A Surprise "Inspect"ion
Mess Hall was nearly emptied out now, so Gold sat down next to Blue Rat, his second best friend. Blue was the most popular rat [sic]: he was by far the most handsome, and everyone called him the Gentleman Rat because he never killed--he always shot off target, or, if the victim were extremely cruel, graze or slightly wound them. He was especially polite to Black Rat, and some of the rats [sic] joked that they'd known each other since birth (even though Blue was younger) or in a past life. They didn't know how close they were.
But back to the present. Blue cordially greeted Gold, as he did everyone.
"Hi, Gold," he said informally. "What's been happening lately? I haven't gotten out much; I have to stay behind and help clean."
"A fitting job," Gold said, and they laughed. "Nothin' much, Blue. No fighting ye--"
His words were cut off by a bullet which whizzed over Blue's head.
"I guess I spoke too soon!" Gold shouted, as seven more bullets flew in. The two rats [sic] ducked under the table. An alarm went off, and all the rats [sic] assigned to fight rushed out. Blue went into the kitchen to help the cook.
The battle lasted for only four hours, but in the end seven Trench Rats were wounded. The Nazi Rats had been sent out by Inspector Dobermann, and only two had been hurt, one in the foot by Blue. When it was over, Blue went down to where Black was, to see if he was okay. He found Black sitting at a desk. His head was down but he seemed to be staring at a picture sitting in front of him. Looking, Blue saw that it was an old picture of Black and Midge.
"Feeling down?" Blue asked.
"We're losing this war," Black said. "We aren't Trench Rats, we're sewer rats."
"Would it help if I said something to cheer you up?"
"Nothing could cheer me up now."
Blue was quiet for a few minutes, then he said, "Know what happened to Midge after he was kidnapped?"
Black lifted his head, somewhat puzzled.
Blue continued. "Midge lived with the sky pirates for several years, and then he ran away. Later he saw a big ship preparing to go to Germany. He stowed away on this boat, and soon met up with some soldiers. They decided it was too late to send him back, so they gave him some informal training. Midge grew up with those soldiers and soon became one."
Black was totally stunned by now. He turned to look at Blue, his eye wide with surprise.
Blue stared silently at the floor for a moment, then said, "Midge recieved [sic] a code name. That code name was Blue Rat." He lifted his arms and smiled. "Hi, Black. It's me, Midge." [Note--in the current storyline, Blue's background is unknown, but he certainly never went by the name Midge!]
Black faltered for several seconds, then leapt forward and embraced Blue, shouting with joy. Then he took Blue by the shoulders and said, "Blue! How come you never told me!"
"I had to wait until you knew me," Blue explained. "I really wanted to tell you. When you joined, I recognized you in an instant. You told us your story about how your companion was kidnapped, and I was aching to spill it out. But when I told Burgundy, he said it would be best if I waited until you trusted me and could recognize me as well as Midge. Then you'd know me on sight, also." [Note--Black's mysterious past, which ties in with Blue's in a remarkably dippy way, has since changed. Black's secret in this version was inspired by the cartoon TaleSpin. ! In the current storyline, Black still has a mysterious past, but it is in no way connected with Blue, nor with sky pirates.]
"You mean Burgundy knew all along?"
Blue nodded. "Remember how, right before you joined, you rescued me from those Nazi Rats? You came swooping down on your hawk, and I held up my arms--"
"--And I caught you up in the talons," Black remembered. "You and I did that all the time when you were little."
"Yeah, and it does hurt the arms," Blue said, rubbing an arm. Both of them laughed, then Black picked up his walking stick and went to the door.
"I don't care what old 'Dobey' does," he said, addressing Inspector Dobermann with their mocking nickname. "We're going to win this war!"
No comments:
Post a Comment