by Danny
The Amazon jungle, Brazil:
Armadillo Redpatch paced up and down the bank of the Amazon River, watching the last of his plane disappear beneath the murky surface of the water. All that was visible now was the tip of the nose, a few feet of greenish-colored metal. It was quickly shrinking as more and more of it became submerged.
"My plane! My shitbastard plane!" Redpatch yelled. Danny Hearn thought this an odd way to swear, until he remembered that gork had been a favored slang word amongst kids when he grew up.
Danny was standing a few meters behind Redpatch, motionless. He watched as the pilot went back and forth, lamenting the sinking of his plane. To Danny's left sat the rest of his team, sitting in a circle in the shade provided by the surrounding trees: Marv Velo, Tobias Christopher, Chance, Crasher, and Drake Marshall. To Danny's right there was the Raptor, trying to urge the rest of the team back into action.
"Come on! We've no time to waste!" he yelled.
Danny thought that there was someone missing. Looking up, he noticed M'xy hovering above the scene, looking at the disappearing plane with a confused look on his face.
"We need to get going!" Ed said, approaching the rest of the team.
"Ed... the plane," Danny said in reply.
"IS GONE! So let's go!" Ed yelled. Danny shot him a stern glance, hoping that it would be the most effective way to say calm the hell down. These hopes were in vain, as the Raptor didn't calm down at all. In fact, he seemed to become even less calm. Danny resolved to take a good look at his stern glance in a mirror and see what was wrong with it when the mission was over.
"Damn it, we have no idea how much Omicron know and where they're headed right now!" the Raptor said, continuing his rant.
"We can't go yet," Danny said calmly, stepping closer to Ed.
"Why?!"
Danny nodded in the direction of Armadillo Redpatch. Ed seemed to reluctantly accept his point.
"We damaged his plane. We gorked up his livelihood. We can't go until we're sure he's okay," Danny explained. Ed just nodded, electing not to ask what Danny meant by gorked. He went and sat down with the rest of the group while Danny called M'xy.
"M'XY!" Danny yelled, looking up and cupping a hand to his mouth. The cow upon which M'xy was perched disappeared, and M'xy dropped to the ground beside Danny.
"I fell," M'xy said.
"You sure did," Danny replied. "Now... can you get the plane out of the water and place it safely in that clearing?" Danny pointed, indicating a clearing in between the towering trees about fifty meters downstream.
"No problemo!" M'xy replied.
Armadillo Redpatch sat crouched on the riverbank, staring solemnly at the river that had devoured his beloved plane. He wiped a tear from his cheek and wondered why the hell he accepted the job from these freaks. He was about to turn around and say something to them when movement in the water caught his attention.
There was a slight bubbling on the surface, as if some activity underneath were disturbing the otherwise placid water. A moment later, the nose of the plane reappeared, a few inches of steel poking up from the depths. More of it appeared, then more, until a few seconds later, Redpatch was staring at the entire front cabin of his plane. He didn't quite know what to say, so he said nothing and just kept watching.
The plane continued to rise. One wing, then the next. Water cascaded downward off the steel surface as more and more of it became visible. Until, eventually, the entire plane was hovering a full three meters above the surface of the water.
"Like Yoda..." Tobias said, watching.
Redpatch turned around. He saw that one of the new arrivals, the one in the top hat, was carrying a small toy plane in his hand. Another one, the Australian one, was standing close to him, apparently giving instructions.
"Okay, now gently... very gently... move the plane down that way," Danny said, pointing. M'xy moved his small toy plane in the direction of the clearing, very slowly and carefully. Simultaneously mimicking the movements of the toy plane, the real one was moving in the same direction. After a few seconds of this, the plane was hovering above the clearing, remaining still.
"Okay, M'xy. Again, very gently... put the plane down. Softly," Danny said. M'xy held his toy plane out in his right hand, moving his open left palm underneath it. Lowering the toy plane, he set it down on the surface of his palm. The real plane came to a soft landing on the grass.
It was wet, it was damaged, and it had a huge hole in its belly, but it was at least on dry land.
"Well, I'll be damned..." Redpatch said.
"Sir. Does your insurance cover lighting strikes?" Danny asked.
"Huh?" was all that came in reply from Redpatch.
"Your insurance. Would it cover being hit by lightning?" Danny repeated.
"Yeah, sure... but this ain't no lightning strike..."
"M'xy. Can you put some scorchmarks around the hole in the plane's hull? Just a little bit," Danny asked.
"Burn, baby, burn! Disco inferno!" M'xy replied.
"Just. A. Little. Bit," Danny said, emphasizing his point. Floating downstream toward the plane, M'xy stood near it. Sparks flew from his hands, striking the edges of the hole. Dark scorch marks appeared.
"What's he doing to my plane?!" Redpatch asked, running toward Danny.
"Making it look as if it's been hit by lightning. Trust me, it's more believable than a giant elevator from the fifth dimension tore a hole in my hull," Danny explained.
"Well... um... okay," Redpatch said. He didn't quite know what to make of all this, and he was perfectly willing to play along with Danny's plan to have the insurance company pay for the repairs.
The Raptor was sitting with the rest of the group, feeling restless. He kept a tight grip on the handle of Ladnikia, drawing circles in the dirt with it.
"We have to go," he muttered to himself. He was getting more and more impatient to see the mission successfully completed. He was distracted by Danny approaching the team.
"Velo. Can you arrange some transport for Mr. Redpatch to the nearest town? He says he knows the local numbers," Danny asked. Velo nodded and got up to go help Mr. Redpatch. Danny sat down next to Chance.
"You say you had a run in with these Omicron guys..." Danny began.
"Yeah. A few of them," Chance replied.
Danny nodded. "Did you guys find anything?"
"Uh... I saw part of a map. Project Omicron has it now, but I saw it," Chance explained.
"Part of a map?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. It looked like it was only half of it."
Danny nodded again, as if a realization had suddenly hit him.
"What is it?" Chance asked.
"Omicron found something at Netzel's tomb in Berlin. We didn't know what it was, but now I think I can make an educated guess," Danny said.
"The other half of the map?" Chance said.
"Right."
High above the Atlantic ocean, four members of Project Omicron were on their way to Brazil to rendezvous with the rest of their team. Rose sat in the window seat, looking out on the water below her. Next to her sat the Sheik, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could. Next to him, on the aisle seat, was Mimic. He had the map in his hand and a laptop computer on his lap.
Pneuma sat a few rows behind them.
"Damn it... I can't get a signal," Mimic said out loud.
"A signal for what?" the Sheik asked, turning to face his companion.
"I'm trying to send a scanned image of the map to Johnny. But I can't get a signal."
"They are in the midst of the rainforest in Brazil. I would have anticipated difficulty in making electronic contact."
"But Xyber is with them."
"She may be busy. Or weakened," the Sheik said, turning to face forward.
"Damn it. We'll have to wait until we get there to deliver it in person. Unite the two halves of the map, and make our way to the lost city to find our book," Mimic said.
The Sheik just nodded, then politely raised his hand to request more peanuts.
Back by the Amazon River, Danny stood up, assessing the situation.
Behind them, the rainforest stretched upward. It was going to be hard, but not impossible, to make their way through. To the east was where Chance's team had come from. To the west lay the border with Peru, and their goal.
Their mode of transport was now unavailable. But M'xy was here, which could serve to help the cause. They had a rough knowledge of half a map, whereas Omicron possessed the full map itself.
However, half of Omicron were still en route, which meant that there were a few hours before they arrived, united the two halves of the map, and began their quest for the book. A few hours that Danny and his team may be able to take advantage of, even though they had less knowledge of exactly where to look.
The race was going to be close. Danny knew that much.