Newbie - Part 10
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns G.I. Joe. I don't. Please don't sue. I do own Cricket, however.
I've gotten TONS of feedback; thanks, everyone. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. There may be an epilogue (I have an idea, but it may wind up being a separate story), but this is going to wrap up this particular story.
I especially want to thank everyone for the Colton nods, especially those who voted Chapter Four as Best Battle. My ego probably didn't need the help :) , but I really appreciate the recognition.
*****
Cricket stood on the balls of her feet in the center of the room, arrow notched, her eyes darting from wall to wall. Silently, a target flew out of the wall behind her; she wheeled around and shot it dead center before it had travelled more than three inches. Drawing another arrow, Cricket realized that she had been in this room for over half an hour, and she was running out of targets. She was starting to think about what she felt like doing that day when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
She turned, drawing her bow, when Duke hit the floor screaming, "Hold your fire!"
"Jesus!" Cricket exclaimed. "Watch it!"
Duke stood up angrily. "Watch it?" he said. "Come here. See this switch?" He indicated a red light switch by the door, next to the white one more commonly found around the base. "This switch turns on the light outside this room, letting people know that there's a live fire exercise going on in here."
Cricket shrank. "Oh. So I should've -"
"Turned the damned thing on!"
"Sorry."
Duke exhaled. "Get into your uniform. I need you on a transport to New York in twenty minutes."
"What? I'm off duty today."
"It's Saturday; lots of people who're supposed to be off are getting called back. We have a situation. It shouldn't take long to fix, and you'll be back here by one or two." He checked his watch. "I gotta run. Be at the briefing room in twenty."
"All right. Oh, did you get the thing?"
Duke grinned. "Yeah. It arrived yesterday. Thanks for the heads up. If this works, I have a five-day pass with your name on it."
*****
Mae entered the apartment quietly, trying not to wake Courtney. She was surprised to find her sitting on the couch.
"Hey!" she said. "What are you doing up? It's not even six yet."
"I couldn't sleep. Too much noise," Courtney yawned. "Go in your room. See for yourself."
*****
"Hey, you," Allie said sleepily.
"Hey," Dash answered. "How you feeling?"
"Pretty good. Wouldn't mind feeling a little better."
"I think I could manage that." He kissed her deeply. "I love you."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Backatcha. Ow! No pinching!"
"Then say it."
"Ow! Okay! Okay!" A slight pause. "Ditto. Ow!" She began laughing. "Okay, okay! Jerk. I love you."
"Was that so hard?"
"It was torture. Hey, speaking of h-"
"You know something?" Dash said, interrupting Allie. "You're amazing. There's literally nothing I wouldn't do for you."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. Do you have something in mind?"
"Bring me the head of the Baptist."
"No problem. Do you want me to do it myself, or can I send someone?"
"Why can't you go do it yourself?"
"Because I was thinking I could stay here and touch this for a while."
"Touch wha- oooohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."
Meanwhile, Mae was on the other side of a paper-thin wall, trying very hard to change her clothes without finding something sharp to poke out her eardrums.
*****
"Oh, my God!" Mae said when she rejoined Courtney.
"Yep."
"I mean - Oh, my GOD!"
"I know. You may have noticed that I'm out here."
"Do they know?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think they'd much care if they did know. I do know that Duke had the wall he shares with Allie's bedroom soundproofed."
"Can we do that?" Mae asked as she sat down next to Courtney.
"If we can think of a way to present it to Hawk without telling him why we want it. Where are you going?"
"Duke stopped in while I was drilling." Mae pulled on her right sock, then inspected the blister she'd received on her left toe on her first day. It was almost gone now. "He says I have to go to New York."
"What's in New York?"
"The Yankees. Who, by the way, suck."
"Well, there's a bitter little Red Sox fan. I mean, why are you going to New York?"
"Duke didn't say. How are you feeling?"
"A little better, I think. I'll know more when I start to move around."
"Duke thinks I'll be back in a few hours. You think you'll be up to going to the party tonight?"
"At least for a while. I'll see you when you get back."
"Bye." Mae turned and left. Courtney reached down and picked up Mae's boots, which she had left behind. She held them up as the front door opened once again, as Mae ran in, grabbed them, and ran back out.
*****
"All right, listen up," said Duke, waiting for everyone to shuffle into the briefing room. "Is everyone here?"
Cricket looked around. There were probably thirty or thirty-five Joes milling around the room drinking coffee and yawning. Duke was at the front, flanked by Scarlett, whose arm was still in a sling, and Beach Head, who Cricket supposed didn't need sleep.
"Where's Flint and Ja-" Duke began, then rolled his eyes and said, "No, don't anyone answer that."
"They're on their way," Scarlett said into her styrofoam cup. She'd been the one who had to find them.
"Let's get started. We have film, about forty minutes old, of Cobra agents breaking into the Federal Reserve in New York City. There's -"
"You got me up at 5:30 for a bank robbery?" someone yelled from the back.
"It's not a bank robbery, Grunt," said Scarlett. "The Federal Reserve Banks are where money gets sent to banks into general circulation. Corporate income taxes came due this past week; there were deposits made early this morning. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in cash."
"Deposits were sent to all twelve branches, but the vast majority of it went to New York," Duke continued. "In addition to New York, an alarm went off in the Richmond Bank as well, so we're going to be sending teams to all of the branches to be safe."
Cricket shot her hand up.
"Now, it's only been about a week since they lost the Gravity Core. They don't usually turn up again this quickly. They won't have had time to fully regroup, so this should really be an in-and-out thing."
Cricket started waving her hand insistently.
"I know most of you guys had today off, and we're all looking forward to tonight, so let's - what, Cricket?"
"Can I go to Boston?"
"Huh?"
"There's a Federal Reserve in Boston. It's next to South Station."
"I know where it is."
"Can I go?"
"No. You're going to New York."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because you're going to New York. And now, I'd like everyone to give a hand to Flint and Jaye for deigning to show up." There was a smattering of applause as the pair tried to slip into the back of the room unnoticed.
"Hey guys," Flint said, waving. "What'd I miss?"
"The Fed," said Scarlett.
"It's happening?"
"Yeah," said Duke, "about forty-five minutes ago. Which means that we have absolutely no time at all to get there. Here are your orders," he continued, holding up envelopes. "Find yours and get moving. Yo Joe!"
"Yo Joe!" came the response, as it took Cricket a little while to realize that the envelopes were in alphabetical order.
"One more thing," said Scarlett. "I know this should go without saying, but if news crews show up, and they probably will, the only comment out of your mouth is to be that General Abernathy will be holding a news conference today at noon at the Pentagon. Thanks to Hector Ramirez, G.I. Joe's existence has been public for about a year now. Our day-to-day operations are not. Do. Not. Comment."
"Oh, hang on!" Quick Kick muttered something to the Joes who were within earshot. Then, in his normal voice, he said, "Ready?"
The ten or so Joes nearest Quick Kick, who were joined in short order by everyone in the room, sang "Happy Birthday" to Scarlett, who blushed and smiled.
"Thanks, guys!" she said. "Now get your asses into your planes."
*****
The transport plane only took about fifteen minutes to reach its destination. Cricket re-strung her bow as she sat between Snake Eyes, whose shallow breathing was the only indication Cricket had that he was even alive, and Shipwreck, who was arguing with his parrot.
As the plane neared the drop zone, Snake made no movements. Cricket said, "Snake Eyes? We're here. Are you all right?" Still nothing. She touched his shoulder, which caused him to twitch suddenly, then look around him.
"Snake Eyes," Cricket asked, "were you sleeping?"
Snake shook his head no.
"Really?"
He waited a moment, then signed.
"He says 'It's six a.m. on a Saturday'," Quick Kick translated from across the aisle. "We've got a sleepy ninja."
Snake shrugged. "I was up too late last night."
"'Felicity' marathon ran longer than you expected?"
"Actually, I was compiling my list of 'Most Painful Ways To Make Quick Kick Scream Like A Woman'."
"I have a couple of ex-girlfriends that could probably help you with that list."
"I'll be sure to get in touch with them."
As the exit door opened, Slip-Stream yelled from the cabin, "We're here! Get your asses out the door!"
*****
Cricket really, really, really enjoyed HALOing onto the roof of the Fed. She was definitely going to have to do that again.
Getting to her feet, she unclipped her bow from its latch on her quiver, and looked around. Snake Eyes and Stalker had landed on the roof; everyone else were either on the ground below or on the roofs of surrounding buildings.
"Beach?" Stalker spoke into his wrist phone. "This is Stalker. You read?"
"I read," came the reply.
"Who's with you?"
"I have Grunt, Clutch, Jaye, Grand Slam and Zap. Short Fuze, Quick Kick and Shipwreck are on the other side. Doc and his assistant are here too. Everyone else is on the roofs."
"Okay. I have Snake and Cricket with me. We're going in."
"Same here. Meet you in the middle. Beach out."
Stalker walked to the roof access door, trying it, unsurprised when it turned out to be locked. Before he could turn around, three shiruken lodged themselves into the locking mechanism, causing the door to swing open slowly of its own accord.
Stalker slowly turned around. "Dammit, Snake, I almost -" he stopped short. Snake had turned and was running toward another ninja, clad in white, with a Cobra emblem on his chest.
"Come on," he told Cricket, "let's get inside."
"But shouldn't we -"
"No. He can handle it. Inside."
As they descended the stairs, Cricket said, "So Cobra knows we're here, obviously."
"Not necessarily. Storm Shadow's gonna want a go at Snake without any distraction. Last thing he'd want is Fang Face screaming and hollering as he sent in more troops."
"So if Cobra doesn't already know, how much time do you think we have?"
"Not much. Ten minutes, tops. We've been picked up by three cameras already."
At that, a Crimson Guardsman stepped out from around the corner. By his body language, he had obviously not been expecting to see them. Cricket kicked him in the gut, then punched him in the back of the head, sending him out, but not before the Guardsman behind him managed to sound the alarm.
"Crap. Get ready," said Stalker.
Roughly 70% of the arrows in Cricket's quiver had rounded heads. She could take headshots at anyone wearing a helmet without fear of killing them, something she always tried to avoid whenever possible. Further, they were weighted differently; at close enough range, the target would feel like he had been hit in the head with a hammer. The guard who pulled the alarm was the first to go down.
There were exit signs on opposite ends of the hallway. Stalker asked, "Do you feel like you can go off by yourself?"
"Yeah. Go. I'll be fine."
Cricket ran down the stairwell. After a few floors, coming up to meet her were both Crimson Guardsmen and regular Cobra officers. It probably wasn't a thousand, no matter how sure she might have been that it was.
Her hand reached behind her back, grabbing two arrows and notching them in her bow in one fluid motion. Drawing the bow and releasing the shafts, they impacted dead center into the helmets of the two officers in front, cracking their helmets and sending them down, slowing progress for the soldiers behind them.
She swung herself over the railing and jumped onto the heads of another pair of troopers, then swung over *that* railing and dropped on the floor below. She found the exit door, opened it, and closed it behind her, latching it.
Cricket took a second and slowed her breathing, trying to listen for footsteps, or talking, or any noise at all. None.
She walked down a hallway, looking in cubicles on either side of her for anything unusual. On the fax machine table, she noticed a half-empty box of donuts, which reminded her of how hungry she was. Looking around, seeing she was alone, she grabbed one and munched on it hungrily. She'd gotten about halfway through it when she remembered it was Saturday.
This donut shouldn't have been fresh.
"'Ello," Cricket heard behind her. She quickly turned around to find two men dressed as bikers holding cans of grape soda. She recognized them from Joe files as two of Zartan's Dreadnoks, but couldn't remember which was which. They were unarmed, not having expected anyone to turn up.
"'Ello," Cricket replied, mouth full of donut. She quickly swallowed and asked, "Where'd you get the tonic?"
"The wha?" asked the blond one.
"Sorry. Soda."
"There's a vending machine 'bout fitty feet behind us," replied the one with brown hair, his voice full of amusement.
"Been a while since I saw grape soda in a vending machine," Cricket said.
"Well," said the blond one, smiling, "I guess today's our lucky day."
Cricket swallowed. She didn't like the sound of that at ALL. "I don't suppose you guys want to surrender?"
"What, to you?"
"I'm the only one here." It sounded a lot braver than she felt.
Brown-hair smiled. "We noticed that, too."
The smiles vanished when, less than a second later, they were staring at the business ends of a pair of very sharp arrows aimed directly for their heads. "Don't move. If you blink I swear to God I'll fucking drill you." Then she remembered something. "Where's your friend?"
The blond one said, "'E's wif Zartan. They're breakin' into the vault."
"Why aren't you two down there?"
"The alarm. We got sent up with the other troopers to look for Joes."
"Bangup job you're doing, too."
They were all silent for a moment, when the brunette suddenly lurched forward.
Cricket lowered her bow slightly, and sent the arrows into the Dreadnoks' shoulders, pinning them to the wall behind them. They cried out in pain, and Cricket punched them both simultaneously, knocking them cold.
She then ran off, wanting nothing but to wash the ick off her.
*****
Cricket's wrist phone crackled. "All Joes report in."
"This is Cricket. I'm on... it looks like the fourth floor."
"This is Stalker. Anything interesting to report?"
"I've left two Dreadnoks on the sixth floor. There are a couple of Cobras in the stairwell that will probably need medical attention. Otherwise, nothing serious to report. What's going on?"
"We're pretty much all set. Zartan and Ripper were breaking into the vault. Almost made it through, too. We're just mopping up at this point."
"Sorry I couldn't have been more help."
"You did plenty. We can't all save the day every time. Keep your eyes open; there's still a few snakes running about. Stalker out."
Cricket stretched; her neck was stiff. As she cracked it, she closed her eyes and lowered her bow. However, as she continued stretching, she heard a surprised voice behind her exclaim, "You!"
She wheeled around just in time to see a man in grey camo kick her bow out of her hand.
"Oh. Hi." Cricket remembered Firefly from her days stationed at Ft. Hama. He had attempted to steal the Gravity Core while she was guarding it. Although she became a minor celebrity for being able to beat him down, she had really only kicked him in the balls and sent him on his way. She knew he was much more skilled than she, and that she had been extraordinarily lucky.
Firefly then proceeded to demonstrate this by using her as a hackysack. She fought back as best she could, but was, in very short order, purely playing defense. Soon, even that wasn't enough, and she was flat on her back, trying unsuccessfully to get his foot off her chest.
"You beat me before," he said quietly.
"Oh, was that you?"
"You got lucky. You don't deserve to be here." He drew his pistol and aimed it at her face. "Ask me for your life."
"Go to hell," she snarled.
Firefly slowly cocked the hammer.
Oh my God, Cricket thought. This is it. This is how I die.
Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum -
"No!" A green and black blur had come from nowhere and knocked Firefly off of her chest. Cricket could only stare at the ceiling above her as her pulse began to go even more quickly, listening to the noise of the fight go on next to her.
Silence.
"So, are you gonna get up or not?"
Cricket turned her head to find Beach Head standing over her. After a moment, he offered her a hand. "Come on. We're almost done here."
As he helped her up, Cricket said, "Thanks, Beach."
"You wanna thank me, Princess?" he snapped. "Gather your shit and get a move on. That'd be the most amazing thing to happen to me all day. We're sweeping the building. Meet the others in the lobby downstairs." He turned to leave.
Cricket smiled as she gathered her arrows, which had spilled everywhere. "You like me!" she called after him.
"No I don't!" he said, exiting into the stairwell.
*****
Cricket was running down the stairs when her phone crackled again. "Mae? It's Allie. You there?"
"Yeah."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm a little banged up, but I'm fine."
"Everyone's down here except you and Snake. Have you seen him?"
"No."
"All right; he must still be on the roof. He isn't answering. Can you run up there and see if you can find him?"
"Sure," she said, turning around and running up the stairs.
"Zap and I will meet you up there. Jaye out."
She ran to the top floor, noting that the two troopers she injured were gone; she supposed that Doc and Edwin had already taken care of things.
She had a hard time opening the roof access door. When she finally got it open, she realized that this was because the wind was incredible. There was a news copter flying very low over the roof; The explosion by the vault had attracted a lot of attention. The cameraman whirled around and got a close up of the woman who'd just burst onto the roof, her shoulder-length brown hair whipping around her face, holding a longbow taller than she was. She was quickly joined on the roof by two additional soldiers, who had to shout to make themselves heard to each other.
*****
In an apartment in South Boston, Liz MacDougal was watching her son while he threw Matchbox cars at each other. The TV, showing cartoons in the background, broke in with an update on the news story they'd been reporting on all morning.
"... -n update on the explosion in the Federal Reserve Building in New York. Our New York affiliate is sending us footage gathered twenty minutes ago ..."
"Billy, honey, quiet down. Momma's trying to watch this."
"Is this the news?" he asked.
"Yes."
"News is boring."
"I still want to watch this."
"I'm just playing."
"Play more quietly."
"Okay."
"... has been positively identified as Corporal Rafael "Zap" Melendez, an original member of the G.I. Joe counter-terrorist strike force ..."
Jack came in from the bedroom. "Morning."
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Daddy!"
"Hey, big guy. Are you behaving?"
"Yes."
"If I ask your mom if you're behaving, what will she say?"
"She'll say yes."
"Very good."
"Wanna play cars?"
"Maybe after breakfast." He looked at the TV. "What's going on?"
"There was an explosion in a federal building in Manhattan," answered Liz. "They're not sure what's going on yet."
"Mmm. Anyone hurt?"
"They don't think so."
"Aun'Mae's on TV," said Billy.
"They're just army guys, buddy," said Jack. "Your aunt's in Colorado right now."
"Aun'Mae's on TV," Billy repeated. "Lookit."
Liz smiled. "Sweetie, I promise you, she's -"
"Holy shit. He's right."
"What?" They all turned their attention to the screen, where someone who was unmistakably a bruised and bloodied Mary MacDougal was standing on the roof of the Federal Reserve Building, shouting at a pair of soldiers while pointing at the camera.
Jack turned up the volume. "... while the involvement of G.I. Joe would indicate that the terrorist group known as Cobra was involved, there has been no definite comment made. However, I'm now being told that G.I. Joe's leader, General Clayton 'Hawk' Abernathy, will be answering some questions at a noontime press conference. We'll take you there when that begins. Again, it has been confirmed that G.I. Joe is in the process of locking down the Federal Reserve Building after an explosion occurred there about 5:30 this morning, Eastern Standard Time."
Things were quiet in the MacDougal household for a while.
*****
Jaye swung the door open. She tried to grab Cricket's attention by calling her by name. "Ma-"
"No names!" Cricket shouted. Pointing to the helicopter, she said, "That's a news copter! Jack works in news; they'll have someone who can read lips look at the tape!"
Zap asked, "Have you seen Snake?"
Cricket nodded. "He's on the roof of the building next to us on the north side, 'bout two floors down. He and the guy in the white suit are still going at it."
Lady Jaye rolled her eyes. "Figures." She looked at Cricket. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah. We'll talk later." They went to the side of the building and watched the fight. Cricket had never seen Snake Eyes really unload on someone without holding back, and it was HELLISHLY impressive.
"We're WAY too public here," Zap said. "He'll do this all day if we let him. We gotta get him out of here."
"Snake Eyes!" Jaye called into her phone. "Snake Eyes! Acknowledge!" He continued to ignore her.
The copter had, by now, turned its attention to the ninjas fighting on the roof as well. It was far enough away that the wind was no longer quite such a factor. Cricket notched two arrows and fired towards the other roof. They landed on either side of Storm Shadow's feet, which caused both combtants to turn their attention to the Joes on the Federal Reserve's roof. Seeing they were no longer alone, Storm Shadow said something to Snake that no one else could hear, then leapt over the side of the roof. By the time the copter swung around to see where he went, he had disappeared.
Snake Eyes signalled to Jaye, "Everything all set?"
Jaye picked up her phone. "My God, you're a pain in the ass."
Snake held up a finger as if to say "Hold on," then turned on his phone. He then signalled, "Sorry, I turned it off. Did you say something?"
Jaye could only turn around and go downstairs, lest she scream obscenities on national TV.
*****
Once the adrenaline rush was over, Cricket could barely move. She spent the plane ride home with her eyes closed. She didn't realize she had fallen asleep until Snake Eyes gently shook her awake. She sleepily looked up at him, as he indicated with his head that it was time to go.
"'Mup. I'm up." She rose creakily, feeling a dull ache set in pretty much everywhere. "Ow."
Snake looked at her, then ruffled her hair before he turned and left.
*****
"Courtney?" Mae called. "You up?"
"Yeah." She was slumped on the couch, but turned as much as she could to look at Mae. "How'd it go?"
"Good guys won."
"Yay us."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."
"You need to call your brother."
"Was something up?"
"Other than the fact that he saw his little sister positively identified as a member of G.I. Joe today, no, nothing really."
"He what?" Mae exclaimed.
"You were on the news."
"Oh, Christ." She flopped on the couch.
"Holy God!" Courtney said. "You look like hell!"
"Thanks."
"Are you all right?" What happened?"
"I saw Firefly." She kicked her boots off. "He was pissed."
"He's insane. What'd you do?"
"I decided it would be easier if I just let him kick my ass." She settled into the couch. She was finally starting to form her own groove in there, and she slid right into it.
"So what happened?"
"It turns out that I remember the 'Our Father' in Latin."
"What? Mae, are you -"
"Beach Head was there. It turned out all right."
"Beach Head's a huge assache," said Courtney, "but there's no one I'd rather have with me."
Mae looked at Courtney, eyebrows raised.
"In a fight, you dork."
"Well, maybe I should have him come up here and talk to Jack for me." She reached for the phone. "This is gonna be fun."
"How'd he get this number?"
"Jack's wicked laid-back, but he turns into a force of nature when he's pissed. If he got a hold of enough of the right people, I have no trouble imagining him getting the phone number." She started dialing. "Which means that I'll probably have to buy Breaker a drink tonight."
She finished dialing. "Hi, Liz. Yeah, it's me. I'm fine. No, I promise, it looked a lot worse than it feels. Um... is Jack really upset? Okay, good. Yeah, put him on. I love you too. Bye... Hey, Jackie. I'm fine. Really. I'm okay... yes. Yes, I am. Because I couldn't! Yes, even my family! Jack... Jack... no, let me say... John! I *am* being careful! Look, there's a lot I can't talk about. Because it's classified, you tool! ... They think I can help, and I'm not gonna argue with them. Do you have *any* idea what a privilige it is to be here? Okay, *that's* why I'm here. And because I can make a difference. That's all I want... I know... yes, I know... really?" She smiled. "Thank you. I know, Jackie. I AM being good. Look... I may have a five-day pass coming my way soon. I talked about bringing... yes, it's really her." She turned to Courtney. "He can't wait to meet you."
"Leave me out of this until he calms down. Tell him I said hi."
"She says hi. Jack, this is what I want." She smiled again. "No, I'm gonna do it anyway. I love you. I have to go, but I'll call you really soon. Okay? Oh, yeah! Yeah, put him on real quick! ... Hey buddy! How are you? I'm good! ... Yeah? That's a lot! I think I might be coming to see you really soon! I can't wait! ... Thanks, buddy! I love you! Lemme talk to your mom.... Hi, Liz. Is he calmer now? Good. I AM being careful. I will. I will... I was just saying that I might have a five-day pass soon. I'll let you know when I know for sure. Okay. I love you, Mom... stop it, you're gonna make me cry too... I love you. I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Okay. Bye." She hung up and sank deeper into the couch.
"That sounds like it could've gone a whole lot worse," Courtney said.
"He said he was really proud of me." Mae beamed. "He thinks Dad would have been, too."
"I'm sure he's right."
"And on top of that, Billy thinks I looked really cool."
"Wow, is he young and impressionable."
"I *am* really cool."
"Except that you're really not. You are, on the other hand, a hell of a soldier. And a really good kid. Go hop in the shower. You'll feel better."
"Are you trying to say something?"
"I'm trying not to say that you smell like butt. Get moving."
Mae rose from the couch and headed toward the bathroom. "You want anything while I'm up?"
"Actually, if you could get me a couple of Tylenol, that'd be great. I've already got some water."
Mae found the Tylenol and brought them over. She noticed that Courtney was looking down. "Are you all right? Are you in pain?"
"No. I'm all right." She took the Tylenol, washing them down. She grabbed Mae's hand as she turned to leave. "Mae? I think... I think it's really great. That your family called you."
Mae pressed Courtney's hand for a minute, then went into the bathroom.
*****
Mae helped Courtney shuffle into the rec hall. The news was playing on the big screen TV with the sound off, playing the footage gathered by the news copter endlessly. Mae was shocked to see how terrible she looked; no wonder Jack and Liz were so worried. Of course, as soon as the footage reached the point of Snake fighting Storm Shadow, the room grew quiet as everyone stopped what else they were doing to pay attention, no matter how many times everyone had already seen it.
Shana met them as soon as she saw them. "Courtney! It's great to see you up and around!" She hugged Courtney hard.
"Hey, Shan... okay, ow. Too hard."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. You owe me a real one as soon as I'm better."
Shana turned to Mae. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. A little sore."
In a low voice, Shana said, "Beach says -"
"I don't care what Beach says. I'm fine."
"Beach says you handled yourself well. He would have liked it better if you'd won, of course, but you didn't back down."
Mae exhaled. "Shana, I was so *scared*."
"Not everyone in Cobra is the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight. You need to realize that."
"I got it."
"Okay. I talked to Snake. He's gonna schedule more time for you. We're gonna work on your hand-to-hand a little bit. Also know that any time you want to spar, I'm right across the hall. All right?"
"All right."
"You talked to your brother?"
"Wow, you work fast."
"I'm sorry. This is the part of my job that I really hate. What did you tell him?"
"I confirmed that it was me he saw on the news. Which I couldn't wriggle out of, because, well, he's met me. I'd told him before who my roommate was, so he's figured that out, too."
"That's all right. Courtney was a public face before she got here; she was outed a long time ago. Anything else?"
"No, that was it. Except that Billy thinks I'm really cool."
"Yes, but Billy is four. He has plenty of time to reassess his worldview. Okay, honey. End of lecture. Go relax."
Quick Kick walked up to the women. "Hi, Cover Girl. How are you doing?"
"I'm better, Kick. Thanks."
He turned to Shana. "Hey, Scarlett. Shipwreck said you were looking for me?"
"Yeah." She reached into a bag she was carrying. "You like movies, right? I got this as a present from my brother Brian. I don't know what he was thinking. I thought you might appreciate it more." She handed him a small black box.
He boggled. "You don't want this?"
"Not really. Do you?"
"This is a classic! Hey, it's got the 1932 *and* the 1983 version!" He wheeled around and turned to the vastly male population of the room. "Hey guys! Look what Scarlett's giving away!"
Almost in unison, the men screamed, "SCARFACE!"
Courtney asked, "What the hell is it with men and that movie?"
"I'll be right back." Scarlett crossed the room, approaching Breaker, who was losing at pinball. "Breaker. Can I talk to you for a minute."
"Yeah." He turned to Grunt, who was standing nearby, and said, "You can finish my game." They walked to a corner of the room where no one was around, and he said, "Look, Scarlett, I know what you're gonna say -"
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I figured that's what you'd lead off with."
"You confirmed to John MacDougal that his sister was in G.I. Joe on an *unsecured phone line* and then gave him her inside phone number?"
"Scar-"
"Do you have any idea how many security violations you committed?"
Breaker looked at her levelly. "He saw his kid sister on national TV with her face in shreds. He was apeshit."
"I'm apeshit right now, and I'm in the room with you. Who sounds like the person you'd rather be pissing off further?"
"It was the right thing to do, Scar."
She sighed, then gave him a very slight smirk. "That's the only thing stopping me from kicking your ass in front of everyone."
Breaker let himself relax. "I appreciate your restraint."
"You'd better. I'm gonna try to talk Duke down, who will then have to talk Hawk down." Breaker immediately tensed back up. "Oh, unclench. Hawk's reasonable. We'll have to change the number, but otherwise there's no real harm done. I wouldn't get too excited about any passes you might have lined up for the next few months, though. I don't see them lasting too long."
Breaker shrugged. "Yeah, I figured."
"You're a good man, Charlie Brown."
Breaker smiled. "Happy Birthday, Scarlett."
She groaned. "You people have to stop reminding me."
*****
Courtney got fairly weak fairly quickly, so Mae helped her back upstairs soon after. Courtney was getting pretty ornery, so Mae gave her her medicine and put her to bed.
Mae sat down and turned the TV to a 'Monkees' rerun. She looked at the clock and couldn't belive it was only 2 pm. She fell asleep shortly after, as Mike wondered what he was doing hangin' 'round.
*****
"Hey." Mae squinted, and realized that Shana was sitting next to her.
"Oh, hi. Did I wake you?"
"No. I don't think so. Maybe. I dunno. What's up?"
"I'm hiding. Allie and Dash are finishing their date."
"Oh, God."
Shana grinned. "Walls sure are thin, huh?"
"I'm gonna hear this morning in my sleep for the rest of my life."
"I, for one, am very jealous."
Mae wiped some drool off her mouth. "Ugh. Was I snoring?"
"Yeah."
"I like you 'cause you're gentle."
"You asked."
*****
Most of the tables in the mess hall had been cleared away, giving everyone room to mill around. Roadblock was at the front of the hall, putting steaks on a huge grill. Rock 'n' Roll had set up an incomparable stereo system with speakers dotted at various points around the hall.
It was filling up rapidly. With the exception of a skeleton crew who had to remain on duty, pretty much everyone was there. Most were in civilian clothes. Some were still in their uniforms, having come directly from work. Thunder was wearing a cowboy outfit, because the motor pool boys had gotten together and conviced him that it was going to be a costume party.
Duke stood at the back of the room with Hawk and Doc; all were thoroughly enjoying their steaks.
Duke looked up from his plate for the first time in five minutes. "So, we did good today."
Hawk glowered. "I had to go on TV today." He munched some more of his steak. "I *hate* having to go on TV. Although when Congress sees that footage of Snake Eyes, our budget for next year should sail through with no problem."
"Any permanent damage?"
"No. Jaye got herself on TV again, but still no positive ID. Cricket did, too, but it seems the only one who recognized her was her brother, and Scarlett said that was nothing to worry about."
"Speaking of whom -" Scarlett and Cricket entered the room, assisting Cover Girl. Duke gave them a wave, which they all returned.
"You girl want anything?" Shana asked.
"Tonic," replied Mae.
"Beer," said Courtney.
"You can't have alcohol on your medication."
"Coke, then."
Someone in the room said something that had become some kind of a code word, because it was soon followed by almost everyone responding in unison, "Say hello to my leetle frien'!" That was gonna get irritating after a while, Mae thought.
As Shana left to get the drinks, Courtney said, "Okay, it's gonna have to be now. Where's Allie?"
"Allie's over with Flint." Mae caught Allie's eye, who nodded and spoke to Flint.
Shana returned, carrying two cups. "Here you go."
Mae took a sip, then spit it out. "Gah! What the hell is this?"
Shana looked surprised. "It's tonic water. It's what you asked for."
"Tonic! Soda!"
Courtney said, "She's speaking Boston again, honey. She meant pop."
Shana laughed. "Sorry."
Mae said, "Happens all the time. Can I show you something?" She took Shana by the arm, guiding her. "Come with me."
*****
Duke wondered what the hell was going on. Flint had asked him to join him in the other room, then shoved him inside a disused meat locker, latching the door behind him. In fact, the more he wondered what Flint was thinking, the angrier he made himself.
At least the temperature control was off.
The door opened suddenly, and Scarlett was flung through the door, yelling, "I said I was sorry about the tonic water!" only to have the door latched behind her as well. She sighed, then turned around and saw Duke. "Oh!" she said, startled. "Hi."
"Hi," Duke said, suddenly aware of what was happening. Scarlett was smiling shyly. Her hair was untied, something he very rarely got to see.
"You look good," he said.
She scoffed. "I'm a mess."
"No, you're not. You should wear your hair down more often."
"It gets in the way." She looked around. "So, is there any way out of here?"
"I'm sure they'll let us out of here sooner or later." Hopefully before the air runs out, he thought to himself.
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Um... I think so. I wanted to give you your present."
"You could have done that outside."
"Maybe so. This wasn't my idea."
Scarlett started bouncing up and down. "So what'd you get me?"
He handed her a small box. "Here."
Shana gleefully unwrapped it, opening the box. "Oh, my God, Duke." It was a silver and porcelain cameo brooch. "This... how... ?"
"Cricket told me you were window shopping at a faux-antique store and saw a brooch like this one. You told her it reminded you of one your mother had."
"Sure, but I didn't think she was listening."
"She was."
"How did you afford this?"
"I won the you-freaking-out pool."
She looked up at him. "You did not."
"I certainly did."
Shana took the brooch out of its box, looking it over. Duke waited. As she turned it over to see how it clasped, she said, "There's a scuff here where... oh my. Duke, this... this is my mother's actual brooch."
"Yes, I know."
"I was playing with it when I was a little girl and I dropped it and I scuffed the back right here. This is my mother's brooch."
"Yes, it is."
"It was her mother's. And her mother's before her. How did you -"
"Brian says hi."
"That little shit. He got me 'Scarface'."
"He got you 'Scarface'?"
"Here he was being wonderful and he let me think he was a total lunkhead."
"Al Pacino 'Scarface'?"
"Don't ruin this, Duke."
"Cricket told me how much it upset you when your mother's jewelry got stolen, after your dad said you were going to get this when you were old enough. I called your brother. He works in insurance fraud."
"He's my brother. We've met."
"Whoever stole your mother's jewelry was actually stupid enough to try to insure what they didn't sell. He was able to track the original thief down. Then I remembered that I have the most elite strike force in the world at my disposal. Almost all of your mother's jewelry's been returned to your father."
"Duke... I can't... what can I say?" She looked up at him. "Thank you."
Duke swallowed hard. "Scarlett... Shana... I -"
With that, Shana reached up and kissed him. "Thank you." She kissed him again. This time, he kissed her back.
Shana looked in his eyes, holding his gaze. "I love you."
Duke swallowed again. "I love you."
A huge cheer suddenly erupted from the other side of the door, which made them both laugh.
*****
"Doc," said Hawk, whom Doc was carefully steering away from the goings on in the meat locker, "I just wanted to ask you about Cricket."
"What do you need?"
"You talked to her the other day? Do you think she'll be all right?"
"What we say is priviliged, Hawk. You know that."
"I know, I know. But just generally."
"I think she'll be fine. She's had a tough life, but then again she's a tough kid. She seems to be willing to work on her outbursts. I think anyone who's read her dossier can already guess that she has survivor's guilt and abandonment issues. But she generally uses it to try to create a family dynamic around herself, and she's certainly not the only person in the room to do that." He ate a chucnk of his steak, even though he knew he was full. "On top of all that, she's cute as hell."
Hawk frowned. "So if we don't let her indulge this family thing -"
"That's not what I said."
"'Sides, Hawk," said Flint, who had just joined them, "Look at her. She's been here two weeks and she's already everyone's little sister. Jaye and the girls haven't stopped talking about her since she got here. I haven't really spent a whole lot of time with her, but she's an exemplary soldier. And if she wants to build up a family here... well, is that such a bad thing?"
"And who here hasn't punched out Clutch, anyway?" Doc asked.
Hawk said, "You haven't. You're a pacifist."
"If anyone could make me reconsider..."
Hawk stared for a minute before exhaling and saying, "Yeah, I know."
*****
Mae, Courtney and Allie sat in a semi-circle, drinking flat soda out of plastic cups. All three were filled to their eyeballs with beef.
"So, my young apprentice," said Allie, "You've been here almost two weeks now. What do you think?"
"I think that I'm going to need that five-day pass just to get some sleep."
"How are you doing?" Courtney asked her. "Feeling all right?"
"I'm not gonna lie; I don't think I've ever been so afraid."
"You wanna quit?" Allie asked her.
"No, of course not."
"Then you'll be fine."
"And you," Mae said to Courtney. "You coming with me to Boston?"
"Sure, for a few days," she said. "I can't hide in the apartment forever. I'm gonna start climbing the walls. Or I would, if the thought of doing so wasn't agonizingly painful."
Shana came over. "I kissed a boy!" she said excitedly.
The girls raised their cups. "Happy birthday, Shana."
"Thanks." She took all three in a group hug.
"All right, all right," said Allie when Shana finally let go. "Go find your man."
"I have a man! And it's Conrad!" She paused. "I don't know if I can call him that."
"Well, go figure it out!" said Courtney. "We'll want details!"
Shana grinned goofily, then disappeared into the crowd.
"Ayuh," said Mae, putting her feet upon an empty chair in front of her. "I think this is gonna work out just fine.
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns G.I. Joe. I don't. Please don't sue. I do own Cricket, however.
I've gotten TONS of feedback; thanks, everyone. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. There may be an epilogue (I have an idea, but it may wind up being a separate story), but this is going to wrap up this particular story.
I especially want to thank everyone for the Colton nods, especially those who voted Chapter Four as Best Battle. My ego probably didn't need the help :) , but I really appreciate the recognition.
*****
Cricket stood on the balls of her feet in the center of the room, arrow notched, her eyes darting from wall to wall. Silently, a target flew out of the wall behind her; she wheeled around and shot it dead center before it had travelled more than three inches. Drawing another arrow, Cricket realized that she had been in this room for over half an hour, and she was running out of targets. She was starting to think about what she felt like doing that day when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
She turned, drawing her bow, when Duke hit the floor screaming, "Hold your fire!"
"Jesus!" Cricket exclaimed. "Watch it!"
Duke stood up angrily. "Watch it?" he said. "Come here. See this switch?" He indicated a red light switch by the door, next to the white one more commonly found around the base. "This switch turns on the light outside this room, letting people know that there's a live fire exercise going on in here."
Cricket shrank. "Oh. So I should've -"
"Turned the damned thing on!"
"Sorry."
Duke exhaled. "Get into your uniform. I need you on a transport to New York in twenty minutes."
"What? I'm off duty today."
"It's Saturday; lots of people who're supposed to be off are getting called back. We have a situation. It shouldn't take long to fix, and you'll be back here by one or two." He checked his watch. "I gotta run. Be at the briefing room in twenty."
"All right. Oh, did you get the thing?"
Duke grinned. "Yeah. It arrived yesterday. Thanks for the heads up. If this works, I have a five-day pass with your name on it."
*****
Mae entered the apartment quietly, trying not to wake Courtney. She was surprised to find her sitting on the couch.
"Hey!" she said. "What are you doing up? It's not even six yet."
"I couldn't sleep. Too much noise," Courtney yawned. "Go in your room. See for yourself."
*****
"Hey, you," Allie said sleepily.
"Hey," Dash answered. "How you feeling?"
"Pretty good. Wouldn't mind feeling a little better."
"I think I could manage that." He kissed her deeply. "I love you."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Backatcha. Ow! No pinching!"
"Then say it."
"Ow! Okay! Okay!" A slight pause. "Ditto. Ow!" She began laughing. "Okay, okay! Jerk. I love you."
"Was that so hard?"
"It was torture. Hey, speaking of h-"
"You know something?" Dash said, interrupting Allie. "You're amazing. There's literally nothing I wouldn't do for you."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. Do you have something in mind?"
"Bring me the head of the Baptist."
"No problem. Do you want me to do it myself, or can I send someone?"
"Why can't you go do it yourself?"
"Because I was thinking I could stay here and touch this for a while."
"Touch wha- oooohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."
Meanwhile, Mae was on the other side of a paper-thin wall, trying very hard to change her clothes without finding something sharp to poke out her eardrums.
*****
"Oh, my God!" Mae said when she rejoined Courtney.
"Yep."
"I mean - Oh, my GOD!"
"I know. You may have noticed that I'm out here."
"Do they know?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think they'd much care if they did know. I do know that Duke had the wall he shares with Allie's bedroom soundproofed."
"Can we do that?" Mae asked as she sat down next to Courtney.
"If we can think of a way to present it to Hawk without telling him why we want it. Where are you going?"
"Duke stopped in while I was drilling." Mae pulled on her right sock, then inspected the blister she'd received on her left toe on her first day. It was almost gone now. "He says I have to go to New York."
"What's in New York?"
"The Yankees. Who, by the way, suck."
"Well, there's a bitter little Red Sox fan. I mean, why are you going to New York?"
"Duke didn't say. How are you feeling?"
"A little better, I think. I'll know more when I start to move around."
"Duke thinks I'll be back in a few hours. You think you'll be up to going to the party tonight?"
"At least for a while. I'll see you when you get back."
"Bye." Mae turned and left. Courtney reached down and picked up Mae's boots, which she had left behind. She held them up as the front door opened once again, as Mae ran in, grabbed them, and ran back out.
*****
"All right, listen up," said Duke, waiting for everyone to shuffle into the briefing room. "Is everyone here?"
Cricket looked around. There were probably thirty or thirty-five Joes milling around the room drinking coffee and yawning. Duke was at the front, flanked by Scarlett, whose arm was still in a sling, and Beach Head, who Cricket supposed didn't need sleep.
"Where's Flint and Ja-" Duke began, then rolled his eyes and said, "No, don't anyone answer that."
"They're on their way," Scarlett said into her styrofoam cup. She'd been the one who had to find them.
"Let's get started. We have film, about forty minutes old, of Cobra agents breaking into the Federal Reserve in New York City. There's -"
"You got me up at 5:30 for a bank robbery?" someone yelled from the back.
"It's not a bank robbery, Grunt," said Scarlett. "The Federal Reserve Banks are where money gets sent to banks into general circulation. Corporate income taxes came due this past week; there were deposits made early this morning. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in cash."
"Deposits were sent to all twelve branches, but the vast majority of it went to New York," Duke continued. "In addition to New York, an alarm went off in the Richmond Bank as well, so we're going to be sending teams to all of the branches to be safe."
Cricket shot her hand up.
"Now, it's only been about a week since they lost the Gravity Core. They don't usually turn up again this quickly. They won't have had time to fully regroup, so this should really be an in-and-out thing."
Cricket started waving her hand insistently.
"I know most of you guys had today off, and we're all looking forward to tonight, so let's - what, Cricket?"
"Can I go to Boston?"
"Huh?"
"There's a Federal Reserve in Boston. It's next to South Station."
"I know where it is."
"Can I go?"
"No. You're going to New York."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because you're going to New York. And now, I'd like everyone to give a hand to Flint and Jaye for deigning to show up." There was a smattering of applause as the pair tried to slip into the back of the room unnoticed.
"Hey guys," Flint said, waving. "What'd I miss?"
"The Fed," said Scarlett.
"It's happening?"
"Yeah," said Duke, "about forty-five minutes ago. Which means that we have absolutely no time at all to get there. Here are your orders," he continued, holding up envelopes. "Find yours and get moving. Yo Joe!"
"Yo Joe!" came the response, as it took Cricket a little while to realize that the envelopes were in alphabetical order.
"One more thing," said Scarlett. "I know this should go without saying, but if news crews show up, and they probably will, the only comment out of your mouth is to be that General Abernathy will be holding a news conference today at noon at the Pentagon. Thanks to Hector Ramirez, G.I. Joe's existence has been public for about a year now. Our day-to-day operations are not. Do. Not. Comment."
"Oh, hang on!" Quick Kick muttered something to the Joes who were within earshot. Then, in his normal voice, he said, "Ready?"
The ten or so Joes nearest Quick Kick, who were joined in short order by everyone in the room, sang "Happy Birthday" to Scarlett, who blushed and smiled.
"Thanks, guys!" she said. "Now get your asses into your planes."
*****
The transport plane only took about fifteen minutes to reach its destination. Cricket re-strung her bow as she sat between Snake Eyes, whose shallow breathing was the only indication Cricket had that he was even alive, and Shipwreck, who was arguing with his parrot.
As the plane neared the drop zone, Snake made no movements. Cricket said, "Snake Eyes? We're here. Are you all right?" Still nothing. She touched his shoulder, which caused him to twitch suddenly, then look around him.
"Snake Eyes," Cricket asked, "were you sleeping?"
Snake shook his head no.
"Really?"
He waited a moment, then signed.
"He says 'It's six a.m. on a Saturday'," Quick Kick translated from across the aisle. "We've got a sleepy ninja."
Snake shrugged. "I was up too late last night."
"'Felicity' marathon ran longer than you expected?"
"Actually, I was compiling my list of 'Most Painful Ways To Make Quick Kick Scream Like A Woman'."
"I have a couple of ex-girlfriends that could probably help you with that list."
"I'll be sure to get in touch with them."
As the exit door opened, Slip-Stream yelled from the cabin, "We're here! Get your asses out the door!"
*****
Cricket really, really, really enjoyed HALOing onto the roof of the Fed. She was definitely going to have to do that again.
Getting to her feet, she unclipped her bow from its latch on her quiver, and looked around. Snake Eyes and Stalker had landed on the roof; everyone else were either on the ground below or on the roofs of surrounding buildings.
"Beach?" Stalker spoke into his wrist phone. "This is Stalker. You read?"
"I read," came the reply.
"Who's with you?"
"I have Grunt, Clutch, Jaye, Grand Slam and Zap. Short Fuze, Quick Kick and Shipwreck are on the other side. Doc and his assistant are here too. Everyone else is on the roofs."
"Okay. I have Snake and Cricket with me. We're going in."
"Same here. Meet you in the middle. Beach out."
Stalker walked to the roof access door, trying it, unsurprised when it turned out to be locked. Before he could turn around, three shiruken lodged themselves into the locking mechanism, causing the door to swing open slowly of its own accord.
Stalker slowly turned around. "Dammit, Snake, I almost -" he stopped short. Snake had turned and was running toward another ninja, clad in white, with a Cobra emblem on his chest.
"Come on," he told Cricket, "let's get inside."
"But shouldn't we -"
"No. He can handle it. Inside."
As they descended the stairs, Cricket said, "So Cobra knows we're here, obviously."
"Not necessarily. Storm Shadow's gonna want a go at Snake without any distraction. Last thing he'd want is Fang Face screaming and hollering as he sent in more troops."
"So if Cobra doesn't already know, how much time do you think we have?"
"Not much. Ten minutes, tops. We've been picked up by three cameras already."
At that, a Crimson Guardsman stepped out from around the corner. By his body language, he had obviously not been expecting to see them. Cricket kicked him in the gut, then punched him in the back of the head, sending him out, but not before the Guardsman behind him managed to sound the alarm.
"Crap. Get ready," said Stalker.
Roughly 70% of the arrows in Cricket's quiver had rounded heads. She could take headshots at anyone wearing a helmet without fear of killing them, something she always tried to avoid whenever possible. Further, they were weighted differently; at close enough range, the target would feel like he had been hit in the head with a hammer. The guard who pulled the alarm was the first to go down.
There were exit signs on opposite ends of the hallway. Stalker asked, "Do you feel like you can go off by yourself?"
"Yeah. Go. I'll be fine."
Cricket ran down the stairwell. After a few floors, coming up to meet her were both Crimson Guardsmen and regular Cobra officers. It probably wasn't a thousand, no matter how sure she might have been that it was.
Her hand reached behind her back, grabbing two arrows and notching them in her bow in one fluid motion. Drawing the bow and releasing the shafts, they impacted dead center into the helmets of the two officers in front, cracking their helmets and sending them down, slowing progress for the soldiers behind them.
She swung herself over the railing and jumped onto the heads of another pair of troopers, then swung over *that* railing and dropped on the floor below. She found the exit door, opened it, and closed it behind her, latching it.
Cricket took a second and slowed her breathing, trying to listen for footsteps, or talking, or any noise at all. None.
She walked down a hallway, looking in cubicles on either side of her for anything unusual. On the fax machine table, she noticed a half-empty box of donuts, which reminded her of how hungry she was. Looking around, seeing she was alone, she grabbed one and munched on it hungrily. She'd gotten about halfway through it when she remembered it was Saturday.
This donut shouldn't have been fresh.
"'Ello," Cricket heard behind her. She quickly turned around to find two men dressed as bikers holding cans of grape soda. She recognized them from Joe files as two of Zartan's Dreadnoks, but couldn't remember which was which. They were unarmed, not having expected anyone to turn up.
"'Ello," Cricket replied, mouth full of donut. She quickly swallowed and asked, "Where'd you get the tonic?"
"The wha?" asked the blond one.
"Sorry. Soda."
"There's a vending machine 'bout fitty feet behind us," replied the one with brown hair, his voice full of amusement.
"Been a while since I saw grape soda in a vending machine," Cricket said.
"Well," said the blond one, smiling, "I guess today's our lucky day."
Cricket swallowed. She didn't like the sound of that at ALL. "I don't suppose you guys want to surrender?"
"What, to you?"
"I'm the only one here." It sounded a lot braver than she felt.
Brown-hair smiled. "We noticed that, too."
The smiles vanished when, less than a second later, they were staring at the business ends of a pair of very sharp arrows aimed directly for their heads. "Don't move. If you blink I swear to God I'll fucking drill you." Then she remembered something. "Where's your friend?"
The blond one said, "'E's wif Zartan. They're breakin' into the vault."
"Why aren't you two down there?"
"The alarm. We got sent up with the other troopers to look for Joes."
"Bangup job you're doing, too."
They were all silent for a moment, when the brunette suddenly lurched forward.
Cricket lowered her bow slightly, and sent the arrows into the Dreadnoks' shoulders, pinning them to the wall behind them. They cried out in pain, and Cricket punched them both simultaneously, knocking them cold.
She then ran off, wanting nothing but to wash the ick off her.
*****
Cricket's wrist phone crackled. "All Joes report in."
"This is Cricket. I'm on... it looks like the fourth floor."
"This is Stalker. Anything interesting to report?"
"I've left two Dreadnoks on the sixth floor. There are a couple of Cobras in the stairwell that will probably need medical attention. Otherwise, nothing serious to report. What's going on?"
"We're pretty much all set. Zartan and Ripper were breaking into the vault. Almost made it through, too. We're just mopping up at this point."
"Sorry I couldn't have been more help."
"You did plenty. We can't all save the day every time. Keep your eyes open; there's still a few snakes running about. Stalker out."
Cricket stretched; her neck was stiff. As she cracked it, she closed her eyes and lowered her bow. However, as she continued stretching, she heard a surprised voice behind her exclaim, "You!"
She wheeled around just in time to see a man in grey camo kick her bow out of her hand.
"Oh. Hi." Cricket remembered Firefly from her days stationed at Ft. Hama. He had attempted to steal the Gravity Core while she was guarding it. Although she became a minor celebrity for being able to beat him down, she had really only kicked him in the balls and sent him on his way. She knew he was much more skilled than she, and that she had been extraordinarily lucky.
Firefly then proceeded to demonstrate this by using her as a hackysack. She fought back as best she could, but was, in very short order, purely playing defense. Soon, even that wasn't enough, and she was flat on her back, trying unsuccessfully to get his foot off her chest.
"You beat me before," he said quietly.
"Oh, was that you?"
"You got lucky. You don't deserve to be here." He drew his pistol and aimed it at her face. "Ask me for your life."
"Go to hell," she snarled.
Firefly slowly cocked the hammer.
Oh my God, Cricket thought. This is it. This is how I die.
Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum -
"No!" A green and black blur had come from nowhere and knocked Firefly off of her chest. Cricket could only stare at the ceiling above her as her pulse began to go even more quickly, listening to the noise of the fight go on next to her.
Silence.
"So, are you gonna get up or not?"
Cricket turned her head to find Beach Head standing over her. After a moment, he offered her a hand. "Come on. We're almost done here."
As he helped her up, Cricket said, "Thanks, Beach."
"You wanna thank me, Princess?" he snapped. "Gather your shit and get a move on. That'd be the most amazing thing to happen to me all day. We're sweeping the building. Meet the others in the lobby downstairs." He turned to leave.
Cricket smiled as she gathered her arrows, which had spilled everywhere. "You like me!" she called after him.
"No I don't!" he said, exiting into the stairwell.
*****
Cricket was running down the stairs when her phone crackled again. "Mae? It's Allie. You there?"
"Yeah."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm a little banged up, but I'm fine."
"Everyone's down here except you and Snake. Have you seen him?"
"No."
"All right; he must still be on the roof. He isn't answering. Can you run up there and see if you can find him?"
"Sure," she said, turning around and running up the stairs.
"Zap and I will meet you up there. Jaye out."
She ran to the top floor, noting that the two troopers she injured were gone; she supposed that Doc and Edwin had already taken care of things.
She had a hard time opening the roof access door. When she finally got it open, she realized that this was because the wind was incredible. There was a news copter flying very low over the roof; The explosion by the vault had attracted a lot of attention. The cameraman whirled around and got a close up of the woman who'd just burst onto the roof, her shoulder-length brown hair whipping around her face, holding a longbow taller than she was. She was quickly joined on the roof by two additional soldiers, who had to shout to make themselves heard to each other.
*****
In an apartment in South Boston, Liz MacDougal was watching her son while he threw Matchbox cars at each other. The TV, showing cartoons in the background, broke in with an update on the news story they'd been reporting on all morning.
"... -n update on the explosion in the Federal Reserve Building in New York. Our New York affiliate is sending us footage gathered twenty minutes ago ..."
"Billy, honey, quiet down. Momma's trying to watch this."
"Is this the news?" he asked.
"Yes."
"News is boring."
"I still want to watch this."
"I'm just playing."
"Play more quietly."
"Okay."
"... has been positively identified as Corporal Rafael "Zap" Melendez, an original member of the G.I. Joe counter-terrorist strike force ..."
Jack came in from the bedroom. "Morning."
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Daddy!"
"Hey, big guy. Are you behaving?"
"Yes."
"If I ask your mom if you're behaving, what will she say?"
"She'll say yes."
"Very good."
"Wanna play cars?"
"Maybe after breakfast." He looked at the TV. "What's going on?"
"There was an explosion in a federal building in Manhattan," answered Liz. "They're not sure what's going on yet."
"Mmm. Anyone hurt?"
"They don't think so."
"Aun'Mae's on TV," said Billy.
"They're just army guys, buddy," said Jack. "Your aunt's in Colorado right now."
"Aun'Mae's on TV," Billy repeated. "Lookit."
Liz smiled. "Sweetie, I promise you, she's -"
"Holy shit. He's right."
"What?" They all turned their attention to the screen, where someone who was unmistakably a bruised and bloodied Mary MacDougal was standing on the roof of the Federal Reserve Building, shouting at a pair of soldiers while pointing at the camera.
Jack turned up the volume. "... while the involvement of G.I. Joe would indicate that the terrorist group known as Cobra was involved, there has been no definite comment made. However, I'm now being told that G.I. Joe's leader, General Clayton 'Hawk' Abernathy, will be answering some questions at a noontime press conference. We'll take you there when that begins. Again, it has been confirmed that G.I. Joe is in the process of locking down the Federal Reserve Building after an explosion occurred there about 5:30 this morning, Eastern Standard Time."
Things were quiet in the MacDougal household for a while.
*****
Jaye swung the door open. She tried to grab Cricket's attention by calling her by name. "Ma-"
"No names!" Cricket shouted. Pointing to the helicopter, she said, "That's a news copter! Jack works in news; they'll have someone who can read lips look at the tape!"
Zap asked, "Have you seen Snake?"
Cricket nodded. "He's on the roof of the building next to us on the north side, 'bout two floors down. He and the guy in the white suit are still going at it."
Lady Jaye rolled her eyes. "Figures." She looked at Cricket. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah. We'll talk later." They went to the side of the building and watched the fight. Cricket had never seen Snake Eyes really unload on someone without holding back, and it was HELLISHLY impressive.
"We're WAY too public here," Zap said. "He'll do this all day if we let him. We gotta get him out of here."
"Snake Eyes!" Jaye called into her phone. "Snake Eyes! Acknowledge!" He continued to ignore her.
The copter had, by now, turned its attention to the ninjas fighting on the roof as well. It was far enough away that the wind was no longer quite such a factor. Cricket notched two arrows and fired towards the other roof. They landed on either side of Storm Shadow's feet, which caused both combtants to turn their attention to the Joes on the Federal Reserve's roof. Seeing they were no longer alone, Storm Shadow said something to Snake that no one else could hear, then leapt over the side of the roof. By the time the copter swung around to see where he went, he had disappeared.
Snake Eyes signalled to Jaye, "Everything all set?"
Jaye picked up her phone. "My God, you're a pain in the ass."
Snake held up a finger as if to say "Hold on," then turned on his phone. He then signalled, "Sorry, I turned it off. Did you say something?"
Jaye could only turn around and go downstairs, lest she scream obscenities on national TV.
*****
Once the adrenaline rush was over, Cricket could barely move. She spent the plane ride home with her eyes closed. She didn't realize she had fallen asleep until Snake Eyes gently shook her awake. She sleepily looked up at him, as he indicated with his head that it was time to go.
"'Mup. I'm up." She rose creakily, feeling a dull ache set in pretty much everywhere. "Ow."
Snake looked at her, then ruffled her hair before he turned and left.
*****
"Courtney?" Mae called. "You up?"
"Yeah." She was slumped on the couch, but turned as much as she could to look at Mae. "How'd it go?"
"Good guys won."
"Yay us."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."
"You need to call your brother."
"Was something up?"
"Other than the fact that he saw his little sister positively identified as a member of G.I. Joe today, no, nothing really."
"He what?" Mae exclaimed.
"You were on the news."
"Oh, Christ." She flopped on the couch.
"Holy God!" Courtney said. "You look like hell!"
"Thanks."
"Are you all right?" What happened?"
"I saw Firefly." She kicked her boots off. "He was pissed."
"He's insane. What'd you do?"
"I decided it would be easier if I just let him kick my ass." She settled into the couch. She was finally starting to form her own groove in there, and she slid right into it.
"So what happened?"
"It turns out that I remember the 'Our Father' in Latin."
"What? Mae, are you -"
"Beach Head was there. It turned out all right."
"Beach Head's a huge assache," said Courtney, "but there's no one I'd rather have with me."
Mae looked at Courtney, eyebrows raised.
"In a fight, you dork."
"Well, maybe I should have him come up here and talk to Jack for me." She reached for the phone. "This is gonna be fun."
"How'd he get this number?"
"Jack's wicked laid-back, but he turns into a force of nature when he's pissed. If he got a hold of enough of the right people, I have no trouble imagining him getting the phone number." She started dialing. "Which means that I'll probably have to buy Breaker a drink tonight."
She finished dialing. "Hi, Liz. Yeah, it's me. I'm fine. No, I promise, it looked a lot worse than it feels. Um... is Jack really upset? Okay, good. Yeah, put him on. I love you too. Bye... Hey, Jackie. I'm fine. Really. I'm okay... yes. Yes, I am. Because I couldn't! Yes, even my family! Jack... Jack... no, let me say... John! I *am* being careful! Look, there's a lot I can't talk about. Because it's classified, you tool! ... They think I can help, and I'm not gonna argue with them. Do you have *any* idea what a privilige it is to be here? Okay, *that's* why I'm here. And because I can make a difference. That's all I want... I know... yes, I know... really?" She smiled. "Thank you. I know, Jackie. I AM being good. Look... I may have a five-day pass coming my way soon. I talked about bringing... yes, it's really her." She turned to Courtney. "He can't wait to meet you."
"Leave me out of this until he calms down. Tell him I said hi."
"She says hi. Jack, this is what I want." She smiled again. "No, I'm gonna do it anyway. I love you. I have to go, but I'll call you really soon. Okay? Oh, yeah! Yeah, put him on real quick! ... Hey buddy! How are you? I'm good! ... Yeah? That's a lot! I think I might be coming to see you really soon! I can't wait! ... Thanks, buddy! I love you! Lemme talk to your mom.... Hi, Liz. Is he calmer now? Good. I AM being careful. I will. I will... I was just saying that I might have a five-day pass soon. I'll let you know when I know for sure. Okay. I love you, Mom... stop it, you're gonna make me cry too... I love you. I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Okay. Bye." She hung up and sank deeper into the couch.
"That sounds like it could've gone a whole lot worse," Courtney said.
"He said he was really proud of me." Mae beamed. "He thinks Dad would have been, too."
"I'm sure he's right."
"And on top of that, Billy thinks I looked really cool."
"Wow, is he young and impressionable."
"I *am* really cool."
"Except that you're really not. You are, on the other hand, a hell of a soldier. And a really good kid. Go hop in the shower. You'll feel better."
"Are you trying to say something?"
"I'm trying not to say that you smell like butt. Get moving."
Mae rose from the couch and headed toward the bathroom. "You want anything while I'm up?"
"Actually, if you could get me a couple of Tylenol, that'd be great. I've already got some water."
Mae found the Tylenol and brought them over. She noticed that Courtney was looking down. "Are you all right? Are you in pain?"
"No. I'm all right." She took the Tylenol, washing them down. She grabbed Mae's hand as she turned to leave. "Mae? I think... I think it's really great. That your family called you."
Mae pressed Courtney's hand for a minute, then went into the bathroom.
*****
Mae helped Courtney shuffle into the rec hall. The news was playing on the big screen TV with the sound off, playing the footage gathered by the news copter endlessly. Mae was shocked to see how terrible she looked; no wonder Jack and Liz were so worried. Of course, as soon as the footage reached the point of Snake fighting Storm Shadow, the room grew quiet as everyone stopped what else they were doing to pay attention, no matter how many times everyone had already seen it.
Shana met them as soon as she saw them. "Courtney! It's great to see you up and around!" She hugged Courtney hard.
"Hey, Shan... okay, ow. Too hard."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. You owe me a real one as soon as I'm better."
Shana turned to Mae. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. A little sore."
In a low voice, Shana said, "Beach says -"
"I don't care what Beach says. I'm fine."
"Beach says you handled yourself well. He would have liked it better if you'd won, of course, but you didn't back down."
Mae exhaled. "Shana, I was so *scared*."
"Not everyone in Cobra is the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight. You need to realize that."
"I got it."
"Okay. I talked to Snake. He's gonna schedule more time for you. We're gonna work on your hand-to-hand a little bit. Also know that any time you want to spar, I'm right across the hall. All right?"
"All right."
"You talked to your brother?"
"Wow, you work fast."
"I'm sorry. This is the part of my job that I really hate. What did you tell him?"
"I confirmed that it was me he saw on the news. Which I couldn't wriggle out of, because, well, he's met me. I'd told him before who my roommate was, so he's figured that out, too."
"That's all right. Courtney was a public face before she got here; she was outed a long time ago. Anything else?"
"No, that was it. Except that Billy thinks I'm really cool."
"Yes, but Billy is four. He has plenty of time to reassess his worldview. Okay, honey. End of lecture. Go relax."
Quick Kick walked up to the women. "Hi, Cover Girl. How are you doing?"
"I'm better, Kick. Thanks."
He turned to Shana. "Hey, Scarlett. Shipwreck said you were looking for me?"
"Yeah." She reached into a bag she was carrying. "You like movies, right? I got this as a present from my brother Brian. I don't know what he was thinking. I thought you might appreciate it more." She handed him a small black box.
He boggled. "You don't want this?"
"Not really. Do you?"
"This is a classic! Hey, it's got the 1932 *and* the 1983 version!" He wheeled around and turned to the vastly male population of the room. "Hey guys! Look what Scarlett's giving away!"
Almost in unison, the men screamed, "SCARFACE!"
Courtney asked, "What the hell is it with men and that movie?"
"I'll be right back." Scarlett crossed the room, approaching Breaker, who was losing at pinball. "Breaker. Can I talk to you for a minute."
"Yeah." He turned to Grunt, who was standing nearby, and said, "You can finish my game." They walked to a corner of the room where no one was around, and he said, "Look, Scarlett, I know what you're gonna say -"
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I figured that's what you'd lead off with."
"You confirmed to John MacDougal that his sister was in G.I. Joe on an *unsecured phone line* and then gave him her inside phone number?"
"Scar-"
"Do you have any idea how many security violations you committed?"
Breaker looked at her levelly. "He saw his kid sister on national TV with her face in shreds. He was apeshit."
"I'm apeshit right now, and I'm in the room with you. Who sounds like the person you'd rather be pissing off further?"
"It was the right thing to do, Scar."
She sighed, then gave him a very slight smirk. "That's the only thing stopping me from kicking your ass in front of everyone."
Breaker let himself relax. "I appreciate your restraint."
"You'd better. I'm gonna try to talk Duke down, who will then have to talk Hawk down." Breaker immediately tensed back up. "Oh, unclench. Hawk's reasonable. We'll have to change the number, but otherwise there's no real harm done. I wouldn't get too excited about any passes you might have lined up for the next few months, though. I don't see them lasting too long."
Breaker shrugged. "Yeah, I figured."
"You're a good man, Charlie Brown."
Breaker smiled. "Happy Birthday, Scarlett."
She groaned. "You people have to stop reminding me."
*****
Courtney got fairly weak fairly quickly, so Mae helped her back upstairs soon after. Courtney was getting pretty ornery, so Mae gave her her medicine and put her to bed.
Mae sat down and turned the TV to a 'Monkees' rerun. She looked at the clock and couldn't belive it was only 2 pm. She fell asleep shortly after, as Mike wondered what he was doing hangin' 'round.
*****
"Hey." Mae squinted, and realized that Shana was sitting next to her.
"Oh, hi. Did I wake you?"
"No. I don't think so. Maybe. I dunno. What's up?"
"I'm hiding. Allie and Dash are finishing their date."
"Oh, God."
Shana grinned. "Walls sure are thin, huh?"
"I'm gonna hear this morning in my sleep for the rest of my life."
"I, for one, am very jealous."
Mae wiped some drool off her mouth. "Ugh. Was I snoring?"
"Yeah."
"I like you 'cause you're gentle."
"You asked."
*****
Most of the tables in the mess hall had been cleared away, giving everyone room to mill around. Roadblock was at the front of the hall, putting steaks on a huge grill. Rock 'n' Roll had set up an incomparable stereo system with speakers dotted at various points around the hall.
It was filling up rapidly. With the exception of a skeleton crew who had to remain on duty, pretty much everyone was there. Most were in civilian clothes. Some were still in their uniforms, having come directly from work. Thunder was wearing a cowboy outfit, because the motor pool boys had gotten together and conviced him that it was going to be a costume party.
Duke stood at the back of the room with Hawk and Doc; all were thoroughly enjoying their steaks.
Duke looked up from his plate for the first time in five minutes. "So, we did good today."
Hawk glowered. "I had to go on TV today." He munched some more of his steak. "I *hate* having to go on TV. Although when Congress sees that footage of Snake Eyes, our budget for next year should sail through with no problem."
"Any permanent damage?"
"No. Jaye got herself on TV again, but still no positive ID. Cricket did, too, but it seems the only one who recognized her was her brother, and Scarlett said that was nothing to worry about."
"Speaking of whom -" Scarlett and Cricket entered the room, assisting Cover Girl. Duke gave them a wave, which they all returned.
"You girl want anything?" Shana asked.
"Tonic," replied Mae.
"Beer," said Courtney.
"You can't have alcohol on your medication."
"Coke, then."
Someone in the room said something that had become some kind of a code word, because it was soon followed by almost everyone responding in unison, "Say hello to my leetle frien'!" That was gonna get irritating after a while, Mae thought.
As Shana left to get the drinks, Courtney said, "Okay, it's gonna have to be now. Where's Allie?"
"Allie's over with Flint." Mae caught Allie's eye, who nodded and spoke to Flint.
Shana returned, carrying two cups. "Here you go."
Mae took a sip, then spit it out. "Gah! What the hell is this?"
Shana looked surprised. "It's tonic water. It's what you asked for."
"Tonic! Soda!"
Courtney said, "She's speaking Boston again, honey. She meant pop."
Shana laughed. "Sorry."
Mae said, "Happens all the time. Can I show you something?" She took Shana by the arm, guiding her. "Come with me."
*****
Duke wondered what the hell was going on. Flint had asked him to join him in the other room, then shoved him inside a disused meat locker, latching the door behind him. In fact, the more he wondered what Flint was thinking, the angrier he made himself.
At least the temperature control was off.
The door opened suddenly, and Scarlett was flung through the door, yelling, "I said I was sorry about the tonic water!" only to have the door latched behind her as well. She sighed, then turned around and saw Duke. "Oh!" she said, startled. "Hi."
"Hi," Duke said, suddenly aware of what was happening. Scarlett was smiling shyly. Her hair was untied, something he very rarely got to see.
"You look good," he said.
She scoffed. "I'm a mess."
"No, you're not. You should wear your hair down more often."
"It gets in the way." She looked around. "So, is there any way out of here?"
"I'm sure they'll let us out of here sooner or later." Hopefully before the air runs out, he thought to himself.
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Um... I think so. I wanted to give you your present."
"You could have done that outside."
"Maybe so. This wasn't my idea."
Scarlett started bouncing up and down. "So what'd you get me?"
He handed her a small box. "Here."
Shana gleefully unwrapped it, opening the box. "Oh, my God, Duke." It was a silver and porcelain cameo brooch. "This... how... ?"
"Cricket told me you were window shopping at a faux-antique store and saw a brooch like this one. You told her it reminded you of one your mother had."
"Sure, but I didn't think she was listening."
"She was."
"How did you afford this?"
"I won the you-freaking-out pool."
She looked up at him. "You did not."
"I certainly did."
Shana took the brooch out of its box, looking it over. Duke waited. As she turned it over to see how it clasped, she said, "There's a scuff here where... oh my. Duke, this... this is my mother's actual brooch."
"Yes, I know."
"I was playing with it when I was a little girl and I dropped it and I scuffed the back right here. This is my mother's brooch."
"Yes, it is."
"It was her mother's. And her mother's before her. How did you -"
"Brian says hi."
"That little shit. He got me 'Scarface'."
"He got you 'Scarface'?"
"Here he was being wonderful and he let me think he was a total lunkhead."
"Al Pacino 'Scarface'?"
"Don't ruin this, Duke."
"Cricket told me how much it upset you when your mother's jewelry got stolen, after your dad said you were going to get this when you were old enough. I called your brother. He works in insurance fraud."
"He's my brother. We've met."
"Whoever stole your mother's jewelry was actually stupid enough to try to insure what they didn't sell. He was able to track the original thief down. Then I remembered that I have the most elite strike force in the world at my disposal. Almost all of your mother's jewelry's been returned to your father."
"Duke... I can't... what can I say?" She looked up at him. "Thank you."
Duke swallowed hard. "Scarlett... Shana... I -"
With that, Shana reached up and kissed him. "Thank you." She kissed him again. This time, he kissed her back.
Shana looked in his eyes, holding his gaze. "I love you."
Duke swallowed again. "I love you."
A huge cheer suddenly erupted from the other side of the door, which made them both laugh.
*****
"Doc," said Hawk, whom Doc was carefully steering away from the goings on in the meat locker, "I just wanted to ask you about Cricket."
"What do you need?"
"You talked to her the other day? Do you think she'll be all right?"
"What we say is priviliged, Hawk. You know that."
"I know, I know. But just generally."
"I think she'll be fine. She's had a tough life, but then again she's a tough kid. She seems to be willing to work on her outbursts. I think anyone who's read her dossier can already guess that she has survivor's guilt and abandonment issues. But she generally uses it to try to create a family dynamic around herself, and she's certainly not the only person in the room to do that." He ate a chucnk of his steak, even though he knew he was full. "On top of all that, she's cute as hell."
Hawk frowned. "So if we don't let her indulge this family thing -"
"That's not what I said."
"'Sides, Hawk," said Flint, who had just joined them, "Look at her. She's been here two weeks and she's already everyone's little sister. Jaye and the girls haven't stopped talking about her since she got here. I haven't really spent a whole lot of time with her, but she's an exemplary soldier. And if she wants to build up a family here... well, is that such a bad thing?"
"And who here hasn't punched out Clutch, anyway?" Doc asked.
Hawk said, "You haven't. You're a pacifist."
"If anyone could make me reconsider..."
Hawk stared for a minute before exhaling and saying, "Yeah, I know."
*****
Mae, Courtney and Allie sat in a semi-circle, drinking flat soda out of plastic cups. All three were filled to their eyeballs with beef.
"So, my young apprentice," said Allie, "You've been here almost two weeks now. What do you think?"
"I think that I'm going to need that five-day pass just to get some sleep."
"How are you doing?" Courtney asked her. "Feeling all right?"
"I'm not gonna lie; I don't think I've ever been so afraid."
"You wanna quit?" Allie asked her.
"No, of course not."
"Then you'll be fine."
"And you," Mae said to Courtney. "You coming with me to Boston?"
"Sure, for a few days," she said. "I can't hide in the apartment forever. I'm gonna start climbing the walls. Or I would, if the thought of doing so wasn't agonizingly painful."
Shana came over. "I kissed a boy!" she said excitedly.
The girls raised their cups. "Happy birthday, Shana."
"Thanks." She took all three in a group hug.
"All right, all right," said Allie when Shana finally let go. "Go find your man."
"I have a man! And it's Conrad!" She paused. "I don't know if I can call him that."
"Well, go figure it out!" said Courtney. "We'll want details!"
Shana grinned goofily, then disappeared into the crowd.
"Ayuh," said Mae, putting her feet upon an empty chair in front of her. "I think this is gonna work out just fine.