Continued from here part 5
Sacramento Iron Hall
Balain sits in her office sitting in front of a monitor that General Falcon Hellfitta glares on, "Why would I need a general on a tracking mission?"
"My men aren't good enough, every decent soldier we have has been transferred to New York or the Chechyen border, the idiots you left me with can't tie their damn shoes without an instruction video."
Falcon gritted his teeth a bit, "The Supreme Commander feels the need to bolster the...."
She cut him off, "He wants revenge, and he's punching holes in all our defenses to get it. You know that as well as I do."
"Be careful General."
She gave an angry sigh, "Okay, tell you what. You let me take a leave to track down this Iron Fist kid, and loan me a Grey to help and I'll give you this."
He looked at a small drive device, "What is it?"
"Its the case file on your wife's murder. The real case file. While it has been kept from you, you do technically have the clearance so if The Supreme Commander really has our best interests in mind it shouldn't hurt too much to let you have a look."
He eyed it, "Send it, your Grey will be teleported to your office within the hour. And Balain, this meeting stays between us. Dispose of the clone when your done."
"Agreed." She then sent him the file.
He stared hard at it on his screen as he debated whether to open it or not.
***
Balain readied her armor as Marcum stared, "You leaving me to run these goons, while you run off and play hunter?"
"Relax, you pretty much run the place anyway. Consider it a temporary reprieve from my childish behavior."
His eyes went wide, "You read that?"
"Don't put your private journal on an Iron Hall computer, I'm required to read those. You should check out Private Beck's journal, its comedy gold."
Marcum then turned to see the bald, nervous looking woman sitting in the corner rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her knees while she hummed an ancient tune, "Should I even ask?"
"No. And if you did, I'd lie to you."
***
The wilds just outside Sacramento
Curtis grinned as he saw the sun after several hours trapped in the subterranean tunnel. Tiffany and Dennis stepped out more cautiously. Dennis checked his map, "The Nation of the Plains is a few hundred miles south east of here. I'm tracking a Spider camp about ten miles from here, maybe we could grab a truck there to speed up the trip."
Tiffany nodded, "Any Army presence around here?"
"Some, but our biggest problems are gonna be Goblins and Krangs."
Curtis looked back, "Can we get one of those?"
Fiddler Back's eyes narrowed, "You want a Krang? As what, like a pet?"
"Well he's got one."
Tiffany and the Spider looked where Curtis pointed and saw a man with a small cart being pulled by a Krang. A ham dangled in front of its nose from a rope attached to a pole coming from the cart. They watched as the man pulled up and noticed his very odd appearance.
Dennis gave him a wary look, "Is there a circus around here?"
He stopped and seemed to bounce out of the cart and stopped before them, "Howdy folks."
Tiffany found the man's almost cartoonish look creepy, "We're in the middle of something."
He looked over to Tiffany who screamed as his eyes shot out and his tongue hit the ground. Dennis looked shocked but Curtis seemed excited, "Cool, he's all stretchy."
He pulled his face back together and popped up beside Curtis with a hand extended to shake, "Steve Harmon, better known as...."
He appeared back on his cart with his chest popped out in a heroic pose, "Slapstick."
The three stared blankly and he dropped down an d lowered his head as a little storm cloud formed over his head, "Nobody ever remembers, sure they remember Nova and Firestar."
Curtis had a frown, "Awe, we made him sad."
Tiffany and Dennis shrugged as he spoke, "Well okay, onto the camp."
Slapstick's head popped up, "You don't want to go there. It got over run with Goblins and they're still squatting. I think they're waiting for a pick up. They left all the kids alive, they've taken to selling them off. I was heading there to help but the mercs I found to help me stole my truck."
Fiddler Back gritted his teeth, "You guys are gonna have to find your own way. I'm not letting Goblins sell kids to some pervert if I can stop it."
Tiffany looked to Curtis, "You're gonna go play hero again aren't you?"
Curtis nodded, "The Prince has waited this long, a few more days won't hurt."
Slapstick jumped back into his heroic pose, "I will lead you."
Dennis hopped on the cart, "Shut up and get the lizard moving."
Slapstick then pulled a comically large needle out of one of his pockets and poked the creature to make it run.
(To be continued)
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