Season 1, Episode 9:
Wreckage in a Winter Wonderland
Part 6 of 6
A lone hook could be seen, stuck deeply into the
thick layer of ice clinging to the jagged cliff. If one’s gaze followed downwards in the
direction of the hook, they’d be able to glimpse a furious, furry figure, desperately
hanging on by the hook.
“Yo, dat Carter’s gonna pay!” Drums screamed in
fury, as stabbing pains shot along his arm from the stress set upon it. It was ironic in a sense: the severing of his hand, caused by none
other than Nick Carter himself, was what had saved him from certain death. It was the very hook Dr. Rough had attached
in place of his hand that had kept him from tumbling down through the air,
landing on the sharp rocks that had been the end of their bobsled. Snow stuck to the matted Quatchi suit that he
still wore, weighing him down more. His
other hand gripped a rock wedged into the side of the ledge, trying not to
shiver from the stinging cold.
“Drums, we are going to make him suffer for all
that he’s caused us. It’s just going to
take time; I think we underestimated the blonde boy wonder. But you will be rewarded,” Dr. Rough
replied in soothing tones. Drums glanced
down at his mentor and leader – not that he needed to, to know where he
was. He could feel Dr. Rough holding his
legs in the tightest death grip known to man.
He was at about his knees, his arms wrapped around them, fighting hard
not to look down. If he looked a little
further, he could even see Dr. Twitches, squeaking for dear life. He was on Dr Rough’s shoe, dressed cutely in
a little beanie and scarf that matched the tiny purple sweater he wore, and
looking reasonably terrified.
Suddenly, the sounds of a helicopter could be
heard. Drums swore to himself. “Damn, if dat’s da HimTak suckas, we
screwed.”
“No…” Dr. Rough replied in an awed wonder. “Look…”
The helicopter came into view, hovering above
them. The first thing they spotted was
the silver and purple F.A.N.S. logo Drums had come to know well. Drums gazed upwards, towards the top of the
ledge, and there, waving its wing, was MJ.
The penguin squawked loudly, seeming to be summoning the helicopter
closer. He had a little barrel strapped
around his neck, and a headpiece over his ear hole.
“Ohh, I got mad love for dat mutated bird, yo,”
Drums murmured, as a rope was lowered down to them. Gripping it tightly with his right hand, he
pried his prosthetic hook free of the frozen ground.
Dave Moffatt, triplet of Clint and Bob, was in
the door of the helicopter, pulling the rope up. The two men and ferret breathed a sigh of
relief and let themselves be lifted into the air and into safety once more.
Dr. Rough finally looked downwards as they rose,
his eyes scanning for any sight of the infuriating Agent Carter.
“It’s not over, Carter… not by a long shot. IT’S. NOT. OVER!!!!”
± ± ±
Cold.
Really Cold.
Hella Fucking Cold.
Really Annoyingly Fucking Cold.
Those were the only thoughts going through Nick’s
mind, as he blinked his eyes and saw nothing but pure white above him. For a moment, his heart felt like it was
about to explode with panic.
“Nick?! If
you’re there, respond!” Jay’s voice crackled near his head. Nick took as deep a breath as he could, in a
attempt to calm himself. The voice was
only inches away from his ears, where his arm rested beneath the snow.
Must’ve gotten buried by that avalanche. Shitballs! He attempted to move his arms, forcing them
through the snow. Much to his relief, he
found he hadn’t been buried too far underneath.
After a few minutes, he was able to pull himself completely out of the
snowy debris, shaking off as much as he could.
He shivered visibly, fighting not to let his teeth chatter.
“I’m alright, Jay,” he replied into his watch,
which, none to his surprise, still worked.
“You had me worried, man; I saw the
avalanche. And not to be punny, but… you
were out cold for awhile.”
“Hardy-ha-ha,” Nick replied sarcastically, as he
regrouped. He swiped the snow out of his
hair, his eyebrows, and his eyes, even.
Then he sighed. He’d seen Dr.
Rough and Drums go over the edge, but even so, they’d probably made it out
alive. They always did; they were like
zombies that way, always seeming to come back from the dead, and nothing would
kill them, except a bullet to the brain, from the looks of it.
“Any sign of
Nick paused his current trek through the
snow. “Wait, you mean you haven’t seen
him?”
“Not since that avalanche buried you both. I’m gonna have
“Aight, beep me when ya got something. And tell K I don’t want any more damn
missions in the snow!”
He clicked his watch shut, looking around
desperately for his protégée. This was a
hard business, but he was starting to feel a camaraderie with the shadow
agent. The reasoning was simple:
And now, on their first paired mission together,
to really get the shadow agent ready, Nick may have just gotten him killed. He ran across the powdery-looking ground, his
eyes searching for any sign of life.
“
Nick growled as he kicked a nearby pine tree as
hard as he could muster. “Damn it!” Why did it feel like Dr. Rough always won? How was it that when he should have been dead,
he was still alive? How had Drums been
able to survive losing all that blood when he’d accidentally sliced off his
hand? How did they escape again and
again?
Why did he always fail?
He kicked the tree again. “Motherfucker! Stupid FANS, with all their bullshit. Stupid cold.
Stupid fucking snow! This is why
global warming is good! To get rid of
this freezing-ass snow!”
Nick’s watch beeped before the tiny screen rose
to show Jay and
Nick sighed with relief. “Thanks, Pearl.”
“Be warned, Nick… I don’t know how deep he got
buried, just where his general location is. The signal isn’t the strongest.”
He nodded, ending the connection as a map
appeared, with a pulsing red dot not too far from a steady blue one. He took a few steps, and when he saw the blue
dot move, he nodded to himself. He ran
in the direction
If he was alive.
Finally, when he spotted the two dots on top of
each other on the tiny watch map, he flipped the screen shut. Glancing down, he was momentarily confused. Some part of him had still expected a more
evident sign of the agent. Regaining his
bearings, he began digging furiously into the snow. The cold was aggravating him more and more, as
he felt his teeth chatter and his fingers burn with frostbite, yet he didn’t
care. He had to save him. He couldn’t cause yet another death to a
fellow agent. Drums – and consequentially,
Shazam – had been enough.
Finally, he uncovered a dark hand poking through
the snow. Encouraged, he kept brushing
the snow off of
“Hey, you alright?”
A pair of brown eyes blinked open.
“Good to see you’re alright.”
“Tell me about it.” Nick flipped his watch open yet again,
speaking clearly into it.
“Connect me to Diamond.”
Within moments, he could hear her girlish voice. “Nick! We were able to save her! Problems solved.”
“Hey, I need you to pick me up. Me and
“No problem.”
“And hey, maybe we can make our own body heat up
at one of the cabins.” He smirked.
He could hear Diamond’s enticing smile in her
voice. “That can be arranged.”
± ± ±
They were at the lodge now, warming themselves by
a magnificent fireplace.
“… So we found the real mascots, poor things; they
had been bound and gagged and thrown into some supply closet. Ew.”
Nick nodded, as the bartender finally noticed
them waiting and headed their way. “So
all of them were imposters. That sounds
about right.”
“The skaters are all shaken by what happened, but
we told them that there’s nothing to worry about. The rest of the Games should go as planned
now. Lancy’s ecstatic ‘cause he’s gotten
so many autographs through this.” Diamond giggled. “Me, I need a serious shopping session. Fighting evil does that to a girl.”
“What can I get for you guys?”
Nick flashed a seductive smirk at the bartender. “Cocoa. Hot cocoa. Shaken, not stirred.” She gave them an odd look, but went to
prepare the drink as requested. He
sighed. “I need a break from all these
cold-ass missions. And what the hell
happened to make
As the hot chocolate was set into his hands, he
held it before him, enjoying the warmth that spread through his fingers at the
touch. He once again took a look around.
It always amazed him how little people knew
about how close the world came every day to global chaos and mayhem. Nick took a long sip from his mug, relishing
the taste.
Ahh, bliss.
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