Another Day in the Savage Frontier

Posted on Mon Jul 1st, 2024 @ 6:33pm by Connor Bruin & Iris Walker

1,496 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: A Tree… again | Savage Land
Timeline: September 11th, 1990

Iris had been exploring the area around Skull Mountain for the past several days. So far, she had found a very narrow, three foot tall waterfall, several dinosaur nests, and a stand of raspberry bushes. One of the dinosaur nests had had hatching raptor eggs in it and she had watched from a nearby tree. Neither the mother nor her babies had had any idea she was there.

She had thought about attempting to hunt with her little sling, but there were two problems with this: 1- she didn’t know where to find animals small enough to actually kill with a smooth stone and 2 - her aim was atrocious. Whipping stones into a crowd of people was one thing; trying to whip a single stone at a small target was another altogether. So, she had given up on that idea. But at least there were still the raspberries. That was something. She had picked a few and stowed them in a satchel to have one of the locals confirm they were safe. And then maybe she could pick a whole bunch of them and they could all have fresh raspberries for dessert. So that was something.

But for now, she was climbing a tree. Why? Because she had spotted Connor in it and was curious what he was doing. “Connor!” she called in a harsh whisper; she didn’t want to scare away game if he was hunting, after all. “Connor! It’s Iris!”

Connor was so startled that he slipped off the branch where he'd been perching. He managed to catch it by his ankles and swing about until he reoriented himself. "Shhh!" he said, finger to his lips while he swayed back and forth. Still upside down, he pointed down the rise where an enemy patrol of about a dozen soldiers were pointing toward Skull Mountain while having a heated debate.

Iris followed his gaze and finally spotted them. “What are they doing?” she hissed at him. “Should I go find out?”

"YES." Connor rocked his fist forward and his glove made his device speak out. "I CANNOT SNEAK WITHOUT THEM SEEING ME."

“Okay, be right back,” replied Iris, immediately heading back down the tree.

The brilliant thing about her powers was that she didn’t have to keep hidden; she did that automatically. As long as she didn’t make a lot of noise, she could just walk right into their midst and listen to what they were saying. And so that’s what she did.

She automatically tip-toed as she crossed the invisible boundary onto their temporary territory. She had no idea why she did this as her feet were too small to make very much noise, but she’d been doing it since she could remember. And she saw no point in changing this habit now. Perhaps some day it would come in handy.

So, quietly, she crept up to the arguing soldiers.

"We need to get closer!"

"What if Magneto is watching?"

"Magneto is getting weaker."

"But he killed an entire war group!"

"They camped around him for an entire day first."

"And wiped them all out in one swoop!"

"Because he's running out of power. And they were at the foot of the mountain anyway. He wouldn't come out this far."

"Do you really want to risk it?"

"Do you want to risk disobeying Brainchild?"

"No..."

"Then let's get closer!"

With that, Iris crept carefully away from the soldiers and back to the tree in which she had found Connor. “Connor!” she hissed up the tree as she began climbing back up. “Connor! They’re spies! Or scouts. Or something.”

Connor had flipped down from the tree branch and crouched near a boulder to await Bliss. His hands came up in a quick sign that his chest plate device translated. "WHY ARE THEY ARGUING?"

Iris looked down from the third branch. “Oh, you’re down there,” she said, jumping down. “They’re arguing about Magneto. It sounds like some of them are afraid of getting too close because of how powerful he is, but others are afraid of disobeying something called Brainchild.”

That all sounded very odd. Connor furrowed his brow in pondering the possibilities. "DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD WE BRING ONE IN FOR QUESTIONING?"

“How would we even do that?” asked Iris. “And what would we question them about?”

Connor gave a shrug. "I DO NOT KNOW. IT JUST SEEMED THE THING TO DO." An impish grin took over his face, not unlike the one Bliss often wore. "WOULD YOU RATHER PELT THEM WITH ROCKS?"

Iris giggled wickedly. “While that does sound like fun, I don’t think k it would do any good, either,” she said. “Do you suppose we should go warn the others, though? It don’t sound like they were doing anything other than spying, but even so….” She finished with a shrug.

"THERE IS A PITFALL TRAP IN THE TREES OFF THE TRAIL," Connor said. "I SAW IT ON THE MAP. PERHAPS WE CAN LEAD THEM INTO IT." He dropped to a crouch and drew a diagram in the dirt before explaining it. "IF I SNEAK AROUND BEHIND THEM AND THROW ROCKS FOR A DISTRACTION, YOU CAN TRY TO LOOSEN THEIR ARMOR. IT MAY BE ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM FEAR MAGNETO IS NEAR. THEY WILL TAKE COVER IN THE TREES AND FALL INTO THE PIT. WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

“It’s worth a shot,” agreed Iris. “If nothing else, it’ll be a nuisance to them. And delay their spying. Let’s try it.”

Off in a flash, Connor lumbered through the foliage down the hill, gathering stones and pebbles along the way. Once he'd reached the far side of the scouts, he began throwing rocks at them with all his might. The first one struck a scout in the face while the second one was only a graze. A third rock adjusted for the shifting group. Fingers pointed at him. Weapons began to draw. Connor was confident he could outrun them on foot, but if they brought slings and arrows into it, he might have bitten off more than he can chew.

Meanwhile, Iris darted along as quickly as she dared, eventually reaching the soldiers. She crept among them, gently tugging on the leather straps that held their armor in place. She had to be careful because if any of them felt her touch, she could become visible to them. So, she made sure to only tug hard enough to loosen the straps. As she reached the last two soldiers, she heard shouts of surprise from the first ones to have their armor loosened and she glanced back to see them attempting to retie the straps while Connor continued to throw rocks in their direction.

After a few distracted attempts to resecure their armor, the first weapon hit the ground with a rattle. Two of the scouts jumped in alarm. They weren't relieved that it was only their comrade's weapon. Magneto was known to take people's weapons away and use them on their former owners.

"Run!"

It was unclear who shouted it first, but soon the entire group of scouts began sprinting for the trees. If there was any risk of flying metal filling the air, they wanted as much cover as possible to protect themselves. They left a trail of armor and weapons behind them; nothing metallic was worth the risk.

Connor kept throwing rocks, just to keep up the heat. They were quickly out of his range, though, at which point he just stood back and watched. The first shouts came soon enough, followed by screams and an awful gurgling sound.

"YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO GO LOOK," Connor said to Iris once he had caught up to her. The cringe on his face was tortuous.

She had not known it was that kind of trap. But, she quickly realized that had she known, she probably still would have done it. After all, they were the enemy and could not be trusted. Who knows what they would have done if they’d been allowed to spy. It could have meant the death of her friends to let the soldiers live. “Well,” she said grimly. “I suppose that’s that problem solved.”

"THIS WAS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED," Connor confessed. "WE ARE WAITING AROUND, DEFENDING A MOUNTAIN INSTEAD OF ADVANCING ON OUR MISSION. IT IS BECOMING TEDIOUS."

“I know,” Iris replied. “Waiting is the worst. On the plus side, I found raspberries. At least I think they’re raspberries. I didn’t eat any just in case. I’ve got some to show Shanna or one of the others to make sure.”

Connor's eyes grew wide. He loved berries. "SHOW ME!" he signed.

“Okay,” said Iris with a grin. “But no eating any until we’re sure they’re safe, all right?”

"OF COURSE." Connor rolled his eyes. "I AM NOT AN ANIMAL."

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