Finer Things.



They had all agreed to meet here not as teammates outside of the confines of the Threshold complex, but as four friends who needed and enjoyed each others company. They enter the Italian restaurant called Batali’s at 8:03 pm, it was just Samantha Bliss and Priss all decked out to the nines, of course Milo Tripper and Klinger couldn’t find a parking space which was the excuse of their tardiness. They all sat down at the table and slowly and discreetly began to check each other out, more so Milo Tripper and Klinger than Samantha and Priss.
“Boys.. This is just a friendly little get together.. We are not allowed to date.” Samantha reminded them.
From that point on the conversation was kept light and entertaining, the evenings meal came and went. And now here they are. Come together as friends allowed to relax for the first time in months perhaps. That is until the tall raven haired women in the black leather coat enters the establishment. Samantha Notices her right away she looks frighteningly out of place. And brings with her a cold chill in the air as she passes their table.

The Big Fix.



He studies the look of the little red man carefully, as if trying to read a book, the guard is much larger than him but has little faith that Thed is helpless. None of the guards in fact on block C understand why after Thed had helped Threshold, they had stuck him in the detention center. He was after all, amongst those who were responsible for helping bring Samantha Bliss back alive. The guards were told not to berate or be mean to the little red but just to watch over him. So here is three year veteran Manny Costanza trying to read Thed’s Poker Face. He scratches his chin thoughtfully.
“ I think Your bluffing little man…” he hesitates.. “In Fact I’m gonna call you, what do ya got?” he leans forward to look at Thed and smiles warmly.
“Oh no Mr. Costanza! It would be rude of me to go first.. You called, you may show your cards first!”
Manny Costanza Smiles..
“Ha! Full Boat Thed! Queens and fours, it’s a full house buddy! So what do you got?”
Thed begins to show his cards.
“I have Two aces.. Along with a three.. And two MORE aces.”
He returns Manny Costanza’s smile.
“You got four of a kind?… damn Theddie.. I can’t even win when I deal.”
They both laugh.
“So.. How much do I owe you now?”
“Its not too bad Manny.. Only four million.”
He stands.. Manny Costanza’s shift will begin soon.
“So lil Buddy?.. Put it on my account huh?”
“Sure thing Manny.. Better get back to my cell, lunchtime is over for us in ten minutes.”
Thed’s smile slowly fades as he enters the holding cell where he willingly resides to draw in his prey. He begins to speak with out moving his lips as to not attract attention, the detention cell is equipped with hidden microphones.
“He’s hovering guys.. I can see him out there.. Its that Davies creep. I think he’s been talking to Hanratty, he’s hovering. Waiting for the guards to clear shift change..”
Thed carefully eyes the traitor.
“Yep guys.. The block has cleared, get the tape rolling, here he comes.”
He sits back looking comfortable, he puts his feet up.. Its how Thed drew in Hanratty, it is how he is now drawing in agent Gerald Davies.

Fallen.



As they step out side into the clear night air Samantha begins to take in the sights and sounds of the city, that is until she realizes of course that Klinger and Milo Tripper had to park their transport three blocks away. They begin to slowly stroll east towards the transport, it isn’t until they are a half a block away from the restaurant that she feels the raven haired woman step out onto the side walk and begin to follow them. Their pace only quickens slightly when Priss turns the corner and stops suddenly to face the woman who has now caught up with them, the night air has become colder now and Samantha Bliss stands behind the left shoulder of Priss.
“Is she one of Ambala’s?” she asks her.
Priss stares strait ahead without blinking.. Slowly she shakes her head no.
Now the curiosity of Klinger and Milo Tripper has been raised enough to bring their weapons into view. The woman has slowed her approach to them somewhat, but continues to move forward. Her voice is cold and calculating, and seems to carry an almost mechanical tone to it.
“My my miss Bliss.. What strange company you are keeping these days.”
Samantha steps forward in her usual way completely unimpressed and slightly agitated.
“And just who might you be? My fairy godmother?”
There is an uncomfortable silence.
“ Miss Bliss, all of this aside, you must be told.. The four pieces of the stone can never be kept in the same place, not even by Threshold.”
“And Now I take it you’re going to tell us how you happened onto this piece of information?”
She steps past Priss who now looks white as a sheet, her eyes are the darkest deepest blue that Samantha Bliss has ever seen.
“Samantha.. It isn’t your precious Earth that Ambala is after.. Look into my eyes. You know I speak the truth.”
Samantha looks into her eyes, and tells Milo tripper and Klinger to lower their weapons.
“Okay.. Just who are you?”
She slowly turns towards Priss.
“ My Name is Morganna.. And I am an Angel.”

Scratchworks.. ABT Copyright © 2007.

Blissful Return.



Thursday January 10th, 2070.
Everyone that has ever known Samantha Bliss knows her strength of character, that whole “You’ll never keep me down.” attitude. A whole ten days had passed since she’d first landed in the Threshold infirmary, ten days since her team came and snatched her from the clutches of hell’s finest. And in that ten days she has had a lot of time to ponder many questions. Many would let such setbacks as she has suffered keep them down, take a time out.. Rest Samantha.. So much has happened to you.. You need rest sweetheart.. No.. enough rest.. “How about you do what’s right for you, and I’ll do what I need to do for me?.” all but dead when they came for her, so weak, so un Samantha like, and yet now ten days later here she stands in War Room One. Thresholds state of the art training facility. She worked out alone for the first three hours, and for the last two she has left four training partners lying in an exhausted heap as they tried to push her. They are all four down.. Covered in sweat.. Sore.. Tired.. Beaten. She stands alone covered in her own sweat, the quarter staff at her side. She’s waiting.. They relent. As out of the corner of her eye she sees the form of William Strong enter the room. The two greet each other warmly and The deputy Director of field operations seems genuinely happy to see Samantha Bliss up and around.
“Whenever your up to it Samantha, we need to speak with you, Klinger and probably Priss, we’ve arranged for an undisclosed location. A shuttle will be waiting for you on the launch pad six.”

Secret Meeting.



They are ushered to a down town location and led to what appears to be an abandoned Hotel called the Huxley, it is run down, and has fallen into decay. But this is on the outside, in reality this is a special ops safe house of Threshold’s. they step into and elevator and the gray haired old gentleman enters the ten digit code into the control panel of the elevator that will take them eleven stories underground to where the Deputy Director is waiting for them. The doors whisk open and two armed guards lead them to a private dining hall where William Strong is waiting for them to join him. When they enter he rises from his chair, Samantha, Klinger and Priss are all seated when the mood suddenly turns serious. The room empties as William Strong addresses them.
“I’m going to come right to the point, you three are the only ones that I can trust so that’s why you are here, Ladies.. Mr. Klinger.. Threshold has become infested with a couple of ticks.”
Samantha studies him with a slight look of disbelief on her face, the same look crosses over to Klinger and Priss.
“A tick? You mean someone in Threshold is in bed with the red army?”
William Strong Raises the wine glass to his lips, and slowly drinks it in.
“Not to worry though Samantha we think that we know who it is.”
She rises up from her own chair now visibly agitated.
“Did someone set us up at the edge of the Malti desert?”
“Yes Samantha, we believe that once you picked up the trail of the wraths, information of this was sold to the Wrath leader that we now know as “Forge” we believe that when you were attacked, they were waiting there for you to show up.”
“Do we know who for certain?”
“Yes.. It involved one detainee named Ghree, and two agents who worked the detention center at block ‘C.’ we now that one of them recently transferred to the field intelligence division.”
“And he was giving this information to Ghree who passed it on to someone else?”
“Yes. A guard/agent named Charles Hanratty, who in turn sold Forge the information either by use of an outside phone or a personal meeting. Either way, we know it was these two particular agents.”

The Face Of Treason.



The mood is now a somber one, each person present tries to collect their thoughts, Traitor’s in Threshold. The Deputy Director, rises again.
“We do not however believe that the information leak is still intact, a vital link between the two agents was destroyed when our girl Sil killed Ghree in his detention cell. They lost their go between and being in two different departments didn’t want to risk getting caught by exchanging information directly. The second assault on the Wraths in the desert was successful because they had no way of knowing then that you were coming Klinger.”
Priss now joins the conversation.
“So, am I correct in assuming that you are going to tell us who put us in harms way and caused the deaths of Twitch and Thump, and quite possibly Cowboy?”
The dinner arrives and they pause to dine on Steak and Lobster with a lemon butter sauce, and Priss, while devouring the Lobster with a youthful exuberance refuses to let go of her first and last question for the Deputy Director.
“While I respect your direct question Priss, I must first get something out in front of you all before I give you a name. I know that you are all professionals, but if you do not wish to get involved with what we have in mind for these two I will understand.”
Klinger shows great interest.
“You have something in mind for the traitors?”
He smiles.
“Indeed we do Klinger. Indeed we do. Samantha?.. How long do you think it will be before you are ready for the field again?”

“I can go now if we get the guys.”
“With team Alpha’s help we are going to set them up, we are going to give them false information concerning a dummy operation, but there is a problem.”
“Problems are made for solution, Deputy Director, what do you have in mind?”
Samantha is now listening intently.
“We are going to leak it that we have the location of the third piece of the stone, and that Alpha will be going to retrieve it, bait that strong? Forge will want to see to it personally. We have hopes anyways.”
“And if Forge shows Up?”
“You’ll already be in place to catch him before we leak the information, but it all hinges on them getting a new contact inside, we will have to provide them with one that they will trust.”
“You have someone in mind?”
“Actually your little buddy Klinger has agreed to leak the false information to them.”
“My Little buddy?”
“Thed.”
“And just who is the second traitor?”
“That would be your little buddy Samantha.”
She rises from her chair now becoming angry..
“Gerald Davies.”

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I found some really at Doobix.com

Contact.



He exit’s the taxi cab on the corner of Placer and Harden, his eyes search nervously through the falling rain for the signs of a tail, but he sees none. He enters the Barclay hotel at just past seven thirty pm and steps into the elevator that will take him up to meet his contact, but this is no ordinary contact that Agent Hanratty will be seeing, if he is caught by Threshold it will mean execution. He knocks on the door of room 311 and a large male red answers the door cautiously.
“You the agent?” it asks him.
He nods nervously. He enters the room and the red leads him into another room where his contact awaits his arrival. He is yet another very large male red, but this one is drastically different, he has long shiny black hair, his eyes are the deepest blue, his skin blood red which highlights his perfect white teeth, there is high intelligence in those eyes, that seem to study his every move. This is the red known as Forge. He tosses an envelope to the human and gives him an uncomfortable look of disappointment, he opens the envelope.
“Hey.. There’s only fifteen thousand here Forge, what are you trying to pull here? The deal was for thirty! What gives?”
He pauses to light a cigarette, his eyes slowly raise from the flame of his lighter to look at Hanratty.
“Your blunder has cost me considerably Hanrat.” he snaps.
“I don’t understand what your talking about Forge, all of the information that I sold you was good.”
“Hanratty, you sold me your incompetence!”
Now agent Hanratty lights his own cigarette nervously.
“Okay so fill me in Forge Please what happened?.”
Forge rises from his chair as he lights another cigarette, his eyes never leaving the befuddled agent.
“You told me that your man inside Threshold had a handle on the situation. You told me that Alpha was going to Florence street, you told me that your man inside would see to it that Samantha Bliss’s team would be no where near Cuji’s outpost, and yet they managed to track the Wraths all of the way to the Malti, We took them down the first time and had all but killed Samantha Bliss, we had her, we had the necklace, her spirit was all but broken.. Then Hanratty, your incompetence failed me. Alpha stormed into the Malti with a new team intact a mere sixteen days later, they battered the Wraths and collapsed a cavern that took us seven human months to populate, all ruined by the lack of proper intelligence. You never told us they were coming, your man inside did not relay the plans of the offensive, to you, nor you to us. Our losses were considerable, we pay you and your associate handsomely to keep Threshold away from our trail, this is intolerable.”

Bad Bedfellows.



He begins to pace back and forth making the agent all the more nervous.He looks at the floor trying to come up with some assurance that will sooth the growing anger of the large red.
“So now what Forge?”
He stops to stare at Hanratty in complete disbelief.
“Now What?.. Let me see here.. Threshold and that bitch Bliss have two pieces of the stone, while I have none. I am no closer to finding the third piece than I am to running for President of the United States Of America. And Hanratty-”
he pauses slightly to study the agent.
“The idiot that I am paying to keep me ahead of Threshold doesn’t even seem to know what’s going on under his very own nose. Wonderful scenario! Wouldn’t you agree?”
He doesn’t answer. Slowly the smoke from the cigarette rolls around in his mouth before it escapes his lips.
“So what do you want me to do Forge?”
His eyes light up.
“Excellent Question!!”
Quickly the look of humor fades. Now, the angry Forge is almost nose to nose with agent Hanratty.
“From now on Hanrat.. You will tell me everything that Samantha Bliss is about to do, you will tell me in advance of every plan that Threshold hatches to combat my Wraths, you will tell me every thing that is necessary for us to ambush them at every turn. Blood must flow Hanrat.. Human Blood.. Samantha Bliss’s blood..”
Hanratty rises assuming the conclusion of the meeting. Forge stops him abruptly.
“Oh and by the way, there is another matter that is of great annoyance to me Hanrat.”
He throws a picture of Sil onto the table in front of the agent, who gives it a blank stare.
“Its bad enough that her mother betrayed me, but now I find my own daughter fighting along side of Threshold agents? But this is a disgrace that will be dealt with another time. Yes Hanrat.. You may leave now.. We will be in touch.”

Scratch. ABT Copyright © 2007.

Desert Stones.



He stands directly in their path towering above them, they are small in comparison to one of the newest members of team Alpha, the giant human mountain known as Ajax. The first Wrath that tries him has its legs completely cut out from beneath it, halfway to the ground he swings the blade in a horizontal sweep severing its torso completely in half, the blade moves almost effortlessly in his hands as the angry giant begins to wade through the remaining Wraths, but hissing sounds coming from deep into two of the tunnels momentarily distracts him. More coming.. They will play the numbers game on him, where even the stoutest giant can fall victim to Superior numbers. He turns to Sil who is tending to Samantha Bliss.
“She needs Medical attention badly.” she tells him.
“Then get her out of here Sil, I’ll give em all I got to buy you time.”
The sounds from deep into the belly of the tunnels are getting closer, and the first Wrath appears at its mouth, Ajax braces himself for others. It takes one step towards him, and then its head all but turns to dust on its shoulders, the body falls to the ground, and when he sees the little red dots of light begin to dance around the tunnels, Ajax knows that the best field team in Thresholds history, is back for a rematch. And this time they would not be leaving without absolute victory.

Desert Rose.



Wednesday, January 1st, 2070.
They converge on the cave, with the two snipers staying back to provide cover from the mouth. Klinger, Priss, Roxx, J’Mac and Thed,have Joined Ajax and Sil in the belly of the cave. The Wraths make their first run at the squad, but now their secret is out, and team Alpha now knows that they must aim for the head, and with Milo Tripper and Church supplying cover fire for them the Wraths begin to drop like flies. Still Klinger knows that the only way they will stop them for certain is to collapse the tunnels with explosives, he and J’Mac lay down grazing fire on the advancing Wraths while Roxx and Ajax get close enough to the tunnels to set charges. Priss joins in the fire fight with the Wraths as she yells back to Sil to get Samantha to safety. With the three charges set at the tunnels openings, they begin to retreat to a safe distance to where they can use a remote to detonate them, the Wraths in the rear of the tunnels continue to advance on team Alpha unaware of what fate has in store for them. Klinger is the last to clear the opening of the cave as the first charge detonates, a large explosion rumbles and shakes the ground, bringing from the collapsing hole large plumes of dust clouds rising up into the air. The second and third blasts rock the team from their feet completely collapsing the cave on itself trapping the Wraths inside, but it is not immediately known if all members of the team are present and accounted for, there is simply too much dust in the air to determine who is exactly where. Slowly Klinger can feel his hearing returning, though he can’t see anything from all of the dust.
“Can anybody hear me?”
Slowly voices begin to emerge from the dust and dirt, and he realizes that the team has made it out intact. He calls out to Lifeguard with his communicator.
“Lifeguard get a transport out here Now! Sam’s Alive! We got her out! Now get us the hell out of here! We don’t know if we got them all, Team Alpha will fall back to behind the dunes, awaiting Transport.”


Touching Home.



They board the transport that has arrived with a medical team that will tend to the needs of the wounded, Samantha Bliss is strapped to a stretcher and loaded into the carrier. Aside from a few sorted bumps and bruise’s the team has made it out of their rematch with the Wraths, virtually unscathed. Klinger sits next to the open door of the transport as it lifts off, he stares out into the afternoon desert as they begin the one hour flight back to Threshold. He reflects on his recent struggles with death, and everything that he went through and relived as his life hung precariously on a thread, he thinks about the voice that pulled him through that big black empty, and he wonders if that same voice will be there for Samantha Bliss, what memories and ghosts will she struggle with? He watches her from out side of the glass bullet proof shield that she lays in as the medical team tends to her needs. Priss touches his hand and he looks at her.
“She is very tough Kling.”
He smiles.
“Yeah Sweets, I know.”
His eyes scan the belly of the transport, the glance starts at Sil and stops at Roxx. He looks at Priss.
“This little family of ours has been through a lot in the past few weeks.”
She squeeze’s his hand gently.
“Twitch… Thump.. And maybe Cowboy.. I’ll never see them again, I never had any family, no brothers, no sisters, nothing, not until this group. Family does for each other don’t they Priss?”
A medical tech stands in front of Klinger shaking his head with a look of certain frustration.
“Agent Klinger?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t understand it sir.. But.. We’ve given her enough drugs to knock out a horse, but she won’t go to sleep until she talks to you.”
He rises and follows the med tech to Samantha Bliss’s side, he takes her hand and she smiles at her brother in arms. To the untrained ear her voice would seem weak, but Klinger still recognizes in it the strength of leadership.
“Hey big guy.”
His eye’s slowly begin to water as he looks down at her. But his voice will not permit words.
“I have something for you Kling.”
She slowly raises her hand and places the stone necklace in his palm.
“Tell the team that I love them Kling, and I’ll be back before they know it”
He bends down and softly whispers in her ear.
“Just rest Sammy, we love you too, Just rest..”

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2007.

Into The Big Black Empty.



Klinger has reluctantly agreed to Sil’s conditions and the team gathers round to outline a plan, it is almost a certainty that they have Samantha Bliss probably in a cave underground. He takes a homing transmitter from his field pack as he tells Lifeguard what they are about to attempt, Lifeguard happens to agree with Sil.
“Sounds like a plan Klinger.. Do you trust her?”
“Yeah I guess so, she’s really light on her feet, and she can get right up on them before they even know she’s there hopefully.”
“Command tells me that she’s a bit blood thirsty.”
“Yeah? Well in this line of work, I’d say that you’d almost have to be. I‘ll stand by Sil.”
He turns to face her as she is pulling her jacket up over her shoulders. He hands her the transmitter showing her how to turn it on and off.
“As soon as you turn it off, it will kill the signal, and then Lifeguard will tell us where you are, we will try to follow you so we don’t get too far behind, and Sil?”
“Yes?”
“Try and remember that your just a scout, if there too many or you aren’t sure of what to do. Wait for backup.”
She smiles at Klinger and then again at Priss.
“Don’t worry Mr. Klinger, I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself just fine. You just remember that when I call.. Don’t be late.”
She disappears over the hill and Klinger and Priss watch her move into the shadows. He looks at Priss and winks.
“Well miss hot legs, it looks like our baby girl is all grown up now.”
Priss sits up abruptly and casts him a curious look, clearly not grasping his attempt at humor. He pats her on her knee softly. And slowly kisses her on the forehead.
“Relax sweets, its just a little joke. I do that sometimes when I’m nervous.”
She looks back at the cascading night, as it surrounds the sand covered hills.
“You are nervous for Samantha?.. Or Sil?”
“Both baby doll…. Both.”
He musters team Alpha, in five minutes they would begin to trace Sil’s path into the hills.

The Seventh Soldier.



It is 4:30 am in the Malti Desert, and it has taken the female Red known as Sil all of thirty five minutes to locate the whereabouts of Samantha Bliss, she lay on the ground by a fire. She is clearly awake, but Sil can sense that she is very weak, there are only four wraths watching their prisoner, as she surveys the surroundings for others that may be hiding. They are in a deep cave of rock that has three deep tunnels going into the sides of the cave walls, they offer no light or clue as to what may hide in them. She reaches down and turns off the tracking box that Klinger gave to her so Lifeguard could trace her steps, she might have to wait for as long as thirty five minutes for her backup to arrive, Samantha she thinks, needs help now. Sil then makes a decision, she stands letting her anger build with each step that she takes towards the Wrath’s, The first sees her and tries to attack, but she leaps onto its chest quickly, while pulling out the two Sai’s in one smooth motion , it reels as she drives both blades into its skull while riding the body to the ground, a second joins the fight . The Sai spins in her fingers and she launches it, striking the second wrath between the eyes, it falls and she retrieves the blade and now stands between the two remaining Wraths.. But something from the corner of her eye, more Wraths. Perhaps two or three in the shadows, there is a crunching noise and then the awful hissing sound that they make when they are dying. There are more here than she realized before, but Sil knows that she cannot let them win, one of the Wraths swords falls at the edge of the firelight and she holds her breath, it is then that she sees the huge human hand grasp the sword and lift it from the dirt, and when the giant form of Ajax steps into the light Sil Knows.. Yeah buddy now it’s a fight.

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2007