Amelia's Blog

“Hey, CJ.” Mitchell looked up from his notes, which seemed dusty despite being in a four star hotel. “You eat yet?” She looked at him with amusement. “Uh, I think I had a bagel.” He blinked owlishly at her. “Right. Come on.” “But I’m not done translating this scroll.” “You can finish later.” She huffed an irritated breath. “Did you ever eat before we met?” He shuffled uncomfortably, “General Douglas had a petty officer assigned to bring me food three times a day.” “Mitchell,” she walked over to his desk and placed a hand on his cheek. “I’m worried. You get so caught up that you forget things. Like food,” she wrinkled her nose, “and hygiene.” He sniffed his shirt and made a face. “I didn’t notice that before.” She glared at him, but she knew he saw the real worry there. “Okay, I’m sorry. Let me take a shower. Then we can go down to a restaurant and eat.” She nodded firmly. He took his time, but she didn’t mind. She looked over the piles of books and scrolls with a fond smile. There was ...

“Hey, was that the mayor? Damn, he looks pissed.” “Hmm? Oh, yeah.” “You okay, partner? You look distracted?” “Sorry, Hitomi. Yeah. I think I might be part of the reason that Mayor Todd is annoyed.” “Ah. It doesn’t take much to set him off when it comes to Buck, though.” CJ looked over, and slightly up, at Hitomi. “True. Still, can’t help feeling a bit guilty.” “Nah.” Hitomi waved a hand. “I’m pretty sure Buck would be the first person to tell you to stop. Now. You see Jerry bail out earlier?” CJ nodded, her expression darkening. “I asked him why, but he told me to mind my own business. In fact, he was quite rude about it.” Hitomi made an indelicate sound, “Sounds like he was nicer to you than to me.” She stopped and looked down, “He hurt Alana deeply with what he said to her back at the sheriff's office. I almost wish I had interrupted just so I could slug him.” “It’s his choice, Hitomi. We may not agree with him. And the way he did it was,” she paused, “questionable, but it is his...

“Your Honor, despite our differences, you should know I would never deliberately endanger the public.” Buck was having trouble keeping his voice even. “And yet your ‘Institute’ is close to the city. Why is that? You’re just trying to make me look bad!” “Dammit Lewis! That’s not it. That’s never been it, regardless of what your paranoid delusions might say!” “That’s Mayor Todd to you. You lost first name privileges decades ago.” Buck slowly stood up. While he didn’t quite tower over the mayor, he was much better at being intimidating. The other man had let himself go to seed and wore a perpetual scowl. “You are being foolish. But,” he looked away briefly, “you are the mayor, and I’ll comply. Now, if you don’t mind I have extra planning to do. Your Honor.” Buck made the honorific sound like an insult. Todd drew himself up, his face reddened. “You do not get to dismiss me, you pompous, self-serving,” “Stop!” The shout made both men turn. Doctor Conner stood in the doorway, “You both are b...

(Author’s Note: Yeah, I know this is a long one. I just couldn’t find a good way to break this in half. Anyway, after this, all that’s left is the epilogue! We’ll talk more after that! Read on, MacDuff!) “Master!” Jackal lumbered into Anubis’ audience chamber. His master had already started to crawl out from the rubble. He hurried over and helped Anubis up with a gentleness that belied his size. Anubis looked up at his last loyal subject and patted his arm. How could he have been so foolish? He had seen this, and yet he still permitted himself to fall into madness. A madness that cemented his fall. He suddenly felt very old. His sandaled foot sank down into a pool of water. The explosion had cracked the floor and the cold water had began to seep in. He allowed Jackal to help him keep his footing on the now slick floor. When the soft clapping began, they almost mistook it for more debris raining from the ceiling. They both turned and looked at the person standing in the doorway. She was...

The explosion, while mostly contained within the generator room, did greatly damage the underground complex. Several hallways collapsed, as did many rooms. CJ, Buck and the others detonated the explosives after they were safely outside, but didn’t see anyone else besides the jackal man inside. Jackal was woken by the explosion, the electric shock making his thoughts fuzzy for a moment before their situation fully dawned upon him. Shaking his head, he carefully stood up and steadied himself against the wall. A deep-throated growl of rage bubbled up as he started down the hall to find his beloved Lord Anubis.                                                 < ——— >         The dungeon was in ruins. One of i...

As quiet as she tried to be, the creature stopped in its tracks and slowly turned around. Its eyes lit up with inhuman pleasure as it saw CJ. “My master foresaw your arrival and sent me here to watch for you. He knew you would attempt to disrupt our power.” CJ swallowed and cleared her throat, “Well, of course he foresaw. He attacked our home.” “Because you stand in the way of our Grand Cause. No one must be allowed to stop us.” “Yeah, we’ve heard that often enough.” Its ears twitched. “Enough talk. I will give you one chance to join us. The rewards would be great.” “No thanks. I prefer my world un-dominated.” The beast snarled, then threw its head back in a chilling howl before charging for CJ. “Cynthia! Down!” Without looking back, CJ dropped to the floor as her companions opened fire on the beast. Most of the bullets bounced off the armored chest plate the beast was wearing. As bullets neared his head, a glowing hemisphere sparked as the shots bounced. This registered in CJ’s mind a...

“This place isn’t very big.” Hitomi said, looking down with the others at the map of the facility. “The biggest chamber seems to be that generator room.” CJ nodded, tracing the hallways and committing them to memory. “Even that isn’t all that big. Here,” she pointed at a central area marked ‘audience chamber’ on the level below them, “I think we might find our quarry there.” “I don’t know, this whole thing feels too easy. No guards, no defenses, nothing. Even considering the brazenness of the attack, it feels like they want us to come here.” “Perhaps they do, Alana,” Buck said thoughtfully. “Andy told you the Reich was falling apart. All of the robots were in less than perfect condition. I wonder if the soldiers that attacked us weren’t the final loyalists left to this Anubis person. If that’s the case,” he trailed off. The implications in his thought were troublesome. He straightened, pointing at the map on the screen. “Look Cynthia, I know you want to face our attacker, but consideri...

They parked the truck a block down, behind some dumpsters. The location the soldier gave was an abandoned warehouse that was half collapsed. The city had made several attempts to condemn it, but it always seemed to be saved at the last minute. Nothing suspicious about that , CJ thought. Peering around the nearest dumpster, she slipped her binoculars from one of her jumpsuit’s many pockets. No obvious guards or security. Odd, that. “Do we care if they know we’re coming?” “They’d have to be daft not to know we’d hit back, wouldn’t they?” CJ turned to look at Alana. “Not really. They could be over confident.” Buck looked through his own set. “I hate to sound cliched, but,” he glanced at the three women, “I think it’s almost too quiet.” “Unless everything is automated topside. All the men are downstairs,” Hitomi shrugged. “It’s how I’d do it.” “Either way, I know I don’t care.” CJ put the binoculars away and started forward. “Cynthia!” Buck called after her. “Dammit, girl.” He motioned fo...

“Buck!” Doctor Conner waved from what was the front entrance as they piled out of the cab. They joined her, noticed the soot smudges on her face. She had obviously been working ahead to salvage what she could. “Julianne. Able to salvage anything yet?” She nodded, “More than I would have thought. Some of the older children are grabbing what they can. Not everything, of course,” she shrugged helplessly. Buck nodded and put a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder. She was an elegant woman, her shoulder length hair a striking silver. “I know, Jules. Just save what we can, then rebuild.” She smiled up at him, a tinge of unmistakable fondness in her eyes, “Always the optimist.” “I try. Now, I’m going to leave you to coordinate the salvage. Hitomi, CJ and I are going to pay a visit to the person who perpetrated this.” “I’d like to come too.” They all looked at Alana, who blushed slightly. “I need to do something more than sift through memories.” She looked uncomfortable. Thankfully, Buck di...

“Young lady, do you know what you’ve done?” “I got the information we needed.” CJ matched the older man’s gaze without flinching. He held her eyes for a long moment, then pursed his lips and shook his head. “So much like your parents.” He smiled fondly at the startled CJ. “You sure do remind me of them.” He sighed, “I can only cover so much, like I told Buck. Mayer Todd is going to be out for blood on this. Now git. Tell Buck I’ll call later. On the old number.” He turned and walked away before she could even process what he told her. A moment later she was distracted anyway, when Hitomi and Alana came walking up. She knew something was wrong right away. Alana looked like she had been crying, and Hitomi had a protective arm around her. At CJ’s look, Hitomi mouthed “Jeremy.” CJ inwardly sighed. Yeah, he was going to be a problem. It would have to wait, however. “Come on, we need to find Buck and get out of here.” “Why? What’s up?” “I managed to scare the location of the base from that s...

“The magazines here are worse than my dentist’s office.” Hitomi grumped. She felt a bit like she was in shock. Her second, and in many ways only, home gone. Oh, she knew they’d rebuild. It wasn’t really gone. The feeling persisted however. She opted to let Buck and CJ handle interrogating the scum bag soldiers. She knew she didn’t have anything near the self control the two of them had. She tossed the magazine back down on the table and got up. Glancing around the station once, she headed outside. Her long skirt swished and leather high-heel boots clicked on the tile as she reached the door. Through the door, she saw Jeremy and Alana arguing. “What now,” she muttered. “You don’t look me in the eyes, Jeremy! Unless ordered to, you rarely even acknowledge my existence! We’re friends, we can still work together.” Hitomi hovered with the door half open, reluctant to interrupt. Jeremy was silent for a while, “You don’t understand. I’ve never been good with confrontations or relationships, a...

By the time the authorities has arrived, all the soldiers had been secured. They had to move them outside after the thermite charges in the robots went off, which in turn set off some nearby rubble. While moving the soldiers, Buck sent Jeremy to make sure the kids and teachers got out through the underground exit. CJ stood a bit apart from where everyone was gathered and watched her home burn. The only outward sign of her anger was her tightly clenched fists. Buck convinced her to let the police do the questioning, leaving her feeling like she was helpless. It was not a feeling she liked. Buck finished talking to the police and fire chiefs and walked over. “They’re going to let us watch the questioning. I told them we’re grateful, and asked if we could ask a few if they couldn’t get anywhere.” “And?” “They’ll think about it. In the mean time, we should make arraignments for tonight.” He paused. “Are you alright? Aside from the obvious?” He raised an eyebrow at her glare. She held it fo...

(Author’s Note: Hey, it’s still Monday! And apparently my Modem/Router combination sucks... yes, I’m making excuses.)                                                                 # # # The first priority was to get the kids to safety. As soon as the first rocket barrage hit the side of the Institute, the teachers, medical staff, the four operatives, Buck, and Mitchell went into action. Buck treated each and every kid there as his own, especially the ones who had no family outside of the institute. The uncharacteristic rage on the man’s face spelled trouble for the attackers. Once the children were inside the safety of the underground shelter, Buck called everyone togeth...

Anubis paced in his audience chamber with a deliberately slow pace. His few remaining soldiers were preparing for a last ditch assault on these adventurers. Their presence in his old staging warehouse told him it was only a matter of time before they would find him. He stopped, his right side twitching randomly. If they could destroy these meddlers utterly, then his Reich had a chance for ascendancy once again! His loyal Jackal had expressed doubt that four robots and a dozen troops could do it, but he knew his cause was righteous. He knew they would prevail. He began pacing again, a manic giggle escaping his lips. A giggle? Had he ever done that before? He was sure he had. No matter, he simply had to wait for his loyal men to signal victory. He had concerns about Brother Oord, however. The once ascetic man had failed to shave his head for several days. He had started to find excuses to be elsewhere. No matter. He had sent Jackal to deal with him. Even worse, he had not be able to cont...

The warehouse was off in a nearly abandoned industrial area, its parking lot and loading area was strewn with rusting abandoned cars and trucks. After the second robot attack, it was decided rather quickly to check the warehouse out, even if it was empty as Garrett said. Not for the first time CJ wondered what the point of these strikes were. She trusted the info that Garrett gave them about the Reich. Heck, she used to go with Buck when they’d help Andy on a case. If he said something, you could take it to the bank. She glanced at Hitomi, who glanced back. She shrugged, obviously mirroring her own thoughts. As they approached the warehouse using the abandoned cars for cover, she kept an eye on Alana and Jeremy. He was acting strange, avoiding Alana, not talking directly to her. This could be a problem, she knew. She caught Hitomi’s eye and jerked her head towards the two. Hitomi nodded and grimaced. “I know.” Hitomi kept her voice low. “Alana told me how Jerry was acting while we went...

“Yeah, that’s what he said. Yeah, I don’t get it either. We’ve got the address and we’re heading home now. Don’t worry, we’ll watch it. Bye.” “I take it Buck’s as puzzled as we are?” Hitomi nodded, “If this is some weird power play, they picked the wrong targets. One thing bothers me, though. Okay, more than one thing, but the whole thing with the Beloved Children of Anubis doesn’t make much sense.” “How do you mean? He didn’t want his organization taken over, so he got the word out. Granted, in a ridiculously complicated way.” “That’s just it. He still had loyal people, enough to ransack several places around town. He knew Buck, so he had to know that calling him out like that would be disastrous. It’s like he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory before he was totally subsumed.” “I see what you mean. It makes a twisted kind of sense, now that you say it like that. Most of his group was gone, he probably hated the Fourth Reich, maybe even a personal hatred for the head of the group. Wh...

Even at their slower pace, it didn’t take them long to reach the office of Detective Andy Garrett. An old police detective gone PI, he was an old friend of Buck’s. His specialty was keeping track of some of the terrorist and hate groups around the country. He was very good at his job. They went up to his third floor office and knocked. They heard a muffled “Come on in,” through the door. Inside the man’s office was a sense of tightly controlled chaos. Papers were everywhere, but you got the idea that Andy knew where everything was. He was talking to someone on the phone, but motioned for them to take the chairs across from him. “I’m sorry you feel that way, ma’am. I understand, but your husband, I’m sorry, ex-husband hired me to find that out. No, I’m afraid I can’t take your money. Because it would be unethical. No, I don’t suppose you would. I have to go now, ma’am.” He hung up and shook his head. “Industrial espionage. Those two have been sniping back and forth for years now.” He le...

“Okay, so what’s eating you Alana?” “What? Nothing.” “Oh come on.” They were walking downtown towards the office of one of their private eye contacts. Alana had been looking long in the face since they left. “I think I know you well enough by now. Come on. Cough it up.” Alana looked as if she was going to protest, but sighed and stopped. “Jerry still refuses to look me in the eye and keeps making excuses to not go on runs with me.” Hitomi winced. “I thought you guys were doing okay. I mean he gave me the message when we were at the dig site.” Alana’s mouth twisted, and she looked like she wanted to cry. “I asked him to give you the message, and he just mumbled something and turned away.” “Geeze. It’s been six months. That boy needs some therapy.” Alana shook her head. “I think it’s more than that. I’m not sure he can deal with me anymore. I think he pulled himself apart.” “What? How? He pulled a bonehead move, sure, but you got over it.” “I think that might be part of the point, Hitom...

As Hitomi approached the scene at a brisk walk, she shouted orders to the clean up team, making sure that anyone hurt got medical attention. She surveyed the area, “We are so going to catch hell from the cops on this. When they get here, anyway.” She shook that off and walked up to CJ and Mitchell, who were looking flushed. CJ had an uncharacteristic look of… fear? What the hell is going on. Was she crying? CJ’s eyes did look a little red. “Hey, everything alright?” She looked at each in turn. “I’m fine. Just something in my eyes.” She groused and turned away to stomp up the the remains of the robot. Hitomi had to blink. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say her friend was embarrassed. CJ was never embarrassed. She fixed her glare on Mitchell, who flushed almost to purple, and was about to say something when a gentle hand rested on her shoulder. “Let’s go see the robot, Hitomi.” Alana gestured with a tilt of her head, and Hitomi glared again at Mitchell, but followed. “I think it’s...

Casting her eyes about, CJ looked at the next nearest table. “This is gonna be close. Stay down. I’m going to see if I can disable it.” “What? How are you gonna do that?” “I don’t know yet. Maybe throw something at it.” “Can I help?” “Yes. By staying under cover.” She peered around the the table, the robot started firing again. Looking at the base of the table, she ripped off one of the feet and waited for it to stop firing. Quickly, she aimed and chucked the concrete chunk, hitting the machine in the rotating pod on top. A sharp pop sounded and smoke drifted out, and the pod swiveled wildly. Swiftly, CJ ran to the next table and grabbed it firmly. She spun around once, flinging the table at the robot’s inverted legs, hoping they were weak enough to buckle. The table hit the robot and shattered, sending concrete flying across the patio. CJ hoped no one was hurt, but figured she would call for paramedics after the robot was taken care of. The robot folded to the ground, gun arms flaili...