Rebuilt (3): Meetings and Memories

The guard stood there, resilient.  From Dot's awkward angle, it was not clear who his arrow was specifically aimed at; however, it was clear that it would hit one of them if he let his arrow fly.  

"Come along quietly now and no one has to get hurt," he said.

"Fine, fine.." Jet Pack Guy said as he slowly raised his hands, surenderring.

Or, at least, that's what it was supposed to look like.

His hands only halfway to their destination over his head, Jet Pack Guy suddenly jerked his right flipper and hit a button on the side of his signature jet pack.  The pack omitted a quick flame, singeing the snow around him and barely missing the guard's feet and their tactical boots.  The surprised guard jumped, and the three agents took their chance.  They ran away into the Ski Village clearing.  Arrows came flying all around them from the rooftop guards, narrowly missing the three as they continued along.

Guards began to pursue them on foot and gray cargo trucks raced after them, swerving and skidding as they tried to intimidate the newly christened criminals.

After many twists and turns into abandoned alleys, the rebels lost their targets, who made for the dark igloo village.  Exhausted, they came to a stop, hiding behind a small cluster of trees next to a densely packed section of the village.  

"We need to get inside one of them...lay low for the night," Dot huffed.

"I think I have just the device for that!" Gary exclaimed, inserting enthusiasm into a very dreary situation.

The three crept to an igloo with a for sale sign in the yard.  Once they arrived at the door, Gary slipped a small, wallet shaped device out of his pocket.  He pressed it to the door handle, there was a buzz, and then the agents gained entry.

The home was a modest two room igloo.  It was seemingly normal....aside from the knocking that was coming from the door to the second room.

The three partners looked at each other.  They all nodded, and, after locking the door to the outside, they went to the second door.  Gary found it too was locked and used his handy device to aid the problem.

The door opened.

"Well, that's convienent," said Jet Pack Guy gruffly.

On the other side of the door, in a pure white room, there was another trio of individuals: Rockhopper, Alaska, and Yukon.  The latter two had been missing for the last few hours, while Rockhopper was supposed to be held captive - a dire fact that had slipped from Dot's mind after their recent ordeals.

The two groups swapped stories.  Apparently, Alaska and Yukon had been ambushed on the ship by the Caster and had woken up here.  Rockhopper had been brought in soon afterward and they had all ended up in the empty room together, where they had stayed, undisturbed, for the last few hours.  At the sound of Gary's entry to the igloo's main room, they had begun their frantic knocking.

"So, you mean to tell us this is the main headquarters of the rebels?" Jet Pack Guy asked after they had finished, looking around at the shabby place.

"That's what they implied," Alaska answered.

"We should look around.  Maybe there are some clues as to what the group is planning next," Gary inserted.

"What plan could there be?" Jet Pack Guy responded.  "They already have control of the island.  What's left to accomplish?  Besides capturing us, of course..."

"It is something," Dot said simply.  "What else can we do?"

And, so, the six went to work, opening the drawers of the desks lining the room and examining their contents.

The first major find came courtesy of Rockhopper.  "Come over here, mateys," he said as he held a metal canister in his hands.  There was nothing very notable about it, aside from a hastily made label sticking to the outside: "Living Caster Containment Vessel (Mission Complete) --- DO NOT RELEASE HER"

Everyone seemed to have a thought on the matter.

"So, they really did take her out of the equation when they were done with her..." Yukon said as he stood in awe.

"Must've stolen my blueprints," Gary muttered.

"Less of a job for us," Jet Pack Guy grunted.

The others started to search again as Alaska picked up the container.  It seemed anti-climatic to have the Caster removed as a threat without her around finishing the story up.  However, she couldn't help being glad that the manipulative woman had been tricked and that she now was frozen in a little genie bottle, hopefully never to be heard from again.

She turned to help the others, but another groundbreaking discovery had already been made.

"Patient Files.." breathed Yukon, as he held a stack of documents in his hand.  He quickly skimmed through them as the others stared at him, waiting for a summary.

Yukon began to speak.  "It looks like they found a chemical in a ruby from this lady from the 1950's that could be used to hypnotize and brainwash people into thinking a person's own way."  He bit his lip and paused, looking down at the papers and then continuing again.  "They used the extract on hundreds of patients - all of those guards out there - and...." He bit his lip again.  "Rookie."

There was a collective gasp.  Dot rushed forward to see for herself and, sure enough, there was a case file for Rookie himself, who had been hypnotized over a year ago.

The old Rookie was still in there.  For the first time in a long time, she felt hope.

Rockhopper, who was surprisingly just as knowledgeable about past events as the actual agents in the room, recovered from his shock.  "But wasn't he supposed to be the leader?" he asked.

Gary responded.  "He was just a figurehead.  A face for the real person to hide behind.  There's only one true enemy here; the rest of our adversaries are just brainwashed zombies that they've trained to do their bidding.  The true leader wouldn't be messy enough to leave a paper trail detailing their true position.  We're going to have to figure out who it is on our own."

Yukon spoke up again.  "And how are we going to do that?" he asked.

Gary paused.  "I have no idea," he said simply.  "But I do know how to stop this little uprising in the mean time."

To Be Continued