Chapter Three

Capper Central. June 28, 2005

    In the following two weeks, the Cappers stepped up their recruitment and training of new Cappers to fight the Kortac. They realized that they weren't going to get any help from the world governments, because they were too busy fighting wars of their own against their neighbors to care about the real enemy, the Kortac.

    "Hey Buck," RIZZZ said, "what do you suppose Tolstoy has been doing in there with Hobbes all this time? I mean, don't you think he should be out here helping us formulate plans of attack? We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for him."

    "Yeah. I don't have any idea what he's up to. But I think we have done a damn fine job! I mean, look what we've accomplished. We took out three of their heavy dimensional cruisers, stopped two coup attempts on their part to take over the US government, plus offed about 150 of them! Not bad for two week's work."

    "And the important thig is that we haven't lost anyone else. Scouty has become a martyr. Everyone wants to get the Kortac for her. I wish we wouldn't have lost her, but..." RIZZZ said, his voice trailing off.

    Just then Tolstoy emerged from the control room, where he had spent most of the past two weeks consulting with Hobbes. "Ah! Buck. RIZZZ. Do me a favor and call the other leaders up to the control room. Hobbes and I have discovered the most fascinating thing. I think that you should all hear it." With that, he turned around and walked back into the room.

    "Strange old bird..." Buck muttered as he went over to a comm link to call the other leaders to the control room.

    After a few minutes, the leaders had arrived, and they all walked in to the control room and sat at the table, waiting for Tolstoy to get done consulting with Hobbes one last time.

    "Good. You're all here," he said after re-entering the room, and took a seat at the head of the table. "Now as you all know, all over the world, everyone has gone mad. They're making war against their neighbors, people they have lived next to in peace for years, decades or even centuries. Yet, there is something that has been puzzling me. That's what Hobbes and I have been discussing for the past two weeks. Anybody care to make a guess what I'm talking about?" He looked patiently around the room to see if anybody could guess what it was he was referring to.

    "The Cappers!" anime exclaimed, realizing what it was Tolstoy was referring to. "Everyone else in the world has gone nuts. Everyone except the Cappers. That's it, isn't it? Someone get me a gold star." She sat back in her chair with a victorious look on her face.

    "Exactly," Tolstoy said. "Now, the reason for this is still up in the air. There has to be some connection, but we haven't figured it out. It's narrowed down to three possibilities, however. One: the unique sense of humor it takes to be a Capper. Two: the family type atmosphere that surrounds you. And three..."

    "Three times a lady..." Gray Zombie interrupted, causing an outburst of laughter from the group at the table. A much needed laugh.

    Tolstoy waited patiently while they regaind their composure. "Three: some chemical inbalance in the the brain that all cappers share. I'm partial to the third one, myself." This brought another round of laughter from the group.

    "So what are you trying to tell us," BuckFifty finally said, "is that a bunch of mental patients are what the world needs to save it?"

    "No. If we can isolate what the cause of this anomolous behavior is, we might be able to use it to help stem the tide of the madness that has gripped this planet. And then it won't just be the Cappers against the Kortac. We can get the whole planet involved. But until that happens, it's just us."


Kortac Command Center

    "Sir, everything is going as planned. All the Earth people are fighting and killing each other. Soon, we will have total control over this planet! And your name, Martac the Magnificent, shall be heralded throughout the Kortac Empire!"

    Martac waved his hand dismissively at the lieutenant who had just spoken. "None of this will matter if we do not defeat the Cappers. We had them on the run, and then, out of the blue, they start defeating us again. What is it about them that causes them not to fall prey to the madness that has enveloped everyone else?" He looked at the Kortac standing in front of him. "WELL? What is it?"

    "I... I don't know, sir. Perhaps it is..." he started, only to be punched hard in the chest by a very suddenly angry Martac.

    "I... DON'T... WANT... GUESSES..." he said hotly.

    The lieutenant took a step back to catch his breath. After catching his breath, he backed slowly out of the room, leaving the fuming Martac to his thoughts.


Capper Central, later that same day

    "How are the new Capper recruits looking, Moon Queen?" Gray Zombie asked, entering the briefing room. He walked over and sat down in the empty chair next to her.

    "Here, see for yourself," she said, pushing the laptop over to him. "There are a bunch of good, I mean really good Cappers that just came on board. JoeCrow, for one. He was a cop, so he'll be of tremendous help to us in organizing. And 144b got a hold of The Enigma and Amon, and they are both on their way here. He's still looking for keogh, though."

    "You know," Gray said, "it's a good thing that there aren't all these wars going on in the US. At least we still have internet access, so it makes it easy to communicate with Cappers across the country. Sure, we got mini wars going on, but they have always been there, so it's not that big a thing. I just hope that it stays that way until we can get these Kortac goons outta here."

    "What about the Council, Gray? Even if... I mean when we defeat the Kortac, without the White on the Council, all the problems will still be here."

    "Yeah, I know..." he said, getting up to leave. "It's too much for me to think of right now. We've got to focus on one problem at a time. If we overextend ourselves, we won't be doing anybody any good."

    "Yeah, you're right," she said, pulling the laptop back over to her. "Look, go get some rest. You haven't had a decent night's sleep in two weeks. You're gonna burn yourself out. And then you won't be doing anybody any good." She smiled after him as he left the room.

    In the control room, animebabe, RIZZZ and Tolstoy were sitting at the table talking, with Hobbes listening in and offering observations and suggestions where needed.

    "So," Tolstoy asked, "how many Cappers do we have signed up?"

    "Well over 200," RIZZZ offered.

    "218, to be exact," Hobbes corrected.

    "218 and a half if you count DeadlyRinger," laughed anime.

    "That's not too bad. Not too bad at all. It's still well short of the hundreds of thousands of Kortac warriors, but that is a good amount," Tolstoy said, scratching his chin.

    "Yeah, Mr. Doom and Gloom," anime said. "And we have them spread out all over the US, with some overseas. I don't know if it's just pure coincidence that most of the Kortac activity is going on here or if it's just dumb luck, but it sure saves on the teleporter batteries. With Cappers spread across the US, we almost always have all the Kortac activity covered."

    Suddenly, an alarm was heard throughoutt Capper Central. "Hobbes. What's going on?" Tolstoy said, leaping to his feet.

    The Kortac, they have discovered the temporal rift that we have been hiding in. There are five heavy dimensional cruisers on their way toward us. I estimate arrival in twenty seconds."

    "RIZZZ! anime! Where is a good place to hide to avoid detection on Earth?"

    "Umm..." anime stammered.

    "Zombie Swamp! If this thing can hop dimensions, it should be able to hide in Zombie Swamp in a different dimension, right? Hardly anyone knows how to get in there safely. That's got to be the place!"

    "Hobbes, teleport us there, now!" Tolstoy shouted above the alarm.

    "Preparing temporal jump. Jump in three, two, one. Temporal jump now."

    Just as Capper Central teleported out, one of the Kortac dimensional cruisers got a shot off that rocked the Cappers' command base. Hobbes managed to hold it together, and they safely made the jump to Zombie Swamp. But when they arrived in their current dimension, Hobbes reported the bad news.

    "That was the last teleport for Capper Central. The dimensional drives and interdimensional communications have been damaged beyond repair. There is no way to get the needed repair items in this dimension, and no way to get a hold of anyone to send us the needed items. We're stranded in this dimension."

    "And if the Kortac discover us..."

    "If they discover us, we're dead," anime said, finishing Toltoys thought.