Chemically Bonded

Chap 18 "Imposter President?"

Natalie's POV
"I'm not wanting to lose anyone else," I replied.
Alexis stopped us. She tapped on her ear. "Aerial threat!" Block stated. "Down!" We got down and got into position. We saw the plane pass us. We went up the hill and laid on our stomach. "An airstrip?"
"Out in the middle of nowhere?" Alexis asked.
"Does it matter?" Block asked. "We're going home."
We got on a plane and headed to Washington DC. We were in the ghetto. We got a change of clothes and followed Block. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"Just don't question it," Block replied.
A guy stopped us. His friends sat on the sidelines and watched. "You lost, little man?" the guy asked.
"No, I ain't lost," Block replied.
"I think you got the wrong street," he stated. "So why don't you take Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Justin Harley, and Ryan Seacrest and head back that way?"
Alexis looked at Sam. "I didn't even notice you dyed your hair, Sam," Alexis smiled.
"I'm going that way," Block pointed. "Yeah."
"Go ahead, Marvin," the guy smiled.
"Man, don't call me that name," Block nodded. They laughed. "Yeah."
"What's up?" the guy asked. "Little Marvin!"
"Marvin?" I asked.
"Had you worried for a minute, man," the guy pointed at Adam. "Watch your hand back there, boy. You don't want them to get you."
"Let me introduce you," Block nodded. "This is Sam, Adam, Natalie, and Lady Lex."
"Welcome back," the guy stated to Block as he fists bump us.
"Thank you," Block replied. "It's what happens when you're in trouble, you come home."
"Home is where the help is," the guy nodded. "We got you. Set up at the rec center. Lay low over there, nobody gonna bother you. As far as wheels go, I'm gonna let you roll my truck."
"Thank you," Block nodded as the guy handed him the keys.
"I got payments on that truck, man," the guy nodded. "I don't get it like I used to. Alright?"
"Thank you, Stoop," Block smiled. "I owe you one, brother."
"Actually, you owe me two," Stoop replied.
"That other one don't count," Block nodded.
"Welcome home, Marvin," Stoop nodded.
We walked to the rec center and walked inside. "Watch your step," Block replied. "No one's been here for years. This is gonna have to be our pit for now."
The lights turned on. "Wow," I nodded. "It's an actual pit."
"It's my old stomping ground," Block nodded.
"Are you sure we can trust this Stoop guy?" Sam asked.
"Stoops' no angel," Block replied. "But he is family and we can trust him."
"Can we be traced?" Adam asked.
"We can mask our IP addresses," Alexis nodded. "I know you can cyber blast an encoded beacon every six hours. If any Joes did survive, we need to let them know where we're at."
"Alright, let's get to work," Block nodded. "Sam, inventory every piece of equipment we got left. Natalie, start that database on our President. We'll find out what's going on with our Commander in Chief." I nodded. "He's not acting like the man we know. We find out why, we can start being soldiers again. Adam, you set up a frequency for the Joes and Alexis, you don't take orders from anyone."
"You got that right," Alexis nodded. She grabbed a camera and went to a blank wall. She put the camera on herself as we got set up. "Lieutenant Lady Lex, requesting immediate aid."
"Lieutenant Lady Lex, this is Jinx and Snake Eyes," a voice came through. "We're in pursuit of Storm Shadow."
"Even if Snake Eyes and Jinx does grab Storm, they're still halfway around the world," Block sighed. "We're on our own." We looked at all our weapons. "Enough for a battle."
"Not a war," Sam nodded. "We're fighting uphill here."
Block cocked a gun. "I came here when I was fourteen with a life expectancy of thirteen," Block explained. "I was bounced around from home to home, until this became my home. Guys were lined up outside that door to fight me." I looked at him. "They whopped my skinny ass so much I started to enjoy it. Till one winter, I grew eight inches and gained sixty pounds. I punched a guy so hard he couldn't move his arm to tap out." I looked at Alexis. "And it was all because of Lady Lex's grandparents who raised me." Alexis shrugged. "Then, when the Joes came recruiting to the hood, I'd already beaten down half of it. I became a Joe to serve. In the field. So if we're fighting uphill, we take the hill."
"Hey, I got something you'll want to see," I replied. They followed me to my corner. "During my check of the President, look what I found." I sat down in front of a laptop. "This is the President on August ninth." She pulled up small video clip. "And this is ten days later." She pulled up a different clip. "These are conversational fillers. Little phrases we spit out to give our brain a chance to catch up with our mouth. Like..."
"Like?" Block asked.
"Yes," I nodded.
"See, this is why we had you fill in for JJ when she couldn't get to the media," Alexis smiled. "So, what's going on with our President?"
"Between August ninth and August nineteenth, he stopped using you knowand kind of and started using I mean and sort of," I replied. "But that's not all. Supper became dinner. Soda became pop."
"One president, two fingerprints," Block replied.
"But it's a few words, right?" Sam asked. "I mean, how much can..."
"Check this out," I sighed. "You might be my fiancé but there are still things you need to learn." I looked at my laptop. "Two press conferences, July thirty first and September first. See his fingers clasp?" They watched. "Left thumb on top versus right thumb on top. The same person never does this differently, it feels wrong." I looked at them. "What if the President isn't the President?"
"If the Commander in Chief is an imposter, and he's the one that ordered the attack, we have to assume that there's no one we can trust," Adam nodded. "The only ones we can trust are the only ones in this room."
"There is one man," Block nodded. "He's the reason we call ourselves Joes." We got changed and Block grabbed a bag. We got into the truck and drove to a house. We got out and walked to the front door. "He better be home." Block rang the doorbell twice. When no one answered, he knocked but the door creaked open. "That ain't good." We withdraw our weapon and walked inside. I closed the door behind me. "Hello?"
We heard a gun cock. We turned around with our guns in front of us. "I'll take two cases of Thin Mints and a box of Chuckle Lucks," the guy stated. "Lower your weapons." We did. He looked at me. "Hi."
"Hi Grandpa Colton," Alexis smiled.
"Shut your mouth, Brenda," the guy replied as he had his gun held at us.
"My name's not Brenda," Alexis nodded.
"How'd you get in?" he asked.
"Sir, apologies," Block nodded. "Sergeant Marvin..."
"I know who you are," the guy looked at us.
"Then you know why I'm here," Block replied. He poured out all the dog tags we collected from our brothers. Alexis showed the one she was wearing. "We lost our unit, our family." We explained to him everything we found. "That's all we know."
"It's not like I don't hear what you're saying. But an imposter President?" Colton asked.
"How come when the General says it, it sounds crazy?" Sam asked.
"What'd they do with the real President?" Colton asked.
"We fear he's dead," I sighed.
"I don't think so," Colton nodded. "You're not going to kill your best asset." Colton looked at the dog tag around Alexis' neck. "Conrad Hauser. Duke. Is he your boyfriend?"
"Our captain," Alexis replied. "And a great big brother."
"Tell me one thing you know about him," Colton added.
"Great soldier, better friend," Block nodded.
"And he saved my life, Grandpa," Alexis sighed.
"Good," Colton nodded. "What you're proposing is treason. I'm gonna need something a little more to go on than overlapping thumbs."
"Before you retired, you served on a security commission with the President's Chief of Staff," I replied.
"General Colton, can you get us close?" Block asked.
"Negative," Colton replied. "I can't scratch my ass in this town without getting on the watch list. Brenda, hand me that pen."
"Really, Grandpa?" Alexis asked as she handed him the pen. "Girl Scout to secretary. Amazing. Name's not Brenda."
"It's just a pen," Colton replied.
"It's funny, because he used to call me Tinkerbell," Alexis smiled. "Grandpa, it's Alexis, Alex, or Lex."
"Avenue K, Georgetown," Colton replied. "9:00 pm. There's a poker game with the Chief of Staff there. He's not a good poker player. He's got a thousand tells."
Colton handed the paper to Block. "We only need one," Block nodded. Block looked at me. "Ready for some undercover work."
"Finally, something that I did do with the FBI," Alexis replied.
"I was talking about Natalie," Block replied.
"Sure, why not," I sighed. We went back to the rec center. I got dressed in spandex shorts, a sports bra, and a running jacket. I slipped on my tennis shoes and grabbed the fake bag of groceries. "Let's go." Everyone got into the truck and I started running on the sidewalk with the groceries. I saw the guy. I accidentally grabbed the bags and bent over to pick it up. I just stood there. "Okay."
"Excuse me," said the guy.
"Hi," I smiled as I took off my earphones.
"Hi," he nodded. "You need a hand with your bags?"
"Sure," I nodded.
"No problem," the guy smiled. He grabbed my bags. "Here you go."
"Thank you," I smiled and I grabbed one of the bags from him. "Who said chivalry is dead, right?"
"Chivalry. Talk like that, I'm gonna get myself in trouble. Where we heading?"
"Just right around the corner." We walked as a bus came by. A car came from the opposite end. A trucked stopped and we got into the truck. I closed the door. Block stuck him with something. "Alright."
"That tingly feeling is amobarbital," Alexis stated. "It's a sedative that causes anterograde amnesia. Five minutes, you'll be asleep. In another five, you're gonna wake up with no idea we ever existed."
He got out his phone and I held a gun at him. I took the phone from him. "Notice anything strange about your boss?" I asked.
"Maybe," he replied. "Why?"
"You're gonna make a phone call for us. Get us close to him," Block replied. "Don't worry. You're gonna forget everything, so your conscience will be clear."
"Why are you doing this?" the guy asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Block nodded. "Make the call."
The guy made the call and we dropped him off when he fell asleep. "Now what do we do?" I asked. "We got the information we need right?" Alexis nodded. "What are you thinking?"
"We need more," Alexis replied. "What he gave us isn't enough to go on."
"Maybe so but it's all we have," I nodded. "Your turn."