"Get Those Attack Frogs Out Of Here!"
May. 10th, 2022 07:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Get Those Attack Frogs Out Of Here!"
8/22/1999
I.
When the wall phone rang, Ashley leaped up off the couch and dove across the office as if trying to grab a bomb before it exploded. Startled, Megan blinked and dropped the wire-thin tool she was using. On the desk in front of her, one of the Link devices sat disassembled on a white linen cloth and she had been painstakingly putting its components back together after some upgrades.
"Hello!" chirped the new Unicorn into the receiver. "Kenneth Dred Foundation." Only nineteen, Ashley Whitaker was a gorgeous little platinum-blonde absolutely boiling over with enthusiasm for life. As usual, she was wearing all white... sneakers, smug jeans and a long-sleeved pullover with dark blue trim on the collars and cuff. "What? No, sorry, Mr Bane is not here right now. Cindy isn't here either. This is Unicorn, maybe I can help you?"
Folding the cloth over itself to prevent the tiny electronic components from being lost, Megan stood up and watched her teammate with a dubious expression. The Trom Girl was a year older than Ashley, a few inches taller and a little heavier in build. Her tousled black hair and dark inqusitive eyes made a strong contrast to Unicorn's bright coloring, as did the dark field suit she was wearing with its waist-length jacket. "Ashley, I don't think..."
The little blonde held up one hand in a hushing gesture. "I see. I see. And you haven't called the police. Hmmm. Well, Mrs Bellamy, I agree we should look into it. What's the address again? Okey doke, my partner and I will drive right up there. Thank you. Goodbye." She clicked the receiver back on the unit and turned around to seem surprised at the disapproving gaze she was receiving. "Uh-oh, I know that look. NOW what?"
"Ashley, we are not KDF members yet. Our acceptance as students at Tel Shai is still probationary."
"And your point would be?" Unicorn replied blithely.
"We are not in any position to speak for the Foundation. Nor have we been authorized to accept cases for the KDF." Megan Salenger walked around from behind the massive oak desk and approached her new colleague. The Trom Girl tried to remain calm and unemotional under all circumstances, but Ashley's breezy attitude frequently made that difficult. "Did you just tell that caller we would investigate a crime scene?"
"Well, sure. Jeremy and Cindy won't be back until tomorrow night at the earliest. Every time they visit Androval, they get roped into staying for a feast. As long as they're not available, we might as well fill in." The crystal-blue eyes were shining with eagerness. "And you have to admit, we're are NOT exactly helpless little civilians. I was raised by my mom to be the new Unicorn, and you were brought up by those Trom stiffs to be a super-genius. Am I right, of course I'm right, you see that, right?"
Megan hesitated. In that instant, she was lost. Ashley grabbed her by one arm and tugged her forcibly toward the door to the hallway. "We better get moving. I've got my car down in the garage. Is your travel bag all set?"
"Yes. But wait, at least let me turn out the light in the office. We should also leave a message in case Jeremy and Cindy return early and find us missing." The Trom Girl picked up a memo pad on the desk but Ashley snatched the top sheet off first and scribbled on it before sticking the note's edge under the lamp where it would be seen.
Peering over her teammate's shoulder, Megan read 'WE WENT TO CHECK OUT A MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY, BRB.' The Trom Girl gasped, "Ashley, that does not give sufficient information. We can't leave that note."
"We just did." The Unicorn hustled the Trom Girl back out into the hall. They entered a walk-in closet near the front door and slid aside a panel to descend steep concrete steps. "I absolutely lovvvve all the trap doors and hidden rooms in this place, they're so cool," she said. Pulling Megan by one hand, she raced along a narrow walkway that ended in a plain wooden door. Beyond that was a small underground garage which only held a single vehicle, a gleaming white Nissan Sentra.
"My mom gave me that on my eighteenth birthday," Ashley explained. "I aced my driver test first try, natch." On an open shelf was a row of six knapsacks filled with changes of clothing, various tools and weapons, personal items and first aid kits. Ashley snatched up her own and flung the one belonging to Megan at her friend. "Always ready to travel to the gravel, that's us. We're like firefighters."
Stowing her knapsack in the back, Megan reluctantly lowered herself into the passenger seat. "As it happens, I am carrying the necessary equipment on me already," she said. "But I should go up to my quarters and get my helmet."
"Nah, we don't wanna break our stride. The building's defenses are all armed already, we're good." She started the car, gunned the motor and headed up the steep ramp before the Trom Girl had fastened her seatbelt. A segmented steel barrier rose automatically. Unicorn made a sharp turn to emerge in the dead-end alley between the KDF headquarters and the neighboring building, then eased out onto Lexington Avenue during a gap in traffic barely large enough to admit them.
Settling back, Megan Salenger exhaled in resignation. She had only met Ashley a few weeks earlier but had already been swept up in the new Unicorn's sudden excursions more than once. "Where are we going, if I may ask?"
"Delport. It's up in Sullivan County. We'll be there before dark." Whipping through a yellow light as it turned red, Ashley whooped, "Traffic signals are only suggestions!"
The Trom Girl started to object to that philosophy, decided it would be pointless and quietly went on, "What exactly are we going to investigate?"
"Oh. That. Yeah, that was Gloria Bellamy on the phone. Jeremy handled a Midnight War case for her family years ago and she thought he might be interested. Her house was robbed and it seems to have been perpetrated by frogs."
The disbelief in Megan's low reply was priceless. "Wait. Frogs..?"
"Yep. So I've been toad."
II.
By late afternoon, the two KDF trainees had pulled into Delport, across the Hudson River from Morrisville. The wholesome-seeming town was a long stretch of perfectly-tended lawns and gleaming new cars parked next to white two-story homes with satellite dishes discreetly positioned on slate roofs. Preteen kids on bicycles and old men reading newspapers in folding lawn chairs seemed to make up the bulk of the population. As they rolled along in Ashley's white Nissan, everything seemed as serene and placid as a museum diorama of small town life. A single lawnmower buzzed in the distance.
"Snoozy burg," remarked Unicorn as she rolled past a stop sign without coming to a stop. By Megan's count, the little blonde had racked up close to a hundred traffic violations since they had got in the car two hours earlier.
"Ashley, as I understand it, your mother Mary Cassidy was the first Unicorn," Megan began. "She planned on your assuming the role when you reached the proper age."
"You got that right," Ashley said as she slowed to read the street corner signs. "Hah. Mohican Avenue, we're on the right track. Yeah, Mom had me home schooled and she brought in a lot of her shady friends to teach me dubious skills. By age ten, I could dive off the roof into the swimming pool and hide underwater for ninety seconds, I knew how to untie knots that were behind my back and I was expert at throwing anything I could get my hand around. Not a boring childhood. I spoke French, German and Spanish fluently but never did get the hang of Russian."
The Trom Girl was studying the blonde's delicate profile thoughtfully. "Did you ever socialize with children your own age? Did you have a best friend?"
"Nope. Too busy. I knew a lot of people who came and went but there wasn't any one individual who was my real pal. Why do you ask?"
"It is something I have been thinking about lately," the Trom Girl said. "You know I was taken as an orphan to be raised by the Trom Council? They had my life planned logically to develop my mind and body to full potential. I accepted this without question as a child. But Cindy asked me the other day if I ever spent lazy afternoons chatting with girlfriends or writing in a journal or mooning over some cute boy. I had done none of those activities. She made me consider what had been missing from my upbringing."
Ashley had pulled over to the side of the road without realizing it. "Whoa, whoa. Lighten up. Okay, you're a science nerd and I'm adventure girl. But that's not a bad thing. Look at us, let's face it, we're two extremely good-looking young women who are intelligent and highly skilled and about to set out on a lifetime of possibilities. Megs, I guarantee you that we will squeeze in plenty of wild fun and pure silliness and even a hot steamy romance or two for each of us along the way."
The Trom Girl regarded her new teammate dubiously. "You sound very certain."
"That's 'cause I AM certain! Stick with me, Megs. Right now, we're only beginning our first case. I think the Bellamy house has to be down that side road, Mangione Lane another couple of miles." She pulled the car out again and headed along that road which led gradually downhill. They reached a marshy area with large dark ponds on either side of them, gigantic willow trees drooping low. The low-lying soggy ground began to verge on being a swamp.
"Hee hee," Unicorn chuckled. "If there are burglar frogs, this is sure the right neighborhood for 'em."
III.
A well-preserved woman in her seventies, Gloria Bellamy had kept herself trim and active. She was wearing sandals, a loose print dress and a sunhat with a huge floppy brim. She greeted Megan and Ashley with relief and led them around the corner of her small but well-kept bungalow. Between the gravel driveway and the side of the house was a strip of earth which was soggy from the past two days of rain. She positioned them on the driveway and pointed out the bedroom window that had been raised three inches. Green shutters stood open on either side of the window. "That was closed but not locked when I turned in last night. The front and back door were locked, and I am a light sleeper, so I don't see how anyone could have broken in and walked through the house without waking me. Nothing has been touched," she said. "I haven't even told anyone else yet."
Peering intently from every angle, Megan squatted on the gravel to examine the mud under the window. "There are no Human footprints, as you can see, but there are more than a dozen tracks of a common North American frog." She stood up again and moved back a few paces. "I see no indication that anyone leaned a short ladder up against the house to avoid leaving traces. This is interesting. "
"Burglar frogs..." Ashley muttered. "Never say you've seen everything. What was missing again, Mrs Bellamy?"
"Several pieces of jewelry. Two pearl earrings, my grandmother's emerald brooch, Ben's diamond wedding ring... That would be my late husband, Ben. He passed away more than ten years ago."
The Unicorn tilted her head. "Sorry if I'm asking an indelicate question, ma'am, but why wasn't the ring buried with him?"
"Oh, I don't mind talking about it," the elderly woman said. "Ben was cremated according to his wishes and I asked that his ring be saved to remember him by. It sat on that dresser under a photo of him. This is why I'm distressed, my husand's wedding ring and my grandmother's brooch naturally had emotional value to me."
"Sure, I can see that," Ashley replied. "We'll do our best to recover them. If it was frogs, though... I dunno, I can't figure how they could carry anything. They've got hands, sort of, but..."
From where she was studying the ground, the Trom Girl said, "These amphibians have neither the dexterity nor the prehensile grip necessary to pick up such objects. I regret saying it, but I think they must have swallowed the stolen items, to be retrieved later."
"Ewwww. By 'retrieved,' you mean cutting them open?" whined Unicorn.
"I believe that is the only feasible answer." Megan had unclipped her Link from its place on her belt and now she swung it in small circles. The advanced device hummed and clicked, and she paused to frown at its screen.
"She's taking hundreds of pictures in ridiculous detail," Ashley explained to Mrs Bellamy. "In fact, she's also analyzing the dirt and the window ledge for unusual chemical signatures. My friend is a science nerd like no other."
The older woman went over to sit on a three-legged stool which had a gardening tool next to it. "Oh, that's better. I do tire easily these days. I was hoping to see your leader again. I don't know if you ever heard the story, but Jeremy helped Ben and I when we were threatened by a Midnight War being years ago. He asked me never to go into detail about it, but believe me everyone in the neighborhood was relieved when that weird big cat stopped prowling in our yards at night."
"That's our captain," laughed Ashley. "He's had an interesting career."
"If you don't mind, I want to at least walk through the bedroom and scan it," Megan said. "Have there been any unusual deaths in this area recently?"
"What an odd thing to ask." Mrs Bellamy sat up straighter on the stool. "But yes. The Klein boy, Stan I think his name was. He was only twenty-three. I don't know his family but the newspaper simply said he died 'suddenly' without giving any details."
"Hmm. I think we will have to look into that as well, " the Trom Girl said. "There may not be any connection to your robbery but I want more data to work with."
Unicorn had been pacing back and forth in the gravel as if standing guard. She came over to stand next to her new teammate. "If it's any comfort, I haven't spotted any frogs watching us."
IV.
Marching briskly across the parking lot, Ashley glanced back at the red brick spike of the Mid-Hudson Medical Facility. "Did you turn the alarms back on, Megs?"
"I am doing so now," the Trom Girl said, thumbing a button on her Link before replacing the device to its contact plate on her belt. "I am disappointed in that establishment. Most of their records have not been entered into the computer system. They still use metal filing cabinets holding folders filled with papers. Ineffecient."
"Yeah, well, they'll probably change over at some point," said Unicorn. "The nursing station was a shambles. Notes and reminders taped up everywhere, schedules and requisitions and authorizations all over the counters. No wonder that poor head nurse was so frazzled."
As they neared Ashley's car, Megan unconsciously slowed her pace and fixed a thoughtful gaze on her partner. "You distracted her so well, Ashley. I saw no indication she was even aware of my presence on that floor."
"Heh, doubletalk is a gift," Unicorn admitted. "Especially when I use my little lost girl voice. I had her phoning three different departments trying to locate Dr Mountebank for me. When I saw you sneak down the hall, I thanked her for her trouble and hurried to meet you. But I wanna know, how'd you get that records room open? No way you picked the lock in three seconds!"
Standing next to the Nissan, Megan took a flat metal gadget from her jacket pocket. "This device extrudes eight wire filaments which shape themselves to the interior of a lock, then rotate to open it. I find it useful."
"Really? Wow. Now I know what you can give me for my birthday." Ashley hopped into the driver's seat and reached over to unlock the other door for her friend. "Anyway, what's the dirt, flirt?"
"What? Oh. I found the autopsy reports on the Klein boy. He died of exposure to some natural toxin which remains unidentified. This facility sent tissue and blood samples to Albany but have not received a reply yet. The neurotoxin caused paralysis of the diaphragm, stopping the ability to breathe. Klein also exhibited blackened skin and a swollen tongue."
Ashley dropped her bubbly pose. "Frogs again. The poison dart frogs of the Amazon produce that effect. I saw Jibaros drop monkeys out of trees by hitting them with blowgun darts tipped in the goo from those frogs. Like curare."
"I reached much the same conclusion," the Trom Girl said. "The next logical step is confront those who might have access to such creatures."
"What, there's a French restaurant in town? I tried frog legs in garlic sauce when I was in Paris as a kid. they're nothing great."
"No. Not a restaurant." Megan settled back in her seat and tried to not pay attention to Ashley's dive-bomber style of driving. "Turn onto Route 214 in three miles. We are going to an estate outside town to visit the Batrach family."
V.
When she got a good clear look at their enemy, Megan lost her composure for the first time. A chuckle escaped her, then real giggling. Abruptly, she was helpless with laughter that brought tears to her eyes. The Trom Girl pressed one hand to her mouth and tried to repress her reaction but the laughter kept bubbling out despite her best efforts.
Kermit the Conqueror was a short pudgy man with a noticeable belly. He was wearing a bright green skindiver's wetsuit complete with flippers and he had fashioned a rubber mask of the same color in the likeness of a frog's head. From inside the gaping mouth of that mask, his real face could be seen peering myopically out. It was that doughy face with its confused expression, looking out from within the mask as if he somehow had been eaten by a gigantic frog, that had struck Megan as so ludicrous.
Standing next to her, Ashley let out a little snort herself. "Oh, I can see your outfit will strike fear in the hearts of houseflies everywhere," she said.
The mastermind of this bizarre reign of terror stamped a flippered foot on the marshy ground but only succeeded in making a squishing noise. "Be quiet! Quiet, I tell you. Our time has come. The era of frogs gaining dominion over the world is upon us."
"Nah, it's not even Leap Year," replied Ashley.
Wiping her eyes, Megan Salenger placed a restraining hand on her friend's shoulder. "Unicorn, please. No more puns. We must be serious." All around them, hundreds of the amphibians edged in closer. The wide variety of colors and sizes made their assembly confusing to take in. Facing the man who called himself the Conqueror, the Trom Girl cleared her throat and said, "So. Down to business. How do you control these creatures? Some sort of ultrasonic wave too high for Human ears to detect? Or do you use a pheromone spray that triggers their submissive behavior?"
"Hah. Nothing so technical. My rule over my friends comes from a natural gift." The man tried folded his arms across his chest, found that uncomfortable and placed his fists on his hips instead. The pose was not as intimidating as he intended. "I was born with a special ability. Even as a child, I could tell what frogs were thinking. I could summon them from miles around and make them hop in circles."
"The frog whisperer," smirked Ashley. "I can see how useful that power would be."
"Enough. Time you learned some respect," Kermit pouted.
Unexpectedly, something solid as a volleyball thumped hard between the Unicorn's shoulders and knocked her face down into the ankle-deep water. She instantly caught herself and leaped back up, swinging around to fight but instead freezing into position. There, staring at her, was a dark-brown frog the size of a dog. Its head reached up to her knees. Five more of the creatures were circling around her and Megan.
"Okay, you've got my attention," Unicorn said as she reached behind her to draw the horn from its sheath across her back. The ivory spiral was capped with a silver plate at its flat end and narrowed to a sharp point on the other. She planted her feet well apart and shifted her grip on the ancient talisman, ready to use it to club or stab.
"These are the 'Conrau Goliath' from West Africa," announced their enemy. He sounded delighted. "Normal specimens eat chickens and lizards but my family has been breeding them for size and voracity. They are quite capable of breaking a bone or two when they hit your human bodies."
In a voice that was suddenly deadly calm, Megan said, "They are not the worst threat, though."
"Ah. You have noticed my special friends, the Bulofira. Yes. It would be best if you held still, young lady."
Mingled in the assembly was an increasing number of bright yellow frogs with black splotches. The other amphibians hopped aside to avoid contact with these newcomers. "Hey, I've read about them," Ashley said. "Those are the venomous ones. From the Amazon. Headhunters tip their blow gun darts in these critters!"
Now, Kermit the Conqueror clapped his hands in open glee. "Yes, yes. After generations of selective breeding, my friends are incredibly toxic. Touching them with your bare skin will cause respiratory failure. Watch it. Don't fidget. They are high-strung little angels..."
"Sorry, sorry, we're really sorry for laughing at your costume," Ashley yelped. "Does that help at all?"
"Get behind me," Megan told her friend. In her field suit with its boots and gloves and high-collared jacket, she was less exposed than Ashley. Trying to shield her teammate from the bright yellow-and-black predators, Megan asked, "I suppose these creatures enjoy serving you? Are they your willing accomplices?"
"Aw hell no," scoffed the man in the wetsuit. The froglike mask flopped its jaws when he moved. "They hate it. I'm making them obey by sheer will power, not that it matters to you."
"Oh, I think it means everything to us," Ashley replied. She raised the ancient talisman overhead and called out in a clear ringing voice, "With this horn I remove thy power!"
A chill wind seemed to whip right through Kermit and he shivered. Then he raised his hands palms up and stared at them. "What happened? I.. I don't understand..."
"Your mental dominance over these creatures was a gralic ability," Megan told him. "My friend has removed that charge from your body."
Before the costumed man could speak further, five of the huge Rana Goliaths catapulted into him and knocked him off his feet entirely. The wind was slammed out of him. Kermit the Conqueror fell heavily to the marshy ground with a squelch and could not immediately find his footing. The oppressive weight of one of the Goliaths sat on his chest. "Hey! Get off before I--" Whatever he intended to say next turned into a wordless scream. A half dozen of the yellow-and-black toxic frogs wriggled into the opening of his mask and squirmed their way instead. At the fierce burning agony of contact with them, the man shrieked and rolled over and tried to dig them out from inside his suit but it was hopeless.
In less than a minute, all struggles ceased. A low wheeze as his lungs emptied was the final noise he made.
"Revenge of the oppressed," Ashley said. "Well, I can't forget he used those varmints to murder that Stanley Klein boy, so there's no use in feeling sorry for him. He tripped and fell on his own knife in a manner of speaking."
Holding up the beam projector from her belt, Megan clicked a specific cartridge into placed. "I am using the thermal effect at high power," she said. "Most of these are not native species and could have serious harmful effects on the local environment."
"Sure, I can see how that would happen. Like the rabbits in Australia. Look, some of them are already trying to disperse."
Megan adjusted the thin scarlet beam and began the distasteful chore of destroying all the yellow-and-black specimens. Where the beam touched them, the toxic frogs burst and boiled away instantly to leave only traces of sludge behind. "These are an immediate threat, so I am going to concentrate on them first."
"Sure doesn't smell like lilacs in Spring. Phew, that's nasty." Unicorn unslung the white leather sheath and carefully slid the horn back into place, snapping the sheath fastener shut. "Megs, I suggest we make an exit from this place pronto. When the authorities find his body in that whacko get-up, and with huge amounts of froggy toxin in his body, I can't imagine what conclusions they'll draw. But at least we won't be part of the mess."
Catching one final fleeing poison frog with the thermal beam, the Trom Girl shook her head. "I dislike killing these creatures. But we have no way to safely capture them and relocate them. This whole case has been surreal, Unicorn. I can't believe it all really happened, it's too bizarre."
"Oh, I don't know," said Ashley, idly splashing the water with her toe. "I found the entire experience ribbeting."
8/10/2018
8/22/1999
I.
When the wall phone rang, Ashley leaped up off the couch and dove across the office as if trying to grab a bomb before it exploded. Startled, Megan blinked and dropped the wire-thin tool she was using. On the desk in front of her, one of the Link devices sat disassembled on a white linen cloth and she had been painstakingly putting its components back together after some upgrades.
"Hello!" chirped the new Unicorn into the receiver. "Kenneth Dred Foundation." Only nineteen, Ashley Whitaker was a gorgeous little platinum-blonde absolutely boiling over with enthusiasm for life. As usual, she was wearing all white... sneakers, smug jeans and a long-sleeved pullover with dark blue trim on the collars and cuff. "What? No, sorry, Mr Bane is not here right now. Cindy isn't here either. This is Unicorn, maybe I can help you?"
Folding the cloth over itself to prevent the tiny electronic components from being lost, Megan stood up and watched her teammate with a dubious expression. The Trom Girl was a year older than Ashley, a few inches taller and a little heavier in build. Her tousled black hair and dark inqusitive eyes made a strong contrast to Unicorn's bright coloring, as did the dark field suit she was wearing with its waist-length jacket. "Ashley, I don't think..."
The little blonde held up one hand in a hushing gesture. "I see. I see. And you haven't called the police. Hmmm. Well, Mrs Bellamy, I agree we should look into it. What's the address again? Okey doke, my partner and I will drive right up there. Thank you. Goodbye." She clicked the receiver back on the unit and turned around to seem surprised at the disapproving gaze she was receiving. "Uh-oh, I know that look. NOW what?"
"Ashley, we are not KDF members yet. Our acceptance as students at Tel Shai is still probationary."
"And your point would be?" Unicorn replied blithely.
"We are not in any position to speak for the Foundation. Nor have we been authorized to accept cases for the KDF." Megan Salenger walked around from behind the massive oak desk and approached her new colleague. The Trom Girl tried to remain calm and unemotional under all circumstances, but Ashley's breezy attitude frequently made that difficult. "Did you just tell that caller we would investigate a crime scene?"
"Well, sure. Jeremy and Cindy won't be back until tomorrow night at the earliest. Every time they visit Androval, they get roped into staying for a feast. As long as they're not available, we might as well fill in." The crystal-blue eyes were shining with eagerness. "And you have to admit, we're are NOT exactly helpless little civilians. I was raised by my mom to be the new Unicorn, and you were brought up by those Trom stiffs to be a super-genius. Am I right, of course I'm right, you see that, right?"
Megan hesitated. In that instant, she was lost. Ashley grabbed her by one arm and tugged her forcibly toward the door to the hallway. "We better get moving. I've got my car down in the garage. Is your travel bag all set?"
"Yes. But wait, at least let me turn out the light in the office. We should also leave a message in case Jeremy and Cindy return early and find us missing." The Trom Girl picked up a memo pad on the desk but Ashley snatched the top sheet off first and scribbled on it before sticking the note's edge under the lamp where it would be seen.
Peering over her teammate's shoulder, Megan read 'WE WENT TO CHECK OUT A MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY, BRB.' The Trom Girl gasped, "Ashley, that does not give sufficient information. We can't leave that note."
"We just did." The Unicorn hustled the Trom Girl back out into the hall. They entered a walk-in closet near the front door and slid aside a panel to descend steep concrete steps. "I absolutely lovvvve all the trap doors and hidden rooms in this place, they're so cool," she said. Pulling Megan by one hand, she raced along a narrow walkway that ended in a plain wooden door. Beyond that was a small underground garage which only held a single vehicle, a gleaming white Nissan Sentra.
"My mom gave me that on my eighteenth birthday," Ashley explained. "I aced my driver test first try, natch." On an open shelf was a row of six knapsacks filled with changes of clothing, various tools and weapons, personal items and first aid kits. Ashley snatched up her own and flung the one belonging to Megan at her friend. "Always ready to travel to the gravel, that's us. We're like firefighters."
Stowing her knapsack in the back, Megan reluctantly lowered herself into the passenger seat. "As it happens, I am carrying the necessary equipment on me already," she said. "But I should go up to my quarters and get my helmet."
"Nah, we don't wanna break our stride. The building's defenses are all armed already, we're good." She started the car, gunned the motor and headed up the steep ramp before the Trom Girl had fastened her seatbelt. A segmented steel barrier rose automatically. Unicorn made a sharp turn to emerge in the dead-end alley between the KDF headquarters and the neighboring building, then eased out onto Lexington Avenue during a gap in traffic barely large enough to admit them.
Settling back, Megan Salenger exhaled in resignation. She had only met Ashley a few weeks earlier but had already been swept up in the new Unicorn's sudden excursions more than once. "Where are we going, if I may ask?"
"Delport. It's up in Sullivan County. We'll be there before dark." Whipping through a yellow light as it turned red, Ashley whooped, "Traffic signals are only suggestions!"
The Trom Girl started to object to that philosophy, decided it would be pointless and quietly went on, "What exactly are we going to investigate?"
"Oh. That. Yeah, that was Gloria Bellamy on the phone. Jeremy handled a Midnight War case for her family years ago and she thought he might be interested. Her house was robbed and it seems to have been perpetrated by frogs."
The disbelief in Megan's low reply was priceless. "Wait. Frogs..?"
"Yep. So I've been toad."
II.
By late afternoon, the two KDF trainees had pulled into Delport, across the Hudson River from Morrisville. The wholesome-seeming town was a long stretch of perfectly-tended lawns and gleaming new cars parked next to white two-story homes with satellite dishes discreetly positioned on slate roofs. Preteen kids on bicycles and old men reading newspapers in folding lawn chairs seemed to make up the bulk of the population. As they rolled along in Ashley's white Nissan, everything seemed as serene and placid as a museum diorama of small town life. A single lawnmower buzzed in the distance.
"Snoozy burg," remarked Unicorn as she rolled past a stop sign without coming to a stop. By Megan's count, the little blonde had racked up close to a hundred traffic violations since they had got in the car two hours earlier.
"Ashley, as I understand it, your mother Mary Cassidy was the first Unicorn," Megan began. "She planned on your assuming the role when you reached the proper age."
"You got that right," Ashley said as she slowed to read the street corner signs. "Hah. Mohican Avenue, we're on the right track. Yeah, Mom had me home schooled and she brought in a lot of her shady friends to teach me dubious skills. By age ten, I could dive off the roof into the swimming pool and hide underwater for ninety seconds, I knew how to untie knots that were behind my back and I was expert at throwing anything I could get my hand around. Not a boring childhood. I spoke French, German and Spanish fluently but never did get the hang of Russian."
The Trom Girl was studying the blonde's delicate profile thoughtfully. "Did you ever socialize with children your own age? Did you have a best friend?"
"Nope. Too busy. I knew a lot of people who came and went but there wasn't any one individual who was my real pal. Why do you ask?"
"It is something I have been thinking about lately," the Trom Girl said. "You know I was taken as an orphan to be raised by the Trom Council? They had my life planned logically to develop my mind and body to full potential. I accepted this without question as a child. But Cindy asked me the other day if I ever spent lazy afternoons chatting with girlfriends or writing in a journal or mooning over some cute boy. I had done none of those activities. She made me consider what had been missing from my upbringing."
Ashley had pulled over to the side of the road without realizing it. "Whoa, whoa. Lighten up. Okay, you're a science nerd and I'm adventure girl. But that's not a bad thing. Look at us, let's face it, we're two extremely good-looking young women who are intelligent and highly skilled and about to set out on a lifetime of possibilities. Megs, I guarantee you that we will squeeze in plenty of wild fun and pure silliness and even a hot steamy romance or two for each of us along the way."
The Trom Girl regarded her new teammate dubiously. "You sound very certain."
"That's 'cause I AM certain! Stick with me, Megs. Right now, we're only beginning our first case. I think the Bellamy house has to be down that side road, Mangione Lane another couple of miles." She pulled the car out again and headed along that road which led gradually downhill. They reached a marshy area with large dark ponds on either side of them, gigantic willow trees drooping low. The low-lying soggy ground began to verge on being a swamp.
"Hee hee," Unicorn chuckled. "If there are burglar frogs, this is sure the right neighborhood for 'em."
III.
A well-preserved woman in her seventies, Gloria Bellamy had kept herself trim and active. She was wearing sandals, a loose print dress and a sunhat with a huge floppy brim. She greeted Megan and Ashley with relief and led them around the corner of her small but well-kept bungalow. Between the gravel driveway and the side of the house was a strip of earth which was soggy from the past two days of rain. She positioned them on the driveway and pointed out the bedroom window that had been raised three inches. Green shutters stood open on either side of the window. "That was closed but not locked when I turned in last night. The front and back door were locked, and I am a light sleeper, so I don't see how anyone could have broken in and walked through the house without waking me. Nothing has been touched," she said. "I haven't even told anyone else yet."
Peering intently from every angle, Megan squatted on the gravel to examine the mud under the window. "There are no Human footprints, as you can see, but there are more than a dozen tracks of a common North American frog." She stood up again and moved back a few paces. "I see no indication that anyone leaned a short ladder up against the house to avoid leaving traces. This is interesting. "
"Burglar frogs..." Ashley muttered. "Never say you've seen everything. What was missing again, Mrs Bellamy?"
"Several pieces of jewelry. Two pearl earrings, my grandmother's emerald brooch, Ben's diamond wedding ring... That would be my late husband, Ben. He passed away more than ten years ago."
The Unicorn tilted her head. "Sorry if I'm asking an indelicate question, ma'am, but why wasn't the ring buried with him?"
"Oh, I don't mind talking about it," the elderly woman said. "Ben was cremated according to his wishes and I asked that his ring be saved to remember him by. It sat on that dresser under a photo of him. This is why I'm distressed, my husand's wedding ring and my grandmother's brooch naturally had emotional value to me."
"Sure, I can see that," Ashley replied. "We'll do our best to recover them. If it was frogs, though... I dunno, I can't figure how they could carry anything. They've got hands, sort of, but..."
From where she was studying the ground, the Trom Girl said, "These amphibians have neither the dexterity nor the prehensile grip necessary to pick up such objects. I regret saying it, but I think they must have swallowed the stolen items, to be retrieved later."
"Ewwww. By 'retrieved,' you mean cutting them open?" whined Unicorn.
"I believe that is the only feasible answer." Megan had unclipped her Link from its place on her belt and now she swung it in small circles. The advanced device hummed and clicked, and she paused to frown at its screen.
"She's taking hundreds of pictures in ridiculous detail," Ashley explained to Mrs Bellamy. "In fact, she's also analyzing the dirt and the window ledge for unusual chemical signatures. My friend is a science nerd like no other."
The older woman went over to sit on a three-legged stool which had a gardening tool next to it. "Oh, that's better. I do tire easily these days. I was hoping to see your leader again. I don't know if you ever heard the story, but Jeremy helped Ben and I when we were threatened by a Midnight War being years ago. He asked me never to go into detail about it, but believe me everyone in the neighborhood was relieved when that weird big cat stopped prowling in our yards at night."
"That's our captain," laughed Ashley. "He's had an interesting career."
"If you don't mind, I want to at least walk through the bedroom and scan it," Megan said. "Have there been any unusual deaths in this area recently?"
"What an odd thing to ask." Mrs Bellamy sat up straighter on the stool. "But yes. The Klein boy, Stan I think his name was. He was only twenty-three. I don't know his family but the newspaper simply said he died 'suddenly' without giving any details."
"Hmm. I think we will have to look into that as well, " the Trom Girl said. "There may not be any connection to your robbery but I want more data to work with."
Unicorn had been pacing back and forth in the gravel as if standing guard. She came over to stand next to her new teammate. "If it's any comfort, I haven't spotted any frogs watching us."
IV.
Marching briskly across the parking lot, Ashley glanced back at the red brick spike of the Mid-Hudson Medical Facility. "Did you turn the alarms back on, Megs?"
"I am doing so now," the Trom Girl said, thumbing a button on her Link before replacing the device to its contact plate on her belt. "I am disappointed in that establishment. Most of their records have not been entered into the computer system. They still use metal filing cabinets holding folders filled with papers. Ineffecient."
"Yeah, well, they'll probably change over at some point," said Unicorn. "The nursing station was a shambles. Notes and reminders taped up everywhere, schedules and requisitions and authorizations all over the counters. No wonder that poor head nurse was so frazzled."
As they neared Ashley's car, Megan unconsciously slowed her pace and fixed a thoughtful gaze on her partner. "You distracted her so well, Ashley. I saw no indication she was even aware of my presence on that floor."
"Heh, doubletalk is a gift," Unicorn admitted. "Especially when I use my little lost girl voice. I had her phoning three different departments trying to locate Dr Mountebank for me. When I saw you sneak down the hall, I thanked her for her trouble and hurried to meet you. But I wanna know, how'd you get that records room open? No way you picked the lock in three seconds!"
Standing next to the Nissan, Megan took a flat metal gadget from her jacket pocket. "This device extrudes eight wire filaments which shape themselves to the interior of a lock, then rotate to open it. I find it useful."
"Really? Wow. Now I know what you can give me for my birthday." Ashley hopped into the driver's seat and reached over to unlock the other door for her friend. "Anyway, what's the dirt, flirt?"
"What? Oh. I found the autopsy reports on the Klein boy. He died of exposure to some natural toxin which remains unidentified. This facility sent tissue and blood samples to Albany but have not received a reply yet. The neurotoxin caused paralysis of the diaphragm, stopping the ability to breathe. Klein also exhibited blackened skin and a swollen tongue."
Ashley dropped her bubbly pose. "Frogs again. The poison dart frogs of the Amazon produce that effect. I saw Jibaros drop monkeys out of trees by hitting them with blowgun darts tipped in the goo from those frogs. Like curare."
"I reached much the same conclusion," the Trom Girl said. "The next logical step is confront those who might have access to such creatures."
"What, there's a French restaurant in town? I tried frog legs in garlic sauce when I was in Paris as a kid. they're nothing great."
"No. Not a restaurant." Megan settled back in her seat and tried to not pay attention to Ashley's dive-bomber style of driving. "Turn onto Route 214 in three miles. We are going to an estate outside town to visit the Batrach family."
V.
When she got a good clear look at their enemy, Megan lost her composure for the first time. A chuckle escaped her, then real giggling. Abruptly, she was helpless with laughter that brought tears to her eyes. The Trom Girl pressed one hand to her mouth and tried to repress her reaction but the laughter kept bubbling out despite her best efforts.
Kermit the Conqueror was a short pudgy man with a noticeable belly. He was wearing a bright green skindiver's wetsuit complete with flippers and he had fashioned a rubber mask of the same color in the likeness of a frog's head. From inside the gaping mouth of that mask, his real face could be seen peering myopically out. It was that doughy face with its confused expression, looking out from within the mask as if he somehow had been eaten by a gigantic frog, that had struck Megan as so ludicrous.
Standing next to her, Ashley let out a little snort herself. "Oh, I can see your outfit will strike fear in the hearts of houseflies everywhere," she said.
The mastermind of this bizarre reign of terror stamped a flippered foot on the marshy ground but only succeeded in making a squishing noise. "Be quiet! Quiet, I tell you. Our time has come. The era of frogs gaining dominion over the world is upon us."
"Nah, it's not even Leap Year," replied Ashley.
Wiping her eyes, Megan Salenger placed a restraining hand on her friend's shoulder. "Unicorn, please. No more puns. We must be serious." All around them, hundreds of the amphibians edged in closer. The wide variety of colors and sizes made their assembly confusing to take in. Facing the man who called himself the Conqueror, the Trom Girl cleared her throat and said, "So. Down to business. How do you control these creatures? Some sort of ultrasonic wave too high for Human ears to detect? Or do you use a pheromone spray that triggers their submissive behavior?"
"Hah. Nothing so technical. My rule over my friends comes from a natural gift." The man tried folded his arms across his chest, found that uncomfortable and placed his fists on his hips instead. The pose was not as intimidating as he intended. "I was born with a special ability. Even as a child, I could tell what frogs were thinking. I could summon them from miles around and make them hop in circles."
"The frog whisperer," smirked Ashley. "I can see how useful that power would be."
"Enough. Time you learned some respect," Kermit pouted.
Unexpectedly, something solid as a volleyball thumped hard between the Unicorn's shoulders and knocked her face down into the ankle-deep water. She instantly caught herself and leaped back up, swinging around to fight but instead freezing into position. There, staring at her, was a dark-brown frog the size of a dog. Its head reached up to her knees. Five more of the creatures were circling around her and Megan.
"Okay, you've got my attention," Unicorn said as she reached behind her to draw the horn from its sheath across her back. The ivory spiral was capped with a silver plate at its flat end and narrowed to a sharp point on the other. She planted her feet well apart and shifted her grip on the ancient talisman, ready to use it to club or stab.
"These are the 'Conrau Goliath' from West Africa," announced their enemy. He sounded delighted. "Normal specimens eat chickens and lizards but my family has been breeding them for size and voracity. They are quite capable of breaking a bone or two when they hit your human bodies."
In a voice that was suddenly deadly calm, Megan said, "They are not the worst threat, though."
"Ah. You have noticed my special friends, the Bulofira. Yes. It would be best if you held still, young lady."
Mingled in the assembly was an increasing number of bright yellow frogs with black splotches. The other amphibians hopped aside to avoid contact with these newcomers. "Hey, I've read about them," Ashley said. "Those are the venomous ones. From the Amazon. Headhunters tip their blow gun darts in these critters!"
Now, Kermit the Conqueror clapped his hands in open glee. "Yes, yes. After generations of selective breeding, my friends are incredibly toxic. Touching them with your bare skin will cause respiratory failure. Watch it. Don't fidget. They are high-strung little angels..."
"Sorry, sorry, we're really sorry for laughing at your costume," Ashley yelped. "Does that help at all?"
"Get behind me," Megan told her friend. In her field suit with its boots and gloves and high-collared jacket, she was less exposed than Ashley. Trying to shield her teammate from the bright yellow-and-black predators, Megan asked, "I suppose these creatures enjoy serving you? Are they your willing accomplices?"
"Aw hell no," scoffed the man in the wetsuit. The froglike mask flopped its jaws when he moved. "They hate it. I'm making them obey by sheer will power, not that it matters to you."
"Oh, I think it means everything to us," Ashley replied. She raised the ancient talisman overhead and called out in a clear ringing voice, "With this horn I remove thy power!"
A chill wind seemed to whip right through Kermit and he shivered. Then he raised his hands palms up and stared at them. "What happened? I.. I don't understand..."
"Your mental dominance over these creatures was a gralic ability," Megan told him. "My friend has removed that charge from your body."
Before the costumed man could speak further, five of the huge Rana Goliaths catapulted into him and knocked him off his feet entirely. The wind was slammed out of him. Kermit the Conqueror fell heavily to the marshy ground with a squelch and could not immediately find his footing. The oppressive weight of one of the Goliaths sat on his chest. "Hey! Get off before I--" Whatever he intended to say next turned into a wordless scream. A half dozen of the yellow-and-black toxic frogs wriggled into the opening of his mask and squirmed their way instead. At the fierce burning agony of contact with them, the man shrieked and rolled over and tried to dig them out from inside his suit but it was hopeless.
In less than a minute, all struggles ceased. A low wheeze as his lungs emptied was the final noise he made.
"Revenge of the oppressed," Ashley said. "Well, I can't forget he used those varmints to murder that Stanley Klein boy, so there's no use in feeling sorry for him. He tripped and fell on his own knife in a manner of speaking."
Holding up the beam projector from her belt, Megan clicked a specific cartridge into placed. "I am using the thermal effect at high power," she said. "Most of these are not native species and could have serious harmful effects on the local environment."
"Sure, I can see how that would happen. Like the rabbits in Australia. Look, some of them are already trying to disperse."
Megan adjusted the thin scarlet beam and began the distasteful chore of destroying all the yellow-and-black specimens. Where the beam touched them, the toxic frogs burst and boiled away instantly to leave only traces of sludge behind. "These are an immediate threat, so I am going to concentrate on them first."
"Sure doesn't smell like lilacs in Spring. Phew, that's nasty." Unicorn unslung the white leather sheath and carefully slid the horn back into place, snapping the sheath fastener shut. "Megs, I suggest we make an exit from this place pronto. When the authorities find his body in that whacko get-up, and with huge amounts of froggy toxin in his body, I can't imagine what conclusions they'll draw. But at least we won't be part of the mess."
Catching one final fleeing poison frog with the thermal beam, the Trom Girl shook her head. "I dislike killing these creatures. But we have no way to safely capture them and relocate them. This whole case has been surreal, Unicorn. I can't believe it all really happened, it's too bizarre."
"Oh, I don't know," said Ashley, idly splashing the water with her toe. "I found the entire experience ribbeting."
8/10/2018
