Chapters 31- 35
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Hum of the Angels
Chapter 31
By Nicki Knight
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Knuckles kept her rifle to her shoulder, ready to fire as she edged around the corner of the mission's busted down door. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area with trained precision, searching for any sign, even the tiniest, that there was a threat...
If for no other reason than she really wanted to shoot something!
In an almost disappointing tone, she declared "Clear."
Radar moved in behind her. "I don't think we'll be having to worry about them buggers, girl." he let her know. "We not see a soul since this bloody thing shot itself into the sky." He nodded to the angel fountain.
The pool around the angel was gone. She was now bathed in the shimmering green static beam. A low, vibrating hum filled the air around her, seemingly to electrify every little particle.
"Well, it feels like everything is moving around us." Knuckles slung her rifle over her shoulder so that she could scratch at her arms.. "Skin is crawling." she growled in disgust.
"It's the static." Radar pointed out.
"So, how do we shut that damn thing off?" the bounty hunter wanted to know, starting toward the fountain.
"Not by getting any closer." Radar answered quickly, grabbing her arm, stopping her. When she flashed him a glare, he explained "Look at our skin. The red tinge... it's static burn. It's like getting too close to an electric arch. We get any closer and it may do actual harm."
Frowning, she looked down at their bare hands and arms. Though harder to see on her darker skin, the pale burn, like the beginnings of a sun burn, tinted both of them. "Great. Now, what?" she growled. "We could of stood around doing nothing back at the hole... at least there we didn't have to worry about getting skin cancer."
Radar looked her up and down. "You aren't a very cheery person, are you?" When he received another glare, he decided to return to topic. Looking at the beam, he observed. "Well it isn't coming from the sky. It must be coming from below." He looked at the girl again. "You spent a piece here. Ever ran across the wine cellar?"
Knuckles huffed. "Could use a drink." she mumbled. Glancing around, she scratched her head. "'Case you forgot, I was not exactly at my best." she reminded him.
"True, but, even at your worse, I'm sure your observation skills were active and aware."
"Flattery gets you nowhere." Knuckles shrugged. "'cept maybe a free beer at the club."
Radar grinned, please that he had finally gained a kind word from the girl. "How about a jig 'cross the floor, eh?"
"How about a jig 'cross your backside?" she returned, though there was a hint of a smile. "Come on, this way." She jogged toward a storm door. It was already broken in.
Radar jerked free a tranq. dart that had been lodged in the broken wood. "Thunder didn't mention he missed the first shot."
"First shot of what?" Knuckles mumbled over her shoulder, before setting her bag and chicks down. Using the steel heal of her boot, she proceeded to kick the broken pieces out of the way.
Realizing that, apparently, she didn't remember just how exactly they had gotten her back to the base camp, Radar decided to pocket the dart and keep it out of sight.
"It's a basement. Didn't explore beyond that." Knuckled stood back and glared at the dark opening. "Didn't figure on exploring beyond that." she mumbled.
Radar shrugged. "Well, now here's your chance." And he started down the stairs.
"Yea." Knuckles growled. "Here's my chance." Maybe now would be a good time to let him she would go insane down there...
"Knuckles!" Radar called from the darkness below. "Seems to be someone down here you might be interested in."
There was a bark.
"Oddity!" Forgetting her fear of the closed in space
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Hum of the Angels
Chapter 32
By Tommy Boy
Oddity had barked sensing her master to be near by. Radar heard the bark too. Knuckles would have to push her fears to the side. Whatever was making that beam come to life was from down there, in the dark, dark hole, closing walls.
Radar came up behind her. �??You can do this.�?? he murmurred, pushing her forward, further into the dark.
Slipping on debris, they made their way further going down. They found Oddity waiting for them.
Giving the dog a pat, �??Where�??s the gang?�?? Oddity started further into the tunnel.
Knuckles groaned to herself, further in. This is not good.
** **
Perfect Tommy started touching button and levers once more.
Thunder felt uneasy, of all the people to be playing with the equipment shouldn�??t be the kid.
Occasionally the beam shimmered with their work but for the matter it stayed intense.
Perfect Tommy scratched his head trying to figure out what needed to be done. �??What am I doing wrong?�?? he asked to no one in particular.
Tommy Boy looked up at the hieroglyphics and noticed they matched what was on the board. �??Tommy look.�?? she pointed to a series on the wall that matched the emblems on the board.
Thunder looked up then questioned, �??What if you pick a series that would do worse damage?�??
Tommy Boy and Perfect Tommy looked at each other and nodded once and together said �??Risk it.�??
Following a line on the wall they started to push levers and prehistoric buttons.
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Hum of the Angels
Chapter 33
BBI_fiero
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Knuckles stared down the tunnel. It was insufferable to walk in the dark, stumbling over an occasional stone. If it were not for the presence of her furry companion,she would have 2nd thoughts. Straining her eyes the bounty hunter detected something illuminated. Walking faster knuckles' curiosity overcame reservations. It was a strange light; bright blue with speckles.
Radar spoke up, "Finally an end to this tunnel!"
BBI_Thunder greeted the two at the entrance. "'Bout time you two showed up."
Knuckles put away her pistol which was instinctively drawn. She squinted as holstered her weapon. "Is everyone here? TB and PT O.K.?"
Thunder nodded.
"Tommyboy and Perfect-Tommy are down the hall. They're kind of preoccupied with the ruins."
Knuckles glanced, then turned to her right. "Who the hell is that?"
Ranger looked at the Red lectroid whom was seated at a stone table, securely shackled.
Ranger stated, "Oh?Perpetrator we ran into. Don't know much about him except he and his goons held Perfect-Tommy prisoner?.Then finally all three of us before Thunder & Company entered the scene."
Thunder grinned at the last comment.
Radar began to stray from Knuckles and Thunder. He looked up to the ceiling, then to the adobe furnace, finally down the deep crevasse where the source originated from. "What the bloody hell is that monstrosity ?"
A hand tapped his shoulder. "That's' what we are trying to figure out."
"Doctor Zweibel I presume?" queried the Blue Blaze Irregular.
"Hello Radar!" replied the Hong Kong Cavalier.
The British technician continued looking at the light. "That's a ruddy odd toy you have there, I say."
"Yes?"
"That beam is acting like a nuclear pulse, disrupting communications for miles around."
"Oh? Your instruments are out as well?"
"Instinctively?"
Both men kept their attention on the ancient device.
"Did you guys discover any, purpose, some kind of reason for all this?"
"Only a hypothesis, I think it may be an old weather control device."
"Do say?!" the technician was taken back.
"Not only that, Psychic determined that the machine creates a sonic mental side effect as well. It's effects we are familiar with." The BBI turned to Sid. "Not to worry. It's out of action, now."
The red haired Banzai Institute intern walked over. "Wonder if that's what happened to this culture."
Sid and Radar both turned their attentions to the young lady.
"Perhaps the mental disruptions just?were too much?"
"And that civilazation no longer exists?" Finished Jersey.
The brit adjusted his spectacles, "So the cure was worse than the disease you're saying?"
She tilted her head to the side. "Wouldn't be the first time?As with the invention of gunpowder, the airplane, the atomic bomb."
"True," answered New Jersey.
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It was several minutes later when Tommyboy looked at the stone instrument panel, then back to the hieroglyphic wall. Perfect-Tommy was sliding tiles into place under her guidance.
"Anymore?"
"Nope, that's the last pattern."
"Well, let's try it."
The Hong Kong cavalier slid the colored tile into place amongst the others.
No sooner did he begin to open his mouth to say something negative, a loud crackle filled the air.
Both interns dropped to the floor.
Thunder, Radar, Ranger , Knuckles and Psychic stared at the furnace, covering their ears.
It was dark. The beam of energy no longer emanated from the cavern floor to the ceiling.
Perfect-Tommy made a fist, bent down and swung his elbow in. "YESSS!!"
Tommyboy ran over to him and threw her arms around the young intern. "We did it!!"
PT began to hug her in turn.
"You have no idea.." she continued."
"Monkey off your back, eh?"
"Finally-!!.. feels like I just been let out of prison!"
Psychic ran up to join the two. She was holding the computer; monitor glowing. "Look! Your Laptop is working again!"
TB ignored the intern and continued her hold on Perfect-Tommy.
Psychic squinted at PT, acknowledging their privacy she took the queue to depart.
She walked down the steps to rejoin the rest of Team Banzai.
New Jersey turned to the girl when all of a sudden he felt some air leave his lungs.
The intern had hugged the doctor. "We did it, Sidney!"
"Uh,..Come again?"
Psychic immediately realized her timing was way off. "Oh?nothing,.. just something I saw in a movie."
The Laptop displayed a `Go-Call' icon. It was activated. Psychic typed a few buttons and established communications with the Banzai Institute. A slow scan TV image of Rawhide greeted them. "Hello Buckaroos! Y'all shurr' stirred the pot down there."
Jersey and Thunder looked into tiny camera eye of the laptop.
"Hi Rawhide!"
"Everyone O.k.?"
"Yes, we're fine.."
"What the hell happened out there in the Caribbean?"
"It's a long story, we'll debrief you later."
"Do you need any help? Anything we should ship out?"
"No..No, we're O.K?I think we can handle things from here."
"We detected some seismic activity in your area for awhile, but it's ceased."
"I know?We shut down an active, -hard to explain..We worked on the source."
Rawhide was silent for a second before replying. "I think I understand a little, Billy Travers noticed you accessed some Institute Records. ?well, whatever you did?.Good work! Job well done!"
Knuckles stood in front of the laptop.
"Hello Rawhide, long time no saw."
"Greetings Knuckles?You guys did great."
"Thank you."
"Ready to make some money?"
Knuckles was taken back.
"Not sure I understand you"
"Your Bouncer, Gage, telephoned me this morning. Says there's a new fugitive on the loose. Somebody really nasty skipped bail. There's a sizable bounty on his head?.Assuming you're ?"
"I'm interested ! Book me a flight already !!
"What about your Birds?", quizzed New Jersey.
"I saw what a wonderful mother you were back there. Soo- I place YOU in charge of nurturing them back to health?"
Sid Zweibel began to groan.
"Maybe we can fit them in your bicycle basket?" laughed Psychic.
Jersey began to turn red as he realized his intentions were discovered.
"But what about your remaining days off - ?" asked Radar.
Knuckles un-holstered her gun and checked the barrel.
"You see- to me- this will be more rest and therapy than this Mauritus get-away."
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Hum of the Angels
Chapter 34
By Nicki Knight
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Knuckles was fidgeting. She had a job to get to. She wanted to get out of these damn close quarters. And she wanted to find Perfect Tommy and growl at him because... well, she just liked to growl at him. "Hey, are we goin' or you want me to send down a pizza?" she called to the others.
"What about the thing?" New Jersey wanted to know. "We can't just leave it here. If Smartbomb found it, anyone could."
Thunder nodded. "We should of asked Rawhide for a team to come down here and give this place the once over."
Tommy Boy and Perfect Tommy finally joined them, catching the last sentence. "Right now we are all going sky side."
"Finally." Knuckles groaned.
Tommy Boy continued. "Once we are sure things are getting back to normal, and everyone is safe, we'll organize a team with skills better suited to handle these hieroglyphic and everything else." her eyes narrowed when she saw Knuckles. She had never, ever expected to see the little bounty hunter anything remotely close to underground. Hell, the girl's apartment had all glass ceilings. What was she doing here? TB decided it was unsafe to ask before getting the fidgeting Knuckles out into the open. "Perfect Tommy, Thunder, get her out of here. Radar, Ranger, grab our tag along." She nodded toward the lectroid. She paused to note Oddity growling and tugging on the alien's foot.
Perfect Tommy patted the animal on the head. "Come on, buddy. Don't chew on that thing. It'll give ya warts." he mumbled. Leading the dog passed Knuckles, he grabbed her arm and dragged her along. "Pizza? Someone say pizza?"
Knuckles glared at him. "Anyone ever compared you to a certain Ninja Turtle?"
"Hey, Ninja, eh?" Before the two have gotten out of sight, the ground began to shake again, both below and above.
"What now?" Thunder groaned.
"I thought we turned everything off?" Psychic cried, stumbling and falling against New Jersey as the ground rolled under her feet.
"This isn't the machine." Tommy Boy answered, shoving the two after Knuckles and Perfect Tommy. "It's the whole damn mountain! It's coming down!"
"Oh, crap!" Knuckles smacked PT in the shoulder. "I knew it! I knew it! You know, there's a reason I don't like tunnels! They have a habit of falling on me!"
"Not today, girl." Thunder assured as he and PT took an arm each and dragged the little bounty hunter down the tunnel.
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Hum of the Angels
Chapter 35
By The Chronicler
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"Everyone! Get out!" Tommy Boy yelled as if they needed to be told. Trusting Thunder with the lead, she brought up the rear, making sure no one fell behind and no one forgot their prisoner.
Dust filled the air, making it difficult to see or even breath. Gravel and rocks fell from the ceiling and walls, throwing obstacles at them from all directions.
"Up the stairs!" Radar directed as he and Ranger dragged John Smartbomb along.
Instantly Thunder and Perfect Tommy turned to their left. Knuckles bounced up the stairs and was out of the tunnel in a heart beat. Thunder waited at the base of the stairs as the others ran pass. "Come on, Doc. Put a wiggle in it!" he encouraged as Jersey tripped and nearly fell to the ground.
"Get moving!" Tommy Boy ordered Thunder on, wanting to make sure that she would be the last one out. She could hear the tunnel and cavern completely collapse behind them. As she started up the steps, they began to crumble.
"Tommy!" Thunder yelled, turning back and catching her out stretched hand as she began to fall back into the tunnel.
All that saved her from the fall was Thunder's grip on her wrist. But, the her sudden weight hanging from his arm jerked him to his knees, and nearly dragged him down with her.
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Knuckles had just reached the open air when she saw the walls of the mission around them began to crumble and collapse. "Keep moving!" she yelled to the others, waving them toward the broken gates.
Ranger took control of their prisoner, Oddity bouncing and barking around them, while Radar stepped back and helped Jersey and Psychic.
"Where's Tommy Boy? Thunder?" Knuckles wanted to know when they didn't immediately follow.
"Ah, damn." Perfect Tommy groaned, turning and heading back in.
Knuckles growled, jerking on a pigtail. "You know, I'm not a Blue Blaze thingy?! I don't have to go back down there!"
"Yes, you are. No you don't." PT answered as he disappeared down the way they had come.
With a growl, Knuckles ran after him, back into the collapsing mission.
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"Augh." Thunder's eyes squeezed shut as he tried to pull his friend up. But, with only one hand, and that one severely jerked when he caught TB, and the other holding onto the top step, he just wasn't strong enough to pull her up. And everything was falling around and under them.
"Thunder!" Tommy Boy cried. "You've gotta get out of here!"
"That's what I'm tryin' to do!" Thunder growled through clenched teeth. He could feel his arm joints pop. His fingers on the top step began to slip.
"Thunder! Get out of here!"
"Ah, shucks." he returned. "You just never want to hang out with me any more."
"Hanging isn't the problem." Tommy Boy returned. "Just don't want you falling for me."
"Damn, joking at a time like this." Perfect Tommy reprimanded as he and Knuckles showed up. The two braced themselves on either side of the top of the stairs. Perfect Tommy grabbed Thunder's arm and began to pull him up.
"Don't you drop her!" Knuckles warned, grabbing his belt loop as soon as she could reach it.
"Don't you drop me." Thunder braced a foot against the wall, but, as soon as he put pressure on it, the wall gave way and he was slipping down again.
"Hey!" Perfect Tommy cried. "Don't do that!"
He and Knuckles exchanged glances. It was now or never... pull them up, or all four were going to fall. Tommy Boy was free hanging and Thunder had nothing to left to brace himself against or hold on to.
So, each took a deep breath, closed their eyes, and pulled with all their might.
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2 days later...
The horn blared.
Grinding her teeth, she stomped to the front of the jeep, yanked open the hood, and ripped out the horn. Dropping the hood with a solid crash, she glared at the vehicle's occupant.
Perfect Tommy frowned. "You know, TB, you've been spendin' too much time with Knuckles. You're pickin' up her temper."
"What I'm picking up is a headache." Tommy Boy growled. "Make another sound and these won't be the only wires I pull." she warned, waving the remnants of the horn at her friend.
Thunder chuckled. "You sure you want to let him and Knuckles loose on the world?"
"Better the world than me." Tommy Boy answered, grinning. "You sure you want to catch a ride with them? Could always come back to the Institute for a few days."
"Ah, yes." Thunder rubbed his sore shoulder just for something to do. "Hi, Rawhide. What did I do with your girl? Ah, we were just hanging out... Please don't hit me... often." He frowned at his friend who laughed.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you."
Thunder leaned toward her and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll drop by for a visit soon. In the mean time... are you really sure you're gonna let PT go with Knuckles?" He nodded to where the bounty hunter and Cavalier were spray painting a rather vulgar message on the bottom of their plane.
Tommy Boy shrugged. "Buckaroo will pick them up in Paris and get them back home in no time." She smiled, nodding to another pair. "And then we ask, what about those two?"
New Jersey and Psychic had been, with the constant teasing form Perfect Tommy and Knuckles, nearly inseperateble. Though interrupted by the chicks Jersey had promised to deliver to NY Zoo, they had managed to stay together constantly.
"I think they're kinda cute." Thunder observed.
Tommy Boy tilted her head to one side. "Yea, they are kinda cute." she agreed. "'Course, I was talking about the pair behind them."
Thunder looked again to see Radar and Ranger with their heads together, sharing a step to their plane. He raised one eyebrow. Now he knew they were talking about the same subject they had been talking about for 48 hours now, the protecting WWOne's computers from the sort of havoc that had been interfering with the world's computer systems the last few days. But it certainly look like more.
"Hey, I've got a bounty to snatch up!" Knuckles called. She was already ushering Perfect Tommy and Oddity up into their plane. "I could use a pilot."
"Yada, yada, yada." Thunder sighed. "'til our next adventure?"
Tommy Boy nodded. "Next adventure.... hopefully on steadier ground."
"Hell, I'd go for just above ground." With a grin, he patted the top of her head before turning and heading for Knuckles.
Tommy Boy watched him until he had closed up the plane and started to taxi it out on to the runway. With a sigh, she finally turned. "Allrighty, boys and girl. Mount up. We're going home."
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The End
