Operation Home Front: Returning home by Warrior Aphrodite Persephone, Doberman Empire (follows immediately after Elifino.) *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*-- *--*--* [Bloomington, MN that same day] Zaphyre landed quietly about two blocks from Persephone's parents' house. The two men, Brackard and Ryeser, dismounted wondering why the dragon had picked this particular spot as a landing site. They looked around and found themselves in the middle of an urban marsh. To their left, a small creek gurgled noisily as it wove its way through the muddy reeds. While the men were scoping out the area, Persephone shifted, returning to her human form. She quickly slipped into her spare jumper before getting her friends' attention. "Hey guys - welcome to my childhood playground." *Are you sure you want to do this, Pers?* Zaph asked, feeling the woman's fear hiding behind her words. *I need to,* the Warrior responded silently, while saying aloud, "I grew up in one of those houses on the other side of the creek. My parents still live there - I need to see them and get us a car." Brackard interrupted, "Are you sure that's smart? We don't know how much B'harnii's intel knows..." "No, it probably isn't smart, but I'm going to go anyways. It's..." she paused, "complicated. You two stay here - and keep out of sight. There's a fairly busy street to the south and I don't want to have to explain two burly thugs to my Mom." Seeing Brackard open his mouth, she shot him a dirty look. "Don't interrupt. That's how she would see you. I'll have enough problems explaining things as it is." The two Dobermensch glanced at each other before turning to face their commander. "We're coming with you." Exasperated, Pers silenced them with a glare. "No you are not. Now that's a direct order." Noting their determined looks, she softened her approach. "Look guys, if it's a trap, there's no point in all three of us waltzing into it. Stay here, please, and serve as my back-up? If I need you, I'll call." Neither could find any logical way to refute her soft words. Sighing heavily and grumbling to themselves, they went to ground. Minutes later, Persephone could find no trace of them anywhere. Satisfied, she turned towards home - hundreds of thoughts flying through her mind. *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*-- *--* [BWCA - near Ely, MN] (author's note: for those of you not from MN, the BWCA stands for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area - basically alot of empty wilderness surrounded by abandoned coal mines with some great canoeing!) Meanwhile back in the minion camp, Kelly sat glumly in her tent. She was in the middle of composing her report on the unfortunate turn of events when Richie, the communications officer, burst into her tent.  "What is it?" she demanded, not bothering to look up. "I have NOT had a good day - so this had better be important." "It's a purple message, Kelly. You do know that purple's the bestest color ever, doncha?" She easily ignored his last few words, having had alot of experience in filtering out the sponge from their drivel. Kelly frowned and convinced the minion to leave, as she dug in her desk for the book of codes. Flipping rapidly through the pages, she found what she needed and read the message's meaning to herself. "Purple : Destroy camp and return to MOA at once." "Drat it all! Somehow they've found out I failed already. Well, might as well get movin' - delaying won't help any." She sighed heavily and lumbered to her feet. Kelly glanced around one last time before heading out to give the necessary orders. Two hours later, she was on her way south. *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*-- *--* [Bloomington, MN] Persephone stood in front of the door to her parents' house and paused, suddenly nervous. She took a deep breath and knocked. Minutes passed before the door opened. A familiar face looked quizically through the outer panes. Her face had gained a few wrinkles in the past few months, but other than that, nothing had changed. A smile formed on the Warrior's face, as a single word escaped from her lips, "Mother..." The door flung open and before she knew what had happened, Pers found herself buried in her Mother's arms. "Oh, Lillia," she exclaimed, "What are you doing here!?" "Hi Mom, just thought I'd come by for a bit, see how things were going..." "Well, come in and tell me where you've been, what you've been up to - everything. Disappearing like that, with only that cryptic message on the answering machine, we didn't know what to think." Smiling, Persephone followed her mother into the house. She was soon sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a couple of her mom's chocolate chip cookies. *It feels like it's been ages since anyone called me by my real name, it's weird.* She watched as her mom munched on a cookie. *At least we know they haven't gotten to her yet.* "Well?" her mom prompted. Still smiling, Pers took a bite out of her own cookie. "Sorry. Just trying to decide where to start." *and what I _can_ tell you,* she subvocalized to the dragon. "I guess the easiest way to explain is to say that I was recruited to work for the government - it's sensitive stuff, so I can't go into details." She watched as comprehension entered her mother's eyes. "So, anyways," she finished feeling rather silly, "since I saw you last I've found a great job, met a wonderful man... who I think I might be falling in love with... and oh, by the way, can I borrow your car?" "A man, hmm... wait a second, my car?" her mother responded, "Why do you need my car?" "Well, we - myself and a couple of my men - have a mission to complete and we're in need of transportation - and supplies if you have them." "Where are your men? And what kind of supplies?" "They're outside and..." "Outside? Where? Invite them in! Any friend of yours is welcome - you should know that!" Pers smiled. "Yeah, I know. I wanted a chance to talk with you alone first - I've, well... missed you." Her mom smiled back in response, "I understand. Why don't you have them come in now, though?" "No reason." *Hey, Zaph - send a message to Brackard - have them come unseen, through the back.* *Consider it done.* "There, Mom, they'll be here in a little bit." Seeing the confused look in her mother's eyes, Pers shook her head. "I can't explain how - you'll just have to trust me. Anyways, as for suÙpplies - we just need some regular clothes that will blend in a bit more." "Hmmm... you won't be a problem, but how big are the men?" "Pretty big." "Well, I think I have some stuff from your sister's current love - he's pretty big." "Manda has a boyfriend?" "Yeah - he seems O.K. A little immature and smiles way too much." "A sugary smile?" "Yeah, why?" "It's one of the symptoms of a disease that I'm fighting. Does he eat any sugar? chocolate?" "No - it's weird. All of a sudden, about a month ago, he went on this health food kick." *Definitely a Spongin', Zaph, doncha think?* *No question about it,* the dragon replied, *the only thing is - what do you do about it?* *Good question.* "Lillia? Are you alright?" Persephone snapped back to the present, "Yeah, Ma, why?" "You just had the strangest look on your face..." Seeing that she wasn't going to get an explanation, she continued. "Anyways, did you want to go look at Chet's things?" "Sure." Rising from her chair, her Mom suddenly remembered about Persephone's friends. "What about the men?" "Oh they'll probably just come through the sliding door in the back - if that's OK?" "Sure, let me quick unlock it." She headed out to the other room, glancing through the front windows out of habit. "What's Chet doing here? He should be at work about now." At her mother's words, the Dobermensch jumped into action. She reached into her pack and pulled out her Caffeine kit[tm]. Working quickly, she extracted a syringe and filled it with a strong dose of sugar and caffeine. "Pretend like I'm not here, Ma, okay?" She responded by sending her daughter a strange look. "Why?" Pers paused and glanced up. "Because, if he does have that disease I mentioned, then he's here to kill me. All I want to do is give him the antidote. If he's not sick, it won't hurt him any, but if he is, well, it should cure him. " "Sugar?" her mother asked doubtfully. "Sugar." Her tone of voice and the determined look on her face must've convinced her mother, because her next words were, "Alright, Lillia. But I won't lie to him, either." "Fair enough. Where's he at now?" Her mother glanced out the window, "Almost to the garage." "Okay, close your eyes and count to ten - then you can open them again." "What!?" "Please, mom..." "Ok, Ok. They're shut. One... Two... " Persephone quickly shifted and sat back down, hiding the syringe. "Ok, Mom, you can open them again." Her mother slowly opened her eyes, then opened them wider as she stared at her daughter in disbelief. "Manda?" "No, Ma, it's me." "Lillia?" she sank slowly into another of the chairs, in shock. "Yeah, now shh... Here he is." Her mom's head snapped towards the front of the house as the doorbell rang. "What? Oh, he's here." The doorbell rang again. "Oh, I'll get it Ma," Pers said, slightly miffed as her mother just sat there. She walked out to the entryway and forced a huge smile across her face as she saw Chet standing outside. "Manda!" he cried, surprised, as she pulled open the door, "What are you doing here? I thought you were having lunch with Jules?" "No, she cancelled," was Persephone's quick response. "C'mon in - I thought you had to work?" Chet shrugged as he brushed by her on the way inside. "Where's your sister?" he asked, feeling a tiny prick in the back of his arm. He brushed at[ it, astonished to find a needle embedded in his arm. "What the-" he whirled around as his legs gave out on him. Chet crashed to the floor and, struggling to see through the haze that covered his eyes, managed to focus on the faces that hovered above him. "Lillia," he gasped somehow sensing it was her, "Thank you..." Minutes later, some rather loud snoring filled the small room. Persephone, now back to her normal self, rose slowly and faced her mother who had followed her daughter into the other room. "He should be OK in a few hours, just needs to sleep and in sleeping, heal." Her mother nodded and turned to glance toward the back as she heard the sliding door open. She watched silently as two large men entered and closed the door behind them. "Your friends, I presume?" Pers n[odded, wondering what her mom was thinking. "Yeah, Brackard, Ryeser - this is my Mom. Ma - Brackard and Ryeser. You two think you can help me with Chet? I've injected him, but he needs to sleep it off." "Nice to meet you ma'am," Brackard replied, "Just tell us where you want 'im." "The couch OK, Ma?" "That'll be fine. Did you want to see those clothes?" "Yeah - and then I think we need to have a long talk," Pers replied, as the two guys carried the now-prone Chet to the couch. "I think you're right," was all that her Mom said. To Be Continued... -------------- Copyright 1998, AlexBell alexbell@iastate.edu Centurian Aphrodite Persephone Selene & Zaphyre AKA Dwagon Couch Extraordinairre alexbell@iastate.edu First Law of Aviation. "Take-off is optional, landing is compulsory."