Volunteer

It’s Saturday morning at the institute.  You can hear alarms go off for 7 throughout the bunkhouse, the residents and intern dorms.

Once a month the gang heads out in their vehicles and help out on volunteer programs.

Breakfast in the cafeteria then out by 8:30 to head to their programs. 

A group enjoyed helping the elderly do yard work around the older houses.  Another group enjoyed working for habitat, usually there was a house being built somewhere close by. One group always picked a park to pick up the trash then offer a program to learn something involving team work with the kids.

Buckaroo took his group to work on the yards of the elderly.  There was a particular area that he loved in New Brunswick that needed someone’s help.  While interning in the local hospital he had worked on several community members.  He fell in love with the architecture of the homes, the Victorian style with the gingerbread work and large porches.  The house once shined in their day. Now with the older generation on fixed incomes, up keep was beyond their means.  He organized his friends at the institute one a month to go for a day to help clean up the yards and do house maintained to help them.

Today’s group consisted of Rawhide, Penny, Perfect Tommy, Danny, Pecos, Reno, Big Norse and a new kid on the block, Rose.

With gear in tow, they headed out in Danny’s pick up truck and Rover 1.

Canary wrote:

As soon as everyone had climbed into the vehicle of their choice and got buckled in. 

Buckaroo, driving Rover 1, head out the gates of the Institute. Sitting next to him, riding shotgun, as always, was Rawhide. In the backseat sat Big Norse, Perfect Tommy and Penny.

Perfect Tommy was still trying to wake up. He had a large cup of coffee that he was trying to drink from.

Big Norse and Penny were laughing at him as he tried to take a drink the same time they went over the curb at the Instate's front gate.

Tommy was not a happy boy.

Fiero wrote:

“Oh...great!! #&*#!” Perfect-Tommy took out a rag and started wiping his shirt vigorously.
"Anyone got any water?"

There were no replies, but plenty of smiles.

Big Norse looked over, "That's not silk I take it?"

He glared back,"Of Course it is!..Nothing but the best for Tommy!!"

"Why wear expensive clothes for something like this work detail?"

Stunned for a second, Perfect Tommy replied, "Work?"

Rawhide turned around,"Each of us will pick out someone from the list I have. The retirees all have a task they want addressed." He held up the paper, of which Perfect-Tommy quickly snatched up.

Big Norse asked him,"Oh, change of heart?”

Penny added, "Anxious eh?"

Perfect-Tommy was scanning the list of jobs, looking for the easiest as he replied, "...Uh.......
.Yeah..."  He started thinking. Painting the Living room looked too tedious, and dangerous to his
attire. Next he saw a lawn that needed mowing....Possibility of sweating here...and grass stains.
The other job immediately looked involved, so he didn't finish reading it. Finally seeing a retiree who wanted replacement of old electrical outlets. Perfect-Tommy decided on that one. All right! Least I'll enjoy air conditioning! The Hong Kong Cavalier spoke up, "I'll take this one!"

Buckaroo Banzai, started turning the vehicle to the left. "All right people, we're almost at the first house on the list. I'll drop you off one at a time. Then retrieve everyone at the end of the day."

Rawhide faced his Boss, "You mean ...figuratively... I take it?" He knew Dr. Banzai could be quite literal at times.

Rocketman wrote:

"Well," said Buckaroo, "Maybe we'll just drop Tommy off, and let the others out at their spots." He grinned slightly, as he continued watching the road. So did Rawhide.

"Hey! I'm not jumping out of a moving car, not today!" Perfect Tommy was visibly alarmed.

"He'd have to climb over one of the girls to get out that way, anyhow," said Rawhide. "I reckon they wouldn't like that."

Buckaroo sighed deeply. "Ah, yes, I suppose you're right. You lucked out again, Perfect Tommy." He winked in the rearview window.

Tommy caught the wink. "Ha-ha. Very funny."
Penny spoke up next. "Buckaroo, I was going to mow the Henderson's  yard. I haven't seen them for quite a while, and I thought it would be a good excuse to talk with them." She had a twinkle in her eye.

Old man Henderson was an old-school spook from the early days of the  CIA, and was a little paranoid about visitors. Agents, he called them. Penny used to check up on he and his wife, after meeting them at an Institute-sponsored first aid course she had taught. She had gotten
into a weekly routine of visits with them, as they were quite an  interesting couple. She imagined that they were what her grandparents must have been like.

Mr. Henderson's old age caught up with him, though, and he began to form slightly delusional suspicions about Penny's motives for visiting. He started calling her a "spy" who was trying to pry out secrets from his experiences. Rather than irritate the sweet old couple, she decided to stay scarce for a while. It had been six months.

"Sounds good. It looks like this is their place right here." Buckaroo pulled up to the curb. Always a gentleman, he exited the car, and opened the door for Penny. A quick hug and a kiss later, and Penny was bounding up the driveway.

Tommy Boy wrote:

Rawhide looked to Big Norse, “What did you see on the list?”

“Miss Wilson two doors down needs some painting done in her living room.  I should be able to get that done.”

Buckaroo pulls up two houses up and pulls to the curb.  Rawhide gets out and opens the door for Big Norse.  Then to the back of the car to pull out two cans of pain while Big Norse picks up the box of brushes and tape and covers. 

Rawhide escorts her up to the door.  Miss Wilson who stands about 5 feet tall with blue gray hair opens the door.  Rawhide comes back to the car in 5 minutes.

Perfect Tommy sits alone in the back seat.  Rawhide gets back in the front, “Your next buddy.”

They travel up a block to pull in front of a Victorian Gingerbread house.  In it’s day it was a showpiece.  Rawhide looked back to Perfect Tommy, “This is your stop.”

Tommy thought back to the list, replacement of electrical outlets.  “How many rooms do you think that has?”

Buckaroo look at the house, “Fifteen?”

Fifteen times four is sixty or more outlets.  Tommy gave himself in inwards groan.  He opened the door to the car.  Rawhide told him there was a tool box in back and a box of electrical outlets to use.  When Perfect Tommy opened the back up the box was two feet by four feet.  ‘Right, an easy job to do Tommy.’ he told himself.

Perfect Tommy worked his way up the walk way to the door and rang the door bell.

The door was answered by . . .



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Volunteer


Round Two



Cait Sidhe wrote:


A knife-wielding Bravo, who leapt out at Tommy with a fierce battle cry. Tommy froze for only a
fraction of a second before the lighting-fast reflexes he'd honed during several years of snake wrestling
took over. Tommy grabbed the Bravo by the wrists and twisted the knife from the miscreant's grasp.

Then, with all his might, Perfect Tommy slammed the struggling Bravo against the doorpost. The Bravo was still conscious, fighting, and cursing up a storm, in an obscure Maylasian language that Tommy barely understood, but that he recognized has having originated somewhere around Sabah. This guy has a foul mouth, Perfect Tommy thought as he prepared to slam the guy yet again.

It was then that a sharp metal clang reverberated throughout the courtyard, and the Bravo slumped limply to the ground like a sack of birdseed.

Tommy glanced back to the doorway to see the house's owner, elderly Mrs. Jenkins, holding a
cast-iron skillet that looked heavy enough to sink the Titanic, and looking madder than the proverbial wet hen.

"The sneaky little cockroach didn't give you too much trouble, did he?" Mrs. Jenkins asked. "The jerk
must've snuck in while I was taking a nap."

"No Ma'am," said Tommy politely. "We have to deal with his kind all the time. D'you mind if my
buddies and I check the place out? There might be more of them around,"
"Make yourself at home," Mrs. Jenkins said.

"I'll put some tea on. And if there are any more of those guys hanging around, we'll give'em what-for."

Tommy smiled. He was liking this redoubtable old woman more every minute...she kind of reminded him of his grandmother, in fact.

"Thanks, Mrs. Jenkins, That'll be nice," he said.

Just then, Rawhide came running up the walkway, panting for breath. "I thought I heard some commotion! Is everything okay?" Rawhide asked. His eyes widened in horror as he spotted the fallen Bravo on the ground.

"Nothing we can't handle," Perfect Tommy said, grinning. "Still, we should probably look around just
in case there are more of them"

Canary wrote:

After a quick, but thorough, search of Mrs. Jenkins house, and a cup of tea for Tommy and Rawhide and Buckaroo, Rawhide and Buckaroo headed on to the next house, leaving a much happier Tommy.

Rawhide had the next stop. A small house sitting on a large lot. There was a lot of yard work to be done here. Grass to be mowed, weeds to be pulled and a picket fence that could stand some attention. The owner of the house was an elderly Italian gentleman name Aldo Marcconi.
Rawhide had met him last year and they had gotten along fine. Mr. Marcconi, 'no relation, drat it all,' had some great stories that he would tell as Rawhide worked. There would also be ice cold
strawberry lemonade to drink. It should be a good day's work.

Buckaroo drove on to the last stop on his list. An cottage style house that had, in its day, been what every woman wanted when she said, "a cute little cottage with a white picket fence
and a garden....

Dragon wrote:


Little did our hero suspect in his wildest daydreams that such a quaint cottage could hold dark secrets that would change the way he looked at architecture for the rest of his life.

Buckaroo glanced at the note on this address, it read, "replace dry rot porch and fix holes in the stairwell walls", it seemed easy enough. Some carpentry and plaster, a little paint. He unloaded a hefty toolbox, tucked an extra handkerchief in his overalls and tied one around his head to keep the dust out. At the door he was greeted by a couple in their 80's both hollowed in the face and silver haired.

"Mr. Zardoil?" he asked as he extended he free hand.

"Yes, you are the young man that's come to help us with a few things today, good, very good..." his voice trained off.

Buckaroo made eye contact with the women and extended his hand in greeting, "I'm Buckaroo."

The woman took his hand and squeezed with a strength Buckaroo was shocked at, "Buckaroo,
come this way, I'll show you to the back porch and that darn dry rot."

Buckaroo got right to work.


Fiero wrote:

Big Norse had GO-PHONED Pecos to ask her for help with the painting task.  The house they stopped at, wasn't very big; 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Several minutes later, Miss Wilson had invited the other Hong Kong Cavalier inside. She said very little and led her to the livingroom where Big Norse waited.
The house looked like it was constructed in the 30's. The two Cavaliers noticed the woodwork
in the living room had a lot of trim, meticulous detail. It would take some time to strip old
layers, and restore the look to its' original features. No wonder her friend contacted her.

Big Norse stated, "I've started work on the door so that area can dry first."

Pecos replied, "Good idea, I'll work the opposite end of the room."

She quickly laid out cloth, buckets and rollers. Pecos had poured remover and was waiting
for it to take effect.
As she began moving knick-knacks out of the work way; a few items had attracted her attention.  Strange winged emblems and old Black & white  photographs hung on the wall. There was something familiar about them however, for the moment she couldn't put her finger on it. In the background, they could hear 50's Be-Bop.

Rawhide was outside in the warm weather pushing a gas mower. He had his outer denim jacket
wrapped around his middle leaving just a tight-fitting sleeveless T-shirt on top. His broad shoulders
and muscled arms developing a farmers' tan.

Although sometimes he was prodded for wearing a Cowboy hat for what seemed like 24/hrs a day, its' benefit indeed would come in handy today.

Reading a newspaper on a lawn chair fifty feet away from the Hong Kong Cavalier, a perplexed
Mr. Marcconi sat wondering how many people mowed lawns with Colt .45s strapped around
their waist...





Tommy Boy wrote:

In the beat up pick up truck, Danny, Reno and Rose rode behind Rover 1.    They were all dressed in green fatigues with green shirts sporting the red “Team Banzai” slogan on the back.

Danny pulled up to the curb of one of the bungalows.  Rose opened the door and let Reno out.  The bungalow belonged to Trina.  She had no last name to offer.  She was an elderly lady who had performed on stage many years.  Reno liked hearing her stories of the stage.  He request was to repair the molding around her windows and door and bit of repair work here and there.

Reno pulled out his tool box from the back of the truck and hit the side to let Danny know he could go on.  He walked up to door and knocked.  No answer.   He tried to look through the front door window but the lace was in the way.   Reno sat down his tool box and headed to the back yard.   

The back door was ajar.  Reno pulled out his gun and slowly opened the door more.

On the kitchen floor was Trina.  Reno went to her instantly.  Apparently she had fallen.  She was unconscious. 

Reno found the phone on the wall and dialed 911.  He explained the situation and cleared the area for the EMT’s arrival.

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Danny and Rose continued up the street and made the left turn onto Mockingbird Lane.

“What was that address again?” Danny asked.

“1313 Mockingbird Lane.  See Ms . Lilly Munster.”

They pulled up in front of the house and looked at each other.  They both had the look as to say ‘what did we get ourselves into here.’

“What did Rawhide say that needed to be done?” Rose asked.

Danny pulled out the note.  “Yard work and re-attaching of the shutters.”

Rose looked at the creepy house and thought to herself, ‘Okay Rose, you can do this.’

They got our of the truck and got their equipment out.  Danny would handle the shutters and Rose would start on the yard work.



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Volunteer


Round Three


Cait Sidhe wrote:


Reno checked Trina's breathing and pulse. Both seemed slightly lower than normal, but not low enough to be life-threatening. She didn't seem to be bleeding, and Reno was afraid to move her, in case she'd injured her back.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over Reno, and he leapt to his feet, spinning around with his gun in hand. Needless to say, the figure skulking in from the back of the house was NOT the EMT. One of Xan's Bravos lunged towards him, only to fall to the floor as Reno nailed him in the chest and forehead. Reno offered a silent prayer in thanks to whatever benevolent deity was responsible for the fact that most of Xan's grunts carried knives rather than firearms. Then there was a knock at the door.

Reno peered through the peephole, and opened the door when he saw that it was the EMT. They were able to revive her, and it turned out that she'd been sapped by the Bravo, who'd then apparently waited for Reno to show up.

Reno swallowed the bile that rose into his throat at this...how DARE Xan use innocent elderly people to further his schemes against Team Banzai?!

Reno immediately called out to the other team members on his Go-Phone to warn the possible danger, only to find that Tommy and Rawhide had just faced a similar attack moments before. It appeared that they had a real problem on their hands...was it possible that someone had tipped Xan off as to the
day's agenda?

If so, they would have had to have possessed advance knowledge as to the list of houses they would be visiting! Reno shared his suspicions with Rawhide, and the two began calling the others to warn them.

Canary wrote:

Danny's Go Phone rang as he was getting his tools out of the  truck.

It was Reno.
Apparently he and Perfect Tommy had just been attacked by Xan's Bravos, and the two had come to the conclusion that  if there'd been two so far, there had to be more lurking around.

Danny said he'd keep an eye out for them, thanked Reno, hung up, and collected his tools.

Lily Munster was an eerily beautiful woman a with deathly pale complexion and a white streak running through her hair. She was most polite and gracious when Danny and Rose reported in for duty.

When Danny asked if she'd seen any suspicious-looking people around the area, she did mention seeing someone who, from her description sounded too much like one of Xan's Bravos for Danny and Rose's comfort---partially missing ear and everything.
However, she added, "He seemed to be looking for something or someone. I didn't like the looks of him; I thought that he might have been a prowler. So I put Spot out for awhile, and Spot ran him off. Right, Spot?" A deafening roar sounded somewhere from the vacinity of the basement,
and Danny found himself wishing he could've seen the scumbag's face when whatever it was in the basement had gone after him; whatever the beats was, it sounded HUGE!
"Good boy, Spot!" called Rose, and the three of them laughed. Danny and Rose went about their chores for Mrs. Munster with no further trouble.


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Rocket Man wrote:

Penny reached the Henderson's door, and stopped short of knocking. She remembered the Samurai focusing and calming techniques that Buckaroo had taught her. Taking a deep breath and clearing her mind, she banished apprehensive thoughts of Mr. Henderson's attitude, then she reached for the knocker……

She was startled when, before actually knocking, a voice came from above the door. "Who goes there?!" an older male voice demanded. "I see every move you make, young lady. Hey, Debbie", he called out obviously to another person in the home,"that spy Penny is back!"

Another voice, this one annoyed came from the speaker. "For God's sake, Alex, let her in. I think she's going to cut the lawn!"

"But she's here to pick my brain!"

Penny giggled.

"Alex, cut it out! She's a friend."

A short silence. "Oh, all right. But you watch her." Alex seemed deflated in his response.

The door opened, and a tall older man, slender, looked at her. She felt she was under a microscope under his gaze. "No pictures, young lady", he grumbled.
"Absolutely, Mr. Henderson. I understand security protocols, sir." Penny was trying to be as respectful as possible with him.

It was working. "Good. I think we can talk safely here." Just then, Deborah Henderson came into the room, carrying a plate of cookies. A pitcher of ice tea was already on the table in the small living room. "Would you like a little snack before you get working?"

"Absolutely! That sounds wonderful." Penny had missed their talks over tea and cookies, and was eager to share some time with the couple. She walked over and sat down at the table. Immediately, she picked up a cookie and started munching

Alex came over as well, but not before scanning her with some sort of handheld device. "Hmm…… No bugs on her. Very strange. I thought for sure she would be wearing a wire……" He made a big show of being puzzled.

Debbie sighed. "C'mon you old man, sit down and quit acting a fool." Penny handed him a cookie. He ran the scanner over it as he sat down. Debbie sighed again.

"So, Penny, how are you?" Debbie smiled. "It's been so long since we've seen you."

Months of adventure and stress poured out of Penny, and she and the Hendersons talked for a long time. After an hour or so, she looked at her watch. "Oh, wow! I've been babbling to you two for a while now, I'd better get onto that lawn of yours."

"Oh, honey, you're right." Debbie pointed behind her, at the back yard. "We've still got all the tools in the shed out back. Let us know if you need anything, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." She would have rather talked with them all day, but that was selfish of her. Penny stood up and walked to the back door, and opened it. As she started to walk out to the shed she heard Mrs. Henderson: "You make sure you come get water when you need it, its going to be a hot day."

Ten minutes later, Penny was trimming the trees around the house with a weedwacker. The grass had grown very high, and she felt it best to knock down the tallest clumps with the weedwacker, then mow. She liked this part, because it was very good for releasing stress. She imagined before her a veritable sea of red lectroids, and she, Penny Pretty, was single-handedly defeating them. A particularly knotty growth of weeds came into view, which she visualized as the head of
John O'Connor. She quickly dispatched him, then moved on to the next nuisance. On her belt, she realized her go-phone was buzzing. She let go of the trigger of the weedwacker, which went into a quiet idle.

"Penny, here. What's the status?"

"Sweetheart, you ok?" It was Buckaroo.

"Well, yeah. I mean Mr. Henderson gave me a shakedown, but he's pretty harmless. Do you know what he said to me……" Buckaroo cut her off.

"No, I'm serious, Penny. We've had a couple of Bravo attacks today."

"Bravos? You're kidding!" Penny's senses pricked up.

"Absolutely not. Have you seen anything suspicious?"
"Not this morning, Buckaroo. Everything's been as quiet as……" A shadow fell on the ground next to her. Instinctively, she took a quick leap forward, and heard a familiar whooshing sound behind her. Turning around, she saw a Bravo, brandishing a combat dagger, advancing on her
quickly. The dagger had missed the back of her neck by mere inches.

Penny, after a few years of the institute's combat classes, knew a little kung fu. She deftly assumed the ready position of a staff-wielding warrior. It seemed natural, as she was holding the
weedwacker in both hands. She laughed grimly at the absurdity of it all.

The Bravo made his move. Moving quickly, he shifted the dagger from hand to hand and circled her, looking for a weakness. He sneered and leapt at her.

"Oh, jeez!" She said, and by instinct brought the engine end of the lawn tool up into his midriff, knocking him to one knee. He quickly recovered, and came after her again. She had an inspiration.

Squeezing the trigger on the weedwacker, the spinning head of the tool came to life. When the Bravo reached her, she ran the business end of the tool up and down his weapon arm. He howled in pain, and dropped the dagger. Taking advantage of the distraction she had created, she
gave him a roundhouse kick, sending him belly first onto the grass. She planted her foot into the middle of his back.
"Why are you here!"she yelled.
No response. Penny turned the weedwacker around, and pressed the hot engine against his pasty white cheek. The Bravo screamed an angry scream.

With hate in his voice, he said: "I do not talk to chattel!"

Through some rage unknown, she hauled back her fist, and struck her attacker in the face. Hard. The Bravo settled into a battered, disgusting, and unconscious heap on the lawn. She stared at what she had done.

Shakily, she stood up and reached for her go phone, which had fallen on the ground during the scuffle. She could hear Buckaroo's frantic calls for her. She heard something else, as well. A gunshot rang out from the house.

"Oh, no, the Hendersons!" She ran at top speed to the house, leaving the go-phone on the lawn.

Tommy Boy wrote:

At Miss Wilson’s house:

Big Norse and Pecos moved the furniture away form the walls, the paint them properly.

On a bookcase Pecos found a picture of a younger Miss Wilson with . . .

“Hey Big Norse.  Doesn’t she look familiar?”

Big Norse looked at the picture, to her it was Buckaroo’s mother.

The girls looked at each other then called out in unison, “Miss Wilson.”  Then went looking for the elderly lady who may have some interesting stories.


At the Henderson’s:

“Penny!  Answer me baby.  Penny!” 

Buckaroo’s voice could be heard from the go phone that was left on the lawn.

Buckaroo switched over his go phone to Rawhide.  “Yes Boss?”

“Think we got a problem.  Can you go over to the Henderson’s?  You are closer and I believe Penny just had a run in with a Bravo.”

Rawhide was already hitting the street jogging down the two blocks it took to get from Mr. Marcconi’s house to the Henderson’s.  Coming down the street was Danny’s pickup with Rose in the passenger seat.  They parked and quickly joined Rawhide .

“Boss.  Got Danny and Rose, we’ll let you know what is up.”

Each member was armed.  Rawhide told the to newbies, “Open channel beta and keep it open.  We’ll be constant contact.” Rawhide motioned  Danny and Rose to stay together and take the front door.  He was going to circle to the back door.

Danny and Rose tried to look through the decorative windows by the door. 

Rawhide came to the back door and found that it was open.   “The back is open, proceed with caution.” he said out loud.  He walked into the kitchen.  Keeping his awareness about him.

Danny and Rose entered the front entry.  To their right was the living room.  Tied up in two straight backed chairs were the Henderson’s.  

The Henderson’s were shaking their heads.

“Rawhide, we’re in the entry hall.  The Henderson’s are in the living room a little tied up.”

“Penny?”

“No where yet.  The Henderson’s are shaking their head not to proceed.”

“Heed the warning.  Back up to the outside.  I’ll meet you there.”

Buckaroo was pulling up to the curb when they met out front again.

“Penny?”

“Still working on it Buckaroo, we seem to have a situation involving the Henderson’s.”










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Volunteer


Round Four

By Cait Sidhe:

At Ms. Wilson’s house the reply Pecos and Big Norse received was:

"Why, Sandra Whilloby was my second cousin." Miss Wilson explained.

When Big Norse and Pecos queried her on the subject. "I went to the funeral in fact, all those years ago. That poor boy," she sighed. "It must make her so proud to know that he's doing such good, wherever she is, don't you think?"

Big Norse and Pecos nodded solemnly in agreement.

At the Henderson’s:

"Rawhide, count to one hundred and go into the entryway, but don't proceed past there. Make some noise," Buckaroo said.

Buckaroo peeked through the back doorway into the kitchen, guns drawn. He could see the door into the den from there, and he crept over to it making as little sound as possible, and put his ear to it. The house was eerily silent. Buckaroo opened the door an inch, to see a black-clad figure crouching out of sight from the living room, holding a gun to a blonde woman's head. It was Penny! There was another, looking grass-stained and quite the worse for wear with him. Suddenly the two flinched and faced the passageway into the living room as they heard Rawhide walk in.
Now was his chance! Buckaroo slipped into the den behind the Bravos and struck the one holding Penny on the back of the neck with the butt of his gun. The Bravo slumped to the floor with a grunt. The other Bravo spun around, and found himself facing the barrel of Buckaroo's other Navy Colt. With a snarl, the Bravo drew his knife and leaped forward in what was certainly meant to be a suicide attack, shrieking
"For Xan!" Buckaroo nailed him squarely between the eyes and the Bravo fell dead to the carpet.
"I guess he won't be getting back up again," Penny said shakily. Buckaroo embraced her as Rawhide, Reno, and Perfect Tommy bolted into the room to see the two fallen miscreants and a very relieved Buckaroo and Penny.

Canary wrote:

After a few minutes of making certain the other was okay, Penny suddenly remembered, "The Hendersons! I forgot all about them. There was a gunshot. When I came in to check on them, these two," she indicated the two Bravos, one of which was starting to regain consciousness, "were waiting for me. They never said anything, except that one," and she toed the one coming to, "called me chattel. Made me mad."

Danny and Rose came through the door just then, with Mr. and Mrs. Henderson safely in tow.
Buckaroo looked at them and asked if they were alright. A little sheepishly, Mr. Henderson answered. "Yes, we're fine, thank you."

"I heard a gunshot, Mr. Henderson, what happened?" Penny asked.

Before Mr. Henderson could answer, Mrs. Henderson spoke. "It was Alex and his old pistol. He saw that terrible man trying to sneak up on poor Penny here, and thought he help by shooting him. ‘Cept he forgot to take the safety off, you old coot! When the second man came in, and Alex dropped the gun, the safety got knocked off and it fired into the wall."
Mr. Henderson glared at his wife but only for a moment. He smiled at Penny, and she suddenly knew that if nothing else, this incident had broken down Mr. Henderson's imagined barriers between them.

Rawhide spoke, "Well, Boss, what do we do with this one?"

"We need to restrain him, so he can't commit suicide. Then we need to see if we can't get him to tell us what this is all about."

"I'm on it. Reno, keep a sharp eye on this boy. Tommy, let's go see if we can find us a rope."

Rocket Man:
Penny had turned around to discuss some security plans with Buckaroo and Reno, but slowly got the uncanny feeling of eyes piercing her. She looked up from the notepad she was using, to discover Alex looking at her, a strange mixture of remorse and purpose playing on his face.
"Penny, I have something you all might want to see. Come over here." She did so, and out of his pocket he pulled a small CD storage disk. It was in a well-worn case labeled "Top Secret", and he immediately thrust it into her hip-pack on her belt.

Mrs. Henderson was standing there, too. "More melodrama, Alex? I mean-", she started to speak.

"No, Deb, this is serious. Project Exit." He looked at her hard, and she seemed to stiffen. She nodded and walked away.

I've never seen him so worked up, thought Penny. He must be serious.

"Buckaroo", she called, "get over here."

"Okay." he said, and he turned to Reno. "You and Rawhide frisked these guys, right? No booby traps or concealed weapons?"

Reno smiled. "You bet, boss. They are very clean. And neither Bravo had any prosthetics, like back in 'Frisco." Both men smiled, they had really ruined Xan's day on that San Francisco trip.

Buckaroo knuckled Reno's arm, and turned to see what Penny needed.

As Buckaroo began to walk over, Alex put his finger to his lips, and motioned them into a small office down the hall. They all piled into the room, and shut the door. After he hit a couple of buttons on the wall, they could all feel a change in the air pressure as their ears began to pop. It alarmed Buckaroo and Penny a bit.

Alex chuckled. "It's an air muffler system. Old tech stuff, but it'll keep the Bravos from hearing what I am about to show you." He turned to a computer system on the desk, and activated the monitor. A screen  full of data presented itself to them, with the title "Project Exit".

"Witness my curtain call for the CIA, folks." Alex hit a couple of keystrokes, and the all-too-familiar face of Xan filled the screen.

"I  have available to you an official analysis of Xan's activities, past  and future. I think it will help you." He seemed to be sweating.

Buckaroo just stared at the screen for a moment, his mouth hanging  open. He was, uncharacteristically for him, totally surprised. "Can I look through this database, Alex? Where did you get it?"

"Sure, Dr. Banzai, be my guest." Alex was smiling proudly. "To answer the question of the source of this file: I put it together. One of the final tasks assigned for career CIA agents is to saddle the old retiring SOB's with some office research job, to give them a break. It's always called Project Exit. Usually, the importance of the research is rather low." He smiled even broader, now. "In my case, I made a breakthrough."

"I can see that." Buckaroo was still looking through the database in awe. Penny reached over and pushed his chin up to close his mouth.

Alex tapped the screen with his skinny finger. "You will find information on all their operations in the western world, including anticipated Bravo strikes. I haven't received any more information in about a month, but otherwise it's current."

Penny looked at Alex, and noticed that he was sweating even more now, and was looking a little pale. "Are you alright, Mr. Henderson?"

He smiled back at her weakly. "I'll be okay. I've just gotten so out of sorts as I've gotten older, and it takes a lot out of me to stay focused." He looked upset, and alarmed. "Penny! I have to tell you this now, before I lose my grip again. The reason I didn't trust you for so long was part of this research." He looked at Buckaroo now, too. His expression was empathic. "After Peggy was killed, I just marked it up as sad data point in Dr. Banzai's life. Later on, though, here you show up, and I slowly began to have suspicions about you, Penny. I began to think you were a Xan spy sent to ambush Dr. Banzai, and you were trying to steal this file from me to help destroy
him and his organization."

Ashamed, he looked into Penny's eyes. "After what happened today, I know I was wrong. Can you forgive me?"

Penny gleefully threw her arms around the old man. "Yes, sir! You are dear to me." Buckaroo patted her on the shoulder, and smiled.

Penny and Alex hugged a little longer, then they both knew more immediate concerns were afoot. Still a little harried by trying to focus his thoughts, Alex spoke.

"The disk I gave you is a full copy of that whole database." He pointed at Penny's pack, shakily. "Ohhh... I'm gettin' really... tired... gotta lie down..." He slowly got up, and shuffled to the
office door and unlocked it, causing the air pressure to change suddenly.

"Ow!" Buckaroo and Penny rubbed their ears.

"Sorry..." came Alex's distant reply. He ambled off to his bedroom, barely closing the door behind him. Penny stood forlornly watching the closed door. Debbie walked up.

"He'll be all right, honey. Being in the real world is really draining for him, but a few hours' sleep with help him out." She pointed at the disk Penny held in her hand. "That is going to be encrypted. Did he tell you his password?"

"No", said Penny, "he didn't. I don't suppose you might have it?"

Debbie smiled. "I'm afraid not. It's a pretty complex thing too."

Penny looked at her quizically. "How do you know about encryption and so forth? Were you in the CIA, too?"

"Nope, but he does babble to me all day, the old coot."

The three of them laughed, and Reno looked at them in curiosity.

Buckaroo, still laughing a little, took out his go phone, and punched in a number. "Come in, Danny."

A moment later, Danny's voice was heard. "Whatcha need, Buckaroo?"

"I've got a package for you, did you bring your laptop? You're going to need it..."

Tommy Boy wrote:

Buckaroo and Peggy stayed with Debbie Henderson, while the police came to arrest the Bravo.

Rawhide returned to finish work in Mr. Marcconi’s yard.  He didn’t have much work left to do.

Reno had locked up Trina’s house and promised that he would stop by the hospital the check on her.

Danny worked at the kitchen table in the Henderson’s house working on the password to the database that Mr. Henderson had compiled.  Mrs. Henderson was right, the password was not going to be easy.  With the limits of the lap top, he wasn’t getting very far.

“Take Reno with you and go back to the Institute.  I’ll radio Tommy Boy and ask her if it can be a priority to break it”

Reno and Danny headed back to the Institute in Danny’s truck.

Penny poured a glass of tea for Buckaroo and Deb.  “Who would have thought we would have an eventful Saturday.” she giggled.

“Expect the unexpected.” he said while sipping his tea.

Big Norse and Pecos finished up the living room.  It was nice hearing the stories of Buckaroo’s mother.  Her adventurous spirit.

When the girls got ready to leave, Ms. Wilson handed them the picture.  “Give it to Buckaroo.  I know he may not have many pictures of his family.”

Pecos took it, “Thank you Ms. Wilson.  I’m sure he would appreciate it.”

“Thank you ladies, for helping me with the house.  Not many would care to help.”

Perfect Tommy was in his tenth room.  Gritting his teeth with the repetition of the work.  He had heard the warnings of more foul play going on from Reno.  But nothing since his arrival.  He was getting good at switching out the electrical outlets.  He was challenging himself in his time per outlet.

At four, Buckaroo starts picking up the others from their jobs. 

First Rose, then Big Norse and Pecos are picked up.  Pecos handed Buckaroo the picture.  He recognized the woman immediately.

“Where?” he asked.

Big Norse smiled, “Apparently Ms. Wilson is a relation of yours.  She wanted you to have it.”

Rawhide was waiting at the curb for them.  He had finished his list and was ready to go home to a good steak dinner and a cold beer.

They continued on and picked up Perfect Tommy.   Perfect Tommy noticed that Buckaroo, Penny and Rawhide looked a little beat.

Penny laughed and filled the rest in on what had happened at the Henderson’s.

“You mean I missed all the action?” He asked.

Big Norse laughed.  “Remember you picked the house with the least amount of work.” she pointed out.

Everyone laughed at him.

Buckaroo headed for home.

@ 2005 Tommy Boy fan fiction * design and content by Paula C. *