Once upon a time, there was an interesting little site on the Internet where people interested in a Disney cartoon could gather and post stories of their own creation.

Over time, it was noticed that odd creatures, plot bunnies, were starting to infest the site, biting the writers at an astounding rate, causing odd and sometimes weird behavior from those that were bitten. And it started to affect the stories as well.

One young writer, then a twelve year-old genius and writing partner with her father, created a weapon to fight these creatures: the Godzilla Grand-Slam Bunny-Eradicator 4000 or the BE-4000 as it's sometimes called. With it, the young writer, Kt, started working to control the plot bunnies.

Then another author, cpneb, started to see another plot creature: plot squirrels. They had the same effect on the writers as the bunnies did.

When this development was noted in the discussion forum, Kt got another equally brilliant young writer to join her in fighting to control these plot creatures, Akinyi.

When CaptainIT made a joking comment that the young pair of writers were starting to sound like the characters from a certain television show, the joke became a one shot story that has grown from there.

Now the team of Kt and Akinyi have been joined by Joss Possible; and together have become collectively known as "The Angels", or as they are called now, "Angel's West." I try to help them out where and when I can.

We have, in turn, been joined by another team. Headed by Samurai Crunchbird, this new team is made up of Abscentialuci and Neo the Saiyan Angel. They have been joined by Monique Jenkins. Together, they are known as "Angels East."

They all work for me. My name is Thomas. And I work for cpneb.

When Angels Gather

Right on schedule, the borrowed hover jet landed a quarter mile from the farm that was the current lair of MaceEcam, who was now no more than a pawn of the villain he had created. The less than subtle "Mace Co." sign that had been hung over the main gate had been altered. It now read "KT Terror Inc."

Akinyi had put the hover car down farther to the north east effectively giving the team a pincer: cutting off any northern escape from the facility. Keeping in contact with the PosComms, they split up into groups of two and began sneaking toward the fence.

Akinyi and Joss were keeping low against some hedges. Every now and then, they would flatten themselves against the ground whenever a pigeon would fly overhead. Staying close to the greenery, they managed to stay out of sight of the birds, which seemed to be flying in an oddly controlled flight pattern. It was as if they were circling the farm on a regular schedule. This was definitely not the behavior of normal birds.

Meanwhile, Monique and Neo were working their way through a field of tall grass, identical to the sample that had been found in the office of their colleague. They moved slowly, trying to avoid moving the stems too much, and leaving no trace of their passing. Neo kept them on track with the target, using the GPS function of her PosComm. Monique was using hers to scan for life signs. Every now and then, they would have to stop, as the device detected a bunny or squirrel crossing their path.

The more technical pair of the assault force, as it were, moved more to the south and west, along the narrow dirt road that led away from the structures and towards the small town in the distance. JA and Luci were attempting to walk casually, figuring that if any of the creatures saw them at a distance, they would not perceive them as a threat. The man had his little electronic marvel out and was scanning the power, phone and cable television lines.

"There is an awful lot of data flowing along the lines." JA informed his companion. "I can't say exactly what it is, but at the speed it is moving, it has to be computer generated." Looking ahead of him, he saw a junction box for the phone lines. He practically ran to it and opened it up.

Taking just a moment or two to look at the wiring inside, he turned to his partner and asked, "Can you figure this mess of spaghetti out?"

Luci stepped closer and looked at the wires, trying to put it into perspective. It wasn't completely unfamiliar. Some of the wiring on the cargo planes she worked on was pretty similar. "It looks like a flight engineer took apart one of the main panels on a heavy lifter and pieced it back together," she informed JA as she pictured the last wiring nightmare a rookie engineer had left for her to straighten out.

Removing a small pen-like stylus from the back of his little device, JA tapped the display, starting a scanner program. Lightly, he started running the pen over the wires in the junction box as Luci directed him, and it started probing the connections. JA watched the monitor. "Okay, so I have to look for the strongest signal. That would be Mace, playing games with the FanFiction computer system again." Finding a highly active circuit, he pulled a set of wires from a large pocket of his jacket. The alligator clips on one end he attached to the terminals in the box, the connector at the other end plugged into his own unit.

The screen changed from one type of scan to another, the new one displaying a massive amount of data being transferred from somewhere. Using the small pen, JA tapped the display again, and the data stream changed from raw data flow into a fast changing series of screens. Most looked like information from the FanFiction servers, but some of the others were way too familiar to Luci as she recognized them from the Angels office main computers.

"Look, JA!" Luci said with a bit of shock and surprise in her voice, "That's the schematics for the PosComm. If Mace finds out where the chips are…"

"Don't worry, they aren't in the plans." JA interrupted her; "We didn't want one of you stumbling across it by accident unless you had to repair the unit in the field." The man pushed back the brim of his fedora before continuing. "What bothers me is that he can access this data at all. Wade promised us the encryption on the system was tight. The only way he could get the pass codes…"

He looked back down the road to the farm. It was only then that he considered the possibility that Mace might have been trying to get information from his daughter. As he looked, he finally paid closer attention to the sign above the gate. Reaching into another large pocket, he grabbed a compact pair of binoculars and took a quick look at the sign with them.

Slowly lowering the glasses, he reached for his PosComm.

xx

Thomas was speeding through Montana, on his way to the rendezvous when he heard a double beep signaling an incoming call. Reaching out to the dashboard, he pressed a virtual button on the screen and said, "Thomas, online. Go ahead." The screen displayed static for a second, and then JA's face appeared.

"We've got deep trouble, Thomas. I don't think Mace is in charge of things anymore. He may have planned to pump KT for information, but from the looks of things, she's taken Stockholm Syndrome to a whole new level." JA's face was replaced by the image of the sign. "This is so wrong, on so many levels."

"Call 'neb and let him know what's going on. He'll get Wade to protect the systems. Help is on the way." Thomas reached out and cut the connection. As he was returning his hand to the wheel, a finger slipped and pushed the power button on the radio. A haunting piano melody began to play over the speakers. Thomas listened for a moment in disbelief, as the melody was hauntingly familiar, but he couldn't remember from where.

As he was shutting the system off, he looked over and saw a young man on the side of the road, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder and leaning on a tall walking stick. With the car in silent mode, the man didn't hear him until the whir of the tires on the pavement got his attention. He turned and stuck out a thumb, throwing the stick into the ditch.

For some reason, Thomas felt compelled to pull over. The young man jogged to the car and opened the passenger door. The bag was unceremoniously dumped into the small space behind the seats, along with Thomas' dinged wooden cane that leaned next to the rollover bar on the driver's side. "Thanks, man. My feet are killing me." He climbed in, closed the door, buckled the safety belt and pulled it down securely.

"Where are you headed? I'm just cutting through to North Dakota." Thomas put the car in gear, and it accelerated smoothly to a speed that would have been unthinkable in a conventional version. "I can drop you off anywhere along my route."

"Actually, I was waiting for you. A mutual friend of ours dropped me off back there and said to look for a small black car going like mad."

There was a small chuckle from the cars' speaker system. "I knew you would never be able to sit still in the office, so I planned ahead." 'neb was almost laughing. "You told me you weren't sure our teams would be enough, so I called in some back up, if you would. Thomas Linquist, meet Ran Hakubi."

Thomas took his right hand off of the wheel just long enough to shake hands with his passenger. "It's an honor. I've enjoyed chatting with you online, and your reviews are always a welcome sight in my in box." He was reassured by the firm grip that met his own. Things might not turn out quite so bad after all. "You know, you might think to tell me these thing, 'neb."

"But Thomas, as we all like to say, this IS my way of telling you." This time there was a hearty laugh from the speakers. "Besides, Ran is quite familiar with the Angels and their mandate. We'll discuss his role in the organization later."

xx

It was at about this same time that a small flying vehicle approached the target from the south east. It looked suspiciously like a Haley Donaldson touring trike, of kind that many bikers enjoyed. It appeared to have the same sort of modifications that the Tweebs had made to Kim's Sloth. It carried two people, Samurai Crunchbird and a young woman, who had her hands lightly on the drivers' shoulders.

The bike had not quite settled to the ground when the girl swung a leg over the seat and somersaulted to the grass next to the fence. She came up and pulled the helmet off of her head. Anabri's long black hair fell down well below her shoulders. She pulled it up into a no-nonsense ponytail, and then stripped off the leather jacket she had been wearing.

Thad shut the hover bike down and climbed off. He placed his own helmet on the seat and took off his jacket as well.

Both were dressed in black clothing. Whereas Anabri was wearing a short sleeve crew neck shirt, in a style similar to that of the rest of the Angels, Samurai Crunchbird was dressed as his screen name implied. He pulled a cowl up over his head, covering the lower half of his face. He reached for an item strapped carefully behind the seat of the bike.

The soft cloth package was unrolled, revealing SAM, the Sword of the Ancient Mystics, a weapon not unlike the Lotus Blade. It could transform as needed, and was an extension of its' master's thoughts and body.

Anabri was busy checking her own equipment; PosComm, wrist grapple and BE4000 gloves were all put in order. A small device was placed at the small of her back, where she could reach for it, should push come to shove. She looked over to her companion.

"Ready? 'neb told me he wants us to get as close to the signal from KT's location as possible, and then wait for the signal to move in."

Putting the sword across his back, Samurai Crunchbird merely nodded. He pulled out his own PosComm and scanned about him. Pointing towards a large barn in the distance, he beckoned for Anabri to follow him, encouraging her to stay low.

xx

Inside the structure, KT was pounding a fist on the work table next to the computer. Nothing was working all of a sudden. Each time she tried to call up information from the mainframe computer back in LosAngeles, the screen would only flash "ACCESS DENIED" in large red letters. She went through every password that she knew, but the result was always the same. Somebody had cut off her ability to download from the system; even her own files were protected. She snarled and threw the plastic bottle she had been drinking from at the wall, the remaining water inside flying everywhere.

"Somebody has locked me out. They've figured out that I'm pulling stuff out of the system, and put up a firewall. How dare they deny me access to my own files?" She stood so quickly that MaceEcam had to scramble to get out of the way of the chair that was sent spinning back into the room. "You should have known this could happen if I were to disappear. But no, you had to come storming into the office and drag me out!"

Things had gotten so out of hand. Mace finally remembered who had started this whole venture for dominance at the Fannie Awards. "Look, you were supposed to be returned, and keep the Angels off of my back while I sabotaged everyone else's story writing efforts with the hybrid plot creatures. You want to blame anyone for this mess; look in a mirror you little…" The words trailed off when he saw the fire in the young woman's eyes.

xx

JA looked up from his scanning device when Luci called attention to a cloud of dust that was rapidly approaching on the road. The black speck at its base rapidly became visible as a car, albeit a very small one. The once black paint was covered in a layer of the same dust from the gravel road. With barely a whisper of sound, the car pulled up next to them and came to a stop.

"Did Wade get the system locked down quick enough? I don't think there was any mention of our latest resources anywhere on the hard drives, but I'd prefer certainty to hope." Thomas looked up at JA and tipped back his Aussie hat.

Luci looked at Thomas and laughed. "I don't think a convertible was such a good idea, Tom. You look like a raccoon in reverse."

Adjusting the rear view mirror, Thomas took a look at himself. He was liberally covered with dust, just like the Smart car. Taking off his prescription sunglasses, he replaced them with a regular pair. Indeed, there as a band of normal flesh tone across his face, making him look like a masked bandit in negative.

"Okay, once this is all over, I'm going to need a seriously long shower, and then a soak in the hot tub. JA, about the computers?" He pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket and wiped some of the dust from his face.

"Wade cut off access just before you got here. From what I can tell, KT was trying to locate Zaratan's current address. According to the bio on his profile, he's still in Brampton, Ontario. Of course, we all know about his move to Grande Prairie." JA shook his head. "If they go after Jason, that's it for the Fannies. We couldn't risk anything happening to him, even if it meant giving over every Golden Ruffie that was to be handed out."

"Let's concentrate on figuring out what happened to KT and get her back." Thomas said as he opened the car door and stepped out with Ran quickly following suit. Both dusted themselves off a little, while the little blonde woman tried to hide her snicker. "Mace has taken someone that I am responsible for, and I'm going to see to it he pays for it." He reached to his hip and pulled his PosComm out of its holster. Pushing a sequence of keys, he called all of the teams surrounding the farm. "All teams, this is Angel Lead. Call in and give me a go or no-go for advance."

"Angel team one," Neo called back. "Monique and I are in position just at the edge of the clearing. Ready for action."

Joss was next to respond. "Angel team two. We are holding in position just outside of the fence, 'bout twenty yards from the north east corner. Just waitin' for ya'll to give the signal, Lead."

"Team four here, Lead. The Angel at Large is ready and chomping at the bit for action." Thomas thought that Thad sounded like he was having the time of his life.

JA and Luci nodded to Thomas, who continued speaking into the PosComm. "Alright, team three is in position with me. I'm going to go in first. Watch my back, but don't do anything until I'm inside." He pushed the disconnect button and replaced the PosComm in its holder. Taking his cane he started strolling toward the gate. He looked to Ran, and silently indicated that he should follow at a discrete distance, staying hidden as best he could. Without looking back, he marched into whatever awaited him beyond the fences.

xx

Suddenly a blaring alarm sounded inside the lair of KT Terror Inc. One of the monitors came to life with an image from the security camera above the gate. Around the room, plot bunnies and squirrels dropped the treats they had been quietly munching on. KT stopped in her advance on Mace, who had been backed into a corner. She lowered the BE4000 that had been trained on him and ran to the monitor in question.

One look told her what had caused the horrendous noise.

"It's Thomas! What is he doing here? After being bitten by your hybrids once, you would think he'd be the last one here." She turned to the animals around them. "Don't just sit there, go get him. Fan out. If Linquist is here, the other Angels can't be far. I want him twitching with stale plots before he gets one foot through the door!" Her glare spoke volumes about what would happen if her orders weren't followed. The facility rapidly cleared of all but herself and her former captor.

Mace ran for a secondary computer station, cobbled together from parts he'd obtained on his quest for Fannie greatness. Shoving the mouse around, he activated every camera on the premises. Panning about the building, he saw no one approaching but the one man with the cane. Increasing the search area with each sweep, he finally detected three teams of Angels. Pointing to the screen, he called KT over. "You were right on the money. They are all here, even your father!" He picked up a microphone. "The Angels are here! Take them down!" His voice reached every corner of the farm yard.

xx

The building fairly exploded with fur. In a matter of moments, there was a circle of bunnies and squirrels at Thomas' feet. The only thing that kept the animals back was the sheer numbers of them. When one bunny finally did break free of the crowd, it tried to bite through the intruder's trousers. It reared back in surprise when its teeth met with something solid. Trying the other leg had a similar result.

The man reached behind his back with his right hand and pulled out the Crazer, mark II that rested on his belt. Aiming very slowly and deliberately, he pressed the stud under his thumb. With the smell of grape seeds the bunny disappeared. Thomas held the device in front of him and waved his cane at the other animals. Warily, they cleared a path before him. Every now and then one would move to strike, only to be brushed aside or vaporized.

When Thomas reached the door of the barn, he found it locked. Looking up, he saw that the loft was not similarly secured. Pigeons had been using the opening to get in and out. Where the Angels would simply use their wrist grapples (Or a standard grapple gun, in Joss' case.) he instead returned the Crazer to its place and went for the item in the holster on his hip.

As it cleared the leather, the small pistol unfolded, revealing a small but powerful crossbow. A bolt with a barbed hook and loop attached was pulled from the quiver built into the holster and went into the weapon. He pulled one end of the fine cable in the neighboring pouch out, inserted it through the loop, and attached it to a carabineer on his belt. When fired, the bolt sailed through the portal and lodged itself firmly in a beam, pulling the cable with it.

Thomas reached to replace the crossbow and picked up the PosComm. "Car Computer, engage auto systems."

"Systems engaged, Thomas" a cultured male voice responded. It sounded remarkably like the voice of an advanced Pontiac Trans Am seen on a popular television show of another decade. "Please state your request."

"Proceed to my current location."

"Confirmed. Proceeding to your position." There was the tiniest noise as the small black car rolled across the gravel to where its owner stood. "How may I be of service?"

"I'm going to tie the cable off to your tow hook." He then matched action to words. "When I give you the signal, back away from the building, pulling me up the wall. Think of it as rappelling in reverse." Thomas walked up to the building and stuffed his cane into a loop on his belt. Planting a foot against the steel wall, he waved the car back. Slowly the cable began to pull, and Thomas began to climb the wall.

xx

Meanwhile, the crowd of plot creatures had spread out, looking for other targets. Without real direction, the search was unorganized, and their prey was in a hunting mood too. Some returned to the lair in confusion. The smell of grape seed filled the air. No sooner would the Angels be set upon by a plot bunny or squirrel than it would be vaporized.

Monique and Neo were now at the very edge of the grass fields. As they had been trained, they were watching each other's back, and even looking overhead once in a while, looking for feathered foes. They made their way across the open yard in a dash, and up to a window. Glancing in from either side, they saw what had once been a small room for fodder. Now it was filled with equipment that explained a lot.

"Hey, that's a HenchCo Attitudinator!" Monique pointed to the helmet like device sitting on a table. "Kim described one to me after the last time it was used on Ron. If MaceEcam used that thing on KT…" She looked at her companion. Neo's expression matched her own; complete horror.

"We have so got to get that thing." Neo reached down and pulled the stun baton that was tucked into the high boot. She was preparing to smash the window when Monique grabbed her wrist.

"Easy there, girlfriend! We don't want to start drawing any more attention than we already have. Thomas may have Mace and KT distracted, but if they hear breaking glass, you know that won't last long." She looked carefully at the window frame. It was old, and the sash was quite loose. A quick scan with the PosComm detected no wires. Cautiously placing her hands on the wood, she slowly opened the window. When it threatened to fall back down, she wedged it open with her own baton. "After you" she said, crouching down and cupping her hands.

Neo lifted a long, shapely leg and placed the toe of her boot into the cradle her companion had provided. Between the boost from below, and a determined grip on the sill, she was quickly inside the room, then reaching back and extending a hand for her partner and helping her inside as well.

As quietly as possible, they went around the room, pulling plugs on anything that looked like it might be used to create trouble later. When they reached the helmet that sat on the table, Monique picked it up. The young women then proceeded to an inner door. Opening it a crack, they found themselves looking into the main workspace of the lair.

Looking at the monitors, they saw that teams one and three had been located, and were being set upon by plot creatures. They also noted Thomas using a cable to gain entry by the loft door, which was across the lair. More disturbing, they saw the images of their own backs; there was a camera in the room with them! Wordlessly, Monique turned and swung a leg at the offending instrument. That monitor went to static as Neo caught the falling camera, so that it would not hit the floor and make noise.

Fortunately, KT and Mace had been staring at the loft door, the former with her BE4000 trained on the opening, and her companion marshalling the hybrid plot bunnies before him, like a general with his army. Clearly Thomas was going to be eliminated the moment he popped his head over the sill of the hay mow.

Pulling her PosComm, Monique pressed an emergency frequency button. Without even waiting for an acknowledgement, she warned her friend of the danger. "Thomas! Stop!" She whispered into the unit. "You've been seen. You stick so much as a hair into that door and KT is going to hit you with the BE4000." Looking at the monitor, she saw Thomas stop in his vertical tracks. He reached into one of the pouches on his utility belt and lobbed something through the opening.

A small ball hit the floor and rolled under a workbench. As Mace was bending down to examine the item, it exploded into a thick grey cloud, which quickly filled the space.

Authors Note:

I want to give thanks to StarEva01, who did a large portion of the Beta on this chapter. His work is exceptional, so any fault you may find is my own. As usual, a big shout of gratitude to my usual Beta, Rondo, and of course, to the Angels. You have been wonderful to work with yet again.

Captain IT, I hope you are happy with what your rather flippant joke has spawned. The lesson here is; be very careful what you say in The Forum and chat. You never know just where it will go.