Season 1, Episode 4: Ice Ice Baby
Part 4 of 5
Giggling girls drank hot cocoa (with vodka, of
course) in the distance, watching many of Dr. Rough’s minions work on making
sure the new laser beam was operational.
Damage had come from the stealing and smuggling of the weapon. Because this had come as a surprise once it
had been moved within the icy lair, the men were working as quickly as possible
to fix it all.
The man who owed them payment was above them all,
on one of the higher levels of the ice-covered palace, adorned with many
snuggly furs for warmth. Dr. Twitches
was also snug on his shoulder, his beady eyes focused on the same scene below
as his master’s.
An eye twitched, as his greatest protégée came up
beside him.
Justin Timberlake.
That young boy was Himitsu Takana gold that had been twisted to the
point where now he, Dr. Rough, could have him help execute his master plans in
ways none of his other more inferior agents could. The problem with getting the ones who could
not get into HimTak was the obvious fact of them not having that skill. This one did, had been of high rank, and was
now even helping his own agents rise up in skill.
Howard’s eyes glanced over at his handiwork, the
mechanical genius it had taken to give Drums that electronic eye which now
defined him.
“The men said dey workin’ dey asses off, yo.” Only real problem was the way the boy
talked. Agitated him to the highest
level, but there was always a price when one wanted to show his greatness to
the world by taking it over by force. At
least the Ebonics would lessen when Drums was calm.
“Any progress?”
“Maybe a day.
Genius to have this up while doin’ that Global Idol shiznit.”
He ran a hand over his greased, wavy curls, tying
them back. “I have learned that if one
is to bring Himitsu Takana to its knees, he can’t wait to develop a new
plan. Many must go at once so I can keep
firing more at them. They will tire,
weaken, and eventually fall to their doom.
I thought Global Idol could do it, but that damn Carter-”
He caught the slight look of pain in Drum’s
remaining eye. It was only for a second,
fleeting, and almost invisible, but it was there. It disgusted Howie to see that Drums might
still have remaining feelings for those he’d once worked with at HimTak. It meant his prize minion could turn on him,
and that could lead to bad roads. His
eye twitched again as his lips curved upward. Perhaps he could use this for his
own benefit.
“-muddled things up. I should have had you target him instead of one of my lower minions. You can handle it, yes Drums?”
He nodded slowly, and Dr. Rough could see his mind
trying to process it all. “It’s not a
problem, is it? I thought when you
joined you, you had nothing but hatred for those who had betrayed you. You said yourself it was Carter who gave you
that handicap to begin with.”
Justin felt the rage boil through his body. It had been Nick who’d done it. HimTak who had turned him away. He just wished the occasional stab of guilt
reminding him who those people had once been would remember they had driven him
to this point. He had only served them
well, and they had set off the chain of events against him that had gotten him
here. His jaw set in determination. “It ain’t no problem, Dr. Rough.”
“Goooooood.
Very good.” His hand stroked his
prized ferret as his workers toiled over the ray.
Drums watched the ray, his mechanical eye
evaluating every possibility of what it could do, feeding the information to
him.
“Soon, when this is operational, we can test it on
the southern polar cap, a show to the world of what we can do. We can get ultimate control by threatening to
evaporate their water supply. HimTak
will, of course, try to stop me, but we will take them down easily with world
powers at our disposal. Then I will be
invincible! Then they will finally see
that I, Dr. Rough, was beyond worthy of them.
They will bow to me!” Howard
cackled manically, gleeful at the joyful image he had concocted.
Justin laughed as well, feeling like he finally
belonged somewhere again, for the first time since the accident that had taken
his eye. Nothing was going to take that
from him. Not again.
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Agents
Carter and Littrell stood on the edge of the Ross Shelf, directly across from
the iceberg in question on the satellite images, searching for proof of their
theory. Nick grinned as he took off the
tinted goggles he was wearing and pulled a pair of sleek-looking Ray Bans from
his pocket. That
Brian
watched the younger man smile to himself as he slowly put the glasses on his
face, practically striking a pose as he did so. “Who do you think you are, the
Men In Black or something?”
“Not
exactly,” Nick smirked. “Will Smith may
be the shit, but my glasses are way cooler.”
Brian
grunted his disapproval, but watched curiously as Nick pressed a small button
on the side of his glasses. A tiny red
light flashed, and the shades turned darker as the thermal imaging censors
activated. Nick looked again at his
target, this time through the cover of the ice, and saw a maze of different
heat sources. Some he recognized as
human bodies, others that looked like giant computers, and a slew of tiny spots
that looked almost like dogs or cats.
They appeared to be alive, but he couldn’t tell only by their heat
exactly what he was looking at. Either
way, that iceberg was definitely more than it appeared to be. An excited smile crossed the young agent’s
face. “That’s not a moon; it’s a space
station!”
“Carter!”
Brian hissed as he tugged on the sleeve of Nick’s puffy coat.
Nick
looked down at his partner, who was crouched behind a snow bank, with a
disgusted look. “Don’t tell me you’ve
never seen Star Wars. You CIA guys are so lame.”
“Would
you get down before someone sees you?!”
“I
see you have no sense of humor either,” Nick grumbled, ignoring his partner’s
request.
Nick
looked at the all-white ensemble that was keeping him surprisingly warmer than
he’d expected in the bright Antarctic climate and turned to face Brian. “It’s called camouflage, dumbass.”
“And
those ridiculous black glasses don’t stick out at all.”
“Relax,
man, no one can see me.”
“He can see you.”
Brian
burst into laughter when Nick whirled around, fumbling for his gun, scared that
he’d been spotted. But when he turned
around, there was only a small penguin standing a few feet from him, watching
them intently. Nick frowned at the
penguin and then glared at Brian. “Real
funny!”
“I
thought you said I don’t have a sense of humor.” Brian smirked as he looked through a pair of
binoculars. “Maybe we were wrong about
this place. I think the only living
thing on that iceberg is probably your new little friend there.”
Nick
rolled his eyes at the brilliance of the CIA and ducked behind the snow
bank. “Shows how much you know,” he
grumbled as he handed Brian his glasses.
Brian
put on the glasses and was amazed by the technology. As he scoped out the hidden ice fortress with
the cool new toy, Nick watched the little penguin that now stood just inches
from him. He smiled as he held out his
hand, wanting to pet the cute little guy, but as he reached for it, the penguin
was startled. It slowly backed away from
Nick, with its feet gliding across the ice as if it were dancing until it rested
on the edge of the water.
“Did
you see that?” Nick gasped.
“See
what?” Brian asked, still playing with the heat-detecting glasses.
Nick
turned back to the animal, and it seemed to wink at him before diving into the
cold water. Nick shook his head in disbelief
and watched the penguin race toward the iceberg. “That penguin just did the moonwalk, and then
it…” Nick hesitated at the ridiculousness of his statement. “…winked at me before it swam away.”
“The
moonwalking penguin just winked at you?”
Brian raised an eyebrow as he took off the glasses. “Lord, what was my cousin thinking, leaving
the fate of the world in your hands?!”
“I’m
serious! There was something really
freaky about that penguin.”
“Would
you shut up about the penguin? Look, I
think our best bet is to head for that part of the iceberg there. That appears to be the back side. And I can’t be sure, but I think that’s a
door.”
Nick
smirked as he hopped into the small speedboat they’d borrowed from the McMurdo
station. “Figures you’d want to go in
the back door.”
“What’s
that supposed to mean?” Brian snapped.
“Nothing.”
Nick
laughed at the anger in Brian’s voice and plopped himself behind the steering
wheel of the boat, but soon stopped laughing when he felt the force of the man
called The Rok push him from his chair.
“I’m driving this time,” Brian grumbled, and the boat went sailing
toward the iceberg.
They
docked on the back side of the iceberg, and when they reached the secret
entrance, Nick frowned as he mindlessly pressed buttons on the electronic
keypad. “Stop touching that before you
disable it!” Brian barked as he came up behind Nick.
“How
else are we supposed to get inside?”
“You
have your toys, and I have mine.” Brian
smirked as he pulled a small electronic decoder from his bag and plugged it in
to the keypad.
Nick
frowned when, in a matter of seconds, the entrance code was broken, and the
large white door slid open gracefully. “Where’d you get that?”
Brian
smiled, proud that he was finally one-upping Nick. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill
you,” Brian said, ducking quietly into the empty hallway.
Nick
rolled his eyes, as if he thought the line was corny, but deep down he was just
mad he hadn’t thought of it first. With
a frown, he pressed a button on his watch.
Brian glared at Nick when his watch buzzed to life, making just enough
noise to alert people to their presence.
“Hey, 00carter! How goes the top
secret mission?” chirped
“Shh!”
Nick whispered, smiling at the image of his friend as he crept down the hall
behind Brian.
“Okay,
I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,
we’re inside some kind of secret ice fortress.
It’s cool as hell.”
“Well,
that’s because it’s made of ice, silly.”
“Not
that kind of cool,
Brian
stopped in his tracks to give Nick a completely disgusted look. He couldn’t believe Nick was having this
conversation when they were in the middle of a serious operation behind enemy
lines. “What?” Nick shrugged and then turned his attention
back to his watch. “So could you?”
“Child’s
play.”
“Sweet! Oh, but could you make mine
cool-looking? Brian’s looks like some
kind of Gameboy from the nineties.”
Brian
glared one more time and then rubbed his now-aching head as he continued
walking.
“I’ll
do you one better,”
“Make
it a Playstation?”
“You
got it, gorgeous.”
“You’re
the best, Pearly.”
“Hey!”
Brian hissed as he stopped outside a door marked Giant Laser Control Room.
“Would you shut up before you get us caught?!”
Nick
rolled his eyes at
“Our mission,” Brian grumbled.
“My
mission,” Nick corrected as he wandered into the control room.
The
room was huge, and in the middle of it stood a giant laser. “Someone’s compensating for something,” Nick
laughed as he started poking around with the buttons at the base of the
machine.
“What
did I tell you about touching things?”
“Well,
we have to disable it somehow.”
Brian
pushed Nick out of his way with a huff.
“You’re going to kill somebody,” he grumbled. “I’ll disable it. You make yourself useful and go stand watch
or something.”
“Stand
watch? I’m not gonna stand watch; you go
stand watch!”
“Just
do it, Carter!” Brian yelled as he began to fumble around with the buttons.
Nick
was furious, but as he watched Brian touch option after option on a large
screen, it appeared the man knew what he was doing, so Nick decided to drop it
and snoop around the lab a little. He
began rummaging through papers on a desk and found a manila folder. “F.A.N.S.?” he read aloud, curiously reciting
the four letters stamped below the words Top
Secret stamped in red ink on the front.
He
started to flip through the papers inside, when the door to the control room
opened behind him. This time, both he
and Brian whirled around. They laughed
and lowered their weapons when they saw a penguin standing there. Brian tucked his gun back into its holster
and went back to work on the laser, while Nick rolled up the file in his hand
and tucked it safely into his inside coat pocket as he stared down his little
visitor.
The
penguin seemed to stare back, as if it were enjoying the rivalry, and then,
once again, it winked at Nick before moonwalking out of the room. “Dude, tell me you saw that!” Nick said to
Brian, but couldn’t take his eyes off the door the dancing animal had just slid
out of.
“Saw
what?” Brian muttered.
Nick
headed toward the door just as a man walked through it, holding some crackers
in his hand. “MJ!” he called. “Come on, buddy, you know Dr. Rough doesn’t
like it when you miss your nap! MJ!”
Nick
and Brian froze when the man saw them, but he simply smiled at them and said,
“You guys see a penguin come in here?”
Nick
and Brian looked at one another, completely astonished, and then Nick smiled
back to the man. “Cute little guy with a
twitch? Likes to do the moonwalk? Yeah, he went that way.”
Nick pointed
to the door, and the man automatically started to leave. Nick looked at Brian again, and they both
tried to hold back laughter, until the man stopped at the door. “Hey, wait a minute!” he yelled, as he
realized that Nick and Brian were on the wrong team.
The
minion reached for his walkie-talkie, but Nick lunged at him, forcing the radio
to go flying across the room. “Agent Littrell, whatever you’re doing over
there, you’d better hurry it up!” Nick yelled as he wrestled the drone.
Nick
was a strong man, but Dr. Rough hired his minions for brawn, not brains, and
the man was putting up a hell of a fight.
Nick punched the short man in the jaw, sending him flying back against
the large desk, but the man was back on his feet before Nick could draw his
gun, and the guy punched Nick in the gut, forcing the air from his lungs.
Nick
doubled over with a cough, and the man headed straight for Brian. The man grabbed Brian from behind and tore
him away from the tangled mess of wires he’d been trying to cut. Brian equaled the minion in size, and for a
minute, Nick watched the fistfight that ensued in awe. He may
not be the smartest partner in the world, Nick thought, but at least he’s good for something.
As
Brian ducked a punch and then threw one of his own, he noticed Nick watching
him. “A little help here, 008?”
Nick
shook him self from his daze and then looked around. He grabbed a metal chair from the desk and
ran at the stranger with full force.
When he cracked the chair over his back, the guy fell to his knees, and
Brian went back to work disabling the weapon.
The
minion scrambled to his feet again and grabbed the chair. He swung it at Nick, who ducked it easily,
and the chair went crashing into the laser, sending electricity pulsing through
the metal legs and frying the man holding it.
Once dead, the man fell to the ground, and Nick and Brian sent looks of
equal disgust to one another, cringing at the smell of charred flesh. “That’s disgusting,” Nick said, trying to
keep the contents of his stomach from coming back up. “Dude, hurry so we can get out of here.”
Brian
shook off the disturbing image and focused his attention back on the wires in
front of him. “Just a few more to go.”
Nick
peered over his shoulder curiously.
“Can’t you just cut them all at once?”
“No!”
Brian replied as if that were the most idiotic suggestion he’d ever heard. “You have to kill the circuits one at a time
in the right order, or the thing will know its being tampered with.”
“It’ll
just know? Like it’s alive or something? Like attack of the giant killer laser?”
“It’s
like working with a ten-year-old,” Brian muttered under his breath. He was trying to keep his cool, so as not to
mess up and cut the wrong wire. “It’s
programmed with a failsafe,” he explained, but Nick shrugged, so he put it in
terms he would understand. “Like a booby
trap.”
Brian
rolled his eyes as he watched the light go on inside Nick’s head. “If you trigger the failsafe, it will set the
weapon into self-destruct mode. A power
source this big would most likely blow this berg right out of the water.”
Nick’s
eyes grew wide, and then he smirked as Brian held his knife over the last three
wires. “No pressure, huh?” He laughed, causing Brian to pull his knife
back.
“Do
you mind?”
“Sorry,”
Nick grumbled.
He
glanced over his shoulder at the rotting corpse beside him, and the stench once
again filled his nostrils. His nose
became overwhelmed and surprised Nick with a monstrous sneeze that lunged him
forward. He accidentally bumped Brian’s
elbow, forcing him to slice through all three remaining wires.
Brian
stood there, staring at the knife in his hand with disbelief, until the room
started to shake. Lights started
flashing, and alarms started sounding all around them. Nick and Brian looked at each other with wide
eyes and simultaneously muttered an, “OH SHIT!”
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