Ode to Oddity
By The Chronicler
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Chapter Six
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Knuckles paced the sidewalk, frustrated, impatient, irritated... Ah, crap, she was mad as hell!
She had just spent a sleepless week in a backwoods, one-plane airport terminal (if one could call a lean-to, an out house with no toilet seat, a candy machine from the stone ages, and a satalite dish with a years old bird's nest a terminal), waiting for a bounty to make his usual, never-miss stop.
All she caught was a cold.
Coming to the conclusion that she was gonna die of hypothermia before the bounty ever showed up, she started back for home. Only to meet up with Ryanna Duncan (a fellow bounty hunter that often worked with the Jessie James' Gang) with said bounty in tow, waiting for her at the Canadian boarder. Apparently the bounty had gone through California first, Rye's home state, days earlier. She caught him on his way up to Canada where Knuckles had been laying in wait. Since he had to be turned in in New York and Rye knew nothing about the big city, she waited from Knuckles at the boarder. So, Knuckles brought them into the city with her and helped Rye cash-in on the bounty SHE had spent a week in that damn terminal waiting for.
And, if that wasn't bad enough, Gage and Peggy Banzai was waiting for her at the airport to tell her that the day before Oddity, her very best most loyal friend, had been intintially hit by a car.
With a growl, Knuckles kicked the bumper of her truck.
Peggy Banzai frowned as she walked toward her from the other direction. "Did that do any good?" she wondered.
"Hurt like hell." Knuckles admitted, leaning against the grill so that she could rub her toe. "but at least if I hit the truck I won't hit the next human being that walked by."
Peggy sighed. "I thought Buckaroo taught you a few things to keep your temper in check."
"He did." Knuckles straightened up and looked at the woman. "I kicked it. I didn't shoot it." She threw her hands in the air, spinning about, searching for the vet office they had just spent the last twenty minutes looking for. "Where the hell is it?"
Again Peggy sighed, glancing around. When, once again, she too did not see the vet office where they had been told Oddity had been taken to, she turned to her go-phone. "Let's recheck our directions. Maybe we're on the wrong street." She signaled home.
"Ah, Peggy, you should of called home first." Mrs Johnson chided her when she was told where they were. "Rawhide's already picked Oddity up. Should be home any minute now."
Knuckles groaned. "That would be my luck." she mumbled. Then she snatched Peggy's wrist and pulled her go-phone close. "Is he alright? Was he hurt bad? Needed stitches? Surgery? Is he walk..."
"Rawhide said he's fine." Mrs Johnson cut her off, knowing questions from an over protective mother could last forever. "Bouncing around like a puppy, tail on a non-stop wag-fest. Bets are he'll have Perfect Tommy's favorite shoe even before his pretty little paws hit the dirt."
Knuckles and Peggy exchanged amused looks. They could alomst see the ever so classy Perfect Tommy diving after the dog in a frantic attempt to save some leather paten, $300 shoe from dog drool and teath marks.
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Oddity sat patiently on the passengers seat, watching as Rawhide held his hand out to the gate guard for the "Dupe Scan."
Ever since they had been first tricked by a dupe of Perfect Tommy six years earlier that nearly destroyed the Insitute from the inside, finding a way to tell the dupes from the real live BBs had become a priority for the security teams. The the metal sceleton of the dupes could not be detected by metal detecters, but it was discoverd that the cloneing process used to develope the outer form of a dupe left some genes incomplete. It took nearly every department in the Banzai Institute to develope a scanner that would detect the tell-tale flaw. And, now, every person through the gate, wiether they were a visiting pollotician or Buckaroo himself, was scanned.
Pinky Carruthers took the scanner from his man and looked at the results himself. "Congradulations, Rawhide. You are the real McCoy."
"Always good to hear." Rawhide mumbled.
Pinky smiled, knowing how the big man just hated tests. He looked passed Rawhide to the dog. "Hey, Oddity, welcome home."
Upon hearing his name, the dog barked once, his tail swooshing at a hundred miles an hour.
Chuckling, Pinky stepped back away from the hummer and waved it through.
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"Hey, Mrs J?" Knuckles called into Peggy's go-phone she still gripped along with her wrist. "Where is this Doc Smith anyhow? Whoever gave Peggy the directions really screwed it up."
Peggy winced. She could alomost hear Eunice's glare.
"I gave her the directions." Mrs Johnson responded, her voice carring an edge to it. "And I checked it out twice. 616 Summer street."
Peggy glanced at the building before them. Though neat and clean, it was still empty, abandon, and boarded up. But, there clear as day, was the building numbers 616. "Right address, right street." she informed Mrs Johnson. "But, sweety, there isn't a vet office in sight."
Knuckles was glaring at the go-phone, which, considering it was still attatched to her writst, was making Peggy rather uncomfortable.
"There was a cafe across the street. The... Yorker's Coffee House." Eunice Johnson supplied. "A fire hydrants just to the left of the vet's door. And a... a big flower pot on the corner..."
"Yea, yea, it's all here." Knuckles mumbled. But the growl was gone, her tone softened by concern. Again she eyed the boarder up building; this time looking with the suspiciouse eyes of a hunter, rather than the quick glance that simply told her it was not what they were looking for. "This is wrong." she declared, releasing Peggy's wrist and stepping up to a boarded up window. She ran a finger along the boards, then held it up for Peggy to see.
"No dirt." Peggy saw at once. "What boarded up building is that clean? Who suggested Dr. Smith, mrs Johnson?"
"Rawhide called Gage. Gage found the adress in Knuckles' rollerdex."
Knuckles spun about and grabbed Peggy's wrist again.
"Ouch... hey! You do have your own go-phone, remember?" Peggy protested, but knew the bounty hunter was going into full hunting mode, thus dangerouse to pull away.
"There is no vet in the rollerdex." Knuckles protested. "That is a zoologist refrence. Not a vetenarian. And there is no Dr Smith or ANYTHING Smith in there!"
"Are you sure?" Mrs Johnson asked.
"Hello! Photographic memory... I know every name and number in that thing." Knuckles snapped. "There is no vet! There is no Dr Smith!"
"At least not that you put in there." Peggy pointed out.
Knuckles looked at her, again her anger surrendering to her concern. "Mrs J, as soon as Oddity gets there, put him in the run." Knuckles told her. "I'm gonna check this joint out, find out just exactly what this place is... and what the hell they did when they had my dog."
"Sure." Mrs Johnson answered. "Hey, let me know what you find, okay? You think this is some sort of trick?"
"We'll let you know." Peggy answered as Knuckles moved to the back of her truck and opened her weapons trunk. She decided to disconnect the call before the mean little bounty hunter tossed her a rather large gun. No need to overly worry the girl.
Knuckles shook her revolver at Peggy. "Stay at my back, don't wonder, and you let me go first." she ordered.
Peggy nodded once.
Knuckles stepped up to the boarded up door and, with all her might, gave it a kick.
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"Hey! Ouch! Woe! Wait a minute!" Rawhide cried.
But, as soon as he had opened his door so as to climb out of the hummer, Oddity bounced and crawled over him and shot out of the vehicle.
"Oddity!" the big cowboy called after, but the dog had already dissapeared around the corner of the house, chasing after some scent that had caught his attention.
Perfect Tommy chuckled as he walked up to Rawhide. "Guess he's happy to be home. Already found something to chase."
Rawhide frowned. "Just hope it isn't your shoe."
Perfect Tommy frowned. "Or your boot."
The two Cavaliers, each an opposite of the other, looked at each other, thinking the exact same thing.
"Ah, damn." Rawhide mumbled.
"Yea." Perfect Tommy agreed.
And the two men took chase
By The Chronicler
----------
Chapter Six
----------
Knuckles paced the sidewalk, frustrated, impatient, irritated... Ah, crap, she was mad as hell!
She had just spent a sleepless week in a backwoods, one-plane airport terminal (if one could call a lean-to, an out house with no toilet seat, a candy machine from the stone ages, and a satalite dish with a years old bird's nest a terminal), waiting for a bounty to make his usual, never-miss stop.
All she caught was a cold.
Coming to the conclusion that she was gonna die of hypothermia before the bounty ever showed up, she started back for home. Only to meet up with Ryanna Duncan (a fellow bounty hunter that often worked with the Jessie James' Gang) with said bounty in tow, waiting for her at the Canadian boarder. Apparently the bounty had gone through California first, Rye's home state, days earlier. She caught him on his way up to Canada where Knuckles had been laying in wait. Since he had to be turned in in New York and Rye knew nothing about the big city, she waited from Knuckles at the boarder. So, Knuckles brought them into the city with her and helped Rye cash-in on the bounty SHE had spent a week in that damn terminal waiting for.
And, if that wasn't bad enough, Gage and Peggy Banzai was waiting for her at the airport to tell her that the day before Oddity, her very best most loyal friend, had been intintially hit by a car.
With a growl, Knuckles kicked the bumper of her truck.
Peggy Banzai frowned as she walked toward her from the other direction. "Did that do any good?" she wondered.
"Hurt like hell." Knuckles admitted, leaning against the grill so that she could rub her toe. "but at least if I hit the truck I won't hit the next human being that walked by."
Peggy sighed. "I thought Buckaroo taught you a few things to keep your temper in check."
"He did." Knuckles straightened up and looked at the woman. "I kicked it. I didn't shoot it." She threw her hands in the air, spinning about, searching for the vet office they had just spent the last twenty minutes looking for. "Where the hell is it?"
Again Peggy sighed, glancing around. When, once again, she too did not see the vet office where they had been told Oddity had been taken to, she turned to her go-phone. "Let's recheck our directions. Maybe we're on the wrong street." She signaled home.
"Ah, Peggy, you should of called home first." Mrs Johnson chided her when she was told where they were. "Rawhide's already picked Oddity up. Should be home any minute now."
Knuckles groaned. "That would be my luck." she mumbled. Then she snatched Peggy's wrist and pulled her go-phone close. "Is he alright? Was he hurt bad? Needed stitches? Surgery? Is he walk..."
"Rawhide said he's fine." Mrs Johnson cut her off, knowing questions from an over protective mother could last forever. "Bouncing around like a puppy, tail on a non-stop wag-fest. Bets are he'll have Perfect Tommy's favorite shoe even before his pretty little paws hit the dirt."
Knuckles and Peggy exchanged amused looks. They could alomst see the ever so classy Perfect Tommy diving after the dog in a frantic attempt to save some leather paten, $300 shoe from dog drool and teath marks.
----------
Oddity sat patiently on the passengers seat, watching as Rawhide held his hand out to the gate guard for the "Dupe Scan."
Ever since they had been first tricked by a dupe of Perfect Tommy six years earlier that nearly destroyed the Insitute from the inside, finding a way to tell the dupes from the real live BBs had become a priority for the security teams. The the metal sceleton of the dupes could not be detected by metal detecters, but it was discoverd that the cloneing process used to develope the outer form of a dupe left some genes incomplete. It took nearly every department in the Banzai Institute to develope a scanner that would detect the tell-tale flaw. And, now, every person through the gate, wiether they were a visiting pollotician or Buckaroo himself, was scanned.
Pinky Carruthers took the scanner from his man and looked at the results himself. "Congradulations, Rawhide. You are the real McCoy."
"Always good to hear." Rawhide mumbled.
Pinky smiled, knowing how the big man just hated tests. He looked passed Rawhide to the dog. "Hey, Oddity, welcome home."
Upon hearing his name, the dog barked once, his tail swooshing at a hundred miles an hour.
Chuckling, Pinky stepped back away from the hummer and waved it through.
----------
"Hey, Mrs J?" Knuckles called into Peggy's go-phone she still gripped along with her wrist. "Where is this Doc Smith anyhow? Whoever gave Peggy the directions really screwed it up."
Peggy winced. She could alomost hear Eunice's glare.
"I gave her the directions." Mrs Johnson responded, her voice carring an edge to it. "And I checked it out twice. 616 Summer street."
Peggy glanced at the building before them. Though neat and clean, it was still empty, abandon, and boarded up. But, there clear as day, was the building numbers 616. "Right address, right street." she informed Mrs Johnson. "But, sweety, there isn't a vet office in sight."
Knuckles was glaring at the go-phone, which, considering it was still attatched to her writst, was making Peggy rather uncomfortable.
"There was a cafe across the street. The... Yorker's Coffee House." Eunice Johnson supplied. "A fire hydrants just to the left of the vet's door. And a... a big flower pot on the corner..."
"Yea, yea, it's all here." Knuckles mumbled. But the growl was gone, her tone softened by concern. Again she eyed the boarder up building; this time looking with the suspiciouse eyes of a hunter, rather than the quick glance that simply told her it was not what they were looking for. "This is wrong." she declared, releasing Peggy's wrist and stepping up to a boarded up window. She ran a finger along the boards, then held it up for Peggy to see.
"No dirt." Peggy saw at once. "What boarded up building is that clean? Who suggested Dr. Smith, mrs Johnson?"
"Rawhide called Gage. Gage found the adress in Knuckles' rollerdex."
Knuckles spun about and grabbed Peggy's wrist again.
"Ouch... hey! You do have your own go-phone, remember?" Peggy protested, but knew the bounty hunter was going into full hunting mode, thus dangerouse to pull away.
"There is no vet in the rollerdex." Knuckles protested. "That is a zoologist refrence. Not a vetenarian. And there is no Dr Smith or ANYTHING Smith in there!"
"Are you sure?" Mrs Johnson asked.
"Hello! Photographic memory... I know every name and number in that thing." Knuckles snapped. "There is no vet! There is no Dr Smith!"
"At least not that you put in there." Peggy pointed out.
Knuckles looked at her, again her anger surrendering to her concern. "Mrs J, as soon as Oddity gets there, put him in the run." Knuckles told her. "I'm gonna check this joint out, find out just exactly what this place is... and what the hell they did when they had my dog."
"Sure." Mrs Johnson answered. "Hey, let me know what you find, okay? You think this is some sort of trick?"
"We'll let you know." Peggy answered as Knuckles moved to the back of her truck and opened her weapons trunk. She decided to disconnect the call before the mean little bounty hunter tossed her a rather large gun. No need to overly worry the girl.
Knuckles shook her revolver at Peggy. "Stay at my back, don't wonder, and you let me go first." she ordered.
Peggy nodded once.
Knuckles stepped up to the boarded up door and, with all her might, gave it a kick.
----------
"Hey! Ouch! Woe! Wait a minute!" Rawhide cried.
But, as soon as he had opened his door so as to climb out of the hummer, Oddity bounced and crawled over him and shot out of the vehicle.
"Oddity!" the big cowboy called after, but the dog had already dissapeared around the corner of the house, chasing after some scent that had caught his attention.
Perfect Tommy chuckled as he walked up to Rawhide. "Guess he's happy to be home. Already found something to chase."
Rawhide frowned. "Just hope it isn't your shoe."
Perfect Tommy frowned. "Or your boot."
The two Cavaliers, each an opposite of the other, looked at each other, thinking the exact same thing.
"Ah, damn." Rawhide mumbled.
"Yea." Perfect Tommy agreed.
And the two men took chase