War Fields: Chapter 8



Vanessa led Roxanne down a dark, dank hallway and opened the door to a rather bare bones looking cell. After she ushered the younger girl in, she slammed the door forcefully and whirled on her.

"What in the HELL were you thinking back there?!" Vanessa hissed angrily, keeping her voice low enough that the conversation wouldn't drift outside those walls. Completely taken aback, Roxanne just blinked worried blue eyes at her. Vanessa continued her rant. "Never mind...I can tell by your expression that you obviously WEREN'T."

"Vanessa...I--"

"Don't you 'Vanessa' me!" The VENOM agent interrupted. "You have absolutely NO idea what you've just done!"

"Vanessa, I didn't know!" Roxanne pleaded. "I honestly didn't until just now!"

"Well now you know," Vanessa said flatly. "And thanks to you, now Rax knows. You're damn lucky that no one else knows."

"Maybe...maybe you could just let her go," Roxanne suggested hopefully. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself for suggesting something so lame.

Vanessa snorted. "In a foreign country? With a head injury? Riiiiigggghhht. She's safer here with us."

"You could..." Roxanne gulped, unsure if she should even make the suggestion, but she had gotten Annie into this mess. "You could call Brad."

If looks could kill, the one Vanessa shot Roxanne would have incinerated the younger girl on the spot. "How about I just put a big, flashing neon sign outside the base that says: 'VENOM is here!' ?" Vanessa suggested acidly. "That would have essentially the same effect. Not going to happen."

"Well, what are you going to do, then?" Roxy asked worriedly.

Vanessa ran her fingers through her darkly laced red locks. "I have no idea."

"Well you have to do SOMETHING!" Roxanne shouted. "She's your DAUGHTER!"

Vanessa's eyes turned to chunks of aquamarine ice. Roxy literally shivered as she caught the full force of her stare. "I am well aware of who SHE is. And right now, compared to you, that girl practically has Diplomatic Immunity. As long as Rax keeps his mouth shut, Mayhem isn't going to blink twice at her. I'd be a little more worried about myself if I were you."

Roxanne winced as though Vanessa had actually slapped her. Vanessa saw a jolt of fear pass through the young girls eyes. Good, Vanessa thought with some satisfaction. She's starting to see the trouble she's actually in.

Before the scared look in Roxy's face could sway her anger, Vanessa turned on her heel and stormed out the door, carefully locking it behind her.


She ran her fingers through her hair again as she walked back to her room. Of all the people in the United States, Roxanne Trakker had to make friends with HIS daughter. And of all the countries in the world, they just happened to be in this one. And of all the areas in the entire city of Venice, they just happened to be in THAT one. Damnit, she cursed mentally. Sixteen years. Sixteen years, and now THIS. Damn you, Roxy...and damn you Turner, for not keeping a better eye on your daughter.

Vanessa sighed deeply as she opened the door to her room. She shut it quickly when she found Rax inside, sitting in a chair with his feet propped up, gazing toward the general vicinty of her bed. Her eyes drifted to the bed and remained there a few minutes as she looked at the unconscious young girl lying in it. HIS daughter... Annie, Vanessa reminded herself absently...her name is Annie... lay there unmoving, long, red hair splayed over her pillow. Vanessa could see her chest rising and falling as she breathed, and other than looking exceptionally pale, the bandaged cut on her forehead was the only sign of injury. Vanessa let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, but not so much out of concern for the girl in front of her as for the rest of them if anything HAD happened to Annie.

"Pulse is pretty strong...but it'll be a while before the kid wakes up," Rax said from beside her. His mood seemed contemplative. "When she does, it's gonna be with a splitting headache and a possible concussion."

Rax looked over at Vanessa, who was still staring at her daughter and ignoring him. He got a wicked look on his face as he asked, "So who was the lucky stiff?"

That got her attention. Rax waited for the slap that never came. Vanessa just blinked and glared in his direction. "None of your business."

"If you want me to keep your secret, Vanessa, it'd be in your best interest to level with me," Rax replied as his eyes turned back to the girl on the bed.

Something nagged at the back of his mind...her looks were very familiar. They were definitely Vanessa's, sure, but they were someone else's too, and Rax felt positive he should know whose. Then it finally hit him and he grinned wildly.

"What's so funny?" Vanessa snapped.

Rax shrugged innocently. "Obviously a little more rockin n' rollin going on than any of us realized." The look on Vanessa's face told him everything he needed to know. "And now I know where you were all those years ago."

With immense willpower, Vanessa denied him the benefit of a reply, stating simply, "You better go check in with Mayhem."

Rax stood and stretched, walking over to the door. "What about you?"

"Tell him it's that time of the month, or something. I really could care less what you tell him, as long as you GET OUT," Vanessa growled, sitting down in the vacated chair.

"Whatever you say, Vanessa," Rax replied sweetly as he left.

As he made his way down to debrief VENOM's leader, he couldn't help but think about how some rock n' roll cowboy from MASK did something that the guys on this team could only fantasize about. Well, Turner, Rax thought, you are one lucky son of a bitch.



This can't be happening! Scott repeated to himself, like a mantra in his head. This isn't happening...this isn't happening...this isn't happening!! Unfortunately, the reality of the situation was otherwise. He and T-Bob had finally managed to double back along the waterways and find a route that caught up with the boat Roxy had taken, and Scott had remembered, even in his panicked state to ask T-Bob to map the route they were using in case they needed to backtrack again. Scott had realized a little too late that that wouldn't be necessary. He watched in shock and horror as Rax casually launched a torpedo from Piranha and blew the boat right out of the water.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOO!" Scott hadn't realized he had screamed aloud and was running toward the water until he felt T-Bob's firm grip on his arms. "Nonononoonononono!"

Nononononononono...oh, god, please... He fell to his knees, T-Bob still gripping his shoulders. The two girls he loved the most in the world were gone, and it was HIS fault. He was supposed to keep an eye on them, protect them. His dad had trusted him with that task, but more importantly so had Brad. Everyone knew that the teams rock n' roller had a tendency to let his feelings get in the way, and never more so than where Annie was concerned. When he finds out what happened...and when Dad finds out about Roxy...they'll blame me for not doing something.... and it'll be true! Oh god, how am I going to live with myself?!? Roxy, why couldn't you for once have thought of someone other than yourself?!?

"...get help! Scott! Scott!" interjected T-Bob's worried computer voice.

Scott stared at his robotic friend through tear streaked blurs. "Motor scooter mode," he requested softly, pulling himself off the ground. T-Bob quickly obliged as Scott got on. "Find Dad," was all the young boy could manage to say.


They found the MASK team in San Marco Square, in a church filled with debris from its collapsed roof. Scott noted detachedly that this must have been VENOM's objective all along...something inside the church. As T-Bob stopped outside and transformed back to his robotic self, Scott hoped that he could just find his father, explain what happened, and go back to the hotel without ever laying eyes on Brad Turner. He'd never be able to bring himself to tell Brad that his daughter was... No, said the still rational part of him. You can't think like that.

As fate would have it, the active agents just happened to gather outside for an impromptu debriefing as Scott appeared. He caught his father's eye momentarily and hoped he would approach him alone. But fate wasn't willing to be that kind. Scott's look was intercepted by Brad, who glanced over in his direction, and then did a double take when the expression on Scott's face told him everything. He ate up the distance between himself and Scott in what seemed like two impossibly long strides, at least through Scott's eyes. Matt and the rest of their group quickly followed.

Scott knew he was dead when Brad removed his shades and transfixed him with the full force of his tumultuous eyes. "What....happened....?"

He found it oddly amazing how much emotional content could be expressed in two words. Brad was using the same dangerously calm voice Scott had heard his father use on many occasions. The same voice that usually heralded dire consequences for any reply other than the absolute truth. Scott took a very deep breath before he launched into his explanation. Buck up Scott, and be a man. If you're going to be an agent one day, you're gonna have to learn how to deal with this.

"We were shopping...all of us...and we were almost finished...I mean, I think the girls were almost finished..." You're babbling, Scott, get to the point quickly and just get it over with. "...anyway, we were walking when someone pushed through us. T-Bob and I had all their stuff...a lot of it too..." Babble! pointed out his rational side as he continued. "...and we fell. When we got back up, we saw that it was..." he paused, closing his eyes, "...it was Vanessa. And the girls...well, they chased after her..."

"Wait a minute here, there ain't no way Annie'd go within any kinda radius of *THAT* woman!" Dusty interjected heatedly. The way he spit out 'that woman' made it sound like an epithet in and of itself. "You mean that ROXY went chasin' after her and dragged Annie along for the ride! I knew that girl was trouble, I knew it!"

"Dusty..." Matt warned softly, turning back to his son. "Go on, Scott."

Scott glanced over at Brad. Aside from eyes that blazed with cold fury, his expression was completely unreadable. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, and Scott knew he was going to explode at any moment. Especially after what was coming next.

"They took a boat that was docked into the water 'cause Rax had picked Vanessa up in Piranha. I wanted to chase after them...but there wasn't another boat around, so T-Bob and I had to stick to the shore. All those ducts and waterways were so convoluted I had to have T-Bob map the area so we didn't get lost... By the time we got back to where we could see them...they were too far out...and then..." Scott closed his eyes again. He wouldn't be able to stand the looks on their faces when he told them the rest. Here it comes. "...then Rax torpedoed their boat."

Dead silence hung in the air...until Brad's cork blew.

"DAMN HER!" He exploded violently. "DAMN HER TO BLOODY HELL!"

No one was sure whether he was referring to Annie, Roxy, or Vanessa, and no one dared to ask. Scott couldn't keep up the brave facade anymore...he began to shake. He felt his father's arms pull him into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I let you down...it's my fault," he sobbed as tears streamed down his face.

"It's okay, Scott," Matt whispered softly, smoothing Scott's head of brown curls. "You did what you could, and you did the right thing in coming to find us. We'll find them..."

"Damn right *I* will," Brad snapped as he stalked towards Condor. "And they damn well better be alive, or there is going to be HELL to pay. Let's go, Dusty."

Without a moment's hesitation, the southerner began to follow.

"Wait a minute..." Matt ordered.

Dusty laid a comforting hand on Brad's shoulder as his back stiffened and his fists clenched. "DO NOT tell me to CALM DOWN, and DO NOT order me to STAY HERE, or I will turn around and lay you out right here, Trakker." He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and added icily. "The same goes for you, Hawkes."

Buddy and Matt exchanged a glance, knowing it was going to be useless to argue. The MASK leader sighed in defeat. "All right...you win. But I want you back by nightfall, and THAT is an ORDER. I'm not loosing anyone else today. Buddy and I will finish up here and put word out on the street."

"Fine." Brad's tone practically dripped icicles.

Before anything else could be said, Condor and Gator were gone.