Sea of Darkness
Disclaimer: Same as before. Time to get a little angsty, eh.?
~ ~ ~ ~
For the second night that week Sally O'Connor woke up with another nightmare. This one involved the mustachioed fellow with the monocle again. Her entire body ached, particularly around her face. IV's were attached to her arms and leather straps held her to the gurney and.
"Meow." The soft mewls of the kitten comforted her somewhat. It was Yuffie, her cat coming by her bed.
"It's OK Yuff, I just had another dream." Sally replied. The cat snuggled against her, purring softly. Despite herself, Sally smiled as she tried to get some more sleep. After all her roommate had been worried she hadn't been sleeping well.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully and since she had only afternoon and evening classes today she headed for the gym after nuking herself a frozen breakfast burrito. Throwing on her black warm-up pants and a T-shirt over her sports bra she picked up a small gym bag as she left her apartment.
She walked inside the gym and noticed yet again those weird guys were back. They'd been there since last week, hogging the weight room and punching bags. They were always there in numbers and all of them had that symbol from her dreams over the past two months, the symbol of a Cobra's head, somewhere on their bodies.
The way some of them stared at her was disturbing and worrisome. It was as if they had seen her before last week, though she couldn't remember any of them. Then there was the Australian guy that she would see in here, occasionally, hitting the heavy bags or sparring in the ring. Every time she saw him there was the strongest feeling of déjà vu, like she had seen him before.
~ ~ ~ ~
Bilby tried not to look at the auburn haired young woman hitting the punching bag to his left. He was in that gym to try and pick up a little more intelligence on the COBRA presence in Los Angeles and how many Tier One personalities were involved. This chance run in with Sally O'Connor, the woman surgically altered and mentally conditioned to appear to be Akima was just a sad complication and a symbol of the misery COBRA and the Heartless brought about to this world.
She smiled at him, the sort of smile one gives a stranger who suddenly has taken a mild interest. Bilby returned the smile and tried to look like he was busy working on his combinations. He was well into his second two minute round at the heavy bag when he saw one of the Crimson Guards who had commandeered this gym in all but name hitting on Sally. This Crimson Guard was being a tad overbearing, arrogant and thinking that he was entitled to her affections.
"Hey mate." Bilby said, "It's obvious she's not interested."
"What's it to you Aussie?" the Crimson Guard challenged.
"Nothing really. I just don't think that's the right way to treat a lady." Bilby replied.
"Alright. How about three rounds in the ring to settle it." the Crimson Guard said before Bilby shoved him against a wall, grabbed Sally's right arm and ran out of the building.
"Who are those people? And more importantly who the hell are you?" Sally asked, trying to dislodge Bilby's grip.
"I'll explain in a bit. But those blokes aren't exactly the friendly types if you know what I mean. They're Crimson Guards, the elite forces for COBRA. We're here to stop them, we're here to help, the less you know about us, the better." Bilby replied.
"Wait, we can talk more in my apartment." Sally replied she wasn't sure why she trusted the Australian so much, but rarely when she listened to her gut instinct, was it ever wrong.
"Good, I've got two of my team mates shadowing us. If those morons try anything, we've got a quick way out." Bilby replied as they walked into the apartment. Hedaya and D'Artagnan were waiting outside the apartment.
It took a few minutes, but Sally was able to get past an initial feeling of disbelief because those COBRA people were real. But those other things that the three men described, the Heartless, that was really creepy.
Sally was about to reply when a cylinder flew threw the apartment window. "Grenade!" D'Artagnan shouted, he picked it up and lobbed it back out the window where it exploded in midair.
"Shit!" Bilby shouted, "Flint, we need extraction at these coordinates..."
"On my way. I just pulled Lady Jaye and Recondo out with the intel we need. Head out back of the apartment." Flint relied.
"Roger that." Nace replied.
Another cylinder flew into the room and Nace kicked it down the hall, through the open door. It exploded into the middle of a half dozen Heartless. He pulled his 1911A1 pistol and started shooting. Hedaya and D'Artagnan did the same and led Sally out of the building.
Another Heartless drone popped up from around a corner and Bilby put two more .45 rounds into its chest. Another popped out from around a corner with a mini-Uzi.
"Cover me!" D'Artagnan shouted, as he pulled a golf ball sized mini- grenade from his pocket and lobbed it downrange.
"Go! Now!" Hedaya shouted as Bilby ran with Sally and D'Artagnan out the back door with Hedaya covering the rear.
The four people jumped into the car and sped away and waited for the Mass Device to take them back to the pit. It did so not a moment too soon, for a rocket-propelled grenade flew across the street, right where the car had been idling and exploded.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So let me get this straight." Sally O'Connor said, "I'm living on ground zero of a major invasion by this COBRA gang and these weird Heartless guys."
"Exactly." Hawk said.
"And you're all a force trying to stop them. You're the good guys." Sally replied.
"You hit the nail on the head Ms. O'Connor." Hawk replied.
"Ok then, if you're the good guys, how on earth did you let those things get into LA like that?" Sally replied.
"Ms. O'Connor, our forces are spread thin enough as is dealing with COBRA alone. The Heartless further complicate matters." Hawk replied, "They prey upon people who have lost hope, lost their hearts and places like South Central LA are perfect breeding grounds for these things."
"Why did you take me here? Damn it! I've had enough of all this!" Sally replied.
"It's been hard these past few months, hasn't it?" Hawk asked, "Nightmares and memories you aren't even sure are real? Memories you don't think you even experienced?"
"How do you know?" Sally asked.
"Let us help you Sally. And in return we ask nothing." Hawk replied.
"Nothing?" Sally asked.
"Absolutely. You've already given us everything we could possibly need to know about what's going on in Los Angeles." Hawk replied, "And in return we'll help you deal with everything you're being bothered with."
"I - I don't know what to say..." Sally began, "But one more thing, I've been seeing those COBRA guys moving in since last month. It was very subtle. They started muscling in front of me in the checkout line at the convenience store, outright stealing things from the university labs, moving in on our gymnasiums..."
"Don't worry, Ms. O'Connor, we'll get them out of Los Angeles. We're keeping an eye on the situation every chance we get." Hawk began, "Don't worry, the fact that COBRA's made this move means we can get at them. We just need to take them apart by dividing and conquering."
~ ~ ~ ~
Chief Warrant Officer Peyton Farquahar flew his UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter around the area of South Central Los Angeles. To his left sat Chief Warrant Officer Dashiell Fairborne, also known as Flint. His usual co- pilot, 1st Lieutenant Ray Granger was flying with the other GI Joe pilot, Wild Bill, on the other side of town.
Peyton was a Southern boy from Alabama with greasy black hair, the dignified manner of an old master of the plantation, and a trim and fit build. He was a cut up who enjoyed spot games of rugby, field ball, baseball and anything else physical. He was an idealist who enlisted on the eve of his eighteenth birthday and wound up a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. After two years as an aviation mechanic he put in for warrant officer candidate school and wound up a helicopter pilot with his old division. He later became a Night Stalker and to Peyton Farquahar, being part of a daring, hell for leather flying outfit was a dream come true.
In the back were one Gamma operator, a sniper nicknamed Shades because of the distinctive Oakleys he always wore around. Keeping him company were about a half dozen Rangers led by Staff Sergeant Miguel Mendoza, a twenty- six year old former reservist who had been at the job for eight years but had not yet seen combat duty.
"There, technicals at nine o'clock." Shades said, pointing out of the side of the cabin.
"I see 'em Shades." Mendoza remarked, a Spanish accent mingled with a Texas twang, clear signs of a border town boy.
Indeed, two Toyota pickups and an SUV with fifty caliber machineguns and loudspeakers mounted on them were driving up to a parking lot. A dump truck filled to the brim with all sorts of valuables ranging from big screen TV's, bags of cash, money, and appliances was being parked in a parking lot. The technicals were headed for that lot.
Already dozens of LA's lowlifes, the bums that spent time in rags in the streets, the two bit drug dealers, the derelicts all flocked to this mountain of loot. Already the Heartless and COBRA troops at the lot were having trouble keeping back the mob, which was already making off with this loot stolen from selected wealthy individuals around Beverly Hills.
The technicals ground to a halt outside the fence of the parking lot. Instantly the Heartless gunners started firing into the crowd. Those not killed or wounded by gunfire were most certainly injured by the mass stampede out of the lot by the survivors.
"Oh shit! Do you see that!" Mendoza shouted, "Chief, we've got unarmed civilians getting shot down here!"
"I got it Miguel, I don't think we can touch this." Farquahar replied, then he tapped his radio communication's switch, "Command this is Super Seven Four, I've got militia shooting up civilians down here, request permission to engage."
Already the crew chief stood ready at his minigun and Shades had his telescope sighted CAR-15 aimed, with the Rangers having their weapons ready to fire as well.
"Super Seven Four." Came the voice of Colonel Calvin Hudson, the air combat commander from his bird, Super Eight One, "Are you taking fire."
"Negative command." Farquahar replied.
"Super Seven Four, return to base, do not engage." Hudson's voice replied.
Shades felt a shallow feeling in his stomach, one felt by his fellow passengers and crew aboard the helicopter. Such a waste, such a damn shame that so many innocent people lay gunned down by the Heartless. What he wanted more than anything else was to put a round through that machine gunner's head.
Peyton Farquahar looked down, seeing at least thirty bodies lying on the asphalt. These sort of Gestapo type massacres were things he joined the Army to prevent and now his own Army was tying his hands to be the flaming sword of God, avenging the deaths of these innocent folk. He had seen the same thing when he had flown in with the evacuation missions to rescue the refugees of the world of Titan AE, and the initial extraction mission where an eight man Gamma team was reduced to one survivor named Corporal Martin Bilby.
~ ~ ~ ~
If Peyton Farquahar, flying at least 200 feet in the air thought the massacre looked gruesome from above, then had he seen it from the ground level, it would have been truly a gore fest worthy of any B-movie.
Craig Starr shook his head, not so much as with pity but with a grim acceptance of harsh reality. These dudes with the antennae were simply the new gang in town and once he figured out how they worked, he could deal with them. Through his telepathic bond, he could tell his sibling Paul was not taking this too well. In fact his twin looked like he was set to throw up.
They had seen the entire thing, heard the Heartless broadcast that the loot belonged to COBRA Commander, whoever he was, and then saw the Heartless gun down people in the crowd. Bodies and mangled parts thereof lay strewn about, uncared for and unmourned. Even when the meat wagon showed up, the jaded looks on the faces of the couriers gave further loan and credit to that expression.
Paul looked stricken, sure those people were bums, derelict, guys who lived on the streets, but they didn't deserve to be gunned down like they were little more than common vermin one might discover in the darkened corners of one's own household. Whoever these guys were, they weren't an ordinary gang, because they seemed to be in control of Los Angeles. How they took the city without firing a shot was not a question two boys barely feeding and clothing themselves were all that qualified to answer.
Then there were those creepy mutant hunter teams that were forcing the boys to move almost constantly. They had already captured several "local" mutants and street urchins and took them off to God knows where to do God knows what. In short, life in Los Angeles took a turn for the worse for the two boys...
~ ~ ~ ~
Sorry this one's a little short, I'm fighting a mild cold right now...
Disclaimer: Same as before. Time to get a little angsty, eh.?
~ ~ ~ ~
For the second night that week Sally O'Connor woke up with another nightmare. This one involved the mustachioed fellow with the monocle again. Her entire body ached, particularly around her face. IV's were attached to her arms and leather straps held her to the gurney and.
"Meow." The soft mewls of the kitten comforted her somewhat. It was Yuffie, her cat coming by her bed.
"It's OK Yuff, I just had another dream." Sally replied. The cat snuggled against her, purring softly. Despite herself, Sally smiled as she tried to get some more sleep. After all her roommate had been worried she hadn't been sleeping well.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully and since she had only afternoon and evening classes today she headed for the gym after nuking herself a frozen breakfast burrito. Throwing on her black warm-up pants and a T-shirt over her sports bra she picked up a small gym bag as she left her apartment.
She walked inside the gym and noticed yet again those weird guys were back. They'd been there since last week, hogging the weight room and punching bags. They were always there in numbers and all of them had that symbol from her dreams over the past two months, the symbol of a Cobra's head, somewhere on their bodies.
The way some of them stared at her was disturbing and worrisome. It was as if they had seen her before last week, though she couldn't remember any of them. Then there was the Australian guy that she would see in here, occasionally, hitting the heavy bags or sparring in the ring. Every time she saw him there was the strongest feeling of déjà vu, like she had seen him before.
~ ~ ~ ~
Bilby tried not to look at the auburn haired young woman hitting the punching bag to his left. He was in that gym to try and pick up a little more intelligence on the COBRA presence in Los Angeles and how many Tier One personalities were involved. This chance run in with Sally O'Connor, the woman surgically altered and mentally conditioned to appear to be Akima was just a sad complication and a symbol of the misery COBRA and the Heartless brought about to this world.
She smiled at him, the sort of smile one gives a stranger who suddenly has taken a mild interest. Bilby returned the smile and tried to look like he was busy working on his combinations. He was well into his second two minute round at the heavy bag when he saw one of the Crimson Guards who had commandeered this gym in all but name hitting on Sally. This Crimson Guard was being a tad overbearing, arrogant and thinking that he was entitled to her affections.
"Hey mate." Bilby said, "It's obvious she's not interested."
"What's it to you Aussie?" the Crimson Guard challenged.
"Nothing really. I just don't think that's the right way to treat a lady." Bilby replied.
"Alright. How about three rounds in the ring to settle it." the Crimson Guard said before Bilby shoved him against a wall, grabbed Sally's right arm and ran out of the building.
"Who are those people? And more importantly who the hell are you?" Sally asked, trying to dislodge Bilby's grip.
"I'll explain in a bit. But those blokes aren't exactly the friendly types if you know what I mean. They're Crimson Guards, the elite forces for COBRA. We're here to stop them, we're here to help, the less you know about us, the better." Bilby replied.
"Wait, we can talk more in my apartment." Sally replied she wasn't sure why she trusted the Australian so much, but rarely when she listened to her gut instinct, was it ever wrong.
"Good, I've got two of my team mates shadowing us. If those morons try anything, we've got a quick way out." Bilby replied as they walked into the apartment. Hedaya and D'Artagnan were waiting outside the apartment.
It took a few minutes, but Sally was able to get past an initial feeling of disbelief because those COBRA people were real. But those other things that the three men described, the Heartless, that was really creepy.
Sally was about to reply when a cylinder flew threw the apartment window. "Grenade!" D'Artagnan shouted, he picked it up and lobbed it back out the window where it exploded in midair.
"Shit!" Bilby shouted, "Flint, we need extraction at these coordinates..."
"On my way. I just pulled Lady Jaye and Recondo out with the intel we need. Head out back of the apartment." Flint relied.
"Roger that." Nace replied.
Another cylinder flew into the room and Nace kicked it down the hall, through the open door. It exploded into the middle of a half dozen Heartless. He pulled his 1911A1 pistol and started shooting. Hedaya and D'Artagnan did the same and led Sally out of the building.
Another Heartless drone popped up from around a corner and Bilby put two more .45 rounds into its chest. Another popped out from around a corner with a mini-Uzi.
"Cover me!" D'Artagnan shouted, as he pulled a golf ball sized mini- grenade from his pocket and lobbed it downrange.
"Go! Now!" Hedaya shouted as Bilby ran with Sally and D'Artagnan out the back door with Hedaya covering the rear.
The four people jumped into the car and sped away and waited for the Mass Device to take them back to the pit. It did so not a moment too soon, for a rocket-propelled grenade flew across the street, right where the car had been idling and exploded.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So let me get this straight." Sally O'Connor said, "I'm living on ground zero of a major invasion by this COBRA gang and these weird Heartless guys."
"Exactly." Hawk said.
"And you're all a force trying to stop them. You're the good guys." Sally replied.
"You hit the nail on the head Ms. O'Connor." Hawk replied.
"Ok then, if you're the good guys, how on earth did you let those things get into LA like that?" Sally replied.
"Ms. O'Connor, our forces are spread thin enough as is dealing with COBRA alone. The Heartless further complicate matters." Hawk replied, "They prey upon people who have lost hope, lost their hearts and places like South Central LA are perfect breeding grounds for these things."
"Why did you take me here? Damn it! I've had enough of all this!" Sally replied.
"It's been hard these past few months, hasn't it?" Hawk asked, "Nightmares and memories you aren't even sure are real? Memories you don't think you even experienced?"
"How do you know?" Sally asked.
"Let us help you Sally. And in return we ask nothing." Hawk replied.
"Nothing?" Sally asked.
"Absolutely. You've already given us everything we could possibly need to know about what's going on in Los Angeles." Hawk replied, "And in return we'll help you deal with everything you're being bothered with."
"I - I don't know what to say..." Sally began, "But one more thing, I've been seeing those COBRA guys moving in since last month. It was very subtle. They started muscling in front of me in the checkout line at the convenience store, outright stealing things from the university labs, moving in on our gymnasiums..."
"Don't worry, Ms. O'Connor, we'll get them out of Los Angeles. We're keeping an eye on the situation every chance we get." Hawk began, "Don't worry, the fact that COBRA's made this move means we can get at them. We just need to take them apart by dividing and conquering."
~ ~ ~ ~
Chief Warrant Officer Peyton Farquahar flew his UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter around the area of South Central Los Angeles. To his left sat Chief Warrant Officer Dashiell Fairborne, also known as Flint. His usual co- pilot, 1st Lieutenant Ray Granger was flying with the other GI Joe pilot, Wild Bill, on the other side of town.
Peyton was a Southern boy from Alabama with greasy black hair, the dignified manner of an old master of the plantation, and a trim and fit build. He was a cut up who enjoyed spot games of rugby, field ball, baseball and anything else physical. He was an idealist who enlisted on the eve of his eighteenth birthday and wound up a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. After two years as an aviation mechanic he put in for warrant officer candidate school and wound up a helicopter pilot with his old division. He later became a Night Stalker and to Peyton Farquahar, being part of a daring, hell for leather flying outfit was a dream come true.
In the back were one Gamma operator, a sniper nicknamed Shades because of the distinctive Oakleys he always wore around. Keeping him company were about a half dozen Rangers led by Staff Sergeant Miguel Mendoza, a twenty- six year old former reservist who had been at the job for eight years but had not yet seen combat duty.
"There, technicals at nine o'clock." Shades said, pointing out of the side of the cabin.
"I see 'em Shades." Mendoza remarked, a Spanish accent mingled with a Texas twang, clear signs of a border town boy.
Indeed, two Toyota pickups and an SUV with fifty caliber machineguns and loudspeakers mounted on them were driving up to a parking lot. A dump truck filled to the brim with all sorts of valuables ranging from big screen TV's, bags of cash, money, and appliances was being parked in a parking lot. The technicals were headed for that lot.
Already dozens of LA's lowlifes, the bums that spent time in rags in the streets, the two bit drug dealers, the derelicts all flocked to this mountain of loot. Already the Heartless and COBRA troops at the lot were having trouble keeping back the mob, which was already making off with this loot stolen from selected wealthy individuals around Beverly Hills.
The technicals ground to a halt outside the fence of the parking lot. Instantly the Heartless gunners started firing into the crowd. Those not killed or wounded by gunfire were most certainly injured by the mass stampede out of the lot by the survivors.
"Oh shit! Do you see that!" Mendoza shouted, "Chief, we've got unarmed civilians getting shot down here!"
"I got it Miguel, I don't think we can touch this." Farquahar replied, then he tapped his radio communication's switch, "Command this is Super Seven Four, I've got militia shooting up civilians down here, request permission to engage."
Already the crew chief stood ready at his minigun and Shades had his telescope sighted CAR-15 aimed, with the Rangers having their weapons ready to fire as well.
"Super Seven Four." Came the voice of Colonel Calvin Hudson, the air combat commander from his bird, Super Eight One, "Are you taking fire."
"Negative command." Farquahar replied.
"Super Seven Four, return to base, do not engage." Hudson's voice replied.
Shades felt a shallow feeling in his stomach, one felt by his fellow passengers and crew aboard the helicopter. Such a waste, such a damn shame that so many innocent people lay gunned down by the Heartless. What he wanted more than anything else was to put a round through that machine gunner's head.
Peyton Farquahar looked down, seeing at least thirty bodies lying on the asphalt. These sort of Gestapo type massacres were things he joined the Army to prevent and now his own Army was tying his hands to be the flaming sword of God, avenging the deaths of these innocent folk. He had seen the same thing when he had flown in with the evacuation missions to rescue the refugees of the world of Titan AE, and the initial extraction mission where an eight man Gamma team was reduced to one survivor named Corporal Martin Bilby.
~ ~ ~ ~
If Peyton Farquahar, flying at least 200 feet in the air thought the massacre looked gruesome from above, then had he seen it from the ground level, it would have been truly a gore fest worthy of any B-movie.
Craig Starr shook his head, not so much as with pity but with a grim acceptance of harsh reality. These dudes with the antennae were simply the new gang in town and once he figured out how they worked, he could deal with them. Through his telepathic bond, he could tell his sibling Paul was not taking this too well. In fact his twin looked like he was set to throw up.
They had seen the entire thing, heard the Heartless broadcast that the loot belonged to COBRA Commander, whoever he was, and then saw the Heartless gun down people in the crowd. Bodies and mangled parts thereof lay strewn about, uncared for and unmourned. Even when the meat wagon showed up, the jaded looks on the faces of the couriers gave further loan and credit to that expression.
Paul looked stricken, sure those people were bums, derelict, guys who lived on the streets, but they didn't deserve to be gunned down like they were little more than common vermin one might discover in the darkened corners of one's own household. Whoever these guys were, they weren't an ordinary gang, because they seemed to be in control of Los Angeles. How they took the city without firing a shot was not a question two boys barely feeding and clothing themselves were all that qualified to answer.
Then there were those creepy mutant hunter teams that were forcing the boys to move almost constantly. They had already captured several "local" mutants and street urchins and took them off to God knows where to do God knows what. In short, life in Los Angeles took a turn for the worse for the two boys...
~ ~ ~ ~
Sorry this one's a little short, I'm fighting a mild cold right now...
