Author: Douglas A. Taylor
Category: Suspense
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Chapter 17
"Some interference" turned out to be an understatement. Bill and Padma were being swarmed. The situation wasn't anywhere near hopeless -- Zoinks don't do well without a leader, and Lily didn't seem too interested in leading them at the moment -- but forty Zoinks is forty Zoinks. I waded it to help them out.
I had been pounding and slashing away with my sais for several minutes, leaving a trail of Zoink bodies in my wake, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Mister Yeti make some sort of sudden motion. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but I figured he wouldn't be up to anything good. Now, Zoinks had served me well as shields so far, so I grabbed the nearest limp one, held it up in front of me, and charged the ice monster.
I had to push aside a number of other drones to make my way forward. Then, as I got close to Mister Yeti, I began feeling some sort of resistance. Not that anybody was standing in my way, as far as I could see, but there was something preventing me from pushing the Zoink any farther forward, and the Zoink itself began thrashing and jerking about in a most un-Zoink-like fashion. To add to the puzzle, I felt something poking me in the stomach.
I looked down and discovered some very interesting things. Mister Yeti must have created himself a new ice spear while I wasn't looking, and somehow I had managed to impale my shield-Zoink on it. The tip of the spear had been pushed all the way through the Zoink; that was what had been poking me.
It wasn't as gross as you might expect. Zoinks, it appeared, don't bleed. Nor do they die from something as minor as an ice-spear through the stomach, although they do get a bit more agitated than normal. I threw my flailing Zoink to one side, effectively disarming Mister Yeti and spinning him around in the process so that his back was to me. Then I set to work with my sais.
"Hey, nice work, Blue!" I heard Bill's voice say. "I had forgotten you could use Zoinks that way."
I heard the sizzle of a blaster beam, and Mister Yeti's head jerked back as Padma's shot caught him full in the face. Sparks flew as I redoubled my efforts with my sais; once you've got a monster off-balance, you never want to let up if you can help it. I hate to say this about something that used to be a human being, but you just can't give it the chance to recover. Bad things always happen when you do.
"Zoink incoming!" Bill called out. He had picked up a drone by the ankles and was swinging it around, fully extended, in a giant circle. It was an impressive display of strength and balance. To be honest, I'm not sure I could have duplicated it; maybe Toby could have. Regardless, after swinging it around a couple of times to clear the area, he let the thing go. It sailed through the air and crashed smack-dab into Mister Yeti's chest.
I guess it was lucky for Mister Yeti that I was behind him to break his fall. Not so lucky for me, though. Still, as I struggled to recover from having the wind knocked out of me, I had the presence of mind to wrap my legs around his torso. Then I reversed my grip on my sais, thrust out my arms, crossed the blades at the hilts to form an X, and pulled them back under his chin, effectively pinning Mister Yeti against me by the throat.
He started struggling like a . . . well, like an Enclave monster fighting for its life. It wasn't as if I was about to scissor his head off or anything -- the blades of my sais weren't sharp enough for anything like that -- but they were sparking continuously against his throat and, I'm sure, causing him considerable pain. It was plenty tough having him roll around on top of me like that, but I had him pretty well helpless for as long as I could hold on.
There was a flash of light, and I felt a searing pain along my leg. "Yeow!" I yelled. "Hey, watch it with that blaster, Indigo! You got me that time!"
"S-sorry, Blue. I will be more careful." I saw Padma holster her blaster and take a two-handed grip on her axe. I pulled back extra hard with my sais and my legs, trying to stretch out the ice monster to make him a better target. I felt a wham! as her axe struck home against his belly.
Right about then was when the earthquake started.
You probably think I'm kidding, don't you? Well, I'm not. Iceland, as I found out later, is one of the most seismologically-active countries in the world. Lots of volcanos and lots of little earthquakes caused by those volcanos. And, considering that we were actually inside the caldera of one of the largest volcanos in Iceland, I guess we should have expected some temblors.
The ground started shaking something fierce, causing me to lose my grip on Mister Yeti. "What's going on, Wizzit?" I heard Bill yell. "This isn't Enclave's doing, is it?"
"I don't . . . think so," Wizzit replied with uncharacteristic hesitation. "The ice here goes down for hundreds of meters, and the fire monster has not had time to penetrate that deeply yet, but this is too strong to be just a normal Iceland earthquake. I will continue to investigate."
Well, natural or not, the earthquake wasn't doing us any good. It didn't last all that long, but by the time things stopped shaking, we had all fallen to the ground and Mister Yeti had gotten free from my grip. I would have thought that he'd want to get as far away from me as possible, but instead, he grabbed hold of my wrist like I was a long-lost friend who owed him money or something.
My arm became numb almost instantly, all the way up to my shoulder. Surprised, I slashed at him a few time with the sai in my free hand, but I couldn't get him to let go. The numbness spread quickly, and soon I didn't really care about the ice monster's claws digging into my arm. I didn't really care much about anything at all; I felt relaxed and sleepy and pleasantly warm. The sai dropped from my fingers.
"Blue! You've got to get free!" Wizzit's voice shouted at me, Prime-to-Prime. "He's freezing you to death where you stand. Trevor!"
The shock of hearing Wizzit break our number-one rule -- no names during a battle -- roused me a little. I mumbled something that might have been, "Yeah, sure." My free hand was weaponless, but I could see that I was still holding a sai with the other, even if I couldn't feel it. I reached down; my hands felt as clumsy as Zoink hands. I managed to transfer the weapon to my free hand, but all the time, part of me was wondering why I was going to all this trouble when all I wanted to do was to lie down and sleep.
I felt a searing pain along my leg, the same spot that Padma had hit with her blaster shot a couple of minutes ago. "Sorry, Blue!" I heard her cry. "I think I hit you again!"
"'S okay, Indigo!" In fact, the pain jarred me almost completely back to full awareness, if only temporarily. I could feel the fog start to descend on me again, so I quickly stabbed out with an arm that didn't seem to want to obey me. I was rewarded by a howl from Mister Yeti.
He still didn't let go, but my hit must have disrupted his concentration, because I was suddenly able to move my arm a little more. I decided to take a page from Shelley's book and stab at his eyes, in his mouth, up his nose -- anything sensitive I could reach.
Mister Yeti howled some more, and suddenly I was falling back into the snow. There was a flash of black in front of my eyes; Bill had stepped in and was driving the ice critter back with savage hits from his bo. "Blue looks pretty out of it," he yelled at Wizzit. "Better bring him back for a healing coma!"
"Negatory on that," Wizzit replied. "You're already down two Primes; Yellow and Green aren't ready to re-deploy just yet. Blue is plenty tough and will be fine."
"Blue will not be fine!" Bill said with a flare of temper. "Blue can't even stand up!"
With the ice monster's grip gone, I was starting to feel better now. Not necessarily warmer -- in fact, I found myself starting to shiver -- but better. More alert. I rolled unsteadily to my feet. "It's all right, Black," I said, trying not let the shakiness invade my voice. "I'm okay."
"Estimate complete recovery within five minutes," Wizzit told us, and I have to say, he can sure sound smug when he wants to.
"I'm not sure I'd go quite that far," I said as a series of tremendous shudders passed through me, threatening to send me down to the gro
und again. "Any ch-chance you could t-turn up the heat in here, Wizzit?" I said through teeth that had begun chattering. "I'm feeling pretty ch-chilled all of a sudden, like I've got the f-flu or something."
"Ice monster lowered your body's core temperature several degrees very quickly," Wizzit replied. "Shivering is your body's natural mechanism for raising it back to normal levels. You could best aid it by exerting yourself, getting your blood flowing again. Might I suggest beating up a Zoink?"
I couldn't help laughing. That's our Wizzit, all business all the time. "W-will do, Wizzit!" I scooped up the sai I had dropped and looked around for a drone that was off by itself. Before I could find one, though, I heard a cry from Padma.
Bill was still attacking Mister Yeti, so I began trotting through the area, looking for Padma. I finally spotted her lying on the snow underneath a familiar black-jumpsuit-clad figure, only it wasn't Lily who was busy trying to bash Padma's brains in. It was Crazy Kung Fu Zombie Chick.
I said some bad words under my breath. I was warming up rapidly, now that I was moving again, but I didn't yet feel up to taking on CKFZC all by my lonesome. Too, Lily never changed from one to the other unless JB Swift was around somewhere, and I really didn't want to have to deal with the both of them until I was feeling more chipper.
There wasn't anything for it, though; I had to save Padma's bacon. I charged forward, my idea being that I would catch CKFZC unawares, maybe grabbing her around the waist and yanking her off of Padma before she was any the wiser. It was a good plan; the only problem with it was that CKFZC saw me before I wanted her to.
Still sitting on Padma's stomach, CKFZC turned to intercept my charge. She had my attack all scoped out, but what she didn't expect was that Padma would reach up, grab her hair, and yank her down to the ground.
"Nice work, Indigo!" I called. "Now let's you and me --"
"Blue, Black needs your help," Wizzit interrupted. "I would suggest you leave Lily to Indigo, and you and Black work on the ice monster."
"It will be all right, Blue," Padma assured me. She had rolled over on top of Lily now. "She caught me by surprise before. That will not happen again."
I hesitated. "All right, if you're sure . . ."
"Blue!" Wizzit said sharply. "Soonest, please!"
"Fine. On my way, Wizzit."
Mister Yeti had hold of Bill's wrist with both paws, and Bill had sagged to his knees, looking like he was fading fast. I dashed forward, and for a second I was afraid I wouldn't get there in time, because I saw Bill slump all the way to the ground. My foot struck something hard; I looked down to see the ice-ball that Mister Yeti had created and then dropped when Toby and I shot him. Scooping it up, I threw it with all my Prime-enhanced strength at Mister Yeti's head.
It struck him behind the ear hard enough that I could hear the thud. He staggered sideways a step or two, losing his grip on Bill's wrist. He gave his head one massive shake, trying to clear it, and then I was hitting him with a jumping sidekick. I followed that up with several more powerful kicks to drive him back, and then I turned to see to Bill. He was on one knee, struggling to get to his feet, but he waved away my offer to help him up.
"I'm fine, Blue," he said, sounding angry at someone -- maybe me, maybe the ice monster, maybe himself. "If you can recover from being flash-frozen, then so can I."
"It's not a competition, Black," I muttered. "Let's just get the job done."
Unfortunately for us, the job suddenly became a lot harder. The ground started shaking again, and this time there was a definite downward lurch to it, as if something hollow underneath us had suddenly caved in.
"Got it!" Wizzit announced happily. "Fire monster's immediate objective has not been to burn all the way down to the base rock as I first thought, although that may be its ultimate aim. It has been tunneling through the ice in all directions, undermining the surface on which you're standing. The tunnels have begun collapsing, which has caused the tremors you are experiencing."
There was another downward lurch. I lost my footing and fell down onto the snow, only it wasn't exactly snow any more. In fact, it felt . . . soggy, and when I hit, there was definitely a splash. "Thanks for the explanation, Wizzit," I said, "but why is everything all wet all of a sudden?"
"Didn't you hear what I said?" Wizzit replied snippily. "He's been melting the ice underneath you. Things are collapsing. This whole area will be a mixture of snow, ice, and water in about two minutes' time."
"Just s-so you're aware, Wizzit," Bill said as dryly as he could through chattering teeth, "humans g-generally don't do well when s-submerged in ice-water. Even P-Primes."
He was sounding stronger, but I could see that he was shaking. I could sympathize. "Get yourself moving, Black," I suggested. "It'll help you warm up."
"Already doing that, Blue." And indeed, he had started jogging in place, pumping his arms and raising his knees high. "So, Wizzit, is there any ch-chance you could teleport us someplace drier?"
"Not if you're going to continue to attack these monsters," Wizzit said. "However . . . let me see . . . all right, I may have a solution for you. Prepare for an alteration to your force shields . . ."
I saw Bill's force shield flicker and felt a pulse in my own. I heard an exclamation from Padma. "It feels like . . . like rubber!"
It did indeed. I reached down to touch the layer of water that surrounded my feet; I could feel the water pressing against my skin, but my fingers didn't get wet.
"I have implemented a one-way filter," Wizzit said proudly. "Water can pass out of your force shields, but it can't make its way back in again."
"Wizzit, that's brilliant!" Padma said.
"Yeah, Wizzit," I added. "Pretty clever." I have found that flattering Wizzit never hurts. And hey, it was pretty clever.
"Indigo, how are you doing with Lily Lee?" Bill asked. He had picked up his bo and was watching the ice monster, who was lying on the snow a short distance away; said monster seemed to be having trouble getting up. His fur appeared to be frozen into the ice.
"She is -- whoops!" The ground was collapsing beneath us again. When the shaking finally stopped, the ground level had dropped once more and the water was now up to my waist.
"Indigo, are you all right?" I rapped out.
"Yes, I am fine. Wizzit's alteration to my force shield is working marvelously. Lily took a ducking, though. She is . . . she doesn't look good."
"Black, are you okay if I go help Indigo with Lily?"
"Yes. Go." He was still standing where he had been, holding his bo at the ready. I don't think this latest earthquake even made him stumble.
"Indigo, I'm on my way."
The sky had lightened enough now that I could make out Padma's glowing force shield. I splashed over to her. She had one arm around CKFZC's waist and was supporting her. As I watched, CKFZC balled up one hand into a fist and punched feebly at Padma's midriff.
"Here, let me take her," I said as I approached the pair of them. I bent down and grabbed Lily's legs, then heaved her up in a fireman's carry. Her fists beat faintly against my back; her legs thrashed uselessly. "Confound it, Lily, stop it!" I snapped as one of her knees made contact with my cheekbone. "Can't you see we're trying to help you?"
But she couldn't, and I knew that. All that CKFZC knew how to do was to fight and fight and fight. Even if we somehow got her somewhere warm where she could recover, she would resume attacking us as soon as she got her strength back. Kind of like the fable of the scorpion and the frog, it was simply in her nature, and I couldn't really fault her for that.
We sloshed our way back to Bill, with Lily fighting me every step of the way. "You can lay her down over here," Bill told me. He was indicating a layer of ice that had formed since I had left him. It was now nearly an inch thick and was centered around Mister Yeti. "The ice monster appears to be refreezing some of this water. It doesn't seem to be do
ing him much good, but maybe we can use it to our advantage."
Mister Yeti was standing upright now, glaring at us. The layer of ice had formed at the level of the water, which meant that his legs were trapped in ice up past the knees. I moved to the edge of the ice sheet and tested it. When I pushed down, the ice went down as well.
"It's not going to support her weight," I said. My comment was punctuated by Lily herself, who, with a burst of energy, managed to wrench herself out of my grasp. She rolled off my shoulder, crashing down on her back onto the ice shelf. The ice broke apart beneath her and Lily sank underwater.
I reached down blindly, and for one heart-stopping moment I thought I had lost her. Then I felt something that might have been her hair. I took hold, pulled as hard as I could, and hauled her up. Water that was literally ice-cold streamed off her; her eyes were wide with shock and she was gasping for breath. As soon as she was upright, she stepped in close to me for a palm strike. She was slow and uncoordinated, though, and I easily evaded her attack. I wrapped her up in a bear hug. Holding her close, I could feel her trembling uncontrollably against me; her skin was freezing cold. One of her legs flexed; she was trying without success to knee me in the groin.
"Lily, stand down!" ordered a familiar voice.
I heard Lily murmur faintly into my ear, "Standing down," and she immediately stopped fighting. Her eyes closed and she collapsed against me with a sigh of what might have been relief. I caught her as she slid down and scooped her up in my arms.
"JB Swift!" Padma exclaimed.
I looked up to see the familiar scarlet hedgehog standing atop the ice sheet that had formed near Mister Yeti. As usual, he was wearing no clothes; the only concession he had made to the cold was a white knitted scarf that he had tied around his neck.
"JB Swift?" he repeated in surprise. "Who's that?" He looked around cautiously as if he suspected we had an ally lurking behind him.
"JB Swift is our code name for you," Bill explained. He raised his bo menacingly. "What do you want with us?"
"JB Swift?" the little red hedgehog repeated again, this time to himself. Then he shrugged. "What I want is for you to give me the attack doll." He hesitated, and then he added, "Please. She is dying, freezing to death. If you give her to me, I can save her life."
Bill shook his head. "Nothing doing," he said grimly. "She has been a thorn in our side for months. It would be to our advantage if she should die."
"Heads up!" I shouted suddenly. Mister Yeti had evidently decided he was going to attack us again, even though he was still stuck in the ice sheet he had created. He was flinging a shower of ice crystals our way. With Lily in my arms, I spun about so that my back was toward the ice monster. Padma and Bill closed ranks to either side of me, helping me shield her from the deadly ice.
"I can see that you haven't completely made up your minds to let her die," JB Swift commented.
I turned to face him. "Maybe not, but we don't want her to fight us any more, either." Then I said, Prime-to-Prime, "Wizzit, can you teleport Lily and me to the stronghouse?"
"I could," Wizzit replied, "but Lily is currently experiencing what appears to be moderate to severe hypothermia. She needs immediate medical attention, or at least some way to rapidly raise her core body temperature. Such facilities are not available in the stronghouse. Nor will I teleport her to HQ so you can put her into a tub of warm water," he added before I could ask.
"I give you my word that neither she nor I will attack you again today," JB Swift said. "I cannot promise you more than that. But I might as well tell you that it will take weeks to repair the damage those idiots have done to her."
"It seems to me that you have been more than a little careless with your toys," Padma said tartly. "Perhaps losing one of them will teach you to be more careful."
"The attack doll is not a toy!" JB Swift snarled. He clenched his tiny paws, and then, with a visible effort, he unclenched them again. "This was not my idea," he said more calmly. "It was those twin idiots' fault."
"The Harley twins?" Bill asked incredulously.
"Yes, the very same. They went over my head behind my back and got possession of her remote control. I had nothing to do with her being out here today. I didn't even know she was here until a few minutes ago. Now please, before she is so far gone that even I cannot save her, give her to me." A note of pleading had crept into his voice. "Please. I . . . I can give you information that will help you defeat the two creatures you're facing."
I took a deep breath. "All right."
"No, Blue," Bill said flatly, Prime-to-Prime. "This is a bad idea. We're going to have to let her die."
I took a step toward JB Swift. "I disagree."
"I said no." Bill stepped in front of me. "I don't like this any more than you do, but we can't afford to let her go. I hate to pull rank on you, Blue, but I will if I have to. She stays here."
"You can't pull rank on me," I replied, very deliberately. It was a bit intimidating, seeing him loom over me like that, but I had thought this through and was sure of my ground. "According to what we were told, you are here as an advisor, operating outside the chain of command. I have listened to your advice, and I choose to ignore it. I will give Lily to JB Swift. Please step aside."
"Blast it, Blue, you know why we set that up the way we did. It was so that there wouldn't be any awkwardness about whether Red or I was in charge. We had to do it that way!"
"Understood, but I am still the ranking Prime here, and I say we give her back."
Bill looked up. "Wizzit," he said tightly, "what do you say?"
There was a pause, and then Wizzit said slowly, "Blue is the ranking Prime in the immediate vicinity, Black."
"Then please contact Red, Orange, Yellow, or Green and ask one of them to countermand his decision."
Another pause. "Sorry, Black," Wizzit said. "Yellow and Green are still in healing comas and cannot respond. Red and Orange are currently engaging the fire monster and decline to interfere. To paraphrase Red's rather colorful reply, the two of you are to work it out on your own."
Bill took a long breath, then blew it out again. "All right," he said quietly, stepping to one side. "I hope we don't regret this some day, Blue."
"Yeah, me too," I muttered.
I stepped forward, holding Lily, and stretched out my hand toward JB Swift. He took it in his paw. "Home," he said. There was the familiar tingling, and we teleported away.