Okay, so my cousin(who has a major crush on him) and a reviewer have alerted that the name 'Tripwire' has been taken by a real Joe. Curseth! I was going to change her name anyways but I'll be doing it sooner now apparently…. So does anyone have an Idea on what her new name could be? At the end of this chapter I will have a list of things for you guys. Another thing is I don't think I really know how to put her southern accent in so just read it like that because I am lacking writing skills.
It had been a little under a month since Tripwire had been brought back to the Pit. After the first few days of mingling with everybody, getting familiar with the slight changes and settling in; the lively tomboy had seemingly vanished. Once in a while she could be seen snatching an apple or walking down the hallway. But for the last few days all activity had ceased.
Lady T(as TNT made everybody call her now) and Tap had been working but had too noticed the changes. Tap suggested that Tripwire might be conditioning; she was underweight and lost all muscle tone over the years. And now that she was back she might have felt 'outweighed' by everybody else. She was very rough and tumble, so being seen as small would not work.
Lady T flung open the Rec. Room door, stomping straight to Snake Eyes who lowered him off the swords he was balancing on. Her folded arms, cocked hip, and annoyed face was not the best greeting to see.
"Have you seen Trip?" She asked, irritation slightly hinting her voice. He shook his head as her eyebrow shot up. "No loud music? No sounds of something breaking? Nothing?" She asked again. Snake Eyes shook his head slowly. Lady T dropped her arms to her sides in annoyance as she stomped out the room mumbling unpleasant words in Swahili. The Alpha team glanced at each other before following the upset woman curiously.
She marched to Tripwire's door and quickly punched in and did all the motions in order to gain access. She opened the door as blaring music hit them. The thundering beat of Indestructible by Disturbed drowned out all their thoughts as their eyes fell on Tripwire; who was balancing upside down on a bar with 20 pound weights on her feet as she did 'push-ups'.
Lady T didn't seem fazed; she just seemed more enraged as she walked up to the balancing Tripwire and poked her between the shoulder blades. Lady T stepped back as Tripwire swung down and managed to catch the weights with the tops of her feet. The dusty blonde released on arm to press a button her other wrist and the music stopped.
Tripwire was different looking; her arms were defined by muscle, she looked to be a healthy 120 pounds and her hair 'spikey bowl cut' was longer and even more unruly yet the braid leading down her back was still neat. The only thing she was wearing was a modest sports bra and thigh high yoga pants. Over her now sculpted stomach and ads was the snake tattoo Snake Eyes as well as everybody else now.
The black ink snake was an Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail. It was circling right where her curves inclined the most as it was the one causing that. On her left thigh the tail of a tiger was spotted.
"So…is everybody just gonna stare at more or what?" Tripwire asked breaking the very awkward silence. Everybody—except Lady T—looked back up at her face.
"Damn girl!" Ripcord said, receiving a punch from Scarlett soon after.
"That's what they tell me." Tripwire gave sarcastic smile.
"They also say 'Where the hell have you been?'" Lady T said putting her hands on her hips. Tripwire gave a cute 'I'm sorry' smile as she continued to hang by her arms. Lady T wasn't impressed by that.
"I know you have your little 'issuses' and what-not, but girl you can't just disappear like Who-Dingy!" She scolded.
"Houdini. It's Houdini not Who-Dingy…." Tripwire dared to correct as she glanced away from Lady T's dagger bearing stare as light snickers passed around.
"And another thing; why couldn't we hear that music? It was loud enough to shake the Rector Scale." She asked while the trademark mischievous grin crept on Tripwire's face.
"The month before my 'accident' I had it sound proofed—by me of course—but hey. That's why all my posters were down, but I put them back up." She said as she dropped down and motioned to the walls now crammed with random posters. One of which was caution tape yell and read 'Caution: Ninjas fighting Pirates with lazar guns.' That caught everybody's eye.
"Anyhows, put on some clothes and get outside before I kick your butt." Lady T said leading the group out the door.
….
It hadn't been five seconds A.J walked out the door when an alarm sounded. She wasn't new here, or stupid, and headed with the rest of the crowd as they crowded in the 'Controls Room' where all the computers and security actions went on. She immediately made her way to Tap's desk where Lady T was already at. Tap did just what she was named after; tapped that keyboard like it was the only thing keeping hell away.
"What's going on?" Lady T and A.J asked in union.
"Something made the firewall drop on its own! I can't see what did it or if anything has gotten in!" The normally laid back woman growled in anger as she began mumbling curses in Hawaiian. Suddenly; the lights, the alarm and all the screens went dead.
Then, the huge screen on the wall blinked to life; showing something like an email alert. Tap clacked her keys and image showed on her screen as well.
"Get the General, someone. Now!" She uncharacteristically ordered as one man scuttled through the people, retrieving the General. A.J moved to the right of Tap to make room for him as he examined the screen.
"Open it." He said as Tap gave him a hesitant look. "Open it." He repeated as Tap did what he said. The email opened showing an area code and a link. Tap clicked the link as it opened it several maps, aerial views and road images of the same place. At the bottom it read:
'Have fun on the treasure hunt, kitties! – Witch Doctor.'
"Who the hell is 'Witch Doctor'?" Hawk asked as everybody gazed at the massive screen. It all pointed to an abandon building in Canada. A.J Thought a second thinking but couldn't come with anything but that annoying song 'The Witch Doctor.'
"What do you think it is?" A.J whispered to Tap. As if on cue, a pop on the screen appeared.
'Need a hint?' It read. Tap clicked it after receiving the General's go ahead. It opened to something else whish also had words…yay words.
'What makes people sad? What is on a sunny day?'
"Cracker jack is messing with us…" Lady T mumbled trying to figure out the riddle like everybody else. The screen flashed 'TIMES UP' and the screen showed a paragraph:
'Once when I was young, I froze a live snake. Then, ten years later when I was moving I found it in the freezer. As a gag, a tried to bring it back to life. I succeeded! It was amazing! I named that snake Treasure after what she was; my treasure. Though I may not bring this snake back to life, you know someone who can.'
And the screen set its self back to the maps. Whoever set this up really wanted them to go to this place.
"I think we should go. You never know what it could be." A.J suggested. "I think Red-Left could get us there in a few hours." She added mentioning one of 'her' jets. It could hold eight people, loads of weapons and even seven bombs all at once and still make record time.
Hawk noticeably was mulling this over. "Alright, Alpha team, move out at 0600 hours." He went to turn but an idling A.J made him stop. "Tripwire, that means you." He added before leaving. A.J smiled hugely before skip-running down the hall to get her gear.
'Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! A mission so soon, couldn't be happier!' She thought grabbing her old gear and slightly frowning. 'Tripwire. Stupid old name. Need a new one so I won't be the stupid old me…' She thought darkly trying to keep the memories at bay. She focused on her upcoming mission instead.
….
A.J found herself in her happy place—you know the ones people tell you to find when you get upset. Flying her fastest jet, to an exciting mission, with her new team. Just the thought of the thrill of danger set her lips to smile. Her black flight helmet and huge yellow goggles were what made her feel awesome. The yellow contrasted and focused light as she looked through them.
"Hey, I think I solved the riddle!" Ripcord exclaimed gaining everybody's attention.
"What makes people sad? Dead things. What appears on a sunny day? Sunlight!" He said to the very unimpressed audience.
"So.. Dead Light? That's a romance novel. I think." Scarlett said.
"Maybe this guy wants us to read more." A.J cracked a lame joke that only she smiled at.
"That's thing about him freezing a snake then bring it back to life. It was just..ugh.." Breaker said shaking his head as if unable to finish the sentence. Everyone agreed with him on that.
"Approaching drop zone. Get ready people." A.J warned as everybody slipped on their flight-suits. A.J moved a few things around on the touch screen before un-buckling her belts and heading back.
"Okay, the plane is going to pass over the drop zone in five minutes. It will circle back around in ten minutes. I can call it to get here faster and pick us up or circle back around once more for ten minutes. Depending on the time. If we don't order the jet after the first ten minutes it will send an alert to the Pit; saying we're dead." A.J pulled off her helmet but placed her goggles in her suit before she slipped it on.
"Then communicators have 'survivor-stretch'. Don't know why it's called that but this is what it does: You will receive a message after the Pit does. If you are alive then tell them, that's how you tell people you're alive and need to be picked up." She finished and slammed the side of her fist into a button which opened the plane's hatch. Everyone jumped out accordingly and landed close together.
The building was abandon just as the maps stated. A huge, manufacturing building that was collapsing and windows were busted out here and there. A.J pulled her goggles back out and pressed at side button; setting it to heat vision. No movement outside or inside; no heat signatures at all. The top building was warm with the Canadian summer air but the lower half was around thirty degrees.
"Odd. The top of the building is hot air and the lower half is obviously being cooled somehow." She stated pulling her goggles to the top of her head so she could look at her teammates. "Wonder why…" She said to herself.
"Only one way to find out." Duke sighed tensely and started off towards the building with the others following him on alert. Nothing gave them reason to be tense, it was either their training or the open invitation. A.J fell back with Snake Eyes unintentionally as she had her goggles set to night vision. She was scanning everything. Literally.
"Edgy much?" Ripcord quietly teased her when he noticed this.
"Just hate the damn dark." She muttered with her southern accent creeping in more than usual, something that showed her discomfort. They cautiously entered the building—through the front door this time— and began their search.
"The letter didn't say what to do after this did it?" Duke asked surveying the area. He noted the four hallways leading to unknown places. A.J set her goggles back to heat vision as she studied the halls with him. One was about 80, the other 70-ish, and the other two were close to 30-45 degrees.
"Those two halls," She said pointing to them while flipping through the settings on her 'high-tech shades' as she called them. "Have the lowest heat signatures. The guy said he froze a snake, let's take this hint." She added. They split into teams of four to go down the two halls. Snake Eyes, Duke and A.J to the left—the coldest—and Scarlett, Ripcord and Break took the right one.
A.J found herself up front as she scanned the halls for their shifting signatures. Without even acknowledging it; she fell through a hole in the floor.
"A.J!" Duke yelp and tried to grab her; but she was gone. "A.J! You there?" He yelled down. No response. The 'other team's footsteps came from in front on the hole. The hall just lead around in a loop.
"What happened?" Scarlett asked observing Duke on his knees looking down the dark hole.
"A.J fell through." He answered quickly and motioned for the others to be quiet as he listened.
"Hey! I found Bruce Lee!" A.J's voice came up. Everybody let out the breaths they didn't know they were holding.
…..
A.J had just fallen through a random hole and found herself next to a glass casket of sorts. It had all sorts of medical machines hooked up. The Asian guy inside had tubes and cords hooked up to him. He was alive according to the heart rate monitor and the breathing-machine that was doing it for him. The one monitor attached to his forehead was flat lined; no brain activity. This guy was a potato.
"What do you mean you found Bruce Lee!" Duke shouted down.
"I mean I found an Asian potato! Get down here!" She shouted back up. After few minutes of silence she heard marred voices above her.
"How far down is it!" Duke shouted back.
"About 20 feet!" A.J answered honestly. After a few scuffling sounds of movements she just knew they had left her here down in this hole. It wouldn't be the first time….
The figure of Snake Eyes falling through the hole snapped her out of her thoughts as he landed close to her and the odd casket. He faced her first then the person in the casket and took a step back.
It couldn't be. Storm Shadow was dead. DEAD. Snake Eyes had killed him two years before. But as he observed the presumed dead man all the wounds he had last seen him with were healed and scarred over.
A.J Noticed a note on the ground she hadn't before. Picking it up, it read:
'Had you stumped? Storms make people sad, Shadows are what appears on sunny days. Your answer: Storm Shadow. – Witch Doctor.'
"How cliché of this guy." A.J shook her head and handed it to Snake Eyes who read it as well. Her wrist appliance buzzed and she pressed a button.
"Alright let's get moving. Ten more minutes people." She informed them as a rope dropped through the hole for everybody else to come down.
Well that was boring. Sorry if I put you to sleep. Maybe you dreamed something better. Anyways, A.J needs a new name! Suggest one! Do NOT make me call her 'Dixie' because you wouldn't suggest one!(thanks cousin for giving me the lame-o name 'Dixie'….)