Radioactive: Chapter Seventeen

Radioactive

Chapter Seventeen

~Rechecking the Data~

“Jumper! What on earth did you do!?” the doctor yelled at the black skinned man.

Jumper sighed, “For the sixth time, I brought out one of your pets for a walk and she got away from me. All I wanted to do was help you out, otherwise how are you going to walk all of them? I tried to chase her down but those people I told you about killed before I could get to her.” Jumper shrugged, “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Jumper—!”

Jumper flipped out his phone, “Oh and here’s all the evidence and proof that they aren’t like any ordinary people.”

He tossed the phone over to the doctor. The doctor muttered underneath his breath as he looked over the phone and its contents. He was quiet as he looked through the information. After a few moments he looked up at Jumper.

“Shall, I assume you found this information after you saw my pet was killed,” the doctor stated.”

Jumper feigned offence, “Of course! I wouldn’t have left her to die on her own. Who do you take me for?”

“Umh,” the doctor muttered. He didn’t believe a word that came out of Jumper’s mouth for good reason. The doctor nodded as he read over the information one last time.

“What do you want to do now?” Jumper asked; a small smile crept across his face.

The doctor looked up, “Well, it does look like that they will be a bit of trouble. We can have them destroying my experiments.”

“I say that we attack them with those pets of yours,” Jumper suggested, “They can’t fight off all of them at once.”

“That is out of the question,” the doctor said, “I will not destroy my creations.”

“Then how do you propose we get rid of them?” Jumper crossed his arms, “And besides, you can always make more once their killed right? What do you have to lose?”

The doctor was quiet for a moment, thinking on his options. He hated seeing his modified creatures die. It saddened him like a father is broken over his child’s death or like a god’s anguish when his creations desert him. As much as he wanted to keep them he knew that if he didn’t do something about the agents that were sent that they would take them away and do who knew what to them. The doctor gave a long sigh and shook his head.

“Fine,” he said, “We’ll have to attack first.”

Jumper’s smile widened, “Shall I start with the preparations?”

The doctor nodded slowly, “Do what needs to be done.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pad of paper, “These numbers are the ones that you cannot use on this mission. They are my favorites. We might need them later.”

Jumper grabbed the piece of paper and looked it over, “This is it? What are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do?” the doctor looked at him, “I have to delete all of my files. We don’t want those Agents getting ahold of my research just in case they make it here.”

“Dang,” Jumper looked at the doctor, “You worked really hard on that research and you’re going to just delete it all?”

“On these servers, yes,” the doctor smiled, “but there are several copies of the information elsewhere. It is none of your concern. I will deal with that end of things.”

“What about the experiments that are still in progress and haven’t finished yet?” Jumper asked.

“I will deal with that to I guess,” the doctor said, “I should be the one to put them out of their misery. The Agents wouldn’t put them through more pain than I would if they got their hands on them.”

Jumper shrugged, “Do whatever you need to. I’ve got my own list of things to do.”

He vanished leaving the doctor alone with his thoughts. The doctor sat down into a chair and propped his chin on his folded hands. He sighed.

~§~

“You aren’t half bad around a carburetor,” Grayson said as he stood back and lit a cigarette. He leaned against a wall behind Fang as he worked on the engine.

“Fixed a few of these when I was younger,” Fang stated.

Ing sat on a chair next to Fang. He looked eagerly at what Fang was doing. Occasionally he asked questions and pointed at different parts of the engine and constantly wondered what each part did. Fang, with growing impatience, answered each question. Next to them, Duke was teaching Riu how to change a car battery. She was giving him a hard time, probably because she was still annoyed about losing her apartment. Kaiba sat at a desk computer working on the accounting while Kiri tried her hand at changing her first tire. Though she wasn’t initially made for this type of work, she managed it easily. Jekyll handed her the things she needed. He didn’t seem at all interested but did what little he could to help out. Grayson looked over his workers. He sent his usual employees home for some well needed rest.

“At least you’re all getting some adequate work done,” Grayson yawned and headed upstairs toward the catwalk, “I’m sure you all have top secret things to talk about so I think I’ll go take a nap.”

“Night!” Ing waved up at the older man.

Grayson waved a dismissive hand. Fang looked over at Ing and shook his head. The kid was very interesting, that much could be said. When Grayson closed the door behind him, the others started talking.

“Something doesn’t smell right,” Fang said.

“Other than all the grease on our hands?” Riu looked over her shoulder.

Fang glared at her, “I mean that there is something in the air. The kind of scent that warns of a coming battle.”

“Oh,” Riu looked away, “Sounds like B.S. to me.”

Fang rolled his eyes. Ing raised his hand, “I think Fang is telling the truth!”

“Of course you would,” Riu stated.

“What do you think the enemy will do now?” Duke asked.

“There isn’t enough data to determine anything,” Kiri said.

Kaiba looked over his shoulder, “Can you determine what their next action will be? What the best probability is?”

“I cannot determine their next course of action without more data,” Kiri answered. “However, it is safe to assume that we have nothing to worry about.”

“Really?” Jekyll looked up at her, “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“As Kaiba asked I gave my best view on the situation,” Kiri said, “It isn’t conclusive but it is what I am able to determine with the little information that I have.”

“So basically all that means that you gave us your gut feeling,” Riu rolled her eyes.

There was the faint sound of screaming in the distance. At first only Fang could hear but slowly the screaming grew loud enough so that the others could hear it as well. People ran started running through the streets screaming about creatures attacking. Something with two pairs of insect wings rose above the building line. The creature glared at them and snarled in the form of various clicks. Another creature jumped onto a roof like a frog and joined its companion in a kind of battle cry. A third lizard type of creature came over the roof and started climbing down the side of the buildings wall.

Kaiba stood up and walked out of the garage. He looked up and down the street. Other creatures crawled out of the sewer man holes and started attacking anyone that was closest to them. When they looked toward the garage, they screamed and screeched at them before charging at them and attacking.

Kiri stood beside Kaiba, “Maybe my conclusion was based on faulty information…”

“I’d say,” Riu placed her hands on her hips. She shrugged, “At least this looks like it will be fun.”

Jekyll tugged on his hat, “It isn’t your fault. They may be a little more ambitions than we thought.”

“Thank you, Jekyll,” Kiri nodded toward him.

“This is going to so much fun!” Ing spun around like an airplane.

Fang placed a firm hand on Ing’s head to stop his spinning, “For once I agree with you.”

“What’s the plan going to be?” Duke asked.

“The same that it has always been,” Kaiba stated, “Fine the person responsible and take down any mutants along the way.”

“Sounds good to me,” Riu hit her fists together.

“Good,” Kaiba looked around, “Let’s get going then.”

Iridescent: Chapter Seventeen

Iridescent

Chapter Seventeen

~Tapetum Lucidum~

After the Fall

Naru drove the motorbike though the sands. He was glad they found goggles in the packs that were with the bikes because driving in the sands wasn’t the most glamorous of situations. He looked over his shoulder briefly and saw Kumo riding slightly behind. Hina sat behind her brother and Chou sat behind hers.

They crossed Sand Rock Gorge over the first land bridge they came across a few days before. Now they were driving north east wandering the desert looking for a place to settle. They had some gas to last them a little while longer but it wasn’t going to be long enough in the long run. The desert was large and the heat only made it feel larger.

He looked forward again and mentally took note of their supplies. Since they took some of the supplies from the bikers they had enough food and water to last them a week or two if they rationed. Still Naru hoped for there to be an unoccupied oasis for them to settle. Naru felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Could we stop a minute?” Hina asked.

Naru nodded and slowed down the bike, “You need something?”

“Yeah,” Hina rolled her eyes, “a bite to eat!”

Naru stopped and shook his head. Hina jumped off the bike and opened on of the bags and brought out a microwave dinner. She took it out of its box and threw it in the sand. This was how they were getting their warm meals in recent days. The sand and the sun acted like an oven and cooked whatever they really needed cooked.

Chou brought out a blanket and laid it out before sitting on it. She brought out a book that one of the bikers had on them and started reading out loud to the others as they waited for their food. Kumo brought out a zither he was making out of a piece of wood he found half buried in the sand. He worked on his instrument as his sister read from the book. Hina practiced throwing her chains at imaginary targets as she sat down in the sand.

Naru looked around. It was an incredible sight. All the sand seemed to stretch on and never end just like the grass in the plains. It was times like this that Naru remembered how big the world was. He opened a book he found in one of the packs and started writing. It wasn’t a journal exactly. He did write in it daily since he found it and used it mostly for determining rations. But there were excerpts of little poems and drawings when he was board.

“He was calling up at Daisy’s request — would I come to lunch at her house to-morrow? Miss Baker would be there. Half an hour later Daisy herself telephoned and seemed relieved to find that I was coming. Something was up. And yet I couldn’t believe that they would choose this occasion for a scene — especially for the rather harrowing scene that Gatsby had outlined in the garden.

“The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer. As my train emerged from the tunnel into sunlight, only the hot whistles of the National Biscuit Company broke the simmering hush at noon. The straw seats of the car hovered on the edge of combustion; the woman next to me perspired delicately for a while into her white shirtwaist, and then, as her newspaper dampened under her fingers, lapsed despairingly into deep heat with a desolate cry. Her pocket-book slapped to the floor.” Chou read.*

“I don’t get this story,” Kumo stated.

“What isn’t there to get?” Chou smiled, “It’s a great story.”

Kumo shrugged, “I’m not buying it.”

“You want me to stop reading?” Chou asked.

Kumo strummed a few stings on his zither, “Nah, go ahead keep reading. Just seems kind of boring.”

Chou smiled, “It’s about to get a whole lot more interesting. Just hold out until the end of the chapter. It’ll pick up promise.”

“Fine,” Kumo looked slightly interested, “We’ll see how it turns out.”

An aroma of Salisbury steak, baked potatoes, vegetables and pie stirred their stomachs. The four teens looked at each other. Quickly they turned toward each other.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” they chanted together.

“Yes!” Kumo cried when his rock smashed everyone’s scissors, “Come here steaky! Come to papa!”

“Dang it!” Hina crossed her arms.

Kumo helped himself to the steak while the others played two more rounds in rock, paper, scissors once more. Chou clapped her hands when she wrapped Hina’s rock in the first round and cut Naru’s paper in the second round. She took the pie for dinner.

Hina glared at her brother. They were the only two left and there was no way she was going to get stuck eating the vegetables. She wanted the baked potatoes and she was going to win this game of rock, paper, scissors. Naru looked at his sister. Personally, he wanted the vegetables anyway but wasn’t about to admit that.

“Rock, paper, scissors!” Naru and Hina chanted.

Tied, rock for rock.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

Tied, paper for paper.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

Finally, Naru lost. His scissors were no match for Hina’s rock. Hina threw her hands in the air in celebration. She grabbed the baked potato and started eating it. Hina made a face. She spit out a piece of uncooked potato. Naru ate his vegetables like a good little boy. He looked at his sister with a hint of a smile. Of course she wouldn’t remember that it took potatoes a little longer to cook. She looked at her brother with a smile.

“Hey, you know, maybe you want the potato,” she smiled, “You had the vegetables last time.”

Naru ate a green bean, “No thanks. I’m good.”

Chou tried to stop herself from giggling but the smile on her face was so obvious. Kumo shrugged and continued eating his steak. Naru bit into a carrot with the most serious look on his face.

“Come on, bro! I’m starving!” Hina cried.

Naru pointed to the container, “Just leave it out a little while longer. It should be ready by sun down.”

Chou broke out in laughter, “Sorry, Hina. I guess we should have told you first.”

Hina crossed her arms, “Whatever, I’ll wait.”

As the sun set Hina ate her potato in peace. Chou and Kumo dug holes in the sand where they nestled in to the warm sand for the night. Naru sat against one of the bikes and kept watch. While the others slept, Naru looked up at the hazy moon behind the low overcast as it sailed higher and higher in the sky. He wondered what the stars looked like behind the clouds. It had been several months since he had been able to take a good look at them.

When the hazy moon passed a certain point in the sky, Naru moved from his position and nudged Kumo.

“Mmn,” Kumo muttered.

Naru rolled his eyes, “Wake up. It’s your turn to keep watch.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kumo waved a hand.

Naru sighed and started digging a hole for himself. The sand had cooled down a bit but underneath the cold layer was warmth. He nudged Kumo again before settling into his hole. When he didn’t hear Kumo stir, Naru sighed.

“Kumo,” he said with an edge to his voice.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Kumo said.

Satisfied that the next sentry was finally awake, Naru fell asleep.

Naru woke up suddenly. He looked into the darkness blankly wondering what had woke him. It was quiet as the moon sailed quietly overhead. The air was cool after a hot day, a stark contrast of what the weather had been while they were riding. He heard his sister’s breathing nearby as she slept. Naru narrowed his eyes. He found in strange because where the moon was located he guessed that it was in the early morning hours and Hina was supposed to be on watch.

Naru shot up and looked around. The three of his company were asleep with no one awake to keep watch. Something moved on the edge of a bluff a ways away. Four slender body’s walked toward them on four legs. Naru hurried to his hands and feet.

“Hina!” Naru shook his sister, “Hina, wake up!”

Hina jerked away and looked around with confusion, “W-what?”

“Wake up, come on!” Naru hurried his sister. He looked over at the other two and shook them awake.

Naru looked back at the bikes. He got up and ran toward the bike and started going through the bags. Naru found a flare and pulled it out of the bag. He took off the cap and struck the end of the flare. The flare lit up and he threw it over their heads toward the bluff where he saw the approaching threat.

The flare landed a few feet away from the group and lit up the surrounding area. Four pairs of eyes light up and glared at them. Chou, who was the closest, jumped to her feet and backed away. She grabbed her brother and pulled him toward the bikes. Hina also got up and ran toward her brother.

“What are they?” Chou asked.

Naru sighed, “Lions.”

“Lions don’t live in the desert!” Hina looked at her brother, “Do they?”

Kumo rolled her eyes, “Well, apparently they do Genius.”

The lions crept closer, closing in on their prey. They avoided the flare and continued forward. Naru grabbed another flare and threw it. The lions backed off a bit at the light.

“What are we going to do?” Chou asked.

“No sudden movements,” Naru said, “If we run they’ll chase us down and catch us in approximately 8.9 seconds. If they don’t bit us in the neck first we might last 10.”

“That’s encouraging…” Kumo rolled his eyes.

“I found these while I was looking for the flares,” Naru held out two vials of Blue Gold. The vials glowed in the dark.

“I really don’t think stuff that glows in the dark is healthy for you,” Chou looked uncertain.

Kumo looked over, “There’s only two vials.”

“These were all I could find,” Naru looked out at the lions, “If you want to look for more be my guest but don’t expect me to help while you’re getting mauled by a lion.”

“I’ll use one!” Hina sounded a little too excited.

“My powers are pretty useless in this situation,” Kumo said.

Naru nodded, “Same here. There isn’t a drop of water around.”

Chou looked around, “Are you serious? I don’t want to inject myself with that stuff!”

“I don’t want to be digested, soooooo….” Kumo stated.

“Just hand it to me! I’ll handle it!” Hina was shaking with excitement.

“Hang on a second!” Naru looked at his sister.

Kumo looked out at the coming lions, “I say give it to her. Let her go ham on those beasts.”

“Give it to me! I want my powers back!” Hina was pleading with her brother.

“Just a sec—”

Hina grabbed a vial and pricked herself. The lions ran at them and Hina ran forward, laughing hysterically. She used her chains and used them as a whip to strike the ground. A shock wave blew up sand and dust along with blowing a few lions back. She used her other chain to attack the other lions blowing them away as well. Frightened and startled, the lions ran away.

“Yeah! You run!!!” Hina shouted, “You ain’t got nothing on this!”

She stopped her celebration suddenly and doubled over and threw up. Naru shook his head and sighed while Kumo stood back and made a face of disgust. Chou ran up to Hina and started comforting her.

“Glad she’s riding with you,” Kumo said.

“Who says we’re going anywhere?” Naru looked at him.

Kumo looked shocked, “Hey, those lions know our address! I’m getting out of town before their wounded pride hurts enough to come back and finish what they started!”

Naru sighed as Kumo went to get the bikes ready. He had to admit. Kumo had made a good point and the more he thought about it the more he wanted to get a very early start on the road.

*An excerpt from The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald as a celebration of the new Gatsby movie! Please don’t sue me…

The Turn: Chapter Seventeen

The Turn

Chapter Seventeen

~Short Vacations~

Two Years before the Turn

Zara sat on a towel on the beach, folder and pen in hand as she wrote feverishly. She looked up momentarily at the beach. Her team were scattered around the beach and in the water. It was a week into the start of their mandatory vacation. They worked their butts off for three months then they were given their pay checks and sent out of the Tower for two months, forbidden to return unless they were called.

She sighed and continued with her paperwork. Zara wasn’t exactly fond of the beach. Yes, she wore the beach attire, a simple black one-piece, but she had no intention of joining in the beach activities.

As she answered the questions listed, a pair of bare feet walked up to her, “Hello there.”

Zara looked up to the familiar figure of the Puppetmaster. Hatless and coatless he looked like a regular person on the beach. His purple eyes gazed around, watching the different members around the beach. Shuppet too looked around. The little doll sat on his master’s shoulder. Puppetmaster looked at her again and smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Zara asked.

Puppetmaster shrugged, “I thought it was too much of a beautiful day to waste inside, so I went for a walk.”

“All the way across the Island? Without shoes?” Zara laughed.

Puppetmaster nodded, “You’d be surprised how liberating it is to not wear shoes.”

“You’re a rebel,” Zara said as Puppetmaster sat in the sand beside her.

“So, this last mission was your first assassination prevention. Congrats,” he said almost out of the blue.

Zara glared at him, “Where did you hear that?”

“My amazing skills of observation,” Puppetmaster pointed the folder in her hand, “and the miraculous gift to read.”

Zara stuffed her documents in the folder as set the folder beside her. Puppetmaster smiled. He watched as Vicky, Deontay, Hina and Naru play volleyball. Chaud was the designated referee.

In their current set, Hina was serving. The volley ball sailed over the net. Vicky bumped the ball while Deontay set it. Vicky spiked the ball but Hina managed to dive for it, bumping it into the air. Naru set the ball into the air as his sister quickly got to her feet. She then ran up to the net for a spike. Hina would have won the point if Vicky’s quick reaction hadn’t saved the day. She dove into the sand and saved the ball. The ball however had a different plan. It flew into the air and headed toward Zara’s direction. It kicked up sand as it fell a few feet from her.

Zara ducked as the ball flew over her head. Chaud came running after the ball. He saw Puppetmaster and slowed down.

“Zara,” Chaud said cautiously as he walked up “Is the creepy man with the doll bothering you?”

“No, but you are,” Zara stated.

Puppetmaster looked up at Chaud. With a smile he said, “You would make a nice doll, you know.”

Chaud stared blankly at him, “That’s not at all creepy.”

“It’s how he says hello,” Zara explained.

“Right…” Chaud nodded.

Deontay ran up, “Hey, man! What’s going on?” The others followed behind him, just as curious of the strange man.

“Hey, everyone, this is Puppetmaster, he owns a doll shop near Transaction Square,” Zara introduced, “Puppetmaster, this is Chaud, Hina, Naru, Vicky and Deontay.”

“I really should make dolls of you all. Any of you willing to donate your hair?” Puppetmaster smiled.

Naru subconsciously took a step back. He had the longest hair out of anyone. Vicky walked up to Puppetmaster and poked at the doll on his shoulder. Shuppet started to lose his balance and started to flail his arms to regain its balance. Vicky jumped back when it moved. Shuppet crossed its arms unhappily.

“It just moved,” Hina pointed.

“He tends to do that when he’s pushed over like that,” Puppetmaster smiled.

That moment, Zara’s phone went off. She reached for her phone and glanced at the caller ID. It simply read unknown name, unknown number. She answered it. After a few moments, Zara set down the phone.

“It’s the Tower,” Zara stated, “They apparently have an emergency that we need to deal with.”

“What?” Chaud groaned, “Don’t they know that we’re on our vacation?!”

“They said their very sorry and will compensated heavily for out cooperation,” Zara answered.

“Like how?” Hina asked.

“I don’t know,” Zara shrugged, “Either with more vacation days or with a few more zero’s added to our pay check.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Chaud said as he walked up to the parking lot.

“Right behind ya,” Deontay muttered as he followed.

Zara rolled her eyes. She found a small shell by her feet and tossed it at Chaud’s head. Almost as a sixth sense, Chaud ducked his head just before the shell hit. He looked back with a goofy smile. A small doll struck him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Zara looked over at Puppetmaster. The smile on his face said it all. Poor Shuppet had been launched in a follow up throw. Hina started laughing hysterically.

“What the heck!” Chaud moaned.

Zara smiled, “Thanks.”

Puppetmaster nodded, “Anytime.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to visit you when we get back,” Zara said as she got up.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Puppetmaster sat and smiled.

He watched quietly as they walked away. Poor Shuppet got to its feet and walked over to its master. It stopped and looked up at Puppetmaster for a while then continued walking past him. It sat a few feet away, its back to its master.

“Oh, grow up!” Puppetmaster laughed, “You’re made of wood! You can’t feel a thing!”

Shuppet threw up a tuff of sand. It didn’t matter if it couldn’t feel anything. It was a matter of principle.

IOIOIOIOI

Galaxy handed Zara a folder, “We seem to have found some information on an organization called the New Order. We don’t know exactly where they are located or what their plans are but we think he know where we can find out more.”

“California?” Zara asked.

“It isn’t their headquarters but it’s a start,” Galaxy smiled.

“May I ask how you came across this information?” Zara looked up at Galaxy.

Galaxy shook his head, “No, you may not.”

“May I at least know if it’s reliable?” Zara’s eyes narrowed.

“How about I just add $5,000 to your paycheck and that’s the end of it,” Galaxy fought the urge to laugh, “As much as asking questions go, I appreciate them but they take up time to answer them. I can say that you should proceed with caution. Come back safe.”

“Will do,” Zara shrugged.

“Your passports should be inside the folder,” Galaxy concluded.

Zara nodded and walked out of his office. Galaxy stood up from sitting on the edge of his desk and walked toward the long window. He stood there several moments until the office door opened behind him. Kaiba walked up to him.

“Any news?” Galaxy asked.

“It still seems that the company has something to do with the New Order but only came up on my radar recently. A careless email sent up a red flag in Kiri’s search net,” Kaiba explained.

“She really can be useful,” Galaxy smiled.

“I did a little further research,” Kaiba continued, “There weren’t any other emails that raised any red flags. It seems like a coincidence that one just popped up.”

“Yeah,” Galaxy sighed. He turned to look at his son, “Send a Fixer to look after them.”

“I could do it,” Kaiba volunteered.

Galaxy smiled at Kaiba. He knew his son had a ‘if you want it done right, do it yourself’ personality, “I’d rather have you here finding out more about the New Order. How about you send one of the other Fixers?”

Galaxy saw his son make a list of all the people he marginally trusted in his mind. After a quick pause, Kaiba turned on his heel and walked toward the door.

“I’ll get on that,” he stated as the door closed behind him.

“I know you will,” Galaxy muttered with a smile.