Black Ops And The Ghost Squadron: Small Town Blues.

Black Ops and his team return to Sutherlin where Cardania is turning the townspeople into Cyber-Drones.

Black Ops and The Ghost Squadron

Small Town Blues

 

Chapter 1

 

            

Black Ops was nervous.  Normally he wasn’t but ever since they left The Big House to venture to their next mission and having Ruthers tag along as a probationary member of the team he couldn’t help but be nervous.  He knew he wasn’t the only, he could tell on the faces of his men that they too were nervous.  The only one that didn’t seem to mind was Nitrous, but what else would you expect from a teenager.  He only cared about blowing stuff up! 

            

They were halfway to their destination when they received a call from Jacob on their van’s monitor.  “Excuse the interruption.”  Jacob’s voice broke into the silence.

            

“What is it Jacob?”  Black Ops asked him.

            

“I must have you divert your destination to return to Sutherlin.  We have received word that The Silver Killers have been oppressing you Safe Town.”  Jacob explained briefly.

            

“Why can’t our kids handle it?  They’re closer.”  Grease Monkey suggested.

            

“Normally I would send them, however until The Cell is complete The Alpha Squad shall remain unable to respond to missions.  So until then it’ll be up to you take on their missions for them.  Plus by the time you are finished with the mission they should have The Cell ready for your future prisoners of war.”

            

“Heard and understood Jacob.”  Black Ops responded as he turned the van around.  “We’ll be in Sutherlin in four hours.”

            

“I look forward to hearing your progress.  I am e-mailing you the Intel we’ve gathered so far.  Big House out.”

            

As the screen switched over to the e-mail Resource began to read the Intel and gave the highlights.  “The only villains present are The Silver Killers.  It turns out they have turned the mill into a manufacturing plant.”

            

“What kind?”  Cookie asked.

            

“A Cyber-Drone facility.”  Ruthers spoke up for the first time since they’ve been in the van.

            

“She’s right.”  Resource confirmed.

            

“Did you know about this?”  Hertz asked her.

            

“No I didn’t, but I did know that The Society was going to turn all places like that into Cyber-Drone production facilities.”  Ruthers answered.

            

“But who would they use to make…”  Nitrous began to speak and then turned to his dad, “Step on it!  They’re going to turn the whole down into Cyber-Drones!”

            

“Firing igniters!”  Black Ops announced as he pressed a button and the van sped off going over 150 mph.

            

“Easy on the curves Black Ops!”  Grease Monkey complained.  “I don’t want to get car sick again.”

            

“Stop your complaining.  You just don’t want to repaint the van that’s all.”  Black Ops said sarcastically and began to laugh until he heard Grease Monkey yack!  “Well that’s something else you’ll have to clean up.”

            

“Yeah but he’ll have to do it after he wakes up.”  Hertz informed him, “He just passed out.”

            

“Does that mean we have to deal with smell until he does?”  Ruthers asked in disgust.

            

“Let’s just say that Grease Monkey is OCD when it comes to his vehicles.”  Nitrous told her.

            

“Ugh, it’s going to be a long drive no matter how fast we get there.”  Ruthers scowled as the men busted up laughing and rolled down the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

            

The ride to Sutherlin took longer than expected as they exited off the freeway for their sensors had detected a patrol ahead.  Once they arrived at their headquarters which was an abandoned garage/pain shop that Black Ops at first had started to use for a business after the move but now served them as a base of operations.  “Okay Grease Monkey you got clean up duty.”  Black Ops announced as they exited the van. 

            

“Next time we take two vehicles.”  Grease Monkey told the others.

            

“Just start cleaning.”  Black Ops ordered impatiently.

            

“Nice place you guys have here.”  Ruthers complimented.

            

“And if you’re about to say it needs a woman’s touch you’re out of here!”  Cookie threated.

            

“Perish the thought.”  Ruthers quoted.

            

“Recon I want you and Nitrous to scout the mill.”  Black Ops ordered, “Do not engage the enemy unless you are engaged.”  He then turned to his son, “No explosions.”

            

“Yes sir.”  Nitrous saluted.

            

“And what are we to do in the mean time?”  Ruthers asked.

            

“See if there’s been any resistance since we left.”  Black Ops answered and turned to Hertz.  “Any luck yet?”

            

“None that I’ve been able to gather so far.”  Hertz answered.

            

“How exactly is he able to gain this information?”  Ruther asked.

            

“One of Hertz’s capabilities is hacking into anything.”  Black Ops answered.

            

“And I can cook anything…who’s hungry?”  Cookie announced.

            

It took Recon and Nitrous a few minutes to get near the mill and saw that there were some towns people out and about.  They did their best to fit in with the crowd and once they were close enough to the mill they broke off and activated their cloaking suits that were given to them by Sparks.  They walked past a number of Cyber-Drones that were guarding the entrance and when they walked in they were shocked by the sight!  There were people being held in energized cages and others laid upon tables being prepped to become Cyber-Drones.  “This is going to give me nightmares for a long time.”  Nitrous commented in a hushed tone. 

            

“Recon to base do you read me?”

            

“Loud and clear.”  Hertz answered.

            

“I’m about to plant our Echo-Mapper.” 

            

“Copy that, make sure to hide it really well.”  Hertz reminded him.

            

“This isn’t my first rodeo.”  Recon muttered as he planted the device that they had used way before their kids were born.

            

“Recon they’re about to send those guys on the table to the slaughter.”  Nitrous whispered.

            

“You recall what your dad said, no engaging the enemy.”  Recon argued, “Besides what can really do for them?”

            

“See that console over there?”  Nitrous pointed out to him and Recon nodded.  “That controls the power to their devices to make people into Cyber-Drones all we have to do is place Power Charger that Sparks gave to me and it will over work the systems to where it will cause it to shut down until it cools down.”

            

“Hertz did you get that?”  Recon asked.

            

“Yes, and I referred everything to Black Ops and he said to proceed and get out of there.”  Hertz answered.

            

“Roger.”  Recon turned to Nitrous who was already half way to the console and placed the device and returned.  “You didn’t even wait for your dad’s answer.”

            

“I knew what he was going to say.”  Nitrous said sarcastically. 

            

“Let’s get out of here.”  Recon shook his head.

            

“I set the timer for three minutes plenty of time for us to get out of here.”  Nitrous informed him.

            

“Wait!  What about the cages?”  Recon wondered.

            

“They’re connected to a different power source; you’re not the only one who knows how to scout for things.”  Nitrous said with a wink as they returned to base.

Chapter 3

 

            

Cardania was seriously upset.  Somehow the power source to the Cyber-Drone tools had overloaded and had to wait for replacement parts to arrive from Portland that would take at least seven or eight hours.  He turned to Axer-Racer, “I thought your men were guarding everything here?” 

            

“They have been, and last I checked you’re the only one that’s human here.”  Axer-Racer answered. 

            

“And what is that supposed to mean?”  Cardania asked him.

            

“We don’t sleep anymore since you turned us into these mechanical misfits man!” 

            

“If I recall it was all of you who had agreed to become what you are now?”  Cardania reminded him and Axer-Racer went to hit him with his mechanical hand that could turn into an axe but couldn’t turn it into the axe nor could bring it down.  “Did you also forget that you can’t harm me?  What a pity!”  Cardania laughed evilly. “Now find out what happened or you’ll be turn into scrap parts for a Cyber-Drone.”

            

“You heard the man!  Let’s find out what happened.”  Axer-Racer told the others and they began to scan the area.

            

At The Ghost Squadrons’ base they listened into the conversation between Cardania and his underlings.  “So that gives us seven or eight hours before their replacement parts come in.”  Black Ops thought out loud.

            

“Plus the time it will take them another hour or two to put in those replacements.”  Grease Monkey added.

            

“So what do we do?  Go in with guns blazing?”  Ruthers asked.

            

“No that would be more dangerous for the victims involved than for us.”  Cookie answered her.

            

“Then how about we raid that shipment?”  Nitrous suggested.

            

“Not a bad idea.”  Recon agreed.  “That would slow them down even more.”

            

“But that it would give it away that there is someone resisting them.”  Ruthers commented.  “And they will use that excuse to enslave the rest of this town or worst…destroy it.”

            

“Ruthers is right.”  Black Ops spoke up.  “We can’t stop the transport and we can’t go in guns a blazing either.”

            

“We’re running out of options.”  Cookie informed them.

            

“We could always go undercover.”  Ruthers muttered.

            

“What was that?”  Grease Monkey asked from underneath the van.

            

“We could go undercover and pretend to be townspeople within the facility.”  Ruthers elaborated.

            

“Yes that could work…”  Black Ops voice trailed off.  “We’ll split into two teams.”

            

“Hertz, Cookie and I will go into the facility undercover.  Recon will be our back up in case things go haywire using the Camo-Suit.  The rest of you will attack the supply truck and go undercover as the men on that truck.  Once you’re in, we’ll attack from both sides.”

 

Chapter 4

 

            

Recon preferred being the backup guy or the scout.  He activated his cloaking device and walked into the facility.  He saw that Black Ops and Cookie were already placed in a cell with others waiting to be turned into Cyber-Drones.  He began to move around knowing he wouldn’t be seen by the enemy as he placed small bombs in strategic areas throughout the mill.  Once he was done a couple of hours later he reset himself in the place where he would be the most effective and waited for the others to show up.

            

Black Ops knew that time was of the essence.  However he was confident in his team and had faith in God that they would succeed in their mission of freeing the townspeople of Sutherlin.  He surveyed his surroundings and saw that there were fifty Cyber-Drones guarding the cells and also there were Axel-Racer and his cronies not including Cardania.  He recalled reading up on these foes prior to leaving for their mission.  Cardania had been an enemy of The Alpha Squad and had also been roommate of Jacob Cagney back when they were in College.  He had been with The Society since his college days and they paid his way through college in return of him giving vital information about The Dark-Rider and later became one of their trusted agents.

            

He was also the creator of The Cyber-Defenders during The American Riots and also The Cyber-Destroyers who were still being used to hunt down those who they had dubbed “Abnormals” who were like their kids in The Alpha Squad and their friends The Beta Force.  Now there was Axel-Racer and his friends who call themselves The Silver Killers!  They had been a heavy metal band that had been based out of Silverton.  When they came back to Silverton for a homecoming concert they had joined forces with The Society to raise havoc in the small town.  But thanks to Dark-Rider and the others they were able to place the celebrities in jail.  In this they made a deal with Superior to become a second generation of Cyber-Destroyers, much more dangerous and deadlier then the previous.

            

Black Ops knew that if they were successful in capturing their foes it would put a dent in The Society’s army.  Therefore failure was not an option.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5

 

            

“Absolutely not!  I will do no such thing!”  Ruthers claimed in defiance.  They were en route to a position for them to ambush the unsuspecting supply run.

            

“Come on it’s part of the plan.”  Gizmo persuaded.

            

“There is no way I am showing any “leg” to get them to stop.”  Ruthers continued.

            

“You afraid that they might recognize you?”  Nitrous asked.

            

“Not just that, we have no idea what kind of security they will have.”  Ruthers pointed out.

            

“We will here in a minute.”  Gizmo informed them as he looked at his tablet.  “I have the Semi-Truck that is carrying the supplies on our satellite.  They have two armored vehicles with them one in the front and one in the rear.”

            

“No ariel support?”  Ruthers asked.

            

“None, unless they’re cloaked.”  Gizmo answered.  “Which at his point they wouldn’t use for something like a supply run.”

            

“Well if you guys aren’t going to do something then I have a plan.”  Grease Monkey spoke up.  “We’ll block the roadway, forcing them to stop and then we’ll take them.”

            

“Sounds better than me using my legs.”  Ruthers commented.

            

“You’re never going to let that down are you?”  Gizmo asked her.

            

“Nope.” 

            

“I got a couple of vehicles back at the base that can be used for this ploy; they already look like they’ve been in a wreck.”  Grease Monkey told them.

            

“No time!  We have fifteen minutes until they reach here.”  Gizmo countered.

            

“You mean…oh man!”  Grease Monkey complained and gave himself a face palm.

            

“Nitrous take the battle van in the middle of the road and place one of your bombs for it to go off.”  Gizmo instructed.

            

“You know we’ll have to tow it back to The Big House for repairs.”  Grease Monkey told him.

            

“Maybe so but maybe after we’re done you can do something with our unsuspecting vehicles.”  Gizmo suggested.

            

“I might be able to do something with them…if they survive this mission.”

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

            

Cardania was in the security room which had once been the office for the mill.  He was bored and hated being bored and would be until the supply truck arrived.  The one thing he knew that was soon as the supplies were unloaded there would be another couple of hours of repairs until he would be able to do what he loved to do…turning men and women into machines.  Ever since he was a child he was fascinated with cyborgs that he would see on old Sci-fi films.  When he had found out in high school that he could go to college to study robotics he jumped at the chance before his parents had a say in it.  And why would they need to have their say in it anyways?  He once thought as he packed his bags all those years ago.  His father was a steel worker and his mother was a stay at home mom who like a robot would do just as his father would order her to do. 

            

His father told him to give up the foolish dream of becoming a scientist, that a real man was those who worked with his hands productively and would put wear and tear on ones’ body to know that they were human.  Cardania told his dad that he would eat his words when he graduated top of his class…and he did just that!  The day of graduation only his mother showed up and when he asked where his dad was, she answered saying; “He’s getting drunk in celebration of his son graduating.”  Rage built up in Cardania and later that night confronted his dad.  “Why didn’t you show up for my graduation?”

            

“I was going to show up but I wanted to be in a good mood to do so.”  His father answered as he took another swig.  “Is it already over?”

            

“It’s been over all my life.  Not only did you miss this graduation, but high school as well!”  He exclaimed in rage. 

            

“I’ll make it to the next one.”  His father said with a crooked smile.

            

“There won’t be a next one…not for you anyways.”  He took out a gun and killed his father without giving it a second thought.  His mother screamed in terror and he turned to her.  “Now mother you can free of him!  You can be free to do whatever you want.”

            

“I want you out of my house!  You monster!”  She screamed at the top of her lungs.

            

“A monster am I?  Compared to him?  Then I wonder what you are?”  He asked her and before she could answer he shot her in cold blood.  “Now I am truly free.”  He wiped the gun clean and placed it in his fathers’ hands.  He called the secret number to the nearest Society outpost to take care of the media issues and official report of the crime.  He walked out and never looked back.

            

Here was now living out his dream and being a senior agent of The Society despite the fact that it was now run by a demon, but even then things could be worst.  He looked at the monitors and something caught his eye, better yet someone.  He spotted Black Ops and Cookie as well.  “Now isn’t this a treat.  We have visitors.”  He turned to a set of Cyber-Drones that was in the office with him.  “Bring those two to me.”  He ordered and they turned to exit the room.  He went back to the monitors and activated the communicator.  Superiors’ face showed on the screen, “I wanted to inform you my liege that I have captured two members of The Ghost Squadron.  Black Ops and the one they call Cookie father of Blaze.”

            

“Excellent work.  Interrogate them and find out where that traitor Ruthers is and then do as you please with them.”  Superior commanded.

            

“I had full intentions to; they are being escorted here as we speak.”  Cardania informed him.

            

“Do not fail.”  Superior warned him as the screen went blank.

            

Black Ops saw the unit of Cyber-Drones heading their direction and motioned with his hands to Recon to stay where he was.  “You are to come with us.”  One of them instructed.

            

“Very well.”  Black Ops acknowledged and they followed them across the street to the security office.

            

“This can’t be good.”  Recon said as he watched them leave.  “Nitrous and the others better hurry up, or I may have to go solo!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7

 

            

The supply truck moved swiftly on the open road heading towards the town of Sutherlin.  It had an armored truck in front of it and behind it; each a half a mile apart.  The front vehicle reported there was an accident ahead and came to a halt.  A group of soldiers came out all three vehicles armed to the teeth.  As they approached the wreck they noticed there were bodies lying on the ground.  As they approached the seemingly lifeless bodies and turned each of them over only to be shot by a stun blast by each person.  “Oldest trick in the book.”  Gizmo proclaimed as he shot at the drivers that were coming out of the trucks.

            

“Older than a woman showing off her legs?”  Ruthers asked.

            

“You’re never going to let that down now are you?”  Gizmo asked.

            

“I’ll think about it.”  Ruthers told him.          

            

“That’s worse than a no.”  Gizmo muttered.

            

“All clear!”  Nitrous called out after checking the other vehicles.

            

“I’ll take the Semi-Truck.”  Grease Monkey declared, “Nitrous you take the front vehicle and Hertz will take the back.  Ruthers you’ll ride in the back of the Semi.”

            

“Let’s hurry!  We have no time to waste.”  Hertz called out.

            

“Why what’s going on?”  Nitrous wondered.

            

“Recon just called in; he said that your dad and Cookie were escorted out of their cell.”

            

“Are we too late?”  Ruthers asked.

            

“No, they’re being escorted to be interrogated by Cardania.” 

            

“Like Hertz said we have no time to waste.”  Nitrous told them as he started up the truck.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

            

Black Ops and Cookie were escorted into the security room where Cardania awaited them.  He offered them a seat and once they were sat down he began his interrogation.  “I want to know the location of Agent Ruthers.”  Cardania began…Silence.  “I almost forgot you two are specially trained men.  Normal methods of interrogation will not persuade you to answer my requests.”

            

“That was a request?”  Cookie asked sarcastically.

            

“Consider it one.”  Cardania suggested, “If you cooperate…I’ll be sure that you two are to be the first in line to become the latest models of Cyber-Drones.  And if you don’t…”  He got into Black Ops’ face, “I will personally make sure you watch every other person in that building across the way becomes one.”

            

“I do have something to tell you.”  Black Ops motioned to him to come closer.  “You need a breath mint.”

            

“I see where your son gets his sense of humor from.”  Cardania began to walk away, “Your dead son that is, the other I’m sure will follow being as cocky as he is.”

            

“If you’re trying to get under my skin by mentioning the death of my son, then you are sadly mistaken.”  Black Ops said in a touch guy tone.

            

“I must hand it to you, fighting the good fight to honor his memory.”  Cardania motioned as if he was tipping off his hat.

            

“My son will come back when God deems it ready…until then I can wait.” 

            

“You seriously believe that your son is coming back?”  Cardania asked in disbelief.

            

“Yes I seriously do.”  Black Ops said with confidence, “And when he does back come, he’s going to send your master back to Hell where he belongs.”

            

“Even if he does come back, I am sure that there is no way he could kill Superior…”  He was interrupted by an incoming message.  “Yes…excellent, thank you.”  He turned to the two men, “It would appear that the supply truck is here.  In a few short hours you’ll be joining the ranks of The Cyber-Drones.”

 

Chapter 9

 

            

The trucks drove into the mill and stopped to begin unloading.  The second team had disguised themselves as delivery drivers and soldiers.  Ruthers stayed in the back of the truck to be kept from being seen.  Grease Monkey handed the clipboard to Cardania who had been interrogating Black Ops and Cookie who were now being escorted into their cell.  Cardania looked over the manifest and nodded that all was in order.  He signed the paper and ordered Basher and Gordo to unpack the truck. 

            

Hours passed as they the repair crews did their job in repairing the damaged machinery.  The second team played their cover as they ate snacks and made up stories of shop talk to keep things interesting.  Once the repairs were done The Silver Killers began to escort people to the assembly line.  Cardania approached the supply crew after he got off the phone, “That was roadway report; they said that there was an accident that you failed to mention it.”

            

“We didn’t think it was necessary.”  Grease Monkey told him.

            

“I would like to know what happened.”  Cardania persuaded.

            

“Sure thing.”  Nitrous spoke up from the corner of the room, “It happened like this.”  He held up a detonator in his hand and pressed a button.  Explosions erupted throughout the building!  Cardania began to pull out a gun but was stunned by Grease Monkey. 

            

Down below the cages opened up and the two members of The Ghost Squadron ran out of their cell.  Recon disengaged his cloaking device and handed them weapons.  They surveyed the scene.  All but Axer-Racer, Ivory and Lasher remained active; the others had been taken out of action by the blasts.  “I got Racer, Cookie you get Lasher…”  Black Ops began to order but was interrupted by Ruthers.

            

“I’ll take care of Ivory.”  Ruthers volunteered as she came out of the truck, “I need a change of scenery.” 

            

“The rest of you guys take out those Cyber-Drones.”  Black Ops finished his orders.

            

Ivory screamed at the top of the lungs using her vocal enhancers of sub-sonic frequencies to bring Ruthers to her knees.  Ruthers dodged the attacks thanks to her training as an assassin and she threw a knife that barely grazed the right cheek of her adversary.  Ivory was distracted enough from the attack that she didn’t respond in time for Ruthers’ attack.  Ruthers slammed her right fist into Ivory’s throat.  “It’s time for you to sing a different tune.”  Ruthers told her as she shot a blast from her Stun Blaster. 

            

Lasher tried to keep Cookie at bay by using his long whip like fingers.  “Aren’t you too old for this type of gig old man?”

            

“That all depends youngster.”  Cookie answered as he lit up his torches, “But the question is can you take the heat?”  He pointed his arms towards Lasher and unleashed a fury of fire at the former rock star and melted off the whips.

            

“I can’t believe it!”  Lasher screamed in horror.

            

“Believe it!”  Cookie told him as he punched him out.

            

Axer-Racer tried to use the speed of his wheels to run over Black Ops who dodged him at each turn.  “Why don’t you stay still and let me reunite you with your son?”

            

“You’ll see here in a minute.”  Black Ops said with a crooked smile.

            

“I’m going to run you down!”  Axer-Racer threatened as he charged at full speed. 

             

Black Ops was standing next to a barrel of oil and he threw it onto the ground causing a major oil spill!  “Speed kills!”  He said as he side stepped.

            

“Oh no!”  Axer-Racer cried as he hit the oil and spun out of control until he hit the wall!  He landed on the ground face first unconscious.

            

“Didn’t even need to fire a shot.”  Black Ops said proudly as he and the others helped the others finish up what was left of The Cyber-Drones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

            

Hours later The Ghost Squadron had loaded the back of the Semi-Truck with their prisoners and sent them on their way to the nearest air strip where they met up with The Alpha Squad in The Raven to transport the prisoners to The Cell!  “Nice work!”  Jacob congratulated them.  “This will sure put a dent in The Society’s operations.”

            

“When you include one of their head agents and also one of their teams, I’d say that is a pretty big dent.”  Black Ops agreed.

            

“Now that this mission is over you can return to your original operation.”  Jacob told them.

            

“We will once Grease Monkey makes come modifications to the back of the Semi and turn it into a mobile headquarters.  This way we do not have to make several trips back here just for some stuff.”  Black Ops informed.

            

“And how is Ruthers working out?”  Jacob asked next.

            

“So far so good.  Time will tell whether or not she is being legit with us or not.”  Black Ops stopped, “There is one thing I would like to know.”

            

“And what is that?”

            

“Do you believe my son will come back?” 

            

“Yes I do believe he will…he has to.”  Jacob said with confidence.

            

“Me too.” 

            

“By the way, will you tell Resource or Recon to make up his mind on his code name…it’s getting awfully confusing.”  Jacob said wryly.

            

“I’ll be sure to tell him.”  Black Ops assured him.

            

“The prisoners our locked in and we’re all set for lift off.”  Shieldra reported.

            

“Then it’s time for us to take our leave.”  Jacob turned to The Ghost Squadron, “Keep up the good work.”

            

Black Ops and the others watched The Raven take off into the sky.  Black Ops had trouble taking his eyes off the sky for he knew in his heart his son, The Dark-Rider was looking back down from Heaven.