Part 18: Sneak Attack

Sam sat by the firelight inside the small tent she shared with her two best friends, staring into the flickering flames like they would feed her all the answers of the universe. The people here had taken them in readily. They tended to distrust any figure of authority, and Jerry was currently the highest authority figure there was. Once the spies told their story, they were more than willing to help any way they could.

And now word of their story was spreading like wildfire. They hadn't even had to do anything else yet, the people had begun to rise up all on their own, trying to force Jerry's people out of their lives. So far they had been scattered, relatively minor uprisings that did little to turn the balance of power in favor of the people. But support was still growing.

Alex was on the other side of the fire, doing pushups to keep her physical stamina up since they hadn't been able to do much lately except keep their heads down and lay low. Sam could see the girl was going stir crazy from being cooped up and forced into hiding, but there was nothing to be done for it. If they showed themselves, Jerry would catch them in a heartbeat.

"How many pushups have you done so far?" Sam asked curiously.

"I don't know... I lost count at 123." Alex replied. Sweat was falling to the ground underneath her, and her arms were shaking with each heave.

"Why don't you take a break? You look kind of tired." Sam told her worriedly.

"I'm fiiiiiiieeeeeen..." Alex screeched as she struggled to push herself up again, but her arms gave out and she collapsed to the ground with a soft thud. She panted heavily, her back heaving. "Actually... I think I'll take your advice..." Alex amended between breaths. Sam smiled and crawled around the fire to move up behind her. Placing one hand on each shoulder blade, Sam began to rub in small circular patterns, her fingers kneading into the flesh. "Mmm..."

"You don't have to push yourself so hard you know." Sam told her as her hands continued to knead into Alex's back. "I know you want to be at your best, now of all times... but it's not going to help anyone if you're always so tired and sore."

"I'm not THAT tired." Alex complained, though she didn't make any move to get away from Sam's healing massage. "A little sweat never hurt anyone, I'll be fine in ten minutes."

"Alex... talk to me. Tell me what's really bothering you." Sam said. Alex remained silent, letting Sam's massage continue as her hands worked their way up to her shoulders. "I've been watching you do this to yourself since we got here, and it hasn't even been THAT long."

"Do you really have to ask what's bothering me, Sammie?" Alex replied softly. It was Sam's turn to fall silent, her hands coming to an abrupt stop on her friend's back. "Sure, we've had to fight Jerry a few times before... but not like this." Alex turned to look up at her with an agonized expression so intense it made Sam's heart ache just looking at it. "He was always controlled or brainwashed... not like this..."

Sam returned to her massage, which Alex silently accepted by turning back to face forward, resting her chin on her hands while Sam worked. A few minutes passed before the tent flap opened and Clover made her way inside, carrying a few packets of food cradled in her arms. She walked to the side of the fire and dropped them to the floor.

"Grub's up girls. Dibs on the powdered caviar." Clover said drolly as she plopped down on the floor cross-legged and ripped a package open. Sam and Alex silently moved to take packets of their own, ripping them open and pouring the contents into small cups of water before beginning to silently down the gross looking and completely tasteless food.

They ate in companionable silence, but the silence was broken by a sudden explosive sound from outside the tent. It was followed immediately by a shrill cry, a scream, and then it sounded like the entire settlement was erupting into a chorus of screams. The three spies leapt to their feet, staring at the flap of their tent.

"That sounds bad..." Alex commented.

"We should go check it out." Clover said. "It sounds like someone is in serious trouble out there. We should go help."

"If we do that we'll be exposing ourselves to Jerry." Sam replied. "Are you girls sure you're willing to risk that?"

"Duh Sammie." Alex smirked.

"Yeah, helping people is what we do. We're no better than Jerry if we sit here and listen to this!" Clover gestured to the tent entrance, through which a hail of gunfire and a chorus of screams could still be heard.

"Okay." Sam nodded and turned back toward the exit. "Who needs Jerry to tell us how to help people? Let's go do it!" Sam shouted and charged toward the door. Clover and Alex let out enthusiastic battle cries and followed her outside, but once there they all skidded to a stop, staring in horrified awe. Men in black tuxedos and shades... WOOHP Officer uniforms... were walking calmly through the settlement with high caliber rifles, mowing down anything they saw. Already there were dozens of people littering the ground, their blood pooling around their lifeless bodies while their friends and family members fled in fear.

"Th... those are WOOHP Officers..." Clover muttered.

Sam stared in shock, then clenched her fists and growled deep in her throat. "It's official... Jerry has gone insane..."

"What do we do?" Alex asked weakly.

"We do what we came out here to do." Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the gadgets she'd swiped before breaking out of WOOHP Headquarters, a bottle of Ice-Queen Perfume. She heard rustling as Clover and Alex followed suit behind her. "We save these people. Come on!" Sam charged forward, holding the perfume in one hand as she approached the nearest Officer.

She planted a solid kick against his chest, knocking him into the wall of a nearby building before coating him in a thick sheet of ice with the spray. With him frozen in place, Sam whirled on the next combatant, who was stomping expressionlessly across the settlement, bullets spraying in every direction as he randomly flung the barrel of the gun around.

Sam rushed toward him, coming up behind him stealthily to coat him in a sheet of ice. The instant he froze, she knew this was pointless. Gunfire was erupting all around her, screams of terror and pain floating up into the sky like the wails of damned souls. All the freezing spray in the world couldn't stop this... there were far too many, with far too much bloodlust in their eyes.

Sam dropped the Ice-Queen perfume and reached into her suit again, pulling out a Phase Changer Phaser. It would work much quicker as much longer range... but it was far from a non-lethal weapon. It would liquefy anything... or anyone... that touched the beam. So she raised the barrel, aiming it into a crowd of WOOHP Officers as fire flashed from the muzzles of their guns.

A laser flashed from her weapon, striking the first of the advancing officers. Within a second the officer had faded, silver liquid splashing to the ground in a puddle. The laser swept through the crowd of murderers, randomly striking and turning them into puddles on the ground. Soon she released the trigger to admire her handiwork. She noted the strange silver color... but didn't have time to think about it. They were turning on her now...

Sam darted to the side, running full speed for the cover of some nearby tents as the WOOHP Officers opened fire. A hail of bullets flew around her, small pieces of cement flying from the ground as they struck right at her feet. Miraculously, Sam dove into the tent before she was struck, rolling to a stop right in front of the disheveled bed in the back of the tent.

She leapt over the bed and dove for the back wall of the tent, tearing it at the bottom seam to open a hole big enough for her to squeeze through. She slipped through the hole, pulling her feet through just before a line of footsteps rushed into the tent in search of her. She listened as they stopped, the officers searching the tent slowly.

She could still hear gunfire and screams from elsewhere in the settlement as she slipped quietly away from the tent and made her way back to the main road in the settlement, sneaking back around to the entrance of the tent. She whirled into the open door and fired her Phase Changer Phaser inside, vaporizing every officer searching the tent into that strange looking silver liquid.

She turned back to the exit, and screamed in surprise when one of the officers walked inside, one arm lashing out at her. Sam whirled back to avoid the strike and leapt with a flying roundhouse kicked that knocked his head to the side, sending his sunglasses flying. Sam gasped in shock as he turned back in an instant, his arm latching around her throat and hefting her up off the ground. Her legs flailed futilely, dangling more than a foot above the ground. She still had the Phaser in her hand, but if she fired now, she would vaporize herself too...

"Let go of me..." Sam gasped desperately, her free hand trying to pry his hand off of her throat.

"You want to live, Samantha?" The man asked, carrying her into the tent and pushing his gun into her stomach. "Beg for it." Sam stared at him in horror and surprise, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "This is supposed to be fun... beg me to spare your life."

"P... please..." Sam begged, her body beginning to feel numb as her vision began to blacken. "Don't kill me..."

"More." The man grinned evilly, though somehow Sam didn't see much emotion behind his eyes. What was with this guy? He was acting like he was enjoying this, but his eyes were so blank.

"Look... you probably don't want to do this..." Sam croaked. "Join us... you know Jerry's wrong... don't follow a madman..."

"Betray Jerry?" The man seemed amused as he pulled her closer, pushing the barrel of his rifle even deeper into her stomach. Sam bit her lip in pain and closed her eyes, trying not to scream. "To betray him... I'd have to be working for him." He whispered to her. Sam opened her eyes slowly and opened her mouth, but before she could speak again she heard the soft click of the rifle's trigger, followed by one thunderous explosion.

Sam's eyes went wide in shock, not feeling any pain, instead just a cold numbness that swept through her body like a tidal wave. The WOOHP Officer let her slip from his grasp, her body hitting the floor in a limp heap as she struggled to move. She managed to look down, seeing the blood welling up from her stomach, and spreading in a pool beneath her from her back.

Her head fell back to the ground, the darkness beginning to cloud her vision. "Sammie!" She heard voices scream in horror from the front of the tent, followed by the sound of lasers being fired, and the hazy sight of silver liquid falling to the ground beside her. Alex and Clover rushed to her side, falling to their knees beside her with frantic expressions on their faces.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God..." Alex chanted frantically. "What do we do...?"

"Hold this." Clover shoved her Phaser into Alex's arms and reached into her backpack, pulling out a small bottle. "WOOHP modified some of the nanobots from their X-Ray glasses project to promote healing... I don't know how fast it works, but it's all I've got." Clover dabbed the eye shadow brush into the tube and pulled Sam's shirt up to reveal the bloodstained hole in her stomach.

Sam felt herself slipping, the darkness covering her gaze even as Clover applied the brush to the open wound. She felt a strange tickling sensation, spreading slowly outward from her stomach even as the darkness consumed her. "Come on Sammie... stay awake. Stay awake please!" Alex pleaded, grabbing Sam's shoulders and shaking her vigorously.

Sam struggled to keep her eyes open, but the darkness was too strong. She was slipping fast, almost as fast as the strange sensations were running through her body. It slid up her lungs to her throat, forcing a slight cough from her lips before it slid to her head. Every synapse in her brain began to spark, invigorated by the outside stimulation, and the darkness rescinded.

"Sam?" Clover knelt down over her, clear as day in Sam's vision. "Sam, please, say something." Clover's hand brushed over her cheek, tears flowing from her blonde friend's eyes. Sam tried to speak, tried to move her mouth... but she couldn't. Her body was still numb, it was simply being artificially sustained by the nanobots. She couldn't move at all.

"Do you think she's..." Alex trailed off fearfully.

"She looks aware to me..." Clover shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "Fucking Jerry... I'm going to kill the bastard." Clover growled. Sam tried to complain, Jerry wasn't the one behind this attack. The officer had said so... but she couldn't speak. "Let's get out of here for now, we can't just leave Sam lying here. Get her other arm." Clover and Alex each draped one of Sam's arms over their shoulders, holding Sam up between them. Sam's blood had stopped flowing, but a good size puddle remained on the floor behind them.

So her two best friends dragged Sam between them as they hurried out of the tent, rushing as fast as they could away from the gunfire, which was now coming from further toward WOOHP Headquarters. Sam wished she could look, or ask what was going on. But her body still refused to cooperate. She guessed it would take a while for her wounds to heal enough for her body to resume control of its own functions.

They made it several blocks away before Alex and Clover came to a stop after ducking into a small alley. They leaned against the wall, still holding Sam up between them. "I can't believe Jerry would order an attack against the entire settlement to get to us..." Alex panted.

"I wouldn't put anything past him at this point." Clover growled hatefully. "You were right Sam, he's nothing but another petty terrorist. He just happened to be able to fool all of us into doing a lot of his dirty work for him." Clover clenched her fist angrily.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" Alex asked. Clover glanced at Sam, obviously wishing she was awake and well enough to take charge as she always did... but lacking that, the blonde took control.

"What else? We take Jerry down by ANY means necessary." Clover replied. Sam's heart skipped a beat. She wasn't talking about spreading the truth... she was talking about...

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"We fight back of course! We organize a resistance force, and we blow Jerry as many new ones as we possibly can!" Clover shouted. "He's gone waaaay too far this time!" She swept her hand in Sam's direction. But it wasn't him who ordered the attack, Sam thought desperately. Someone was trying to make it look like Jerry did it. They were being manipulated, pitted against one another. And Clover was walking right where they wanted her to.

"Speaking of which..." Alex's voice softened, staring at Sam sadly. "What do we do with Sam...? We can just leave her propped up somewhere while we run off to fight a war against WOOHP." This gave Clover pause. She knelt down in front of the redhead, staring into her eyes. Sam desperately tried to let Clover know she was awake and conscious, but she wasn't sure if she was doing anything more than staring blankly.

"Honestly... I don't know." Clover sighed. "You're right, we... we can't just ditch her." She lowered her head and put a hand in her hair. "But we can't... we can't let Jerry get away with this. And if we don't act fast he could wipe out all of the settlements before they have time to organize."

Alex spoke up after a few minutes. "Why don't you let me take care of her?" She suggested. Clover looked over at her. "You go lead the good fight... I'll take care of Sam and we'll join you when she recovers."

"If she recovers..." Clover amended softly.

"WHEN she recovers..." Alex insisted. "I'll keep my cell phone so we can keep in touch. You know my number... just call me any time." Clover stared at her, then turned her gentle, sorrowful gaze back to Sam.

"I don't want to leave her..." Clover reached out and put a hand on Sam's cheek. "She's always been there for me..."

"Don't worry Clover, I'll take really good care of her." Alex said. "But those people need one of us there... we're the only ones who can bring them all together against WOOHP, and frankly, we both know I'm not leader material." Alex said. Clover turned to her, probably thinking the same thing Sam was. At that moment, Alex seemed like perfect leader material.

"Okay..." Clover nodded and pulled her hand away from Sam reluctantly. "I'll go do what I can... and I'll keep in touch." Clover said. Alex nodded as Clover stood, and turned to leave the alley, not looking back at them. Sam watched her go helplessly, then felt Alex's arms wrapping around her torso to heave her up over Alex's shoulder.

"Sorry Sam, but this is the easiest way to carry you." Alex said. Sam found herself staring at the ground, her arms and legs dangling as she was slung over one shoulder, and Alex began to move rapidly through the alleys. The directions seemed random, which wasn't really a bad thing. Sam knew if they were found by WOOHP or these new attackers, it would likely be the end of them. The greater the distance between them, the better.

At last Alex slowed down and emerged from the alley, moving toward a nearby well-kept home and walking inside. The inside was as ruined and soggy as the rest of the city, but otherwise it had a pleasant atmosphere. Very white and wide open. Alex pushed the light, feathery couch to the center of the room with her knees and gently placed Sam on top of it. It was wet and disgusting, but Sam couldn't complain. Her mouth wouldn't work.

"Eugh..." Alex grunted in disgust as she pulled her hand back from the soggy couch. "Sorry Sam, I'll see if I can find something less... icky." Alex cast about searching the house, but all of the cushions were still holding sickening amounts of water. So she grabbed a bunch of towels and blankets that had accidentally been hung to dry outside and folded them up on the floor, picking Sam up from the couch and laying her down on top of them. "Is that better?"

Sam couldn't respond of course, but Alex almost seemed to be reading her mind. "I hope so." Alex smiled and ran one hand through Sam's hair gently. "You know, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it feels... good... getting away from WOOHP. I mean, I loved saving the world, because it's the right thing to do. But lately it's just gotten too complicated. I miss the days when saving the world meant stopping a dangerous psychopath from abducting cheerleaders... not trying to stop the man I consider my second father from destroying half the world and playing the good guy."

Alex shook her head and sighed softly. Her sentiments echoed Sam's precisely as she continued. "I don't want to think anymore... I just want to live... the way a teenager should, y'know?" She smiled and looked down at Sam, giggling slightly. "You look a bit tired..." She blushed when her stomach began to growl. "Ooh... I'm getting hungry. You probably are too huh? I mean, you've eaten about as much as I have lately. I'll go see if I can find anything."

Alex stood and walked away, heading into the kitchen. Sam stared at the ceiling... there wasn't a whole lot else she could do. So she proceeded to count the number of sparkles on the roof, and as it turned out, there were quite a lot of the things. They must have been pretty good ones too not to be washed away in the flood.

Alex returned with an armful of cans and a rusty looking can opener, setting them down beside Sam and kneeling down. She pulled Sam's head up onto her lap and opened one of the cans, which turned out to have canned peaches inside it. "Think you can swallow a bit Sammie? Here... I'll just mash a bit for you." Alex grabbed a spoon and stuck it in the can, mashing the peaches into as small chunks as she could before gently pouring it into Sam's mouth.

Sam managed to swallow well enough to not drown in the stuff, a fact that had Alex delighted. "I knew you would come back..." She smiled tenderly, stroking Sam's hair and occasionally pouring the peach-juice into her mouth. "It's just a matter of time Sammie, and I'll be here until that time gets here." She swore softly. Sam knew she would... Alex was the most loyal friend a person could hope for. And she was thankful for all of her help... but she couldn't help but worry about Clover. She was fighting right now... a war against the wrong person...

And there wasn't a Goddamn thing Sam could do about it.

TO BE CONTINUED