ENTER THE STALKERS 3: RAINBOW SLAYER
The Merry Prankster

Chapter Four: Eye of the Storm (Part2)

AMC Promenade 16 Los Angeles, 1800hrs September 21, 2000 (Wandererverse)

"Here let me help you with that." offered Saint as he reached over and helped his date into her jacket.

Katie rewarded him with a slight smile. "My, aren't we being the gentleman tonight."

Gesturing towards the theater, Saint remarked, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if 'Gladiator' doesn't get Best Picture this year."

"True, but we are going to get the general's view on it since he was at the real event."

"In my experience, such reviews can take away from the enjoyment. All I can say is that I'm glad we saw it before we talked to him."

The theater had been crowded that night and the two teens were forced to park a couple of blocks away. Saint turned to his date and nodded towards nearby woods. "The parking lot is just on the other side of this group of trees. Why don't we cut through them and save us some time."

"Okay, just remember Mom wants us home by seven o'clock. She hinted that she had something special planned for supper."

While walking through the woods, Saint began to get the feeling that something just wasn't right. Katie noticed his discomfort and asked, "Is there something wrong?" "Do you hear anything?"

The Amazon paused and glanced around. "No. Not a thing. Why, is there something I'm missing?"

Saint motioned for her to pick up the pace. "This is the middle of September in California. Where are the crickets and other insects? Heck there hasn't been even a gust of wind to break the silence. It's almost as if.."

A moment later, a hunched over creature loped into sight. It appeared humanoid, yet was hunched over and walked with a queer shambling gait. When the creature was a hundred yards away, it lowered it's hood revealing an almost frog like face. The unblinking eyes locked in on the two young people.

A chill ran down Saint's spine, I

The young man closed his eyes and reached out through the Force. thought the Jedi. He grasped the hilt of his lightsaber and whispered to Katie. "Katie, you packing any weapons?"

Katie nodded, "Yeah I still have my micro uzi. Why are you asking?"

"Because it looks as if we are about to have some unwelcome guests." answered Saint. "Get ready."

The creature reached inside his trench coat and began pulling out a shotgun while yelling in a guttural snarl. "These are ones, the master said to eliminate. GET THEM!"

Katie winced at the frog man's voice. It reminded her of someone gargling pebbles. In one smooth move, she fired a ten round burst at the lead frog- man. Eight rounds slammed into the creature, throwing him to the ground. It did not get up again. An approaching mechanical sound drew her attention. Turning to face the new threat, she paused. thought the Amazon.

With a rebel yell, Saint somersaulted into the midst of the creatures. The creatures were expecting normal humans, not an acrobatic swordsman and were unable to coordinate their defense.

Saint ducked a swinging club and cut the legs off the wielder. Spinning around he sliced a rifle in two, along with the arm of the creature. A third creature tried to stab the Jedi with some kind of spear, only to run through for his trouble.

Katie recognized the approaching battle druids just as they began shooting at the two teens. "Hey Saint. Looks like you brought more friends from the other place."

Saint briefly turned back towards Katie as he cut another creature into two parts. He quickly analyzed the threat and called out. "Katie, aim for the center torso, where the tow armor sections meet. That area can't stop a bullet."

"I'll do just that" replied Katie as she dropped behind a conveniently placed wall. She quickly dropped the nearest druid with a well aimed burst.

Saint dispatched the remaining frog creatures and rushed the druids. Half of the druids switched their fire to the young man while the others tried to kill Katie.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, Saint reached the first druid and slashed him from head to toe. A second nearby druid followed the first bisected by a sweep from the saber.

Two droids began circling behind the teenagers. Noticing the move, Saint held out a hand and Force pushed them into a nearby tree.

Katie quickly replaced the spent magazine yelled out to her date, "Duck!" A three round burst eliminated that threat.

+++

A dark figure watched the ongoing battle with a growing sense of trepidation.

Jebediah Marsh could not believe the ease in which the two had taken down his Deep Ones and battle droids. As the last robot fell into a pile of scrap metal, the Department Satan agent began to move quietly back to his car. I didn't sign up to get killed. Besides, I kinda feel that our heroic leader needs to know about this.

+++

Katie immediately homed in on a noise off to her right and spotted the departing agent. Giving chase, she yelled back, "Anthony, I've got the last one."

Saint stooped down and examine the nearest body, The Amazon's warning got through his thoughts and he immediately got up and ran after his girlfriend.

The Scoobies reached the parking lot just in time to see the enemy agent jump into a black sedan. They ran to their car, only to discover all four tires had been slashed.

"Damn, and I had just bought a new set." cursed Katie. Turning to her companion, she asked "Got any ideas on how we are going to catch him with four flat tires?"

Saint looked around and spotted and antique car show being held across the street. An evil grin slowly appeared on his face as he glanced over some of the assembled cars. Katie recognized the expression and asked, "Okay, what are you up to? You have that look so don't try and deny it."

"Just wait here. I'll be back with our replacement wheels. Trust me."

"Oh Shit."

+++

Katie sat down at the curb and waited,

Her introspection was interrupted by the blast of a nearby car horn. Looking up, she could only think. thought the young lady.

The object of her surprise had driven up in what could only be described as something out of an old Humphrey Bogart movie. Upon entering the car show, Saint had been drawn to the 1936 Ford Hot Rod owned by some famous author. The two door coupe was painted a bright purple with real white wall tires that dated back from a time when white walls had full white sides. She was forced to admit that her date certainly knew how to pick out a car.

Saint held open the passenger door and motioned for Katie to get in.

"Who did you steal this from?" asked the suspicious Amazon.

"I did not steal it, Katie." argued Saint. "After showing the owner my government id and explaining why I needed it, he insisted that I take it. He only insisted on two things though."

"Oh, and what were they?"

"That I call him 'Dad' and bring the car back in the same condition I found it in. He was a really nice guy. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if he wanted to get involved in the action."

"If you step on it, we might be able to catch up with the guy."

Saint drove out of the parking lot and onto the main drag. Upon reaching the street, he quickly accelerated past fifty miles per hour. A white faced Katie turned to him an asked, "Have you been taking driving lessons from Shaw?"

Saint Shrugged, "No, this is just how I normally drive when the police aren't around."

"Better not let Mom hear about that. By the way, I noticed that the bad guy was turning onto the highway out of LA."

"Don't worry, we'll get him. The old guy insisted that this was the fastest car at the show. Apparently, he tweaked up the engine so it will do over 150 mph."

Saint shifted and pressed down the accelerator and began weaving in and out of traffic. Katie screamed, "LOOK OUT!" as they narrowly missed an eighteen wheeler that had shifted lanes suddenly. I think I will double check my weapon and not look at the brightly colored blurs on either side of the car.

The Ford Hot Rod was slowly gaining on the fleeing sedan when Saint checked the rearview mirror. "Uh oh" murmured the Jedi-in-training.

"What uh oh. What have you done now?" asked Katie.

"We have company coming up behind us real fast." answered Saint.

The Amazon looked behind them and spotted the two cars gaining on them. Normally, the two cars would not have gotten much attention except, they were matching Saint's maneuvers and the people inside were wearing black robes. Not to mention the fact that each car had a man leaning out the passenger window, pointing a gun at them.

"Looks like our boy picked up some friends." Katie observed nonchalantly.

"Looks like." responded Saint as he swerved to avoid a green VW Beetle that had somehow gotten in front of them. "Hey Katie, why don't you try to dissuade them from getting any closer."

The Amazon decided to take out the car to the right and snapped off a couple of bursts as it came into range. The brown Mustang swerved but continued the pursuit. The mustang returned fire and a stream of tracers flashed by Anthony's head.

"I don't think that worked." commented Saint.

"You think. Keep your eyes on the road and drive, Flyboy."

The pursuing cars continued to get closer as Katie traded shots with them. thought Katie. She turned around just in time to see the two semis just ahead. "Uh Anthony, just what are up to?"

"I'm going to use those two rigs as cover."

"You are going to do WHAT?" screamed the terrified teen.

"Don't worry, I've done stuff like this before. The bad guys will be crazy to follow us."

Katie put her head in her hands, groaning, "That's because you are already nuts to try something like this. If I live through this, I'm going to kill you."

"Promises, promises" responded the Jedi as he drove between the two trucks. The second pursuer in a late model BMW pulled up beside them, the drive sticking a pistol out the window. Saint waited for the right moment and slung the Hot Rod over to the right. The blow caught the Beemer and pushed it into a spin.

An explosion off went off behind them and Katie turned back to see the truck roll right over the German car. The rear wheel giving a quick bounce as it went over the car. The smashed Beemer continued its spin into the retaining wall and exploded.

Katie stared at the exploding car and winced. "Anthony, you might want to try and keep the collateral damage to a minimum. It is possible to cause a mess too big for even St. Wolf to sweep under the table."

"I'll try, but thats up to Tweedle Dumber back there." answered Anthony. "Look at the bright side. Traffic is low at this time of day and the other drivers are staying out of our way. Besides that Mustang is coming up."

A hail of bullets flashed over Katie's head and two holes opened in the windshield. Katie returned fire and emptied her magazine at the other car, hitting the passenger side.

Saint peered in the rear view mirror to see the passenger slump down, his rifle dropping from nerveless fingers. The driver continued the pursuit and came up on the other side of the car. Katie released the spent magazine and looked for a spare, yelling, "I'm out of ammo. Looks like it's up to you."

Saint nodded and began swerving from one side of the road to the next in an effort to shake their pursuer. A bridge appeared in front of them.

Katie felt the car slow down. Turning to her companion, she yelled out, "What do you think you are doing? We are slowing down!"

"I'm letting him get closer." responded Saint.

"You're doing WHAT?" screamed Katie.

"Don't worry, I have this under complete control."

moaned Katie.

Saint allowed the Mustang to get beside them. Just as they crossed the bridge, Saint threw the wheel over, catching the other car on the front left fender. The resulting collision caused the other driver to lose control and crash through the guardrail.

Confirming that there were no other pursuers, Katie sat back in her seat and looked around for the car they were following. "Anthony, do you know where that black sedan went?"

"Sorry, I sorta lost it about two miles back when we were taking care of those other two."

Katie looked at a nearby road sign and noticed that the chase had taken them near Sunnydale.

Saint pulled off the freeway at the Sunnydale exit, commenting "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. As long as we are in the neighborhood, we might as well report to St Wolf in person. Besides, it means that we won't have to face your mother so soon."

"Point." conceded Katie.

TBC

Authors Note: I wanted to address a couple of concern raised by the reviewers. The input has been appreciated.

LotR Fan: The stuff at the top of the first chapter is the necessary disclaimers, credits and glossary. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the title highlighted when I posted to Fanfiction.net. To get to the important part, scroll down to where the title is located: "Enter the Stalkers 3: Rainbow Slayer. And start reading." As far as how the crew gets to Los Angeles, I would advise reading "Enter the Stalkers" which tells how some Americans gets sucked into the Star Wars Universe and "Enter the Stalkers 2: Scouts Honor" which gets them back to Earth as well as Los Angeles. Hope this answers your question.

StarQ: Thanks for the heads up on the druids. You didn't know they had tree huggers in the movie did you? But seriously, when I ran spell checker, it didn't recognize droids and changed it to druids. Go figure. The mistake has been corrected.

Oh, I reformatted and resubmitted Chapter 1 to address the problem brought up by LotR Fan. Hopefully, there is enough space to distinguish where the credits end and the story begins. Keep up those reviews, they have been appreciated.

The Merry Prankster.