Chapter Twelve
By: Winston deLeon
As Jade and Tammy closed in on Ranger HQ, the conversation died and both of them remained silent. Tammy was watching to try and make sure that Jade didn't come up with some particularly devious way of chickening out at the last possible second as the vehicle drove off the sidewalk and into the grassy field, crossing it and coming to a stop in front of the Ranger's tree, off to one side of the main entrance.
After releasing her seatbelt, Tammy jumped out of the vehicle's passenger seat and quickly knocked on the front door. After a few seconds, the door opened slowly and Chip stood in the doorway. "Oh, you're back! C'mon in, we finally got a development in the case while you were gone yesterday. You gotta see this video, the thief herself delivered it to us - " He started.
"I already saw it." Tammy interrupted him, causing him to stare at her for a moment in confusion.
"But how is that possible?" He asked, obviously perplexed. "She didn't deliver a copy to your house or something, did she?"
"Umm, no, not exactly. It's actually even weirder than that. You'd better take a look outside." Tammy said, stepping aside from the doorway. Chip curiously stepped out into the grass, looking around, and his jaw dropped in disbelief as he spotted Jade's vehicle. Still sitting in the driver's seat, Jade offered what looked like a shy, nervous attempt at a friendly smile and waved to Chip.
Chip's expression slowly went from astonishment to annoyance. He took a few steps towards the vehicle, where Jade sat. "What are you doing here? Again?" Chip demanded. "How much nerve can one person possibly have?"
The smile fell from Jade's face, replaced by an expression of uncertainty and discomfort as the chipmunk bristled with hostility and distrust. It was exactly the initial reaction Tammy had been afraid of.
"Hold on, Chip." Tammy said, grabbing his arm to halt his advance, "There's a lot you haven't heard, don't start yelling at her just yet..."
Chip stopped, looking at Tammy with an expression of irritated skepticism, but brought himself under control, though it seemed to take some effort. He took a deep breath and slowly released it again. In spite of being somewhat calmed down, however, it was plain to see that he still didn't like the situation. "Alright... What don't I know?" He finally asked. "And this had better be good."
"I think the others are going to want to see this, too." Tammy said. "This is a pretty big deal."
Chip looked at her stangely, obviously wondering what could possibly be going on, but he humored her request. "Well, alright... I'll get them." Chip said. He turned and walked quickly back into the house, returning a minute later with all the other rangers following him. Dale, in the lead of the group right behind Chip, was still holding a bowl of cereal in one hand and a spoon in the other.
"C'mon, Chip, just tell us what's going on." Dale demanded from the hallway as he was headed out the door.
"I'm still not sure myself." Chip said, shaking his head and motioning for them to come outside, "But Tammy said it's important."
"Important enough to interrupt a really good cartoon?" Dale grumbled as he stepped out onto the lawn. "The coyote was just about to - " He suddenly fell silent as he caught sight of Jade, sitting there in her vehicle, and nearly dropped his bowl of cereal in surprise. The other ranger's reactions were similar as they stepped out the door one by one. All of them remained silent with surprise for a moment, although none of them looked very pleased at who they saw.
"What's she doing back? Did we not tip her enough for her last delivery?" Gadget finally said sarcastically, breaking the silence. The general reaction of all the Rangers seemed to be similarly hostile.
Tammy turned to face the group. "C'mon, guys, I know she's been kind of a pain, but don't judge so quickly until you've heard her story. If there's anything I've learned from working with all of you, it's that you shouldn't rush off before you have all the facts." She said.
Tammy turned and waved to Jade, motioning her over to the group. Reluctantly, Jade left her vehicle and slowly approached the Rangers. When she was still two or three paces in back of Tammy, she stopped, apparently too shy to come closer. Not about to let her drag her feet now, Tammy quickly stepped to one side of her, and put an arm on her shoulders in a friendly fashion, gently pushing her forward. "Guys, this is Jade." Tammy said, dragging her in with a look of slight surprise on her face as she closed the distance involuntarily until she was close enough to Chip to shake hands. "You probably know everyone's names, but I'll introduce you anyway. This is Chip." Tammy informed her.
"Hi, I guess." Chip said without a lot of enthusiasm as he extended his hand.
"erm... Hello." Jade said quietly as she shook his hand briefly.
"That's Dale." Tammy moved on. Dale quickly stuck the spoon he was holding in his bowl, freeing his right hand, and shook hands with Jade. Much like Chip, he didn't seem very thrilled about it.
"Monterey Jack." Tammy moved down the line.
"'Ello there." Monty said, politely but a tiny bit gruffly as he shook Jade's hand.
"There's Zipper." Tammy pointed to the fly, who was standing on Monty's shoulder. He flew down and shook hands quickly, then returned to his perch.
"And Gadget, of course." Tammy said, reaching the end of the group. Gadget's arms had been folded across her chest, somewhat hostilely, but she quickly unfolded them and stepped forward to shake hands.
"Hello." Gadget greeted her, in a kinder sounding tone of voice than any of the others, despite her previous sarcasm.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, what's this 'big deal' you were talking about?" Chip asked Tammy.
"Maybe you'd better show them what's in the cage." Tammy suggested to Jade, who nodded in agreement and silently walked back to her vehicle. The Rangers stood there looking confused until Tammy said something. "Well, come on guys, you wanna see or not?" She asked. They followed her as she walked to the vehicle.
Jade struggled for a minute with the knots in the string binding down the cloth covering the cage before finally managing to get them loose. Once she did, she lifted the cloth part of the way up, high enough for the entire group to see in, but not high enough to give Rat Capone a particularly good look at what part of the city he was in. There was a collective gasp of surprise as they all caught sight of Rat Capone and his henchmen, who all looked equally surprised to see the Rescue Rangers staring back in at them, though they remained silent. After a few seconds, Jade dropped the cloth and it fell, once again enshrouding the cage.
"Was... was that who I think it was?" Chip asked incredulously.
"Yep, it sure was." Tammy answered him, "And you have Jade here to thank for finally bringing him down."
"But how? And why? And... oh, this is gonna be a long story, isn't it?" Chip asked with bewilderment.
"Yeah, I think so." Tammy said. "Umm... by the way, what's for breakfast? I'm starving."
"I can whip up something in half a jiff, luv." Monty answered her a bit absentmindedly.
"Well... Come on inside, then." Chip sighed, motioning everyone into the treehouse.
The Rangers returned to the kitchen, where they finished the breakfast that
they had been interrupted halfway through. Monty offered Tammy and Jade cheese
omlettes. Tammy accepted gratefully, but Jade declined, preferring to get on
with explaining her tale. She covered everything from falling slave to Rat Capone,
to planning and executing the theft of the Devil's Eye Diamond, and luring Rat
Capone into her trap and taking him prisoner. As she told her story, Tammy injected
the tale of her ten hours of tracking and subsequent first meeting with Jade
at the appropriate point.
In the process of telling the story, the Rangers all seemed to gain a much greater understanding of the unique circumstances of the situation, and Tammy was relieved to see that their hostility faded away, even if perhaps they didn't much approve of the way she went about achieving her objectives. It also helped quell their worries that she wisely decided to assure them that her days as a gem thief were over: "I'll admit, it was an entertaining challenge," She said, "but I think once was more than enough."
As Chip had anticipated, it was a long story, and everyone (except Tammy, who was just reaching the end of her second omlette) was long finished with breakfast by the time it was over.
Once Jade was done relating all the major points of her story, everyone was silent for some time, thinking on the strange tale that they had just heard.
"Well, at least I think we know who wins the award for cleverest double-cross of the year." Monty said, leaning back in his chair.
"Most justifiable, too." Gadget offered. "What a creep." Jade's description of her treatment at the hands of Rat Capone had seemed to strike a cord with her.
"You have no idea..." Jade mumbled, shaking her head.
"Well, I've got a little bit of an idea... Out of curiousity, you don't happen to know what being a 'moll' entails, do you?" Gadget asked.
"You don't really want me to answer that." Jade replied. "I never ended up being one, because the first time Capone tried it, I bit his hand so hard I made blood gush out. In my years as a slave, it was the only time I fought back against him. He didn't touch me that way again after that. He still beat on me plenty of times for other things... but at least he never did that."
"Oh... well, I only ask because the first time I wouldn't do it, he tried to run me through a cheese slicer. The second time, he punched me. Which I suppose is better than being put through a cheese slicer, but it was also worse because that time he actually succeeded in what he was doing. So I guess if you go by intent, the first time was worse, but if you judge by actual results, the second time was worse by a lot, because it really hurts to get punched like that..." Gadget chatterboxed.
"Something's been bugging me since day one." Chip broke in on her rambling. "What I never figured out is, when you left that note for us on the front steps of the house, why did you pick the lock and then go to all the trouble of relocking the door? Was it to try and lure us in more effectively by creating an even bigger mystery?"
"I hate to burst any bubbles you might have, but it's a bit simpler than that. I never picked the front door's lock. I came in through an unlocked window." Jade said sheepishly. "So I never had to relock the door at all."
"Wha... which window?!" Chip asked in surprise, taken aback at both the simple explanation and at the irony of an accomplished group of crimefighters failing to secure their own home.
"I'm not sure who's room it was, but it had a bunkbed made from tinkertoys." Jade said. "Don't worry, though, I didn't poke around or anything, I just left the note and got out." She added quickly.
Chip turned to Dale and bonked him on the head. "You left the window unlocked, you big dummy!" Chip accused him.
"That's not true!" Dale protested angrily, rubbing his head. "I never even open the window, how could I leave it unlocked? It must have been you!" He pointed back at Chip.
"Was not!" Chip declared.
"Was too!" Dale insisted.
"Was not!" Chip jumped out of his chair.
"Was too!" Dale jumped out of his chair in response.
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
At that point, they broke into high-pitched incomprehensible chittering at a breakneck pace, arms flailing and pointing excitedly, both of them poised to launch into a fistfight. Tammy just sighed, leaned back in her chair, and shook her head. That scene never failed to remind her of some of the arguments that she'd gotten into with Bink, especially now that Bink was starting to get old enough that they actually had things to argue about on occasion. Someone who didn't know better could almost confuse Chip and Dale for siblings, the way they constantly fought and yet still stuck together. Tammy almost wished she understood native chipmunk at times like these, just because it would be more entertaining to know everything they were saying... But then again, much of what they were communicating didn't really need translation anyway.
"Great... now look what I've done." Jade said with embarassment, obviously thinking that she'd caused something out of the usual.
"Eh, don't worry about it, luv." Monty said above the squabbling chipmunks. "They do this at least once a day. Usually more."
"So, who wants to put down some bets on whether or not this one breaks out into a real fight?" Tammy joked.
"And this doesn't mess up your teamwork?" Jade asked, fascinated.
"Nah... When you're good enough friends with someone, you don't let one little argument ruin it forever." Monty said thoughtfully. "Or at least... ya shouldn't."
Gadget glanced at him curiously. "Was that a reference to something in specific?" She asked.
Monty looked away uncomfortably without answering her, but instead cleared his throat, got up out of his chair, and walked over to the two chipmunks. "Alright, break it up, you two." He said, pushing them apart. "We've got a guest today, if ya didn't notice."
The two chipmunks broke off their chatter and reluctantly returned to their seats at the table. "Well, I guess that's one question answered," Chip finally said, as he calmed down after his argument with Dale, "But you did pick the locks on the display case at the museum, right?"
"Oh, yes, of course I did." She answered, looking strangely at Chip. "How else could I have done it? You didn't think I magically reached through the glass or something, did you?"
"No, uh... of course not." Chip said, rolling his eyes and glancing at Gadget briefly as they both smiled with amusement. "I was just wondering why you relocked those locks."
"Partly to make the theft look like my handiwork to Rat Capone." Jade explained. "When I used to work for Rat, when he sent me to pick locks he insisted that I relock everything back up after he was done taking whatever he was after. I figured that if I did the same thing this time, he'd be more inclined to believe that I was really the one who pulled of the theft and that I actually had the diamond. Woulda worked better if it had been more widely reported that the locks were still in place after the robbery, but I guess one can't really exert all that much control over the media."
"Actually, we were mostly trying to keep the details as secret as we could." Chip noted.
"How did you lift the diamond into the ceiling, anyway?" Gadget asked.
"The lifting rig was built right into the airplane I manufactured. I hovered it down the ceiling airvents and hid it a day ahead of time, so that it would be ready and waiting for me. All I had to do was get into the ceiling, knock down the spotlight, smoke out the room so that I could open the case without being disturbed, and fly the plane right out of the ceiling again once the diamond was onboard."
"Golly... I'm glad you're not a professional." Gadget commented. "Nothing would be safe. I'd really like it if you could look over the rangerwing with me and show me exactly where you modified various things... You know, always good to have ideas on file for the future."
"Sure, I'd be glad to show you, after we turn Capone and his buddies over to the police." Jade agreed. "I'd actually like to get a closer look at the rangerwing to tell the truth, there were some tricky things I had to do to get my version to work, and I'd be interested to see how you solved all the technical problems... Getting back to Capone, though, what kinds of charges do you think he'll get hit with, now that's he's captured?" Jade asked.
"Oh, plenty." Chip said. "Theft, extortion, obstruction of justice, and criminal conspiracy are certain. Maybe murder if the Animal Police Department can find the witnesses, because we're sure he's done it, it's just a matter of proving it. I'd like to say controlled substance trafficking, too, but since you destroyed all that cocaine, I doubt they'll be able to do anything with that for lack of evidence."
"Oh... I should have considered that." Jade said apologetically.
"Don't worry too much about it. Just the stuff that's sure to convict will be enough to keep him put away for three or four lifetimes, and it's probably better this way anyway, because now there's absolutely no chance that the stuff could fall back into the wrong hands later." Chip said.
"You think the police wouldn't destroy it?" Jade asked with surprise.
"No, I'm sure the police would destroy it, but even an evidence locker can be robbed by someone determined enough to get hold of what's inside it." Chip explained.
"Right. Well, speaking of the police, I think it's prolly about time we went and got 'em, don't you think?" Monty said.
"No, we shouldn't bring them here. It's best if we get Rat Capone away from your tree before we open that cage up." Jade disagreed. "It would be better to take him directly to the police station, he already knows where that is and he isn't going to call in an attack on them."
"Good thinking. You drive your vehicle, and we can follow right behind you in the Rangermobile." Gadget suggested.
With those arrangements agreed upon, everyone headed back outside. Gadget brought out the Rangermobile from the vehicle hanger, and all the Rangers got in. Jade took the driver's seat in her own vehicle, and Tammy rode with her, as the rangermobile was a bit crowded. She drove off the grass and back onto the sidewalk, the rangermobile close behind.
"I'm sorry about the roughness of this vehicle, but it's all I had time to build to move Capone with." Jade said soon after they had set out.
"It looks pretty good to me." Tammy said, not really understanding what the problem with this car was. It seemed to be functional enough.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw my other vehicles." Jade said. "They're a million times better than this heap of junk. This thing doesn't even have a suspension."
"How many others do you have?" Tammy asked.
"Six, so far... eight if you count the first couple that I've scrapped for parts by now." Jade answered. "I built the first after I got away from Capone because I wanted to have something fast on hand at all times as a getaway vehicle. I used to live in fear that Rat might find out where I was staying, so I built the fastest electric driven car I possibly could. At first, it was just a frame, the wheels, and a motor to drive it. I didn't think it would ever end up being more than that, but over time, I just couldn't stop myself from building one improved version after another. It's the only hobby I've really had for a long time now - build one car, then see how much better I can make the next one. The last couple I've done have been nearly as complex as a human's car, and just about as fast."
"Wow, you should show Gadget. She'd be impressed." Tammy suggested.
"Maybe... I don't know, though. If you can design and build an airplane, I'm not sure that a car is terribly interesting anymore." Jade said. "By the way... have you ever flown the rangerwing?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, a couple of times." Tammy said, with a shrug. "Gadget said I should learn how, if I was going to be working with them on cases. It wasn't very exciting, though. I've never really done much more than take off, circle it around the tree a few times, and land again."
"Even that still sounds like fun." Jade said, somewhat longingly.
"Maybe Gadget will let you try flying it later." Tammy ventured. "She even lets Dale fly, and there's no way you could be worse at it than him." She noted, momentarily recalling the few times she'd been in the rangerwing with Dale at the controls. As squirrels don't have a fear of heights, she actually rather enjoyed flying with Dale at the controls, because it made for an exciting ride, but she could tell by the way the other Rangers yelled at him that they had little appreciation for his unique style of piloting.
"I can't imagine that she could trust me enough to let me fly it already. I've only been around you guys for a few hours." Jade said, sounding surprised at the idea.
"Well, you never know." Tammy said. "I think they like you."
"How can you tell?" Jade asked doubtfully.
"Simple. When me and my sister first met them, we drove them nuts and caused more than our share of trouble, but they didn't hold that against us later. I'm sure they've already forgiven you for everything, now that they know your side of the story." Tammy explained.
"Yes... yes, I'm sure you're right. I guess that fact that they didn't arrest me should be evidence enough of that, but somehow I still can't make myself believe it." Jade said. "I'm sorry, I've got to remember that I'm not around lowlifes anymore. I'm not used to people forgiving others that easily. Or at all, for that matter. It's hard to trust anyone after the kinds of things I've been through."
"I'm sure it'll get easier with time." Tammy said.
"I hope so." Jade said, sinking into thought and falling silent as she drove onward.
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Disclaimer:
The charactors of Chip, Dale, Gadget, Monterey Jack, Zipper, Tammy, Foxglove
and any other charactor originally appearing the animated series "Chip
and Dale's Rescue Rangers" are all © Disney and are used here without
permission. Any other charactors appearing herein that are not © Disney
are my own creations. This story may be freely copied, transmitted, printed,
distributed, used as bird cage liner, or whatever, I only ask that it is not
modified from it's original form and it is not used for profit in any way. I
believe that that concludes the legal mumbo-jumbo for now... On to the story!
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