1Jumping Tracks

Disclaimer: Same as before…

---

"So a majority of our team members are missing, and we have no idea where they are?" Jean began.

"ARH HA HA HA HAR!" Jack Sparrow and the Pirates all chanted, waving their cutlasses into the air.

"Will you shut up!" Jean replied, "This is serious!"

"Who's missing, that's what we need to know?" Falcon asked. After the Azores Incident, Hawk had temporarily reassigned Falcon as the team leader for the Misfits.

"That would be Roadblock, Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Avalanche, Xi, and Quicksilver from us." Low Light replied.

"We're missing Cyclops, Iceman, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Multiple, and Colossus." Jean replied.

"Elastigirl and Dash are missing from my family." Mr. Incredible replied.

"This could be magical in nature." Ted replied.

"What led you to that conclusion?" Low Light asked.

"My girlfriend is a witch. Of course I've gained somewhat of a passing familiarity with magic." Ted replied, "Besides Paige has mentioned things about demons being able to transport people and themselves into other dimensions."

"I'm not convinced it's magical." Forge replied, "There could be a perfectly scientific reason for this to have occurred."

"I'll head to San Francisco and see what I can find." Ted began.

"Wait one minute, Mister." Low Light remarked.

"What?" Ted replied.

"First of all, you spend more time in San Francisco than you do here at the Pit." Low Light began.

"I always come back in for work." Ted replied, "And I'm always here whenever I'm needed."

"That's the thing. You're always heading over for San Francisco at the earliest possible opportunity to spend time with your witch. Or go climbing through canyons…" Low Light sniped.

"First of all, with our most recent foes having some magical connections, having witches on our side might be helpful." Ted replied.

"A convenient excuse." Low Light replied.

"Whatever." Ted replied, "Paige is probably going to want an explanation."

"Having problems with your witch?" Low Light sniped. "In all honesty, I've got no sympathy for you pal."

"You take that back asshole." Mountaineer growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Low Light replied as he walked right up to Ted.

Ted said nothing but slugged Low Light solidly in the mouth, "Kick your ass for bad mouthing my girl!"

Low Light spit the blood from his lip before tackling Ted, driving him into the wall. "I'd love to see you try." Low Light replied.

Ted drove his head into Low Light's head before kneeing him in the groin.

"That's enough!" Beast roared as the two men rolled on the ground, punching, wrestling, and head butting one another.

Wolverine grabbed a hold of Ted, holding him back. "Take it easy bub."

"What's the matter, can't take it when someone brings up the fact that you're a slacker." Low Light said, "Technical and tactical proficiency."

"Slacker my ass, Low Light!" Ted snapped back, straining against Wolverine's grasp, "I've been early for every one of your training sessions. I've been shooting expertly, following your damn commandments. I've been putting the effort forward."

"Effort isn't enough, Mountaineer." Low Light replied as Beast and Falcon were trying to hold him down.

"You know, some of us have lives." Ted replied, "I've passed your damn tests!"

"Passing isn't enough!"

"Both of you seriously sound like you've got the male version of PMS!" Tabitha commented.

"This is a side effect of the loss of our team members." Blob began, in his Psychiatrist Fred voice.

"Come again?" Bluey asked.

"Don't you see? Low Light's constant bickering with Shipwreck masked underlying issues Mountaineer and Low Light had with each other. Then there was Cover Girl who usually kept those two from fighting and thus airing out their issues." Psychiatrist Fred continued, "Now let's sit these two down and let them air out their issues."

"Low Light, you're jealous of Mountaineer." Fred began.

"What? He can have his sneaking off to San Francisco whenever he can!" Low Light snapped back.

"And you seem to not have the best of luck when it comes to women. Especially when the other adults seem to make remarks of your status as a virgin..." Fred began, in a clinically detached tone.

Ted chuckled just then, just as Fred replied, "And you also have issues..."

"Come again?" Ted replied.

"Well, from your file, you've always been an independent mindset." Blob replied, "But for some reason you've always felt like you never really belonged anywhere. And that's why you tend to be a bit on the footloose side. It's why you're compelled to wander and explore…Even though things have gotten a bit more domestic in your case."

"Hey, it's not like Paige and I are engaged." Ted replied.

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo…" Klondike began, as he walked over to them and dropped Ted's cell phone on the ground, as the notes of the Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, echoed into the air.

"Paige?" Ted replied, as he picked up his phone, "I'll be there in a few minutes…"

"This isn't over." Low Light replied.

"You're one step closer into turning into a Heartless." Ted snapped back as he headed out with Klondike.

---

Officer Benny Tyler, Metroville National Police fired his issue semi-automatic at two approaching Russians as they smashed into the hospital. He saw the bullet strike one of the Russians in the upper arm as he ducked inside an office. He pulled down the alarm lever.

The two Russians entered the lobby with more of their comrades behind them. Crap. Benny realized there was no way out of this small alcove, and the Russians had seen him duck inside. He aimed his pistol at the doorway arch as the Russians forced the door open a crack. A cylinder about the size of a soda can was thrown inside.

Benny scrambled towards the door in a panic, hoping to get to the door before the grenade exploded. The grenade exploded with a flash. Benny felt his stomach burn as razor edged metal fragments tore into him. He crawled behind a desk, where his gun had been blown during the explosion.

Just after the grenade blew up the Russians sprayed the room with automatic fire and Benny felt bullets rip into his right arm, shoulder, and side. Bleeding profusely now, Benny tried to drag himself to cover as two Russian soldiers burst into the room.

Benny glanced up, noticing a Russian soldier with a bleeding arm. The wounded Russian turned towards him and fired one round from his AK-74 rifle into the center of Benny's forehead. Benny's body flopped against the ground, his brain was dead but his body didn't know it yet.

Private Yuri Valenki quickly put a dressing on his wounded arm before heading back into the fighting.

Before the Metroville defenders on the first floor could organize, the spetsnaz were already amongst them. Systematically they broke open doors with shotgun shells to the hinges, threw in grenades, and then fired bursts of automatic fire before entering the rooms and dispatching any survivors with either single rifle shots or a strike of the rifle butt.

---

The Misfits continued to move inland. Shipwreck was on point, with Roadblock directly behind him, Elastigirl, Dash, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Multiple, Xi, Quicksilver, Cyclops, and Iceman following. Bringing up the rear was Cover Girl.

Shipwreck gestured with his right hand, and the Misfits ducked into the brush. Passing very close by was a Russian patrol of half a dozen men armed with five AK-74 assault rifles and one PKM light machinegun. The Russians passed close enough to the Misfits for Althea to see the hands on the Russian machinegunner's watch.

Soon enough the Russians left the area and the small group continued inland, with Elastigirl giving the occasional directions or stretching her head above the treetops to see what she could see. She could see that the island's Coastal Command and Control facility was just ahead.

The group moved towards the facility, seeing the fence was intact. For all the good the twelve foot electrified fence did against the Russians it might as well not have been there at all. The corpses of the guards at the main gate lay in pools of drying blood and brains, single bullet holes in heads or torsos.

"Snipers, no question." Roadblock began, the dead men had been shot to death where they stood by unseen Russians with telescope sighted rifles.

The group fanned out into the compound and saw several dead bodies of Metroville soldiers, lying where they'd fallen.

Kitty shifted her foot, thinking she'd stepped on some debris. She turned around and gasped. She was standing on a human hand. The body was lying on it's back, that of a nineteen year old soldier, a hole blown through his chest by a shotgun blast. His eyes were still open, glassed over, but staring right into Kitty's eyes.

"Focus, Half-Pint." Wolverine said, tugging on Kitty's collar.

Shipwreck signaled to Roadblock who nodded and followed him up the stairwell, stepping over the corpse of a blonde haired, bespectacled soldier in his early twenties whose throat had been cut, as evidenced by the pool of blood near the corpse.

The two men stood outside the door, Shipwreck holding one of his Desert Eagles in his right hand, his left on the door knob. Roadblock had a Colt 1911A1 in his hands as he squeezed Shipwreck's shoulder, signaling for him to open the door. Shipwreck crossed diagonally to the left into the room while Roadblock hooked to the right, sweeping corners until they were confident they were the only living beings in the room.

The dead body of a sergeant was sprawled in death on the floor of the control tower. He had died as the result of a gunshot to the forehead at close range, and Shipwreck could tell because of the lack of bleeding on the burned areas of his legs despite numerous shallow furrows brought about by shrapnel. The consoles had been blown apart by some charges the Russians had put on the computers before they'd left.

The carnage was the same all over the compound. Cover Girl, Elastigirl and Dash turned a corner to find two soldiers shot through the head.

"Bart Stevens…" Dash began, visibly distressed, sure Bart was a jerk to all the younger kids, but he didn't deserve to die barely able to defend himself.

"Wasn't he that mean kid that used to pick on you all the time?" Helen asked.

"Yeah, he was…but even he doesn't deserve to get shot through the head." Dash replied. Bart had died reaching for his weapon, but it never left the holster. Whoever this Russian assassin was, he was a damn good marksman…and…

A burst of gunfire sounded from outside the fence. Cover Girl dropped behind cover and returned fire with her M-16 in the general direction of the attackers. She fired until the magazine went empty and ducked behind the concrete pillar, making herself as small as she could as bullets chipped and smacked against it. Courtney Kreiger couldn't do a damn thing. If she tried to run, she'd be cut down in a massive hail of bullets. If she tried to get her weapon back into the fight, she'd be cut down as well.

The others had fanned out into the various buildings on the compound, trying to see what they could find, there really wasn't anyone else nearby except for Elastigirl and Dash and…

Another burst of gunfire answered the salvo. Roadblock joined the fighting with his M240G light machinegun. Cover Girl popped back from behind cover, firing rounds and seeing her bullets take down one of the Russians firing on them.

Shipwreck joined the fighting with his twin Desert Eagles, killing a second Russian before the Russian patrol dragged their casualties off and retreated.

"I think we'd better move on. The Russians know we're here, and probably won't take long." Roadblock replied.

"No argument." Cover Girl replied as they headed back into the woods.

---

"I want my command center right here." Major Mikhail Griegarovich ordered as he stood in the lobby of the prison.

All around him several sailors were setting up communication equipment, another sailor ran by with a PKM machinegun which he set up in a nearby guard tower. Another was loading a fresh magazine into his AK-74.

In the distance more fighting could be heard, but the town was already under Russian control.

"Comrade Major, only two casualties sustained. The town is already pacified, with the citizens under a seven PM curfew." Lieutenant Michkin began.

"Comrade Major…" came a shout.

Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Andropov came into the room just then. "Intruders at the C2 Facility. The patrol lost two men."

"It appears we have a small rat infestation, lieutenant." Griegarovich replied.

"Perhaps Colonel Berwick's doing?" Michkin suggested.

"He disappeared when we raided the C2 facility and the town. There's no telling where he is right now." Andropov replied.

"That's the highest priority. Finding the Colonel and killing him. I need not remind you two that Berwick is a formidable security operative, failing to eliminate him is a failure we must remedy immediately." Griegarovich replied, "I suggest you carry that order out immediately, comrades."

With a nod both men headed out to take on Colonel Berwick's resistance, taking two squads of men with them.

---

"Whoa," Multiple remarked, "It's a Heartless."

Lying in the leaf litter of the forest floor, behind the small roadside bar was a Heartless, just a bit taller than Multiple. It's body had horrible wounds torn in it by buckshot. A trio of red plastic shotgun shells and splatters of the creature's black blood were nearby. It had been practically decapitated by one of the shotgun blasts.

"So there are Heartless on this Island too?" Kitty asked.

"Evidently." Lance remarked.

"That's how Syndrome took power." Helen replied, "The Heartless attacked Metroville one day, and then Syndrome appeared and said he could help…"

"We saw right through his ruse, some of us did at least. But most of Metroville didn't see his trickery and thought he genuinely drove the Heartless away." Dash replied.

"And Syndrome said that he could make the Heartless work for us and true to his word he did." Helen continued.

"How did they fall for that scam?" Shipwreck replied.

"For all intents and purposes it sounded like Syndrome controlled the Heartless. He used them for all kinds of big construction projects all over Metroville." Helen replied, "Ones that benefited the citizens, that turned the majority of the population on his side and…"

"And turned them against Supers?" Shipwreck replied.

"Exactly." Helen replied, "And…"

"And what…" Cover Girl replied.

"I get the feeling we're being watched." Helen began.

"I do as well." Xi replied, "I'll find this intruder."

---

Alan Fielder watched what looked like the strangest patrol he'd ever seen go by. That rules out the possibility of them being Russians. Somewhat.

Indeed, there were two Supers he recognized, a sailor with two fifty caliber Desert Eagles, a black man with a shaven head and a machinegun, a redheaded woman with an M-16, a blue devil, and what looked like a bunch from those old Superhero comics he used to read as a kid.

They're Supers of some kind, but the question is whose side are they on? I mean they were relocated before Syndrome first appeared. Earlier he was killing off their number, and now that Syndrome's in power he's persecuting them again. So they very likely may have sided with the Russians…Fielder thought.

Suddenly the strange gold maned lizard vanished into thin air. What the hell? Fielder thought.

There was a slight rustling in the leaf litter behind him. Fielder turned around, flicking the safety off of the shotgun. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, the way they did whenever he would go after wounded leopards or from stalking the Heartless around Rhodesia, before the world of Rhodesia fell to the Heartless.

But there was nothing in the direction of the sound. But every instinct Fielder had, every instinct and sense finely honed from hunting dangerous predators and fighting the Heartless screamed that something was lurking nearby, something unmistakably predatory. He scanned the area, looking, and listening for some sounds.

It was then that the point of impact came about. A weight about as heavy as a leopard, and about that strong struck him in the back, driving him to the ground. The shotgun toppled to the ground and Fielder scrambled for it only to feel the creature drive its weight into his back. Fielder pushed against it but felt the creature, whatever it was, wrench his arm in a wrist lock behind his back. Fielder turned over on his back, hoping to try and fight against the thing.

This bastard's not getting my heart without a fight. Fielder thought. He felt thin, claw-like arms pinning his arms to the ground as a green scaled, lizard like humanoid appeared out of thin air.

"Whatever the hell kind of Heartless you are, I hope you rot in hell!" Fielder spat.

"I think you and I share a common foe." the green scaled humanoid replied.

"What?" Fielder said, "Are you some kind of Super?"

"Let's just say I'm not from around here and leave it at that." Xi replied.

"And I guess you're not associated with the Soviets?" Fielder asked.

"No." Xi replied.

Just then the rest of the group Fielder had been observing came out of the woods. "Let him up, Xi." Althea said, "He's no threat."

Xi backed off, but stayed within lunging distance in case Fielder decided to become uncooperative.

"Who are you people?" Fielder asked.

"We might ask the same of you." Shipwreck replied, "After all, you're walking around with a gun in the middle of a war zone."

"Alan Fielder. A couple of my friends got stuck in the town when the Russians hit us." Fielder replied, "What about you guys? You have to be Supers of some kind, I recognize Elastigirl and the kid..."

"Hey, watch it with the kid label pal!" Dash snapped.

"Let's say we're from far away from here and leave it at that." Roadblock replied.

"Fair enough." Fielder replied.

"What about you? Are you with the Resistance?" Elastigirl asked.

"No." Fielder replied, "I stay out of the politics of this whole lot, I'm just trying to find my friends and stay alive and get us the hell off this island."

"For the time being, it seems we have one goal in common." Shipwreck said.

"I believe this is yours..." Xi replied, heading over to the weapon.

"Whoa, Xi, you're letting this guy get his gun back." Cyclops snapped.

Xi shot Cyclops a look that said, "If he even tries anything I'll rip him in half."

"So when did the Russians attack this island?" Elastigirl asked.

"Earlier yesterday morning." Fielder replied.

"How did they get here?" Elastigirl asked.

"I don't know." Fielder replied, hoping he lied convincingly enough.

Huh, this guy knows more than he's letting on. Elastigirl thought. Who does he work for? Will he betray us.

"Wait a second, if the Soviet Union still exists on this world..." Shipwreck began.

"Way to go, Shipwreck, you just blew our secret." Cyclops replied.

"We're all in this soup sandwich together, kid." Shipwreck replied, "We might as well start to cooperate. Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, is the Soviet Union on this world similar to the one that used to exist on ours?"

"I'd guess so." Elastigirl replied.

"Spetsnaz." Shipwreck began, "I'd guess Naval Spetsnaz, because they were attacking an island."

"What?" Cyclops asked.

"The word translates into 'Troops of special purpose', basically Soviet Special Forces. They work for the GRU, or the Main Intelligence Directorate." Colossus replied.

"How do you know that?" Cyclops asked.

"If their Soviet Union is anything like the one that I remember growing up, then that would be the force they would use to take this island." Colossus replied.

"They're trained in sabotage, weaponry, stealth and silent infiltration." Elastigirl replied, "And they've been causing all kinds of acts of sabotage all over Metroville even before this island was invaded(1)."

"A force of them, I'd say about fifty or sixty of them either swam to shore with aqualungs, masks and fins or with rubber boats." Shipwreck replied, "Soviet Naval Spetsnaz units are perfectly suited for this type of mission."

"Great so we know we're facing the Russian equivalent of Navy SEALs on one side, and Syndrome's forces allied with the Heartless on the other..." Cyclops began.

"And we can't just sit here yakking all day. We'll have to get moving if we're to find a way off this world." Roadblock said.

"If that's even possible." Cover Girl replied.

"I would think the Kronos Facility, some kind of high tech place on the other side of the town would be an option." Fielder replied, checking his shotgun, "If you'll help me find my friends in town, I'll be more than willing to guide you to the Kronos Facility."

"If you try anything..." Althea warned.

"You'll tear me in half, I got it." Fielder replied, as he headed for the front of the column, "If you can keep up, follow me."

Fielder weaved through the dense brush silently but swiftly, as the Misfits and X-men followed him.

Within an hour they were in a back alley on the outskirts of the town. At the end of the alley were three doors. Two double wooden doors leading into a church, a nondescript metal door, and a third metal door covered with posters.

"OK genius," Bobby challenged, "Now which way do we go?"

"Well there are three different ways that lead to the same road…" Fielder began before the sound of a gun battle at the far end of the alley, coming closer and closer echoed loudly.

Cover Girl, Shadowcat, Avalanche, Dash and Quicksilver went into the first nondescript metal door. Elastigirl, Shipwreck, Cyclops, Xi and Iceman went into the poster covered metal door. Fielder, Roadblock, Iceman, Multiple, and Colossus went into the church.

----

As soon as Kitty phased through the metal door she unlocked it and let the others inside. Lying on the floor was a ledger of some kind, propped open with an ink pen. It looked like a diary of some kind. "Hey guys…" Kitty began.

"Hey Kit Kat," Quicksilver began, "We can peruse the fiction section later, but we've gotta get moving…"

The sound of the gun battle drawing closer and closer convinced Kitty not to go and fight with Pietro right now. Note to self, smack Quicksilver on the head later…

Cover Girl opened the next door in front of her and saw three Shadow Heartless roaming around the kitchen. She raised her M-16 as she walked into the room and fired three rounds into the nearest Heartless before shifting her aim to the second Heartless, killing it immediately. Finally her aim focused on the third Heartless which she dispatched with another three rounds, two to the chest and a third to the head.

"Come on, let's go." Cover Girl replied, as they continued through the dented stainless steel counters, "Someone had to have heard those shots."

As they moved, Cover Girl changed out the magazine of her weapon for a full one. Kitty phased through the nearest door. A split second later she phased back into the kitchen, "RUN!" was all she was able to shout before a clawed hand yanked her back into the front of the restaurant.

With the life of the woman he loved at stake, Lance didn't hesitate. His eyesrolled back into his head and the wall shook violently, causing the door to crash down.

Three more Neoshadow Heartless were clinging to Shadowcat. Two more were banging on the glass front of the restaurant.

Kitty tried to phase out of the grasp of the three creatures, but for some reason, the Heartless were able to negate her phasing power. One of the creatures was raising its clawed hand, ready to dismember her when all of a sudden a tremor hit, freeing her.

Lance was standing in the room, a look of anger and concentration on his face as he send the trio of Heartless into the wall before collapsing the roof and the nearby wall onto the creatures, burying them under several tons of brick, mortar and support beams.

"LANCE KNOCK IT OFF!" Pietro screamed as the restaurant shook violently, "THE WHOLE DAMN ISLAND WILL KNOW WE'RE HERE!"

The glass front of the restaurant shattered letting the two Neoshadows into the room. Colossus flung himself at the two creatures. The two Heartless moved out of range of Colossus until they had him outflanked. Both of them charged simultaneously towards the Russian mutant.

Colossus swung one metal hand, smashing the faceless head of the first Neoshadow, knocking it back, before he turned toward the second which he picked up and flung into the first creature, sending both of them out into the alley.

The two Neoshadows recovered quickly and attacked Colossus again, both of them crashing into him, clawing ineffectively at his metal armor.

Colossus twisted the neck of the first Heartless, killing it immediately before grabbing a hold of the second, spinning around and around as if he was preparing to throw a large hammer. Finally he let go, throwing the Heartless out of the restaurant until it landed somewhere far away, impaled on half a dozen broken metal pipes.

"So what did you find, Kitty?" Cover Girl asked.

"It looks like a diary of some kind." Kitty replied, holding it open for everyone to see.

October 8th

That Serum is such a hassle to receive. In the middle of my busiest hour a medical truck parked outside of my restaurant and said that everyone inside had to receive a vaccination, in case the Russians decide to use chemical weapons. They lined us up and injected us with these big ass needles. After the injections we all felt under the weather, and it felt hard to breathe. Personally I don't trust these 'experimental' vaccines.

October 9th

I talked to Reverend Galswells, and he said he felt the same tightness in his chest after being injected with this wonder drug to protect us from Soviet chemical weapons. What kind of a cockamany vaccine hurts like anything? It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of.

October 10th

Lisa, one of my waitresses, fainted at work today. No, wait, not fainted collapsed in a damn seizure. I called the paramedics, and got an ambulance over here. It was two guys in white quarantine suits. What the hell is going on here?

October 12th

Lisa died last night, of a heart attack. When I pressed the hospital for information, they said that a small percentage of people suffer serious side effects from the vaccine. I've gotta get off this damn island somehow…

"So what is this vaccine, Dash?" Kitty asked.

"Beats the hell out of me." Dash replied, "But knowing Syndrome, it's probably some diabolical scheme, but I don't know what it is…"

---

As the group proceeded through the movie theater, past the poster covered door a loud crash sounded. From the ceiling a Neoshadow jumped onto Elastigirl's back. Shipwreck immediately fired one of his Desert Eagles from less than a foot away, practically caving in the creature's skull.

"Shipwreck, don't fire that thing so close to my head again. I can barely hear as is." Elastigirl replied.

"Shut up!" Shipwreck shouted as he fired both Desert Eagles over Elastigirl's head at two approaching Neoshadows, dropping both creatures in their tracks. He dropped the empty and mostly empty magazines from his weapons just as a forth Neoshadow jumped onto his back, and began to claw at him wanting to flip the G.I. Joe sailor over to take his heart.

Cyclops fired an optic blast that launched the creature through the flimsy drywall behind it.
"Thanks for the save, Cyclops." Shipwreck grunted as he stood up and slammed two new six round magazines into his Desert Eagles.

There was a pair of double doors at the far end of the lobby. Xi tried the door and said, "Locked."

"Not for long." Cyclops replied.

"Wait, we don't want to alert the Russians or any jumpy Metroville soldiers left alive." Shipwreck said.

"Now what?" Iceman asked, "We just stay here?"

"No, we find the key. It's gotta be somewhere in the theater. If we don't find it, then we'll breach the door and get the hell out of here." Shipwreck replied.

"He's right." Elastigirl said, "Cyclops, you and Iceman search downstairs. Shipwreck, Xi and I will search upstairs."

"Who died and left you in charge?" Bobby challenged.

"In case you've forgotten, Iceman, this is my world." Elastigirl replied, "I know a lot more about it than you guys do…"

"Iceman, don't argue." Cyclops began, "Let's just find that damn key and get out of here."

As Shipwreck, Xi, and Elastigirl headed upstairs, they followed a narrow corridor towards the projection room. Shipwreck opened the door just in time to have another Neoshadow dive on top of him.

Xi's clawed hands flung outward, instantly beheading the Neoshadow, causing the neck stump to spurt black blood as the body of the beast flapped erratically on the tile.

The trio entered the projection room, which was a mess of film canisters, a couple cartons of half eaten Chinese takeout, and a report of some kind. Shipwreck picked up the report and began to leaf through it. As he leaned on the nearby projector his arm flipped the switch and activated it.

"Shipwreck, what did you find?" Xi asked.

"It's a report of some kind." Shipwreck said as Xi and Elastigirl peered over his shoulder to read.

October 10th

External security assessment. So far the coastal areas of Metroville are clear. But there are thousands of miles that are vulnerable to infiltration from the sea. Recent intelligence suggests that the Soviets may try an infiltration from the sea. As such I've suggested to Colonel Berwick that we run regular patrols along the island's coastline.

"A lot of good that did." Shipwreck replied, "The Russians are on the island."

October 11th

Some isolated satellite transmissions have been detected from somewhere near or on the island. Business people use satellite phones, and there are a few here on the island that have these phones in their possessions. But such a device could be used to signal nearby Soviet forces, perhaps a submarine hiding beneath the waves, or a spy trawler with a Spetsnaz detachment hiding onboard. We seem to have a spy in our midst.

October 23rd

Two days from now it will be the seventieth anniversary of the October Revolution, the revolution that created the Soviet Union. The Russians, as history has demonstrated, are always big on anniversaries. And it would be prudent to expect an attack on the 25th…

"Turns out they were right." Elastigirl said, "According to the wall clock it's the 26th, and it sounds like the Russians invaded about twenty-four hours ago."

"Guys…" Cyclops said, as he poked his head inside, "We've found the key…"

---

"Unconfirmed reports state that fifteen Soviet Motorized Infantry Divisions and at least seven Armored Divisions as well as armed forces of other Warsaw Pact nations are poised along the Metroville Border." The announcer of Metroville News Network began, "...Stand by for a live special report from Steven McDonald, live from Westburg. Steve."

BOOM! "Donna, it's utter bedlam over here." A reddish blonde haired man with a rumpled shirt and tie began, "About fifteen minutes ago rockets and artillery shells began to rain down from across the border. The last reports from the nearest listening posts said that Russian tanks were storming across the border with motorized infantry as support and..."

Another explosion close by sounded, the report was cut short in a burst of static as cameraman and reporter were obliterated by a Katyusha rocket from a Soviet rocket artillery truck.

Frank Corelli watched the report on the TV in the darkened room through his one good eye. His other eye was swollen shut. Standing behind him was that same group of Metroville soldiers and civilians that had gotten a hold of him beforehand.

"Westburg was my home…" One soldier said, kicking Frank in the sides. He doubled over, certain at least one rib was broken.

"How does it feel to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of your fellow citizens traitor?" Lt. Stewart asked as he walked in a circle around the chair Frank was handcuffed to. The other soldiers and civilians either watched the TV, faces and voices thick with emotion as they watched the news reports or circled Frank's chair like sharks circling prey.

"How much did the Russians pay you to betray us?" A soldier asked, as he leveled his rifle at Frank's head.

Stewart nodded as the soldier flicked the safety off his rifle, "It wasn't worth your life though…" The soldier said, upon the officer's approval.

The soldier squeezed the trigger on his rifle as Frank expected the reverberating thunder to herald his imminent death. I'll never see Emily again…

Click. The rifle clicked on an empty chamber. "If you don't tell us anything, it'll be a real bullet next time." The soldier said, as he pulled back the charging handle on his Steyr AUG rifle.

"I don't work for the Russians!" Frank replied.

"Then explain this satellite phone, 'businessman'." Another interrogator sneered.

"ACME." Frank replied, "I work for ACME…"

Hopefully I've delayed my death another few hours. Frank thought. As long as they don't find out I'm a C5 Teleportation System tech, I'll be fine…

"Now this should be very interesting…" Stewart said, a very predatory expression on his face.

---

TBC

1.See Relocated, Chapters 5 and 6