Advanced training
Much of the brass of the CRAF was walking to Diana's office to work out how to unify the fighter Flight with the Strike Witch Flights. Unbeknown to them their talk was about to be interrupted in a rather spectacular way. Tonya at that point had a very slight lead on Tracie when both girls reached the cross-hall, at the same time the officers were crossing the hall Diana in the lead Wendy and Jasper next side by side with Cabanas bringing up the rear. Tonya plowed into Wendy and slid off her wheelchair and both girls slid into Jasper who then was hit in the legs by Tracie and fell on top of her. General Cabanas looked at the pile of people and the two naked girls.
"Tracie I told you I didn't want to see you naked" He said dryly.
Tracie blushed deeply as she untangled her self from Jasper
"Sorry" she mumbled
Wendy and Diana helped Tonya back into her wheelchair.
"You need to put some clothes on." General Cabanas ordered the two naked little witches.
"Yes sir!" they both responded as they fled down the hall toward their bunkroom.
General Cabanas turned to Diana and Wendy
"So is this desire to show off your naked bodies a yooper thing or a witch thing." He asked.
Wendy shrugged "I dunno"
"I think it's more like we aren't used to having men around" Diana replied. "I suppose we'll have to get used to it now."
"I think so." General Cabanas agreed. "Now that's out of the way let's figure out how things are going to run down here."
Down in the enlisted girls quarters the situation was different. Tonya was worried about what happened and was about to scare the hell out of Tracie. As both girls fled to their room and closed the door behind them Tracie leaning against the door Tonya turned around.
"We really messed up!" She declared. "Captain Ross is going to get lynched by the Klan!"
Tracie was puzzled by that statement she had no idea what lynching was, but she could tell by Tonya's tone of voice that it must be bad.
"What's a lynch?" She asked not having a clue.
"Don't you know?" Tonya asked shocked by the little yooper girl's ignorance. "They are going to hang him!"
Tracie did not understand why they would hang him.
"Why would they do that?" Tracie asked.
"Because he was on top of a naked white girl." Tonya told her. "The Klan lynches black men that get on top of naked white girls."
Tracie was horrified
"H…He didn't do anything!" She whaled. "I hit him! T…That's not right!"
Tracie stood with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"He didn't know what was happening." She sobbed. "I did it to him."
Tracie collapsed face down on her bunk sobbing bitterly. She did not want to see Captain Ross lynched because of what she did.
"It's not fair." She sobbed
"The Klan's not fair" Tonya replied. "We should get dressed and join the others."
Tracie nodded and both girls dressed in silence. They went to the mess hall in silence Tracie finally stopped crying but her eyes were red and she has streaks from her tears down her cheeks. Tonya was not looking much better as they entered the room.
The men from Gamma flight had been told about what had happened and were ribbing Captain Ross about what happened. The joking stopped immediately when Tracie and Tonya came in it was obvious that Tracie had been crying. She stood for a moment…then burst into tears.
"I…I'm sorry." She sobbed as she walked toward Captain Ross. "I didn't know."
The men sat stunned. They had pretty much been filled in about what had happened and found it amusing. It was clear that Tracie did not.
"Didn't know what?" He asked puzzled by her reaction.
"I…I didn't know they would lynch you." She sobbed. "It's not fair!"
Jasper was confused by Tracie's behavior. She was obviously very upset and felt guilty about something.
"What are you talking about?" He inquired concerned by her sorrow.
"T…Tonya t…told me that because you were knocked down on top of me and I…I didn't have any clothes on the Klan is going to lynch you." She choked out. "But you didn't do anything wrong…I did!"
She collapsed in a heap on the floor at that point sobbing bitterly. By this point Diana and Wendy had come over to see what was wrong. Diana looked at Tonya.
"What did you tell her?" she demanded.
A year ago a black man had raped a little white girl. Since she was only five at the time Tonya's mother only told her that he had gotten on top of the girl deciding to spare the child the details of the rape. An omission that was now coming back to haunt her.
"The Klan lynched a man because her got on top of a white girl last year." Tonya said in a low voice.
Captain Ross was familiar with the incident. The man involved was in fact a serial child rapist and the only thing different about this case was this time his victim was a white girl.
"Tonya he did more than just get on top of that girl he did a lot of bad things to her and he had hurt other little girls too." He informed her. "Normally I have no use for the Klan but this one time they had a good reason."
He bent over and picked up the sobbing little girl and set her on his lap.
"It's okay Tracie nobody is going to get lynched." He told her "You weren't hurt and the Klan doesn't know anyway. I don't think anybody is going to tell them either."
Tracie slowly looked up.
"You sure? She asked.
"Well did I hurt you?" he asked her back
"No you didn't hurt me." She replied." I hurt you!"
Jasper picked up a napkin off the table and gently wiped the tears off Tracie's face.
"There, that's better." He said "Now let's see a smile now."
"You're not mad at me?" Tracie asked.
"Nah you girls are too cute for me to be mad at." He told her. "Now can you smile?"
"But I hurt you." Tracie replied hanging her head.
Tonya watched as Tracie struggled with her feelings. She had decided that this was all her fault. She had been the one who started the race thing and had told her about the Klan and it was looking like she had been wrong about that. She watched Tracie dealing with her feelings and felt bad about her actions she slowly rolled her wheelchair backwards until she backed into a wall and sat quietly crying. Nobody had really noticed since they were more concerned with Tracie's more obvious distress. Jasper gently hugged the little girl on his lap.
"No Tracie you didn't hurt me." He told her. "Actually until you came in here crying we were laughing about what you and Tonya did it was pretty funny."
"It was?" Tracie asked in shock.
"Yeah it was." He replied." But I do agree with General Cabanas. Right now I don't need to see you or Tonya naked.
Tracie managed a little smile at that point.
"There you look a lot better when you smile." He told her.
Tracie smiled even more…until she looked over and saw Tonya. Tracie quickly squirmed out of Jaspers grip and rushed over to Tonya.
"What's wrong?" she asked concerned about Tonya's crying.
"I…I'm s…sorry." She choked out. "I…I didn't know I would hurt you like this. I know you hate me now."
"No I don't" Tracie told her as she leaned over the side of the wheelchair to hug her.
"You're just saying that." Tonya replied as she looked down.
Tracie decided that extreme measures were called for. She grabbed a chair and put it in front of Tonya's wheelchair, she placed her feet on the front of the wheelchair to brace herself called up her magic to give her the strength she needed and suddenly reached out and grabbed Tonya and yanked her out of the wheelchair and into her lap! Tonya shrieked as she was yanked out of her wheelchair. She lifted Tonya's legs and turned her sideways so she wouldn't slide off. Then she gave her a big hug.
"You're still my friend." Tracie whispered in her ear." I don't hate you."
Tonya sat wide-eyed in Tracie's lap; she was surprised that the little girl had just pulled her into her lap. Tracie called in her magic and her familiar's traits were withdrawn.
"You pulled me into your lap!" Tonya exclaimed then she hugged Tracie. "You really are my friend."
"Of course I am! She replied. "Why wouldn't I?"
Tonya responded by hugging Tracie tighter…until she noticed that Tracie was in some distress.
"What's wrong?" she asked
"You're heavy!" Tracie exclaimed.
Tonya looked down at Tracie as she squirmed under her before she pulled herself back into her wheelchair.
"I don't think you are going to do that again." Tonya teased
"No! You're too heavy!" Tracie exclaimed.
"And you're too weak." Tonya replied.
Tracie climbed in Tonya's lap.
"And I'm light too." She told her.
"Yeah." Tonya told her. Then she gave Tracie a big hug. "You're my little baby doll."
Tracie giggled "Yeah."
General Cabanas watched the two little witches as they acted out. The mistake they had made was a minor one Tonya's statement of what had happened before to another man had scared the hell out of the both of them. In a few more months these little girls were going to war and face mankind's most fearsome enemy. They would soon be giving up their childhoods. He decided they did not need any further punishment. But he wanted to make sure that they had learned their lesson.
"So have you two learned your lesson about running naked in the halls?" He asked.
Tracie looked up from her seat on Tonya's lap
"Y…yes sir. " She said her voice cracking. "I…I don't want anybody getting lynched because of me."
She started to cry. Tonya hugged her.
"I learned my lesson. I only take my clothes off outside of the showers or our bunkroom." She said. "I don't want to hurt anybody else."
General Cabanas looked at Tracie crying in Tonya's lap. He knew that when Tonya was talking about not wanting to hurt anybody else she was thinking of the little girl crying in her lap. He looked at the two sad little girls then at the three other officers and could tell they were moved as well. He finally spoke.
"I think you two have punished yourselves better than I even could." He said. "I'm not going to add to it."
Both girls nodded.
"But you better not do it again!" Diana declared. "You embarrassed the men by being naked in front of them."
"Well I was not really embarrassed." Jasper said. "Though I think I would rather see them with-out clothes in about twelve or fifteen years."
"Why?" Tracie asked.
"Because you would have boobies." Diana replied. "Men like to look at boobies."
Tonya thought for a moment.
"So if we had boobies then it would be okay if you saw us naked?" She asked.
Jasper did not want to go into a long discourse about relations between men and women and by extension sex and such. So he just gave a simple answer.
"Basically once you are eighteen it's okay for a man to look at your naked body. " He told her.
"Sooo… If we were over eighteen you would want to see our boobies?" Tonya asked with a little twinkle in her eyes.
"Yeah I would." He replied.
Tracie sat counting on her fingers. Then she looked up with a little smirk on her face. She gave Tonya a sly wink.
"So in 1960 we are going to come back and show you our boobies then" She told him.
"Okay." he replied not thinking that she would even remember.
"Right." Tonya replied before she spun her wheel chair around and rolled off with Tracie still on her lap.
"So you are looking forward to seeing that?" Sergeant Allen asked
"I doubt if they will even remember this." Jasper replied, "Tonya is six and Tracie is four. I'm sure they will forget long before then."
"And what if they don't?" Sergeant Riggs asked.
Jasper looked over to where the girls were. Tracie had climbed down off Tonya's lap and was sitting next to her as the food was bought to the table. He looked back at his men and just smiled. Soon the incident was put aside as discussion turned to the training session the next day. Tonya was going to be going up with a full weapon load for the first time. Everybody was wondering how she would do. The main issue was whether the young witch would have the magical power to handle the heavy striker with its heavy draw of power. Tonya was powerful but this thing demanded MUCH more power than any striker the UPASRC had previously built. Tracie in particular was concerned since she had actually tested it and found it was more than she could handle. After eating the enlisted girls went to their bunkroom and after talking for a while went to bed. The officers showered and retired to their bunks. The pilots of Gamma flight being older stayed up for a while discussing the changes they would have to make to deal with the arrival of the little witches. Darla spent several hours making adjustments on Tonya's striker, installing the weapons and loading up the rockets and machine gun belts. After prepping Tonya's striker she went to bed herself. Darla got up fairly early to start preparing breakfast.
Camilla Morris arrived soon after a brief discussion of menu items the middle southern black woman and the blond haired yooper teen set to work. Camilla taught Darla a lot about southern cooking. Darla surprised Camilla by how quick she picked up the techniques and especially the way the white teen respected her.
"You know Darla I'm surprised as to how well you follow instructions and respect me." Camille told her.
"Why wouldn't I? You are an adult and you are a good teacher." Darla replied with a shrug.
"Yeah but southern white teens don't act that way toward black adults." Camille told her.
"Then southern white teens are stupid." Darla responded.
Camille nodded and smiled. She liked these yooper girls more and more. They accepted people with out paying attention to color. She found that to be refreshing. She did have one question.
"I was wondering, before you came down here how much contact did you girls have with black people?" Camilla asked.
"Well to be honest most of the other girls have never even seen a black person before. For the most part it was not until we came down here that we really had any contact with black people." Darla said. "So we are going to base our opinions of blacks on the people we are meeting now. So far it is really good."
Camille smiled both at the young teens openness and at her honesty. The two finished preparing breakfast with a lot of small talk about life in general. The witches, pilots and ground crew raved about the fine meal both had prepared. Then it was time for the big test flight. Tonya rolled out to look at her striker now loaded down with ordinance. If it had looked massive the day before it really looked so now. She looked at the rocket launch racks and the rockets mounted on the sides of her striker. They were huge! Six rockets mounted three on each side. The rockets were mounted at right angles to the striker and were as long as the striker it self the rockets covered the striker on both sides. The twin M2 Brownings were actually longer than her striker mounted on a scarf ring on the front of the striker. Tonya looked over her striker now heavily loaded down with ordinance.
"Can this even fly?" she nervously asked.
"It can fly like that." Tracie told her. "But it's really hard."
"Yeah but remember that she is a lot more powerful than you." Darla told her. "I think she can handle it."
"I hope you're right." Tracie said. "I really want her to do well."
Tonya rolled around her striker giving it a good look over then rolled to the back of it with a determined look on her face.
"Okay I'm ready let's do this." She declared.
Diana and Wendy had walked in and watched Tonya as she looked over her striker and talked to Darla and Tracie.
"Okay Tonya." Diana said. "Mount up Wendy you are taking command lets see what this thing can do."
Tracie did not have the magical power to really test out the A-20 she hoped that Tonya would. The three witches mounted up their strikers.
"Okay Tonya you go first." Wendy instructed. "Tracie and I will follow."
"Right." Tonya said as she tilted her striker upright. "Latonya Morris Launching.."
She manifested her familiar's traits and a large magic circle formed underneath her the twin Wright Twin Cyclones roared to life the clamps released and the bulky striker lumbered into the air. Tracie and Wendy followed. Camille had heard the strikers She walked out in time to see Tracie and Wendy take off and join Tonya who was already hovering waiting for them. She noticed right away that Tonya's striker was a lot larger and bulkier than the others. She watched as the three girls hovered together before heading out to the firing range.
"Tonya's striker looks so much larger than the other girls." Camille observed.
"That's because it is." Darla replied "it had 60% more engine power than the others and that is easily the largest weapon load any striker has take off with. It carries more ordinances that the rest of the wing put together. A lot of what makes it look so big is all the big rockets plus those heavy Machineguns. If Tonya can handle that load she is going to be a powerful addition to the unit."
Camille just stared at the witches as they flew off for Tonya's first target practice. While her mother Diana and Darla watched from the ground the strike witches were getting ready to put on quite a display.
Wendy flew up along side Tonya.
"So how's it feel?" she asked.
"It feels okay." Tonya replied, "It's a bit sluggish but I can handle it.
Both of the other witches smiled.
"That's good." Tracie said.
"Okay time for some target practice." Wendy told the girls
They flew over where some large targets had been set up on the seashore with the backs toward the sea. About 1500 yards inland was a series of marker posts. Wendy had the girls line up over the marker posts
"Okay Tracie already knows how this works." Wendy stated. "What we are going to do is park over the marker posts and fire at the target opposite the post, short busts only a few rounds then go to the next target until you have fired at them all. I'll go first then Tracie then you Tonya so you have an idea what we are looking for.
"Okay." Tonya replied.
Wendy points at a large signboard off the side of the range.
"That is our score board the more we get in or near the center the higher the score." She said. "100 is a perfect score."
Tonya nodded. Wendy flew to the first station and fired off a short burst. The target showed a fairly tight group the score on the board was 79.
"Not too bad" Wendy said then she moved down to the other 5 targets. With scores in the upper 70's and low 80's the aggregate was 82.
"That's about what I usually do." She said. "Okay Tracie you're next.
"Right." She replied.
They waited while the ground crew set up new targets. Then Tracie fired her first string at the lead target. Her score was 78. She moved down the line the second score was 81…they dropped down from there as her shoulder started to hurt. The last score was 68 her aggregate was 73. She hovered rubbing her shoulder.
"That hurts my shoulder." She lamented. "It hits my shoulder more than my M2 Carbine.
"Well you are going to have to get used to it." Wendy told her. "We need to have the hardest hitting weapons we can carry and the 6.5mm Arisaka round is almost twice as powerful as the .30 Caliber US carbine round."
"I know." Tracie said. "It just hurts my shoulder. I'm not that strong."
Hidden in the brush outside the firing range was an agent from the 3rd DSD was watching. So far he had not seen anything really different from what they had reported from the UPASRC base. He watched as Tonya moved into position.
"Okay Tonya" Wendy said. "You're up next."
"Okay" Tonya said as she moved into position.
She opened up on the first target. The twin M2 Browning heavy machineguns roared. The big .50 caliber BMG rounds made a whole lot more noise. She basically tore out the center of the target. But that big hole actually was smaller in diameter that the smaller girls groups. There was a delay in putting up the score because it was a single hole her group was so tight plus the rounds were so powerful finally the score was posted…92!
She moved to the next target and fired. This time the score was 93. She moved to the remaining targets and there was very little variance her Aggregate score was 93.
Wendy hovered and stared at the scores.
" That's GOOD! Real good!" She gushed.
Tonya had a shy smile "Thanks"
Diana had been using her far sight ability to watch the girls and keep track of the scores. She was impressed by what she had seen from Tonya so far. She decided she wanted to see what Tonya could do with the HVARs.
"Okay Tonya lets see how you do with the rockets." Diana said.
"Right." Tonya replied.
"Yeah take out those six targets." Wendy told her as the ground crew resets the targets.
"Okay Tonya replied.
Now the officers had intended for Tonya to fire one rocket at a time at the targets in order like had been done with the machine guns. Tonya misunderstood the order and after noting the position of the targets fired all SIX rockets at the same time. All the targets were hit dead center. In the meantime her striker was engulfed in smoke. Camille saw that and panicked. She was convinced she had just seen her youngest get blown up.
"TONYA!" she screamed. "My baby!"
Diana with her long-range vision could tell that Tonya was not hurt it was just that launching all the rockets at the same time created a lot of smoke.
"It's okay that smoke is from the rockets." Diana assured her. "Tonya is fine."
A few seconds later the smoke started to disperse revealing that Tonya and her striker were undamaged. Camille breathed a sigh of relief
"I designed her Striker to be able to fire its entire weapon load at once." Darla told her. "I put it together with the idea of being capable to go head to head with even capital and carrier neuroi. Tonya flies one of the most powerful strikers in existence."
"She does?" Camille asked incredulously. How?"
"Well Tonya is very powerful to begin with." Darla pointed out. "Polio does not affect magical ability. Since she has limited movement but does have the projectile guidance power. I decided that her weapons could be mounted directly on her striker. That way she does not have to use enhanced magical strength to use them the big machine guns are mounted on scarf rings so they are fairly flexible. So she can put all her power into her striker and weapons so she has even more available. I'm putting her with Wendy so Wendy can use her shield to protect Tonya. That way Tonya can make the best use of her power. Wendy is almost as powerful as Tonya she primarily uses her power for her really strong shield and her healing ability"
Camille nodded.
Back in the air Wendy was a bit surprised by what Tonya had done.
"You fired all the rockets at the same time!" Wendy exclaimed.
"I thought that's what you wanted me to do." Tonya replied. "I'm sorry."
"That's alright." Wendy assured her. "You did good."
"Actually she did great." Diana announced from her position on the ground. "She hit all six targets dead center."
The scores went up Four 99s one 98 and one 100. Aggregate 99.
"I think that's pretty good." Diana added.
General Cabanas had walked up after watching from the hanger where he had parked his car.
"Think that's very good." he said, "I would love to see her unload with live rounds."
"Yeah I would too." Darla said, "Tracie did not have enough power to handle that kind of load it was all she could do just to get it up in the air. I think Tonya is going to need a rest."
"I'm not tired at all!" She announced. "If general Cabanas wants to see what I can do with live rounds I'm ready."
"I want to see that too." Tracie said. "I feel bad that I'm not strong enough to have tested the weapons."
"Okay Tonya come on in and we'll load you up with live rockets." Darla announced.
The three witches landed and loaded their strikers back in their cradles. Tracie and Wendy got out of theirs. Tonya stayed in hers deciding that she did not want to get in and out then back in to her wheel chair. So she would just sit and watch the rockets get loaded. Wendy decided that she needed a Coke and that as long as she was getting one she would get Cokes for the other girls too. While the witches and General Cabanas discussed the training session the DSD agent was mulling over what he had just seen
In the bushes outside the Firing RangeThe activity at the firing range suddenly got very interesting. The little black witch in the clumsy looking one-piece striker put on quite the show first there was the target practice with the twin heavy machine guns. He had never seen anybody display that kind of accuracy with ANY full auto weapon…never mind twin M2 Brownings That should have been impossible the two guns were mounted about a foot apart. While her groups were barely two inches in diameter! Then for an encore she fired a salvo of six HVAR unguided rockets and scored near perfect scores! He was about to leave then he noticed that her striker was being reloaded and she was still in it. He settled back down to see what would happen.
In the hanger Darla was loading up the rocket racks on Tonya's striker with live rounds. Diana was helping. The three witches of Beta Flight were drinking Cokes and discussing the target practice. It was clear that they were very impressed by Tonya's performance both her strength and her accuracy. They could not wait to see what happened with live warheads on the rockets instead of dummies. It took about fifteen minutes to load the fresh rockets. Then Tracie and Wendy remounted their strikers and the three witches took to the air again. Earlier a hurricane-damaged building had been bought with the intention of tearing it down to extend the runway. General Cabanas decided that he could kill two birds with one stone.
"Wendy I think that old building at the end of the runway could make a good target." He said.
"Okay I think it might be fun to use all the rockets at the same time." Wendy suggested
"That could be interesting." General Cabanas agreed.
"Okay that's what we will do then." Wendy responded. "Tonya fire an even spread at that building"
"Yes ma'am." Tonya replied.
She moved into firing position and picked out six spots on the building. And fired off a full spread. Like the previous time her striker was engulfed in smoke six magically boosted rockets hit the building, which was blown to pieces. An HVAR normally hits with the power of a 5-inch gun. Boosted by Tonya's magic the effect was that of being hit by a broad side of an 8-inch gunned heavy cruiser! When the dust settled and the smoke cleared the building was obliterated! Parts of it were scattered far and wide.
"You made a big mess" Tracie observed.
"Yeah I guess I did " Tonya said with a giggle. -
In the Bushes out side the firing range.
The DSD agent was shocked by this latest display of power. Tonya had just launched a barrage that had the power of a broadside from a heavy cruiser! He just sat and stared at the pulverized pile of rubble that had been a decent size building. A six year old witch with crippled legs had just crushed a building. This was really serious. That little witch may very well be the most powerful he had ever seen!
Camille Was shocked by the show of firepower that Tonya had just displayed. She looked at Darla and Diana.
"Are all strike witches that powerful?" she asked.
"Not like that." Darla replied." Tonya is probably one of the most powerful strike witches there is. That's why I wanted to build a striker she could use so much. She will be a real threat to large and even capital class neuroi and paired with Wendy's powerful shield the two of them are going to make a real impact on this war."
"Really?" Camille replied.
"Yup Tonya will make her daddy proud." Diana told her.
Tonya and the rest of Beta Flight flew over the wreckage of the building. The destruction was total. As the dust settled and the smoke cleared the amount of damage Tonya had done was revealed. The trio was awestruck by the extent of the destruction. Tonya was surprised by what she had just done.
"I did all this?" she asked stunned by what she had done.
"Yeah you did all this." Wendy replied.
"I would say off hand I made the right decision supporting Tonya." General Cabanas said
"Yeah I think so too." Diana agreed.
Tonya was flying over the wreckage of the building she had destroyed. Then she got the idea that she wanted to show her brother Darnell her striker.
"Hey Wendy can I go and show my brother my striker?" She asked. " I think he would be impressed."
"Yeah that would be fun." Wendy said. "Hey Diana can we go and show Darnell our strikers."
"I don't see any reason not to." Diana decided.
General Cabanas gave Diana a little look.
"We do it all the time up north." She told him
He nodded and the three little witches flew off to Tonya's house.
Down the street from Tonya's house
Three bullies had been terrorizing Tonya's brother Darnel. They had gotten particularly vicious when he told them Tonya was going to be a strike witch. They had told him that if he told anybody what they were doing it would get worse.
Back in the airThe three witches were flying fairly low when Tonya spotted some action on the ground. She recognized the kids immediately.
"Those bullies are beating up my brother again." She cried out.
"Well we are going to put a stop to that right now!" Wendy declared.
The three witches immediately went into a steep dive. The boys on the ground heard and saw them.
"See I told you Tonya's a strike witch now!" Darrell told them
The lead bully kicked him and hissed, "You better not say any thing."
Tonya didn't need to be told anything She had seen enough! She flared out of her dive and as soon as she had stabilized she opened fire with those big M2 Browning .50 cal. Heavy machine guns. A stream of large bullets passed on either side of his head close enough to brush his hair before hitting a boulder behind him reducing it to gravel. Tonya glared over the sights of the guns.
"You will leave my brother alone!" She declared in an icy tone of voice.
The bully stared at the angry Strike witch in terror. That big A-20 of hers was easily the most intimidating of the three and those twin Brownings made a LOT of noise. Tracie had moved around to the right side of the group while Wendy had taken position on the left. It was clear they were supporting Tonya's actions. Tracie as she looked over the bullies noticed that the leader had lost both bladder and bowel control.
"Yeah 'Poopy Pants' you better do what she says" Tracie told him.
The bullies backed away from Darnell.
"You punks better back away from him." Wendy announced. "Because next time she might have rockets on those racks. You see him you better run in the opposite direction…Or else. Now get out of here!"
The three terrified ex-bullies fled as fast as their legs could carry them. The three witches watched as they fled.
"I think they got the message." Wendy said. "You don't mess with strike witches or their families."
Darnell looked at the former bullies as they fled then at Tonya.
"You aren't going to hurt me because I teased you are you?" He asked her shaking as he did so.
"Not if you promise not to make fun of me any more." Tonya replied with a smile.
"I…I promise I won't make fun of you ever again!" Darnell replied "EVER!"
"I believe you." Tonya told him.
Darnell looked at the pile of gravel that had been a boulder.
"I can't believe you destroyed that boulder." He finally said.
"Hey you think that's something you should see what she did to a building by the air field." Tracie told him. "She blew it to bits!"
"For real?" Darnell asked surprised.
"Yeah for real." She replied, "You want to see?"
"Yeah." He replied. "But how are you going to do that?"
"I'll carry you on the back of my striker." Tonya replied.
"Stand on the rocket racks." Wendy told him "Watch out for the blades on the propellers when you climb on."
Darnell carefully climbed on to the empty rocket racks and grabbed the scarf ring brackets.
"You ready?" Tonya asked him.
"Yeah." He answered.
"Okay." Tonya replied "Hang on tight!"
Tonya powered up the big Wright Cyclones and took off. Darnell watched the ground quickly fall away as Tonya's big striker climbed rapidly.
"So how do you like flying?" she asked.
Darnell looked down at the ground as the big striker quickly came up to it's cruising speed of 280 MPH He watched as the three strikers covered the distance fast.
"You guys are flying fast!" He said.
"This is nothing." Tonya said, "Watch this!"
Tonya opened up the throttles and soon was moving at 339 MPH She was out pacing the two F4F Wildcats which topped out at 318 MPH
"Okay show off back it down." Wendy ordered.
Tonya looked over her shoulder and saw the other two witches falling behind. She throttled back.
"Sorry" she said.
"Well we are here now." Wendy pointed out.
Darnell looked at the pile of rubble that used to be a decent sized building as they flew over it.
"You did this?" he asked stunned buy the carnage on the ground below them.
"Yup I fired rockets from the racks you are standing on." Tonya replied.
Darnell looked down at the racks under his feet.
"I'm standing on rocket launchers?" He asked. "You won't fire any while I'm on here will you?"
"Don't worry they're empty." Tonya replied with a giggle.
"Yeah those rockets are really big." Tracie added, "You wouldn't fit if the racks were loaded."
Back on the ground they heard the returning strikers and came out to meet them and were puzzled to see them hovering over the pile of rubble from the building that Tonya had just blown apart. Diana called up her magic to get a closer look at the witches. She saw that Darnell was riding on the back of Tonya's striker. That concerned Diana a little bit. They had said they were showing their strikers not bringing him back.
"Why do you have Darnel with you?" Diana asked.
"We went to show him our strikers and when we found him there were some bullies picking on him." Wendy replied. "We straightened them out."
Diana was even more concerned now. While Wendy was one of the coolest heads in the 555th Diana had a good idea that 'straightened involved a little more than just giving the boys a good talking too.
"Get down here now." Diana ordered.
The three witches landed and cradled their strikers. They dismounted their strikers Tonya taking somewhat longer because Darnel had to dismount first and she had to return to her wheel chair. When they were dismounted Diana came up to them with a stern expression on her face. Camille Darla and General Cabanas followed.
"Okay what happened." She asked there was an edge to her voice.
"We were flying to show Darnell our strikers when we saw some bullies beating him up." Wendy stated, "I decided that we should put a stop to that."
"So what did you do?" Diana asked next.
"Tonya let her Brownings talk for her." Wendy said with a little smile.
"Tonya, Please tell me you didn't shoot them?" Camille said.
"No Mama I didn't shoot them." Tonya assured her.
"She just used her power to put some rounds along either side of his head and shattered a boulder behind him." Wendy added.
"Yeah he pooped his pants!" Tracie said with a giggle.
"We can't let bullies pick on the families of the 555th. We are all one family now." Wendy stated
Diana looked at the three witches of Beta flight.
"Wendy I want a full report on my desk before you go to bed." Diana ordered. "You have anything to say General?"
"I'll wait for captain O' Brian's report." Was all he said.
Diana looked at the girls for a moment. She wondered what would have happened if she had brought Alpha Flight instead of Beta. Megan and Cindy were both hot heads. She shuddered to think of what would have happened if it had been those two instead of Wendy and Tracie.
"Dismissed" She finally said.
The three witches saluted her and she returned the salutes and they went to the barracks. Diana shook her head, it was bad enough that they had that confrontation but they had to have it while General Cabanas was present.
"Well you do know how to handle the rough problems." He commented.
"Yeah I hope so." At least nobody got shot. Diana groaned.
Back at the sceneThe DSD agent had followed the strikers as best he could when they had left the firing range. He heard the roar of Tonya's twin Brownings. He was screened from the area but he knew something had happened. When he arrived he saw a crowd and asked what had happened. He was told that the little Morris girl had caught some bullies picking on her brother and shot at them and they ran off they pointed to the pile of gravel that used to be a boulder.
3rd DSD HQ
Agent Kenzie Clio took the notes from the field agent and filed a report that certainly got the attention of the higher-ups. The group at the new Southern Base of the 555th had certainly called attention to themselves. While the Northern base had been careful not to threaten civilians the Southern group not only threatened but actually had fire warning shots! The 555th had really gotten their attention now!