Towards the Station
Disclaimer: Same as before…
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Ted gave Paige a semi-quick kiss as he walked into the kitchen of the Halliwell house with Klondike in tow.
"Somebody's missed me." Paige replied.
"Woo woo woo woo woo woo…" Klondike replied.
"I see a certain gray furred, wooing menace is back in the house." Piper replied, "Try not to bring him here when he's shedding. There's fur all over the place."
"Woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike wooed.
"Quiet you." Piper replied.
"What brings you here?" Paige asked, "Business or pleasure."
"The former, though I wouldn't mind a heavy dose of the latter." Ted replied, grinning.
"Woo woo woo woo woo."
"Somebody's chaperoning you, Mister." Paige replied before leaning towards Ted, whispering in his ear, "I think tomorrow night will be the best time for the latter."
"Hmm, I look forward to it." Ted replied.
"Woo woo…" Klondike said.
"I have a question of the magical variety." Ted replied, "Do you know about any demons that can send people into other dimensions?"
"Damien." Paige replied, "Last year he sent Piper and Leo into the Ghostly Plane, making us believe that they were dead."
"OK, my second question is, would he work with Syndrome? I ask because a bunch of our teammates, the Incredibles, and X-men disappeared without a trace when we raided one of his bases." Ted replied.
"Hmm, let's go ask Leo." Paige began.
"I'M NOT LISTENING!" Phoebe shouted.
"More Coyote issues?" Ted asked.
"Apparently they wanted to bug Phoebe extra hard this time." Paige replied.
"Hmm, I just had a crazy idea." Ted replied.
"Woo woo woo woo woo!"
" KLONDIKE! COME BACK HERE WITH WYATT'S BOTTLE!!!" Piper shouted as she chased the Sibe around the house with a broom.
"What would that be?" Paige asked.
"Well, those coyotes that bug Phoebe also bug Lance. Maybe we could ask them if they know where Lance, and thus everyone else are." Ted replied.
"You're right, that is a crazy idea." Paige replied.
"Why not? They always bug Lance…" Ted replied.
"Will you three stop singing River of Dreams, I'm sick of your Billy Joel marathon!" Phoebe shouted at the air.
"Phoebe isn't exactly in the mood to chat with them right now." Paige replied.
"Mood or not, we need that information." Ted replied.
"Phoebe isn't exactly in a chatting mood." Paige replied.
"OK, maybe we should talk to the Coyotes." Ted replied.
"Ted, the last idea was crazy. This one was just plain insane." Paige replied.
"Since when do you start sounding like Roadblock?" Ted asked.
"Since I've been hanging around the Pit too long." Paige replied, "Anyway, if you think Piper's stressed now…"
"Woo woo woo woo woo!"
" KLONDIKE GET YOUR HAIRY PAWS OFF OF MY COUNTER!" Piper shouted, "AAGGH! GIVE ME BACK THAT SANDWICH!!!"
"If those three set foot in the house again, Piper's going to have a heart attack." Paige replied.
"Well, we have to figure out where Lance, and the others, is." Ted replied, "Our only alternative is to ask Phoebe, the others' lives are at stake."
"We'll ask Phoebe first. If we have to, we'll release ONE coyote." Paige replied.
"Phoebe," Ted asked, as Phoebe headed downstairs with her keys and purse, "Can we ask a favor from you?"
"As long as it doesn't involve coyotes, yes." Phoebe replied.
"Uhm, actually it kinda does." Ted replied.
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, Lance, Roadblock, Cover Girl, Shipwreck and a lot of other members of my team have disappeared. We only know Syndrome caused it somehow." Ted replied.
"What does this have to do with the Coyotes currently driving me insane?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, they almost always know where Lance is…" Ted replied.
"I'll ask them." Phoebe replied, "Hey you three mongrels, where is Lance?"
"Mongrels, why I am insulted?" Trickery said.
"Yeah, we have more class than that." Mischief replied.
"You could've fooled me." Phoebe replied sarcastically, "So where's Lance?"
"We know exactly where he is, but could you release us, perchance?" Trickery asked.
"Forget it!" Phoebe shouted.
"But we don't have anyone else to annoy." Guile complained.
"Yeah, the Elders haven't been much fun lately. We wanna serenade more people." Mischief replied.
"There is no way I'm releasing you three into San Francisco to create havoc, chaos, and destruction visible in Orange County." Phoebe replied.
"We need that information, Phoebe." Ted replied.
"Forget it!" Phoebe replied, "I've got a column due, Elise is breathing down my neck, and three insane coyotes serenading me with novelty Christmas carols. I especially don't want to hear their novelty version of Silver Bells…"
Phoebe stormed out of the house. "Great." Ted replied.
"We can release one Coyote, and then catch and interrogate him." Paige replied, leading Ted into the attic.
"Now whose talking crazy, and besides Piper will kill us if we release one of them." Ted replied.
"As you said, Ted, it's our only option." Paige replied, "Creature of another plane. Cause of Phoebe's woes and pain. Invisible for you and I. Let you be seen by the naked eye."
"I'm baaaaacckk…" The Coyote said.
"Where's Lance?" Paige demanded, "And before you can even think about it, the door is barricaded, and there's only one way down…"
"Well, it seems that I'm caught." The Coyote said, "However there is one flaw in your plan…The window wasn't barricaded!"
The Coyote somersaulted out the window before Paige or Ted could react. "Oh no." Ted replied.
"Yeah. There's a Coyote with super speed, a warped sense of humor, and a serious mischief streak on the loose here in San Francisco." Paige replied.
"You do realize Piper can't get wind of this." Ted replied.
"Exactly." Paige replied.
"Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo!"
" KLONDIKE COME BACK HERE WITH THAT CHEESE WHEEL!" Piper shouted.
"Besides she seems to have her hands full with Klondike right now." Ted replied.
"Woo woo woo woo woo."
"So we're going to have to deal with Lance's imaginary enemy on the rampage through San Francisco and somehow keep Piper from finding out…" Paige replied.
"Well Klondike seems to be handling that piece of the puzzle." Ted replied as the Coyote was currently ballet dancing Swan Lake through the neighborhood.
"Woo woo woo woo woo."
" KLONDIKE DON'T YOU DARE DRAG THE CONTENTS OF THAT DRAWER INTO THE LAWN!" Piper shouted.
"Woo woo woo woo woo woo." Klondike carried Piper's nightgown into the front lawn and tossed it onto the walk.
The Coyote bounded away with several pissed off neighbors chasing him with hammers, rakes, and assorted sharp objects. They ran around a corner by the time Piper stormed outside chasing Klondike all over the lawn.
"Woo woo woo woo woo."
Paige was already on her cell phone, "Darryl, yeah it's Paige."
"What's going on?" Darryl asked on the other side of the line.
"There's a coyote on the loose in the neighborhood." Paige replied.
"Shouldn't you call animal control and…Oh no, not THAT Coyote." Darryl replied.
"Yes, that Coyote." Paige replied, "Please try and contain it, and try not to involve Piper."
"Hold on Paige, I've got another call…" An extremely harried Darryl replied.
Ted grabbed his jacket and said, "It looks like we're on our own for this one."
---
Alan Fielder aimed the shotgun at the locked door, until Colossus armored up, and gestured him aside with one massive hand. He tore the door off its hinges.
"Bloody wonderful." Fielder grunted, aiming the shotgun into the church.
"And speak of the devil..." Roadblock began, aiming his machinegun. A trio of Soldier Heartless were roaming amidst the pews.
"Wait!" Fielder shouted, "Those bullets will go through the drywall. There could be people hiding back there."
Fielder aimed the shotgun at the nearest one, squeezing off a round, blowing a hole the size of a work light through the creature's chest. He chambered a second round into the shotgun just as Bobby froze the second in place with a burst of ice. The creature simply broke free, in time for Fielder to blast it just beneath the chin with another shotgun blast. The third creature charged right into Colossus who tackled it and snapped its neck with one hard twist.
There were two doors at the end of the chapel, one to the left and one to the right. Roadblock aimed his weapon at the door as Fielder headed over to open it, if anything hostile was behind the door, it would be facing several hundred rounds of 7.62 mm linked ammunition.
Fielder flung the door open just as three gray humanoid creatures, roughly the height of Elastigirl appeared. Their arms stretched out in long, whiplike appendages towards the group. Roadblock opened fire, tearing into the creatures with multiple thirty caliber rounds. The three Nobodies shook under the impact of the bullets.
Emily curled herself as tightly as she possibly could when she heard the machinegun open up. The bullets were going through the wall as if it wasn't there, and any second now she expected a high velocity lead slug to tear into her body, either killing her immediately or wounding her till she bled out. At that point she wasn't sure which would be worse.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" came a shout. Alan? Oh God, you're alive. Is Frank with you? Emily thought.
Emily headed for the door of the church office, where she'd stayed hidden, especially after hearing the weird grey creatures outside, the strange really flexible monsters. She saw three people who had been turned into Heartless and almost immediately after, those strange, utterly flexible monsters had appeared where their bodies had once lain. And they started to attack the locked door of the church office.
Roadblock and Fielder aimed their guns at the Church office door when a slender woman with dark brown hair ran out of the room. "Emily!?" Alan shouted, "Are you alright?"
"A little shaken, especially when tall dark and machine gun toting over there opened up." Emily replied.
"I did save your life." Roadblock replied, "So there's no need for all this strife."
"Alan," Emily replied, "Is Frank with you?"
"No," Fielder replied, "I thought he'd be with you."
"I haven't seen him…" Emily replied, "As soon as all this started I headed straight for the Church."
"He last said he was at the library." Alan replied.
"Who are these people?" Emily asked.
"They're friendlies, as far as I can tell." Alan replied, "Mr. Machinegun's name is Roadblock, the big Russian bloke's name is Colossus, but his mates call him Pitor, the skinny bloke's name is Iceman, or Bobby, and the littlest's name is Multiple, or Jamie."
"So are they Supers?" Emily asked, looking at the strange uniforms the X-men wore.
"That's kind of tough to determine." Alan replied, as he spoke the Rhodesian loaded more shells into his shotgun, "They seem to not be from around here, though they know Elastigirl and Speedy."
"So they're from another world?" Emily asked.
"As far as I can tell, yes." Alan replied, "We should get moving."
"Wait." Emily replied, she walked back into the Church Office with Alan in tow, she reached for a briefcase with a shoulder strap and slung it.
"So who are you guys, if I may ask? It seems you're here on an assigned task." Roadblock replied.
"He talks in rhyme." Alan replied.
"So I heard." Emily quipped.
Emily and Alan traded glances, and Alan nodded. "We work for ACME, I'm sure you're…"
"Let's just say we know a couple of operatives." Roadblock said, "The name Bluey Truscott sound familiar…"
"He was a member of my unit in SOG." Fielder replied.
"Look as much as I'm enjoying this 'let's meet again and get to know each other' moment, we should get the hell out of here." Bobby began. Outside the sounds of a raging gun battle could be heard.
"Agreed." Alan said.
"Alan, wait." Emily replied.
"What?" Alan asked.
"We can't go back out that way." Emily replied, indicating the sound.
"But the Russians and who knows who else are getting closer." Bobby began.
"Guys…" Multiple said.
"Not now, Multiple." Colossus began.
"We can't go out the back way either." Emily added, "The Russians are right outside."
"Guys…What about the basement?" Multiple said, "There could be a cellar or secret passage or something."
"It's worth a shot." Roadblock replied.
The group moved down out of the church, through the basement, killing the occasional Heartless that they encountered before they exited the church through some cellar doors into an alley where they encountered the others.
---
"The wolves' tactics are an enormous collection of various tricks and combinations, a mixture of cunning and strength, confusing maneuvers and sudden attacks.." – Viktor Suvorov.
Igor Voronezh switched the magazine of his AK-74 as he stood amidst shattered stacks in the library. Several Heartless had appeared suddenly and killed the small group manning this position, and Lieutenant Andropov diverted the patrol to retaking the building.
Grenades had been flung into each room, followed by bursts of gunfire before the spetsnaz men entered to finish off whatever still survived in the room.
"Sir," Andropov could be heard speaking through the radio, "Library retaken."
The smoke and ash mingled with the scent of blood and decay in the room as Andropov wrinkled his nose. The room had been torn apart by grenade blasts and weapons fired on full automatic, several of the volumes on the shelves were blood spattered, shot up, and at least partially burned.
CRACK!
"Arkady's at target practice again." Voronezh remarked, referring to one of the snipers in the unit, Arkady Illyanov, who had stationed himself in the library's clock tower.
---
"Whoa, what happened here, Custer's Last Stand?" Bobby asked.
Lying in the route to the library lay the corpses of several Heartless, all of them had been shot through the head or neck. Shipwreck noticed that a large number of them lay in roughly the same area, suggesting that a well trained sniper had picked them off from a fixed distance.
Alan Fielder realized this at roughly the same instant. "Get down!"
The group ducked behind what cover they could find. At about the same time, a man ran out into the street. Judging by his white coat, yellow shirt and brown slacks they figured he was a scientist or doctor of some kind. Little did the scientist realize he was being stalked.
Arkady Illyanov tracked the running man through the Dragunov SVD's PSO-1 telescopic sights. It was no question, hitting this man from one hundred and twenty-five meters was going to be easy. He put the crosshairs onto the forehead of the running scientist…
Howard King barreled out of the Church where he'd been hiding, running past the group of people, one of which he recognized as Emily, the nice lady from Church. He did consider asking her out, except for the ring on her finger…
"Howard!" Emily shouted, "Get down there's a…"
Illyanov put the crosshairs onto the man's belly. It appeared that he might have contact with more Metroville scientists. He could lure more of them into his crosshairs. Illyanov squeezed the trigger slowly, smoothly, making small corrections when the man moved.
CRACK!
Howard King fell to the ground, clutching his belly, screaming in pain. "Damn it! Where'd that come from?" Shipwreck asked.
Roadblock fired his M240G at the area in front of him, sweeping in an arc.
"We've got to help him!" Emily said, grabbing Fielder's arm.
"That's what this son of bitch wants!" Fielder replied.
"Kurt? No! Wait!" Kitty shouted.
Kurt teleported to the side of the wounded man, determined to grab onto him and port him back to the others. What he didn't know was that the Russian sniper had a bead on him.
Arkady Illyanov barely registered the surprise when he saw a target pop up beside the man he'd deliberately wounded. He took a quick aim and squeezed the trigger, applying pressure smoothly and evenly, making slight adjustments before the weapon bucked in his hands. CRACK!
Kurt Wagner felt like a sledge hammer suddenly drove a white-hot spike into his chest. He fell to the ground as the 7.62x54R mm round tore into his chest. The shock was such that he couldn't even think of teleporting anywhere.
"KURT!" Kitty yelped.
Kurt lay on the ground, blood oozing from the hole ripped into his chest by the Russian sniper's bullet. His breath came in ragged gasps, the bullet had punctured his right lung, and thus collapsed it.
From somewhere underground several Shadow Heartless appeared, to harvest both Howard and Kurt's hearts.
"I've got an idea." Roadblock said, "I'll shoot up those Heartless. Pietro, Dash, you guys rush this sniper."
Targets. Illyanov thought grimly as he drew a beat on the first of the Heartless, squeezing the trigger. CRACK!
A single bullet tore into the head of the leading Heartless, causing it to fall to the earth. At almost the same moment the other Heartless began falling like wheat before Roadblock's machinegun.
"I've got a better idea." Lance began and his eyes rolled into his head.
A large wall of earth and rock appeared between Kurt and the other wounded man as yet another bullet cracked downward. This last bullet from the hidden Russian sniper tore into the head of Howard King, killing him instantly.
Dash and Pietro rushed over to Kurt, running at high speed to where the others were hiding. "Who has a first aid kit?" Emily asked.
"Here." Elastigirl said, handing Emily a kit.
"He's got a sucking chest wound." Emily said, "Turn him on his wounded side."
Dash and Pietro complied and Emily took a pressure bandage and some medical tape and taped the exit hole first on all four sides of the square. "Now put him on his back." Emily replied.
Emily then put another pressure bandage on the entrance hole, and taped three sides of it, making a release valve for air in the collapsed lung.
"Is there a hospital here?" Scott asked.
"Yes." Emily replied.
"We've gotta get Kurt there." Scott replied.
"I'm no doctor." Emily replied.
"But there could be doctors at the hospital." Elastigirl replied.
"If the Russians haven't killed them." Shipwreck replied.
"We've got to get off this world, and our Mass Device watches aren't working." Cover Girl replied.
"Mass Device?" Emily asked.
"It's like our C5 technology." Alan replied, "Wait a second, we can use the C5 to get them out of here."
"Unfortunately neither of us is a C5 tech." Emily replied, and sadly fingering her engagement ring said, "Frank is."
"We'll find him." Alan replied, "I promise we will."
"But where is he?" Emily asked.
"If he was captured by Metroville forces he'd be at the prison." Alan replied, "That's where I'd first look."
"Then it's to the prison we must head, to help save Emily's beloved." Roadblock commented.
"We're gonna need to split up." Shipwreck remarked, "Go in three groups, because if we get held up at the hospital, we can at least get someone to help Frank."
"Good call." Lance said, "So at least once in a while you can come up with a good idea, Shipwreck."
"It's true, I have my genius moments and…HEY!" Shipwreck replied.
"Alright, we'll split up. Three routes, three groups." Alan suggested.
"We've got Russians in the library." Cover Girl replied, "So we'll have our strongest fighters go through there. That means me, Shipwreck, Colossus, and Xi will go through there."
"Count me in." Emily replied.
"You aren't even armed." Cover Girl observed.
"I'll go too." Fielder replied, loading more rounds into his shotgun.
"What's the other route?" Cyclops asked.
"The video arcade west of the library." Alan replied.
"We'll need your fastest people there, it's the quickest way to the prison, because the guards use it for their entertainment." Emily replied.
"That's a job for the Dash."
"Not so fast, slowpoke. Only true speedsters need apply." Pietro said arrogantly.
"Dash, you and Pietro are both going, with me." Elastigirl said.
"Katya, it will be the safest route, since it is the fastest. Go there with Multiple." Colossus began.
"I can take care of myself, Pitor!" Kitty protested, "I'm not a helpless damsel in distress."
Avalanche couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. "I guess I'll tag along, Russkie."
"Great, even in a war zone, Lance the Lovelorn strikes again." Pietro quipped.
"Iceman, you're with me, we'll take Kurt to the hospital." Cyclops said.
The groups split up, heading for their respective routes...
---
Meanwhile, Frank Corelli was having some problems of his own. "So what do you do for ACME?" Lt. Stewart asked.
"I'm a communication's expert." Frank replied. They can't have the C5 technology. I can't let it fall into their hands.
"That would explain the phone. Tell me, do you know anything about the C5 System?" Frank replied.
"No." Frank replied.
Stewart nodded, and a soldier threw a switch, closing the circuit on the car battery, with the wires clamped to Frank's body in different places.
Frank let out a scream of agony as electricity coursed into his body. "I don't know anything about the C5 System." Frank protested.
"So you don't work for ACME and you are spying for the Russians." Stewart asked.
"No." Frank replied.
"I must admit, traitor, the ACME cover story was original. So is it the KGB or the GRU you work for?" Stewart asked.
"None of them…" Frank said, weakly.
"Liar!" a soldier shouted, hitting Frank in the inner thigh with the butt of his rifle.
"So I suppose that this engagement ring is part of your cover." Lt. Stewart said, holding up the ring between his fingers, "Or is your 'fiancée' really your contact with the GRU?"
"What!? No! She's my fiancée." Frank replied, compelled to protect Emily's honor, even though he was being interrogated.
"Well, what's her name then?" Lt. Stewart said.
"I…I…" Frank stammered, he didn't want to compromise his fellow case officer, and wife to be, and the ACME operation here in Metroville.
Stewart nodded and the soldier nearest Frank struck him in the head with his rifle stock. Frank tasted blood and probed his mouth with his tongue, hoping no teeth had been loosened as he saw stars.
"What's her name?" Stewart said, as he reached over for a pair of garden sheers, "His hand."
The soldier complied and Stewart added, "Hold out his ring finger…"
"Emily!" Frank declared, tears streaming down his face as the soldier bent his ring finger back and Stewart positioned the garden sheers onto his finger, prepared to sever it.
"Ah. So her name is Emily. Now why does that name sound so familiar?" Stewart asked.
"There was a parishioner in the church by that name." the soldier holding Frank's finger up said.
"And I have seen a young woman with this man." Another soldier said.
"Bring her in for questioning." Stewart said, "Let go of his hand."
Alan Fielder, please get Emily out of here, ASAP. Frank thought as Stewart reached into a drawer. A syringe with a blackish purple liquid in it was in his hand.
"I wonder how this 'Emily' will feel when her 'fiancé' is turned into a Heartless…" Stewart replied, as he held the vaccine menacingly before Frank's eyes.
Frank struggled fruitlessly against the handcuffs as Stewart grabbed his forearm and jammed the needle in, injecting the chemical. Frank felt his heart compress.
"That was a small dose. It takes several applied doses of the serum to create a Heartless." Stewart said, "But by the time your fiancé finds you, you'll be almost entirely transformed…"
Frank was to busy coughing and gagging to reply, as he felt like a mailed fist crushed both heart and lungs…
----
TBC…
