The Story of Udonia

Chapter Thirty Three: The Mission

The dining room that afternoon was taken over by intelligent, loyal, and strong individuals and then there was Ashton and I. We didn't really fit those qualifications although we came close. Anyways, I walked in to the room to see six people sitting around the table. They all looked up at me as I entered. Ashton started to set up things for my presentation as I observed the group.
There was Jasmine, James, and Lacey, we know them. Then there were two older men and the gorgeous twenty something year old woman. The men did look younger than I expected.
One was between 45-50. He had white hair on his head and a rather large white beard. He looked a little like Santa Claus, but not as big bellied. He also had quite a stern face.
The other man was between 40-45. His hair was gray, but a little brown too. It was thinking slightly, but he kept it cut short. His brown eyes looked friendly and his body seemed toned despite his age.
Then the woman...she had blonde hair much like my own. (Ashton liked blondes.) Her body looked like Lacey's, very well maintained and slightly muscular. Her brown eyes also looked friendly, but I still had a bad feeling about her.
I realized it had almost been a minute without me saying anything.
"Um...if you could all introduce yourselves to me please." I smiled.
The white haired man got up from his seat. He stuck out his hand.
"Yes, my lady. I am Daniel Streaker." He smiled, but part of me know it wasn't genuine.
I shook his hand and his grip was tight. "Hi, Mr. Streaker."
"Please, call me Colonel." I smiled and sat back down.
"Okay...Colonel." I turned to the other man.
He stood up and smiled.
Now that is a genuine smile.
"Max Puttoff. Pleased to meet you." He shook my hand.
"Hello, Mr. Puttoff." I smiled.
He sat back down and then the blonde bombshell stood up.
"Hi." She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Jacklyn Puttoff."
I glanced at Mr. Puttoff. They did resemble each other.
Ashton stepped forward. "I didn't know this was your daughter." He said to Mr. Puttoff.
"Yeah." He smiled. "Why did you think I recommended her."
I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you." I smiled and turned around.
Ashton took his seat at the end of the table closest to Jasmine, James, and Lacey.
"Alright...I guess I should probably explain why I brought you here." I paused. "I hope you all introduced ourselves to each other."
They all nodded and I continued. "Okay, so as you all may know, Hannah Hoss went a little out of line and refused to sign the peace treaty the other day. She also shot me which killed my..." I glanced at Ashton, "...our baby. Anyways, she is a tyrant and she needs to be taken care of. We need to arrest her calmly and quietly. I don't want a full scale war, I just want her locked up in my dungeon." I smiled. "Or you know, in the jail. So I have a plan. I have mapped out a route for a small strike team to move in undetected and we will essentially be kidnapping Hannah." I observed their concerned expressions. "It's totally legal...she broke the law. Her laws and my laws. She is above her laws because she makes the laws, but she's not above ours. She is a fugitive and we will be retrieving her."
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Mr. Puttoff asked.
"Okay, so the seven of us, Mr. Puttoff, the Colonel, Jacklyn, James, Lacey, Jasmine, and I, will travel in one car under the border of Haruhi. Then we will make a straight shot yo to the palace, but we will abandon the car and travel by foot once we reach Marshallville."
"Where is Marshallvillie?" The Colonel asked.
"It's a small town a few miles south of Hannah's palace." I explained. "Then we will go the the palace  and catch her. Any questions?"
There hands all shot up. Ashton was the only one who didn't have a question. Even Lacey and Jasmine had their hands up.
I raised an eyebrow at them. "What do you need to ask?!" I shouted at them.
Lacey smiled. "I actually have a question that I can ask right now, so I'll bring up my concerns later." She lowered her hand and sat back.
I glared at Jasmine. "And you?" I asked.
She looked a little guilty. "I actually want to ask if Monica can come too?"
I scowled. "You know the answer to that question."
Jasmine frowned and slumped down in her seat.
"Okay. Colonel Streaker?" I asked.
"Yes, my lady. I was just curious your plan on how to capture the queen?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, well, just leave that to me. I have a plan and you'll have to trust me."
He furrowed his brow and then relaxed. "Okay..."
I turned to James. "James? What is your question?"
He scuffled. "My lady, I'm just curious if you are aware of how dangerous this is going to be. Of course I will come to help, but I'm just concerned that you might be underestimating Hannah...I mean, she shot you. Randomly out of cold blood."
"Yes." I nodded. "I am very aware of that. And I know this will be dangerous, but I've been working on my...self defense with Lacey as my trainer and I'm getting good. I honestly panicked when Hannah attacked. I froze. I hadn't ever done that with the helicopter attack on the roof and the attack in New York, which we," I gestured to Ashton, Jasmine, and Lacey, "all think were both her doing. Hannah is dangerous and if we don't do something about her than she is going to hurt more people, so I'm asking all of you," I looked at each of them, "to trust me and to come with me to stop her tyranny. We will bring peace back." I sat down.
Jasmine looked impressed by me. Like a proud teacher. The others looked a little unsure still except for Jacklyn.
She stood up. "Alrighty. You got me. When do we move out?"
I jumped up to shake her hand. "Tomorrow morning."
__________________________

February 23rd.
I walked out to the front to the car. It was a chilly day which is always was in February. Probably a solid 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I wore what Lacey called 'fancy battle wear.' It was really a simple look of form fitting black jeans, black and white Nike tennis shoes, a dark purple tank top, and a thin white athletic zipper sweatshirt.
Lacey was out talking to Abi. She wanted to see us before we left to give us a proper send off and wish us luck. She also said she had something for us.
Lacey was wearing what she called 'actually battle clothes.' She wore form fitting green-gray jeans, black combat boots, and a simple black t-shirt. On his belt were two holsters, one on each side for her pistols.
I observed the car behind the two girls. It was a mini van...a mini van! It was a Honda gray soccer mom mini van. At least we would blend in. It had seven seats, which was the perfect amount for us all to fit, but not comfortably.
I groaned. "Can't I just teleport us to Hannah's castle?" I complained while scowling at the van.
Lacey rolled her eyes. "There are so many problems with that suggestion that I'm just not even going to explain why that isn't an option."
I moaned again. "Fine." I huffed and opened the side door.
I sat in the seat closest to the door.
"So, Abi." I smiled at my sweet friend. "What did you get for us?" I asked.
"Oh yeah." She reached into her small shoulder bag. "I got these since you can't bring your phones to call us you can use these instead." She handed Lacey and I each an old burner phone. "You won't be detected by Hannah with these...hopefully."
I smiled at the old phone. "It's a dinosaur phone."
Lacey laughed. "Honestly, they're not that old. My first phone looked like this." She flipped it open.
I chuckled. "Well, Lacey you're a little old..." I glanced at her angry expression. "...er than us." I smiled.
Abi giggled.
Just then Ashton descended down the stair with my bag of essentially. We all agreed to pack light, which was difficult for me.
I ran to his side to avoid Lacey's most likely impended punch to the her.
I grabbed my bag and  placed it in the back of the van.
Ashton embraced me from behind. "You better be careful." He whispered in my ear.
I turned around so I could face him. I put my hands around his neck and his put his around my waist. He pulled my body close so our hips touched.
I smiled. "I will try my hardest."
He leaned in and kissed my softly on the lips. I was going to miss him on this trip.
Jasmine teleported to the castle in a puff of blue smoke with a bag in hand. She walked over and put it in the back of the van.
She rolled her eyes at us. "Get a room." She teased and walked to the side of the van to where Lacey and Abi were.
We followed her to them. Abi also gave Jasmine a phone so she could call Monica.
James appeared soon after and put his bag in the car.
"I'm ready for this." He smiled as he put a strange suitcase in the back of the van along with his small duffle.
"What is in there?" I asked.
"My sniper rifle." He responded casually and went to the side of the van.
I was aware he was a sniper, but I didn't expect him to bring his rifle.
I hugged Ashton and Abi one last time before we left. Jasmine drove, I rode shotgun, and James was with Lacey in the middle section. This was the temporary set up until we reached the nearest bus station. The Colonel, Mr. Puttoff, and Jacklyn met us there. The Colonel and Mr. Puttoff took turns driving, Jasmine, Lacey, and I sat in the back, and then Jacklyn and James were in the middle section.
Our travel playlist included: Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift (that was Mr. Puttoff's choice). We stopped for a McDonalds near the border and then crossed over. We were in enemy lines...our mission had begun.