War Fields: Chapter 13
Annie continued running towards Condor. She could hear Dusty shouting her name, but she didn't turn back. Through
tear filled eyes, she sprinted for dear life toward the area where she last saw Condor. Please let him be okay,
she prayed silently, my mother hates me, and I wouldn't be able to handle it if something happened to him too.
In the same space of breath, she began cursing Vanessa violently, unaware that she was ranting out loud.
"I'll kill her," Annie swore to herself as she continued forward, "I'll throttle her with my bare hands
and rip her throat out and bring her heart back to Roxy as proof..."
She went on rambling feverishly about the countless tortures she would visit upon Vanessa Warfield until the sound
of something rolling on the ground at her feet stopped her. Annie stopped and looked down to see the familiar
visage of Brad's Hocus Pocus mask staring up at her. Shakily, she picked it up and held it in her hands, hugging
it to her chest. Wet tears dripped down onto the sides of his mask as Annie considered the possibilities. He's
really hurt...he has to be; he'd never take his mask off otherwise in case VENOM were still around. Her next
thought struck her cold. But VENOM knows who he is already, cause he used to work for them. Anger, fear,
and shock, coupled with repeated blows to the head started Annie on a train of thought she never would have thought
possible otherwise. What if the dogfight was just a ruse? What if Brad and Vanessa had this whole thing planned
from the beginning, with Roxanne's help? What if they wanted to take her back to VENOM and brainwash her to be
an agent just like them?
Annie saw movement in front of her and tried to run back to the safety of Gator, but paralyzing fear had her frozen
to the spot. She looked outward to see the outline of Condor lying on its side, ripped open from Manta's missile.
But what scared her more at the moment was the figure climbing shakily to its feet and walking towards her direction.
Brad managed to pull Condor down into motorcycle mode scant seconds before he collided with the ground. Somehow
he managed to roll off the bike before she crashed into a standing grove of trees. Uncaring, he pulled Hocus Pocus
off his head and chucked the mask in the direction of the accident. He sat for a moment, breathing heavily, thanking
his guardian angels that he had managed to walk away from that crash, and cursing the devil woman who had put him
in this predicament in the first place. Damn you Vanessa. As he stood up and dusted himself off, he caught
movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned back toward what remained of Condor's frame and shook his head
to clear it, not believing what he saw. Yet the vision remained. His daughter stood there, clutching Hocus Pocus
for dear life, staring at Condor with wide, tear filled eyes. Their eyes locked for just a moment, and a look
so utterly foreign crossed Annie's face, it made Brad almost sick to see it. God, Annie, what did they do to
you?
"Annie..." His voice cracked and his throat tightened so much that all he could manage to say was her name.
"Stay away from me," she warned in a low growl.
Her voice sounded so much like Vanessa that Brad halted from shock alone. He took a moment to look her over, and
she stared back out of haunted eyes full of terror. Hesitantly, Brad inched a few steps closer, aching to pull
her close and tell her everything was all right, but it was obvious to him that everything wasn't. She's absolutely
terrified.... what did they DO to her?
"Annie..." he called again, his voice stronger now.
"STAY...AWAY...FROM...ME!" She screamed, throwing Hocus Pocus at him and breaking into a dead run back
the way she came.
Brad 'oofed' as the mask hit him squarely in the chest, but he let it roll away as he sprinted after his obviously
not well child. Under normal circumstances, she probably could have easily outrun him, having the endurance from
running and climbing in the mountains. But these were definitely NOT normal circumstances, and as near as he could
tell, Annie wasn't at all her normal self. If she would just STOP so I could figure out what happened...
He could hear Annie just ahead of him, screaming maniacally for Dusty as though her life depended on it. He put
on a quick burst of speed and caught her around the waist just as they broke into the clear area of the dock where
Dusty was parked. Not only was Gator present, but also Buddy had pulled up in Hurricane, and Matt had managed
to bring Thunderhawk down out of the sky. Brad noted all of this absently, currently preoccupied with the girl
struggling in his embrace.
"Annie...stop!" He said gently, but firmly.
"LET GO OF ME!" She yelled, fighting like a wildcat to get away from him. "DUSTY, HELP ME!"
Brad shot the southerner a very pointed look that said plainly, "Let me handle this." He tightened his
grip a little and said again, "Annie...STOP! STOP! Stop fighting me and tell me what the hell happened!"
"LET...GOOOO....!"
Annie turned and swung wildly at Brad's unprotected face. Even as surprised as he was, he blocked her easily,
catching her wrist in his hand. When she swung with the other hand, he blocked that as well, pinning both of her
wrists together in both of his hands. By this point, she had collapsed to her knees, crying hysterically as though
he was about to murder her. Utterly confused, Brad didn't know whether to be relieved, upset, angry, or scared,
and his confusion only increased when his daughter began begging at his feet.
"Daddy, please, don't take me back there! Please don't take me back, I don't want to be part of VENOM, daddy...daddy...please!"
Shocked, Brad sank to his knees in front of her, still holding her wrists tightly. She hasn't called me Daddy
in years. "Annie...honey...look at me," he pleaded, pulling her as close as he could without instigating
more struggles. When she finally looked up at him, giant tears coursing down her face, he asked as calmly and
softly as he could manage, "Honey, why would you think I would take you back to VENOM?"
Annie began to shake, crying all the harder as she breathed, "Roxy...told...me. She told me you were with
VENOM! I know you still love Mom! I know you want to go back, and I know you want to take me with you, but I
don't want to go! She hates me, Daddy, she told me! I don't want to go...please don't make me go...please...please..."
Her cries faded as she pitched forward into Brad's embrace, shaking violently all over. Oh dear God, Annie,
how could you even consider such a thing?! Brad thought, as his heart broke straight into two. The two nasty
gashes he felt on Annie's forehead, as he stroked her hair, gave him all the knowledge he needed. A head injury
on top of Roxy's twisted truths...he couldn't bring himself to consider any other emotional damage that might have
been done. All he could do was hold his daughter tightly, rocking back and forth on his heels as her shaking gave
way to total unconsciousness.
Try as they might to ignore the scene that had just taken place in front of them, the other agents couldn't help
but overhear what had been said. Matt's face went ashen at the mention of what Roxanne had done, and even Buddy,
who was usually pretty calm and collected, wore a look of shocked disgust. As he watched Brad give Annie what
little comfort he could, Buddy couldn't help but comment on the situation.
"Roxy, I hate to say it, but this was pretty low, even for you."
"Pretty low? Annie just took a swing at her own father and all you can say is pretty low?!?" Dusty raged.
He pulled Backlash off his head and threw it into Gator's front seat as though taking off the kid gloves. He was
so angry; he didn't care who was listening as he turned to Roxanne, prepared to give her the dressing down of her
life.
"Of all the downright evil and nasty stunts you've pulled, right down to shooting your brother and getting
yer father captured by VENOM, this is by far one of the worst!" Roxanne glared at him defiantly, ready with
a snappy reply, but Dusty shot her a deadly glance as he continued. "Don't you interrupt, you just sit there
and listen! Brad and your father introduced you to Annie to give you a shot at havin' a true friend, one that
I didn't think you deserved, but I got outvoted! And ya know how you repaid that friendship? First, you attacked
her in the middle of the night, then...THEN you go draggin her off into VENOM's arms, to a woman who never wanted
anything to do with her, and finally, as if all that wasn't bad enough...ya go and shatter her trust in the one
person who has ever meant anything to her by twisting yer own version of the truth!"
Roxanne forced herself to get out of Gator while Dusty harped on her. I don't have to put up with any of this!
She told herself while her breathing became more heavily with steams of anger and pain. At times she only heard
bits and pieces of Dusty's yelling, because it was slipping thru one ear and out the other.
Dusty paused momentarily to catch his breath, then started in again. "YOU LISTEN'N TO ME GIRL! Yer nothin'
but a spoiled, selfish, brat, Roxanne Trakker...you don't know how good you even have it! You see that look on
Brad's face?" He pointed to where the singer still sat with Annie cradled in his arms, seemingly oblivious
to the goings on around him. "I've seen that look before, the time VENOM used some kinda weapon to make him
crash into Gloria. He didn't leave her hospital room for DAYS, he was so guilt ridden! You've got him so suckered,
he's blaming HIMSELF for this whole mess, but you know what? I ain't fooled! You ain't got no one but yourself
to blame Roxy. Your dad told me you take responsibility for your mistakes, and you better damn well prove him
right, or I'm gonna be there every day of your life to remind you!" In a dangerously low tone only Roxanne
could hear, he added, "And you better hope Annie don't have any lasting emotional scars from this, or I will
make your life a living HELL."
Matt stood there quietly watching his daughter. His instincts told him he should speak up to protect her, yet
maybe this was something she needed or was long over due experiencing.
"Hey Dusty I think that's enough," Buddy remark firmly noticing the girl couldn't handle anymore shouting.
Roxanne's only reply was a sudden burst of tears slowly crawling down her face.
"Go ahead and cry," Dusty said in a cold tone. "I already told you not to expect any sympathy from
me."
"I don't want your sympathy," She said in a low threaten voice with tears falling down her face, then glancing
to the other agents who were all spectators, "OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER!" She started to walk away even thought
her entire body felt physically shot, but she had to stay strong. She moved slowly on a limp, yet was determined
to walk away with her head held high.
"Where do ya think your going? I ain't done with you yet!" Dusty shouted ready to turn her around to face him
right in the eyes.
She carried forward not even bothering to glance at anyone not her father, "Back to VENOM, I'd rather endure Mayhem's
torture then listen to this horse shit."
"Roxanne we know you don't mean that," Matt reminded her, "I know the truth hurts, but somebody got to point it
out to you. You can't just keep running away when things get tough."
"What the hell do you know about the truth…you weren't there!" Her blue eyes met with her fathers in utter frustration.
"It don't matter your not going anywhere, until you apologize to everybody you hurt!" Dusty stammered.
She stopped running away and turned around to face the whole team. "FINE! If that's what you want, that's exactly
what you'll get! I'm sorry I ever met Annie." Brad head lifted up enraged as he held Annie protectively in his
arms, by the aggressive tone in Roxanne voice. Roxanne shouted as she continued to apologize to everyone, "I'm
sorry that I dragged Annie with me thinking she'd except me, even if she knew who my real friends were. But hey
it's you peoples' faults for keeping secrets from the both of us." She rested her arm around her stomach ignoring
her body's cry for rest. She then continued to shout her lungs out for the whole world to hear, " I'm sorry I
jumped off that burning boat and search that waterway, for what felt like eternity, to pull her drowning body out
of that water and breathed life into it. I'm sorry I let VENOM voluntarily kidnaps us, just so she could get medical
attention. I'm sorry I told," she choked as she began to cry, "Mayhem MASK's location, just so she wouldn't know
what a burning poker feels like." Her breathing became heavy with anger and grief, "I'm defiantly sorry I bother
helping her escape, very well knowing I could kill myself and reopen my wounds." She fell to her knees, "I'm not
selfish…I'm not…" Her eyes drift to everyone's expressionless face, then to her father, "I'm…I'm…sorry I'm not
the…the person you want me to be." She cried as she collapsed to her knees with both her arms around her torso.
Matt was the first to run to her side feeling like he had let her stuffer enough torment. He knelt down and wrapped
his arm around her letting her cry on his shoulder, "It's alright honey. I can't ask you to be who your not."
Buddy covered his mouth to hide an expression of 'Wow' on his face, who knew her apology would sum of the entire
ordeal.
Dusty was still certain that his version was more or less the truth and felt disgusted as Matt attempted to comfort
her.
Brad still stoked Annie hair as she rested in his arms. If what she had said was the truth, he had owed Roxanne
more then he had bargained for.
Matt and Brad exchanged worried glances uncertain as to what exactly went down, during those several hours they
had disappeared from their lives. Neither Matt nor Brad wanted to move as they clutch their daughters peaceful
lying in their arms.
She continued to mumble dazed, "I'm…not selfish…"
Matt kissed the top of her head and spoke in a soft tone, "I know your not." Her crying stopped just moments after
he had uttered those words. Then her entire body fell limp in his arms. "Roxanne?" He spoke with concern. "ROXANNE!"
he partly yelled fearing she had died in his arms. Matt laid her out on the ground. She's resting. His mind reminded
himself as she was still breathing and had a pulse.
Buddy stood over Roxanne as well hoping he could offer some assistance. "She'll be fine Matt…" his eyes then caught
some red stains on Matt's uniform, "She's bleeding!"
"What?" Matt's heart race, why hadn't he noticed it before? He glanced down at his arms shaking, and then toward
Roxanne whose wounds were bleeding fresh blood.
"Come on…we need to get them both to the hospital," Buddy insisted worried for the sake of both girls.
Dusty knelt down beside Brad and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's get her out of
here."
Brad nodded dumbly, scooping Annie gently into his arms as he stood. He looked dazedly around for Condor, then
realized that even if the bike was drivable, he couldn't use it anyway. He managed to give Dusty a weak smile.
"I can't drive."
"I got yer back partner," Dusty said softly as they climbed into Gator. "Just like I always have."
Matt pick up Roxanne and rushed her over to Thunderhawk praying in his mind that she would be alright.
