KP – One Oh One: Part XLIII – Captured, Again
Rufus strained to make out anything that might be useful to Kim and Ron. Unfortunately, even though he was the natural choice for scampering up a tree, he wasn't that much use once he reached the top. True, his eyes were significantly better than any other naked mole rat's, considering they were pretty much blind, but being extremely nearsighted compared to humans, all he could make out was an ocean of green and white. He never really paused to think why he could perceive colors like a human instead of seeing the world in shades of gray like many non-humans.
Knowing the kind of situation they were all in, he didn't complain about the fact he was utterly cold, especially high up in the tree. Just like Ron's mate, he could go into his own version of Mission Mode, though he knew he would have to get back to the ground fairly quickly and return to his nice warm pocket, or even crawl up inside his human's sweater to an extra dose of warmth. His kind actually didn't produce all that much body heat, being nearly cold blooded like a reptile, though somehow being raised pretty much as a surrogate human, he never realized he did generate a little bit himself. He literally hadn't been around other mole rats since he was just a few weeks old and never knew just how different he had become from his progenitors.
He stayed at the top of the tree as long as he could, but just couldn't make out anything that would be of any use, save for the fact he could tell they were not terribly far from the top of the ridge. Of their ill-fated transport, he could see nothing. Finally, being mysteriously endothermic or not, he was starting to get numb, considering he really was literally naked. Even that midriff baring "KimStyle for Pets" outfit would have been welcome, though it kept him from scratching itchy spots when he needed to. Carefully he picked his way down, a much more daunting prospect considering how stiff he was starting to feel, and the fact he was forced to go down one claw-hold at a time rather than sliding down. The trunk was just too rough and it was a bit too far down to jump.
His tiny heart jumped into his throat when he couldn't spot Ron on the ground waiting for him. He knew Kim had gone off a little ways by herself, but from his vantage point still about twenty feet up he should have been able to spot her. He reached the ground and immediately started casting about. The first thing he noticed was the extra layers of human smells. That sense, at least, didn't lie to him. He had heard nothing the whole time, yet now, in the space of about ten minutes, both of them had completely vanished.
The first thin he spotted was a set of strange boot-prints. They weren't Ron's size thirteens or Kim's size sevens, so there at least he knew the source of the fresh scents. His usual priorities, namely being very cold and very hungry, were pushed to the back of his mind while he pondered what had become of his two humans.
His hunting skills were very meager and he could not stalk by scent, so he had to rely on other skills. Calming himself despite his shivers, he settled down on the ground and concentrated. Finding what he wanted, he sprang to action, scampering across the forest floor, this time away from the ridge they had previously been trying to reach.
"Well, this certainly seems familiar." Ron muttered. His hands were bound over his head in metal clamps. It was at times like these he was thankful he was a fairly small guy. Hanging by his wrists was painful enough without having to support a lot of weight.
One of the heavily armed men who had silently appeared out of nowhere just turned and glared at him. His first thought when he came face to face with the wrong end of an assault rifle was that they had stumbled into some kind of military training maneuver. That thought was quickly dashed when he saw another one roughly pushing Kim toward them. Both of the 'soldiers' were expertly camouflaged, but their equipment did not match. One was wearing a uniform and body armor of muted grays, carrying a short boxy rifle that was all too familiar to him. He knew the weapon well, considering he had been shot by one of them back during the summer. His shoulder twitched involuntarily, remembering the blinding pain of being hit at close range by a P90.
The other man was dressed in mottle green of a pattern he did not recognize. It wasn't the old woodland camo still in use by the army, nor was it the newer digital pattern used by the marines. The disparate patterns screamed mercenary to him.
The soldier who had Kim pulled some heavy zip ties from his pouch and bound both their wrists while the gray one held his weapon on them. Not a word was said as they were quickly searched. Kim's equipment belt was taken from her and slung over a shoulder and the green one pointed, indicating they should go that way.
If they thought the going was tough when they were climbing from their landing zone, it was infinitely worse doing it without his hands. He moaned involuntarily from the pain in his arms. One elbow was already twisted from the crash and having them tied behind his back was already making it worse. The only thing he got for his pain was a jab in the back from the longer muzzle of the green one's rifle.
After about twenty minutes of hiking another soldier appeared. He was wearing gray just like the first, though he was carrying a carbine version of the European G36 rifle. Kim may have eschewed firearms, but it was still useful to become familiar with them. They had both undergone some cursory weapons training in the underground range at GJ headquarters. He never really admitted it to her, since she didn't like guns in any form, but he enjoyed that one chance he had to open up at a target with an elderly M-16.
They were led into an underground bunker that both of them would have missed if they didn't know it was there. They were joined by more soldiers who roughly clamped them up onto the wall before disappearing deeper inside, leaving just the one man in green to guard them.
"Um, aren't these restraints against the rules or something?" Ron complained, earning him another glare.
"Shut up." The man said softly.
There was a blast of cold air as the hidden doorway opened once more, admitting yet another man in green, this time carrying a large weapon on his shoulder. Ron wasn't sure what it was, but apparently Kim knew.
"Well, now we've got a pretty good idea what happened to the hoverjet." She whispered.
"What?"
"Shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile. Whoever these guys are, they shot us down." She turned to the man guarding them. "What happened to the pilot?"
"Shut up." He repeated once more. For effect, his left hand drifted down to his hip where a large knife with a bayonet hoop was strapped.
He could tell Kim was too angry to be intimidated. How many times before had they been trussed up like this? He couldn't count.
"Just what is going on?" Kim growled, twisting slightly. Ron could tell she was rather uncomfortable and it wasn't just from the bindings. It started dawning on him why she had started to wander off. Knowing her, he felt sorry for her. Then too, he was feeling a little sorry for the guy who captured her. Just a little.
"Keep your pie-hole shut, girl."
Ron was sure she was about to say "Make me" when another man appeared, this time in an all-too familiar uniform. He was dressed in a gray jumpsuit with an off-white helmet, the visor down over his eyes. He wasn't just a large man, he was huge, obviously a prime specimen of the type employed by Jack Hench in order to sub-contract them to his paying clients.
Oddly enough, the man in green eyed this new arrival with the same disdain he held for the two teens. There seemed to be some kind of uneasy alliance at work.
"The boss said there should have been some kind of animal with these two." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Unlike the soldiers who had come from the outside, he was taking no pains to keep his voice low.
"Wasn't on them." Green replied with soft venom. "All they had was this." He took Kim's equipment belt off his shoulder and handed it over to the Henchman.
He glanced at it and slung it over his own shoulder. "The thing is supposed to be some kind of rat. Pink, hairless. Freaky thing. About eight inches long. It could be hiding in one of their pockets."
Green shook his head. "Nope. Checked them real good. Maybe it didn't make it off the plane."
"I'll contact the team checking out the wreckage. Keep a sharp eye out. If it's loose it will try to spring them."
"A rat?" Green asked softly.
"Hey, I'm just relaying what the boss said."
"He's not my boss."
Gray shrugged and headed back into the bowels of the underground bunker. Kim glanced over at Ron and mouthed the word "Dementor."
"Oh yeah." He whispered back. The crisp gray jumpsuit was instantly recognizable, though it had no external markings. He looked directly at Green. "Don't care much for the little German, do you?"
"Listen, punk. I'm only going to tell you one more time. You either shut the hell up or you're going to be pondering every possible meaning of the term 'silent as the grave.'"
"Somebody's been spending too much time watching that Jimmy Blamhammer pirate movie." Ron observed.
Green stood about an inch from Ron's face. "If you don't shut up…"
Another soldier in green appeared. He was wearing the same kind of uniform, but didn't have the Kevlar helmet or the body armor, nor was his face painted. The only identifiable mark on his uniform were the chillingly familiar symbols on his shoulder tabs. It was a simple black triangle, though he wasn't sure if it was meant to be the Greek letter Delta, or if it were the symbol he saw on some of the Arkonian soldiers they fought in the swamps of South Carolina.
"Bring them." He said in a neutral accent, making him think it was most likely the former. The alien soldiers rarely spoke English in his experience.
At least scampering after Kim and Ron had the effect of making him slightly warmer, even when he had to cut across random patches of snow. The small bites of energy bar he had earlier on the plane were long gone, but he ignored the pangs of hunger emanating from his belly. Some things (very few) were more important than food and his humans were at the very top of that list.
He pulled to a stop and sniffed the air once more. There was a faint smell of cornmeal and spiced beef, along with the different, but still pleasant smell of citrus shampoo and bath soap, smells he associated with them. Only they seemed to stop.
That wasn't what he was following, however. He didn't fully comprehend the ability, but he could sense Rons, and to a lesser degree, Kim's presence. Only, he seemed to be right on top of them. He sat up on his hind legs, scratching his bald head, fighting off another shiver as the cold tried to lull him into sleep. If it weren't for his overriding concern, he would have been in pretty rough shape. As it was, his body was surrounded by a very faint blue glow.
He heard a faint scraping sound and got behind some scrub just in time as the hidden door opened. Rufus hunkered down and watched as a trio of gray-clad soldiers emerged, heading out on some kind of patrol. Then it dawned on him. The reason he felt like he was right on top of Kim and Ron was that he literally was. He almost smacked his forehead for not thinking like a mole rat. Underground, of course. Besides, it would be warmer down there anyway!
Exercising as much patience as he could, he waited until the trio of scouts were out of sight, then scurried to where they hatch had opened. The edges were not even visible, but he had other skills and instincts to bring into play. Once he was attuned to the ground, he knew that he was standing over a hollowed out space. Slight tremors transmitted through his sensitive paws (even the cold could not deaden that) told him that there was movement beneath him. Then all was still. Kim and Ron seemed to be more distant by that point, but that was definitely where they were.
The door itself was built with two purposes in mind. One was to keep it hidden. The other was to let humans in and out if they knew where to look for it. That part he had down, so all he had to do was concentrate on finding a way in. Fortunately, it had not been constructed with keeping the weather out in mind. That meant small gaps, openings that a creature his size could exploit. Being a rodent fundamentally designed to squeeze through subterranean passages, if he could get his tiny head through, his body would easily follow. There had been plenty of times when he was locked out of Ron's or Kim's room and all he had to do was squeeze underneath. There was no weather stripping, so he had more than enough room to get inside.
The room itself was dark, so he once again relied on his refined sense of touch. If there was somebody in that first large chamber, they weren't moving around. Slowly his eyes adjusted, having come from the relatively bright outdoors into an unlit space. Once he was confident nobody was about to grab him by the tail, or worse stamp on him, he scouted about. There was only one other exit, so that was clearly the way he would have to go. He hugged the wall, hoping there would be plenty of nooks and crannies for him to dive into if there was a chance he could be spotted.
Two men waited in one of the largest spaces in their underground bunker. Just about the only traits the two of them shared were their broadly built bodies and their neatly trimmed facial hair. One was tall, though not exceptionally so. His reddish brown hair was swept back over his ears and one eye was covered with a patch.
The reason he looked so tall was simply because his companion was…not. Professor Dementor was actually about five foot three, but his bulky body made him seem much shorter than he actually was. It also didn't help that most of his crew stood well over six feet tall. If he felt self-conscious about his stature, he never showed it. In fact, he imagined himself to have a very commanding presence.
Not that Gemini appreciated that in the least. The diminutive European was simply a means to an end. With the majority of his World Wide Evil Empire decimated by his run-in with his hated enemy back in late Fall he had taken a more practical approach, figuring 'any port in a storm.' There was also the added benefit that, for some unknown reason, Dementor did not get the attention that his own troops, or some other evil masterminds did. Part of that was his penchant for doing his own thing and not involving others whenever possible. His downfall usually came when he butted heads with the likes of Doctor Drakken, who had been curiously absent from the field since his escape from prison while awaiting his real trial.
Both men were somewhat put out by what they were about to do. It was bad enough that they had to work together, but to have been conscripted by a third party? At least their compensations would be rather nice and once all this was done, they could bo back to their own evil endeavors.
They didn't quite know what to expect, only that their latest benefactor would meet them at this particular location. There was just an edge of concern in both their minds that they might be double-crossed, but so far the man had been as good as his word.
"He is late." Gemini muttered.
"Of course he is late. It's not like I WOULD WANT TO BE HANGING AROUND WHERE A GLOBAL JUSTICE AIRCRAFT WAS SHOT DOWN!" The pint sized professor screamed at his temporary ally.
"I was not going to allow them a chance to discover our new base of operations. Don't worry, Professor, their transponder signal was scrambled the moment we detected them invading our airspace. I made the mistake of allowing an aircraft to come that close to me before, and believe me, I paid the price."
A tall Henchman clad in gray stepped up to his boss and whispered in his helmet covered ear. He nodded and shoed the man off. "Well, it seems perhaps you are smarter than I have given you credit for being. It appears our patrols have captured the Hero/Thief and her supposed paramour."
"What are you talking about?"
"He means they have captured Team Possible trying to infiltrate your 'supposedly' secret base." Another voice answered, startling both men.
They turned to see an even taller man standing on the control platform with them. He was dressed totally in black robes, completely obscuring whatever he had on beneath them. In one gloved hand he held a small stone statue that looked, at least to Gemini, like some kind of stylized mechanical monkey doll.
"Well, what do the two of you have to say for yourselves? Have you obtained what I have asked you to?"
"Not yet." Gemini said softly. "It will only be a matter of time, however. I attempted to bring the woman to my side, but I did not count on her somehow befriending her former enemy."
The tall, hooded man shook his head. "I am not so much concerned with the mother as I am with the child. I am prevented from interfering with them myself, but we must have her in our control."
"Do not worry. It is not so long before the child will be born now. Once the mother is incapacitated, we will make our move."
"See to it." He turned once more to Dementor. "What of you?"
"I already have half the items you wished my men to secure. Soon enough, we will have our chance to recover the rest."
Gemini stepped forward. "What about Team Possible?"
They both could see a slight smile creep across the mysterious man's lips. "Do not concern yourselves overly with them. Keep them in your control as long as possible."
"Why not simply dispose of them?" Gemini suggested.
The tall man shook his head. "No. They are not to be…permanently harmed. Otherwise, do with them what you will." With that he turned and stepped regally down the staircase, walking into an open passageway. There was a brief flash of reddish light, then he was gone.
"I find it very foolish not to deal with the interlopers." Dementor muttered.
"Patience, Professor. You heard what he said. Once we have what we want, we will be able to do whatever we please with the two of them. Then we will never be bothered by them again, and without them, my sister will be crippled."
"I hope you are right." The short scientist said as he got away from the other madman as quickly as he could.
Rufus knew he had to be close. He could almost feel Ron's anxiety, much the same way he could tell when random base personnel were near him. Just a little further and he would see them once more. Certainly he would find a way to release them.
Another scent crossed his sensitive nostrils, and before he could stop it, a low growl came from deep in his throat.
That growl was returned, only it was louder than he expected it to be. A shape that was several times larger than he remembered stepped out into the light. There was no longer any reason for subterfuge. Rufus had a fight on his hands.
Pepe the Chihuahua was one thing, but apparently he had undergone much the same treatment that Dementor's dachshunds had.
He prepared to do battle with Pepe the Mutant Chihuahua!
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