Across the threshold: War Blues 08

Across the threshold : War Blues 08

At Fort Buckethead, Chipp and Beowulf ran up the stairs on the walls as Chase, the other agents and the other Bucketheads fought to stop the Drones from gaining ground. "Chase!" Chipp called out, "How are things going?" "Just peachy!" Chase called out, "Where's Scott?" "He's recovering," Chipp answered, "some deer chick tried to kill us." "Anything you want us to do?" Beo asked, a smile flashing on his face. "Can your ability slow down an army?" Chase asked pointing down. Looking down, Beo saw Blueacon slashing at the drones surrounding him. "Including him?" Beo asked pointing to the blue noid. "Blueacon is one of ours." Clay explained, "It's a little quirk he can do." "Huh!?" Chipp exclaimed looking down, "That's Blueacon?" "Yeah," Clay answered, "Also a red catira had appeared but as soon as you crashed, he vanished into thin air." "Red catira?" Chipp asked, before noticing a group of Bucketheads pushing a large rail gun-like device up a ramp along the wall. "What the (censored) is that?" Chipp asked. "A rail gun," Clay explained, walking away to the turret, "It can help us blow these bots away!" "Hey Chippy!" Wisey called out. Waving to the garuda, Chipp summoned a G Saber in gun mode and joined firing upon the drones as Beo shrugged saying, "Well, this is going to be a long night!"

In the forest nearby, the newly repaired land skimmer zoomed on along the main trail the main trail with Tarot in the driver's seat. "You sure you can handle this?" Twin Drake asked. "Can't you see for your self!" Tarrot responded. "Alright," Omnidec said clapping his hands, "Twin Drake when we get there, Tavo and I will speak with Vandrin and Bin while you fly over the fortress and come back as soon as you can." "I could get shot!" Twin Drake protested. "Look," Omnidec explained, grabbing Twin Drake's coat, "aside from Bakore, only you can fly naturally in your armored form. We need you for this!" "Can't he just summon his friends?" Flipp asked, "maybe they could infiltrate the fortress." "Oh," Omnidec said, letting Twin Drake go, "forgot about that." Suddenly, Tarrot stepped the brake on the land skimmer, causing everybody to lurch forward. Awaken by this sudden jolt form his nap Tavo exclaimed, "HEY! What the (censored)!?" "Look," Tarrot said pointing the seven brached spear stuck on the road in front of them. "It's a spear, so what?" Tavo asked before Twin drake exclaimed, "Look!" Looking to the left of the road, the group found Raidos under the shade of a nearby tree bruised and bloody. Immediately, Tarrot leaped off the land skimmer and picked up the bloody warrior. "What are you doing!?" Tavo exclaimed, "Leave her be!" "She needs medical attention!" Tarrot explained placing her on an empty seat, "She could die if we leave her here!" Moving to the spear and pulling it off the ground, Tarrot tossed it to Flip, saying, "Hold on to this! I have a feeling this is has something to do with our new passenger." "This is going to bite us you know." Omnidec said. "I don't care!" Tarrot said getting into the driver seat, "She's hurt and she needs our help!"

After a long night of fighting, the drone army eventually receded in the morning. In the fort, Kaitres sat wearing straight jacket within a cell in the fort's prison. A cool smile crossed her face "Alright," Clay asked, "Who sent you?" Outside, the agents and Bleacon stood facing each other in the courtyard as several bucketheads watched in anticipation. "How long have you had these abilities?" Chipp asked. "(Why do you ask?)" Blueacon asked, "(Have you not seen a mutant before.)" "Mutants don't usually have blade whips coming out of their arms." Scott explained crossing his arms across his bandaged chest, "We just want to know where you got these abilities." "What's going on?" Chase asked. "(Apparently the guys we met in Dirsh have at ask force of these monsters. Think of it as a whole team of Scotts who aren't afraid of being the werewolf  of the wastes.)" "Oh," Chase said, turning to Blueacon, "so he's like Scott." "(Listen pals,)" Blueacon said, "(all I'm interested in is defending my home from punks like that (censored) in the jail cell!)" "We understand," Chipp said, "but we-" "(Look! You (censored)s have a knack of bringing trouble with you, so don't drag us in with your mess! We have enough enemies this time around!)" "Look you seemed to be on edge for some reason," Chipp said, "what happened in Guliver Town exactly?"  "(What happened!? Our town was blown up by your own satellite back in 2030! Why didn't you stop that!?)" Balling his fists and gritting his teeth, Chipp merely answered, "Look, we're sorry for what happened to your town, but there was nothing we could have done back then." "(Hey guys this is getting us nowhere!)" Q said, getting in between the two martians, "(How about we grab some grub.)" Suddenly Blueacon broke off away stating "(Whatever!)"

Later...

Punching the wall in of an inner corridor, Chipp cursed as memories of Darkoni rang through his head. "You alright?" Chase said as he walked in coffee in hand. "It's Darkoni." Chipp answered, "If I hadn't been so thick-headed then, all of those people could have been saved!" "I see," Chase said putting a cup of coffee down, "but instead of wallowing in the past you should use it as a motivator, make sure it doesn't happen again. I do that everyday since Terra Area. Why do you think I joined the CPDF in the first place?" "You told me that right after I joined." Chipp muttered, "After you beated me at a card game." "Yeah well," Chase shrugged, "Not all of us are perfect." Suddenly, Wisey came in through the door saying, "Katie is at the comm, sir."

"Oh thank god!" Katie exclaimed as Chipp and the others got on the Comm, "Do you have any idea how long did it take for us to get to you." "Sorry," Chipp said, rubbing his eyebrows, "our ship was shot down last night." "You were WHAT!?" Katie exclaimed as she, Matt, Hoot, and Bartch sat around the shuttle's terminal, "*groan*, do you need us to come over there and pick you guys up?" "Well," one of the Bucketheads spoke up, "Ms Ratch might help you. She always comes here every morning. Maybe she can fix your ship." "Okay," Chipp said, "How are things on your end?" "We lost both Eric and Rian." Suddenly Beo laughed out loud saying, "OH that's too rich! You lost two kids in one day!" "Oh shut up chuckle head!" Chase exclaimed, "You wanted to take pics of the scenery!" "He wanted to what?" The bucket head asked before Chipp asked, "Look, did you have any idea where they might be?" "Not really." Katie explained, "Eric teleported away to help you at the fort and Rian ran off to find him. Earlier, Bartch found him at this restaurant called the Bloody Rose, and said his eyes were glowing for some reason." "Scott?" Chipp asked. "Maybe," Scott answered, "I wouldn't take stalk in it." "Also we made contact with one of the knights," Matt explained "and you won't believe who it is." "Really?" Wisey exclaimed, "Which one?" Katie then answered, "It was the one Mordecai called Voidmond." Tensing, Beo asked flatly, "What?" Katie then explained, "He wants to be a spy for us, in return for pardoning the other knights under Verdtrus' watch and granting them amnesty." "Amnesty?" Chipp said blinking, "That's an odd request." "Tell him to shove it!" Beo exclaimed slamming the table the terminal is on, "The NULL units are just robots! That's that!" Looking around him he noticed the looks on everyone's faces. "(Dude,)" Q said, "(What the (censored)?)" "Oh please!, we trashed an entire army of drones last night, why should 7 androids be anything different?" "YOUNG MAN!" Clay exclaimed marching inside, "Not all AIs are not like the drones from last night!" "A machine is a machine!" Beo stated, "Why should I treat those pretenders any different?" "Because," Clay explained lifting his mask to reveal the face of an old red dragon combat drone, "even machines can have minds of their own."

Outside in the Forest Vandrin and Binn sat silently out of sight in the. Looking to the damaged fortress to their left, Binn asked, "Who sent those drones anyway?" "It could be the North," Vandrin said peeling an apple, "they attacked the fortress last night and us days ago. It would make sense if it was them." Suddenly Binn's Comm beeped. Turning it on, "Yo." Binn said, using it like a phone, "Oh got it." Turning it off, Binn said getting up, "They're here!" In the marshes, Omnidec, Twin Drake, and Tavo waiteds standing while Tarrot, and Flip, remained in the land skimmer with an unconscious Raidos wrapped tightly with a cloak (and rope as well, Tarrot's kind, not insane). Emerging from the forest, Binn and Vandrin stepped into view. "Hey!" Binn called out approaching to the three on the ground "Is this all we have?" "Yeah," Omnidec stated, "Tarrot and Flip are going to head back for now, picked up a passenger along the way." Immideately Vandrin transformed into his cobra form and leaped onto the vessel itself. "Hey what are you-?" Tarrot exclaimed, before Vandrin pulled away the hood on Raidos' bloody face. Widdening his eyes, Vandrin demanded, "Why is she here?" "She's injured," Flip explained, "We're bringing her back to patch her up!" "She could be dangerous!" Vandrin explained, "We are on an important mission, and we can't afford to let someone like her ruin it." "What are we supposed to do let her die?" Tarrot exclaimed. "Well she's a part of the North," Binn exclaimed, "so you might have to deal with Eithine first." "Hey," Tavo called out, "maybe she might tame that shrew for you Vandrin." Immediately Tarrot turned to Tavo giving him a look. "What does he mean by that?" Flip asked. "Ask Chromdraco!" Tarrot exclaimed before turning to Vandrin, "We're bringing her back, that's that! Besides the ropes can hold her." Squinting Vandrin turned back to his sirian form, said, sitting next to her, "I'm coming as well. Binn can drive the hovercraft! Besides Kaiser needs his gun back." "Fine!" Tarrot said, turning on the land skimmer, "Hold on!" As the land skimmer turned and zoomed away, Binn then turned to Twin Drake asking, "How do you know about Shakespeare by the way?" "We found an old library in that Forma city." Omnidec explained, "The Tempest was his favorite."

TO BE CONTINUED