As Painkiller slipped into the hallway of the brig, she could hear the sound of flesh striking flesh. When she heard the words being screamed, AJ silently snarled and Illusion softly put her hand on AJ's forearm.
"Now I'm really pissed," AJ whispered, her eyes flashing. Illusion moved her hand to AJ's upper arm and jerked her close to her and back deeper into the shadows.
"It's okay, Painkiller. Just chill. If you go off the deep end, we'll never succeed," she hissed.
Painkiller slowly takes a deep breath and even more slowly blows it out, centering herself again. "You're right. I'm sorry. Let's get this show on the road. The faster we get done, the faster we can get the heck out of Dodge."
The lights flickered as a bass riff that was uniquely Jamie Barney ripped through the building out of nowhere. "Oh, she's good," Cheyenne mouthed to AJ, who nodded in agreement. It was never spoken, but the pair knew that this was the countdown start signal.
Jamie and Ericka had put their lives on the line repeatedly during the last few nights, making and setting up the explosives. Since Jamie didn't need much sleep at all, she'd volunteered for this job. Every night, they'd mix the explosives and then Jamie would sneak out and place them where they wouldn't do so much damage to any of the Joes' equipment, but would totally destroy the Cobras', and they'd provide an adequate diversion and cover for some of the activities. The girls had even been gutsy enough to set up a few 'tiny' little practical jokes with the leftover explosives that they had, and a few chemlights that they had found lying around the machine shop. Never let it be said that Shortstop or TNT didn't have a sense of humor.
The other kids joked that Jamie had read waaaay too many of her dad's comic books. She'd drawn the word "ACME" on the explosives big enough, and was just waiting for the Cobras to start acting like cartoon characters when they found them, if they even found them before they went off.
Knowing where each of the security cameras were placed, as well as the ones that she had placed, Jamie had deliberately let herself be caught by a couple of Cobra goons. She led them on a merry chase around the base in a cartoon-like way.
Each girl counts down on her hand. When they each reach zero, explosions sound across the base from them. Jamie and Ericka had timed it perfectly, as always. The majority of the Cobra troops rushed out, leaving a skeleton crew that was easily knocked out by the heroines.
Illusion keeps an eye out while Painkiller unlocks the cell doors and whispers instructions to the occupants. When she gets to last cell, the door is already open and Tomax is still standing inside, kicking the crap out of Lifeline, who is lying bloody and badly beaten on the floor of the cell. She can hear ribs crack under the force of the kicks.
Painkiller takes a deep breath and steels herself, leaping inside, onto Tomax's back and striking downwards with all the strength in her elbows on either side of his neck, knocking him out; and with him his twin, Xamot (wherever he was on the base), at the same instant. As he falls, she lands on her feet and assists Illusion with helping Lifeline out of the cell.
"I've got first aid kits in my car," she states. "As soon as we can get away from here to begin plotting to retake the Pit, I'll use them. Lifeline, do you think you can manage until then?"
Blood streaming from his nose and mouth, and deep, dark bruises forming all over his body, he slowly nods. "I can…I can hold on," he chokes out, spitting up blood from where he'd bitten the inside of his cheek.
Neither girl is winded as he slumps in their arms while they carry him out and put him into AJ's Jeep. By this time, he's almost unconscious. Painkiller hands Illusion the pistol that she had been carrying.
The kids had literally broken into their parents' stashes and grabbed whatever weapons they could get their hands on that were usable. AJ and her brother EJ had their father's pistols and medical kits; Jamie had all four of her parents' pistols, and her dad's mobile laser cannon, which she'd attached to the roll bar of her Cherokee, rigging it to be rotated and fired with a flick of her thumbs on the steering wheel; Ericka had her parents' firearms and dad's mortar tube; and so on. Every single one of them had more than twenty extra magazines of ammo that they'd scrounged up. They had the advantage of way superior firepower if they really needed it, although they preferred to use their definite advantage of superior brainpower instead.
Trini had actually managed to get a Battle Wagon repaired and into the mix, fighting her way off of the base and off road, parking it where she could get to it at a moment's notice and slipped behind the wheel of her 'rednecked' pickup and driving right back onto the base and into the fight. The few Cobras that didn't get out of her way became speed bumps as she recklessly and relentlessly went after whatever target she could find.
"Cover us," AJ orders, as she straps Lifeline in and slaps a couple of pressure bandages into place. Illusion grabs the roll bar and hauls herself into the rear of the jeep just as a contingent of snakes comes around the corner, chasing Klutz. He leaps into the jeep beside Illusion.
Painkiller and Illusion began to chuckle as they saw one of the two motorcycles appear from nowhere and zap a few Cobras with one of the pocket lasers that had been attached. They knew who the riders were, and were thankful for the cover fire as they sped across the base.
Painkiller rolls over the hood and slides behind the wheel, twisting the key and bringing the machine to life. She slams her way through the gears, power-shifting as she squeals away; leaving rubber on the asphalt.
She slaloms her way around the base, dodging unfriendly fire from the Cobras, praying that the armor would hold as they reach the gatehouse and realize that the crossing bar is down and that there is a huge mass of snakes in front of them.
"Hang on!" she yells. "If I can't go over, under or around them, the only way to go is through them. Illusion, Klutz, keep your heads down and your guns spraying." Painkiller never lets off of the gas as she goes straight for the crowd and slams her way through the Cobras, never stopping to look back as she smashes through the crossing bar.
She looks in the rearview mirror and curses as she sees that they've gotten their heads out of their butts long enough to send someone to follow the escaping Joes. She cranks the wheel hard left and goes off-road. Meanwhile, Illusion is on the radio to the rest of the teams.
"We're four by four, and we'll be coming in the back way to the meeting place."
"Affirmative, Illusion, we read you, and we've got your message. We'll have an opening as soon as you get here. Do you need cover fire at your location?" Shortstop radios back to them. She had been one of the motorcycle riders, having been the one that had rigged the pocket lasers to the bikes to do some damage in the first place.
"Negative, Stop. Painkiller says she has everything under control," Illusion sent. There was no way on God's green earth that she was going to call Jamie short, capital S or not.
"Got it. Jeez, I'm getting bored here. I need a target," Shortstop whined with a laugh.
After leading the Cobras on a merry chase, Painkiller turns her head and tells the other three in the Jeep, "Hold on, you three. We're going to catch some serious air here, a la 'Dukes of Hazzard'."
Klutz, Lifeline and Illusion grab onto whatever they can reach and hold on for dear life. AJ heads for the ravine and creek bed calculating trajectories and ratios in her mind.
It was at least thirty foot deep; maybe fifteen wide, twenty at the max, with a homemade ramp on the near side that most of the kids used when trail biking, which was a favorite pastime.
"Use my tailgate if you have to, Painkiller," Earthmover's voice rumbled through the radio. "I'm on my way through."
"Well, let's see if that old ramp will hold a jeep," Painkiller said with a small grin. She aims the jeep for the ramp and hits true. Lifeline covers his eyes and mumbles to himself.
"Oh Lord. She's gonna kill us all," he whimpers.
"Relax, man. We're on the other side and on land again," laughs Illusion, patting him on the shoulder as AJ swings the jeep around to watch the fireworks.
Painkiller rides out the bump of their landing and slews around to watch the Cobra vehicles land quite short of their targets. Apparently, they hadn't seen the ramp or Painkiller's use of it.
"Idiots," mutters Lifeline.
"You got that right," the girls chorus in stereo.
"Who are you?" he asks as they head off down the dirtbike trail to meet up with the rest of the group.
"They call me Painkiller, and the two behind you are Illusion and Klutz. You'll find out who we are soon enough."
"Hey Shortstop, think you and TNT can drop some firepower into the creekbed by the ramp without taking it or us out?" Illusion radioed.
"I'm well out of the line of fire, go to it," Earthmover radioed.
"Try and stop us," Shortstop sent back. "Keep your butts low, incoming fire in the hole," she laughed.
The night suddenly lit up as multiple laser cannons began firing, and numerous mortar rounds began to fall from the clear night sky. It would have been funny to the kids if they had been watching as the Cobra troopers scrambled for what little cover they could find.
Unfortunately for the Cobras, every move they made was seen, laughed at, and recorded by Jamie's video feed and firing system to be laughed at again later when it would be brought out for the Joes' entertainment. She and Blair had an idea how to turn the footage into seriously funny music videos, with the music from the Delta Brats1.
Just a few minutes later, Painkiller and her group reach their childhood fort- the copse of trees covering a base every bit as sophisticated as the Pit itself, which had been designated as the meeting place. All four of them notice and take note of all the weaponry that has already been deployed to protect the group.
Tommie, Terrie, Ericka and Crispin had already deployed the mines and were manning their 'appropriated' mortars. Jamie had already managed to get their heavy artillery laser cannons to where each piece could be manned by remote control and had them set up in defensive positions, criss-crossing sections and overlapping lines of fire; and the rest of the kids were either running patrols or patching up the wounded.
Ericka and Jamie were both bent over their firing systems, having way too much fun. Crispin would toss a mortar round to Ericka, and she'd drop it in after computing the trajectories that she needed and inputting them into the computerized mortar that she, Jamie, and Blair had built themselves.
Jamie would look at the monitor in front of her and gently tap a button on the board in front of her, sending laser fire where she needed to. It sounded like she was typing one of her class papers; she was firing the cannons so fast.
Some of the younger teens had helped Blair and Lindsay set up cameras in the treeline and all the way to their base from the Pit, creating their own security system, and Jamie had patched the cannons into this and the Pit's security system. All she had to do was look at a specific spot and she knew where to lay down the heat.
She powered one of the cannons down as far as she could and sent a happy little burst into the seat of one Cobra's pants, laughing the whole time, and immediately re-upping the power setting. She laughed even harder when she realized that at least six different cameras had caught her little stunt. Mischief and mayhem were her specialties, as well as inflicting physical damage to the other side with sheer muscle power.
1 A band made up of the Joe kids; the name is taken from Special Counterterrorist Force Delta, and the fact that the kids have always been accused of being brats.