Ddevans & Yurikohai right now the next couple chapter will focus more on Tonya Meggie will see more action in later chapters after the Calypso picks up the 555th
Empty Promise & Generalfeldmarschall You don't want to mess with the witches or their families of the 555th
Leche Flandre Okay it's up…Now it's your turn.
Guest #1 I do hope you cleaned up after yourself.
The 555th is coming togetherWendy was not happy to have to write a full report and have it on Diana's desk before bedtime. While she could write at about a second grade level, she really had to work at it she wrote slowly and writing this report would take the little girl hours. Wendy sighed picked up two pencils and a pencil sharpener and sitting down at a small desk started to laboriously write. After two and a half hours Wendy's report was complete. Nine and a half pages which she neatly stacked and secured with a paper clip and deposited on Diana's desk. The rumbling in her stomach reminded her that it was dinnertime. Wendy walked down to the Mess Hall she found that Tonya and Tracie were sitting with Darnell Wendy sat down with them.
"I HATE writing reports." She announced "Two and a half hours. Nine and a half pages. My hand hurts."
Wendy sat flexing her right hand and massaging it with her left trying to work out the stiffness. Wendy was the wings healer, the ironic thing was that she was unable to heal herself so her little hand was cramping up from pushing the pencils. Tonya watched Wendy trying to work the cramps out of her hand.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause you trouble like that." She said.
Wendy looked up at her.
"It's not your fault." She replied then turned to Darnell." And it's not your fault either. It's those stupid bullies fault"
"Yeah and you made him poop his pants!" Tracie cheerfully added. "And he had it coming too."
Tonya giggled" Yeah."
"Well I was in command and the decision to stop them was mine." Wendy pointed out. "So I'm taking responsibility for what happened."
"What's that mean?" Tonya asked.
"It means that if they don't like what was done they yell at me." Wendy responded.
"That's right." Diana said as she walked up. "How's the report going?"
"It's on your desk." Wendy replied. "It took me two and a half hours. My hand hurts."
"That's why I brought you." Diana replied. "You are reliable. I can trust you more than Meggie, you have a cooler head."
Wendy smiled. "Thanks."
"Yeah for this base we need somebody in charge who will not fly off the handle." Diana pointed out. "Meggie is good for whipping girls into shape and I think she will be a good combat commander. You are better at getting along with people and keeping things from getting out of control…though I still have to read your report.
"Yeah" Wendy said nodding.
Dinner was pretty quiet after that. After she finished eating Diana went to her office and started to read Wendy's report. As she expected Wendy had gone to considerable detail Diana finished reading the report as general Cabanas came in. Diana started to stand up.
"At ease Major" he said "Is that Captain O' Brian's report?""Yes.' Diana said as she handed it to him.
He took the report from her and started to read it then he looked at her with an expression of surprise on his face.
"You sure she is only five?" He asked. "I don't know any five year olds that can write any where near this well."
"Yeah Wendy is pretty smart." Diana replied.
General Cabanas nodded as he looked over her report.
"She has gone to great detail in this report." He finally stated, "I can see how they would want to put a stop to the attacks but the use of the M2 Brownings is a bit of over kill the Fedorov would have been enough. I think she should be given a verbal reprimand and told that they need to keep the use of firepower to a more modest level."
Diana nodded one thing they did not need was for somebody getting hurt or killed because the witches get a bit over rambunctious.
"Yeah we don't need to have people getting mad at us." Diana agreed.
The young Major and the General went down to the girls' bunkroom where they had retired by this time to get ready to go to sleep. Diana knocked on the door.
"You decent?" She asked.
"Yeah." Wendy called out from inside. Diana opened the door.
"At ease." Fred said before it was fully opened.
All three girls were in their underwear. Tonya was lying on her back in her bunk Tracie was sitting next to her. Wendy was standing by the head of the bunk.
"So what are you going to do to me now?" she asked.
General Cabanas stood looking over the girls. Wendy looked nervously at him as he looked them over. Major Evans behaved similarly as the two senior officers waited to see how the young girls would react. Tonya watched her commanding officer taking the heat and decided that was not right. She slid to the edge of the bed and swung her crippled legs over the side and pushed herself up to a sitting position.
"It's not her fault what happened," She declared. "I was the one that fired, I did it myself. I'm the one you should punish."
"No I'm the commander." Wendy replied, "You fired because you knew you had my approval."
The young Captain was not going to let Tonya tale the blame. She knew that what Tonya said was wrong. Wendy was in charge and made it clear both before and after that the final decision belonged to her. At this point General Cabanas had already made his decision and decided now was the time to state it.
"That's right Wendy. You are the commander." He stated. " You were right in feeling that the bullying needed to be stopped…. But using heavy machine guns to make a point against unarmed bullies is over kill. That weapon is used against dangerous threats that pose a danger to you. The Fedorov would have been more appropriate. I'm going to give you a break and just let you off with a verbal reprimand because nobody was hurt and no damage was done other than the boulder that was pulverized. But you need to tune your responses to the situation. I know that you want to protect your brother Tonya but did the situation warrant shooting at unarmed kids with a pair of heavy machineguns intended to take out neuroi?"
Tonya looked down.
"No" She quietly said.
"Save the heavy stuff for if you are fired upon or you are facing neuroi." He told the girls. " Firing heavy machine guns at bullies is not going to set well with the general public. Understand?"
"Yes sir." All three girls said as they nodded.
"Good" Genera Cabanas replied. "You have anything to add Major?"
"Just that you guys have some training to do tomorrow and Wendy You have to be ready to take command here because I'm going back up north the day after tomorrow." Diana. Said, "Now get to sleep."
Diana followed General Cabanas out closing the door behind them. She shook her head.
"Things aren't like this up north." She said sadly. " I hope Wendy will be able to handle this."
"I think she will." General Cabanas told her.
"Well we'll know soon enough." Diana said. "Day after tomorrow I'm going back home Then we find out how Wendy does on her own while I see what kind of job Megan does up north I think before I we go to sleep I'm going to set up 'Rules of Engagement' for the girls down here."
"That sounds like a good idea." General Cabanas agreed.
"Yeah I want to get that and a few other things squared away before I head up north." Diana said." I don't want you to have any undue problems after I leave."
"Oh I'm sure I'll be able to muddle along with out you." He dryly replied.
"Well you'll have Wendy here." Diana replied.
"Yes I will." Cabanas said. "Something tells me she is going to have her work cut out for her too."
"Yeah." Diana said nodding. "She has to learn how to work under pressure."
"Yes she does." Cabanas agreed. "She's a command officer and will soon be a combat command officer."
"Yeah, We are going to be a combat unit. Soon." Diana observed. "Well I have to talk to the girls about rules of engagement now."
"Yeah we need to get that out of the way." Cabanas said.
"Yeah I have a long day tomorrow." Diana observed. "I have to make sure that everything will run well here after I leave."
"Well I think we will be able muddle along." He replied.
"Yeah I think so," Diana said as she reached for the doorknob.
"We'll know soon enough." General Cabanas told her. "Now I have some things to take care of too."
General Cabanas turned and started to walk down the hall while Diana went into the bunkroom to work out what would be the rules of engagement. She spent about twenty minutes discussing what should be done when engaging hostile forces other than neuroi. While things had been quiet up north recent events had shown that there might be times when they might encounter people who might not be so friendly. After working out what Diana felt would a practical set of rules she went to take her shower then turned in for the night.
Diana woke-up when the sunlight coming through the window hit her in the face. She was in the top bunk she looked over at the other upper bunk where Tracie had been sleeping and saw it was empty. She looked down a little lower and saw that Wendy was sound asleep in her bunk. She looked down at the bunk under her where Tonya was sound asleep and then she saw what had happened to Tracie as the little Yooper girl was snuggled up to Tonya. Diana rolled on her back and smiled she could tell that they were friends and the friendship was already a strong one. She had a lot to do though; this was her last full day before going home to take care of the remaining units up north. Diana slowly sat up and slid to the edge of her bunk and slid over to the ladder and quietly climbed down grabbed her uniform for the day and decided to change in the shower room so she would not disturb the other girls. The previous days practice had tired them out some not to mention the little show they put on for the bullies. She smiled at the way Tracie and Tonya had snuggled up to each other. They looked so cute. She quietly opened the door and after grabbing the notes she had made for the Rules of Engagement left to change. After changing she left the shower room to head to her office. In the hall she ran into Camille and Darnell Morris.
"Hi Mrs. Morris. Hi Darnell.' She called out. "So you guys going to make breakfast?"
"Please call me Camille." She replied. "And I am, Darnell is going to be helping your sister."
"Yeah I told her I'm good at fixing stuff and she said she could use a helper down here." He added.
"Yeah I have a lot of work to do here." Darla announced as she walked up. "I have to get those strikers checked out after yesterday and Wendy wants to do another live fire test with Tonya's rockets…I think she likes to see things get blown up. General Cabanas got a hold of a bunch of old cars and trucks for Tonya to use as targets."
Darla looked over at Darnell
"I'm going to see just how hard you can work because we got a lot of work to do I'm going to work your little butt off." She told him
"Okay." Darnell replied.
"Good" Darla said "Come on we got work to do. We got rockets to load on your sisters Striker. Wendy likes to see things blown up."
Darla walked off with Darnel following. Camille watched them go.
"She won't work him to hard will she?" she asked.
"She won't work him any harder than she works herself." Diana replied then after a pause. "She works herself really hard so she will probably pound him half to death."
"Well in that case I better make a big breakfast." Camille replied.
"Yeah, Well I got a ton of paperwork to do." Diana said. " And I know that when I get back home there is a ton more waiting for me there."
Diana groaned as she turned and walked to her office.
"I hate paper work," she muttered as she went through the door.
Diana sat down at the desk and laid out her notes. She sighed as she looked at them She had basically written them down as she had discussed ideas with the Beta flight girls, now she had to sort and organize them into a format that would make sense. Diana started to spread the pages out to make more notes on them and try to sort them into some kind of organized sequence.
While Diana was struggling with paper work Darla brought Darnel to the hanger to start teaching him about strikers and how to work on them. She started with the easy stuff first doing light adjustments and checks on Tracie and Wendy's strikers. She liked the way Darnell listened and asked questions that showed he was paying attention and thinking. Darnell for his part liked the way Darla treated him, she was nice and did not talk down to him or treat him like he was an inferior. To Darla he was an apprentice who showed promise and his color was not even a factor. She liked his personality and attitude. The two of them worked together doing light check up work in the two strikers with Darla working slowly showing Darnell how things work and answering his questions while his mother was preparing breakfast for the rest of the base. Darla was pleased to see the way he picked things up she knew that there was going to be a lot of work not only with Tonya's striker and all the new design work that had been done to make it work but there were still the other strikers and they now had two bases that had to be serviced so if Darnell could learn well how to work on them it would take some of the load of Darla.
Wendy woke-up a little ahead of the other girls. She looked over at Tonya's bunk and noticed that Tracie was there with her. She smiled and gently called over to Tonya
"Hey Tonya I see you managed to get your baby doll," she teased.
"Yeah I guess so." Tonya groggily replied as she hugged Tracie.
Tracie lifted her head up.
"I thought she might be lonely." She said.
"Are you sure you're not the one who got lonely?" Wendy asked.
"Maybe." Tracie replied then both she and Tonya giggled.
"Well you both need to get up breakfast is going to be ready soon and we have a busy day." Wendy told them. "I want to see some more stuff get blown up. It's fun to watch."
Tonya giggled
"It's fun to do too." She said.
"Well I think you two need to get up and get dressed then." Wendy told them. "I think your mother will get upset if you and Tracie are late for breakfast."
"Yeah she will." Tonya grumped as she nudged Tracie. "Come on Tracie move."
Tracie rolled off the bed onto the floor and slowly sat up. She rubbed her eyes and slowly stood up. Tonya pulled herself up to a sitting position and grabbing her emaciated legs swung them around so they dangled over the side of the bed. She grabbed her uniform from the hanger that hung from the bottom of the bunk above her and pulled it on then pulled herself into the wheelchair parked up against the side of her bunk Tracie in the meantime had put her own uniform on. Tonya looked over at her friend and wing mate.
"You ready to go Tracie?" She asked
"Yup!" Tracie responded with a smile.
Tonya rolled her wheelchair over to Tracie who climbed into her lap. As Tracie settled in the Dinner bell started to ring
"We better hurry up." Tonya told her as she spun her wheelchair around and headed for the door. "Momma don't like it when people are late for breakfast."
"Yeah." Wendy agreed. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry." Tracie teased. "That's why you're fat!"
Wendy glared at Tracie
"Sergeant, just remember who your commanding officer is." She icily replied.
Tracie looked at her and giggled
"Okay." She replied.
All three of them left for the cafeteria
In the hanger Darla and Darnell heard the bell as well.
"That's the dinner bell." Darla announced. That's good, I'm hungry."
"Me too." Darnell said. "Working makes me hungry!"
"What do you mean?" Darla asked. "You haven't done any real work yet! Wait until after breakfast we have to load up your sisters striker. We'll see what happens after you have to help me load up those rockets and the ammo drums for her machine guns."
Darnell looked over at the rack of rockets that were longer than he was tall…and gulped.
"Those look heavy." He mused
"One Hundred and thirty four pounds." Darla replied. And that includes seven and a half pounds of explosive in the warhead and twenty-four pounds of propellant in the rocket engine."
Darnell groaned
"I better eat a lot then." He told her. "You're going to kill me!"
"Nah but you ARE going to be sore tonight." Darla told him.
Darnell groaned again.
Diana was staring at the notes scattered over her desk she had made additional notations on the pages but still had no idea how to organize the mess. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. The rules she had to make for a combat unit were MUCH harder to do than they were for a test and evaluation team. She heard the dinner bell…maybe after eating breakfast things might be easier. She stood up and made her way to the cafeteria.
General Cabanas was already in the kitchen watching Camille put together a rather large breakfast of bacon, eggs and sausage, with biscuits and gravy and pancakes. He looked over the massive amount of food she was preparing.
"You think you are cooking enough?" He asked.
"I hope so." Camille replied. "Tonya is going to be doing another live fire thing again and Darla is going to work Darnell half to death today I know that. Plus Tracie has to eat more she is so little she's like skin and bones I have to fatten her up!"
General Cabanas smiled. He turned as the girls started to file in. Tracie as usual was riding in Tonya's lap.
"I think they like each other." He commented.
"Yeah it does look like it." Camille agreed.
Diana walked in with a pained expression on her face.
"What's wrong Diana?" General Cabanas asked.
" Damn paper work sucks!" She replied as she saluted. "I HATE it!"
"Yeah that is one of the worst things about command." He told her." As you are finding out."
"I got papers all over my desk." Diana mused, "I don't know where to start."
"I'll have my Secretary come over and help you." General Cabanas said." She is pretty good at straightening out messes."
"Well I have a big one for her." Diana sighed.
Darla and Darnell came in from the hanger.
"So how does he look?" General Cabanas asked Darla about Darnell.
"Well he listens well and he's smart." Darla told him." I can tell by his questions that he's paying attention and he's thinking. I'll know more after breakfast when we start on Tonya's striker. We worked on Tracie and Wendy's this morning that was just checking things out. Tonya's has to be loaded with ammo and rockets and I have to check out how it's holding up because so much of it is custom to fit her special needs and her power. There is a lot of new stuff on that one. It's the one that is going to need work." Darla looked down at the young boy. "I'll see how he works then."
"So you are going to work me hard?" Darnell asked.
"She is going to work you to DEATH!" Diana said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Nice knowing you kid."
Darnell's eyes bugged out over Diana's remark.
"Oh it's not going to be that bad." Darla assured him. "But you are going to sleep well tonight."
Darnell just groaned. The pilots of Gamma flight came in and Bradley had to needle Jasper over the incident with Tracie the previous day. He nudged the Captain and pointed over at Tracie.
"Hey Captain there's your girlfriend." He said.
Captain Ross glared at Bradley
"She's four years old." He icily told him.
Bradley is literally saved by the bell as Camille comes out and ringing a big bell announces that breakfast is ready and to line up. At this point the issue is forgotten as everybody lines up for the pancakes bacon and sausage as well as the biscuits and gravy.
"Alright people breakfast is served" Camille declared "Hurry up and get yours before it gets cold."
The people quickly lined up and started to pile their plates with food most of the men and girls grabbed quite a bit of food. Tracie however only took one pancake, one slice of bacon and one sausage link. Camille looked at the small amount of food Tracie took.
"You need to take more than that." She told the tiny witch.
"But I'm not hungry!" Tracie protested as she grabbed a glass of orange juice and headed for the table.
Camille watched as Tracie left with her plate and sat down to eat. She decided that no way was that little girl going to leave without eating a lot more. While Tracie was eating the food on her plate Camille was preparing a second plate, she put on that one a biscuit covered with gravy three pancakes two slices of bacon and three sausage links. Tracie finished what she had on her plate and was getting ready to slide her chair away from the table when Camille took the empty plate away and replaced with the fresh plate of food and positioned her not inconsiderable body behind Tracie's chair blocking her in.
"You ain't leaving until you clean this plate off." Camille announced.
Tracie looked at the new plate with the considerably larger amount of food on it.
"I can't eat all that!" she protested, "My tummy is too little!"
"You can and you will!" Camille replied "You need to put some meat on those bones."
"Yeah, don't you want to have big boobs to show Jasper?" Bradley teased.
Tracie turned deep red and slid off her chair under the table whining "nooo!"
" Hey Bradley aren't you being a little rough on the kid." Clifford said
"Oh C'mon I'm just teasing her " Bradley replied.
Tracie slowly crawled up out from under the table onto Tonya's lap. She slowly climbed up and sat in Tonya's lap. Tonya hugged her once she was in her lap.
"You know Tracie Jasper really likes girls with big boobs." Bradley needled.
Tracie buried her face in Tonya's left shoulder with a little squeal
"Jeese Bradley will you knock it off already." Clifford scolded. "It's not funny. She's just a little kid."
No sooner had Clifford finished than a coffee cup hit Bradley upside the head. He turned and saw Tonya glaring at him while tossing a fork up and snatching it out of the air. She caught it when he turned and raised her arm up to a throwing position.
"You want to see what I can do with this fork and my power?" She icily said
"Bradley I would advise you to quit now." Jasper who had been watching the proceedings said. "I'm not sure where that fork would end up but I'm quite certain it will be some place you would not like.
"I think you might want to show a little more discretion." General Cabanas stated. "In a few months you all are going to be facing the neuroi and it would not be a good idea to get on the bad side of somebody who down the road could be covering your back."
Bradley looked at the two girls Tracie still had her face buried in Tonya's shoulder while Tonya was holding that fork in a threatening manner with a look on her face that made it clear that she was ready to put it in a place that would be very unpleasant for him. He also realized that the girls had a right to be mad at him He had carried things a little too far.
"Yeah you're right I did over do this." He said, "I'm sorry I should not have said what I did. It was wrong for me to do that I promise I won't do that again."
"You better not!" Tonya warned him as she put the fork down.
Tracie pulled her face out of Tonya's shoulder. "Thanks."
Bradley quickly backed away knowing that he had managed to avoid a painful situation. Tonya was not done yet though. She repositioned Tracie in her lap so Tracie's back was against her chest. She slid Tracie's plate over in front of them picked up the fork and used it to cut off a piece of one of the sausage links and picked it up and put it in front of Tracie's mouth.
"Open up." She said, "Momma said you have to eat."
"But I'm not hu…Glumph!" Tracie started to protest but was cut off when Tonya pushed the piece of sausage in her mouth.
"Momma said eat!" she commanded the younger girl as she uses the fork to cut off a piece of gravy-covered biscuit Tracie started to slide off Tonya's lap when Tonya wrapped her arm around the smaller girl and pulled her back up against her chest and held her in place.
"MOMMA SAID EAT!" Tonya commanded in a louder voice as she held Tracie in a vice like grip.
Tracie struggled for a few moments before giving up and surrendering to the inevitable allowing Tonya to hand feed her. Tonya smiled as Tracie allowed herself to be hand fed.
"That's a good little girl." Tonya cooed. "Eat all your breakfast so you can grow big and strong."
Tracie leaned back against Tonya's chest and laid her head against Tonya's shoulder as Tonya fed her. Soon Tracie relaxed as she enjoyed being handfed by Tonya and she smiled as she was fed. Tonya smiled as she fed Tracie her food finally she had one fork full of gravy covered biscuit left she started to bring it up to Tracie then went and put it in her own mouth instead.
"HEY!" Tracie cried out.
"Feeding you all that good food was making me hungry again" Tonya responded. "My Momma's biscuit and gravy is really good it's my favorite."
Tracie sat with a pouty look on her face as Tonya ate the last of the Biscuit and Gravy. Tonya looked at her little friend.
"You want me to get another plate?" She asked.
"No I'm STUFFED!" Tracie replied patting her belly.
Tonya looked around and saw the others had already left and wheeled around.
"We better get to the hanger I know they are waiting for us. "She said as she rolled in that direction.
Tonya and Tracie arrived in the hanger as Darla and Darnell were loading the rockets on Tonya's striker. Wendy was checking her Fedorov over and looked up.
"It's about time you two got here." She griped. "You have to get some more target practice in Tonya you have some catching up to do to bring your combat skills up to the levels of the girls who have been around longer I know you can hit targets well but you have to be able to maneuver better and that striker is going to be harder to do than the others and you have to learn how to use your shields in flight. You have a LOT of work to do yet."
"I know." Tonya replied. "But Momma said Tracie needs to eat more and she wouldn't so I had to feed her."
Wendy just shook her head and rolled her eyes. While that was going on Darla and Darnell were loading the rockets on Tonya's striker with Darnell taking the engine end and placing it in the rack first while Darla had the heavier warhead end and once Darnell placed the back of the rocket in the rack slid it home and placed the restraining clips in place. After several more minutes Darnell and Darla had all the rockets loaded. A few more minutes of double-checking the placements and making sure the rockets were secure and the releases would work at the proper time Darla declared the striker was ready for take off. Wendy ordered the girls to mount up and the three witches took off for a morning of training.
555th Commanders office
While Beta Flight was taking off for a heavy training session Diana had a pile of paperwork to deal with in addition to organizing rules of engagement for non-neuroi combat Diana had to get things set-up to transfer the command of the Southern Base command to Wendy. Diana started to try to organize the notes from their meeting on the rules of engagement when there was a disturbance in the hallway. Diana called up her magic just in case when the door burst open and a rather large angry man burst through it.
"Where the hell is the commander of this damn unit?" He demanded.
Diana stood up and came out from behind her desk.
"That would be me." She replied in a stern voice. "You better have a good reason for bursting into my office raging like a damn lunatic."
Diana was not in a good mood and having this loudmouth fool bursting into her office did not set well with her. The fact he was a full two feet taller than her and quadruple her weight did not matter, she was going to set him straight real quick. He looked at this little girl and decided he would put her in her place.
"You better have a good reason for your girls shooting at my son." He stated in a threatening tone clenching his fists and flexing his arms.
If he was expecting the little witch to be intimidated he was in for a surprise. Diana was quite confident in her shield and was not about to let this lout push her around.
"So you are Poopie Pants father eh?" She said. "Well I'm not impressed he and his sissy friends were picking on the brother of one of my witches…Bad idea, He's family you mess with the family of one witch you have to face all of us."
He glared at her.
"Now you listen here little missy…" He started out before Diana cut him off.
"That's MAJOR Evens to you." She sternly told him.
Annoyed at the young girl he decided she needed to be put in her place. He swings his hand down to slap her face…only to hit the shield she threw up. Before he had a chance to react Diana reached through her shield grabbed his collars with both hands and yanked him down until his face was slammed into her shield the only reason he was not on the floor was because he was pulled tight into her shield. She brought her face close to his on the other side of the shield.
"You tell Poopie Pants and those sissies he plays with to stay away from my witches and their families." Diana warned him. "Or bad things will happen to them and you. Now get out of my office I'm tired of seeing your ugly face!"
Diana flexed her knees slightly and heaved the man across the room and he slammed into the wall. At this point General Cabanas came into the room with his secretary.
"Okay Major I'll take over from here." He told her. "Marsha here will help you organize that paperwork."
He turns toward the man leaning against the wall.
"Come with me." He told him. "I have something to show you."
The guy followed General Cabanas bitching the whole way about the way he and his son had been treated. Cabanas ignored all of it as he led the guy to the end of the runway where a number of junk cars and trucks had been placed in the rubble of the building Tonya had destroyed the day before. General Cabanas pointed at the vehicles on top of the rubble.
"Watch what happens." He said.
The witches had returned from the machinegun range and Tonya positioned herself above the runway. She hovered for a moment before launching a salvo of rockets and blasting six vehicles into little pieces. A section of the rear axle assembly of one of them landed near their feet. General Cabanas looked down at the wreckage then up at the guy.
"That is the little sister of the boy your punk son and his punk friends have been terrorizing." Cabanas told him. "You see all the ruble? Yesterday morning it was a building …Tonya flattened it before she dealt with your punk son. "
He stood there and let loudmouth take in the scene.
"Major Evans gave you some good advice." He icily told him. "I would advise you to follow it"
At that point a couple MPs arrived. General Cabanas pointed at the guy with him.
"Get this shit off my base I'm tired of looking at it." He declared.
The two MPs joined by a couple of pilots from Gamma flight removed the guy…somewhat less than gently. Once he had been removed from the base General Cabanas returned to the office to see how Diana and Marsha were doing. He found them looking over the papers which were now spread over the top of the desk with Marsha writing occasional notes on them as she looked them over Diana saw him at the door and straightened up and saluted. He returned the salute.
"At ease Major." He told her. "I don't think he or his son are going to give us any more problems. He saw Tonya blow up some old cars and trucks then I told him about the pile of rubble that used to be a building before Tonya blew it up yesterday."
"I bet that impressed him." Diana told him
"Oh yeah and I let him know that I had no problem with her actions and advised him that if he knew what was good for him he would make sure his son stayed away from my witches and their families." He said with a smile. "So how are you two doing with this project?"
"Well not too bad." Marsha replied. "Diana makes some pretty good notes actually…Better than some people I know."
I'll pretend I didn't hear that." He responded, "So how much longer do you think it will take?"
"I should have it on your desk by lunch time." Marsha told him.
General Cabanas smiled Marsha was efficient and thorough. That is why he valued her so much she was good at her job.
"I knew I could count on you." He told her "I'm very lucky to have you here."
"I know you tell me that all the time." She said with a smile.
"That's because it's true." He stated as he went out the door.
Hanger
After their gunnery practice and Tonya's demonstration of firepower the witches of Beta Flight flew into the hanger Tonya and Tracie docked their strikers in their cradles but Wendy stayed in hers.
"I'm going over to see Pauly and see how he's doing." She said
"So you are going to take your boyfriend out on a date, eh?" Darla said with a little smirk.
"Maybe." Wendy replied with a sly little smile.
"Well don't do anything I wouldn't do." Darla teased. "And if you do name it after me."
"I'll think about it." Wendy responded as she took off.
Cumming's residence
Laundry day…there was not anything Carrie Cummings hated more than Laundry day. Bending over that washtub with that washboard was backbreaking tiring work Hours of using that wash board and it didn't help that Pauly had blood all over his clothes that he had been wearing when he fell through that window…If it had not been for that little Wendy witch Carrie shuddered over what might have been. She might have very well saved his life! She heard motors coming in but was too busy to see what it was then she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Who is it?" she called out.
"Can Pauly come out and play?" Wendy replied.
Carrie stopped working the clothes over the washboard. It sounded like a little girl with an odd accent. She answered the door and saw a chubby little red haired white girl something about her looked familiar but she could not put her finger on it.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Wendy." Came the reply.
"Wendy?" Carrie said puzzled she was tired from doing the wash and Wendy had called in her magic.
Wendy figured out that Carrie might not recognize her without the features of her familiar up so she called up her magic and the features of her Painted Turtle familiar manifested. As soon as she saw the red and yellow stripes appear on her face and neck. Carrie immediately recognized Wendy.
"Oh! You're Wendy the witch!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me."
Wendy giggled as she called in her magic and her familiar's traits were withdrawn into her.
"That's okay." She said with a smile "I know I look different when I got my turtle parts out. So can Pauly come out to play?"
Mrs. Cummings looked at the little girl standing in front of her; obviously her parents were still up north. Normally she did not like the idea of Pauly going out with a child as young as Wendy with out her parents being around. But if it had not been for Wendy Pauly might not be around plus as she looked at her uniform and the Captain's bars on her shoulders it was clear she was more than just a little kid.
"Okay he can come play with you." She said. "Pauly, Wendy the witch is here to see you."
Wendy called in her magic, at the same time there was a bunch of thudding sounds coming from inside the house before the storm door flew open, slamming against the wall and Pauly came charging out and ran into Wendy wrapping his arms around her with a big hug as he collided with Wendy with enough force to knock her back a couple steps and almost knocking the heavier girl off her feet.
"WENDY!" He screamed.
"I'm glad to see you too." She deadpanned.
Pauly looked up at her from his hug.
"You look different." He said then he moved his hands around a bit. "You feel different too."
"That's because I don't have my magic up." Wendy replied. "When I call up my magic I get the markings and shell of my Painted Turtle familiar. Do you like me like this?"
"Yes." He replied. "You're pretty."
Wendy blushed when Pauly said she was pretty. He ran his hands over her body.
"You're soft too." He added.
"That tickles." Wendy giggled.
When Wendy said it tickled Pauly started to tickle her in earnest Wendy lost her balance and fell with Pauly on top of her. That did not last long being taller and heavier than him she quickly turned the tables and flipped over so she was on top and tickled him mercilessly for a couple moments before stopping.
"Had enough?" she asked him.
"I give!" he pleaded.
Wendy got off Pauly and helped him up.
"That's what happens when you start a tickle fight with somebody bigger than you." She giggled
Mrs. Cummings still had laundry to do and as much as she hated it she still had to get it done.
"Alright I have laundry to finish." She said with a sigh. "You two play nice now."
"Yes Mommy." Pauly said
"I will Mrs. Cummings." Wendy assured her.
Carrie sighed as she returned to her laundry. After she left the kids stood awkwardly trying to figure out what to do Pauly had never had a girl come to play with him before and did not know what to do. Wendy took the initiative.
"You want me to take you flying with my strikers?" She asked.
"YEAH!" Pauly exclaimed.
"Okay." Wendy replied as she called up her magic and mounted her strikers. She fired up them up and hovered over to Pauly.
"You ready?" she asked him.
"YEAH!" He yelled excitedly.
"Okay Hold your hands out so I can lift you." Wendy told him. "Watch out for the propellers."
Pauly held his arms up and Wendy grabbed his wrists and easily yanked the smaller boy up and held him in her arms.
"Hang on tight." She told him as she revved up the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines and took off. Pauly's eyes opened wide as he watched the ground rapidly drop away as Wendy quickly climbed to altitude.
"So how you like flying?" Wendy asked him.
"It's FUN!" He exclaimed. "A little scary but fun."
"So you like flying with me, eh?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah I like you" Pauly told her "I never had a girl for a friend before."
"So I'm your first girlfriend, eh?" Wendy replied.
"Yes." He replied.
"Do you like having me be your girl friend?" Wendy asked him.
"Yeah." He replied. "You're nice."
"So are you." Wendy replied "I like having you for a boyfriend too."
Then her stomach growled…loud enough to be heard over her strikers. Wendy blushed slightly.
"I get hungry after I put out a lot of magic power and before I came here we had been doing weapons practice." She told him. "I would love a big bowl of ice-cream right now."
"I know where there is a good ice-cream shop." Pauly responded.
"Good! I just got paid." Wendy replied, "Show me where it's at."
"Sure" Pauly said as he pointed. "It's right over there.
It took a few minutes because Pauly had a little trouble recognizing the place from the air but soon Wendy was overhead. After hovering for a bit looking for a place to park her strikers she had Pauly jump down then leaned her strikers against a nearby fence and powered them down and dismounted. Ruby Williams was doing some cleaning in her store when she heard the commotion outside and came out to investigate. Pauly saw her when she came out and rushed up to her.
"Hey Ruby!" he called out. ""I got a girlfriend her name is Wendy and she's a strike witch!"
Ruby watched Wendy park her striker and dismount calling in her magic. Ruby saw that she was a chubby pale-skinned red head then looked down at the skinny little dark-skinned boy claiming she was his girl friend. She had her doubts that the white girl really felt that way about the little boy. She decided to find out for sure.
"Pauly says you're his girlfriend."
"Yup!" Wendy said with a smile "He's my boyfriend and I'm his girl friend. I think he's cute."
Wendy walked up and hugged him and then rubbed his head.
"I like his hair too." She added then taking a hold of his hand. "We're going to get some ice-cream now."
Wendy and Pauly walked hand in hand to the counter. It was clear to Ruby that not only was Pauly Wendy's boy friend but Wendy was the one who was the initiator. She followed the pair in and went behind the counter.
"Okay what do you kids want?" She asked.
Wendy looked over at Pauly
"I want a triple chocolate cone!" He replied
Ruby looked at Wendy who nodded and smiled.
"What you want to drink Pauly?" Wendy asked.
"I'll take a coke." He said with a smile.
Ruby turned to Wendy
"And what do you want?" She asked.
Wendy had been studying the menu board and something caught her eye.
"I want that Super Giant Banana Split!" She declared "and a chocolate shake."
Ruby looked at the little girl stunned granted she was chubby but still no way did this girl look like she could eat something that large. It was rarely ordered and when it was it was usually by two high school kids on a date not a little girl.
"Uh Wendy do you know how big that is?" She asked "Or how much it cost?"
Yeah twelve scoops of ice cream four each chocolate, Vanilla and strawberry, two bananas sliced in half and three cherries each on a mound of whipped cream…Just what I need after all the flying I did today. I used a lot of magic." Wendy told her. "That makes me hungry and it costs one dollar and seventy five cents and the chocolate shake is twenty-five cents and Pauly's ice cream cone is fifteen cents and his Coke is five cents. That's two dollars and twenty cents total."
Ruby was surprised at Wendy's reply it was clear this little girl was quite smart. She pulled down a long oval bowl a foot long and three inches wide. She did not make many of them and they were usually bought by guys on the high school football team to share with a date…and they usually could not finish it.
"This is the bowl it comes in are you SURE you can eat this much?" She asked.
"I'm super hungry I can eat that no problem." Wendy replied with a smile.
Wendy reached into her pocket and pulled out a roll of bills as big as her little fist and pealed off a five and handed it to Ruby. She took the bill from Wendy more than a little surprised at the size of the roll of bills the five-year-old girl was carrying. She grabbed a small bottle of Coke for Pauly and made a chocolate shake for Wendy
"It's going to take me a few minutes to make that Banana Split." She told Wendy as she handed her the drinks." You can sit at one of the tables and I'll bring your ice cream to you."
"Thanks" Wendy replied as she handed the Coke to Pauly and they walked hand in hand to the nearest table.
Ruby watched the little couple as they took their seats. They were so sweet and innocent. They seemed not to care about being different races…Indeed Wendy seemed to have a particular fondness for the texture of Pauly's hair, as she liked to rub his head. He seemed to like it when she did so. Ruby started to put together Wendy's treat looking up occasionally to see what the little couple were doing. She saw Wendy slide her hand over and gently take Pauly's hand in it. He looked over and smiled. Ruby finished making Wendy's Giant Banana Split and put three scoops of chocolate ice cream in a cone for Pauly. She put both on a tray along with a receipt and Wendy's change and brought it to the table the two little lovebirds were sitting at.
"Here's your ice-cream." Ruby said as she put the tray down.
"That looks GOOD!" Wendy announced as she grabbed the huge banana split. "Thanks!"
She plowed into the giant treat with a vengeance shoveling spoonfuls of whipped cream and ice cream into her mouth as fast as she could. Ruby was amazed that she didn't choke she was eating so fast. She handed the ice cream cone to Pauly who thanked her and started to eat it in a much more dignified manner than his date was eating hers. Ruby left the tray on the table since Wendy's change was still on it. Ruby cleaned up after making Wendy's Banana Split she had the utensils she had used and the banana peels and other stuff to pick up she would look over at Wendy amazed at how she was devouring her banana split.
While Ruby was cleaning up and the kids were enjoying their ice cream Ruby's brother Rufus had come over and was looking at Wendy's strikers and her Fedorov before coming in. Wendy finished wolfing down her giant banana split and leaned back in her chair with a loud belch and patted her bulging belly.
"That was GOOD!" she declared.
Rufus came in just as Wendy had finished and let out that loud belch. Ruby stood shaking her head.
"I can't believe she ate the whole thing!" she muttered
"Who ate what?" Rufus asked as he came in.
Ruby pointed at Wendy who was holding Pauly's hand again.
"That little girl just ate a Super Giant Banana Split by HERSELF!" Ruby exclaimed. "The WHOLE thing!"
Rufus looked at the chubby little white girl holding hands with Pauly.
"Who is she?" He asked.
"This is Wendy, She's my girlfriend!" Pauly replied.
"Yup and Pauly's my boyfriend." Wendy added.
Rufus was a bit surprised by what the kids had told him. He noticed that Wendy had an accent. He could tell that she was not from around there. But there was something else on his mind.
"What are those things leaning on the fence out there?" He asked.
"Those are my striker units." Wendy replied.
"Yeah Wendy is a Strike Witch!" Pauly added.
"Is that your gun leaving against the fence with your strikers?" Rufus asked
"Yeah I didn't think Ruby would like it if I walked in with an assault rifle." Wendy replied.
"Well I think that would be better than leaving it outside where anybody could pick it up." Ruby stated.
"Yeah you're right I didn't think of that." Wendy said blushing. "I'll bring it in next time I come on a date with Pauly…if that's okay with you. I have to have my gun when out with my strikers incase the neuroi show up. I wish there was a striker cradle here."
"I can make one if you need it" Rufus told her.
"You can?" Wendy asked wide eyed."
"I can build ANYTHING!" Rufus replied. "All I need is to take some measurements and I can have a striker cradle ready for you real quick." He announced.
Wendy had this big smile on her face the idea of there being a striker cradle there was good. She like to bring Pauly on little dates there …She was getting rather attracted to the little guy. She like his personality and rubbing his hair felt good. The fact he was younger, smaller and darker than her did not bother her in the least.
"Yeah that would make it easier to bring my boyfriend here. "Wendy happily declared. "Go make your measurements"
Why Rufus was measuring Wendy's striker Wendy put her ice cream dish and glass on the tray after collecting her change…and slipped three dimes under the dish. She grabbed her shake and drank the last of it and put the glass on the tray and walked outside. Pauly followed her out still eating his ice cream cone. Rufus by then had taken the measurements he needed on the strikers. He turned as Wendy came out.
"I have the measurements I need from your strikers now I need to get some when you have it powered up." He told her.
"Okay." Wendy replied.
She climbed up the fence called up her Magic and carefully mounted her striker and fired it up. Wendy pulled away from the fence and Rufus did the rest of the measurements he needed.
"Okay that should do it." He told her. "I'll have it ready in a day or two."
"Thanks." Wendy said. "Come on Pauly I have to get you home and get back to the base."
Pauly finished his ice cream cone and walked over to where Wendy was hovering.
"Put your arms up so I can pick you up and watch the props." She told him.
"Would it be easier if I picked him up and handed him to you?" Rufus asked her.
"Yeah." Wendy said. "That would help a lot."
Rufus picked up Pauly and held him out straight-armed and Wendy took him and cradled Pauly in her arms.
"Thanks." She told him. "I got to get Pauly home now."
"Okay." Rufus replied. "I'll let you know when that striker cradle is ready. I should have it done in a day or two."
"Thanks." Wendy said.
Ruby picked up the tray and started to take the glasses and bowl off it when she saw the three dimes and picked them up.
"I don't believe it!" She exclaimed, "She left me a tip!"
"She probably forgot to grab her change." Rufus replied
"No she had two dollars and eighty cents change." Ruby said, "She left three dimes."
She powered up her strikers and took off It did not take her long to get Pauly home. Mrs. Cummings heard Wendy's strikers she had finally finished the laundry and was sitting on her front porch resting when they flew in Wendy gave Pauly a little kiss then dropped him off. Mrs. Cummings was a little surprised to see that Wendy had taken him up with her strikers. She parked her strikers against a fence and dismounted. Pauly had already run up to his mother.
"Wendy took me flying with her strikers!" He gushed. "We went to Ruby's and she bought me a triple chocolate cone and a Coke."
"Wendy, you didn't have to do that." Mrs. Cummings admonished her.
"But I wanted ice-cream and it's rude to eat in front of somebody if they don't have anything to eat too." Wendy replied
"Yeah she ate one of those 'Super Giant Banana Splits' all by herself!" Pauly told her. "And she had a chocolate shake too!"
"I was hungry." Wendy told them "I had been doing a lot of flying and used a lot of magic that makes me hungry."
"But you spent so much money." Mrs. Cummings said, "That is a lot of money."
"I'm a Strike Witch and a command officer." Wendy told her. "I get a good size pay check and I like to spend it on my friends. And Pauly is my boyfriend."
"And Wendy is my girlfriend." He added.
Mrs. Cummings sat a bit stunned by what she had heard. A little white girl had just declared that her son was her boyfriend. She knew she didn't have to ask if Wendy would be back at any rate Wendy was about to make that clear anyway.
"Diana is going back up north tomorrow so I don't know if I I'll be able to come then." Wendy said "But if I can't I will be here the day after tomorrow. I have to go now but I'll be back.
"Oh!" Mrs. Cummings groaned. "I hope you don't mind if I don't get up my back is killing me. I promise I'll livelier next time. Washing laundry by hand kills my back."
"That's okay," Wendy told her. "You take it easy. Bye now."
Pauly ran up to Wendy and gave her a big hug Wendy returned the hug and gave him a little kiss on the forehead.
"Now you be nice to your Mommy now." She admonished him.
Wendy released Pauly and went to her striker and calling up her magic fired up her strikers and took off. She hovered a bit and waved then flew back to base. A few minutes later she docked her strikers and dismounted Darla watched her come in.
"So how was your date?" she asked.
"It was great!" Wendy gushed. "We went to this ice cream shop and they had this super giant banana split that was really good. It had twelve scoops of ice cream two bananas and three cherries each on a mound of whipped cream."
"I bet you loved that." Darla said.
"Yeah I had that and a chocolate shake." Wendy told her "And I got a triple ice cream cone and a coke for Pauly."
"So are going to go out again?" Darla asked.
"Yeah they are going to make a strike cradle for me to make it easier for me to bring Pauly." Wendy said. "I really like him."
"I think you're in love." Darla teased.
"Yup!" Wendy said with a big smile. "I'm in love."
Wendy skipped away.