Disappearance
Disclaimer: Same as before. Warning, a little Jean/Scott thing to follow.
~ ~ ~ ~
Colonel Hartford, commander of the Gamma Squadron had requested some reinforcements in the Bayville High School sector after the bombing attack. He requisitioned another operator, Sergeant Marvin "Marv" D'Arco who was working the mall sector.
A Black Hawk came flying over the horizon, on yet another of the daily profile flights over Bayville. Marv D'Arco was aboard the chopper when he heard his change in orders, detaching him to operate in the Bayville High School sector the next day. He had more pressing business, however.
"There." D'Arco gestured, taking one hand off his telescope sighted CAR- 15, "Technicals at nine o'clock."
Technicals were vehicles modified by the orcs and the Dark men (called Darklings, humans that had thrown in their lot with the orcs) that mounted .50 caliber machine guns, recoilless rifles or other heavy weaponry. The Darklings hid their weapons under tarps in the back of their pickups. The Black Hawk flew parallel to the enemy vehicles along the freeway as they appeared from the Null Zone into the Bayville reality.
Staff Sergeant Eddie Kurth, a Ranger aboard the helicopter said, "Chief, Darkling battle party on the freeway."
"I got it Eddie." Chief Warrant Officer Mike Fulton, the pilot of Black Hawk Super Seven Five replied, "I don't think we can touch this."
"Super Seven Five to command, we've got technicals on the freeway, heading into Bayville." Fulton said over the radio.
"Super Seven Five," Colonel McCron, the air commander, asked, "Are you taking fire?"
Fulton looked back and saw the crew chief closest to the technicals, the two Rangers closest to that door, and the Gamma operator aboard all readying their weapons to engage the target. "Negative command." Fulton replied.
"Do not engage, Seven Five. Return to base." McCron replied.
"Roger that." Fulton replied as he steered his helicopter back over the horizon returned to base.
Elsewhere Taryn didn't know where to turn next. Scott deserved so much more than an ambivalent redhead who would string him along and pay all the attention in the world to him one minute and act as if he didn't exist the other minute. What was the worse was that Scott played right into it. She had him wrapped around her little finger at least a dozen times with the slightest bit of attention. She had pushed Scott out of her life, yes, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to do it.
She ran into Ted as they were stretching for cross-country practice. Ted didn't quite understand why he felt concerned for Taryn when he could practically feel her despondent mood. Maybe it was because she reminded him of someone special from a couple years back. He had seen her quite a bit these past few days and the more he saw of her the more he was reminded of someone very special from the past.
"What's wrong?" Ted asked, as they started their warm up lap.
Taryn debated for a moment but decided to tell him, "It's Scott. I think him and Jean."
"Hey," Ted replied, "It's all right. I know this isn't exactly comforting but things will work out, just give them some time."
He stopped in mid sentence when he saw a Black Hawk fly right alongside the school, one of the soldiers in it waved cheerily from the cabin. It was an old friend of his, Marv D'Arco.
"Some time for what?" Taryn asked.
"Some time for everyone to figure things out. All everyone needs is a little time." Ted replied. He had been pretty happy throughout the deployment, knowing an old buddy of his was around.
Taryn mulled that thought over; people do need a little time to figure things out. Ted was right, she decided before she noticed Ted was nowhere to be seen.
Ted McDougal checked the tiny earpiece device that was hidden in one of his shoes, "What is it Chief?"
"Jay and Silent Bob are going to need some help at the mall on Saturday. I picked your name out of the hat for this job." Chief replied.
"Gotcha Chief." Ted replied.
A few moments later Taryn felt Ted running beside her again. "Hey, Ted, I'm going to the mall on Saturday, if you want to come meet me in front of Dillards at 10 o'clock, O.K."
Ted smiled, despite himself. "Sure, I'll be there."
~ ~ ~ ~
As he sat on the cot at the Desert Dune Airfield's hanger near the Null Zone desert town of Ibn Djarra, where the Task Force had relocated, Ted McDougal talked to Marv D'Arco who was sitting on his own cot, cleaning his CAR-15.
"So, she asked you to go to the mall with her?" D'Arco asked.
"Yeah, she did." Ted replied, both men wore desert camouflage trousers and sand brown t-shirts.
"Go for it, enjoy the fling while it lasts." D'Arco advised.
"Then what, when the deployment ends and the mission's over, say, 'Taryn, sorry it isn't you it's me'? That I'm part of some elite special forces unit from another dimension? That's gonna blow over real well." Ted replied.
"Oh for God's sake Ted." D'Arco replied, "It's not like that same case with."
Just the nearest oblique mention of her name was enough to take Ted's face and contort it with a layer of pain. D'Arco knew not to say anything else about her, but Ted needed to be pushed out of his shell. After about a split second of thought, D'Arco decided to just go on and mention it.
"Ted, it's not the same case as with Jamie." D'Arco replied, "Besides, it's not as if you have any commitment with her."
Before Ted could reply again, D'Arco continued his argument, "Anyway, you've known Jamie for what, nearly two years? And you haven't been able to tell her exactly how you feel about her. Look, you should get out more, you're young, you've got the chance to pretend to be a civilian without fighting too many orcs or Darklings, enjoy it while it lasts. For all you know you could die on a mission."
"I guess you're right Marv." Ted replied, field stripping his own M-16, "Thanks."
Staff Sergeant Eddie Kurth reported the sighting of the Darkling battle party to his company commander, Captain Ironsides. After he did so, he went and carried out some minor administrative chores while he watched the members of the task force come and go. Rangers, Fleet Special Forces, Gammas, and the four man Air Force detachment roamed about or sat on their cots.
Specialists Ernst Hockle and Nick Stoty sat on their cots, cleaning their weapons after a day on the firing range. The Rangers spent a vast majority of their time either training, on guard duty, asleep or on down time. This deployment was a blast. For the most part, the men of the 140 man Ranger company were on the average, sixteen. And getting to hang out with the 50 man Gamma detachment, Charlie Squadron, was awesome. It was like getting an ongoing lesson in soldiering from the best in the business. Once they deployed with the Gammas, on their workup cycle, the young Rangers found that they were the best to work with. Guys like 'Grinch' Growler, Mark Lazio, Marv D'Arco, and Cass Garner were the best teachers, with Mark Lazio being most popular.
Lazio taught Hockle how to fire his M-60 in short, effective bursts that would down an opponent in the first three rounds. 'Grinch' tended to be a bit of a loner, he was an extremely talented artist who was originally a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, but he started to lose the iceman façade after the Task Force deployed.
Cass Garner was no doubt one of the best soldiers in the entire squadron, where Grinch was laid back, Cass' throttle was always stuck in high gear. He was always doing some sort of physical exercise and seemed to delight in new ways of physically beating himself up. He was a blond fellow with a flattop and was a walking atlas of male musculature. He worked out so much that even his fellow operators thought he was some kind of mutant strain.
Then there were the two Navy EOD techs, Jay and Silent Bob who were clumsy with everything else but their diving gear and explosives. They were a little strange, but most of the guys like to laugh at them. Then the other four squids, Chief Brown, McDougal, 'Big Un', and Wenzl were also cool, despite all the Navy jokes that the Rangers and occasionally the Gamma operators, and the Air Force guys used to throw at them.
The four Air Force men were Staff Sergeant 'Dr. Kay' Kennel and Senior Airman Wilder, two Pararescuemen; the two Combat Controllers were Master Sergeant Walton and Staff Sergeant McConnell. They got a lot of Air Force jokes cranked out by all the other units in the hanger as well.
"Another profile flight, let's get cracking people!" Captain Ironsides shouted into the hanger.
"Fuck." Stoty groaned and threw on his uniform blouse, bullet proof vest, Kevlar helmet, and picked up his SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and ammunition. At first the men loved the profile flights, zipping along at the helicopter's maximum speed with the hotshot Night Stalker pilot performing an assortment of turns and varying traffic patterns in order to confuse enemy forces on the ground. They were so routine, however, that they started to get boring.
The Rangers were usually tasked with this, with detachments of Gamma operators flying in as well. A CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) helicopter was ready to go at all times with the two parajumpers and a crack team of a dozen Rangers and Gamma assaulters trained to form a perimeter around the crash site so that the parajumpers could treat wounded aircrew in the wreckage without fear of enemy attacks.
Ted picked up a Kevlar vest, M-16, and load bearing gear after throwing on his desert camouflage fatigue blouse. D'Arco motioned him to another Black Hawk that had an eight man Ranger chalk with four Gamma operators, including D'Arco inside it.
The pilot and co-pilot of Black Hawk Super Seven One, Chief Warrant Officer "Abbott" Flanagan and "Costello" Cain, were both veteran Night Stalkers of 127th SOAR and nicknamed because of their behavior off duty was reminiscent of Abbott and Costello. The nineteen aircraft of the Task Force were airborne, with the Little Birds flying ahead of the Black Hawks for reconnaissance purposes.
Half the task force flew through a dimensional gate created by a P-3 Orion electronic warfare aircraft and the other flew over Ibn Djarra. "That's nice beach down there." Kurth remarked.
"How's the water?" Corporal de Vaca, Kurth's best friend, asked.
"It's nice and warm." Kurth remarked.
"Meaning it's loaded with sharks."
Both Kurth and de Vaca turned and saw the Fleet Special Forces guy, McDougal, turn around and face them with a toothy grin.
Up in front, Chief Warrant Officer "Abbott" received a transmission, "Super Seven One, this is Super Seven Five go to UHF secure. I've got some bad news."
"Limo is a word Fulton, I don't wanna hear about it." Abbott replied.
"It is not a word it's an abbreviation of a word." Fulton replied.
"Limo is a word in common usage, that is the key phrase, in scrabble my friend." Abbott replied.
"No! If it's not in the dictionary it doesn't count." Fulton replied.
"It doesn't have to be in the dictionary!" Abbott replied.
"It does have to be in the dictionary. Look, when we get back to base it's coming off the board." Fulton replied.
"You touch my limo and I'll spank you Night Stalker. You hear?" Abbott replied.
"Yeah promises." Fulton replied as he steered the helicopter into the dimensional gate.
"Chief?" D'Arco said, "I see three technicals on the move."
"Roger." Abbott replied, "Command, this is Super Seven One, we've got technicals on the move out of the city."
"Acknowledged, Seven One, maintain current flight plan. We're dispatching a Little Bird to shadow them."
"Roger command, Seven One out." Abbott replied.
The profile flight ended after about a half hour in the air and the unit returned to stand down status. Ted looked at his watch and realized he had less than a few minutes to get himself ready for his brief for the surveillance operation at the Bayville Mall and Ibn Djarra, or 'the Jar' as the men called it, with another Gamma operator and Big Un.
David Falk was already sitting in the small briefing area, waiting for General Grayson give his briefing. Falk was a dark haired fellow in his mid- twenties with a laid back cowboy attitude complete with a Texas accent. He was already wearing civilian clothing, as was Big Un.
"Group! Atten-hut!" Bawled Captain Ironsides.
All three men stood to attention. "Falk, go to your squadron commander for a more specific briefing for your area of operations after this. Intelligence just informed us that the Darklings under the warlord Harsk have been mobilizing their assorted militia bands in the area. Sightings of at least three Darkling battle parties have been reported today alone. We confirmed the presence of a covert insertion into the Bayville area, we need more information before we launch a mission." General Grayson said.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ted stood at the Food Court in the Bayville Mall. Jay and Silent Bob were with him. Several of the X-men and the Brotherhood were hanging around the mall as well, blissfully unaware of the game of cat and mouse that had been going on in Bayville for the past six weeks.
Lance Alvers beamed when he saw Kitty Pryde standing a few feet away from one of those new guys that had come into Bayville High. He recognized the rather introspective loner as Ted McDougal standing by the Food Court.
Kitty looked worried as Lance approached her, "Kitty, what's wrong?"
"Lance, have you seen Tabitha or Kurt anywhere? They've been missing since last night." Kitty asked.
"No, I haven't." Lance asked, "Come to think of it, Toad's been missing too."
Ted was far enough away that he didn't look like he was eavesdropping but he overheard the conversation. "Command, this is Mike Zero One," Ted reported over a small two way radio, "We've got reports of mutants disappearing in Bayville."
"This is General Grayson. McDougal, get some more intelligence on this but don't get spotted. Grayson out."
"Roger sir." McDougal replied.
"Hey Ted, I just saw some weirdo going around the mall blabbing about Armageddon on the roof." Jay said as he got back from the men's room.
"Jay, Silent Bob, get to the roof and check for bombs." Ted replied, "I'll shadow Lance and Kitty."
~ ~ ~ ~
Elsewhere Scott Summers stopped his car at a parking space in front of the Bayville Mall. He walked towards the mall when he saw Taryn in the parking lot. "Taryn, can we talk?" Scott asked as he caught up to her.
Before either of them could say another word a black van sped right by them and several masked men leaped out of the vehicle, grabbed both Taryn and Scott and disappeared.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ted wondered where Taryn was when his watch read 10:30 and she wasn't anywhere near where she said she would be. He also saw Scott Summers' car from his vantage point, but what he hadn't seen was the van that had carried off Scott and Taryn.
"This is Mike Zero One reporting another possible abduction, Scott Summers." Ted reported. During the report he lost track of Lance and Kitty.
"This is General Grayson, McDougal pull your team out of there."
"Roger sir." McDougal replied.
"We've got trouble Ted." Silent Bob's voice came over the radio.
"What is it?" Ted replied.
"A Party Favor." Silent Bob replied, using EOD slang for an orcish explosive that combined a C-4 charge with several shrapnel pods.
"Get rid of it!" Ted replied, trying to keep his voice from getting high.
"Roger, we're on it." Silent Bob replied, "Shut up and leave us alone."
Jay and Silent Bob had removed all of the anti-personnel shrapnel pods when the timer suddenly ran down to thirty seconds, taking away the ten minutes that the pair thought they had.
"Oh shit!" Jay said, he tossed Silent Bob the bomb.
"I don't want it! You take it!" Silent Bob shouted.
"Hot potato! Hot potato!" Jay shouted and threw the bomb out of the mall skylight.
The bomb landed right in Principal Kelly's car, right when he was walking out to see how the Bayville High bake sale was going. The bomb exploded, blasting the car into shards. Thankfully Principal Kelly was unharmed.
"My car." He groaned, "I hate my life."
~ ~ ~ ~
"Scott, where are we?" Taryn asked. Ever since she had been forced into the back of the van, tied up and blindfolded, she couldn't tell where she was.
"I don't know, Taryn, I don't know." Scott said.
"Ow, Summers, even when you're tied up you make me miserable somehow."
"Alvers, is that you?" Scott asked.
"Yeah, it's me." Lance replied.
"Why don't you shake this thing up and get us out of here?" Scott asked.
"I can't use my powers, they've put some kind of weird necklace on us since we were captured." Lance replied.
"Will you two quit fighting and figure a way out of this?" Kitty asked.
Suddenly their blindfolds were pulled off and they could see they were in a ramshackle third world city in the middle of a desert. "I think we're not in Bayville anymore." Scott said.
"No kidding." Lance replied sarcastically. "Do you think any of these ugly bastards know where we are?"
Lance was rewarded with a rifle butt to the face for his comment from one of the masked men.
The four prisoners were shoved inside a building, a large three story structure and locked in a cage where Tabitha and Kurt were also imprisoned with similar power dampening collars that had small explosives wired to them if the mutants tried to tamper with them.
The orc guarding the prisoners knew that his dark lord had plans for these mutants and that their safekeeping from enemy infiltration was a top priority. The human task force outside of the city had been killing or capturing orcs and Darklings for nearly six weeks. Maybe they would be willing to negotiate for these mutants to restore the balance in Bayville.
Little did the orc guard know that he thought wrong and that Task Force Romeo was already planning its assault. They only needed to know where the prisoners were held before they went to rescue them.
Disclaimer: Same as before. Warning, a little Jean/Scott thing to follow.
~ ~ ~ ~
Colonel Hartford, commander of the Gamma Squadron had requested some reinforcements in the Bayville High School sector after the bombing attack. He requisitioned another operator, Sergeant Marvin "Marv" D'Arco who was working the mall sector.
A Black Hawk came flying over the horizon, on yet another of the daily profile flights over Bayville. Marv D'Arco was aboard the chopper when he heard his change in orders, detaching him to operate in the Bayville High School sector the next day. He had more pressing business, however.
"There." D'Arco gestured, taking one hand off his telescope sighted CAR- 15, "Technicals at nine o'clock."
Technicals were vehicles modified by the orcs and the Dark men (called Darklings, humans that had thrown in their lot with the orcs) that mounted .50 caliber machine guns, recoilless rifles or other heavy weaponry. The Darklings hid their weapons under tarps in the back of their pickups. The Black Hawk flew parallel to the enemy vehicles along the freeway as they appeared from the Null Zone into the Bayville reality.
Staff Sergeant Eddie Kurth, a Ranger aboard the helicopter said, "Chief, Darkling battle party on the freeway."
"I got it Eddie." Chief Warrant Officer Mike Fulton, the pilot of Black Hawk Super Seven Five replied, "I don't think we can touch this."
"Super Seven Five to command, we've got technicals on the freeway, heading into Bayville." Fulton said over the radio.
"Super Seven Five," Colonel McCron, the air commander, asked, "Are you taking fire?"
Fulton looked back and saw the crew chief closest to the technicals, the two Rangers closest to that door, and the Gamma operator aboard all readying their weapons to engage the target. "Negative command." Fulton replied.
"Do not engage, Seven Five. Return to base." McCron replied.
"Roger that." Fulton replied as he steered his helicopter back over the horizon returned to base.
Elsewhere Taryn didn't know where to turn next. Scott deserved so much more than an ambivalent redhead who would string him along and pay all the attention in the world to him one minute and act as if he didn't exist the other minute. What was the worse was that Scott played right into it. She had him wrapped around her little finger at least a dozen times with the slightest bit of attention. She had pushed Scott out of her life, yes, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to do it.
She ran into Ted as they were stretching for cross-country practice. Ted didn't quite understand why he felt concerned for Taryn when he could practically feel her despondent mood. Maybe it was because she reminded him of someone special from a couple years back. He had seen her quite a bit these past few days and the more he saw of her the more he was reminded of someone very special from the past.
"What's wrong?" Ted asked, as they started their warm up lap.
Taryn debated for a moment but decided to tell him, "It's Scott. I think him and Jean."
"Hey," Ted replied, "It's all right. I know this isn't exactly comforting but things will work out, just give them some time."
He stopped in mid sentence when he saw a Black Hawk fly right alongside the school, one of the soldiers in it waved cheerily from the cabin. It was an old friend of his, Marv D'Arco.
"Some time for what?" Taryn asked.
"Some time for everyone to figure things out. All everyone needs is a little time." Ted replied. He had been pretty happy throughout the deployment, knowing an old buddy of his was around.
Taryn mulled that thought over; people do need a little time to figure things out. Ted was right, she decided before she noticed Ted was nowhere to be seen.
Ted McDougal checked the tiny earpiece device that was hidden in one of his shoes, "What is it Chief?"
"Jay and Silent Bob are going to need some help at the mall on Saturday. I picked your name out of the hat for this job." Chief replied.
"Gotcha Chief." Ted replied.
A few moments later Taryn felt Ted running beside her again. "Hey, Ted, I'm going to the mall on Saturday, if you want to come meet me in front of Dillards at 10 o'clock, O.K."
Ted smiled, despite himself. "Sure, I'll be there."
~ ~ ~ ~
As he sat on the cot at the Desert Dune Airfield's hanger near the Null Zone desert town of Ibn Djarra, where the Task Force had relocated, Ted McDougal talked to Marv D'Arco who was sitting on his own cot, cleaning his CAR-15.
"So, she asked you to go to the mall with her?" D'Arco asked.
"Yeah, she did." Ted replied, both men wore desert camouflage trousers and sand brown t-shirts.
"Go for it, enjoy the fling while it lasts." D'Arco advised.
"Then what, when the deployment ends and the mission's over, say, 'Taryn, sorry it isn't you it's me'? That I'm part of some elite special forces unit from another dimension? That's gonna blow over real well." Ted replied.
"Oh for God's sake Ted." D'Arco replied, "It's not like that same case with."
Just the nearest oblique mention of her name was enough to take Ted's face and contort it with a layer of pain. D'Arco knew not to say anything else about her, but Ted needed to be pushed out of his shell. After about a split second of thought, D'Arco decided to just go on and mention it.
"Ted, it's not the same case as with Jamie." D'Arco replied, "Besides, it's not as if you have any commitment with her."
Before Ted could reply again, D'Arco continued his argument, "Anyway, you've known Jamie for what, nearly two years? And you haven't been able to tell her exactly how you feel about her. Look, you should get out more, you're young, you've got the chance to pretend to be a civilian without fighting too many orcs or Darklings, enjoy it while it lasts. For all you know you could die on a mission."
"I guess you're right Marv." Ted replied, field stripping his own M-16, "Thanks."
Staff Sergeant Eddie Kurth reported the sighting of the Darkling battle party to his company commander, Captain Ironsides. After he did so, he went and carried out some minor administrative chores while he watched the members of the task force come and go. Rangers, Fleet Special Forces, Gammas, and the four man Air Force detachment roamed about or sat on their cots.
Specialists Ernst Hockle and Nick Stoty sat on their cots, cleaning their weapons after a day on the firing range. The Rangers spent a vast majority of their time either training, on guard duty, asleep or on down time. This deployment was a blast. For the most part, the men of the 140 man Ranger company were on the average, sixteen. And getting to hang out with the 50 man Gamma detachment, Charlie Squadron, was awesome. It was like getting an ongoing lesson in soldiering from the best in the business. Once they deployed with the Gammas, on their workup cycle, the young Rangers found that they were the best to work with. Guys like 'Grinch' Growler, Mark Lazio, Marv D'Arco, and Cass Garner were the best teachers, with Mark Lazio being most popular.
Lazio taught Hockle how to fire his M-60 in short, effective bursts that would down an opponent in the first three rounds. 'Grinch' tended to be a bit of a loner, he was an extremely talented artist who was originally a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, but he started to lose the iceman façade after the Task Force deployed.
Cass Garner was no doubt one of the best soldiers in the entire squadron, where Grinch was laid back, Cass' throttle was always stuck in high gear. He was always doing some sort of physical exercise and seemed to delight in new ways of physically beating himself up. He was a blond fellow with a flattop and was a walking atlas of male musculature. He worked out so much that even his fellow operators thought he was some kind of mutant strain.
Then there were the two Navy EOD techs, Jay and Silent Bob who were clumsy with everything else but their diving gear and explosives. They were a little strange, but most of the guys like to laugh at them. Then the other four squids, Chief Brown, McDougal, 'Big Un', and Wenzl were also cool, despite all the Navy jokes that the Rangers and occasionally the Gamma operators, and the Air Force guys used to throw at them.
The four Air Force men were Staff Sergeant 'Dr. Kay' Kennel and Senior Airman Wilder, two Pararescuemen; the two Combat Controllers were Master Sergeant Walton and Staff Sergeant McConnell. They got a lot of Air Force jokes cranked out by all the other units in the hanger as well.
"Another profile flight, let's get cracking people!" Captain Ironsides shouted into the hanger.
"Fuck." Stoty groaned and threw on his uniform blouse, bullet proof vest, Kevlar helmet, and picked up his SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and ammunition. At first the men loved the profile flights, zipping along at the helicopter's maximum speed with the hotshot Night Stalker pilot performing an assortment of turns and varying traffic patterns in order to confuse enemy forces on the ground. They were so routine, however, that they started to get boring.
The Rangers were usually tasked with this, with detachments of Gamma operators flying in as well. A CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) helicopter was ready to go at all times with the two parajumpers and a crack team of a dozen Rangers and Gamma assaulters trained to form a perimeter around the crash site so that the parajumpers could treat wounded aircrew in the wreckage without fear of enemy attacks.
Ted picked up a Kevlar vest, M-16, and load bearing gear after throwing on his desert camouflage fatigue blouse. D'Arco motioned him to another Black Hawk that had an eight man Ranger chalk with four Gamma operators, including D'Arco inside it.
The pilot and co-pilot of Black Hawk Super Seven One, Chief Warrant Officer "Abbott" Flanagan and "Costello" Cain, were both veteran Night Stalkers of 127th SOAR and nicknamed because of their behavior off duty was reminiscent of Abbott and Costello. The nineteen aircraft of the Task Force were airborne, with the Little Birds flying ahead of the Black Hawks for reconnaissance purposes.
Half the task force flew through a dimensional gate created by a P-3 Orion electronic warfare aircraft and the other flew over Ibn Djarra. "That's nice beach down there." Kurth remarked.
"How's the water?" Corporal de Vaca, Kurth's best friend, asked.
"It's nice and warm." Kurth remarked.
"Meaning it's loaded with sharks."
Both Kurth and de Vaca turned and saw the Fleet Special Forces guy, McDougal, turn around and face them with a toothy grin.
Up in front, Chief Warrant Officer "Abbott" received a transmission, "Super Seven One, this is Super Seven Five go to UHF secure. I've got some bad news."
"Limo is a word Fulton, I don't wanna hear about it." Abbott replied.
"It is not a word it's an abbreviation of a word." Fulton replied.
"Limo is a word in common usage, that is the key phrase, in scrabble my friend." Abbott replied.
"No! If it's not in the dictionary it doesn't count." Fulton replied.
"It doesn't have to be in the dictionary!" Abbott replied.
"It does have to be in the dictionary. Look, when we get back to base it's coming off the board." Fulton replied.
"You touch my limo and I'll spank you Night Stalker. You hear?" Abbott replied.
"Yeah promises." Fulton replied as he steered the helicopter into the dimensional gate.
"Chief?" D'Arco said, "I see three technicals on the move."
"Roger." Abbott replied, "Command, this is Super Seven One, we've got technicals on the move out of the city."
"Acknowledged, Seven One, maintain current flight plan. We're dispatching a Little Bird to shadow them."
"Roger command, Seven One out." Abbott replied.
The profile flight ended after about a half hour in the air and the unit returned to stand down status. Ted looked at his watch and realized he had less than a few minutes to get himself ready for his brief for the surveillance operation at the Bayville Mall and Ibn Djarra, or 'the Jar' as the men called it, with another Gamma operator and Big Un.
David Falk was already sitting in the small briefing area, waiting for General Grayson give his briefing. Falk was a dark haired fellow in his mid- twenties with a laid back cowboy attitude complete with a Texas accent. He was already wearing civilian clothing, as was Big Un.
"Group! Atten-hut!" Bawled Captain Ironsides.
All three men stood to attention. "Falk, go to your squadron commander for a more specific briefing for your area of operations after this. Intelligence just informed us that the Darklings under the warlord Harsk have been mobilizing their assorted militia bands in the area. Sightings of at least three Darkling battle parties have been reported today alone. We confirmed the presence of a covert insertion into the Bayville area, we need more information before we launch a mission." General Grayson said.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ted stood at the Food Court in the Bayville Mall. Jay and Silent Bob were with him. Several of the X-men and the Brotherhood were hanging around the mall as well, blissfully unaware of the game of cat and mouse that had been going on in Bayville for the past six weeks.
Lance Alvers beamed when he saw Kitty Pryde standing a few feet away from one of those new guys that had come into Bayville High. He recognized the rather introspective loner as Ted McDougal standing by the Food Court.
Kitty looked worried as Lance approached her, "Kitty, what's wrong?"
"Lance, have you seen Tabitha or Kurt anywhere? They've been missing since last night." Kitty asked.
"No, I haven't." Lance asked, "Come to think of it, Toad's been missing too."
Ted was far enough away that he didn't look like he was eavesdropping but he overheard the conversation. "Command, this is Mike Zero One," Ted reported over a small two way radio, "We've got reports of mutants disappearing in Bayville."
"This is General Grayson. McDougal, get some more intelligence on this but don't get spotted. Grayson out."
"Roger sir." McDougal replied.
"Hey Ted, I just saw some weirdo going around the mall blabbing about Armageddon on the roof." Jay said as he got back from the men's room.
"Jay, Silent Bob, get to the roof and check for bombs." Ted replied, "I'll shadow Lance and Kitty."
~ ~ ~ ~
Elsewhere Scott Summers stopped his car at a parking space in front of the Bayville Mall. He walked towards the mall when he saw Taryn in the parking lot. "Taryn, can we talk?" Scott asked as he caught up to her.
Before either of them could say another word a black van sped right by them and several masked men leaped out of the vehicle, grabbed both Taryn and Scott and disappeared.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ted wondered where Taryn was when his watch read 10:30 and she wasn't anywhere near where she said she would be. He also saw Scott Summers' car from his vantage point, but what he hadn't seen was the van that had carried off Scott and Taryn.
"This is Mike Zero One reporting another possible abduction, Scott Summers." Ted reported. During the report he lost track of Lance and Kitty.
"This is General Grayson, McDougal pull your team out of there."
"Roger sir." McDougal replied.
"We've got trouble Ted." Silent Bob's voice came over the radio.
"What is it?" Ted replied.
"A Party Favor." Silent Bob replied, using EOD slang for an orcish explosive that combined a C-4 charge with several shrapnel pods.
"Get rid of it!" Ted replied, trying to keep his voice from getting high.
"Roger, we're on it." Silent Bob replied, "Shut up and leave us alone."
Jay and Silent Bob had removed all of the anti-personnel shrapnel pods when the timer suddenly ran down to thirty seconds, taking away the ten minutes that the pair thought they had.
"Oh shit!" Jay said, he tossed Silent Bob the bomb.
"I don't want it! You take it!" Silent Bob shouted.
"Hot potato! Hot potato!" Jay shouted and threw the bomb out of the mall skylight.
The bomb landed right in Principal Kelly's car, right when he was walking out to see how the Bayville High bake sale was going. The bomb exploded, blasting the car into shards. Thankfully Principal Kelly was unharmed.
"My car." He groaned, "I hate my life."
~ ~ ~ ~
"Scott, where are we?" Taryn asked. Ever since she had been forced into the back of the van, tied up and blindfolded, she couldn't tell where she was.
"I don't know, Taryn, I don't know." Scott said.
"Ow, Summers, even when you're tied up you make me miserable somehow."
"Alvers, is that you?" Scott asked.
"Yeah, it's me." Lance replied.
"Why don't you shake this thing up and get us out of here?" Scott asked.
"I can't use my powers, they've put some kind of weird necklace on us since we were captured." Lance replied.
"Will you two quit fighting and figure a way out of this?" Kitty asked.
Suddenly their blindfolds were pulled off and they could see they were in a ramshackle third world city in the middle of a desert. "I think we're not in Bayville anymore." Scott said.
"No kidding." Lance replied sarcastically. "Do you think any of these ugly bastards know where we are?"
Lance was rewarded with a rifle butt to the face for his comment from one of the masked men.
The four prisoners were shoved inside a building, a large three story structure and locked in a cage where Tabitha and Kurt were also imprisoned with similar power dampening collars that had small explosives wired to them if the mutants tried to tamper with them.
The orc guarding the prisoners knew that his dark lord had plans for these mutants and that their safekeeping from enemy infiltration was a top priority. The human task force outside of the city had been killing or capturing orcs and Darklings for nearly six weeks. Maybe they would be willing to negotiate for these mutants to restore the balance in Bayville.
Little did the orc guard know that he thought wrong and that Task Force Romeo was already planning its assault. They only needed to know where the prisoners were held before they went to rescue them.