Giggling girls drank hot cocoa (with vodka, of course) in the distance, watching many of Dr. Rough’s minions work on making sure the new laser beam was operational. Damage had come from the stealing and smuggling of the weapon. Because this had come as a surprise once it had been moved within the icy lair, the men were working as quickly as possible to fix it all. Lena and Yulia, however, were far more entertained with each other’s company, waiting for the payments promised them for this prize.
The man who owed them payment was above them all, on one of the higher levels of the ice-covered palace, adorned with many snuggly furs for warmth. Dr. Twitches was also snug on his shoulder, his beady eyes focused on the same scene below as his master’s.
An eye twitched, as his greatest protégée came up beside him.
Justin Timberlake. That young boy was Himitsu Takana gold that had been twisted to the point where now he, Dr. Rough, could have him help execute his master plans in ways none of his other more inferior agents could. The problem with getting the ones who could not get into HimTak was the obvious fact of them not having that skill. This one did, had been of high rank, and was now even helping his own agents rise up in skill.
Howard’s eyes glanced over at his handiwork, the mechanical genius it had taken to give Drums that electronic eye which now defined him.
“The men said dey workin’ dey asses off, yo.” Only real problem was the way the boy talked. Agitated him to the highest level, but there was always a price when one wanted to show his greatness to the world by taking it over by force. At least the Ebonics would lessen when Drums was calm.
“Any progress?”
“Maybe a day. Genius to have this up while doin’ that Global Idol shiznit.”
He ran a hand over his greased, wavy curls, tying them back. “I have learned that if one is to bring Himitsu Takana to its knees, he can’t wait to develop a new plan. Many must go at once so I can keep firing more at them. They will tire, weaken, and eventually fall to their doom. I thought Global Idol could do it, but that damn Carter-”
He caught the slight look of pain in Drums's remaining eye. It was only for a second, fleeting, and almost invisible, but it was there. It disgusted Howie to see that Drums might still have remaining feelings for those he’d once worked with at HimTak. It meant his prize minion could turn on him, and that could lead to bad roads. His eye twitched again as his lips curved upward. Perhaps he could use this for his own benefit.
“-muddled things up. I should have had you target him instead of one of my lower minions. You can handle it, yes Drums?”
He nodded slowly, and Dr. Rough could see his mind trying to process it all. “It’s not a problem, is it? I thought when you joined you, you had nothing but hatred for those who had betrayed you. You said yourself it was Carter who gave you that handicap to begin with.”
Justin felt the rage boil through his body. It had been Nick who’d done it. HimTak who had turned him away. He just wished the occasional stab of guilt reminding him who those people had once been would remember they had driven him to this point. He had only served them well, and they had set off the chain of events against him that had gotten him here. His jaw set in determination. “It ain’t no problem, Dr. Rough.”
“Goooooood. Very good.” His hand stroked his prized ferret as his workers toiled over the ray.
Drums watched the ray, his mechanical eye evaluating every possibility of what it could do, feeding the information to him. Pearl, he would admit to himself, had been right about him being part machine in the end. But it had not been worse than death or not having the operation. That, she’d been wrong about. He had been lucky to find Dr. Rough, who had done the operation personally. He glanced over at his new mentor.
“Soon, when this is operational, we can test it on the southern polar cap, a show to the world of what we can do. We can get ultimate control by threatening to evaporate their water supply. HimTak will, of course, try to stop me, but we will take them down easily with world powers at our disposal. Then I will be invincible! Then they will finally see that I, Dr. Rough, was beyond worthy of them. They will bow to me!” Howard cackled manically, gleeful at the joyful image he had concocted.
Justin laughed as well, feeling like he finally belonged somewhere again, for the first time since the accident that had taken his eye. Nothing was going to take that from him. Not again.
Agents Carter and Littrell stood on the edge of the Ross Shelf, directly across from the iceberg in question on the satellite images, searching for proof of their theory. Nick grinned as he took off the tinted goggles he was wearing and pulled a pair of sleek-looking Ray Bans from his pocket. That Pearl was not only a genius, he thought. She also had an excellent fashion sense.
Brian watched the younger man smile to himself as he slowly put the glasses on his face, practically striking a pose as he did so. “Who do you think you are, the Men In Black or something?”
“Not exactly,” Nick smirked. “Will Smith may be the shit, but my glasses are way cooler.”
Brian grunted his disapproval, but watched curiously as Nick pressed a small button on the side of his glasses. A tiny red light flashed, and the shades turned darker as the thermal imaging censors activated. Nick looked again at his target, this time through the cover of the ice, and saw a maze of different heat sources. Some he recognized as human bodies, others that looked like giant computers, and a slew of tiny spots that looked almost like dogs or cats. They appeared to be alive, but he couldn’t tell only by their heat exactly what he was looking at. Either way, that iceberg was definitely more than it appeared to be. An excited smile crossed the young agent’s face. “That’s not a moon; it’s a space station!”
“Carter!” Brian hissed as he tugged on the sleeve of Nick’s puffy coat.
Nick looked down at his partner, who was crouched behind a snow bank, with a disgusted look. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen Star Wars. You CIA guys are so lame.”
“Would you get down before someone sees you?!”
“I see you have no sense of humor either,” Nick grumbled, ignoring his partner’s request.
Nick looked at the all-white ensemble that was keeping him surprisingly warmer than he’d expected in the bright Antarctic climate and turned to face Brian. “It’s called camouflage, dumbass.”
“And those ridiculous black glasses don’t stick out at all.”
“Relax, man, no one can see me.”
“He can see you.”
Brian burst into laughter when Nick whirled around, fumbling for his gun, scared that he’d been spotted. But when he turned around, there was only a small penguin standing a few feet from him, watching them intently. Nick frowned at the penguin and then glared at Brian. “Real funny!”
“I thought you said I don’t have a sense of humor.” Brian smirked as he looked through a pair of binoculars. “Maybe we were wrong about this place. I think the only living thing on that iceberg is probably your new little friend there.”
Nick rolled his eyes at the brilliance of the CIA and ducked behind the snow bank. “Shows how much you know,” he grumbled as he handed Brian his glasses.
Brian put on the glasses and was amazed by the technology. As he scoped out the hidden ice fortress with the cool new toy, Nick watched the little penguin that now stood just inches from him. He smiled as he held out his hand, wanting to pet the cute little guy, but as he reached for it, the penguin was startled. It slowly backed away from Nick, with its feet gliding across the ice as if it were dancing until it rested on the edge of the water.
“Did you see that?” Nick gasped.
“See what?” Brian asked, still playing with the heat-detecting glasses.
Nick turned back to the animal, and it seemed to wink at him before diving into the cold water. Nick shook his head in disbelief and watched the penguin race toward the iceberg. “That penguin just did the moonwalk, and then it…” Nick hesitated at the ridiculousness of his statement. “…winked at me before it swam away.”
“The moonwalking penguin just winked at you?” Brian raised an eyebrow as he took off the glasses. “Lord, what was my cousin thinking, leaving the fate of the world in your hands?!”
“I’m serious! There was something really freaky about that penguin.”
“Would you shut up about the penguin? Look, I think our best bet is to head for that part of the iceberg there. That appears to be the back side. And I can’t be sure, but I think that’s a door.”
Nick smirked as he hopped into the small speedboat they’d borrowed from the McMurdo station. “Figures you’d want to go in the back door.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brian snapped.
“Nothing.”
Nick laughed at the anger in Brian’s voice and plopped himself behind the steering wheel of the boat, but soon stopped laughing when he felt the force of the man called The Rok push him from his chair. “I’m driving this time,” Brian grumbled, and the boat went sailing toward the iceberg.
They docked on the back side of the iceberg, and when they reached the secret entrance, Nick frowned as he mindlessly pressed buttons on the electronic keypad. “Stop touching that before you disable it!” Brian barked as he came up behind Nick.
“How else are we supposed to get inside?”
“You have your toys, and I have mine.” Brian smirked as he pulled a small electronic decoder from his bag and plugged it in to the keypad.
Nick frowned when, in a matter of seconds, the entrance code was broken, and the large white door slid open gracefully. “Where’d you get that?”
Brian smiled, proud that he was finally one-upping Nick. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Brian said, ducking quietly into the empty hallway.
Nick rolled his eyes, as if he thought the line was corny, but deep down he was just mad he hadn’t thought of it first. With a frown, he pressed a button on his watch. Brian glared at Nick when his watch buzzed to life, making just enough noise to alert people to their presence. “Hey, 00carter! How goes the top secret mission?” chirped Pearl’s cheerful voice.
“Shh!” Nick whispered, smiling at the image of his friend as he crept down the hall behind Brian.
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Pearl giggled. “Are we sneaking?”
“Yeah, we’re inside some kind of secret ice fortress. It’s cool as hell.”
“Well, that’s because it’s made of ice, silly.”
“Not that kind of cool, Pearl! Hey listen, the CIA guy has this cool decoder thing that opens up doors locked with key pads. Think you could make me one of those?”
Brian stopped in his tracks to give Nick a completely disgusted look. He couldn’t believe Nick was having this conversation when they were in the middle of a serious operation behind enemy lines. “What?” Nick shrugged and then turned his attention back to his watch. “So could you?”
“Child’s play.” Pearl laughed.
“Sweet! Oh, but could you make mine cool-looking? Brian’s looks like some kind of Gameboy from the nineties.”
Brian glared one more time and then rubbed his now-aching head as he continued walking.
“I’ll do you one better,” Pearl’s voice crackled. “I’ll make you one out of an actual Gameboy. That way you can play games on it as well.”
“Make it a Playstation?”
“You got it, gorgeous.”
“You’re the best, Pearly.”
“Hey!” Brian hissed as he stopped outside a door marked Giant Laser Control Room. “Would you shut up before you get us caught?!”
Nick rolled his eyes at Pearl and then clicked off his watch. “Would you stop telling me how to run MY mission?”
“Our mission,” Brian grumbled.
“My mission,” Nick corrected as he wandered into the control room.
The room was huge, and in the middle of it stood a giant laser. “Someone’s compensating for something,” Nick laughed as he started poking around with the buttons at the base of the machine.
“What did I tell you about touching things?”
“Well, we have to disable it somehow.”
Brian pushed Nick out of his way with a huff. “You’re going to kill somebody,” he grumbled. “I’ll disable it. You make yourself useful and go stand watch or something.”
“Stand watch? I’m not gonna stand watch; you go stand watch!”
“Just do it, Carter!” Brian yelled as he began to fumble around with the buttons.
Nick was furious, but as he watched Brian touch option after option on a large screen, it appeared the man knew what he was doing, so Nick decided to drop it and snoop around the lab a little. He began rummaging through papers on a desk and found a manila folder. “F.A.N.S.?” he read aloud, curiously reciting the four letters stamped below the words Top Secret stamped in red ink on the front.
He started to flip through the papers inside, when the door to the control room opened behind him. This time, both he and Brian whirled around. They laughed and lowered their weapons when they saw a penguin standing there. Brian tucked his gun back into its holster and went back to work on the laser, while Nick rolled up the file in his hand and tucked it safely into his inside coat pocket as he stared down his little visitor.
The penguin seemed to stare back, as if it were enjoying the rivalry, and then, once again, it winked at Nick before moonwalking out of the room. “Dude, tell me you saw that!” Nick said to Brian, but couldn’t take his eyes off the door the dancing animal had just slid out of.
“Saw what?” Brian muttered.
Nick headed toward the door just as a man walked through it, holding some crackers in his hand. “MJ!” he called. “Come on, buddy, you know Dr. Rough doesn’t like it when you miss your nap! MJ!”
Nick and Brian froze when the man saw them, but he simply smiled at them and said, “You guys see a penguin come in here?”
Nick and Brian looked at one another, completely astonished, and then Nick smiled back to the man. “Cute little guy with a twitch? Likes to do the moonwalk? Yeah, he went that way.”
Nick pointed to the door, and the man automatically started to leave. Nick looked at Brian again, and they both tried to hold back laughter, until the man stopped at the door. “Hey, wait a minute!” he yelled, as he realized that Nick and Brian were on the wrong team.
The minion reached for his walkie-talkie, but Nick lunged at him, forcing the radio to go flying across the room. “Agent Littrell, whatever you’re doing over there, you’d better hurry it up!” Nick yelled as he wrestled the drone.
Nick was a strong man, but Dr. Rough hired his minions for brawn, not brains, and the man was putting up a hell of a fight. Nick punched the short man in the jaw, sending him flying back against the large desk, but the man was back on his feet before Nick could draw his gun, and the guy punched Nick in the gut, forcing the air from his lungs.
Nick doubled over with a cough, and the man headed straight for Brian. The man grabbed Brian from behind and tore him away from the tangled mess of wires he’d been trying to cut. Brian equaled the minion in size, and for a minute, Nick watched the fistfight that ensued in awe. He may not be the smartest partner in the world, Nick thought, but at least he’s good for something.
As Brian ducked a punch and then threw one of his own, he noticed Nick watching him. “A little help here, 008?”
Nick shook him self from his daze and then looked around. He grabbed a metal chair from the desk and ran at the stranger with full force. When he cracked the chair over his back, the guy fell to his knees, and Brian went back to work disabling the weapon.
The minion scrambled to his feet again and grabbed the chair. He swung it at Nick, who ducked it easily, and the chair went crashing into the laser, sending electricity pulsing through the metal legs and frying the man holding it. Once dead, the man fell to the ground, and Nick and Brian sent looks of equal disgust to one another, cringing at the smell of charred flesh. “That’s disgusting,” Nick said, trying to keep the contents of his stomach from coming back up. “Dude, hurry so we can get out of here.”
Brian shook off the disturbing image and focused his attention back on the wires in front of him. “Just a few more to go.”
Nick peered over his shoulder curiously. “Can’t you just cut them all at once?”
“No!” Brian replied as if that were the most idiotic suggestion he’d ever heard. “You have to kill the circuits one at a time in the right order, or the thing will know its being tampered with.”
“It’ll just know? Like it’s alive or something? Like attack of the giant killer laser?”
“It’s like working with a ten-year-old,” Brian muttered under his breath. He was trying to keep his cool, so as not to mess up and cut the wrong wire. “It’s programmed with a failsafe,” he explained, but Nick shrugged, so he put it in terms he would understand. “Like a booby trap.”
Brian rolled his eyes as he watched the light go on inside Nick’s head. “If you trigger the failsafe, it will set the weapon into self-destruct mode. A power source this big would most likely blow this berg right out of the water.”
Nick’s eyes grew wide, and then he smirked as Brian held his knife over the last three wires. “No pressure, huh?” He laughed, causing Brian to pull his knife back.
“Do you mind?”
“Sorry,” Nick grumbled.
He glanced over his shoulder at the rotting corpse beside him, and the stench once again filled his nostrils. His nose became overwhelmed and surprised Nick with a monstrous sneeze that lunged him forward. He accidentally bumped Brian’s elbow, forcing him to slice through all three remaining wires.
Brian stood there, staring at the knife in his hand with disbelief, until the room started to shake. Lights started flashing, and alarms started sounding all around them. Nick and Brian looked at each other with wide eyes and simultaneously muttered an, “OH SHIT!”
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Skin created by Kali & edited by Karen.