Disclaimer: I do not own GI Joe.
Stalker looked out of the window of the Humvee and over the Verrazano-NarrowsBridge that spanned the narrows of the Hudson River. He could see a baseball field and beyond that, the bluish gray waters that led out to the bay. Beside him, Tunnel Rat was driving, taking them to the New York Public Library where they would start their research.
Said man drummed his fingers on the wheel. "So, anyone have any ideas on what to search for? I mean, Father Time, obviously, but I don't think there's gonna be a section on that."
"I was thinking there might be something in Greek or Roman myth. I mean, the concept is pretty old," said Stalker.
"Do you think Chronos was the start of the Father Time concept?" Lowlight asked from the back of the vehicle.
Stalker nodded, "Maybe, it's been a looong time since mythology class, but I don't remember a major Time figure before the ancient Greeks. I was thinking the history and myth sections would be good places to start. The older books in those sections might have hints or clues," he said thoughtfully.
"Hell, we don't even know what we are really looking for. We can look at myths and history, but there isn't a way to tell what is fact and what isn't," Lowlight said while leaning forward.
"No, but I say we look up everything we can on the subject, although the other teams will probably be doing the same," said Stalker.
"I guess that's all we can really do. I don't envy Scarlett or Lady Jaye's jobs in trying to figure it all out," Tunnel Rat said, shaking his head.
"If they can," responded Lowlight. He leaned back into the seat.
Tunnel Rat looked at him through the rearview mirror. "Yeah, maybe Cobra Commander has just completely lost it and we are all chasing nothing."
Lowlight snorted, "Exactly."
"Wouldn't be the first time we've had to follow Cobra on one of their insane goose chases," said Stalker.
"Probably won't be the last," Tunnel Rat sighed.
They ended up parking a few blocks away and walking to the main entrance of the library. Tunnel Rat paused on the second set of steps. "I've always liked these lions, just something about the way they sit," he commented.
"I didn't think you were into architecture," said Lowlight.
"Just 'cause I'm an expert on underground architecture doesn't mean I don't appreciate the stuff above," he said, rolling his eyes.
Lowlight put his hands up defensively. "Okay, sorry."
"Don't take it wrong, man, but you spend so much time dealing with tunnels, it's hard to think of you being anywhere else," said Stalker.
"Yeah, well, doesn't mean I don't have other hobbies, although, it is hard to beat a good tunnel," Tunnel Rat said. They continued through the main entrance and once inside, consulted the directory, finding both sections they wanted on the second floor. Once there, they went to the main desk where there was a willowy, dark-haired woman working on something on the computer.
"Hey, could you-"
"I'll be with you in a minute," the librarian interrupted, not even looking up from the computer screen. They waited for a couple of minutes, listening to her type. Lowlight walked off a little ways, to look at something that caught his eye. Tunnel Rat started whistling quietly. A look of annoyance crossed the librarian's face. Stalker elbowed Tunnel Rat in the arm.
"Didn't your momma ever teach you to be quiet in the library?" he hissed.
"Nope," Tunnel Rat said grinning.
The librarian finally looked up from the computer screen, focusing on Stalker. "What can I do to help you gentlemen today?" she asked, adjusting her glasses and then folding her hands in front of her on the desk.
"Could you point us in the directions of the myth section, ma'am?" he asked.
"Yeah, and the history section too, please!" Tunnel Rat added.
"Certainly. You just go..." she stopped when she looked at Tunnel Rat. She stood up, half leaning on the desk and pointed a finger at him. "You! Get out! I will not have your shenanigans in my library again!" she said, nearly shouting at him.
"Hey, that was years ago!" he protested.
"I don't care how many years ago it has been. I will not have you building book tunnels a third time in this library!"
"Look, ma'am, my friends and I are just here to do a little research. We'll keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything," Stalker said, trying to calm the librarian down.
She sat back down with a hmph. "You see to it that he doesn't or so help me, you will be banned from ever setting foot here again." She pulled out a brochure like piece of paper, pressing harder with the pen than necessary. "This is where you are, the history section is over here," she said, marking the section. She repeated it for the mythology section and handed the paper to Stalker. Lowlight rejoined them and she looked both of the men over before looking back at Tunnel Rat, narrowing her eyes. "YOU. WILL. PUT. EVERYTHING back where you found it."
"Yes, ma'am, we'll see that he does," Stalker said as he pulled the other two men away from the desk. "Jeeze man, book tunnels? Twice before? For real?" he asked in a hushed voice, still not believing it.
"What did I miss?" asked Lowlight.
Tunnel Rat shrugged, "They were school field trips. I was just trying to make it fun. The thicker books make for nice big tunnels, but you gotta watch out for the static on some of the smoother books. Causes them to slide right off the other books."
"I'll keep that in mind if I ever need to build a tunnel," said Stalker. He shook his head and muttered, "Book tunnels."
"Maybe he should look on the web while we look at the books. Hard to build a tunnel out of that," suggested Lowlight.
"Not a bad idea."
"Hey! I can behave, you know. I've grown up since then, sheesh," Tunnel Rat said, crossing his arms. "Sides, I bet Breaker or Mainframe have already done that."
"Why don't you start on the web anyway? See if you can find anything that we should be looking for in the books. Lowlight, you want the myth or the history section?"
Lowlight shrugged.
"Okay, I'll take the myth section then."
The three men separated and Tunnel Rat headed for the nearest computer. It didn't take long for him to search for Father Time on the internet. There just wasn't that much there. He found a web page devoted to the New Year that had a page on him, a Wikipedia page, and oddly enough, a page on an online dictionary. There were more images of statues and paintings than actual information. He printed off the three pages and went to go find Stalker.
Stalker was sitting at a table near some of the bookshelves. He had a number of books stacked beside him and was reading another. Tunnel Rat sat down across from him and Stalker looked up briefly before returning to the book. "What'd you find out?"
"Not much. Mostly he is associated with Saturn or Chronos. He's an old white dude except at the New Year, when he's a baby or toddler. He has a scythe and an hourglass. The dictionary page has a poem about him and Mother Earth."
Stalker looked up at that, frowning. "What else the dictionary page have?"
"It's a user-created dictionary, so some really weird stuff. Supposedly, he is the spokesman for 2000 Flushes."
"What?"
"Hey, I'm just reading what's on the page," Tunnel Rat said as he waved the paper in the air. Stalker grabbed it from him.
Stalker read out loud, "A Cincinnati nerfer, a college student, a killing machine. In China, possibly Peking duck with lobster. Gee, I'm sure Roadblock would appreciate that," he said, interrupting himself. "Last, but not least, the obligatory sexual reference," he handed the paper back to Tunnel Rat.
"Yeah, like I said, really weird stuff," he sighed and picked up a book from the stack. "Are these all that you could find?"
"Naw, these are just the immediately obvious Greek mythology books."
It was mid afternoon when Stalker finally got to the last book. He rubbed his eyes, tired from reading so much little print. His entire backside hurt from sitting in the hard wooden chair for so long. He was almost wondering if it wouldn't be more comfortable to be on the PT course in full gear.
Lowlight had finished earlier with the history section and ended up browsing through some of the other sections. He asked the librarians for suggestions and visited the other floors, but still didn't find much. Tunnel Rat had gotten bored halfway through, eyeballing the stacks of books on the table, which had multiplied by then. At one point, he even started stacking them up in two columns. Stalker sent him off to make copies after that. Now the man had his head on the table, arms fanned out, drawing who knew what with his fingers. Stalker sighed as he set the book down and Tunnel Rat looked up at him hopefully.
"Can we break for lunch, please? I'm staaarving."
"Yeah, we can break for a short lunch while we head over to the Columbia University Library. There gonna be more pissed off librarians that we should know about?"
"Nope, never been to that library before."
"Good. I really don't want to have that conversation again."
They got up from the table, putting the books back before leaving. The librarian was still there when they walked past the desk and she glared after them, getting up to check the sections once they were gone.
"Where do you guys want to go for lunch?" asked Lowlight as they walked out of the library.
"Drive-thru," replied Stalker.
"Since I'm driving, I get to-"
"Whatever," interrupted Lowlight.
"Yeah, that's fine," said Stalker.
Tunnel Rat picked out a place fairly quickly and they spent several minutes getting food. It only took a couple more minutes on the road to get to another parking garage near the second library.
"So, same deal again?" Tunnel Rat asked, jumping out of the vehicle.
"You can help me with the myths section, make copies for both of us if we need them, but otherwise, yeah," said Stalker. "Might as well stay the same so we will know what is new."
"Why do I gotta be the gopher?" whined Tunnel Rat.
"Book tunnels," said Stalker.
"S'not fair,"Tunnel Rat mumbled, kicking at the ground.
Once in the library, they asked the librarian for directions again. This librarian was much more helpful and polite, even going so far as to point out some books that might be of help to them. She checked up on them periodically to see how they were doing. On the third such occasion, she discovered Tunnel Rat's talent. He was on the floor eyeing a stack of books and nudging one into line with the others.
"What in God's name do you think are you doing?!" she shouted in surprise.
"Building a tunnel out of books and shelves, and uhhh-" Tunnel Rat looked up at her guiltily.
Stalker had come over when he heard the librarian shouting. "You didn't. All I told you to do was to put them away."
"I did, but then I thought they would look better this way."
Stalker dropped his head into one hand and shook them both back and forth a few times. "I can't believe I ended up with you. And Beachhead complained about his group. I bet his group can at least behave in a library. Hell, my kids can behave better," he said, raising his head up.
"How... can... this possibly be safe," the librarian sputtered.
"Cause I built it," Tunnel Rat said proudly.
The librarian regained her composure. "I want it put back. All of it and in the correct order. You will not build anymore of these... these... things while you are here, otherwise none of you will ever be coming back. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Tunnel Rat, jumping up and saluting.
Stalker gave a long sigh, "Don't worry, ma'am, we won't leave until it's all been put away and I'll try to keep him busier so he doesn't do it again."
She nodded at Stalker and went to look for the third member in their party to make sure he wasn't up to any mischief.
Tunnel Rat watched as the angry librarian walked away. "She's kinda cute when she's angry..."
"Dream on, man."
"What? I like short, intelligent women."
"Just get it cleaned up," Stalker rolled his eyes and went back to reading.
For the next several hours, Stalker looked through the myths, while Tunnel Rat and Lowlight checked around other sections of the library for more information. The librarian walked by him several times, checking all the aisles in their section. She seemed relieved when he told her he had sent Tunnel Rat off with Lowlight. She pointed out some of the books he hadn't thought to check and helped put away some of the ones he had gone through. Eventually, someone announced the Library was closing over the loudspeaker. The three men met up in the main lobby and left the building.
"So, after two libraries, all we've got is a bunch of myths on Saturn and Chronos, a weird definitions page, a picture of a painting dating back to 1610, and a lot of wasted hours?" asked Tunnel Rat. He put his hands behind his head and started whistling.
"Don't forget near bans from both libraries," Stalker said, scowling at Tunnel Rat.
"Not like we have time to visit them anyways."
"I might want to visit again," said Lowlight. "Wouldn't be able to do that if you had gotten us banned."
"But I didn't, so chill out," said Tunnel Rat.
Lowlight glared at him.
Tunnel Rat sighed, "This means I'm getting sniped on the PT course, doesn't it?"
"I think I saw some fluorescent pink paint somewhere."
Author's Note: Thanks to Greentigerr for beta reading again. I would also like to thank Google Maps. I've never been to New York (pretty much have only been to two states), so the maps helped a lot. As for the book tunnels, you know those smooth books that sometimes have static on them? Ever try stacking them on another smooth book? Especially if it also has static? It gets the slightest bump or movement and boom! Goodbye neat stack. So yeah, be careful when building your book tunnels, kids, or better yet, just leave it to the experts.