Note: For the rest of this fic, we (as in, you, the gentle reader, and I, the hapless writer) shall be burdened by the presence of several canonical one-shot characters, the first batch of whom you might remember from the Season Three episode "Survival Instinct." In case you don't have that one memorized, a brief recap: Shrill, unlikeable, and arrogant Ethan Raptor got himself and Max trapped by an avalanche. Ethan's teammate Trip Thompson, plus Kat, went looking for them. Berto's timely arrival with the helifoil saved the day and Max did not, in fact, die of exposure and/or power failure as had been feared. Nor did he kill Ethan, which I for one would have heartily supported. It's a fun little ep in its own way, and has possibly the only instance of someone (Carlie Hoffman, Ethan's manager) flirting with Berto. Yeah... that last part's important, gentle reader. :)
------
The water was cold, although the weather wasn't bad; it was unseasonably warm for October, and the temperature rose steadily with the sun. It would top out at a comfortable seventy-three degrees Farenheit later in the day, if the weatherman was right.
The mountains, which looked more like hefty foothills to a jaded West Coast eye, sat impassively on either side of the river. The leaves on the trees were mostly fall colors, mixing brown, red, orange and yellow with abandon. And there were a lot of trees. What mountainside wasn't covered by foliage was sheer, naked rock face - odd patches of gray in the riot of color. The CSX railroad, with its coal-stained tracks and rusting metal, was a constant presence to the right. So far, no trains had gone by.
For the most part, it had just been them, the railroad, and the mountains, but every now and then they floated past a wide spot in the vallet floodplain that had been filled with small and huddled towns. Somehow all of the buildings, houses and businesses alike, managed to look old and worn and tired.
Josh was keeping his pace delibrately slow to prolong the fun. It also made it easier to talk.
"Man, if this weather keeps up, it's going to be gorgeous on Bridge Day," Kat saying, holding even with him about a yard away. Her voice was flattened by the river and echoed slightly off the distant, water-rounded rocks on either side.
"I'm still shocked that Dad signed us up." Lift, dip, stroke. A nice, easy rhythm on a nice, easy stretch of water. In the distance, the calm green-brown surface of the river took on a white-flecked appearance - rapids, but still far away. "I remember how much he freaked when I told him I was taking up BASE jumping."
But Josh was pleased that he had, for a couple of reasons: because it made him a better spy and, currently, because only a few hundred people could jump on Bridge Day, and they all had to be expert Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth jumpers. Not novices, not moderately skilled - experts. Josh was an expert. So was Kat. No shock there, with her "anything you can do, I can do better" approach to life.
"This isn't about you, McGrath," she pointed out without missing a stroke. "This is about N-Tek. Jefferson would jump if it got the company some press."
The thought of his father participating in such a high-profile event made him grin. Jefferson Smith never went near a camera if he could help it, let alone the world's largest extreme-sports event. Still, Kat had a point. "I know."
They ran the first set of rapids with no trouble whatsoever - a two-second slide over smooth rocks and foam. The river settled down immediately afterward. Lift, dip, stroke.
After about thirty seconds of more calm water, Kat said, "Okay, so... I'm bored."
"Yeah, me too." Which was a bummer. really. They had all day, plus most of the next day, before the bridge fun started. And they couldn't do anything. Well, they could, but he didn't want to. He wasn't willing to miss the once-a-year event because he'd gotten hurt on the rapids.
Apparently thinking the same thing, Kat asked, "Why couldn't we do this after Bridge Day?"
Josh shrugged. "Because Dad wants us back in Del Oro."
Secretly, he suspected that his father wanted them back right away just so they couldn't go whitewater rafting. Even though Gauley Season had come and gone - and he itched to come back and run that at some point - the New River's lower stretch was more than decent. There was also a skateboarding competition in Oak Hill the day after which he'd wanted to check out, and he sort of wanted to cruise by Snowshoe and look at the skiing possibilities on this worn-down side of the Mississipi.
"Hey, Trip, check it out! It's our old friends!" someone called behind them, voice loud and sneering, and Josh abruptly stopped paddling.
The first thing that sprang to mind was, "Oh, God, no." But what he said was, "Kat. Please tell me that isn't who I think it is." He didn't want to look.
She twisted around and said, "If you're afraid it's Ethan Raptor, then I can't help you."
Josh pounded the side of the kayak with one fist. "Why, why, why?"
"Because.... the universe hates you?" Kat suggested, much too happily, and he glared at her.
The first time he'd had a prolonged encounter with Team Raptor's star athlete, it had nearly killed him. Further (and mercifully more brief) encounters at various competitions had done nothing to improve Josh's opinion of Ethan. The guy was loud, arrogant, and convinced of his immortality, all of which combined meant he was famous for taking incredibly stupid risks. Not even being buried in an avalanche and, shortly thereafter, nearly falling off a cliff had changed Ethan's attitude.
Josh could not stand him. He had a higher tolerance for Psycho.
"Paddle faster and don't look back," he told Kat. If they could outrun Ethan, they wouldn't have to put up with him...
But she gave him a disgusted look, said, "That's too rude even for me. Besides, he's got Trip with him," and Josh knew all hope for escape was lost.
Trip Thompson fell neatly into the category of "dumb jock". He was loyal to Ethan, but generally as friendly as Ethan was hostile - if only because he lacked the brains to be neither disloyal nor mean. Despite his overall density, Trip had more common sense than his teammate. Way back when, some time after Max and Ethan had been plucked from the cliff, Berto had made a few desultory remarks about how well Trip and Kat had worked together.
Now Josh eyed her suspiciously. Being rude was not something Kat ordinarily avoided. "Don't tell me you like Trip."
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Josh, he's a big dumb puppy. And puppies look cute, but if you take them home, they eat your shoes."
"Yo, McGrath, what's the matter?"
"That voice," Josh muttered, just loud enough for Kat to hear, and winced in only half-feigned agony. "It's like nails on a chalkboard..."
She rolled her eyes, thoroughly unimpressed. "Stop whining."
Josh sighed and, resigned to his fate, managed to twist around without dumping himself into the river. Ethan and Trip were both in individual kayaks, and closing the gap rapidly. He forced himself to answer Ethan's question. "Just trying to figure out how far to the next rapids."
Ethan laughed - a short, scornful sound - and gestured at the water in front of them with the tip of his paddle. "Rapids? These aren't rapids."
"Of course not," Josh said, already grinding his teeth. "But we're jumping tomorrow."
"Dude, so am I," Trip said, grinning broadly as they fell in alongside Josh and Kat. His expression sobered almost immediately. "But like, they totally burned Ethan."
One of Kat's eyebrows hiked up. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," Trip said, nodding in a vaguely mournful fashion. "They said he didn't have enough experience, you know, with BASE. Which is way not true, but they're in charge, so that was it."
Josh knew he'd liked the officials for a reason. If he had to be around Ethan today, then at least he had the joy of knowing he wouldn't be jumping with the jerk later.
His mood lifted slightly.
"Man, shut up," Ethan told Trip, scowling. Trip didn't even blink.
"Uh..." Josh cast a glance at the water ahead. "We'd better get going, I guess. There's a lot of river to cover before we reach take-out." The plan had been to take out at the end of the day and then hike along the river to a moderately challenging rock climb, which would keep them busy until about halfway through the day before the jumping. He wondered if he could modifiy the plan to get away from Team Raptor, or if Kat would think it was too rude.
"Oh?" Ethan challenged. "Where's your take-out?"
Evading the answer would be pointless, and just make them look bad, so Josh said, "Stone Cliff."
"Hey, ours too," Trip said, delighted. Kat's analogy of a big dumb puppy was about right, Josh decided. "So, uh, can we hang with you guys?"
Of course, that was too polite a request, so Ethan had to tack on a smug, "Yeah, we'll show you how the experts do it."
"Great," Josh said, with forced enthusiasm that was probably only visible to the larger part of the Western Hemisphere. "Let's go."
------
The water was cold, although the weather wasn't bad; it was unseasonably warm for October, and the temperature rose steadily with the sun. It would top out at a comfortable seventy-three degrees Farenheit later in the day, if the weatherman was right.
The mountains, which looked more like hefty foothills to a jaded West Coast eye, sat impassively on either side of the river. The leaves on the trees were mostly fall colors, mixing brown, red, orange and yellow with abandon. And there were a lot of trees. What mountainside wasn't covered by foliage was sheer, naked rock face - odd patches of gray in the riot of color. The CSX railroad, with its coal-stained tracks and rusting metal, was a constant presence to the right. So far, no trains had gone by.
For the most part, it had just been them, the railroad, and the mountains, but every now and then they floated past a wide spot in the vallet floodplain that had been filled with small and huddled towns. Somehow all of the buildings, houses and businesses alike, managed to look old and worn and tired.
Josh was keeping his pace delibrately slow to prolong the fun. It also made it easier to talk.
"Man, if this weather keeps up, it's going to be gorgeous on Bridge Day," Kat saying, holding even with him about a yard away. Her voice was flattened by the river and echoed slightly off the distant, water-rounded rocks on either side.
"I'm still shocked that Dad signed us up." Lift, dip, stroke. A nice, easy rhythm on a nice, easy stretch of water. In the distance, the calm green-brown surface of the river took on a white-flecked appearance - rapids, but still far away. "I remember how much he freaked when I told him I was taking up BASE jumping."
But Josh was pleased that he had, for a couple of reasons: because it made him a better spy and, currently, because only a few hundred people could jump on Bridge Day, and they all had to be expert Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth jumpers. Not novices, not moderately skilled - experts. Josh was an expert. So was Kat. No shock there, with her "anything you can do, I can do better" approach to life.
"This isn't about you, McGrath," she pointed out without missing a stroke. "This is about N-Tek. Jefferson would jump if it got the company some press."
The thought of his father participating in such a high-profile event made him grin. Jefferson Smith never went near a camera if he could help it, let alone the world's largest extreme-sports event. Still, Kat had a point. "I know."
They ran the first set of rapids with no trouble whatsoever - a two-second slide over smooth rocks and foam. The river settled down immediately afterward. Lift, dip, stroke.
After about thirty seconds of more calm water, Kat said, "Okay, so... I'm bored."
"Yeah, me too." Which was a bummer. really. They had all day, plus most of the next day, before the bridge fun started. And they couldn't do anything. Well, they could, but he didn't want to. He wasn't willing to miss the once-a-year event because he'd gotten hurt on the rapids.
Apparently thinking the same thing, Kat asked, "Why couldn't we do this after Bridge Day?"
Josh shrugged. "Because Dad wants us back in Del Oro."
Secretly, he suspected that his father wanted them back right away just so they couldn't go whitewater rafting. Even though Gauley Season had come and gone - and he itched to come back and run that at some point - the New River's lower stretch was more than decent. There was also a skateboarding competition in Oak Hill the day after which he'd wanted to check out, and he sort of wanted to cruise by Snowshoe and look at the skiing possibilities on this worn-down side of the Mississipi.
"Hey, Trip, check it out! It's our old friends!" someone called behind them, voice loud and sneering, and Josh abruptly stopped paddling.
The first thing that sprang to mind was, "Oh, God, no." But what he said was, "Kat. Please tell me that isn't who I think it is." He didn't want to look.
She twisted around and said, "If you're afraid it's Ethan Raptor, then I can't help you."
Josh pounded the side of the kayak with one fist. "Why, why, why?"
"Because.... the universe hates you?" Kat suggested, much too happily, and he glared at her.
The first time he'd had a prolonged encounter with Team Raptor's star athlete, it had nearly killed him. Further (and mercifully more brief) encounters at various competitions had done nothing to improve Josh's opinion of Ethan. The guy was loud, arrogant, and convinced of his immortality, all of which combined meant he was famous for taking incredibly stupid risks. Not even being buried in an avalanche and, shortly thereafter, nearly falling off a cliff had changed Ethan's attitude.
Josh could not stand him. He had a higher tolerance for Psycho.
"Paddle faster and don't look back," he told Kat. If they could outrun Ethan, they wouldn't have to put up with him...
But she gave him a disgusted look, said, "That's too rude even for me. Besides, he's got Trip with him," and Josh knew all hope for escape was lost.
Trip Thompson fell neatly into the category of "dumb jock". He was loyal to Ethan, but generally as friendly as Ethan was hostile - if only because he lacked the brains to be neither disloyal nor mean. Despite his overall density, Trip had more common sense than his teammate. Way back when, some time after Max and Ethan had been plucked from the cliff, Berto had made a few desultory remarks about how well Trip and Kat had worked together.
Now Josh eyed her suspiciously. Being rude was not something Kat ordinarily avoided. "Don't tell me you like Trip."
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Josh, he's a big dumb puppy. And puppies look cute, but if you take them home, they eat your shoes."
"Yo, McGrath, what's the matter?"
"That voice," Josh muttered, just loud enough for Kat to hear, and winced in only half-feigned agony. "It's like nails on a chalkboard..."
She rolled her eyes, thoroughly unimpressed. "Stop whining."
Josh sighed and, resigned to his fate, managed to twist around without dumping himself into the river. Ethan and Trip were both in individual kayaks, and closing the gap rapidly. He forced himself to answer Ethan's question. "Just trying to figure out how far to the next rapids."
Ethan laughed - a short, scornful sound - and gestured at the water in front of them with the tip of his paddle. "Rapids? These aren't rapids."
"Of course not," Josh said, already grinding his teeth. "But we're jumping tomorrow."
"Dude, so am I," Trip said, grinning broadly as they fell in alongside Josh and Kat. His expression sobered almost immediately. "But like, they totally burned Ethan."
One of Kat's eyebrows hiked up. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," Trip said, nodding in a vaguely mournful fashion. "They said he didn't have enough experience, you know, with BASE. Which is way not true, but they're in charge, so that was it."
Josh knew he'd liked the officials for a reason. If he had to be around Ethan today, then at least he had the joy of knowing he wouldn't be jumping with the jerk later.
His mood lifted slightly.
"Man, shut up," Ethan told Trip, scowling. Trip didn't even blink.
"Uh..." Josh cast a glance at the water ahead. "We'd better get going, I guess. There's a lot of river to cover before we reach take-out." The plan had been to take out at the end of the day and then hike along the river to a moderately challenging rock climb, which would keep them busy until about halfway through the day before the jumping. He wondered if he could modifiy the plan to get away from Team Raptor, or if Kat would think it was too rude.
"Oh?" Ethan challenged. "Where's your take-out?"
Evading the answer would be pointless, and just make them look bad, so Josh said, "Stone Cliff."
"Hey, ours too," Trip said, delighted. Kat's analogy of a big dumb puppy was about right, Josh decided. "So, uh, can we hang with you guys?"
Of course, that was too polite a request, so Ethan had to tack on a smug, "Yeah, we'll show you how the experts do it."
"Great," Josh said, with forced enthusiasm that was probably only visible to the larger part of the Western Hemisphere. "Let's go."