War Fields: Chapter 9
Annie threw her arm over her eyes in her habitual waking gesture. The guys at the Ranger Station thought it was
so cute on the rare occasions they caught her napping on the couch in the rec room. At the moment though, Annie
felt anything but cute...she felt downright ugly. Her head pounded so heavily, she thought it would fall off,
and her stomach decided it wanted to compete by trying to twist her inside out. Definitely NOT cute, she
thought absently, as she scratched idly at her forehead only to discover the bandage on her temple. A bandage....what
the heck happened? She forced her mind to cooperate through the pain lancing through her skull so that she
could come up with a coherent, if a little disjointed, sequence of events that led to her waking up with a Band-Aid
on her forehead. Let's see, there was breakfast...let's try NOT to remember that...my 'fight' with Dad, the
gondola ride with Roxy and Scott, then I think we went shopping... Somewhere after shopping, her mind sprung
on her the wave of what had happened next.
"Oh God..."
Annie shot bolt upright and regretted it immediately. The ceiling and the floor switched places at a really horrible
forty-five degree angle, and the battle between her head and stomach raged on. She wasn't exactly sure how, but
her stomach won as she suddenly found herself emptying out what little had been left in there. When she finished,
she rested her head against the coolness of the toilet bowl that had magically appeared in front of her. Now that
her stomach was satisfied, her head felt the need to work overtime.
"Get up," ordered a raspy, female voice.
"Oh god..." Annie said aloud as a knot tightened in her now empty stomach. Even though she'd never heard
it before in her life, she KNEW who that voice belonged to.
"He can't help you right now," continued the voice above her, "but I might. Now get up."
Very, very slowly and very, very carefully, Annie climbed to her feet, looking anywhere but at Vanessa Warfield
as she wobbled her way out into the other room. Shut up, you, she told her aching head as she fell unceremoniously
into the nearest piece of furniture, a rather beat up looking and ratty chair.
"Here," Vanessa said gruffly, holding out a handful of tablets. "And stop pretending, because I
know you're awake."
Annie lifted her head off the arm of the chair, eyeing the tablets in Vanessa's hand dubiously. After a moment
of thought, she decided that whatever was in those couldn't possibly have any worse effect than the drilling going
on in her head now. Vanessa handed her a glass of water, and she quickly washed the tablets down. Annie was nothing,
if not polite, even to her worst enemy, who may have just now drugged her. "Thanks," she muttered softly,
expecting to lapse into oblivion at any moment.
"It was just aspirin, in case you were wondering," Vanessa said, shattering Annie's illusion. She looked
at her fully conscious daughter for the first time, noticing that she still looked very pale. She hoped Rax was
wrong about the concussion, if only to save her some more effort, but she decided she'd better find out. "Look
at me."
When Annie didn't comply, Vanessa took her chin firmly in her hand, and tilted her head upward. Glassy green eyes
met cool aquamarine for the first time, and Annie saw her own eyes looking back. Most of her characteristics were
a unique blend of Brad and Vanessa both, but her eyes were definitely her mother's, she realized detachedly. Vanessa
was currently giving her the same intense look that she knew she had given on occasion, as though she was searching
for something. Either she found it, or she gave up, because she dropped Annie's chin and pronounced, "You'll
live."
"OH, well THAT'S good to know," Annie said sarcastically.
Vanessa shot her a look. "You should have known better than to make friends with Roxanne Trakker. I'm surprised
you're father didn't teach you better."
Does she know? One way to find out... "He always goes for the bad girls. After all, he fell in love with
you, didn't he?" Annie shot back.
She'd scored a hit, judging by the surprised look on Vanessa's face, which was quickly replaced by cool neutrality.
"That was his first mistake."
Annie felt anger rising as the aspirin calmed the pounding in her head slightly. "Wait a minute...are you
trying to blame HIM for this?"
Vanessa shrugged casually. "If the shoe fits..."
Annie's anger began to reach the boiling point. "Okay, so let's talk about your shoes. Where exactly were
YOU all these years?" she snapped angrily. "I wouldn't criticize HIM when YOU weren't even THERE!"
"It wouldn't have worked out," Vanessa stated in her coolly infuriating rasp.
"YOU could have MADE it WORK!" Annie yelled back. "You had him wrapped around your little finger!
You said jump and he asked how high! If you had asked him to pull the moon and a ring of stars out of the sky,
he would have found a way to do it!" She paused, only to glare furiously at Vanessa. "The sad thing
is, he still feels that way, and you don't even deserve it."
"That's his problem, not mine." Despite her efforts to keep her cool, this girl was really beginning
to make her angry.
"Of course not," Annie snarled. "You just prefer to take advantage of it by stringing him along
every chance you get, and letting him take the fall for all your little schemes!"
CRACK! Annie's head snapped backward from the force of Vanessa's blow. Stars danced behind her eyes and the room
around her turned into a dark haze. She clenched her fists and her teeth, determined not to give Vanessa the satisfaction
of sending her into unconsciousness. When her vision finally cleared, she glared at Vanessa with eyes highlighted
a feral orange by the flames dancing within them.
Vanessa was on her way to the door when Annie spoke again. "Now I know what they mean when they say the truth
hurts. Go ahead and beat me, Vanessa," she spit hatefully. "There isn't anything more you can do to
hurt me than you have already."
Vanessa yanked her bedroom door open, pulling Sly Rax inside. "Get HER out of HERE, NOW!"
Annie was already on her feet, the adrenaline rush giving her a strength she knew she didn't possess. She laughed
haughtily and casually walked over to the door. "Nice to know nothing's changed. Just get rid of me when
I become too inconvenient."
Another stinging slap caught Annie across the cheek, but this one didn't go unanswered. Vanessa never saw the
return blow coming until she staggered back a few inches, a bright pink spot on her cheek beginning to bruise.
"That's for the sixteen years of HELL you put my father through!"
"Rax..." Vanessa growled dangerously.
Sly Rax took Annie's arm in a firm grip. "Come on kid, you're not doin' yourself any favors."
"Oh, like the ones she did for me?"
Rax simply pulled her out the door, but Annie got off a few parting shots before they got far. "I'm really
glad we could have this chat...MOM. Thanks for nothing."
The slamming door was her only reply.
Rax maintained his usual cool demeanor as he walked their second 'guest' back to her 'quarters', but inwardly he
was crowing. Kid's got as much spunk as her mother...no wonder Vanessa's so up in arms. She's finally met
her match. Literally.
He stopped suddenly as Annie stumbled and fell against him. Watching her in action, he had practically forgotten
about the blow to the head she'd taken. Apparently, so had she, until now. He didn't bother making her walk the
rest of the way; he just scooped her up and carried her in an oddly generous fashion. Annie didn't resist or say
anything; she just let Rax carry her back to the cell. For his part, Rax was trying to reconcile this odd, protective
feeling that she was evoking in him. Yeah, he'd promised Vanessa he'd keep the other goons away from her, but
this particular feeling went deeper than that. Maybe it was just because she WAS Vanessa's kid, even if she did
hate her, and he did owe Vanessa a lot... He shook his head to clear it. Don't get soft, Rax.
He kicked the cell door open and deposited Annie onto the mattress on the floor as gently as he could. She blinked
up at him as he spoke.
"Listen kid, you just kinda changed the rules of the little game we play here," he said. "So the
new rules are simple. You behave, and I keep the rest of the goons in this place, and Vanessa, outta here. Right
now, I'm the only friend you've got."
"Where's Roxy?" Annie asked suddenly, looking up at Rax with concern filled eyes.
"Roxy's fine. Worry about yourself," Rax replied. "I left ya water and a bottle of asprin, a nice
mattress, a pillow, and a blanket. I don't do that for just anyone. You get anything more than headaches, you
let me know."
Rax shut the door behind him, scratching his head and wondering why the hell he CARED.
Kind of a dark version of Dad, Annie thought absently as she watched Rax leave. HEY! yelled Jesse
Hawkes' voice into her head, almost making her jump up. Don't you sympathize with a bunch of ruthless terrorists!
said the retired Ranger's voice in her mind, exactly as he would have said it to her if he had been sitting here
beside her. Thinking of him gave her a small amount of comfort as she laid down and closed her eyes, hoping the
ache in her head would soon fade.
Roxanne was in deep concentration, as she realized she was trapped. Bruno, Cliff Dagger, and Floyd Malloy all
had her cornered, there was nothing else she could do but give in. "SHIT!" she uttered along with several other
cuss words as she threw 5 cards in her hand face down, "I fold."
"So who's the red head you picked up?" Bruno asks with a slight wicked smile.
"Eh tourist. I needed a boat she just came with it," she snickered pretending to have no association with Anne.
Floyd smiled greedily, "Ok guys show me what you got."
Dagger had his right arm bandage up in a sling and constantly kept fumbling with his cards, "Uh…well two pairs."
Bruno displayed a winning smiled as he revealed his cards, "Full House!"
He was ready to reach out and grab his winnings in the center of the table, but Floyd gently placed his cards down,
"4 of a kind." He proudly displayed four aces, "Read them and weep."
Bruno sat back stunned he finally had a chance to win, but no Floyd mange to pull a fast one again. Dagger was
more focus on his arm and kept babying his injuries. Meanwhile, Roxanne who was enjoying imported cigars and complimentary
drinks from the fridge started to laugh out loud.
The three men looked at her thinking she was off her rocker. "What's so funny?" Floyd asked. Roxanne picked up
the hand she just folded to reveal two aces.
Bruno stood up in a rage of fury that caused his chair to fall back, "You've been cheat'n us again!"
"Hey I want my money back!" Dagger shouted.
Floyd flash Roxanne a 'how could you' look. He knew he couldn't argue with two muscle men, instead he made a break
for the door, with Bruno slowly tracing his footsteps from behind.
She continued to laugh at Floyd display of cowardness. Cliff Dagger scratch his head, "I don't see what's so funny?"
"He didn't cheat Bruno," she said trying to prevent Floyd from facing an unfortunate accident. "I just threw those
in so I could get my cash back."
"That was pretty sly," Bruno remarked in a calm down as he return to the table.
"I hear somebody mention my name," Sly entered
"Yeah, stop teaching your prodigy dirty card tricks," Bruno said a tad irritated. "It's impossible to go thru one
game with out somebody cheating or backstabbing."
"That's the whole point of poker, just be grateful you didn't lose any money," Rax put a hand on Roxy's shoulder
showing his approval.
Vanessa walked in with her hand pressed against her face still feeling the powerful sting her daughter had given
her, "What the hell are you doing out of your cell? Does this look like a Holiday Inn?"
"So what I let her out," Bruno argued, "It's not like Mayhem knows. He's too busy with that collector upstairs.
I mean where is she going to go?"
"And what's wrong with getting reacquainted and having some fun?" Dagger ask
Vanessa could feel her nerves in her body exploding. This whole day had gone sour in a matter of hours. "You listen
to me you BIG OAF, this is NOT suppose to be fun!"
Dagger shouted with rage, "NO KIDDING Vanessa, you're the reason I got shot!"
Roxanne rolled her eyes, Oh here were go again.
"Our objective was to steal that altar at all cost, you getting shot is the least of my worries," Vanessa removed
her protected hand from her cheek and pointed out Dagger's own flaws.
Rax pulled up a chair and rubbed the back of his neck with disgust, "Haven't we had enough of this today?"
Roxanne just sat back enjoying the free show, "Hey Vanessa where did you get that mark from?" Vanessa instantly
put her hand back to her face. She had forgotten her daughter left a strong mark of her hatred pressed against
her cheek.
Once Roxy had pointed it out, the guys were begging to get a good look at it. "What that wimpy little girl hit
you?" Bruno laughed hard with his hand resting over his stomach.
Vanessa gritted her teeth hoping a lie could sway them, "I fell."
The laugher didn't die; instead her lie had made it worst. Vanessa pulled out her hunter knife from her belt and
slammed it into the card table. The laughter died, as Vanessa's vicious intentions became apparent, "I'm not in
the mood! You want to find out how far you can push me!" The guys knew Vanessa's fiery hot temper was something
never to mess with, especially when she pulled a knife. Cliff Dagger and Bruno left the room in a hurry not wishing
to temp her any further.
Roxanne observed Vanessa closely; she looked as though she needed time to cool down. I take it Annie didn't welcome
Vanessa with open arm. Why not? What is her problem? Shouldn't she be happy? "Do you want me to talk to
her?" was all she could think of saying.
Vanessa shook her head as she headed back off to her quarters, "Forget it. She made up her mind. She's not my problem."
Roxanne could feel a sense of hurt deep down in Vanessa voice, even if she wasn't a person to show her weaknesses
or admit them. Maybe she never thought she'd have to face her, how could Annie be so cruel! She just
held her fist tight. Vanessa was the closest thing to a mother, and she wasn't going to let anybody hurt her.
Several hours later Annie awoke to several voices heading in her direction. Her eyes focused on Rax standing outside
her cell with Roxy. She couldn't believe her ears, Roxanne was laughing. How can she laugh at a time like this?!
"Next game, you have to get in on, then we'll find out who has the quicker hand," She elbowed Rax hoping he'd accept
her challenge.
"Your on," he manage to squeeze out, before his tone became more serious, "I meant it when I said that was the
stupidest thing you've ever done."
Roxanne looked at him confused in a blank statement, "It was just a game of cards?"
"You know damn well I'm not talking about cards," he attempted to level is anger.
"Well I always thought the stupidest was playing a game of chicken with MASK on my bike, compared to that this
was just child play," She huffed as if it was no big deal. She then leaned up against the outside of cell and
looked to Rax as if she was ready to confess her heart out. "No the stupidest thing I did was leave. Nobody appreciates
me except you, Vanessa, and the guys. My dad and his friends hover over me as if I'm biggest mistake in their
lives, but…"she pause for a moment glancing at Annie thinking she was still asleep," it was the right thing to
do."
He leaned up against the cell next to her, "I told you before that once your VENOM agent, you'll always be one.
We would take you back in a heartbeat; you have more potential then most those pathetic soldiers Contra World
lets us borrow. Of course Mayhem is a different story."
She flinch slightly at the mention of his name, "That's why I can't."
"Come on into your cell," Rax insisted holding the door open for her. Roxanne stepped inside with little hesitation,
but after Rax locked the door he heeded her a warning, "Don't try anything stupid yet. She won't get you very far."
Roxanne leaned on her cell's bars and glanced at Annie, after Rax had vanished. Since she was brought in, she
spent so much time hanging around with old comrades that she nearly forgotten her friend's injuries. Annie was
obviously awake she could tell after watching her movements, "Hey Annie you ok?"
No response. Roxy waited a few moments and asked again, a little louder, "Annie, you ok?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," dripped a sarcastic reply from across the room, "were you actually talking to ME?"
She's mad. With this realization, Roxanne did her best to be reasonable. "Yes I'm talking to YOU.
Are you ok?"
With this remark Annie hopped out of bed, giving Roxanne a look someone would give a small child who has just asked
something really obvious. " 'Am I okay?' she asks," Annie repeated, petitioning some unseen force in
the air. "As a matter of fact, Roxy, NO, I am definitely NOT OKAY. I've been sitting here for who knows
how long with a killer headache amongst a group of ruthless terrorists and it's YOUR FAULT!"
Roxanne expected her to be angry, but her temper seemed to rise with ever word she spoke.
"Where have you been?" Before Roxanne could utter out a word, Annie face became more disgusted. Why did I
have to ask? I know where she's been. All the evidence was laid out before her the mention of card games,
the strong smell of smoke emitting from her clothing, and her confession of loyalty to VENOM. "Well, I certainly
hope you had a REALLY NICE TIME, while I was sitting here rotting away."
Roxanne eyes narrowed, she didn't like that tone one bit. She chose to sit back on her bed with her arms cross,
"So what if I am. What's it to you? It's your own fault you got yourself thrown in here."
"My fault?" Annie paused for a moment, stunned, but then recovered quickly. "Oh stupid me, you probably
had so much fun just now that reality escaped you. As I recall it: YOU DRAGGED ME ONTO TO THAT BOAT! I TOLD
YOU TO TURN AROUND, BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN!"
"Oh please," Roxanne rolled her eyes remaining calm, "If you would of held back your own temper, you and me probably
could have been able to walk out the door as we speak. Why the hell did you hit Vanessa for?!"
Annie shouted, "SHE HIT ME TWICE!"
"Yeah well with your big mouth you probably deserved it," she remarked as if getting hit wasn't end of the world.
"I saved your life, they patched you up, and this is how you repay my friends?"
"Friends?" Annie voice shaken with insane laughter, "If you call a group of terrorist friends, then reality must
have REALLY escaped you! TAKE OFF THE ROSE COLORED GLASSES, ROXY!! My mother abandoned me and wanted nothing
to do with my life. She made that pretty clear and torments my father everyday of his life for fun. And the only
reason she 'patched me up' is probably just to torment him further!"
"Tormenting your father? Well unfortunately I must know your father a lot better then you do."
"HOW DARE YOU!" If Annie could have reached Roxanne through the bars, she knew she would have throttled
her right then and there. "NO ONE knows my father better than ME, NO ONE!"
"Vanessa does, and two years ago he came to VENOM undercover to spend some long needed time with her," Roxanne
threw into her face.
"You're making that up!" Annie tried valiantly to convince herself Roxanne was lying through the pounding headache
that returned en force.
"Oh go ahead and believe what you like. Ask anybody here about Brad Turner's 3 month of employment with VENOM.
The only person who had his back was Vanessa, cause everybody else wanted to kill him." Annie didn't want to believe
it, yet her thoughts were rudely interrupted by Roxanne final remark, "At least your mother is alive, so be grateful
for what you have. You didn't even give her a chance!"
"Why should I? She didn't want me to begin with!" Annie huff as she sat back on her bed with her arms cross.
"What the hell is all this racket!" a Contra World soldier stepped into the room investigating the yelling. The
two girls remained silent and starred at each other with cold burning eyes of hatred. Neither bothered to throw
a glance at the solider, which left after noticing the tension appeared to die down.
Annie rolled over and faced the wall, closing her eyes against the insistent headache and the tears threatening
to fall from her eyes. She wanted to believe Roxy was lying about her father's stint in VENOM, but her words had
a ring of truth to them. Unbidden, a memory floated to the surface of her troubled thoughts...a snippet of a late
night conversation she had heard between Jesse and Jackie one night when she couldn't sleep. "...what if
he doesn't come back?" "He will." "Jesse, what if he DOESN'T?" "If that happens,
she'll have a home here with us like she always has." She never realized what that conversation was about,
until now. It's true... Oh Dad, why! Why?!? Annie pulled the blanket tighter against her shaking shoulders
and cried herself soundlessly to sleep.
