Newbie - Part 4
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns G.I. Joe. I don't. I don't own Star Blazers either, for that matter. Please don't sue. I do own Cricket, however.
I want to thank everyone for their feedback. It really helps.
*****
The siren wailed insistently as tightly organized chaos exploded around Cricket. Joes were running in every which direction. Scarlett had taken off for the hangars; unsure of what else to do, Cricket began to follow her.
"Can you fly a Skystriker?" Scarlett called over he shoulder. Cricket had to admit that she couldn't. "Then go find Duke or Flint in the motor pool! You'll be more use down here!"
Running full speed across the base, Cricket watched the sky. Skystrikers had already begun to engage the Rattlers. As the fourth Rattler was shot down, she began to wonder if there was any way she could invest in the company Cobra bought their parachutes from. They certainly seemed to do a lot of business.
She reached the outer perimeter of the motor pool, dodging oncoming VAMPs and RAMs as she went. In the center of a small crowd of Joes, which she ran to join, was Duke.
At the absolute worst possible moment, the theme from "Star Blazers" popped into Cricket's brain and wouldn't leave.
"We've already scrambled the Skystrikers. Wild Bill, I want you to lead the Dragonflys and give them some support. We've got coverage on the north and the west side; that's where they seem to be coming in from...
- We're off to outer space, we're leaving Mother Earth...
"... but I want Beach Head and Stalker to take some people and give some coverage to the south and east sides as well..."
- To save the human race...
"Jaye, I want people on the roofs. The Rattlers are here, but the FANGs can't be too far behind, and we can disable..."
- Our Star Blazers!
"... some of them where they're most likely to land."
- Fighting with the Gamalons, we won't stop until we've won, then we'll return and when we arrive, the Earth will survive with our Star Blazers!
Cricket suddenly realized that Duke had stopped talking and that everyone was looking at her.
Oh, my God, she thought to herself. "Is there any chance I Wasn't doing that out loud?" Silence. "Um... it was on this morning," she said weakly. "You know how it is... the song gets... kinda... in your... head..." She trailed off and looked at her boots.
Duke, unsure whether to smile or be annoyed, settled for taking a deep breath and said, "You all know what to do. Go do it. Cricket and Jaye, hang on." The crowd shouted "Yo Joe!" and dispersed. Cover Girl, who had been standing behind Duke, climbed into the Wolverine, gave Cricket a reassuring smile, and zoomed off.
Duke looked down at Cricket. "Jaye, give us a minute," he said without breaking his gaze. Jaye gave orders to the others while she waited. "Well, kid, this is it," said Duke. "You nervous?"
"Yes," Cricket said simply.
"Are you ready?"
"I guess we're gonna find out in a minute."
"It couldn't be simpler. See someone in a blue jumpsuit, take him down. Easy as that."
Cricket nodded.
"You're going with Jaye. If you need something and can't find her, look for me." The fighting was getting closer. "I'll be along the west wall. Just do what I know you can do and you'll be fine."
She smiled. "Thanks."
Returning the smile, he replied, "Don't thank me. Just do your job. Jaye? Take her and get moving." He bolted out the door, grabbing a rifle as he went.
"C'mon, kiddo. Let's roll." Jaye led Cricket out. "I'm going to the men's barracks. I want you to take the officers' building. Alpine is already up there. Give him a hand."
"Will do."
"Oh, and if he threatens to yodel, try to discourage him."
*****
Cricket burst through the door leading to the roof of the officers' quarters. She already had an arrow notched in the bow she held in her left hand. She drew the string back with her right, slowly circling around. Alpine, whom she'd met briefly at Shipwreck's lunch table the day before, was firing at a FANG hovering two hundred yards away. Before she could give him any help, he took out the rear rotor, sending the copter into a tailspin that sent it careening into the side of the building that housed most of the offices.
"Alpine!" she called. He wheeled around, lowering his gun when he was able to identify her. "Careful, kid," he said. "Hate to get you perforated on your first day."
"Technically, it's my second."
"Sure, but nothing interesting ever happens on your first day. Look at all the trouble we've gone to to make your second day memorable. I-"
"DOWN!" Alpine barely had time to drop before the shaft left Cricket's bow. It sailed into the main rotor of the FANG which had risen silently behind Alpine, sending it immediately to earth, twelve stories below.
Alpine bent over the side of the building, watching it fall. He whistled. "That was pretty."
"You all right?" she asked him.
"Fine. Hold on; behind you." She turned around and saw that there was another FANG creeping behind Jaye, who was hurling javelins at a low-flying Rattler. She sent another arrow into the tail rotor, causing the gyrocopter to swing wildly out of control. The pilot bailed out, landing on the officers' roof about twenty feet from Cricket, his back turned to her.
She ran towards him, the gravel crunching under her feet. The Cobra spun around just in time to get kicked in the head, putting him out instantly.
Cricket looked up to watch the Rattler crash into the ground below, Lady Jaye getting another javelin ready for the next one.
Alpine sent a CLAW screaming downward. Cricket looked at the ground, which was bloated with deployed parachutes. Things seemed to be going well.
A Viper Glider landed on the roof. The officer was holding his rifle with one hand, emptying the clip in Cricket's direction. She was naturally concerned, until she realized that he didn't seem to have the aim to be able to shoot into the ocean properly. She shot him in his gun hand, causing him to drop it. He grabbed his hand and didn't seem to notice Alpine run up to him until it was too late.
Chaotic as it was, Cricket actually felt like she was getting the hang of it all. Another pair of Viper Gliders landed on Jaye's roof; she was able to send two arrows their way before Jaye even realized they were there.
As Alpine was shooting at a Rattler which hovered over them, he said to Cricket, "You can say it, you know."
"Say what?"
"C'mon. You know you want to."
She got a goofy half-grin on her face when she realized what he meant. "You think so?"
"Hey, no time like now."
She sent another pair of arrows towards the Rattler, one toward each wing. They lodged into an engine on either side, wrecking the props and sending the plane hurtling downward. As she watched it fall, scraping the side of the reinforced building, Cricket roared a "YO JOE!"
Then she turned to Alpine and said, "There's absolutely no way that should have worked, you know."
*****
The battle went on for what seemed like hours. Nothing seemed to change; for every plane or copter that got shot down, another one quickly took its place. By this point, Cobra ground troops had entered the base as well, although the Joes weren't having any serious problems. Off in the distance, she saw a Cobra transport plane touch down.
"Alpine!" she called. "Let me see your wrist phone!"
"Where's yours?"
"I haven't been given one yet. Just lemme see it!" She took his phone and strapped it to her wrist. "Cricket to Jaye. A big-ass transport plane just touched down outside the base. Have you seen it? Over."
The phone crackled. "Jaye to Cricket. Are you sure? I don't see anything. Over."
"I'm sure. It's about a half mile out on the east side."
"Cricket, this is Duke. I see it. Stalker, send your group over there and give Gung Ho some help. Looks like the second wave's coming in."
Stalker's voice came through. "I'm already there. People up on the roofs, turn your cover fire this way."
Jaye used one of her javelins to pole vault her way onto the officers' roof. She looked over the ledge to survey the wreckage. "What I wanna know is, who's supposed to be cleaning this up?"
Cricket checked her quiver; she was fast running out of arrows. "Jaye, I need to refill my quiver."
"How fast can you do it?" Jaye asked.
"Two minutes, if that. I've got plenty more in my room, which is right below where we're standing."
"Do it and hurry back. We've don't have a lot of time before they drive over here."
Cricket looked out to the transport. "They're not driving."
"What?" said Alpine.
"They're hiking. There aren't any vehicles at all."
Alpine squinted. "Your eyes must be a lot better than mine. I can barely see anything through all the smoke."
"I'll be right back." She turned and left through the roof access door.
*****
Cricket entered the apartment and headed for her room. She looked out the window as she stuffed her quiver full of arrows; the Rattlers and FANGs were turning round and leaving, although the gliders were staying and fighting. She turned that over in her mind for a few minutes. All the vehicles were -
Shit.
"Duke!" she yelled into the wrist phone. "Flint! Anyone! Get those planes down! Now!"
"Cricket, it's Duke. What -"
"The Core! You've got to get everyone out of the sky before -"
A sudden rush of blue sent the window flying at her in shards. She turned so that her back was facing it, but the force of the energy sent part of the frame hurtling into the back of her head, plunging her into darkness.
*****
She had no idea how long she'd been out. When she came to, face down, the lights were out. So was her wrist phone. She started to get up, only to find that she was too heavy.
Cobra had obviously found a way to make the Core do what they wanted.
Cricket slowly, painfully crawled her way out to the common room. Her back felt like it was on fire; she wondered how badly she was hurt. As she got further from the window, it became marginally easier to move. There must have been something in the walls that helped block the effects of the Core.
She tried again to get up. it took some doing, but she made it.
"Ouch," she said emphatically.
She picked up her quiver, which now weighed about a hundred fifty pounds, and gently put it on her back. She clipped the eighty-pound bow to its latch on the quiver as well.
Moving to the door, she listened for anyone who might be outside. Satisfied that she was alone, she exited the apartment and headed toward the stairwell. As she reached the doorway, however, she heard a pair of - no, three - Cobra troopers climbing the stairs. They were talking to their superior on the radio.
She immediately bolted for the elevator. It took every ounce of strength she had, but she was able to pry the doors apart. The elevator car was a few stories below her; she started to lower herself down on the ladder. It occurred to her that Cobra would probably not be aware she had transferred to G.I. Joe yet; if she didn't alert them to her presence, chances were they wouldn't be looking for her.
"That's you, Mae," she said to herself as she forced the doors shut behind her. "Always thinking. Do try not to plummet to your death while you're congratulating yourself."
Once the doors were shut, she felt lighter. Not back to normal - not even close - but definitely an improvement.
"Now, if the building is offering me some shielding, then the mainframe that's located four stories below ground in a reinforced concrete bunker, might still be usable. I wonder if - Dammit, MacDougal, you're talking to yourself again."
Cricket reached the top of the elevator car, dropping onto it and lifting the maintainance panel. She poked her head through, listening for any signs of life. She didn't hear anything. Didn't mean no one was there, of course. Slowy, carefully, she lowered herself to the floor of the car, feeling her mass balloon as she did so. She landed with a much louder "thud" than she expected. However, legions of Cobra troops failed to materialize, and she realized she was alone. She went to the stairwell and hurried to ground level.
Breaker had told her that every building on the base had access to the tunnels leading down into the mainframe bunker. That access was usually through a floor hatch located in the northwest corner of the building. Reaching the first floor, she tried to figure out which way northwest was. Realizing it was the apartment on the far left, she ran up to it. The plaque on the door read 2LT PULASKI. She kicked the door and wondered if she broke her toe when it failed to do anything. She gave it a couple more kicks, and finally she felt it begin to yield. One more kick and the door splintered from its hinges.
She was immediately knocked back by the stench. This was definitely a boy's apartment.
Putting the door back in place as best she could, Cricket crossed to the bedroom. According to Breaker, the floor hatch would be under the carpeting, which in turn seemed to be under a metric ton of unwashed socks and nudie mags. Taking care not to touch the socks (ESPECIALLY the ones near the nudie mags), she pulled the carpet up from the flooring to find the hatchway. She was exhausted, and couldn't wait for this to be over so she could get a hot shower and a nap.
She slowly lowered herself down into the service tunnel, feeling better as she did so.. She followed the yellow line to another hatchway in the floor. She opened it and immediately wished she hadn't.
She lowered herself into the sewage pipe, being careful to stay on the catwalk. Although the pipe afforded her further relief from the effects of the Gravity Core, she couldn't help but wish that they had managed to put a bakery or a chocolatier down there instead.
*****
Cricket finally reached the mainframe. Now four stories underground, she felt almost normal.
The mainframe was connected to a separate generator. Once she got it going, it seemed to be working almost normally. She switched on the smaller terminal and surveyed the damage so far. All power was out, except for the emergency backup generators down on her level, although they couldn't get any power up to the main levels without the Core sucking it dry.
She experimented with rerouting power to some of the cameras. Nothing. Then she tried to get communications back up. Still no luck. It occurred to her that if the reinforced concrete all over the base was acting as shielding, she might be able to raise individual people on the wrist phone, provided something heavy was between them and the Core. She sent out some test signals and looked to see if any of them connected.
"This is Cricket, broadcasting on all channels," she said into her phone. "Is anyone receiving me?"
After a few minutes, she started to hear some crackling over the line. "-cket?" she made out.
"I read you. Who's this? What is your situation?"
The signal was weak. She rerouted power into the signal, hopeful that Cobra wouldn't pick up on it. "This is Jaye. Situation is not good. We have a lot of wounded and a lot captured. Where are you?"
"I'm in the mainframe bunker. I'm trying to restore power now."
"Don't waste your time. It's all gone, and anything we do manage to raise gets sucked up. All our vehicles, all our lasers, everything's out. We couldn't even start a campfire."
"Okay. What's going on? Can you see Duke?"
"Hang on." The line crackled and sputtered. "I'm gonna have Snake tell me what he sees. If I poke my head around the corner this phone'll go out. He says Destro's got a huge machine with him... he has Duke. He also has the wounded surrounding him; from here he can see Ace and Scarlett. He thinks that's Wild Bill next to her. There are others, but he can't make out who's who. He says Destro is moving normally; there's some kind of bubble around him and the machine. Flint's commanding now. He's on the other side of this building."
"Is Duke hurt?
"Snake doesn't think so."
"Who else is with you?" Cricket asked.
"I have Alpine, Breaker and Snake Eyes."
"All right; hang on." Cricket was looking in the files; she pulled up Hawk's dossier on the Core. Seems he knew a little more about it than she thought he did. "If Snake were to signal something to Duke, would Duke understand?"
"Of course. The only issue is can Snake signal? It's damned near impossible to move."
"Try to get Duke's attention without letting Destro notice." She looked through the files, looking for anything.
"Duke sees him," Jaye said after a while.
"Tell him the Core is incredibly unstable. Disrupting the gravity field is actually very easy. Disrupting it without blowing the whole base to the moon is more difficult. How is Duke with delicate operations?"
"He can open a bag of potato chips without the bottom blowing open and sending chips flying everywhere eight times out of ten."
"That isn't very reassuring."
"It isn't meant to be."
"Okay, there are sixteen leads on top of the Core. Four by four. How does Destro have it hooked up?"
After a minute, Jaye said, "There's a wire coming out of the very top one to the far left."
"Call that lead one. What else?"
Another minute went by. "Lead three, lead five, lead eight, lead twelve and lead fifteen all have wires connecting them up to the machine."
She tried to coordinate all of that. "Someone should really leave some scratch paper down here for this sort of emergency." She found a configuration in the file that lined up with that setup and worked it out. "Okay, listen. If Duke can pull the wire from lead fifteen and plug it into lead seven, pull the wire out of lead eight and cross it with lead one, then pull the wire out of five and find some way to ground it, we may have something. It probably won't shut the gravity field off completely, but it should cause it to fluctuate enough to make moving around a little bit easier."
"Do you really know what you're talking about?"
"Actually, no. But there are some pretty thourough notes in this file. I just hope I'm reading them right."
"Okay, Duke's signalled to Flint to distract Destro." A long pause. "Destro's talking to Flint. He's distracted. Duke's gonna try now."
After a few minutes Jaye said, "I think it's working. I don't feel as heavy. Can you find your way back up to the roof?"
"I think so."
"Do it. We'll be up there waiting."
She printed off some of the file and left.
*****
After what seemed like an eternity, Cricket reached the rooftop. Alpine had gotten Jaye and the rest of her team up there as well.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
"Listen," said Breaker.
Destro, inside the bubble which afforded him protection, had surrounded himself with the wounded, which also included Cover Girl and General Hawk. Duke, Stalker and Beach Head were also inside the bubble, apparently unhurt but under armed guard. "Be reasonable, Flint," he said. "Your friends re gravely injured. Your laser rifles don't work, and the conventional weapons are too affected by the gravity field to be of any use to you. If you try to shoot me through this field, I simply amplify the gravity and the bullet swings down and hits one of your friends. Surrender G.I. Joe to me."
"Fuck yourself."
"If Cover Girl doesn't receive medical attention immediately, she will die. The others don't have much longer. There's no need for this. We can -"
"Destro, sir?" A Cobra officer held up a communicator. "Cobra Commander."
Destro took the communicator, rolled his eyes to the heavens, and said, "Yes, Commander. Everything's going splendidly. I assure you, G.I. Joe will no longer be around to trouble us... no, I haven't, because I wanted to wait until I had something to report. I... Look. This time we try it my way. Get rid of G.I. Joe first, THEN blackmail the world with the Gravity Device... Calm yourself. I KNOW that's not how we normally... Have patience, my dear Cobra Commander. I -" He looked at the communicator and handed it back to the officer.
"Sir?"
"He threw another chair into his terminal. He's like a toddler." He turned his attention back to Flint. "Where were we?"
"I'm pretty sure I was suggesting that you fuck yourself."
Cricket judged the distance. The gravity was going up, then down, then up again. She tried to establish a pattern. As she did, she asked, "Cover Girl looks awful. What happened?"
"A Skystriker fell on the Wolverine when the beam hit," said Breaker. "She got pulled out, but she really needs a doctor."
"Cricket, did you do something to the energy levels?" Jaye asked.
"No. Why?"
"Because my wrist phone is starting to crackle a little bit. Maybe when the gravity field went all nutty like this, its ability to siphon off all the energy got affected."
"Possibly. There's still not a lot of energy, though."
Jaye whispered into her phone. "Lady Jaye to Duke. Do you copy? Tap your fingers together if you copy."
Duke did.
"Look, we're gonna find a way to get you guys out of there. If we can get Destro to get that field down -"
"I have a shot," said Cricket.
"What?"
"I have a shot at Destro. The gravity field is unstable, but it's flucutation is following a pattern. In a few minutes, gravity will be almost normal for a second or two."
"Unacceptable. The last thing you want is to have the field go up and your arrow get someone else instead. You can't -"
Snake Eyes put a hand on Jaye's shoulder and pointed.
"What's he saying?" Cricket asked.
"He wants us to look at Duke." Duke was signing furiously, trying to make sure the Cobra soldiers couldn't make out wheat he was doing.
"He says 'Do it,'" Jaye said sadly. "'The important thing is to get this thing out of Cobra's hands. Our lives are secondary. Do it.'" They looked; Cover Girl was directly between them and Destro. "Duke, there has to be -"
More signalling. "Stop arguing with me and do it!"
"All right. As soon as things get interesting, have Stalker and Beach take down the guards."
Breaker was looking over the files Cricket had brought with her. "If Duke can pull all the wires out simultaneously, except for leads one and eight, we should start to get some of our power back."
"Did you catch that?" Jaye asked. He had.
Cricket notched an arrow, waiting for the opportunity.
"Please be careful," Jaye said quietly. Cricket nodded.
Destro was still talking. Flint wasn't budging.
Cricket could feel the gravity start to right itself again. Just a few more seconds...
Three...
Two...
One...
She loosed the arrow and prayed.
Destro had turned his head. The arrow hit him in the ear. It was unable to pierce the beryllium steel coating, but the arrow had effectively boxed his ear and he howled in pain nonetheless. Grabbing his ear and falling to his knees, he dropped the control to the Gravity Device. As one, Stalker and Beach Head turned around and took out their guards. Duke leapt to the Core and unplugged the wires in the manner Breaker described.
Alpine's rifle started to hum. "We got juice!" he yelled.
That was all Flint needed to hear. Picking himself up and brandishing his shotgun, he yelled, "YO JOE!"
*****
The fight was brief after that. With full power returning, the Joes came loaded for bear against a mob of Cobra soldiers who were mostly on foot. The outcome was predictable.
*****
"Breaker, call the Pentagon. I want this thing off my base in an hour." Hawk, ever the general, was barking orders while he was getting bandaged. "And you," he said to the medical assistant, "go find someone who's actually hurt. Everyone who was up in the air when that thing went off got themselves in a world of hurt."
"We've got everybody, sir. Doc's opening up Cover Girl now."
Cricket had found them. "Will she be okay?"
"We'll know tonight."
Now that things had settled down, Cricket realized she had time to worry about her friends. She was also so exhausted, physically and emotionally, that she really wanted to cry.
"Sir, please sit still -"
"Oh, get off me." Hawk shook the medic away and turned to leave.
The medic saw the state of Cricket's back, and began to look her over.
All around them, the cleanup effort had begun. Cobras were being led to holding cells awaiting pickup. Destro had manged to squirrel himself away. The wounded were being tended to. Hawk started to leave, looking for Duke, who had followed after Scarlett to the infirmary. Before leaving, he turned to Cricket. "Mary?" he asked.
"Yes, sir?"
"Good work today." He then turned around and went about his business.
"Thank you, sir," she said, quietly filled with pride. She found herself giving in, and wept softly.
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns G.I. Joe. I don't. I don't own Star Blazers either, for that matter. Please don't sue. I do own Cricket, however.
I want to thank everyone for their feedback. It really helps.
*****
The siren wailed insistently as tightly organized chaos exploded around Cricket. Joes were running in every which direction. Scarlett had taken off for the hangars; unsure of what else to do, Cricket began to follow her.
"Can you fly a Skystriker?" Scarlett called over he shoulder. Cricket had to admit that she couldn't. "Then go find Duke or Flint in the motor pool! You'll be more use down here!"
Running full speed across the base, Cricket watched the sky. Skystrikers had already begun to engage the Rattlers. As the fourth Rattler was shot down, she began to wonder if there was any way she could invest in the company Cobra bought their parachutes from. They certainly seemed to do a lot of business.
She reached the outer perimeter of the motor pool, dodging oncoming VAMPs and RAMs as she went. In the center of a small crowd of Joes, which she ran to join, was Duke.
At the absolute worst possible moment, the theme from "Star Blazers" popped into Cricket's brain and wouldn't leave.
"We've already scrambled the Skystrikers. Wild Bill, I want you to lead the Dragonflys and give them some support. We've got coverage on the north and the west side; that's where they seem to be coming in from...
- We're off to outer space, we're leaving Mother Earth...
"... but I want Beach Head and Stalker to take some people and give some coverage to the south and east sides as well..."
- To save the human race...
"Jaye, I want people on the roofs. The Rattlers are here, but the FANGs can't be too far behind, and we can disable..."
- Our Star Blazers!
"... some of them where they're most likely to land."
- Fighting with the Gamalons, we won't stop until we've won, then we'll return and when we arrive, the Earth will survive with our Star Blazers!
Cricket suddenly realized that Duke had stopped talking and that everyone was looking at her.
Oh, my God, she thought to herself. "Is there any chance I Wasn't doing that out loud?" Silence. "Um... it was on this morning," she said weakly. "You know how it is... the song gets... kinda... in your... head..." She trailed off and looked at her boots.
Duke, unsure whether to smile or be annoyed, settled for taking a deep breath and said, "You all know what to do. Go do it. Cricket and Jaye, hang on." The crowd shouted "Yo Joe!" and dispersed. Cover Girl, who had been standing behind Duke, climbed into the Wolverine, gave Cricket a reassuring smile, and zoomed off.
Duke looked down at Cricket. "Jaye, give us a minute," he said without breaking his gaze. Jaye gave orders to the others while she waited. "Well, kid, this is it," said Duke. "You nervous?"
"Yes," Cricket said simply.
"Are you ready?"
"I guess we're gonna find out in a minute."
"It couldn't be simpler. See someone in a blue jumpsuit, take him down. Easy as that."
Cricket nodded.
"You're going with Jaye. If you need something and can't find her, look for me." The fighting was getting closer. "I'll be along the west wall. Just do what I know you can do and you'll be fine."
She smiled. "Thanks."
Returning the smile, he replied, "Don't thank me. Just do your job. Jaye? Take her and get moving." He bolted out the door, grabbing a rifle as he went.
"C'mon, kiddo. Let's roll." Jaye led Cricket out. "I'm going to the men's barracks. I want you to take the officers' building. Alpine is already up there. Give him a hand."
"Will do."
"Oh, and if he threatens to yodel, try to discourage him."
*****
Cricket burst through the door leading to the roof of the officers' quarters. She already had an arrow notched in the bow she held in her left hand. She drew the string back with her right, slowly circling around. Alpine, whom she'd met briefly at Shipwreck's lunch table the day before, was firing at a FANG hovering two hundred yards away. Before she could give him any help, he took out the rear rotor, sending the copter into a tailspin that sent it careening into the side of the building that housed most of the offices.
"Alpine!" she called. He wheeled around, lowering his gun when he was able to identify her. "Careful, kid," he said. "Hate to get you perforated on your first day."
"Technically, it's my second."
"Sure, but nothing interesting ever happens on your first day. Look at all the trouble we've gone to to make your second day memorable. I-"
"DOWN!" Alpine barely had time to drop before the shaft left Cricket's bow. It sailed into the main rotor of the FANG which had risen silently behind Alpine, sending it immediately to earth, twelve stories below.
Alpine bent over the side of the building, watching it fall. He whistled. "That was pretty."
"You all right?" she asked him.
"Fine. Hold on; behind you." She turned around and saw that there was another FANG creeping behind Jaye, who was hurling javelins at a low-flying Rattler. She sent another arrow into the tail rotor, causing the gyrocopter to swing wildly out of control. The pilot bailed out, landing on the officers' roof about twenty feet from Cricket, his back turned to her.
She ran towards him, the gravel crunching under her feet. The Cobra spun around just in time to get kicked in the head, putting him out instantly.
Cricket looked up to watch the Rattler crash into the ground below, Lady Jaye getting another javelin ready for the next one.
Alpine sent a CLAW screaming downward. Cricket looked at the ground, which was bloated with deployed parachutes. Things seemed to be going well.
A Viper Glider landed on the roof. The officer was holding his rifle with one hand, emptying the clip in Cricket's direction. She was naturally concerned, until she realized that he didn't seem to have the aim to be able to shoot into the ocean properly. She shot him in his gun hand, causing him to drop it. He grabbed his hand and didn't seem to notice Alpine run up to him until it was too late.
Chaotic as it was, Cricket actually felt like she was getting the hang of it all. Another pair of Viper Gliders landed on Jaye's roof; she was able to send two arrows their way before Jaye even realized they were there.
As Alpine was shooting at a Rattler which hovered over them, he said to Cricket, "You can say it, you know."
"Say what?"
"C'mon. You know you want to."
She got a goofy half-grin on her face when she realized what he meant. "You think so?"
"Hey, no time like now."
She sent another pair of arrows towards the Rattler, one toward each wing. They lodged into an engine on either side, wrecking the props and sending the plane hurtling downward. As she watched it fall, scraping the side of the reinforced building, Cricket roared a "YO JOE!"
Then she turned to Alpine and said, "There's absolutely no way that should have worked, you know."
*****
The battle went on for what seemed like hours. Nothing seemed to change; for every plane or copter that got shot down, another one quickly took its place. By this point, Cobra ground troops had entered the base as well, although the Joes weren't having any serious problems. Off in the distance, she saw a Cobra transport plane touch down.
"Alpine!" she called. "Let me see your wrist phone!"
"Where's yours?"
"I haven't been given one yet. Just lemme see it!" She took his phone and strapped it to her wrist. "Cricket to Jaye. A big-ass transport plane just touched down outside the base. Have you seen it? Over."
The phone crackled. "Jaye to Cricket. Are you sure? I don't see anything. Over."
"I'm sure. It's about a half mile out on the east side."
"Cricket, this is Duke. I see it. Stalker, send your group over there and give Gung Ho some help. Looks like the second wave's coming in."
Stalker's voice came through. "I'm already there. People up on the roofs, turn your cover fire this way."
Jaye used one of her javelins to pole vault her way onto the officers' roof. She looked over the ledge to survey the wreckage. "What I wanna know is, who's supposed to be cleaning this up?"
Cricket checked her quiver; she was fast running out of arrows. "Jaye, I need to refill my quiver."
"How fast can you do it?" Jaye asked.
"Two minutes, if that. I've got plenty more in my room, which is right below where we're standing."
"Do it and hurry back. We've don't have a lot of time before they drive over here."
Cricket looked out to the transport. "They're not driving."
"What?" said Alpine.
"They're hiking. There aren't any vehicles at all."
Alpine squinted. "Your eyes must be a lot better than mine. I can barely see anything through all the smoke."
"I'll be right back." She turned and left through the roof access door.
*****
Cricket entered the apartment and headed for her room. She looked out the window as she stuffed her quiver full of arrows; the Rattlers and FANGs were turning round and leaving, although the gliders were staying and fighting. She turned that over in her mind for a few minutes. All the vehicles were -
Shit.
"Duke!" she yelled into the wrist phone. "Flint! Anyone! Get those planes down! Now!"
"Cricket, it's Duke. What -"
"The Core! You've got to get everyone out of the sky before -"
A sudden rush of blue sent the window flying at her in shards. She turned so that her back was facing it, but the force of the energy sent part of the frame hurtling into the back of her head, plunging her into darkness.
*****
She had no idea how long she'd been out. When she came to, face down, the lights were out. So was her wrist phone. She started to get up, only to find that she was too heavy.
Cobra had obviously found a way to make the Core do what they wanted.
Cricket slowly, painfully crawled her way out to the common room. Her back felt like it was on fire; she wondered how badly she was hurt. As she got further from the window, it became marginally easier to move. There must have been something in the walls that helped block the effects of the Core.
She tried again to get up. it took some doing, but she made it.
"Ouch," she said emphatically.
She picked up her quiver, which now weighed about a hundred fifty pounds, and gently put it on her back. She clipped the eighty-pound bow to its latch on the quiver as well.
Moving to the door, she listened for anyone who might be outside. Satisfied that she was alone, she exited the apartment and headed toward the stairwell. As she reached the doorway, however, she heard a pair of - no, three - Cobra troopers climbing the stairs. They were talking to their superior on the radio.
She immediately bolted for the elevator. It took every ounce of strength she had, but she was able to pry the doors apart. The elevator car was a few stories below her; she started to lower herself down on the ladder. It occurred to her that Cobra would probably not be aware she had transferred to G.I. Joe yet; if she didn't alert them to her presence, chances were they wouldn't be looking for her.
"That's you, Mae," she said to herself as she forced the doors shut behind her. "Always thinking. Do try not to plummet to your death while you're congratulating yourself."
Once the doors were shut, she felt lighter. Not back to normal - not even close - but definitely an improvement.
"Now, if the building is offering me some shielding, then the mainframe that's located four stories below ground in a reinforced concrete bunker, might still be usable. I wonder if - Dammit, MacDougal, you're talking to yourself again."
Cricket reached the top of the elevator car, dropping onto it and lifting the maintainance panel. She poked her head through, listening for any signs of life. She didn't hear anything. Didn't mean no one was there, of course. Slowy, carefully, she lowered herself to the floor of the car, feeling her mass balloon as she did so. She landed with a much louder "thud" than she expected. However, legions of Cobra troops failed to materialize, and she realized she was alone. She went to the stairwell and hurried to ground level.
Breaker had told her that every building on the base had access to the tunnels leading down into the mainframe bunker. That access was usually through a floor hatch located in the northwest corner of the building. Reaching the first floor, she tried to figure out which way northwest was. Realizing it was the apartment on the far left, she ran up to it. The plaque on the door read 2LT PULASKI. She kicked the door and wondered if she broke her toe when it failed to do anything. She gave it a couple more kicks, and finally she felt it begin to yield. One more kick and the door splintered from its hinges.
She was immediately knocked back by the stench. This was definitely a boy's apartment.
Putting the door back in place as best she could, Cricket crossed to the bedroom. According to Breaker, the floor hatch would be under the carpeting, which in turn seemed to be under a metric ton of unwashed socks and nudie mags. Taking care not to touch the socks (ESPECIALLY the ones near the nudie mags), she pulled the carpet up from the flooring to find the hatchway. She was exhausted, and couldn't wait for this to be over so she could get a hot shower and a nap.
She slowly lowered herself down into the service tunnel, feeling better as she did so.. She followed the yellow line to another hatchway in the floor. She opened it and immediately wished she hadn't.
She lowered herself into the sewage pipe, being careful to stay on the catwalk. Although the pipe afforded her further relief from the effects of the Gravity Core, she couldn't help but wish that they had managed to put a bakery or a chocolatier down there instead.
*****
Cricket finally reached the mainframe. Now four stories underground, she felt almost normal.
The mainframe was connected to a separate generator. Once she got it going, it seemed to be working almost normally. She switched on the smaller terminal and surveyed the damage so far. All power was out, except for the emergency backup generators down on her level, although they couldn't get any power up to the main levels without the Core sucking it dry.
She experimented with rerouting power to some of the cameras. Nothing. Then she tried to get communications back up. Still no luck. It occurred to her that if the reinforced concrete all over the base was acting as shielding, she might be able to raise individual people on the wrist phone, provided something heavy was between them and the Core. She sent out some test signals and looked to see if any of them connected.
"This is Cricket, broadcasting on all channels," she said into her phone. "Is anyone receiving me?"
After a few minutes, she started to hear some crackling over the line. "-cket?" she made out.
"I read you. Who's this? What is your situation?"
The signal was weak. She rerouted power into the signal, hopeful that Cobra wouldn't pick up on it. "This is Jaye. Situation is not good. We have a lot of wounded and a lot captured. Where are you?"
"I'm in the mainframe bunker. I'm trying to restore power now."
"Don't waste your time. It's all gone, and anything we do manage to raise gets sucked up. All our vehicles, all our lasers, everything's out. We couldn't even start a campfire."
"Okay. What's going on? Can you see Duke?"
"Hang on." The line crackled and sputtered. "I'm gonna have Snake tell me what he sees. If I poke my head around the corner this phone'll go out. He says Destro's got a huge machine with him... he has Duke. He also has the wounded surrounding him; from here he can see Ace and Scarlett. He thinks that's Wild Bill next to her. There are others, but he can't make out who's who. He says Destro is moving normally; there's some kind of bubble around him and the machine. Flint's commanding now. He's on the other side of this building."
"Is Duke hurt?
"Snake doesn't think so."
"Who else is with you?" Cricket asked.
"I have Alpine, Breaker and Snake Eyes."
"All right; hang on." Cricket was looking in the files; she pulled up Hawk's dossier on the Core. Seems he knew a little more about it than she thought he did. "If Snake were to signal something to Duke, would Duke understand?"
"Of course. The only issue is can Snake signal? It's damned near impossible to move."
"Try to get Duke's attention without letting Destro notice." She looked through the files, looking for anything.
"Duke sees him," Jaye said after a while.
"Tell him the Core is incredibly unstable. Disrupting the gravity field is actually very easy. Disrupting it without blowing the whole base to the moon is more difficult. How is Duke with delicate operations?"
"He can open a bag of potato chips without the bottom blowing open and sending chips flying everywhere eight times out of ten."
"That isn't very reassuring."
"It isn't meant to be."
"Okay, there are sixteen leads on top of the Core. Four by four. How does Destro have it hooked up?"
After a minute, Jaye said, "There's a wire coming out of the very top one to the far left."
"Call that lead one. What else?"
Another minute went by. "Lead three, lead five, lead eight, lead twelve and lead fifteen all have wires connecting them up to the machine."
She tried to coordinate all of that. "Someone should really leave some scratch paper down here for this sort of emergency." She found a configuration in the file that lined up with that setup and worked it out. "Okay, listen. If Duke can pull the wire from lead fifteen and plug it into lead seven, pull the wire out of lead eight and cross it with lead one, then pull the wire out of five and find some way to ground it, we may have something. It probably won't shut the gravity field off completely, but it should cause it to fluctuate enough to make moving around a little bit easier."
"Do you really know what you're talking about?"
"Actually, no. But there are some pretty thourough notes in this file. I just hope I'm reading them right."
"Okay, Duke's signalled to Flint to distract Destro." A long pause. "Destro's talking to Flint. He's distracted. Duke's gonna try now."
After a few minutes Jaye said, "I think it's working. I don't feel as heavy. Can you find your way back up to the roof?"
"I think so."
"Do it. We'll be up there waiting."
She printed off some of the file and left.
*****
After what seemed like an eternity, Cricket reached the rooftop. Alpine had gotten Jaye and the rest of her team up there as well.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
"Listen," said Breaker.
Destro, inside the bubble which afforded him protection, had surrounded himself with the wounded, which also included Cover Girl and General Hawk. Duke, Stalker and Beach Head were also inside the bubble, apparently unhurt but under armed guard. "Be reasonable, Flint," he said. "Your friends re gravely injured. Your laser rifles don't work, and the conventional weapons are too affected by the gravity field to be of any use to you. If you try to shoot me through this field, I simply amplify the gravity and the bullet swings down and hits one of your friends. Surrender G.I. Joe to me."
"Fuck yourself."
"If Cover Girl doesn't receive medical attention immediately, she will die. The others don't have much longer. There's no need for this. We can -"
"Destro, sir?" A Cobra officer held up a communicator. "Cobra Commander."
Destro took the communicator, rolled his eyes to the heavens, and said, "Yes, Commander. Everything's going splendidly. I assure you, G.I. Joe will no longer be around to trouble us... no, I haven't, because I wanted to wait until I had something to report. I... Look. This time we try it my way. Get rid of G.I. Joe first, THEN blackmail the world with the Gravity Device... Calm yourself. I KNOW that's not how we normally... Have patience, my dear Cobra Commander. I -" He looked at the communicator and handed it back to the officer.
"Sir?"
"He threw another chair into his terminal. He's like a toddler." He turned his attention back to Flint. "Where were we?"
"I'm pretty sure I was suggesting that you fuck yourself."
Cricket judged the distance. The gravity was going up, then down, then up again. She tried to establish a pattern. As she did, she asked, "Cover Girl looks awful. What happened?"
"A Skystriker fell on the Wolverine when the beam hit," said Breaker. "She got pulled out, but she really needs a doctor."
"Cricket, did you do something to the energy levels?" Jaye asked.
"No. Why?"
"Because my wrist phone is starting to crackle a little bit. Maybe when the gravity field went all nutty like this, its ability to siphon off all the energy got affected."
"Possibly. There's still not a lot of energy, though."
Jaye whispered into her phone. "Lady Jaye to Duke. Do you copy? Tap your fingers together if you copy."
Duke did.
"Look, we're gonna find a way to get you guys out of there. If we can get Destro to get that field down -"
"I have a shot," said Cricket.
"What?"
"I have a shot at Destro. The gravity field is unstable, but it's flucutation is following a pattern. In a few minutes, gravity will be almost normal for a second or two."
"Unacceptable. The last thing you want is to have the field go up and your arrow get someone else instead. You can't -"
Snake Eyes put a hand on Jaye's shoulder and pointed.
"What's he saying?" Cricket asked.
"He wants us to look at Duke." Duke was signing furiously, trying to make sure the Cobra soldiers couldn't make out wheat he was doing.
"He says 'Do it,'" Jaye said sadly. "'The important thing is to get this thing out of Cobra's hands. Our lives are secondary. Do it.'" They looked; Cover Girl was directly between them and Destro. "Duke, there has to be -"
More signalling. "Stop arguing with me and do it!"
"All right. As soon as things get interesting, have Stalker and Beach take down the guards."
Breaker was looking over the files Cricket had brought with her. "If Duke can pull all the wires out simultaneously, except for leads one and eight, we should start to get some of our power back."
"Did you catch that?" Jaye asked. He had.
Cricket notched an arrow, waiting for the opportunity.
"Please be careful," Jaye said quietly. Cricket nodded.
Destro was still talking. Flint wasn't budging.
Cricket could feel the gravity start to right itself again. Just a few more seconds...
Three...
Two...
One...
She loosed the arrow and prayed.
Destro had turned his head. The arrow hit him in the ear. It was unable to pierce the beryllium steel coating, but the arrow had effectively boxed his ear and he howled in pain nonetheless. Grabbing his ear and falling to his knees, he dropped the control to the Gravity Device. As one, Stalker and Beach Head turned around and took out their guards. Duke leapt to the Core and unplugged the wires in the manner Breaker described.
Alpine's rifle started to hum. "We got juice!" he yelled.
That was all Flint needed to hear. Picking himself up and brandishing his shotgun, he yelled, "YO JOE!"
*****
The fight was brief after that. With full power returning, the Joes came loaded for bear against a mob of Cobra soldiers who were mostly on foot. The outcome was predictable.
*****
"Breaker, call the Pentagon. I want this thing off my base in an hour." Hawk, ever the general, was barking orders while he was getting bandaged. "And you," he said to the medical assistant, "go find someone who's actually hurt. Everyone who was up in the air when that thing went off got themselves in a world of hurt."
"We've got everybody, sir. Doc's opening up Cover Girl now."
Cricket had found them. "Will she be okay?"
"We'll know tonight."
Now that things had settled down, Cricket realized she had time to worry about her friends. She was also so exhausted, physically and emotionally, that she really wanted to cry.
"Sir, please sit still -"
"Oh, get off me." Hawk shook the medic away and turned to leave.
The medic saw the state of Cricket's back, and began to look her over.
All around them, the cleanup effort had begun. Cobras were being led to holding cells awaiting pickup. Destro had manged to squirrel himself away. The wounded were being tended to. Hawk started to leave, looking for Duke, who had followed after Scarlett to the infirmary. Before leaving, he turned to Cricket. "Mary?" he asked.
"Yes, sir?"
"Good work today." He then turned around and went about his business.
"Thank you, sir," she said, quietly filled with pride. She found herself giving in, and wept softly.