52) --- Preparations -------------------------------------------------- "Here comes that sinking feeling..." -- Optimus Prime THURSDAY, MAY 12 Philip sat in his dorm room, hunched over his desk, deep in thought. Not about Ray's potential battle plans, not about the Corps' woefully meager training, and not about what the Administration would say if they knew that their students were arming up for what could potentially become World War Three. No, he was worried about his System Architectures final, which was tomorrow. In his mind, this was -much- more important. Philip asked to himself as he looked at his textbook and at the notes he had taken. Considering that the notes were pretty much a direct transcription of what had been written on the board, and the teacher talked more than he wrote, it didn't help much, but it was a start. Philip continued to study, listening to PDQ bach or Weird Al, and therefore didn't really keep track of the time, nor who was approaching his room door. *Knockknockknock* Philip looked up and turned as Aerianne walked through his open door. "Yeah, Aeri, what is it?" "Philip, could you help me with this topic?" Aeri flipped open her textbook to the section on Microcode and microprogramming. Philip looked at it with a distasteful glance. "What's wrong, Philip?" "Aeri, I slept through three quarters of that class..." he said as he flipped through the pages, trying to find something familiar. "I know," Aeri smiled. "Remember, I sat next to you the entire time," she said as she nudged him in the shoulder. Philip blushed, and then continued. "Add that to the fact that I've had problems with microcode in 311, and I'm not sure if I can be of much help." Philip shrugged apologetically. "Well, let's see what you can do..." Aeri said as she leaned next to Philip and began pointing out some of the basics that he had missed. Several hours later, Philip yawned. Loudly. Aerianne joined in as well out of reflex. "GAh," Philip said as he looked at his watch. "Christ, it's almost -midnight-," his eyes widened unwillingly. "Yeah, I know... I dunno about you, Philip, but I could use some -sleep-," Aeri said as she stretched. Philip took a few seconds to regain his wits, and then nodded in agreement. "So, where do you want to sleep?" Philip asked, looking at his (relatively) empty dorm room. Rahel was somewhere else that night, and Dean and Mitch (thankfully) had finished their exams, which meant that he and Aeri were alone in his dorm suite. "Well..." Aeri said as she moved over to Philip's bed and laid down in it, "Charley, Emmy, and Winnie are finishing their final project for 320; Gordo couldn't sleep after crashing from his history final, so he went out patrolling..." Philip asked himself. It was a typical night on Route One in College Park. The few bars along the street had opened around 8 pm, and those students who were above or equal to the drinking age (and some who weren't, regrettably) who liked to partake of sociable consumption of alcoholic beverages were out and about, waiting to get in. One student, in a rush to join his friends across the street in one of the bars, decided not to wait for the light to change green in his direction, and looked down Route One to see if any cars were coming. He couldn't see any, so he began to move. A metal-shod hand grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from taking the first step into the street. The man spun angrily, to see who had grabbed him, but stopped short as he saw who the arm was -attached- to. "Come quietly, or there will be... Trouble," Gordo-Robocop said in a perfect electronically-enhanced british accent. Philip shook his head to clear it. He didn't want to know. "What about Rufus?" "Oh, he's -still- working on the Legios over at College Park airport. He's practically living there now, along with Trevor, Galen, and Lugnutz who're sleeping over with him." "Ah." "Anyway, the Raptor Sisters will be playing loud and obnoxious music in order to help them work, so I thought I'd just crash here for tonight, where it's quieter. Is that ok with you?" she asked. Philip nodded. "I don't mind at all... In fact, I think I'll join you right now," he smiled as he kicked off his shoes, and worked his way into the bed next to Aeri. Aeri sighed happily, and snuggled herself close to Philip as she slowly began to fall asleep. "Goodnight, Aerianne," Philip whispered as her head settled on his shoulder, using it like a pillow. "Goodnight... phiilliipp...." Aeri trailed off as her eyes closed and she fell asleep. Philip smiled softly, and joined her in the land of dreams soon after. AROUND 3 IN THE "OH MY GOD WHAT AM I DOING UP SO LATE"NING "Hydraulic pressure stable?" "Check." "Diamond edged saws primed?" "Check." "Power conduits ready?" "Check." "Water and gas lines ready?" "Check." "Computers status?" "All our boards are green, Sir. We can proceed with the operation." "Excellent. Begin the operation." The operation's commander watched over the control room as the techs at the control panels began flipping switches, pulling levers, and typing out commands. Through one of the monitors, the commander could see a group of Gleepian operatives and technicians travelling in aircars through one of the tunnels that FOWL had secretly dug underneath the campus to allow them to enter and exit their underground base undetected. "Sir, the technicians have reached the target," a tech reported, to which the commander just nodded. He watched through the monitor as the techs guided a large, tracked platform into a large cavern, where several large hydraulic pistons could be seen. They parked the platform underneath the center of the formation of pistons, then an operative radioed back to the control center. "Transport in position, sir." "Understood. Begin lowering the building." The techs in the control room nodded, and began to control the hydraulics remotely. Outside, on the surface, in the predawn light, the westmost building of Charles Hall began to sink into the ground. It sank until the building was two stories shorter than what its architects had originally planned it to be, and then stopped. Then, all was quiet. "Retraction successful," reported an on-site foreman as in the background various Gleepian workers began to cut the bottom floor away from Charles Hall. Technicians were busily transferring the piston connections from the bottom floor to the first floor, in order to raise the building again. "Separation complete," announced another tech as the bottom floor dropped the last half-inch onto the treaded transport. The entire work crew grew silent, waiting for any reaction from the inhabitants inside the dorm, but none were forthcoming. "Excellent," announced the operation's commander over the radio. "Continue with the extraction." The workers complied with his orders, connecting power and water umbilicals into the bottom of the now-rising first floor, while others tied down the separated basement floor to the transport and attached power connections to it. The transport began to move back up the tunnel towards FOWL HQ as Charles hall was lifted up the last few inches to the surface. The techs cleared out, and several reported in that the operation was a success. The commander then turned towards one of his sub-lieutenants. "Prepare a memo for Ray. The leaders of the Terrapin Corps have been successfully kidnapped, as per his orders." Anyone who passed by Charles Hall that morning did a double-take, seeing as the westmost building was now a story shorter. But they then shook their heads, and wrote it off as something the Physical Plant had done. Of Aeri's and Philip's dorm floor, there was no sign it had ever existed. FRIDAY, MAY 13 *bbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>>WHAM!!<<* "blarg," Philip muttered as he pulled himself out of bed. "mmmph," he continued as he sat up and pulled on his glasses. They immediately began to display info as the earpieces touched his temples. He blinked suddenly, and then shook his head to clear it. Yesterday hadn't been fun. Well, having two exams in one day can do that to you. Studying up until the wee hours of the night doesn't help, either. Philip glanced in the upper-left hand corner of his vision, where the time and date glowed faintly in his GlassesHUD. [7:30 AM, 5-13-94] it read. he muttered to himself as he got up to get changed. But before he could do so, he noticed a very soft and warm inhabitant in his bed next to him. He turned his head slightly, and smiled down at Aerianne, who was still asleep, holding him and Little Pooh in equal amounts. Philip sighed. As much as he didn't want to disturb this tableau, he had to, otherwise they'd miss breakfast and their exam. So, very carefully, he caressed her cheek with his fingertips. Aeri's cheek twitched slightly, and Philip tilted his head down so he could whisper "Time to get up, Aerianne," into her ear. "nhhhnnnn, ohhhphhiliiiip, s'tooearlyyy...." Aerianne muttered, half-asleep. Philip chuckled quietly, and then kissed her forehead. "...wannasleeep..." Aeri trailed off as she tried to snuggle under the covers. Philip gently squeezed her as he whispered, "...can't sleep forever, Aerianne..." "mmmm, yessicann..." Aeri replied, still half-unconsciously, as she snuggled into Philip. Philip sighed, slightly bemused at his partner's reticence to wake up. -He- was the one who usually had trouble getting up; it was a change for Aeri to be this zoned out. But it was still a school day, and an exam day at that, so they still had to get up. "C'mon, Aeri..." Philip whispered into her ear as he gently caressed her arms and shoulders, tickling them slightly. "We've got to get up..." "Oooh, alll riiighht..." Aeri said as she turned to sit up before letting out a tremendous yawn. Philip had no recourse but to yawn in response, and then he leaned back a bit as Aeri lifted her arms to stretch, arching them backwards. "Feel better?" Philip asked as her back popped into place, the individual discs of cartilage popping as she did so. "Yeah, I guess so..." Aeri admitted, before giving Philip a hug. They sat there for several minutes, each one hugging the other, until Philip whispered in her ear "You'd better get over to your room and get changed and ready. We've still gotta get breakfast." "Gotcha," Aeri whispered back before turning her head to give him a peck on the cheek. She then let go of the hug, and worked her way over Philip and out of the bed. "See you in ten?" Philip queried as he too began to get out of bed. "Yeah, sure," Aeri replied as she left his dorm room, waving as she did so. Philip smiled to himself, sighed, and then got to the task of getting ready for the morning. But, as he was getting his clothes out, he noted that there was not much light working it's way through his closed blinds. In fact, there was almost no light at all. Philip blinked, and then shrugged, saving this observation for later. He still had to get ready for the day. Changed, brushed, shaved, and backpacked, Philip left his suite without a word. Traversing the short hallway, he came to Aeri's suite door, and lightly tapped on it. There was no response, so Philip gently turned the doorknob, hoping it was unlocked. It was, so he then snuck inside and made his way to Aerianne's room and tapped again. He could hear a trio of snore-growls coming from the Raptor's room, and nothing at all from Rufus and Gordo's room. "Aeri?" he asked without raising his voice (a rarity, to be sure). "Just a minute, I just finished my shower, and I'm towelling off," Aerianne's voice responded from behind the door. Philip for a brief moment considered offering to help her, but then -immediately- shelved that idea as being -too- risky (or risque'). Instead, he just replied "Ok," as he leaned against the opposite wall to wait. Five minutes later, Aerianne opened her door, backpack hanging from her shoulder and her hair resting on her backpack. Philip stood up straight as she approached. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting," Aeri said as they left the suite together. "Nope, not at all, Philip replied as they walked up the stairs to the outer door. "By the way, was it unusually dark outside your window?" "Yeah," Aeri said as she pushed open the outer door. Philip could see her katana safely ensconced in the folds of her trenchcoat, and then he looked -beyond- Aeri to the world outside. "Why do you ask?" she continued, not noticing Philip's disbelieving stare. "Because, Aeri," Philip said as he took her hand, looking out and around the large metal room their dorm floor had been placed in, "I have a feeling we're going to miss our 10:30 exam..." Aeri turned and finally saw what Philip was seeing. From what -used- to be their dorm entranceway/landing, Aeri looked out and up at the room they (and their suites) had been put in. It was a very large room, at least two stories high or more, and there was at least 10 feet between them and the solid metal wall they faced. Well, an almost solid metal wall. Because there was also a door in that wall, but unlike any they'd ever seen outside of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. A door that was most probably locked. "Oh my..." 53) --- The Final Test ------------------------------------------------ "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall flunk." -- Galen Silversmith, January 1990 Gordo walked up the hill towards the dorm suite that he, Aeri, Rufus, and the Raptors shared, his movements accompanied by slight electronic whines and hisses due to the armor he was currently wearing. He smiled as he thought back on the previous night's events. He had managed to prevent over one hundred students from ending their lives prematurely by not crossing the street at the crosswalks. he thought to himself happily as he walked around to the entrance doors for his dorm floor. However, as Gordo was deploying his keys to open the front door, he realized something was amiss. He hadn't needed to walk up any steps to -get- to the doors. This was not right. Gordo stepped back to examine the dorm building fully. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing amiss to the naked eye. But Gordo, having lived in the building for the past year, knew that the western part of Charles Hall was supposed to have -Four- floors, not -Three-!! (That, the diamond saw marks along the base of the building, and the anamolous rangefinder readings to the roof line were what tipped him off). For a moment, Gordo just stood there, admiring the handiwork of whomever had done this. Gordo's thoughts trailed off as he realized that one, they -were- there last night; that two, the dorm room in question was missing; and that three, -Aeri- and -Philip- were missing along with the dorm room. "This is a Bad Thing(tm)," Gordo muttered to himself. A hostile party had abducted five of his best friends, for what was sure to be some terrible purpose! Gordo thought for a bit, then an acronym came to his lips. "F.O.W.L." Gordo muttered a curse. Those fiends had gone too far. Turning on his armored heel, he stalked towards the College Park Airport to notify his friends. Gordo walked down College Avenue at a steady pace, his servomotors hissing and moving him as fast as they could, ignoring the stares of passerby as he approached his goal. Eventually he reached the airport, ignored the one or two security guards who kept people off the airfield, and marched towards the hangar where Rufus and Lugnutz had been working for the past few weeks getting the Legios operational. He pushed open the main hangar doors (forgetting the smaller person-sized door to one side) and went in. The hangar was a modest one that could have held two or three planes at once, provided that there hadn't been a -large-, slightly disassembled, state-of-the-art Linked Variable-Geometry Fighter already there. The carbon-arc lamps in the ceiling reflected off the jet's unpainted exterior, and cast multiple stark shadows on the hangar floor, where there were lots of parts and tools lying around in neat piles. Over in one corner, two purple boxes, each about 6 feet tall, had cables that worked their way to the sides of the large jet, where they were plugged into access panels and into monitors arrayed around the jet's two canopies. He spotted Rufus by an open access panel on the underside of the Legios, and brusquely approached him. "Rufus," Gordo stated without preamble, "I believe Philip and Aerianne, as well as the Velociraptor Sisters, have been kidnapped by FOWL for some dastardly purpose." "Huh?" Rufus said as he looked up from where he was working on feeding various power conduits from the Beta's jet intakes to the fusion reactor he was constructing that was to become it's powerplant. "How can you be sure?" he continued, wiping his hands clean with a nearby cloth. "Rufus, the lower portion of our university-provided housing is MISSING." "Missing?" the engineering student blinked. "Why don't you call Physical Plant and ask them why they took it?" Gordo sighed, and held his armored head with one metal-shod hand. "As I have informed you before, it is not Physical Plant, but FOWL that is responsible!" "You sure?" asked Rufus innocently. Gordo grumbled slightly. By now, Lugnutz had stopped what he was doing on the Alpha's incomplete powerplant, and Trevor had opened the canopy to watch the goings on outside. (Galen was still running a simulation in the Beta, and had currently racked up 500,000 points.) "First, Rufus, Physical Plant does not usually initiate such an operation of this magnitude at night," Gordo explained as calmly as he could. "Second, Physical Plant hardly ever FINISHES this QUICKLY!" "Oh." "Great. So you're saying that FOWL kidnapped Philip, Aeri, and the Raptors by stealing the bottom floor of their dorm... that makes sense. But -Why-?" Galen asked. Trevor had interrupted Galen's sim/game to let him know about this development, and he had exited out of the Beta's cargo section to get down to the hangar floor. <'Raptors'? Nevermind, I'll ask later,> Trevor commented to himself. "Probably to try and demoralize us... Philip -is- supposedly our 'Leader'," he replied wryly. "Ok... so they tried to take out our command staff... Who's left?" asked Rufus. Trevor, Galen, and Lugnutz looked at Rufus, then at Gordo. "Hoookay..." Rufus backed off slightly. "I believe that that task defaults to me, since Rufus and Lugnutz are still completing the powerplant construction," Gordo announced, though not at all boastfully. Rufus nodded at this, while Trevor spoke up. "So then... what now?" Gordo began to think, and after a few seconds, came up with a course of action. "You, Galen, Rufus, and Lugnutz will proceed to the the remains of our dorm floor in order to determine the specifics of the abduction, and to determine the methods by which they were kidnapped." "And what will -you- be doing?" Trevor asked. "-I-, good sir, shall be 'calling the cavalry'." And with this, Gordo walked over to a covered Big Red Button(tm) on one of the hangar's walls, and smashed his palm on top of it, shattering the cover in the process. *bbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz* All over campus, and over the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area, special pagers began to beep, buzz, or flash their display lights (depending on their owner's preferences), alerting their owners that the time had come to defend the innocent, protect the weak, and try to utterly trash the enemy. Naturally, this meant that the Hellicot Hallers responded first. Horse's head jerked up as his pager began to beep. He was sitting at his drafting table, working on one of his (many) final design projects. Unfortunately, the beep of the pager had interrupted him rather fully, and caused him to make an error in painting. "@*#!! RAAARGH!" Horse cursed as he tore up his now-ruined project. "Great. Just friggin' great," Horse muttered as he stood up, took the dead project, and tossed it in the (very full) trash can beside his drafting table. "Of all the times in the world, they had to attack -now-!" he growled ominously as he stalked out of his sixth- floor dorm room and into the hall. Several freshmen scattered. "Come, Horse! Destiny, honor, and much bashing of heads awaits us!" announced Shaggy as he exited his own dorm room and headed for the dorm's elevator by the floor's lounge. He was shouldering something that was obviously large-bore, and probably illegal in the continental US. Horse just growled, and Shaggy attempted to determine the reason for his lack of enthusiasm. "This is odd behavior for you, your Horseness. Normally, we'd have to chain you to a post in order to restrain you from doing too much property damage before the battle. What, pray tell, has caused your mood to sour so?" Horse growled as he punched the down button next to the elevators. "*$#% project's due tomorrow, and there's no way in #*%% that I'll be able to -finish- it!" He took out some of his frustration by air- punching one part of the wall. "Would it make you feel any better if I told you that in the next few hours, we shall most likely encounter more carnage than we have experienced in our lives?" Horse growled, and shook his head negatively. "What if I told you that it is likely that the design department, no, the entire -campus- will not survive this day, making all questions of projects moot? Horse growled, and shook his head negatively. "What if we have beer afterwards?" Horse's expression brightened. "That works," grinned Horse. He pressed a button on the wall opposite the elevator, and a siren began to go off on the dorm floor. As the elevator finally opened, Jim walked into the floor's lobby, and finally noticed the light that had been mounted several weeks before above the floor lounge door. "Hey Harse, what's wit' de big light old Lug'z and the odder feller put in?" he asked as he pointed a beer-holding hand at the now-flashing light. Horse turned towards his redneck companion with a BSEG. Behind him, Shaggy was giving a thumbs up. "Party Time," Horse replied as the three entered the elevator. He started cackling ominously as it descended. Ms. Dyas' Complex Analysis class scribbled away on their test. A quiet snap came from James Roger's desk as his TC pager began to vibrate. He put down his pencil and stood up, much to the surprise of the rest of the class. "I'm sorry Ms. Dyas, but I have to go save the world now." James picked up his backpack and walked out the door as Ms. Dyas yelled after him, "What? WHAT!! YOU COME RIGHT BACK HERE YOUNG MAN! I WON'T STAND FOR THIS!" As James walked the halls of Blair towards the student parking lot, he was passed by several of his friends and acquaintances that Philip had managed to convince to join them. Lindsay Bass, Wyndi, Peter DeGlopper, Dan Sandler, Diana, Liam Davitt, Abraham Silverman, Rebecca, Danny Gould and several others ignored the hall monitors as they ran out the glass doors and down the steps to the lot and their parked Cyclones (with CVR stored in the travel containers locked to the bike's sides). As the group was hurriedly trying to put on their armor, a generic van stopped by the lot. "What are you guys doing out of class?" asked Mr. Yee sternly as he lowered the driver's side window. The small group of students could see Mrs. Wiz sitting on the passenger's side. "We're going to save the world," stated James matter of factly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" yelled Mr. Yee with a smile as he waved his arm in a western drawl. Those students who had experience riding bicycles or motorcycles pulled their Cyclones into formation around the generic van. The rest of the group converted to Armor mode and clamored inside. "Hey, Stop nudging me!" "That's -my- seat!" "Move over, two more need to get in!" With much ado, the Blairites were on their way. Philip and Aerianne stood in front of the door that currently held them and their raptor suitemates captive. The two humans hadn't bothered to change out of their outerwear, since the room (which was most likely a cargo hold) was a bit nippy. Strangely enough, their velociraptor suitemates seemed unaffected by the temperature. At the moment, the little group was trying to decide what to do. "Well, we can't stay in -here- all day," Charley stated. "If we've been kidnapped by FOWL, it -probably- means they've started their assault." "But, if they've started their attack, then what -do- we do? How can we help them?" Emmy asked. Everyone looked thoughtful for a moment, and then Philip spoke. "Couldn't we try to take out their command center? If we could disrupt -that-, then we'd be able to stop their entire operation." "A good idea, but..." Winnie said. "But what?" "If we try to take out their command center, then we'd be going up against who -knows- how many enemy troopers and stuff trying to get there," Winnie continued, grumbling slightly. "And considering that their command center's probably well- guarded, it would be foolhardy to try and take it with just the five of us. It would be much better if we could somehow -escape-, contact the Corps, and then fight our way back in," Charley finished for her raptor sibling. "Ah," Philip replied, somewhat dully. "Ok, now that that's decided... how do we get out?" Aeri asked as she looked at the still-locked door. "Couldn't we try to cut the lock?" Philip asked in reply. "No, for three reasons," Charley pointed out. "First, our claws can't handle metal. Second, Aeri's sword, though functional, is only steel-- it'd probably shatter." Aeri made a face at that thought. "Third, the control panel's flush to the wall anyway, so there's almost no way we could get leverage other than digging at it." "Is there any way we could hack it?" asked Emmy as another suggestion. "If we had a way to interface with the lock, sure... But there's no place for a connection," Charley admitted. Philip and the other two raptors sighed, frustrated. "Wait a second..." Aeri said, after she had thought for a bit. "Isn't our dorm floor still powered?" "Yeah... so?" Winnie replied. "Well... has anybody checked for messages this morning?" Everyone blinkblinked, wondering why Aeri would ask this. "Um, well... I did, but there weren't any for me," Emmy admitted, eyes downcast. "That's great!" Aeri exclaimed, startling the downcast raptor. "Huh?" "Well, if we've still got our Phone hookups, and Rufus's computers are still in his room..." Emmy's face brightened as she realized what Aeri was suggesting. "...Then we can use his computers to hack into the door's!" she smiled. "Exactly..." Aeri smiled. "Well then, let's get to it..." Philip said as he walked back up to the dorm door and unlocked it. He held it open for Aeri and the Raptors, and then followed them in. They entered Aeri's suite, and Philip walked down the short hallway to Rufus and Gordo's room. He tried the door. Locked. "Great, -now- what?" Philip complained. A scaled, taloned, long-boned 'hand' placed itself on Philip's shoulder. Philip tried hard not to jump. "Step aside, mammal, and let a -pro- handle this," Winnie said as she gently, but firmly turned Philip around so he faced the hall and moved him over to one side. The other two Velociraptors has already backed out into the living room, their heads sticking into the hallway, and Aeri stood there as well. Philip watched as Winnie walked to the end of the hallway, crouched slightly, and then with a "rrrRRAUGHR!!", dashed forward, talons outstretched as she leaped/smashed into the door. Philip started, wether from her growl or the impact it couldn't be said. The door cracked down the middle, and Winnie backed up again to try once more. This time, the wooden door split completely, as Winnie's talons helped rip and weaken the wood before her body made contact. Winnie tumbled to the room's floor ungracefully as Emmy plowed her way in, making a beeline for Rufus' array of computers. Charley, Aeri, and Philip entered soon after. "I sure hope Gordo's noticed our absence," Philip commented to Aeri as Emmy started to use Rufus' computers to hack into the FOWL mainframes. "Knowing him," Aeri replied, "He's already got 3/4ths of the Corps already there." "I hope so..." 54) --- Damage, Inc. -------------------------------------------------- "Well, here come the heroes. I bet the building will fall within 10 minutes." "No bet." -- Justice League of America Gordo stood like a sentinel near one of the parking lots adjacent to Charles Hall, waiting for the rest of the Terrapin Corps to arrive. Behind him, up the hill, Rufus and Lugnutz had already begun to do seismic surveys with some dynamite that Horse had willingly provided them. A muffled boom echoed through the campus every time they set off another charge. Trevor and Galen, since they had no expertise in the setting up of explosives or seismographs, killed time by playing "Magic: The Gathering" at the small picnic table that was between Charles and Annapolis Halls. The Hellicot Hallers, in the meantime, had parked their behinds on the grass near the dorm, and were currently involved in killing time by testing the weapons on their Cyclones. (Horse's car, the indomitably overbuilt station wagon dubbed 'Black Betty', was currently parked one lot over, its UMD parking permit predominantly displayed on it's dash.) *FWOOOOOOOOSH!* Horse grinned as a superheated jet of plasma extinguished itself from his armor's forearm gauntlet; in front of him, a 10 foot long strip of turf had been flambe'd. "Yahknow, Shag, if it wasn't for all this neat stuff Phil and his buds got us for free, I'd think he was a putz. But actually, now that I ponder it, he's really a pretty nice guy!" "I concur, your Horseness," Shaggy agreed as he pulled the charred, yet gooey, marshmallow off of the burnt twig he had used to place the white sugary treat in the path of Horse's plasma flamethrower. He popped the crispy-on-the-outside-gooey-on-the-inside confection into his mouth and grinned. "Neat stuff?" Spud complained. "You call giving a bunch of college rejects military hardware 'Neat stuff'? I can't -believe- the temerity of you people---" his tirade was cut off as Shaggy clapped an arm on his shoulder. "That, my good man, is -exactly- what we're saying," Shaggy said jovially. Spud nodded in nervous agreement, although the fact that Shaggy's M-16-A rifle was currently laying across his lap in a ready position could explain why that was so. It was at about this time that a nondescript van pulled into the JJ* parking lot, followed by several motorcycles with armored riders. The van pulled up to the curb (right next to where Gordo was standing), and Mrs. Wiz poked her head out of the lowered passenger's-side window. "Hey, is this where the 'Terrapin Corps' is supposed to meet?" she asked the armored man in front of her. "Indeed it is, madame," Gordo replied, and Mrs. Wiz smiled back. "Great! We didn't get the directions wrong after all! Ok, everybody out!" she said as she pulled her head back into the van. The Cyclone- clad MBHS students disembarked, and Mr. Yee drove the van to the nearby -metered- parking lot to park it. Gordo looked over the assemblage of people who had gathered underneath the trees near Charles Hall. There were about sixty people in all, some from Maryland, some from Blair, and some who where from other colleges but were graduates of MBHS. Almost all of them were wearing CVR (Mr. Yee and Mrs. Wiz weren't wearing CVR), but some had opted not to wear the Cyclones. Introductions were made between the two halves (UMD and MBHS) of the Corps, and those members who hadn't seen the others in the group for a while caught up on old times. Eventually though, talk died down, and they all turned towards Gordo. For a moment, Gordo was at a loss for words with sixty pairs of eyes upon him, but then he cleared his throat to speak (so nobody noticed this). "FRIENDS OF PHILIP!" Gordo (and the rest of the Corps) winced as Gordo's external speakers blasted out his words at 20 times the recommended volume. He muttered to himself, adjusted the volume level from "Fahrvergnugen" to "Human", and then spoke again. "Friends of Philip---" pause to check that everything was ok-- " Loyal comrades; I summoned you all here today for a purpose...." "Nobody summons Megatron!" somebody in the group piped up. Gordo blinked, confused, while glares were sent from those in the group who recognized the quote towards the perpetrator. Gordo shook his head, and continued. "Friends and Comrades, earlier today I had the misfortune to discover that Philip and Aerianne (and their dorm floor) had been kidnapped by some unknown method for some nefarious purpose by FOWL." Surprised muttering came from the group. "Philip and Aerianne were -kidnapped-? What for?" Wyndi asked, surprised. "No doubt to try and cripple our chain of command," Gordo replied, "Which also means that he likely intends to start his offensive soon. But our first priority must be to find our teammates." He began to walk backwards towards where Rufus and Lugnutz were still working, and the rest of the group followed him at hearing distance. "Now, considering that FOWL has absconded with both our friends -and- their residence, there must have been some way of transporting their dorm rooms without being seen by campus security. Our first task then shall be to determine what this method was, and then exploi-" *crumble* "---IIIIAIAAAAA!" *WHUMP!* The group stopped short as Gordo, for no readily explicable reason, disappeared into the ground. Confused muttering came up from the crowd as they tried to figure out where Gordo had disappeared, until his voice came up from underground, alerting them to his presence. The group looked for the voice, and then found it. "Looks like a sinkhole, Shag," Horse commented as he looked down into the cratered hole that had collapsed under Gordo's armored weight. "Looks like it to me," Shaggy confirmed. While everyone gathered around the sinkhole, to look down at Gordo, Rufus suddenly stood up from his scans and made his way to where he'd seen Gordo last. "Gordo!" he called out as he made his way through the crowd, "I just finished my seismic analyses, and there's a network of tunnels under College Par--" He stopped short at the edge of the sinkhole and blinked. "Ah... I see you've found them." "Yes, I have, -haven't- I?" Gordo replied, still somewhat put off by the turn of events. He groaned as he forced his armor to a standing position. He looked up and addressed the crowd that had gathered around the edges. "*ahem* Well, seeing as our first task has been completed for us by the Force of Gravity, I now move that we proceed with our second objective: following this tunnel to wherever it may lead, in hopes of finding our comrades." He pointed an armored finger into the darkness. "I will need some of you to help lower several vehicles into this tunnel so that we'll have a means of transportation for those who do not wish to walk or ride their Cyclones for however long this tunnel is. Mr. Yee, Mr. Deemon; if you could bring your respective group's vehicles near the edge of the hole I believe we can begin this process immediately." Mr. Yee and Horse nodded, and they walked back to get their cars. A couple of the students had already jumped down into the hole, letting their backpack thrusters cushion their landing. Up on the surface, several students were getting into a waiting position near the hole. Once Shaggy cut away the locks that kept the parking lot gates closed, the Magnet Van and Black Betty drove out of the parking lots and onto the sidewalks between the dorms. About six students grabbed the undercarriage on each side of each vehicle; and then first the Van, then Betty, were lifted by Cyclone servomotors off their tires, and then thruster fire lifted the Corpsmembers and the vehicles up, over, and then down into the sinkhole. The operation went almost without a hitch, except for the fact someone cut off their jets too soon, causing Black Betty to drop several feet and hit the ground solidly. The car was not harmed, although the student soon received a chewing out from Horse about the mishandling of his car. Once the cars were lowered, the rest of the Corps jumped into the hole, leaving Trevor, Galen, Lugnutz, Rufus, and Gordo (who had climbed back out) on the surface. Gordo was about ready to jump back in to lead the Corps down the tunnel, when Trevor's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Um, Gordo?" Trevor asked, somewhat concerned. "Yes, Trevor?" Gordo replied as he turned. "What'll you do if FOWL finds out about your little guerilla action, and we're all down there when it happens? They could cut us off without a problem." Gordo h'mmed, and then spoke. "You are absolutely correct, Trevor." He cleared his throat, and faced the little assemblage in front of him. "Therefore, in order to correct this minor error in planning, I want you four to remain behind as our 'rear guard', to warn us by communicator if this happens." "Ahhokay..." Trevor replied. Not -quite- the answer he was hoping for, but... Gordo thought for a bit more, and then continued. "However, to make sure your time 'upstairs' is not wasted, I want you, Rufus and Lugnutz, to make all possible haste in finishing the construction needed to make the Legios operational. Trevor, Galen, you two should prep yourselves for immediate departure once they finish." The four nodded in affirmation, and Gordo nodded back. "Excellent!" He turned partway, still looking over his shoulder, and said, "I shall see you again soon, friends!" And with that, he jumped into the hole and disappeared. The four left on the surface moved over to the edge of the sinkhole, where they could see Gordo getting into the Magnet Van, and then a metal-shod arm pointing off into the tunnel. With the noise of starting engines, the Cyclones and the two Vehicles revved up, turned on their lights, and began to drive into the darkness. "Well, I guess that settles that..." Galen commented. "Yeah...." Trevor agreed, lost in thought. "Comeon, Ruf', we've still got to do those plasma constrictor coil calibrations.." Lugnutz said as he began walking back towards the airport. Rufus followed, and the two were soon involved into a long technical discussion. Galen began to follow, and then noticed that Trevor wasn't with them. "You coming, Trev?" he asked, indicating down the hill towards College Park proper. "Just a second, Galen..." Trevor called out, and Galen shrugged and turned and made his way down the hill. Trevor looked regretfully down into the depths of the sinkhole, sighed, and then turned to follow his friends. Meanwhile, in Gordo and Rufus' dorm room, Philip and Aeri and the two 'elder' raptor sisters were killing time as Emmy immersed herself in the world of cyberspace as she tried to hack her way to the cargo bay's door controls. She had already needed to corrupt several sections of the base's system in order to mask her trail, but by doing so she had also gained control of those sections, which would help the little group later on in their breakout attempt. "So, do you think Gordo'll read the email message we sent them?" Aeri asked as she sat on Gordo's bed, a little bit worried. She had been the one to point out that Rufus' computer array was hooked up to the outside world, and through it they sent an email out to whoever they could, telling them of their fate. "I -hope- so... -IF- he reads his email as often as I do... which isn't saying much," Philip admitted as he sat down next to her and gave her a shoulder to lean on. She accepted it, and they sat there in silence, the sound of tapping keys providing the only interruption. The pair were about to fall asleep, but a raptor cry of triumph interrupted them from their mutual reveries. "GOT IT!" exclaimed Emmy as the computer she was using gave a self- satisfied beep. "Were you able to unlock the door mechanism?" asked Charley, who was hovering over her sister's shoulder. Emmy nodded and did the raptor version of a smile. "Uh-huh! Not only that, I was able to -change- it's password! We're the only ones who can use it now!" "Great!" said Aerianne as she pulled on her all-purpose trenchcoat over her recently-donned CVR. She blinked as she realized the armor and the coat couldn't work together, then sighed as she took the coat off and folded it. She -did- however take the time to remove her Katana and scabbard and sling it on the back of her CVR. "Well, what -is- it?" Philip asked, somewhat impatiently. "One Two Three Four Five," Emmy said, as she scratched out the pass number with a pen on several sheets of paper for the group to keep. "One, two, three, four, five..." Philip repeated to himself, and then blinked to himself as he realized what an -obvious- combination it was. He shook his head, and exited the dorm room, the rest of the group following him. Philip led the way back to the cargo-bay door, his CVR boots lightly clacking as he walked on the deck plates. Once there, he moved over to the control panel next to the door, and entered Emmy's new password. "...Three, Four, -Five-." Philip turned as the door split down the middle, hissed open, and watched as the two sections retracted into the walls. He turned to regard the four females who were standing behind him. "The way is clear, ladies," he said as he bowed. "Thanks, Philip," Aeri smiled as she moved to his side and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Philip blushed slightly, and then gave Aeri a hug in return. The velociraptors ignored these displays of affection, and took up watch positions in the corridor that lay beyond the now- open door. Philip and Aeri broke off their embrace, and then turned to walk into the corridor as well. It was a fairly standard corridor, like you'd see in any relatively decent sci-fi flick. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all metal, and florescent lights were spaced at regular intervals along the ceiling in both directions. At the moment, only every third fixture was lit, making the hallway dark with occasional areas of bright light. The light fixture the cargo bay door was under was off, causing the Raptor's eyes to sparkle as they caught the light from the hallway lights and from the light from the inside of the cargo bay. Philip stood there, going over their plan in his mind. Charlie and Winnie would be point man and rear guard respectively, while he and Aeri would be in the middle, near Emmy who would be their hacker in case they needed it. This way, they'd hopefully get out of FOWL's base with a minimum of fuss. Then, he realized that their plan, though reasonable, had a minor flaw in it. "weapons," Philip muttered to himself, catching Aeri's attention. "Mmm?" Aeri asked, turning towards him. "Well, we've only got your sword and the Raptor's claws and spurs. I -reeeely- doubt that we'll be able to make much of a dent in whatever FOWL sends up against us... -especially- if what they've got is heavily armored, high-powered, and has enough ammo to make swiss cheese out of Titanium." By this time, the raptors were also listening to him, although since Philip was still talking to Aeri, he didn't notice. "We're going to need -some- kind of automatic weaponry, otherwise, quite frankly, we're -toast-." "But where can we get any?" Aeri asked. "We already searched our rooms from top to bottom...." Charley cleared her throat, catching the two human's attention. "Leave that to us," she smiled as her two sisters stood next her, nodding. Then, before Philip or Aeri could ask -what- they were going to do, the three Velociraptors turned and sprinted down the hall, soon disappearing from sight. "Do you have any idea what they're planning?" asked Aeri, somewhat confused. "Not a clue," Philip admitted. Then, he added, "Though, if it's what I -think- they might be planning, I quite frankly don't want to -know-." "Ah," Aeri nodded, then blinked once and sighed, leaning against the door frame. Philip took the opposite side of the frame, and there they waited. Deep in FOWL HQ, final preparations were being made for the execution of Ray's takeover plan. Various subcommanders ran about the control center, relaying messages to their subordinates, placing squadrons in their final positions, readying flight coordinates, and making sure that everyone's shoes were tied (No, really). Technicians sat at the control consoles, checking up on telemetry from various satellites, weather conditions, military readiness, and the like. The air was filled with the sound of squadron leaders checking in, of engineers making last-minute scans, and of communications officers forwarding orders. And in the center of it all, sitting on an impressive-looking command chair (and spotlighted from above), was Ray. "Are all our forces in readiness?" asked Ray calmly. "Aye, sir," a tech replied from the communications station. "Every squadron and ground unit has reported in. We await your command, sir." The tech bowed low. Ray sat there for a few seconds as the command center became quiet. He took a long pull on his cigarette, and then spoke. "Prep our preliminary wing to take out Andrews Air Force Base. Order our Powered Armored squads into position to take over the District of Columbia." Even as his troopers moved to obey, a questioning and somewhat annoyed voice spoke out. "But, Ray?" "But what, Korzon?" Ray sighed slightly as he turned his head to regard the former Gleepian king. "Wouldn't it just be easier to use our 'ringers' in the campus and city administration to declare a state of emergency in College Park? That -is- why we paid all those bribes...." "The situation has changed, Korzon," Ray smiled. "With the distraction of the 'Terrapin Corps'," he barked a small laugh, "and the incipient completion of this base, we have no need for such underhanded tactics. The Corps were hardly a threat in the first place; Sixty untrained college and high school students and other riffraff do not a strike force make. And with them being the only one aware of our presence, there will be no-one to warn the armed forces." "Ah..." Korzon conceded cautiously. "And besides, once this base's engineering checks are complete, we will have nothing to fear from the United States Armed Forces... not to mention the world's... unless you have doubts about this 'Terror Mechanoid' you've created, Korzon." "Of course not!" Korzon exclaimed. "This base was built with the finest technology FOWL's agents could obtain by any means, built by the elite Gleepian Corps of Engineers, and built -exactly- to -your- specifications! It's perfect, and IT WILL WORK!" Korzon took a few 1 deep breaths to calm himself. "You should hope so... for your sake," Ray replied. He then turned away from his dialogue with the Gleepian and faced the rest of the command center. He stretched out a hand as he commanded, "START THE OPERATION!" "Yessir!" the command crew chorused. Ray leaned back in his command chair and smiled.