It's Beautiful in Russia this time of year!
By Tim Cook
Chapter 1
11:04 P.M. Eastern standard time, Washington D.C. the Bryne Building.
A single man walks on the wet sidewalk outside the enormous 30 story
building. He traverses the stairs quickly and checks his watch as he
pushes open the large glass doors and makes his way to the elevator.
As he steps into the empty car he can only think of one thing as he
presses the button marked 'Basement', "Another days work.".
11:09 P.M. The lone figure waits for the elevator to come to a halt, as it
travels down the seemingly endless shaft. He wonders what will happen
in the oncoming debriefing, if the committee will decide in his favor.
Or if they will decide to punish him. They will have to realize the
gravity of the situation we had to face, he thought. He knew he
would have to answer many questions. Many he hoped they wouldn't ask.
It didn't matter. The elevator had stopped.
11:12 P.M. As the heavy doors slid open he walked to the initial security
gate. "Please present your security badge." said the guard at the
wooden counter. The dark man pulled a small card from his trench coat
and pulled through a slot next to a monitor.
"Scanning"
"Found"
"S.C.A.R.A.B Agent Jerome Lazinsky a.k.a. Vaughn ID#392928"
"Clearance Successful"
The man knew the procedure for entrance. Even as he read the screen,
he was being subjected to x-ray and thermal imaging security systems.
The guard at the counter didn't sit behind a barrier for protection
from just bullets. The tall shadowy stranger made his way to the
conference room. There he took off his coat and hat and sat in the
seat under the only light in the room. Trial by fire was all he could
think of.
11:15P.M. "So nice of you to prompt Mr. Lazinsky." said a gravelly voice.
"I aim to please the committee, sir."
"Good, good. I think you know why you are here.'
"Yes, sir." said Jerome as he made an inaudible gulp.
"Wonderful. I would like to ask you what transpired in Moscow." said
the same awful voice.
"The mission went according to the plan perfectly until we tried to
infiltrate the Russian Naval base. We penetrated the gate surrounding
the compound and made our way to the main building. There we found
our way to the helicopter pilot's quarters." He remembered surprising
the airman in his buck and quickly incapacitating him with a single
strike of his hand. He continued. "Then I ordered Luthor to read the
labels of the lockers resting against the wall. He read the Russian
lettering with ease and found the locker containing keys to the
different choppers outside. We took a pair of keys to a Hind
attack chopper and made our way to the airfield. We could barely see
through the torrential blizzard but we found the Heli pad. As we
took off through the heavy snow we heard garbled messages on the radio
in frantic Russian." He closed his eyes and wiped the sweat of his
brow.
"Continue."
"We held a course straight towards the iceberg in the harbor. As we
neared the water Slann came in over the private frequency." He could
hear the metallic voice of Slann over the Aud/Vid link fixed in his
armored helmet in his mind. "Don't go near the water!! It's a trap!"
"It was almost too late. Just as I banked hard a flash came from one
of the ships in formation around the iceberg. The missile lock came
to life as we turned back. We didn't have much time so I flew the
chopper as close to the ground as possible and we jumped for it.
Luckily, I fell into a tree that cushioned my fall. Luthor crashed to
the ground and stood back up. I knew he would be all right as rocks
don't take much damage from impact." Again he recalled seeing Luthors
stout body land on the frigid ground. The glittering shine from his
body as the helicopter exploded on the bluff in front of the shore.
"We waited for Slann to surface before we took any more action."
"Interesting. You will tell us more in a few moments. For now we
will convene on the matters at hand.". Jerome heard the loudspeaker
shut off and the door open. He then turned to the hallway leading to
the offices and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Hey, pal! How'd it go?" asked a small crystalline figure as Jerome
walked past the refreshment room.
"Fine, I suppose." he replied to his four foot tall, 400 pound
companion. I can't wait to find out what happens next.".
Chapter 2
"So, what did they want to know about?" inquired Luthor. He came from
a planet of abnormal gravity. The comparison to Earth was a gravity
nearly 2 times more than normal Earth gravity. This resulted in a
powerful,short,and generally dense population. When the local
population is a sentient mineral, it results in an extremely dense
solid rock. That can be annoying.
"So c'mon man, what did they ask, huh?"
"All right, jeez! Settle down. They wanted to know about the mission
in Russia. Asked for a lot of information. I told them about half of
it before they decided to talk about it privately." Jerome stated.
"Oh, okay. Hey, where is Slann? Have you seen him?" asked the stout
champion. "Nope. He's probably in the hanger studying the ship.
Let's go and find him." said Jerome.
11:43 P.M. After searching the hanger our heroes made their way to the
laboratory in the sealed wing of the complex. There, they found the
being they sought. "Hey, Slann, turn the freezer off will ya!"
shouted Jerome while entering the sub-zero temperature of the room.
"Up yours! You don't have to stay in a robot twenty hours of the day!"
replied the frustrated plant. Slann came from a world of low
temperature's. Very low, so low in fact that any climate over 32° F
would inflict grievous damage to his foliage. He was the assault
section of the trio. Clad in an armored robotic suit, he would do
the dirty jobs. If you needed a single person assassinated, Vaughn
was your man. If you needed a building stormed, ask Luthor. But if
you need an army, or perhaps a city block eradicated, then call Slann.
11:47 P.M. The trio proceeded to the council room and sat waiting under the
single light. "We have heard Vaughn's side of the story. Please
Slann, tell us, in your own words, what happened." The Council gave a
murmur and Slann began to speak. "Well, after the crash we made our
way to the boats. I carried Luthor on my back while Vaughn used his
jetpack. We made it to the ice cutter and found our way into the
bottom deck, the cargo holds. After that we searched the ship."
Slann recalled prying open the large crates and searching through the
contents. He continued to speak. "Luthor booby-trapped a few crates
of AK-47 ammo and we took some bazookas for heavy firepower. Then,
we laid in wait for some officers who came to check on an engine
problem we created as a trap. The guards walked past the cargo hold
Luthor and Vaughn were lying in ambush and came into the hold I was
hiding in. As they looked around I lured over to me. I crushed his
head and waited for the other guard to investigate." Slann told the
story with brutal bluntness. Then Luthor spoke. "I snuck over to the
door of the opposite cargo hold and attempted to prowl behind the
officer standing in the middle of the hold." At this mention, Vaughn
let out a snort of disgust and cynicism. He stated frankly,
"You couldn't of snuck up on him even if he was in a sensory
deprivation chamber!". The loudspeaker stated, "Quiet Agent Vaughn!
Continue.".
Luthor cotinued. "Anyways, he heard me before I could jump him and we
got into hand to hand combat. He shot me about 5 times and hit me
with the butt of his gun. I struck him with my fists but he didn't
take much damage. After a little bit he got his hand's around me and
blinded me. About then I used my bionic claws and stabbed them into
his sides." He recalled seeing the man's blood flow down his arms
and soak into his clothes. "Then, I threw him on to the floor but
before I could finish him, this hog-" He indicated Vaughn. "-
decapitated him." Vaughn seemed angry but smirked and said "It was a
good blow." The diminuative warrior went on. "We scanned the radio
and heard that more men were coming to investigate. So, we set an
ambush." They all remembered taking positions behind the elevators
the men would be coming down and readying weapons. Vaughn cut in.
"We weren't aiming to kill" He cast a spiteful look at Luthor who
shrugged his shoulders. "So we took the closest man and we fired.
I chose to knock out my target with tranquilzer darts and Slann used
knockout gas. Luthor, feeling trigger happy, shot the man with a
laser rifle and killed him. Then he disposed of the deceased man and
tied up the others. But, seeing an oppurtunity I took the uniform of
one man and walked to the top deck of the boat. I proceeded to the
command tower and walked to the bridge. There I used a combination of
grenades and karate to subdue all the members of the bridge but the
captain escaped to the floor above me. I apprehended him and we
succesfully made the rest of the crew to surrender. After that, we
just had to get on the island and we were home free." They all nodded
in agreement and the loudspeaker rang out, "Very good. We will
convene once more and hear your story." "Let's go gentlethings."
joked Vaughn. The others gave a slight chuckle and they walked out
of the room.
Chapter 3
Midnight The trio splitup after leaving the conference room. Slaan contin-
ued his work in the lab while Luthor went with Jerome to a local pub.
After arriving at Big Al's, they sat themselves in a corner booth.
"The Main Street special looks good." commented Luthor.
"I don't fell like eating right now. Something's wrong. They want
to know to much. Slaan and I already spent four hours on the paper
work!" complained Jerome.
"You know me, I can eat in the middle of a fire fight!" proclaimed
Luthor. "And the hearing thing doesn't really bother me."
"Maybe so, but the council is acting wierd." said Jerome
"They seem to be acting the same way to me. Are you feeling Ok? You
look kinda pale..." questions Luthor.
Just then Slaan comes walking in wearing his enviromental suite, but
without his armor.
"Hey boys whats up?" anounces Slaan
"Nothin' much here, but Vaughn is kinda freaked out about the council.
If you ask me they are acting the same way they always have." Luthor
said.
Jerome says, "Are you guys blind?!?! They are running this meeting
like we did something wrong. Like we took out the wrong side or
something. I don't know exactly but this is really starting to worry
me."
"When you start getting feelings this strong, people's insurance rates
sky rocket!" stated Luthor.
"Shut up you over grown crack rock!! This is not the time to be
joking!" forcefully said Slaan.
"Well lets go guys. They just beeped me." announced Vaughn.
So the three made the short walk back to the Bryne Building only to be
greeted by 3 of the top agents, besides them. They escorted Agents
Vaughn, Luthor, and Slaan back into the confrence room.
Chapter 4
12:15 After they headed into the S.C.A.R.A.B. compound, flanked by the
agents, they were told the council wished to hear more.
"No crap." muttered Luthor.
They sat once more in the uncomfortable chairs under the uncomfortable
lights in an uncomfortable situation. The gravelly voice came over
the speaker once again.
"If you could continue, we are listening." Luthor began:
"Well, we rigged the boat to keep it on the course that was originally
plotted. Uhh, we then flew to the iceberg, being careful to stay
under radar, We landed on the most secluded spot of the iceberg. From
there we scouted the emplaced positions and developed an attack plan.
We decided that Slaan would target two buildings while Vaughn and I
would each tackle one apiece."
Slaan interjected at this point to describe what happened next.
"I used my twin 90mm Recoiless rifles to accomplish my objective.
We proceeded to make holes in the enemy tower perimeter. After that
was achived, a power surge brought the shielding surrounding our
objective offline. It was down long enough for us to sneak inside.
There we discovered the crashed ship. We then destroyed most of the
base inside the shielded area. The aliens came out of their ship to
see what was going on, I guess. They saw us and signaled us to board
their ship. Once on the alien vessel, they apparently tried to comm-
unicate with Vaughn via telepathy. This rendered him unconscious."
Vaughn slowly lowered his head while muttering to himself. "Freaking
aliens, messing with my head, shoulda killed him right there."
Luthor cut in. "Me being from a slightly telepathic race, I was to
communicate with them without going nighy-night." He shot a glance
towards Vaughn who glowed crimson with anger. "And with that, we took
off to God knows where." All nodded their heads slowly in agreement
and began to remember their extraordinary voyage.
To be continued...