Mythlands: THE HEIST

Part Two: Stone Cold Killers

3 hours ago.

Booted feet stepped inside the glade ... and stopped.

The Colonel signalled to his namesake to move forward and the others to halt. 'Get me Tupac.'

The comms man stepped forwards and handed the communicator to the Colonel. 'Tupac's on.'

'Mr Shakur? We've reached the glade. The place is wired - I spotted cams on the approach and about a half dozen traps ... those were the visible ones, designed to be spotted. The bad news is that the place is a death trap.'

'An the good news Colonel?'

'Cam motion is totally dead. I think they armed the system and then got the hell out of dodge.'

'Still needs checking out Colonel.'

'Roger that Sir. I've sent Mr Kurtz ahead to disarm or identify what he can. On your command my squad will proceed towards the cabin and ascertain that the quarry has indeed vacated. We can then transmit path co-ordinates and triangulate on your position, which will allow us to narrow search vectors and contain targets within an ever decreasing zone of containment.'

A mile away, with the main force, Tupac grinned. 'Them fools are headin for the Queen's territory, but they'll need to keep out of sight which means ...' he did some mental calculations and with Fett's help, calculated the likely area where the Hare's party were in.

'Transmitting virtual image to your device. Confirm receipt Colonel.'

'Confirmed receipt of map Mr Skakur. Damn useful, wish we had these back in the Nam.'

'True dat. We din't even have this tablet shit back in 96' let alone the damn Asgardian god magic holo mah fah grams. Anythin else to report?'

'Yes. We found the demon ... the one from the book of the dead. Looks like someone was skillful enough to take him out - it's a damn mess sir. Looks like they tore through the thing with a chainsaw and there's a discarded sack with mud on it. Could be a cached weapon that they dug up. Mr Kurtz is checking tracks to try to work out a timeline of events, but just from here it looks like a four legged animal was on scene. Deer, I'd say.'

Tupac considered. 'Probably a good thing that demon's out a the way. Trouble with sum'a these goddamn forces a evil, is they don't distinguish be'tween intruders an allies. Damn zombies was bad enough an losin Brummel and Roland on the ice, but them Ents slowed us up and took down another three of us. As for the deer, accordin to intelligence from the Queen, that'll be Bambi. Lil sucker's got some kinda magic amulet. The Mouse'll want that too so if ya see the deer, shoot ta mutha fuckin kill.'

'Roger that. Shall we proceed?'

'Yeah, do that.'

Colonel Kurtz broke communications and turned to the squad he had taken over from the Charlmagneian paladin Roland. 'We will disarm or safely activate any traps ahead. I do not believe there is anyone active inside so the defense is automated. Proceed with caution.'

*

Back with the main party of mercenaries, Tupac was communicating with their final group. 'Merry-go-round to air patrol, come in Raven, come the hell in.'

A voice came on line. 'Call sign raven reporting, Merry-go-round. We just got radar confirmation of targets ahead, maybe two miles but we're closing the gap. Shall we launch the Baron?'

'Damn straight! We've split inta two on the ground, gonna contain those fools. Best you do likewise in the air, but remember, don't engage until you're almost clear of the forest. We need to force em down in the clear. Mouse wants Pegasus and Icarus an their friends alive so he cn torture an kill em his own self.'

Robur the Conqueror smiled. 'The Mouse's wishes shall be complied with. Raven out.'

*

Up Ahead

The Hare breathed a sigh of relief as they once again dodged the latest patrol of the Evil Queen's guards. 'We're going to make it!'

Fierce Bad Rabbit grinned at him. 'Luck is with us younger, weaker version of my beloved leader and friend.'

Behind them Bambi was lost in expositionary thought. 'No it's not that. Not luck. Seems like it could be, the Evil Queen being out of the area in her other dominions near to Camelot and therefore not present to use her magics to find us.'... 'But it's not luck if you already knew it was going to happen ... is it Hare?' he muttered.

Hare turned towards the small deer. 'Did you say anything Bambi?'

The deer shook his head. 'No Hare, I was just ... muttering. It's something I do when in near death situations.' As The Hare nodded Bambi fixed him a penetrating stare, which the Hare obliviously didn't notice. 'You really don't know, do you Hare? And I'm pretty sure the other you is equally clueless! Now, how can that be??'