PART EIGHT - THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENTS

Annie sped through the rain, her earlier depression replaced by unbridled, white- hot rage. The team had done this. Giovanni, the lying, suave killer. Loomis, whom she had trusted with so much of her health and soul, had been nothing more than his little stooge. Probably everyone at the delivery had been on Giovanni's payroll. The mere thought of those monsters, who she would have once fought beside and called comrades, being in there with her at her most vulnerable, sickened her to the point of nausea.

Annie's hands gripped the wheel tightly as she approached the limits of Viridian City, and realized the information she had tortured out of the assassins wasn't really all that valuable. Her baby, as well as her reason to live and to fight, had been restored, resurrected in a way, and yet she was alone in this fight. With a sigh, she pulled into the parking lot of the large Viridian City Public Library and sat there to think. It had been a truly stupid move, shooting Virginia and not finishing her off… now the Team would surely be hot on her heels, itching for payback. In frustration, Annie banged her forehead on the steering wheel. That was when the idea struck her… Of course! Her old trainees! Her old students… No matter what else had passed, Rocket Trainees were forever sworn to be loyal to their mentors, their superiors, even if they eventually surpassed them in rank. It was a tradition dating back before Annie, before Raven, even before Giovanni himself. They would still be hers. Annie was sure of it. After all, Annie had been the one to make them what they were, and they were forever indebted to her for it…

Exhilarated by her burst of inspiration, Annie ran into the library eagerly, and walked immediately to the nearest computer terminal with Internet access. Annie looked around cautiously, but nobody was paying any attention to her as she reached to the keyboard and began rapidly typing. Annie's fingers flew over the keyboard as she used the computer's modem to access the Team's database, using access codes she had stolen from Severin's apartment the morning after that night. Annie held her breath as she entered each one, fearing that the access codes had been changed. Fortunately, the missing codes must have gone unnoticed, because she was able to gain access through the secret Team entry point in the official records pages of the Viridian City Gym. Still occasionally looking over her shoulder only to find that nobody had even noticed her presence, Annie tapped into the personnel files she had been seeking and quickly found the records she wanted. Butch Crandall and Cassidy Parker. Her pupils, her trainees from the past. The record showed the same address for each of them, and Annie jotted down the information quickly on a stray index card somebody before her had left behind.

After a quick stop at the reference desk to check a city map and confirm that the address was where she had thought it to be, Annie was back on the road. Her face was tight with determination as she drove to the upper east side of Viridian City. The rain had stopped, and rays of bright sunshine were starting to peek through the clouds. The light was a comfort, almost a reassurance that all would soon be right. Crandall and Parker would help. They had to help. They were still, and forever would be, her students after all.

With a cold certainty, Annie finally pulled into the covered parking of Aerodactyl Apartments, the small complex her protégées called home. The Red Rocket emerged from her car cautiously, her hands gripping the guns in each coat pocket tightly. Her eyes shifted all around the lot as she walked determinedly to their home, an apartment on the first floor in the back of the complex. As she approached the door, Annie drew Li's gun in her left hand and leaned against the wall beside the door. After a quick look around, she rapped on the door with her right hand. A moment later, the door swung inward and Butch appeared, clad in a hunter-green robe and slippers. Annie swung around to the doorway quickly and shoved Butch inside, slamming the door shut behind them. "Hello, Crandall." Annie said quietly.

"Agent Masterson!" Butch said in surprise. He was quick to salute his superior officer.

"Save it. Where's Parker?" Annie asked curtly, waving Li's gun in the air. Butch's eye caught the engraving on the bottom of the handle, a small picture of a lightning bolt through the capital letters LC, and recognized it as his son's gun instantly. His face betrayed none of the recognition.

"Butch? Who is it?" Cassidy asked, emerging from the bedroom in a baby doll nightgown and fuzzy slippers. She gasped in surprise at the sight of Annie. "Ms. Masterson! What are you doing here?"

Annie walked past her without a word and entered their kitchen. Butch and Cassidy watched her as they exchanged glances. Annie opened the fridge, looked inside for second, and then removed a glass bottle full of orange juice. She opened the bottle, breaking the seal on it, and took a big drink of the juice. "I need your help." She said, pointing at them.

"Of course. What can we do for you?" Cassidy asked as Annie crossed back to the living room, the juice bottle in her right hand and Li's gun still in her left.

Annie looked the two of them over. They were just as they had been when she had first met them as fledgling white Rockets- a hard reputation that hid two simple- minded, quivering, suck-up toadies. Ah, well. At least she still held control over something. Maintaining the hard, no-nonsense front for which she was legendary, Annie took another drink of their juice and casually plopped down onto their easy chair. Butch shot Cassidy a quick look, and Cassidy chimed in, like the little butt-kisser Annie thought her to be, "You look rather tired, Madam. May I take your coat?" It was a strange touch of quiet civility from the usually vulgar Black Rocket.

Annie nodded, and set down the juice and the .45 on the glass-topped coffee table in front of her. As she started to remove her coat, Butch suddenly swept the gun up and trained it on his former mentor. "I'd stop now, Annie." He growled.

Annie looked at her former students with wide eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Crandall?" she sputtered angrily.

"I'm making good with the Boss." Butch smirked. "Call 'im, babe." Cassidy smiled her most evil, cunning smile.

"My pleasure." She said coldly.

"Freeze, Parker!" Annie snarled. The Red Rocket glared at the two of them, these pathetic upstarts who dared to challenge their mentor. "I am a Red Rocket, and as your superior officer, I order you to release me this second!"

Butch shot Cassidy a wide grin, and she returned it. The two of them then burst into gales of derisive laughter.

"Aww, isn't that cute, Butch? She actually thinks she's still our superior!" Cassidy giggled mockingly.

"Fun-ny!" Butch croaked, placing emphasis on the last syllable. "Get real, Masterson. You lost all your rank and power when you were thrown into the Resort. Face it… You're lower than a stupid Grunt!"

"Why, you treacherous little shits! I made you what you are! Without me you are nothing, you hear me? Nothing!" Annie screamed.

Cassidy's mocking smile turned into a vicious, evil scowl. "Wrong!" she screeched, jabbing her finger in Annie's face. "We are everything without you! We are just what you tried to make us… perfect soldiers! Soldiers who know that the past- especially relics of the past- do not matter!" With that, Cassidy turned away from her with a dismissive snort and marched dutifully to the phone.

Butch's eyes were locked on Annie. In her coat pockets, Annie could feel a weight on each thigh. Her gun and Virginia's gun. The guns were no comfort, however, as Annie knew she couldn't possibly draw from this position before Butch could pump a bullet or three into her.

"This is Black Rocket Cassidy Parker-Crandall, Agent 556. Get me the Boss right away." Annie heard Cassidy say into the phone. Soon her time would be up for good. Tiredly, Annie reached for the clear glass bottle of orange juice on the coffee table.

Butch cocked the .45 with a deadly click. "Eh, eh, eh, Masterson. What are you doing?"

Annie glared at him with annoyance. "Cripes, Crandall. You stupid bastards are signing my death warrant. Can't I at least get a drink off you?"

Butch smirked. "One second." He said, and picked up the bottle. With a loud snort, he shot a large gob of spit into the juice. The viscous blob sank down into the pulpy juice. "Enjoy." Butch said with a grin as he passed the bottle back to Annie. She took the bottle and looked at it with disgust.

"Well, find him, damn it! This is a frickin' priority call, you understand me?" Cassidy snapped into the phone.

Annie looked at Butch as she lifted the bottle to her lips. It was now or never. With a lunge, Annie thrust the bottle forward and a spray of orange juice hit Butch square in his eyes. The citrus in the juice burned, and Butch squinted his eyes shut and growled. Grabbing her chance, Annie jumped to her feet and slammed the bottle against the side of his head, smashing it to pieces. Butch slumped to the ground as Annie jumped over him and ran out the door. Behind her, she heard Cassidy's tense, "Shit! Get up, Butch! Aw, Damn it!" Annie ran across the lot to her car frantically, her hand fumbling for her gun in one pocket, her keys in the other. Just as she reached her car, gunshots rang out around her. Annie spun around to see Cassidy wielding Li's gun and running toward her with a wild look on her face. Annie looked at her former student with an authoritative look, and raised her gun. Cassidy froze in her tracks for a second. Annie began firing at the Black Rocket, not really intending to hit her. Cassidy's expression cracked, and she immediately dropped to the ground and scampered behind a car. Annie allowed herself a wry, knowing grin. Nothing had changed. Parker still couldn't dodge bullets to save her life.

Annie threw herself into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. Cassidy straightened up from behind the car and took aim. She began firing again, but with her limited supply of ammunition in the gun she couldn't hope to hit the rapidly retreating target Annie presented her with. In moments, the Red Rocket was gone, her car out of sight. Angrily, Cassidy stomped her foot and began to march back to the apartment to see to Butch and report back to the Boss. He wasn't going to like this… Suddenly, Cassidy became aware of a pair of eyes on her as one of the other residents of the complex stared out his open door at her. "What the hell are you staring at?" she demanded as she pointed the empty gun at him. In a panic, the man slammed his door shut. Cassidy smugly snorted at the door, then realized for the first time since she had run out after Masterson that she was still wearing her slippers and baby doll nightgown. Her face flushed red as she ran back to the apartment.

CHAPTER NINE: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS