Tribe 4

The fourth of July arrived on a Saturday. That meant it would be an even bigger celebration than usual. Even more exciting for the town of Waterfell was what came a couple of weeks after the fourth. That was when they had their rodeo. It was the time when the town made all of the money it was going to make for that year. All the surrounding towns and a couple of cities would migrate out to the fair grounds at Waterfell. There was a rodeo, some horse showings and the 4-Hers would bring their most prized farm animals to compete against each other. Along with the crowds of tourists there to enjoy the celebrations come those that seek out just such circumstances to make themselves richer. Pickpockets are the most common of the criminal sort that seem to arrive with the rodeo but there are much worse characters too. One such bunch of criminals were a gang that had come out with the sole purpose of using their numbers to intimidate a family into giving up their valuables. They would look for a family that was off away from the mainstream of people and then surround them. The father was given the choice to give up their valuables or he could fight the many gang members that would ultimately be there. Just such an instance was happening at the fourth of July celebration which arrives two weeks before the rodeo gets kicked off. A family had been forced to find parking a long distance from where the celebration was happening. While walking to the festivities they were surrounded by the gang. The father was given the choice to fork over his money or fight. That’s when Tracker and Seta happened upon the situation. They were unnoticed by the gang members, watching from behind a bunch of shrub trees. “What should we do?” Seta asked Tracker who was busy trying to hear exactly what was being said. He thought the safest way to handle the situation was if the man just gave them the money. Then Tracker and Seta could step in and see if they couldn’t save the day after the family was clear of any danger. Life seldom happens the way you hope it to turn out and that day was no different. The father tried to push his way past the gang member that had confronted him. When he did the father was thrown to the ground and two other gang members grabbed the man’s wife and daughter. The gangsters held a knife to their throats and were threatening to cut his wife and daughter. That was when a line of fire came shooting out of the darkness in two distinct lines, hitting the two gangsters who had grabbed the man’s wife and daughter. They went flying backwards catching fire as they fell away. Then the gangster who had been threatening the father felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Seta in full scorpion form. She was tapping with her venom-dripping tail. The gangster felt a sting and then fell away, paralyzed completely. As quickly as they had come into the picture, Tracker and Seta disappeared into the nearby crowd. The father wanted to thank them but he could not find any sign of the heroes. Police who were there on loan from the state, quickly rushed to the victim’s aid. There was quite a lot of talk among the crowd at the celebration that night about some vigiliante teen-agers who had saved a family from gang violence. An investigator from the state arrived to get a statement from the victim family. “Hello, here’s my card. My name is Tom Crandel. I hear you were involved in an attempted robbery tonight where the robbers were killed or paralyzed. Is that correct?” The man called Crandel said to the father of the victim family. “Yes. That would be correct. We were saved by two young people, most likely not older than sixteen. You won’t believe how they did it but I will tell you anyway. One shot fire from his hands killing the two gangsters who were holding my wife and daughter hostage. Then the one that had a gun to my head was taken out by the scorpion’s tail. It was a young woman. Maybe fourteen, fifteen years old. This is going to sound crazy but she had a scorpion’s tail. She struck the gangster and he fell over paralyzed. The next thing we know the ones that saved us were gone. I wanted to thank them. They saved my family.” Crandel didn’t know what to believe. According to this father his family was saved by two teenagers. One that shot fire from his hands and the other who had a scorpion’s tail. He thanked the family for their information. Next he made a call to Washington D.C. and passed on the information he had gathered. A voice over the phone said, “If this is true we may need the assistance of Project 810. Contact the field office and get them briefed on the mission. Then get them out to where you are at and find those four before the public gets wind of them.” ————— Chapter ————————– The sign said ‘Rodeo Days Welcomes You! Please follow marked signs for parking’. There were three big fields that had been readied for the coming traffic and two more were available if needed. It was another warm evening which would soon surrender to the darkness that night brings with it. There were concession stands about every thirty feet no matter what direction you went, each covered with its own style of flashing or attracting lights. Sweet odors surrounded them. To the south of the rodeo grounds was a small carnival complete with Tilt-A-Whirl ride and a small Ferris Wheel. There was also a mechanical bull ride set up and several ‘Win a Prize’ contests such as pop a balloon with a dart, throw the ball and knock the milk bottles down and of course the always favorite shooting gallery. The entire place smelled like freshly-made popcorn and funnel cakes with a hint of odor announcing that animals, likely larger-sized ones, were in the area. Music from the contest booths battled. You could go from one polka to a different one in just a matter of a few steps. If you didn’t like those tunes just head on over to the Ferris Wheel and see what they have playing. People of all kinds, sizes, ages and beliefs were arriving. By the time the sun had set almost all three fields were filled with cars, the rodeo was well under way, you could hear the announcer’s voice boom across the fair grounds cutting through the many different polkas playing. Almost everybody there was there to relax, have fun, maybe sneak a swig off a bottle with a brown paper bag around it. There were also people who had other agendas that attended the festivities that night. Some were just petty thieves, there to pick pockets. Others were gang members that had come out seeking revenge against the do-gooders that had killed their fellow members. They were not wearing their colors like they would have back on their turf. There was also another group that was attending the rodeo days who had no interest in the rodeo. They too, wanted to meet the teenagers that had foiled the robbery attempt back on the fourth of July. They were the team agent Crandel had assembled to locate and ultimately bring in the four wanted for interrogation which would be followed by integration into the family. There they would be assessed for capabilities and then sent on assignments. If they refused to play ball then they would be either sent to a retraining camp, or just outright killed, depending upon their value and considered possibility for retraining to take. Crandel’s team stood out like an uptight FBI agent mixed in with a bunch of ten year old girls having a tea party. He had them posted at several key points on the fairgrounds. Every person that walked past them gave them a second if not third look because they obviously were not there to see a rodeo or to go on any rides. Back at the Whitefeather home the four siblings were just getting ready to leave to walk up to see the rodeo. If you held off from going when it started you could usually slip in and see the rest of show for that night without having to pay. There was only two ways into town and one was blocked off so that the other was where they charged to get in. Therefore anybody walking in from one of the homes in the area could do so without being hassled to pay. The siblings took advantage of that fact every year and this year was no different. Tracker led the way. “You guys remember what One Antler said, that this was just the exact kind of situation that could get us busted if we used our powers. I think he’s one hundred percent right! There will be too many eyes around and even if you think you’re not being watched; you will likely be wrong. And don’t forget that being wrong will result in our lives being turned not just upside down but inside out and then twisted. Nothing is worth the government finding out what we can do.” Tonka spoke up. “Agreed. We would never be left alone again unless we lost the powers or were dead. Plus I have no illusions about them using our folks to get us to do their bidding.” “Yeah its bad enough how they did our ancestors. I have no desire to be forced to do their dirty work and that is exactly what would happen.” Seta said with a bitter edge to her voice. “Nothing makes me sicker than the thought of those people making decisions about other people’s lives.” “Old people should not be allowed to make decisions that will only effect those that will be alive after they are dead.” Daniel said. “I mean, how can we count on them to make decisions that are in their grandchildren’s best interest? History proves that most the leaders currently in office have not made decisions to benefit those just born or yet to be.” “You know what I think of when we are talking politics?” Tonka asked nobody in particular. “Food?” Seta answered. “That was easy.” Tracker said. “Everything makes him think of food.” The group laughed. Then they got silent for a ways, each thinking to themselves what they were going to do first when they arrived at the rodeo. It was Seta who broke the silence. “I start out thinking I will get a corndog and coke but it never fails as soon as I smell those funnel cakes…” “Lay off the funnel cake sis. I’m the one that has to fly you around.” Tracker said kidding. Seta didn’t take it as kidding which caused Tracker to think to himself women could laugh about most things, but their weight wasn’t one of them. “I weigh the same now as I did the day you first took me up into the sky. I bet the same cannot be said of you.” Then Seta pointed at Tonka and said, “If anybody needs to watch how much they are cramming in their pie hole, its that guy.” Tonka looked taken aback. How did he get dragged into this? Daniel wasn’t complaining, what the heck did she have any business to drag him into it? Instead of responding with his voice, Tonka made a gesture that is universally recognized as displaying someone’s displeasure toward another. “Hey, was that really necessary?” Seta asked. “My feelings could get hurt.” She smiled and batted her eyes. “Hey just had a thought. Maybe we should send Daniel for a flyover. He can see where we would get the best seats that are still available instead of us having to walk all the way around the fairgrounds.” Tracker said. “Can you do that without being seen?” He said looking directly at Daniel. “Not a problem. I’ll just wonder off over that way by myself and pull my shirt up around my face, and take off. Even if somebody got a glimpse of me they won’t have enough time to recognize who it is inside the shirt. Give me ten and I’ll be back.” Daniel left the gravel road the four had been walking and slipped into a group of trees. A few seconds later he was rising into the air and then he took off in the direction of the announcer’s voice that was carrying across the landscape. He reached a height which was above the height of the lights that were used to illuminate the proceedings. Once he was far enough up he could fly over the area without fear of being spotted. It took just a couple of minutes and he had the information they needed. a few seconds after that and he came down landing right behind his three siblings so that his landing finished with him walking behind the others like he had been there all along. His dragon-fly wings folded up into his back. Then he made his way toward the front of the group to report to Tracker. “Best place to watch the rodeo is the far side from the parking lot fields. There’s a few people over there but it looks like we can find good seating there.” “I want to hit the concession stand first.” Tonka said. “Shut up Seta!” He was just beating her to the punch. She was right of course, he had gained weight since they got their powers. Daniel hadn’t said anything though, so she should just butt out. “Actually I am hungry too.” Seta said. “We can walk over together and catch up with Tracks and Daniel after we get some goodies.” “If you’re going then grab me something with chocolate in it.” Tracker said, handing Seta a couple dollars. “Think that’s enough?” “If it ain’t then I’ll get you a can of spinach.” Seta answered while taking his money. “He might better prefer a gallon of gasoline for refuel purposes.” Daniel said laughing. “Just stick to chocolate and I won’t have to warm your seat up … too much.” Tracker replied. “Can you do that?” Seta asked. When they reached the rodeo area the group split up. Tonka went with Seta to get food while Tracker and Daniel went to find the place from where they would watch the rodeo. Tonka and Seta had purchased their snacks and were on the way back to join their friends when someone bumped into Seta hard, causing her to drop some of the snacks she was carrying. Seta turned and saw that it was a female a little older than herself, that had bumped into her. Seta picked up what she had dropped and inspected it. Then she continued on to where Tracker and Daniel were waiting. When the group was back together the snacks were handed out and money was exchanged. That was when Seta noticed her wallet was not in her purse. The woman that bumped into her must have grabbed the wallet out of her purse. The bump was done so she wouldn’t feel the woman reaching into her purse. “Dang it!” Seta cursed. “I had all my savings in there. Seventy dollars! Maybe not a fortune but it was everything to me.” “Lets get it back.” Daniel said. “Hold on a minute.” Tracker cautioned. “Remember what One Antler said. This is exactly the situation that could get us busted. I’m not saying we don’t do it, but I am saying we need to discuss right now what we are going to be willing to do, and not do; to get back your money. Cause we probably won’t have the chance to talk it over later. Now suppose one of them pulls a gun. Are you willing to let possibly an entire crowd of people see you using your powers? You might as well strap a neon sign to your backside that flashes: here’s the ones you’re looking for!”‘ Tonka said, “What if we only use our powers if nobody can see us using them. Like you could warm up a handle or a safety belt without actually catching your hands on fire. I can switch over fairly easily without anybody noticing. So can Seta. Daniel and you, not so much, with the exception of being able to heat something up. In any case I think we could handle a pick-pocket or two, without having to resort to using our powers in full force.” “What Tonk said.” Seta added. “Tonk.” Daniel chimed in. “Looks like the votes are in. Okay we’ll do it Tonk’s way.” Tracker said. “Don’t let anybody see your powers but you can use them otherwise. First thing we need to do is to locate the criminals. Daniel take Seta up for a flyover. Once you’ve located them, drop Seta off to join us and we’ll mosy on over and talk with said criminals. If one of them pulls on us it will be up to Tonk to take them out. He can switch over with less notice than the rest of us. For that reason, Tonk will lead the way so if they do try to shoot at us his exoskeleton should save us.” “Should?” Tonka said, “You sure have a lot of faith in ‘should’, when its my butt that’s on the line.” Tracker laughed. “Well you should know what you’re capable of and not: that’s why we’ve been doing all that training.” “Yeah, but how many times have you seen me be shot by a gun? We never tested, so until its been done, this is all just theory. So don’t nobody blame me if they get shot doing something we should probably not be doing.” Daniel sighed. “Are we gonna go look for the creeps or not?” “Lead on brother from another mother”. Seta said patting Daniel on the shoulder. “Can’t wait to try out the better flyer.” “Hey, I heard that.” Tracker said, trying to sound hurt. “See who your best friend is if we’re ever caught out in the freezing cold.” “See you in a few.” Seta said. Then she disappeared following Daniel away from the rodeo and the crowd watching it. They went behind a small grove of trees. The announcer from the rodeo could still be heard presenting the next rider to the crowd or providing the total from the judges when it became available. The two would-be-heroes knew when a new rider was coming out of the gate by the sound the crowd made. It was a collective gasp followed with a multiple choice of possible noises from the crowd, ranging from applause all the way down to complete silence if the rider concluded the ride injured. “Lets wait for the next rider to come out of the gate. Nobody is looking around when that happens.” Daniel said. “Copy that.” Seta whispered in reply. A few minutes later they were soaring above the rodeo crowd. Seta searched for any sign of the woman that had taken her wallet. They weren’t up there two minutes when Seta saw what she was hoping to find. “Set us down, Daniel. I got some whoopin’ to do.” “Yes mam!” Daniel answered. He did just that. ——————– Chapter ————————- After setting down in a secluded area, Daniel and Seta headed straight for where they had last seen the culprits. When they arrived upon the scene they could see the woman was in position to pick another pocket. She began to walk across the fair grounds and then bumped into a man. While she bumped into him another person, a man, picked the man’s pocket and then he kept on walking a few steps and then he handed off the man’s wallet to yet another woman, who was also quite young. She headed away from the crowd quickly followed by Seta and Daniel. Seta took an intercepting angle and had the woman stopped in an area where there were no others. The woman tried to zig-zag her way past Seta but was unsuccessful in her attempt. “Hold it right there missy!” Seta said, holding out one hand toward the woman. “You took my wallet from me, or perhaps I should say your team took it. I want it back. With all the money that was in it.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m going to scream if you do not leave me alone.” The young woman threatened. She had light brown hair that was shoulder-length, a thin frame and was wearing glasses. Whether they were needed or not was another story. “Go ahead. Scream.” Seta said angrily. “I’m waiting.” “Okay, okay. How much money did you have? I’ve been throwing the stuff that ain’t worth anything over there by that bush.” She pointed in the direction of a small bush. Next to it lay several wallets, two purses and there were plastic cards laying about. “Two hundred dollars.” Seta said. “But I think you owe a little for my trouble. Why don’t you double that amount.” “Sure, sure. Let me dig it out of my purse.” The woman said. While she was digging in the purse, Seta changed over. The young woman couldn’t see in the darkness provided by the seclusion but by the time she looked up holding the gun, there was already a venom-dripping scorpion’s tail ready to strike at lightning speed just inches above her head. She looked up when some of that venom dripped down onto her and before she could look up to fire the gun the scorpion’s stinger had already sent paralyzing venom into her body. She froze like an ice sickle the gun still pointed in Seta’s direction. Then the young woman fell over sideways still paralyzed. “I ought to kill you for that.” Seta said. She bent over and picked the woman’s purse up. She took all the money out of it and stuffed it into her pockets. “You did well didn’t you? There must be thousands of dollars.” Seta picked the woman up so that she was again in a standing position, straight across from her. “You should understand that I have several choices of venom that I can use; the one you are experiencing now is the kindest of them. The next level up is death and beyond that is excruciating painful death. Take a guess which you get if I ever see you around here again? You might tell your team what I said, because the same goes for them. This IS theirs, and your, final warning to stay away. The effect will wear off in an hour or so; I suggest as soon as you can move that you do so. Take your team with you.” She started to walk away and then turned back to the young frozen woman and said, “I’m not playing. I am a woman who keeps her word. Don’t test me!” Then she marched off with Daniel following. They found their two siblings and everybody enjoyed the rest of the rodeo. At the end of the night the announcer invited everyone to return the following night for more exciting rides which will eventually provide a winner for the big prize package. There was another who felt like they were well on their way to the prize package. It was agent Tom Crandel. One of his team spotted the situation going on between Seta and the pick­-pocket and he had alerted agent Crandel to the matter. Crandel had followed the situation to its ending. He was aware there were more than just those two that they were looking for so he told his team to hold back to see if they could follow Seta and Tonka to see if they led them to the other two. On the way back to join their two siblings, Seta cooled down and got her composure. That was when she noticed they had picked up a tail. She mentioned it to Tonka and they did a hard right from the direction they had been headed. If the tail followed they had problems. The tail did not follow but as soon as they lost the one, there was another person who did not look like they were at the rodeo to party. “See if you’re phone is working. Mine won’t get out.” Seta said while trying her phone again. “They must be jamming any signals.” Tonka said. That’s the only reason I can imagine. In any case we shouldn’t go back to Tracker and Daniel.” “I agree. Maybe its a good thing they are jamming the phones and not seeing who we are calling.” Seta said, then adding, “Maybe it will be the other way around if they figure out who we are. Right now they don’t know so they don’t know who’s phone to monitor. Actually who knows what they can do with these things these days. I suggest we take out the batteries or if you can’t do that then at least turn the phone off until we can decide what would be best to do with them. “Wait. Think this out. If they are following us then they are doing it so we lead them to Tracks and Daniel. Kinda the last thing we want to do is that. What if we take off running down through the parking lots yelling as we go. If we make it to where the lights don’t reach then we have a good chance of getting away on our own. If we happen to get Tracker’s and Daniel’s attention as we are drawing attention to ourselves, maybe they can get away clean.” The brother and sister began making their way toward the parking lot fields which had several cars coming and going, mostly going, as their headlights gave away their intentions. When they reached the begining of the parking lot fields, they both took off running at full speed. Each let go a yell at the top of their lungs. When Tracker heard the screams he recognized it was his sister almost immediately. He nudged Daniel and they both stepped away toward a secluded spot away from the crowd there to watch the rodeo. There wasn’t time to think things out. Their sister and brother were in trouble. Niether hesitated. Daniel took off in their direction while Tracker lit up his hands and then used them to fly over the crowd. The fire from Tracker’s hands stood out like a rocket boosters. Everyone saw him flying across the sky. Daniel was in front, but nobody could see him. Daniel swooped down and picked up Tonka in exactly the way they had practiced it so many times over the summer. He was down and had picked up Tonka before Tracker was even to arrive to Seta. They too, did it just like they had practiced it so many times before. It was a clean getaway into the darkness of night. Agent Crandel and his team were left wanting. A lot of finger pointing and blame shaming was done. In the end the team and agent Crandel went home without the ones they came there to catch. The rodeo had went deep into the night. People made their way to their vehicles with sleepy eyes and little ambition to do anything more than just zombie their way home. There was a lot of dust as the cars made their way out of the make-shift parking lots and onto the gravel road which would take them to blacktop a few miles beyond. In a field where there were no lights, a group of four would-be-heroes watched the headlights as they seemed to appear out of nowhere and then begin to file their way into a straight line which led out to the blacktop rode a few miles away. On the side of the road were the SUV vehicles belonging to team Crandel. It was an afterthought for their mission. They knew the people they were seeking would not likely be spotted in a car leaving the rodeo but agent Crandel had a much better idea what he was looking for than he did when the day had started. Now it was just a matter of time before they pinpointed exactly who they were seeking. The last night of the rodeo saw the Whitefeather family all at home. There was a lot of discussion amongst the siblings and they concluded they should err to the side of caution and not go to the rodeo again until next year. Agent Crandel and his team again staked out the rodeo but they went home empty-handed once again.

The Crawdad – part of the government team Seta – The Scorpion The DragonFly and The DrangonFly 2 The FireAnt Cobra – part of the government team

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