Descent from Above
Disclaimer: I own neither the Kingdom Hearts or Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego franchises. However the world of Britannica is my creation as is the character of Lance Corporal Theodore Hawkwood.
~ ~ ~ ~
0330 hours; March 12, 1990 – The C-130 Hercules aircraft, belonging to the RAF No. 24 Squadron flew high over the San Francisco area. Its IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system broadcast it as simply an Air Australia flight heading into San Francisco. There was no way of knowing that a two man British sniper team from 3 Para was aboard her. They were given a mission, to gather intelligence about the world they were about to drop into and radio back to HQ. If the Heartless were determined to have infested the world then either the SAS would launch a mission or the Parachute Regiment would make a landing.
All of this was clearly secondary to Lance Corporal Theodore Hawkwood, one of the two snipers. At nineteen years old, he had already spent three years in the British Army as a boy soldier, learning the lethal trade of sniping. After a year in Northern Ireland against the IRA he thought himself a combat veteran. However this was his first mission against the Heartless, the dark threat that threatened not only the world of Britannica but also every world in existence. Which is why this sniper team was being parachuted into this other dimension, to combat the threat of the Heartless. Hawkwood mentally checked over his gear one more time. His M-16 rifle, 5.56mm magazines, belt kit, and bergen (rucksack) were all in place, his all important main and auxiliary parachutes were in order, and that all of his gear was secure. Both men wore woodland patterned DPM (disruptive pattern material) uniforms and their faces were darkened with camouflage face paint.
The second member of the sniper team, Sergeant Alfie Danvers, was a short, stocky fellow with a shaved head with the punched in nose of a boxer. "Calm down lad, you've already seen service, stop acting like a bloody squaddy on his way to his first combat operation."
Danvers was twenty-five, with the hardened, jaundiced air inherent to all combat veterans. He made sure his own gear was in order, and that his L96A1 sniper rifle and telescopic sight were in order. Hawkwood was his spotter, meaning his main job was to spot targets and provide range calculations for any shots Danvers would have to make. His job was also rear security, which was why Hawkwood was carrying more firepower with the M-16 assault rifle.
"Ten seconds to jump." The RAF load master called out.
Both men performed their last checks and Hawkwood crossed himself as the green light came on for the jump and the rear cargo door of the C-130 opened wide. Hawkwood jumped first, counting to ten before pulling his ripcord. Above him he could see Danvers' chute opening up as well.
As soon as Ted hit dirt, he freed himself from his parachute and did a sweet of the area with his M-16, no sign of anything in the drop zone. Behind him he could hear Alfie hit the dirt as well. Both Alfie and Ted buried their parachutes under some bushes and they picked their hide, an area on a slight rise, obscured by bush and tree and just below the crest of the hill. Ted set up the spotter scope and Alfie set up his L96A1 on a bipod and picked up his field glasses. The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) was to move hides every few days unless something of interest was observed.
~ ~ ~ ~
"C'mon Zack, quit trying to walk." Ivy taunted from the pitcher's mound. Armando was behind the catcher's mound. The score was four to four with a runner on first and two outs. Ivy had so far pitched two innings, and now Zack had two strikes and three balls. This last pitch could determine whether he walked or not.
Ivy caught Armando's signal, low and inside, fast ball. Ivy had already gotten her last strike on a curve, so why not try a fast ball for this one. She lobbed the ball underhanded with as much speed as she could. For all of his clumsiness, however, Zack recovered and hit a nice grounder between first base and second. Josha, playing first base, went after the ball while Ivy covered first.
Marco, who had been the runner on first, was just stopped at third base when Josha lobbed it to Tatiana on third. "Out." Ivy said.
The ACME detectives witnessed a horrifying sight right after that play. A homeless man that was known to hang around the park ran by, as though he was being chased by something. He fell on his back just as a creature; a small black humanoid with glowing yellow eyes and antennae came forward. It stood atop the man's chest and plunged one of its clawed hands into his chest. Incredibly, another of the creatures appeared where the man had once been.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Shit, Heartless." Hawkwood reported.
"Damn, they're getting too close to those kids." Alfie replied.
"They're at 550 meters." Hawkwood reported, again, flicking off the safety of his M-16.
"Damn, we can't engage them without revealing our positions..." Alfie replied.
"That embankment's between us and the Heartless, if we fire the sound will look like it came from a hundred meters closer." Hawkwood said, "That should buy us some time. It's the SOP (standard operating procedure) to fire to save lives..."
"Right." Alfie replied, "After we take those bastards out we split up and head for the RV (rendezvous point)."
"Ready." Alfie said, "Range me."
"Five hundred and seventy two meters..." Hawkwood reported, leveling his own M-16.
"As soon as I fire on the leader you kill the second one..." Alfie replied, as he corrected his scope, leveling his crosshairs onto the lead Heartless that was charging for the ACME detectives.
Alfie slowly squeezed the trigger on the L96A1, this shot had to count because unlike Hawkwood's M-16 his L96A1 was a bolt action weapon, meaning he had to manually cycle the bolt in order to get a fresh round into the chamber. He breathed deeply to get more oxygenated blood into his lungs as he made a couple last minute aim corrections. He squeezed the trigger and exhaled slowly, rhythmically, unhurried and unrushed as Hawkwood took aim on his mark. The trigger break occurred at seven pounds of pressure and the rifle bucked in Alfie's hands as the 7.62 round left the barrel and traveled into the Heartless' head.
Hawkwood fired just then and the M-16 bucked, sending a single smaller, but no less deadly 5.56mm round down range into the head of the second Heartless.
"Go! Go! Go!" Alfie shouted and the two snipers split in opposite directions away from their likely pursuers.
~ ~ ~ ~
Almost as soon as the strange creatures appeared the ACME Detectives watched the Shadow Heartless take rounds into their heads. The unmistakable sound of gunfire could be heard. "Josha, call HQ for backup." Ivy said, "Armando, Tatiana follow Zack and I into the woods."
"Ivy, these guys have guns..." Zack cautioned.
"Little bro, if they had intended to kill us they would have done it a long time ago." Ivy replied as they charged through the foliage, "I don't think they were after us, they were after those weird creatures that appeared on the softball field."
"Ivy watch out!" Zack shouted as a man wearing the forest patterned DPM uniform turned towards them and lobbed a spherical device.
"Grenade!" Ivy shouted.
The grenade went off, but instead of fragments of metal it only produced a dark cloud of smoke that obscured the vision of the four detectives. "See...(cough)...I told you." Ivy replied, "If he had been targeting us he would have shot us first. The fact that he threw us that smoke grenade is another fact."
"He's getting away Ivy..." Zack began.
"Armando, Tatiana, go right, we'll go circle around left, see if we can't surround him." Ivy began.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Wanker." Hawkwood shouted, as he discarded his bergen. He'd return for the fifty pounds of gear in the thing later, when things had died down, but now it was important that he not reveal himself to the people of this world any more than he already had.
The four youths chasing him were his age if not younger. The redhead that was leading them was pretty persistent as was the younger blonde kid. The Spanish bloke and the female blonde had been sent to try to circle him.
It was then that the Spanish boy tried to tackle him. Hawkwood quickly escaped the hold and through a combination of a jab, right cross and an uppercut to the stomach showed him how he had won the light welterweight championship for 3 Para as a boy soldier just shy of his seventeenth birthday. Hawkwood picked up his M-16 rifle and ran off into the woods.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Armando? Are you alright?" Ivy asked.
"Ugh, that guy's got a mean right..." Armando groaned.
"Zack, there he is." Ivy shouted, even as she spoke she executed a flying kick that struck the mysterious man in the stomach.
"Gah..." Hawkwood groaned but he recovered quickly. Ivy looked up at her opponent, despite his camouflaged face and his near shaven head she could tell he was nineteen at the oldest.
Ivy went to take him down again with a jujitsu move she had learned but the mysterious stranger somehow managed to sidestep and place her in a headlock. The strange thing about this entire fight seemed that the mysterious soldier didn't want to hurt any of them, for one he didn't reach for that combat knife at his side though he could have easily extracted it after Ivy's kick had failed to neutralize him.
Zack saw that his sister was in obvious trouble and scooped up the M-16 and jammed the barrel into the back of Hawkwood's neck. "Freeze!"
Hawkwood raised his hands, letting go of Ivy. He backed away slowly as Ivy regained her breath and asked, "Who are you?"
"Hawkwood, Theodore. Lance Corporal. 7238-8345. June 15, 1971."
"What are you doing here? Obviously we're not your main target..." Ivy began.
"It's those creatures that came for you. They're called Heartless." Hawkwood began, "I've already said too much about what you've seen."
"Well the alternative is to turn you over to the civic authorities and have them go through all your gear. I'm sure the police don't take too kindly to paramilitary types going through our cities, especially foreign paramilitary types." Ivy began.
"Right, I suppose I don't have much of a choice. It's a rather long story, so if its possible could I tell you this in a slightly more comfortable locale than out here in the woods." Hawkwood replied. As if to emphasize his point rain began to fall. He conceded that compromising a bit of information to two people near his age wasn't nearly as bad as being stuck in a holding cell somewhere.
"I suppose that can be arranged." Ivy replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack and Ivy's house
Half an hour later Ivy, Zack, and Hawkwood all had proceeded into the Darren household. To look a little less obviously military Hawkwood had broken down his rifle and took off his belt kit, DPM smock and fatigue blouse. He rolled the smock and blouse around the parts of his rifle and belt kit and carried it tucked under his arm. Over his shoulder was slung his bergen. He still wore his olive drab undershirt and DPM trousers and boots but he looked a little less aggressive and a bit less military.
"Zack? Ivy?" Mrs. Darren asked, "Who's your friend?"
"Mom, this is Theodore Hawkwood, he's...uhm...an..." Ivy began.
"Great job sis." Zack whispered under his breath.
"The exchange student from the UK." Ivy quickly replied.
"Nice to meet you Theodore." Mrs. Darren said, extending a hand. As they shook hands, Mrs. Darren got a bit of earth from Hawkwood's right hand on it.
"Oh my, how did you get so dirty?" Mrs. Darren asked.
"I believe that was completely by accident ma'am." Hawkwood replied, "And normally I prefer to go by Ted."
"Well, the bathroom's upstairs if you'd like to get cleaned up. Zack, Ivy, that spare fold out bed in your activity room isn't still there is it?" Mrs. Darren asked.
"It's still there mom." Ivy replied.
The three of them eventually got upstairs and Ivy turned to Zack saying, "I didn't here you coming up with anything..."
"Aw sis, let up..." Zack replied.
Ivy handed Hawkwood an extra towel, "Zack do you still have those jeans Aunt Mable sent you?"
"Yeah Ive, I still have them." Zack replied.
"I think they might fit our guest here." Ivy replied, "And do you have any extra t-shirts?"
"Yeah, I do, but he's taller than me, it might not fit him very well." Zack asked.
"Well it'll have to do until we can get him to the mall or something. He needs to look more like a civilian if he's gonna be around here long." Ivy replied.
Presently Hawkwood had finished showering and changing and the trio of them sat in the activity room. It was the small room in the downstairs where a sofa bed, a small TV set, and several different books and albums from the teen sleuths various adventures were on shelves and tables throughout the room.
"So what exactly are you?" Ivy asked.
"This is gonna be a little strange." Hawkwood replied, making sure the door was closed as he spoke, "Imagine that this world you live in, everything you think is familiar and only one world is actually many separate worlds."
"You're talking about other dimensions?" Zack asked.
"Exactly. My world is a place known as Britannica." Ted replied, "And those things, the Heartless, the creatures I'd killed at the park feed not only on the hearts of people. They feed on the hearts of worlds..."
"What?" Ivy asked, "You've gotta be kidding?"
"No, I'm not." Ted replied, "The Heartless, even now, seek the heart of your world and once they consume it everything you know will be destroyed."
"What about you, are you some kind of soldier that's supposed to stop them?" Ivy asked.
"I am some kind of soldier. I'm with Her Majesty's Parachute Regiment, I'm a sniper as you can tell by the small scope atop my Armalite." Ted replied.
"So you're saying this Parachute Regiment of yours has a lot of you guys on our world?" Ivy asked.
"No, not necessarily." Ted replied, "In the case of snipers they drop us in alone or in pairs so that we determine the presence of Heartless on a world. We are instructed to fire only to save the lives of people in danger or to protect ourselves."
"And was anyone else with you?" Ivy asked.
"No, I was parachuted in alone." Ted lied, he wasn't entirely sure he could trust the two just yet.
"So what if Heartless are detected?" Ivy asked.
"Any number of things could occur." Ted replied, "It depends on presence of Heartless indicated on the world. After forty eight hours a detachment of Pathfinders will be sent to gage the extent of Heartless infiltration." Ted replied, "Then we relay the information to our commanders and they decide where to proceed from there."
"What do they usually do?" Ivy asked.
"Let's just say it could range from covert action by the SAS to full scale air drops by the Parachute Regiment or landings by the Royal Marines." Ted replied, instinctively he trusted them, and if anything he learned to trust his instincts to stay alive in a combat zone, "Or even air strikes if the infestation is that bad."
"How long does it take?" Ivy asked.
"Normally about six days of reconnaissance to determine Heartless infestations plus another day for the Ministry of Defense to determine how we will proceed." Ted replied.
"That means we've got seven days to prevent that from happening." Ivy replied, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ted, but we don't usually like invasions or air strikes, or anything of that sort in our backyards."
"I'm well aware of that." Ted replied, "As evidenced by the fight you gave me in the park. Now how do you propose to fight the Heartless?"
"Zack and I belong to a detective agency known as ACME. It has offices all over this world." Ivy replied, "And I can't think of any other way to stop creatures that like to take over worlds without the help of an agency that is embedded throughout this world."
"I like how you think." Ted began, "But the trouble is, you've never fought the Heartless."
"Well you have." Ivy replied, "And with your help we'll be able to fight them off."
"A grand scheme but how, with three people, do you suppose we stop a plague that has at times bested battalions of the Queen's best regiments?" Ted replied.
"I'm working on it." Ivy thought, "What causes the Heartless to appear? What do we know about them?"
"Normally major villains in a world summon them either intentionally or unintentionally. The Heartless are drawn to that small bit of darkness lurking in all our hearts. Naturally they'd be attracted to those who have the most darkness in them..." Ted replied.
"So, are you in or not?" Zack asked.
"I'm in. I'll be damned if I see another world destroyed." Ted replied.
Ivy, Zack, and Ted put their hands together as they made their silent vow to stop the Heartless any way they could.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Take the bodies to our testing facility." The dark haired woman wearing dark sunglasses and a conservative business suit said. Were it not for the card reading NSA clipped to her breast pocket she could easily pass for any number of the office workers and executives that were walking about the San Francisco area."
"Yes ma'am." A blonde haired fellow in his mid twenties replied.
"Vince, make sure that the technicians run a full analysis." The woman replied, "I have a feeling that there may be more of these creatures running around."
"Ms. Atron?" another NSA man said, "We've checked the surrounding area, there's no sign of the people who shot those creatures."
"Keep searching Kane, I don't like the idea of interlopers in our backyards. Remember, keep this operation as discrete and quiet as possible..." Danielle Atron replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (AN: Couldn't resist the Alex Mack tie in towards the end.)
Disclaimer: I own neither the Kingdom Hearts or Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego franchises. However the world of Britannica is my creation as is the character of Lance Corporal Theodore Hawkwood.
~ ~ ~ ~
0330 hours; March 12, 1990 – The C-130 Hercules aircraft, belonging to the RAF No. 24 Squadron flew high over the San Francisco area. Its IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system broadcast it as simply an Air Australia flight heading into San Francisco. There was no way of knowing that a two man British sniper team from 3 Para was aboard her. They were given a mission, to gather intelligence about the world they were about to drop into and radio back to HQ. If the Heartless were determined to have infested the world then either the SAS would launch a mission or the Parachute Regiment would make a landing.
All of this was clearly secondary to Lance Corporal Theodore Hawkwood, one of the two snipers. At nineteen years old, he had already spent three years in the British Army as a boy soldier, learning the lethal trade of sniping. After a year in Northern Ireland against the IRA he thought himself a combat veteran. However this was his first mission against the Heartless, the dark threat that threatened not only the world of Britannica but also every world in existence. Which is why this sniper team was being parachuted into this other dimension, to combat the threat of the Heartless. Hawkwood mentally checked over his gear one more time. His M-16 rifle, 5.56mm magazines, belt kit, and bergen (rucksack) were all in place, his all important main and auxiliary parachutes were in order, and that all of his gear was secure. Both men wore woodland patterned DPM (disruptive pattern material) uniforms and their faces were darkened with camouflage face paint.
The second member of the sniper team, Sergeant Alfie Danvers, was a short, stocky fellow with a shaved head with the punched in nose of a boxer. "Calm down lad, you've already seen service, stop acting like a bloody squaddy on his way to his first combat operation."
Danvers was twenty-five, with the hardened, jaundiced air inherent to all combat veterans. He made sure his own gear was in order, and that his L96A1 sniper rifle and telescopic sight were in order. Hawkwood was his spotter, meaning his main job was to spot targets and provide range calculations for any shots Danvers would have to make. His job was also rear security, which was why Hawkwood was carrying more firepower with the M-16 assault rifle.
"Ten seconds to jump." The RAF load master called out.
Both men performed their last checks and Hawkwood crossed himself as the green light came on for the jump and the rear cargo door of the C-130 opened wide. Hawkwood jumped first, counting to ten before pulling his ripcord. Above him he could see Danvers' chute opening up as well.
As soon as Ted hit dirt, he freed himself from his parachute and did a sweet of the area with his M-16, no sign of anything in the drop zone. Behind him he could hear Alfie hit the dirt as well. Both Alfie and Ted buried their parachutes under some bushes and they picked their hide, an area on a slight rise, obscured by bush and tree and just below the crest of the hill. Ted set up the spotter scope and Alfie set up his L96A1 on a bipod and picked up his field glasses. The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) was to move hides every few days unless something of interest was observed.
~ ~ ~ ~
"C'mon Zack, quit trying to walk." Ivy taunted from the pitcher's mound. Armando was behind the catcher's mound. The score was four to four with a runner on first and two outs. Ivy had so far pitched two innings, and now Zack had two strikes and three balls. This last pitch could determine whether he walked or not.
Ivy caught Armando's signal, low and inside, fast ball. Ivy had already gotten her last strike on a curve, so why not try a fast ball for this one. She lobbed the ball underhanded with as much speed as she could. For all of his clumsiness, however, Zack recovered and hit a nice grounder between first base and second. Josha, playing first base, went after the ball while Ivy covered first.
Marco, who had been the runner on first, was just stopped at third base when Josha lobbed it to Tatiana on third. "Out." Ivy said.
The ACME detectives witnessed a horrifying sight right after that play. A homeless man that was known to hang around the park ran by, as though he was being chased by something. He fell on his back just as a creature; a small black humanoid with glowing yellow eyes and antennae came forward. It stood atop the man's chest and plunged one of its clawed hands into his chest. Incredibly, another of the creatures appeared where the man had once been.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Shit, Heartless." Hawkwood reported.
"Damn, they're getting too close to those kids." Alfie replied.
"They're at 550 meters." Hawkwood reported, again, flicking off the safety of his M-16.
"Damn, we can't engage them without revealing our positions..." Alfie replied.
"That embankment's between us and the Heartless, if we fire the sound will look like it came from a hundred meters closer." Hawkwood said, "That should buy us some time. It's the SOP (standard operating procedure) to fire to save lives..."
"Right." Alfie replied, "After we take those bastards out we split up and head for the RV (rendezvous point)."
"Ready." Alfie said, "Range me."
"Five hundred and seventy two meters..." Hawkwood reported, leveling his own M-16.
"As soon as I fire on the leader you kill the second one..." Alfie replied, as he corrected his scope, leveling his crosshairs onto the lead Heartless that was charging for the ACME detectives.
Alfie slowly squeezed the trigger on the L96A1, this shot had to count because unlike Hawkwood's M-16 his L96A1 was a bolt action weapon, meaning he had to manually cycle the bolt in order to get a fresh round into the chamber. He breathed deeply to get more oxygenated blood into his lungs as he made a couple last minute aim corrections. He squeezed the trigger and exhaled slowly, rhythmically, unhurried and unrushed as Hawkwood took aim on his mark. The trigger break occurred at seven pounds of pressure and the rifle bucked in Alfie's hands as the 7.62 round left the barrel and traveled into the Heartless' head.
Hawkwood fired just then and the M-16 bucked, sending a single smaller, but no less deadly 5.56mm round down range into the head of the second Heartless.
"Go! Go! Go!" Alfie shouted and the two snipers split in opposite directions away from their likely pursuers.
~ ~ ~ ~
Almost as soon as the strange creatures appeared the ACME Detectives watched the Shadow Heartless take rounds into their heads. The unmistakable sound of gunfire could be heard. "Josha, call HQ for backup." Ivy said, "Armando, Tatiana follow Zack and I into the woods."
"Ivy, these guys have guns..." Zack cautioned.
"Little bro, if they had intended to kill us they would have done it a long time ago." Ivy replied as they charged through the foliage, "I don't think they were after us, they were after those weird creatures that appeared on the softball field."
"Ivy watch out!" Zack shouted as a man wearing the forest patterned DPM uniform turned towards them and lobbed a spherical device.
"Grenade!" Ivy shouted.
The grenade went off, but instead of fragments of metal it only produced a dark cloud of smoke that obscured the vision of the four detectives. "See...(cough)...I told you." Ivy replied, "If he had been targeting us he would have shot us first. The fact that he threw us that smoke grenade is another fact."
"He's getting away Ivy..." Zack began.
"Armando, Tatiana, go right, we'll go circle around left, see if we can't surround him." Ivy began.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Wanker." Hawkwood shouted, as he discarded his bergen. He'd return for the fifty pounds of gear in the thing later, when things had died down, but now it was important that he not reveal himself to the people of this world any more than he already had.
The four youths chasing him were his age if not younger. The redhead that was leading them was pretty persistent as was the younger blonde kid. The Spanish bloke and the female blonde had been sent to try to circle him.
It was then that the Spanish boy tried to tackle him. Hawkwood quickly escaped the hold and through a combination of a jab, right cross and an uppercut to the stomach showed him how he had won the light welterweight championship for 3 Para as a boy soldier just shy of his seventeenth birthday. Hawkwood picked up his M-16 rifle and ran off into the woods.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Armando? Are you alright?" Ivy asked.
"Ugh, that guy's got a mean right..." Armando groaned.
"Zack, there he is." Ivy shouted, even as she spoke she executed a flying kick that struck the mysterious man in the stomach.
"Gah..." Hawkwood groaned but he recovered quickly. Ivy looked up at her opponent, despite his camouflaged face and his near shaven head she could tell he was nineteen at the oldest.
Ivy went to take him down again with a jujitsu move she had learned but the mysterious stranger somehow managed to sidestep and place her in a headlock. The strange thing about this entire fight seemed that the mysterious soldier didn't want to hurt any of them, for one he didn't reach for that combat knife at his side though he could have easily extracted it after Ivy's kick had failed to neutralize him.
Zack saw that his sister was in obvious trouble and scooped up the M-16 and jammed the barrel into the back of Hawkwood's neck. "Freeze!"
Hawkwood raised his hands, letting go of Ivy. He backed away slowly as Ivy regained her breath and asked, "Who are you?"
"Hawkwood, Theodore. Lance Corporal. 7238-8345. June 15, 1971."
"What are you doing here? Obviously we're not your main target..." Ivy began.
"It's those creatures that came for you. They're called Heartless." Hawkwood began, "I've already said too much about what you've seen."
"Well the alternative is to turn you over to the civic authorities and have them go through all your gear. I'm sure the police don't take too kindly to paramilitary types going through our cities, especially foreign paramilitary types." Ivy began.
"Right, I suppose I don't have much of a choice. It's a rather long story, so if its possible could I tell you this in a slightly more comfortable locale than out here in the woods." Hawkwood replied. As if to emphasize his point rain began to fall. He conceded that compromising a bit of information to two people near his age wasn't nearly as bad as being stuck in a holding cell somewhere.
"I suppose that can be arranged." Ivy replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack and Ivy's house
Half an hour later Ivy, Zack, and Hawkwood all had proceeded into the Darren household. To look a little less obviously military Hawkwood had broken down his rifle and took off his belt kit, DPM smock and fatigue blouse. He rolled the smock and blouse around the parts of his rifle and belt kit and carried it tucked under his arm. Over his shoulder was slung his bergen. He still wore his olive drab undershirt and DPM trousers and boots but he looked a little less aggressive and a bit less military.
"Zack? Ivy?" Mrs. Darren asked, "Who's your friend?"
"Mom, this is Theodore Hawkwood, he's...uhm...an..." Ivy began.
"Great job sis." Zack whispered under his breath.
"The exchange student from the UK." Ivy quickly replied.
"Nice to meet you Theodore." Mrs. Darren said, extending a hand. As they shook hands, Mrs. Darren got a bit of earth from Hawkwood's right hand on it.
"Oh my, how did you get so dirty?" Mrs. Darren asked.
"I believe that was completely by accident ma'am." Hawkwood replied, "And normally I prefer to go by Ted."
"Well, the bathroom's upstairs if you'd like to get cleaned up. Zack, Ivy, that spare fold out bed in your activity room isn't still there is it?" Mrs. Darren asked.
"It's still there mom." Ivy replied.
The three of them eventually got upstairs and Ivy turned to Zack saying, "I didn't here you coming up with anything..."
"Aw sis, let up..." Zack replied.
Ivy handed Hawkwood an extra towel, "Zack do you still have those jeans Aunt Mable sent you?"
"Yeah Ive, I still have them." Zack replied.
"I think they might fit our guest here." Ivy replied, "And do you have any extra t-shirts?"
"Yeah, I do, but he's taller than me, it might not fit him very well." Zack asked.
"Well it'll have to do until we can get him to the mall or something. He needs to look more like a civilian if he's gonna be around here long." Ivy replied.
Presently Hawkwood had finished showering and changing and the trio of them sat in the activity room. It was the small room in the downstairs where a sofa bed, a small TV set, and several different books and albums from the teen sleuths various adventures were on shelves and tables throughout the room.
"So what exactly are you?" Ivy asked.
"This is gonna be a little strange." Hawkwood replied, making sure the door was closed as he spoke, "Imagine that this world you live in, everything you think is familiar and only one world is actually many separate worlds."
"You're talking about other dimensions?" Zack asked.
"Exactly. My world is a place known as Britannica." Ted replied, "And those things, the Heartless, the creatures I'd killed at the park feed not only on the hearts of people. They feed on the hearts of worlds..."
"What?" Ivy asked, "You've gotta be kidding?"
"No, I'm not." Ted replied, "The Heartless, even now, seek the heart of your world and once they consume it everything you know will be destroyed."
"What about you, are you some kind of soldier that's supposed to stop them?" Ivy asked.
"I am some kind of soldier. I'm with Her Majesty's Parachute Regiment, I'm a sniper as you can tell by the small scope atop my Armalite." Ted replied.
"So you're saying this Parachute Regiment of yours has a lot of you guys on our world?" Ivy asked.
"No, not necessarily." Ted replied, "In the case of snipers they drop us in alone or in pairs so that we determine the presence of Heartless on a world. We are instructed to fire only to save the lives of people in danger or to protect ourselves."
"And was anyone else with you?" Ivy asked.
"No, I was parachuted in alone." Ted lied, he wasn't entirely sure he could trust the two just yet.
"So what if Heartless are detected?" Ivy asked.
"Any number of things could occur." Ted replied, "It depends on presence of Heartless indicated on the world. After forty eight hours a detachment of Pathfinders will be sent to gage the extent of Heartless infiltration." Ted replied, "Then we relay the information to our commanders and they decide where to proceed from there."
"What do they usually do?" Ivy asked.
"Let's just say it could range from covert action by the SAS to full scale air drops by the Parachute Regiment or landings by the Royal Marines." Ted replied, instinctively he trusted them, and if anything he learned to trust his instincts to stay alive in a combat zone, "Or even air strikes if the infestation is that bad."
"How long does it take?" Ivy asked.
"Normally about six days of reconnaissance to determine Heartless infestations plus another day for the Ministry of Defense to determine how we will proceed." Ted replied.
"That means we've got seven days to prevent that from happening." Ivy replied, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ted, but we don't usually like invasions or air strikes, or anything of that sort in our backyards."
"I'm well aware of that." Ted replied, "As evidenced by the fight you gave me in the park. Now how do you propose to fight the Heartless?"
"Zack and I belong to a detective agency known as ACME. It has offices all over this world." Ivy replied, "And I can't think of any other way to stop creatures that like to take over worlds without the help of an agency that is embedded throughout this world."
"I like how you think." Ted began, "But the trouble is, you've never fought the Heartless."
"Well you have." Ivy replied, "And with your help we'll be able to fight them off."
"A grand scheme but how, with three people, do you suppose we stop a plague that has at times bested battalions of the Queen's best regiments?" Ted replied.
"I'm working on it." Ivy thought, "What causes the Heartless to appear? What do we know about them?"
"Normally major villains in a world summon them either intentionally or unintentionally. The Heartless are drawn to that small bit of darkness lurking in all our hearts. Naturally they'd be attracted to those who have the most darkness in them..." Ted replied.
"So, are you in or not?" Zack asked.
"I'm in. I'll be damned if I see another world destroyed." Ted replied.
Ivy, Zack, and Ted put their hands together as they made their silent vow to stop the Heartless any way they could.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Take the bodies to our testing facility." The dark haired woman wearing dark sunglasses and a conservative business suit said. Were it not for the card reading NSA clipped to her breast pocket she could easily pass for any number of the office workers and executives that were walking about the San Francisco area."
"Yes ma'am." A blonde haired fellow in his mid twenties replied.
"Vince, make sure that the technicians run a full analysis." The woman replied, "I have a feeling that there may be more of these creatures running around."
"Ms. Atron?" another NSA man said, "We've checked the surrounding area, there's no sign of the people who shot those creatures."
"Keep searching Kane, I don't like the idea of interlopers in our backyards. Remember, keep this operation as discrete and quiet as possible..." Danielle Atron replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (AN: Couldn't resist the Alex Mack tie in towards the end.)