet came back. Before heading back to the hanger, she ran into the weapons lab and borrowed a Crossbow and Falcon 2.
"Shane, I'm here!" She called. The engineer looked up and smiled.
"There you are. I was wondering when you'd get here. Elliot's been pretty anxious."
"Elliot? Who's Elliot?"
"You'll see. Elliot!" He called. There was a clanging sound from a doorway. He laughed a little and continued, "It's alright, Elliot. Don't be shy."
A robot stepped out of the doorway and walked towards them. It was a giant robot cat, about the size of a large horse. It's blue-eyed sensors looked the garage over, clearly his first time out in a while. The creature stopped next to the engineer, who patted him on the head.
"This is Elliot." The engineer said, "He's going to be your ride to Morgan and kind of a partner. Elliot, this is Velvet, the girl that you'll be with."
Elliot looked at her. Giving a smile, he greeted, "Hi."
"Hello there." She said.
"You'll have to have some pacience with him. This is gonna be his first field test and he's not very experienced."
"So," Elliot said, "You ready?"
"I guess." Velvet said, nervously, "So, I'm riding him?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." Elliot told her, "I haven't lost a rider yet."
"Have you even had a rider yet?"
"Don't worry. Just climb on." Elliot bent down to let Velvet on, since he was so tall. Velvet was unsure about it. Then, she decided that he was her best chance at getting to Joanna before Helen pumped her full of lead. She slid onto his back. When she was on, he stood up, scaring her a little. She didn't think he was THIS tall.
"So, what happens if I fall off?" Velvet asked. She then found herself being held on by metal restraints at the ankles and waist. She smiled a little, "Thanks."
"Well, if we want to catch up to your sister, we'd better get moving." He turned on his anti-gravity engine and folded up his legs.
Before he left, Shane said, "Remember, Elliot, this is a serious mission. No horsing around."
"When have I ever let you down?" Elliot said with a smirk. He then zoomed off out the garage door.
"Just come back in one piece and I'll be happy." Shane muttered.
Joanna stood on the roof of Fort Morgan. The abandoned military base was in the middle of nowhere. It was located about sixtey miles away from the area the CI was located in. She had her Falcon 2 in one hand, the Laser strapped to the other and the Callisto strapped to her hip. As she looked out at the vast scenery, memories started coming back of her first mission.
Joanna walked cautiously onto the roof, Dr Caroll close behind them. The jumpship haden't arrived yet, so they were going to have to wait a few minutes longer. As they did, a familiar voise behind them asked, "Going somewhere?"
Joanna turned around to face Cassandra, her Falcon 2 ready to fire. However, she decided against opening fire when two of Cassandra's body guards came up next to her, guns ready. She let the gun down. Dr Caroll moved behind her. He didn't want to get into anymore crossfires.
"Something I can do for you, old woman?" She asked, unphased.
"Return our sapient immediatly! You don't know what you're doing!"
"Yes I do." she answered. Dr Caroll folded himself up and dropped into Joanna's hand, "I'm leaving."
She turned to leave, but turned around again when she heard the bodyguards' guns click. Cassandra demanded, "One last chance. Give it back! And you can come and work for me."
Luckily, that was about the time the jumpship arrived. Seeing the doors open, she made a dash for them, calling, "Sorry, gotta shoot."
As she jumped in, she heard the guard's guns go off. She turned around in midair and returned fire, causing her to land roughly against the wall. She wasn't sure if she'd hit anyone, but she thought she heard a scream. Shaken by the mission, she just sat down, trying to catch her breath.
As Joanna stood, lost in thought, she failed to hear footsteps behind her or the sound of a rifle being loaded and readied. She did take notice, however, when the gun fired and missed her feet by half an inch. She turned and saw Helen near the stairs. She was dressed like one of Cassandra's body guards and had her hair tied back. She let the rifle in her hands down for a minute.
"So, you actually showed up?" She said, "For a minute, I was wondering if you'd even come, Dark."
"I never turn down a good challenge." Joanna smirked.
"Then, you're in for a treat." She looked like she was about to fire the rifle again. But, in a split second, she pulled out a pistol and fired it at Joanna. She quickly tried to dodge to the side. Helen thought she saw her trip. Joanna raised her arm and fired a laser at the rifle. It struck the rifle and caused it to spark. Joanna stumbled past Helen and almost fell down the stairs as she slipped into the store room below the roof. This all happened in a split second.
Helen threw down the broken rifle in frustration. She growled to herself, "Lousy bitch!"
Then, she looked down on the floor. A trail of bloodspots lead from where Joanna was standing and down the stairs. Helen smiled and slowly crept into storage room, whispering, "Looks like you didn't quite get away, Dark."
"I keep getting your sister's radar signal." Elliot said, "It's coming from a large building up ahead."
"That must be it." Velvet replied. As the zoomed across the landscape, Elliot suddenly heard an engine. He looked over and saw a hovercopter speeding towards them. Elliot ducked, the copter flying over and coming within inches of Velvet.
"God damn Sunday pilot!" Elliot screamed, "Bastards like you should have their lisences revocked!"
"Elliot, watch out!" Velvet screamed. He looked foward and found himself about to crash into the side of the Morgan base. He put his paws up and planted them against the metal of the building, his magnets sticking them securly to the building.
"Are you alright?" Elliot asked.
"Once my pulse comes back, I'll tell you." She paused a little and asked, "Do you know which floor we're at right now?"
"Between fourty-seven and fourty-eight. I think I see a loose vent on fourty-nine we can get in." Elliot carefully made his way up the building, Velvet clinging onto him for dear life. When they got to floor ninety-eight, another copter sped by the building, almost hitting Elliot. By now, his patience was running thin.
"Get your eyes examined, dipshit!" He yelled.
"Elliot!"
"What's wrong with these stupid pilots!? They fly like their the only people in the whole damn area!"
"Elliot, be quiet!"
"What's wrong, Vel-" She quickly grabbed his mouth.
"This is a stealth mission." She hissed, "If they catch us, we're going to be in such a mess!"
"What the hell was that?!" A voice yelled from inside. Velvet made sure to pull Elliot away from the window. A dataDyne guard kicked the door down and snuck in with his gun ready. He looked carefully around the room, pointing his gun at everything.
"He didn't see us yet, right?" Velvet whispered, nervously.
"I don't think so." Elliot whispered back, "We don't have a rifle pointed at us. So, I take it he hasn't. Should we try and get up to that vent now or is it too risky?"
"I'm not sure. I'm pretty new at espionage. But, Jo's counting on us, weither she knows it or not. We might as well chance it, Elliot. But, be quiet about it."
Elliot carefully made his way up the wall, towards the vent. But, his metallic feet made stealth nearly impossible. The guard suddenly realised that there was a metal noise outside. He snuck to the window and carefully opened it and pointed his rifle out, in case an armed intruder was there.
Elliot happened to look down and notice the rifle barrel being pointed out the window. He started to panic and whispered, "Velvet. Velvet!"
"What? What is it?"
"I think he's-"
"What the hell are you two doing up there?!" The guard shouted. He'd already stuck his head out and caught sight of them climbing up the side of the complex.
"Oh, shit!" Velvet cursed to herself.
"I said, what the hell are you two up to?! Get down here RIGHT NOW!"
Velvet loaded her Crossbow while Elliot readied the laser gun in his tail. This provoked the guard into firing. As Velvet struggled with her weapon, Elliot managed to hit the guard in the head.
"Thanks." Velvet said, "But, that might have attracted a little attention. We'd better hurry up and get in the vents."
"Roger that." Elliot got up to the vent and let Velvet climb over him and into the vent. Then, he crawled in himself.
Joanna hid among the crates of the store room. Her breathing was erratic from the fright she got and her heart was just about pounding out of her chest. It got even worse when she suddenly heard slow footsteps. And they were getting closer causing her pulse to go through the roof.
'And I didn't think it could get much faster.' She thought. She then heard a crate get kicked over. A shot of pain suddenly came to her head. She said, 'Oh no! Not now!'
Helen picked up a gun on the wall and searched around the area, looking for any sign of her target. Every now and again, she'd tease her a little by calling "Where are you, Agent Dark? We're not done playing." However, she became increasingly frustrated when Joanna didn't show. Suddenly, she listened carefully and noticed a small noise. A groan. She looked at a stack of crates. She gave a sly smile and aimed the gun.
Joanna was suddenly startled by hearing shots fired right in her direction. Suddenly, the crates she was hiding near toppled over. She barely dodged it, but dropped her Falcon 2. As she made a mad dash for another hiding place, Helen spotted her. She immedietly lifted her rifle and fired at Joanna. She managed to hit her in the leg and the arm, also wreaking her Crossbow. Joanna tripped from the leg wound and fell against a pile of crates. Her weight hitting the pile caused it to fall over on her.
Helen walked over to the pile with a smile on her face. She heard a groan. She pulled some crates off and found Joanna. She was alive, but injured. Helen picked her up by the arm and propped her up against a wall. She then held the rifle to Joanna's neck.
"Well, well." Helen smirked, "This is Carrington's best agent? Not so great now, eh?"
Joanna looked up at her, with a weak but angry glance.
"Has the cat got your tougne?" Helen smirked, "Well, any last requests?"
"As a matter of fact," Joanna groaned, "I wanted to know something."
Helen gave her a look but said, "Go ahead."
"If you want to see me dead so badly, why are you beating around the bush?" Joanna asked, "Are you afraid of having a murder on you conscience?"
"No," Helen replied, keeping her gun trained on Joanna's neck, "I'm simply more intent on watching you suffer than watching you die."
"Aren't you quite the raving lunatic?"
"After what you did to me, why shouldn't I be?"
"What did I do?"
"What did you do?" Helen repeated, calmly and with almost a laugh, "Oh, what did you do?" She then suddenly jabbed the gun into Joanna's stomach, then brought it away from Joanna.
"I'll tell you what you did!" She continued, "You caused my sister a great deal of pain and misery! But, what really drove me to this was what you did on the Skedar ship. Remember?"
Joanna thought back a bit in response. The Skedar ship? What could she have done on the Skedar ship that lead to this?
Joanna started to recover from the blow she took. As the throbbing headache she had finally died down, she tried to remember what happened. That Skedar knocked over a pile of crates, which fell on her. Upon remembering that, she got a bad idea about where she was right now. She groaned, "I'd better not be where I think I am."
As she got up, an all too familiar voice responded, "And it's worse than that, my dear. Just look who you've got for company." She looked up and was shocked to find Cassandra de Vries, standing right next to her.
"You?!" Joanna started. She got to her feet and poised herself for any potential attack as she continued, "I thought you managed to escape! We found no trace of you at all!"
Cassandra just looked at her and said, "You couldn't find me." She started walking casually around the cell. Joanna moved in unison. She wasn't sure what harm someone as old as Cassandra could do, but she didn't trust her any farther than she could throw her. She continued, "But there was no hiding from the Skedar, as you and Mr Carrington just discovered."
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and a terrifying, low roar. Then, the sound of footfalls followed.
"This is it! Wait there." Cassandra told her, "I'll make a distraction. That will give you a chance to get out. Use it, or we'll both die."
Joanna was shocked. This woman was a power-hungery conspirator. She was her worst enemy. So, why was she suddenly deciding to help her? She asked, "Why are you doing this, Cassandra?"
Cassandra positioned herself next to the door, saying "The Skedar used me, Joanna. You are my best chance..for revenge." They could hear the computer sounds of the lock's buttons being pressed. When the doors opened, Cassandra rushed out the door and towards the waiting Skedar. The last that was heard from her was a frightened scream.
"Is that why you called me here to fight you?" Joanna asked.
"Indeed it is." Helen answered, "It will also answer any sickly feelings you've been having."
In response to the odd look she got, she continued, "That's right. I poisoned you. I wanted you to feel as much pain as humanly possible. I've waited many years for this moment. Revenge."
"Helen, you don't understand." Joanna said. She was trying to see if those negotiating lessons back during training would finally help her, "That wasn't me. It was the Skedar. She threw herself to it and it killed her. Don't do something you'll regret later."
"Oh, beleive me. I won't regret a minute of this" Helen growled. She put the gun against Joanna's neck again, "Say good night, Agent Dark."
Joanna, beleiving this was it, closed her eyes and turned her head away. Helen was about to pull the trigger when she suddenly heard something banging around in the vent above. Suddenly, a part on the vent came loose and crashed down between her and Joanna. She backed up as Velvet and Elliot came crashing down with it. Velvet quickly sprang to her feet and pointed her gun.
"Drop it or your dead!" She demanded. Helen gave her a questioning look. She just stared at her, only bringing the gun slightly away from Joanna.
"You heard me!" She demanded again, "Drop the gun and put your hands in plain sight!"
Helen chuckled quietly at her. Velvet was loosing her patience. She screamed, "This is your last chance! Put the God damn gun down!"
"Beleive me," Helen finally muttered, "You're in no position to make demands." Quicker than anyone could blink, Helen suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed Velvet in the arm. She dropped the gun, but kicked Helen in the leg to distract her. In response, Helen pistol-whipped her in the side of the head. She fell down, stunned but not hurt badly. She looked up, recovering from her stun. She was shocked and terrified to find Helen standing over her, rifle in hand.
"You'll regret trifling with me, girl." She growled, aiming the rifle. Velvet closed her eyes. Suddenly, she heard a gun fire, but nothing hit her. She then heard the sound of a gun hitting the floor and the sound of someone running. She looked up and saw Elliot, with a laser cannon sticking out of his back.
"Yeah, you better run, you coward!" He screamed. He then noticed Velvet run past. She went over to Joanna. By now, she was barely consiouss. She seemed to be breathing harder. Velvet checked her fever again and was shocked to find that she was burning up.
'Oh no! She can't die!' Velvet thought in a panic, 'Not now!' Velvet picked her up. It was hard, since Joanna was a little taller than her, but she was panicing. She was running out of time!
"Elliot!" She called. Elliot trotted up to her, "Elliot, do you think you can carry two people?"
"I'm not sure. I tried it once before, back in the garage, and things got pretty messy."
"Then we need a new way out. I wonder if Jon's nearby." She worked her comlink a bit and said, "Jon. Johnathon, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear." replied the voice on the other end, "Any luck?"
"Yeah, I found Joanna alive. But, she's getting worse. We need to get her to the hospital and get the antidote in her as fast as we can."
"No problem. I just got out of the building with it. I'll be right over."
Velvet paced nervously outside the emergency room door of the CI's hospital wing. Johnathon had come by with the jump ship to get them. They injected the antidote in there, not wanting to waste time. She didn't improve right away, which made them even more nervous. She went directly to the ER once she arrived. Velvet was able to bandage her own stab wound, which really wasn't that bad.
"She'll be fine." Elvis told her, sitting in a nearby chair, "She's strong. She can handle this."
"Do you realise how sick she was?! What if we didn't get the thing in time?!"
"Ms. Dark?" A nurse asked as she walked in. Velvet, startled, jumped a bit. She relaxed, turned around and faced her.
"How is she?" She asked.
"She'll be fine. But, she'll need to be under observation for a couple of days to make sure it's really over."
"Can I see her?"
"Of course, right this way." Elvis decided to go tell Johnathon the good news first, before visiting, and left to find him.
As Joanna lay in the hospital bed, she heard a knock on the door. She propped herself up a little and called, "Come in."
Velvet came in and smiled to her, greeting, "Hello. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes. I'm still pretty tired, but at least I'm not getting headaches anymore."
"Glad to hear it." Velvet sat down next to the bed. The two were silent for a while. Then Joanna finally cleared her throat.
"So, you were the one that helped me, weren't you?"
"Yes, but I wasn't alone. Jon helped out a lot. Elvis helped a little, too. And then, there was Elliot."
"Elliot? Never heard of him."
Suddenly, there was a clang outside the window. They looked and saw Elliot, hanging off the side of the bbuilding with his magnetic paws. Velvet sighed and saied, "That's Elliot."
She went to the window and opened it. Since Elliot had two paws on the window frame, he lost his balance and fell into the room. Elliot stood up and shook himself. He looked at Velvet as she asked, "What the hell were you doing, Elliot?!"
"Visiting." Elliot said, "It ain't a crime for a robot cat to visit in a hospital, is it?"
"I suppose not, but you're going to give the nurse a heart attack if she finds you."
"What better place for her to have a heart attack than a hospital?"
Joanna giggled at Elliot's comment and said, "Quite the character, isn't he?"
"I guess you can call him a new recruit. Trust me, you will grow to hate him."
"Well, I'd love to stay, but Shane only wanted me here for a little while. Better shake a gear and leave. Nice meeting ya." He went out the door. There was a sudden shreik. He came rushing in and said, "On second thought, I'd better take the window." He zoomed out the window only a few minutes before the nurse came rushing in.
"What the hell was that?!" She shreiked.
"Oh, don't worry about him." Joanna said.
"Yeah," Velvet added, "He's just a visitor." The nurse gave a frightened sigh and left, muttering about how crazy this medical wing could get, between spies and guards and robotic visitors.
The two sisters sat in silence again until Velvet said, "Joanna?"
"Yes?"
"I really have to get something off my chest or I'm going to go mad."
"Alright, let's hear it."
"Listen, you really gave me a scare when you got sick like that. In fact, there are a lot of times when I just about have panic attacks worrying about you. I'd really appreiciate it if you were a little more careful during your missions. Ever since the Skedar.."
"You really do get scared over this, don't you?"
"Well..."
"Alright, I'll try and be a little more careful."
Velvet flung her arms around her and said, "Thanks."
The two hugged for what seemed like hours. When they finally seperated, Velvet said, "Well, I'd better leave you alone so you can get a little rest."
"Alright. See you around, Velvet." Joanna yawned a little then layed down and went to sleep.
"See you." Velvet said, as she left.
THE END
