Work The Problem Ch. 07

"Okay," he said with a bit of dread settling in his stomach. "If you get the chance, take the shot."

Cal turned back to the map and hoped like hell he hadn't just signed the death warrant for one of his men.

_____________________________

Forty minutes later, Rockatansky called in again. "Lots of armed birdies coming out now, and one of 'em is getting settled into the aircraft. I think this is it, guys."

"Good luck," said Cal. He looked around at the lagomorphs assembled around him and Marigold. "We delay them, got it? Hit and move, don't stand around and trade shots with 'em."

There was a lot of very determined nodding as a slowly-increasing whine began to be heard from the park. Cal jogged forward and peered over the barricade at the distant amphitheater. A black, glossy shape began to rise above the wall, and Cal saw a spark on the front of it followed quickly by the crack of Rockatansky's rifle.

In response the craft shot upward and slewed around to face one of the buildings. The thing looked a little like a quad-copter drone blown up to huge size and then festooned with armor and guns. Two of those guns began unleashing a barrage of red beams into its target building, throwing out huge gouts of dust, broken concrete, and glass.

Cal gritted his teeth as the building was quickly reduced to rubble. There was no way Rockatansky could have survived that, not to mention it looked like the aircraft was proof against fifty-cal. He felt Marigold's paw slide into his hand and give it a squeeze.

Cal looked down at her and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, darlin'. Don't think we can hold 'em. But I'll do my best."

Another furry paw slid into his other hand and gripped it tight. "We will do our best," said Arabella.

The sergeant nodded and watched the distant aircraft slew back around. Its beams blew out a huge chunk of the amphitheater wall, and through that gap floated the forms of the spindle-tanks. Behind those Cal could see a lot of armored and feathered infantry. The group started heading in his direction. As they advanced, the black insectoid aircraft floating over the oncoming group with a menacing whine.

Cal unslung his carbine and checked it for the last time. He felt oddly at peace. If he was to die, this was as good a place as any. And he certainly couldn't ask for better company. He gave each of his furry lovers a pat on their respective heads and readied his weapon. He centered his sights on the aircraft and made ready. If he could hit a vital spot, maybe he could deny them air support.

As his finger tightened on the trigger, a white plume flew overhead from behind his position. It smacked into the oncoming enemy aircraft and made quite an impressive fireball. Cal stared in wonder as the flaming wreckage pancaked into one of the spindle-tanks below and set it on fire as well.

The advancing enemy began milling around in confusion as Cal spun. Further up the street stood Yuri, wearing his armored vest and with the still-smoking launcher for an RPG carried casually on one shoulder. The Russian had a cheeky smile on his face.

"How you say...cavalry is here!" he called out.

From behind the big bearlike man came a stream of camouflaged and armored figures carrying still more RPGs. And those figures were definitely not sporting long ears.

_____________________________

After that, it was really just a matter of shooting missles at everything feathered. Somewhere in the middle of the carnage somebody managed to put a Javelin through the portal to close it.

None of the terror-birds allowed themselves to be taken alive. They fought to the bitter end until the last one was cut down.

_____________________________

Conrad came to again. His head didn't throb quite so painfully this time. The fluorescent lights of his hospital room seemed to stab into his eyes, giving him a little spike of fresh pain. But as his blurred vision focused, he saw something that made him feel a lot better.

Marlene sat slumped in a chair next to his bed and snored. A thin line of drool ran from one corner of her mouth. He reached over and wiped it up with one furry finger, making the woman mumble something incoherent.

"Hey," he said softly.

In an eye-blink she'd woken and all but hug-tackled him into his bed. He gave a little grunt of surprise.

She began peppering his face with kisses. "Oh, honey! Are you okay?"

"Never better," he replied with a happy smile. "They let you out of jail, I see."

"Yeah, turned out that those guys who attacked you was part of some bullshit conspiracy. Plus the terror-birds opened a portal right in the middle of town, so it was kind of an 'all hands on deck' situation."

"What?" Conrad looked around in a panic. "Where are they now?"

She caressed his shoulder soothingly. "It's okay, dear. They're all dead." She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. "And I have a question for you." Marlene had a truly epic grin on her face.

Conrad looked at her askance. "Okay, go ahead."

"How'd you like to come back to my place?"

"The barracks? I thought you liked it more private than that..." Conrad's eyes widened as the penny dropped. "Oh. Your place back on your world, you mean."

"You're smart," said Marlene. "I think I'll keep you."

_____________________________

Rockatansky felt like he'd been beaten with bats and then thrown into a rock tumbler. But hey, he had to be alive to feel pain, right? At least that's what he tried to tell himself as he kept drifting into and out of consciousness. He was bandaged, that much he knew. But he couldn't tell how 'whole' he actually was.

During one of his more lucid periods he tried to speak. "Er?" he croaked.

A big hand gently patted his shoulder. "Rest easy, son," said the sergeant's voice. "Seems like you're just too damn stubborn to die."

He wetted his lips. "How bad?"

There was a long pause. "Ya lost part of your right foot. Plus your left shoulder is pretty messed up. And your face..."

Rockatansky waited with mounting fear until Cal spoke again. "Well, I'm afraid your face is just as ugly as ever."

The private laughed, even though it hurt to do so. "Fuck you, sarge."

"That's the spirit. Now get some rest, ya crazy bastard. Brenda should be here shortly."

The simple statement would have floored him if he wasn't already prone. "Brenda? You mean my Brenda?"

"Yeah. I guess the eggheads back home managed to pull a miracle out of their ass."

_____________________________

Arnold stepped through the portal and looked around at what was once a peaceful farm. Ned and Holly waited to receive him along with a goodly contingent of rabbit-folk. Arnold's face split into a big grin.

"My man!" yelled Arnold as he and Ned hugged. "You ain't dead!"

"Not last I checked," replied Ned. He looked behind Arnold and saw Daisy come trotting through the portal as well. She panted happily as the lagomorphs around the portal shrank back in fear. The pittie made a beeline for Holly and flopped on her side right next to Holly's feet.

"I see she's still the same," said Holly as she bent and gave the dog a nice petting.

Seeing Holly's example, the others curiously approached the dog. Daisy soon found herself in doggy heaven as they also began showering affection on her.

Ned gestured at the portal. "So you finally got it open again, eh?"

Arnold nodded. "Yep. We had a bit of a breakthrough. It turns out that the terror-birds create micro-portals to 'seed' the other side with nanotech that multiplies in the target dimension. That nanotech then creates a resonance with the initial portal, and makes the energy requirement a lot lower."

Ned blinked. "I have no fucking idea what half of you just said even means."

"Don't worry, we'll get you caught up." Arnold looked over at Daisy, whose tongue lolled out of her head while she was fussed over. "Better yet, I think I can figure out a way to disrupt that resonance. It should keep those feathered bastards out of our hair."

_____________________________

Leslie squared her shoulders and thumped her way through the portal and back into Main Operations. Grace should be there, but now the corporal regretted not telling her about losing a good part of her leg. It was stupid, but for some reason Leslie was convinced that if she told Grace about her injury the doctor would just up and leave.

She heard a gasp as she stepped along the dais next to the portal. Grace was mounting the stairs, and now had a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were wide with shock.

Leslie came lurching up and gave her a sad little smile. "Hey, nerd. Good to see you."

Tears began to form in Grace's eyes, but she said nothing.

Leslie scratched her neck awkwardly. "Look, if me havin' only one good leg is too much for you, I'll understhuurk-"

Grace wrapped her arms around Leslie's neck in a fierce hug. "I am never letting you out of my sight ever again," she whispered in Leslie's ear.

The corporal relaxed against her. "Okay," she whispered back, then sniffled. Damn it, she had a reputation as a hard-ass to maintain. The corporal promised herself that she was not going to cry.

And she managed to keep that promise for all of thirty seconds. The pair sobbed with happiness into each other's necks as they embraced.

_____________________________

Ned fidgeted and tugged at his collar. He wasn't used to wearing a suit and tie.

"Stop twitching," murmured Holly. "We're on the home stretch now."

It was now several years since the portal home had been re-opened. The area that had once been Hadley's farm was now home to a large and very impressive-looking granite obelisk. The obelisk was chiseled with the names of those who had fallen in the battle, and it was now in the process of being officially dedicated.

Unfortunately, that process involved a lot of politicians getting the chance to show off their oratory. Right now the American President was getting the chance to speak and was finally winding down.

"To paraphrase my illustrious predecessor," she concluded, "I believe that this monument does indeed show the good will and honesty that exists on both sides. It shows it more than any words can convey. I thank you all for the opportunity to be here at such a historic occasion."

There was the usual polite applause, then Ned groaned internally as he saw the new mayor of Ecklam step forward. At least it wasn't that bastard Bunce. The disgraced politician had been the target of what only could be called a 'palace coup' a few days after the final battle. This new mayor was a lot more chill.

After a few more speeches, it was mercifully over. There was a round of hobnobbing that followed, which was something that Ned actually looked forward to. Several old friends had come back for the ceremony, including Leslie and Grace. The corporal had long ago given up her crutch for a proper artificial leg.

"Although I still break that damn crutch out for Halloween," she said with a laugh. "I do a killer Long John Silver impression."

Grace rolled her eyes, but smiled while she did it.

"How's Arnold?" asked Holly.

"Still brilliant," replied Grace. "And still nuts. He's been spending most of his time trying to suss out an improved nanotech based on those portal-bugs. He's trying to make something that can construct any desired structure instead of only little spheres. He'll probably come along any day now with some breakthrough and really disrupt things."

Ned thought that things had already been pretty well disrupted. Reverse-engineering the terror-bird's technology had proven revolutionary in several fields including energy storage and aviation. The enemy even had some method to change gravity at a local level. That last one had caused some physicists to go mad and others to invent whole new theories.

After a bit more chatting, they said goodbye to Leslie and Grace and moved on. They managed to get through another hour of mingling before they finally begged off and headed back to their apartment for a quiet night in.

_____________________________

Holly sat on his lap and snuggled back into his chest as she regarded her glass of scotch. "You know, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I'd broken into someone else's garage. How different would things be now?"

"I think you would have still been okay," replied Ned. He stroked a hand along her thigh. "It's not like you would have wound up in a cage or something. Of course, you would have had to get by without my world-class lovin'." He grinned at her.

Holly snorted in reply. "Yeah, I guess I'd have had to live without it." She raised one leg and slowly brought it up, over, and around so that now she straddled him. She took a sip of her drink and eyed him in a definite challenge. "But since I don't have to, how about you show me just how 'world class' you can be?"

_____________________________

The End. Thanks to everyone for reading!