Chapter 3: The R.O.A.R. Elite Task Force

As they were riding back down to level 14 in the elevator, Jazz asked, “So I take it those names were from people in your Elite Task Force?”
“Yes. Myself, Blaze Blackrabbit, J. Firefox, Headcheese, Wizard of Odds, and K.R. Splat.”
Jazz’s eyes snapped open. “K.R. Splat?! He’s supposed to be dead! Well, he’s not supposed to be dead… but everyone thinks he is! He’s a part of the Elite Task Force?”
“Yeah, why?”
“He used to be a Commander in the Queen’s Legions, but he was supposedly killed in battle. And now he’s alive again…!”
“He’s been a member of R.O.A.R. since four years ago. He’s only been part of the Elite for about three months.”
The elevator doors slid open, and the party stepped out. Right in front of them, down a short hallway, was a large room with a long table. Five rabbits were already waiting inside, one of which was Blaze; another was K.R. Splat, the ex-Captain in the Queen’s Legions. The other three were not immediately recognized by the Jackrabbits.
One rabbit had dark red fur, and a green blaster slung in a holster along his back. He also wore an unbuttoned, floor-length black trench coat. He was muscular, and slightly taller than Jack. He had a fiery look to his eyes, and seemed to be glaring angrily at everything, but Jazz could tell the red-furred rabbit was glad to see them, mostly by his amicable grin. Another rabbit had purple-ish fur, and wore a small set of glasses. Lori could just narrowly make out a small yellow blaster, similar to her own, hanging from his belt. Jazz saw the other one in a small holster on the opposite side of his belt. He looked like one that would be intelligent in all matters, but didn’t look outwardly like a nerd type, possibly because he was packing heat. The one other rabbit that the siblings didn’t already know had the same sort of body structure as Spaz, and would have been a dead ringer for him had her fur not been blue. As they walked into the room, all three of them could see her discreetly hide a small object behind herself.
Jack introduced them all. “You’ve already met Blaze Blackrabbit, and, according to Jazz, K.R. Splat is a well-known name to you.” The green rabbit grinned sheepishly, and said, quietly, “Hi, Jazz.” Jazz wasn’t exactly ecstatic to see Splat, but he managed to hide his feelings within his mind.
Jack gestured to the red-furred, muscular rabbit. “Meet Captain J. Firefox, one of the best troopers the Elite Task Force has to offer.” Firefox shot them a smart salute.
“Wizard of Odds, the brains of our outfit. Our own resident genius.” The purple-furred rabbit gave them a quick nod, essentially greeting them all with that one small gesture.
“And Headcheese. Psychopath extraordinaire. Also, unfortunately, my younger sister.” At this, the smaller, blue-furred rabbit grinned, and yelled, “HEWWO!”
Lori chuckled, and whispered to Jazz, “I’m willing to bet Headcheese and our own younger brother like each other already.”
She was right. Spaz was staring, wide-eyed, at Headcheese, apparently having thought there was no one else like him on the entire planet. And now he’d met a girl rabbit just like himself…!
Jazz had to restrain his brother from running full speed towards Headcheese. “Jeez, Spaz! You’re gonna kill someone here!”
Jack chuckled. “Well, he does bear a striking resemblance to Headcheese, among other things. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had everything in common. Apart from gender, of course.”
“Of course.” Lori gave a small smile. “Now, as for why we’re here…?”
“Right.” Jack sat down at the table, now dead serious.
“The Jackrabbits have told me about a new threat to our planet. His name is Buster Tank, a follower of Devan Shell. Now, according to these three esteemed warriors, Tank has built a super-satellite the size of Carrotus City, armed with a beam cannon strong enough to take out the planet.
“So, before I start going on about this, I’ll just put it this way: If Tank isn’t stopped, every rabbit on this planet will make the supreme sacrifice.”
Blaze cut in. “If the beam cannon is that strong, it’s going to need a lot of energy to power it. Where’s he planning on getting all that energy?”
“I’m willing to bet he’s modified one of Devan’s generators. Possibly, and probably, the one from the time machine itself.”
Firefox was next to speak. “Where’s Tank now? We might have a chance to stop him before he can use the beam cannon.”
Jack turned to Wizard of Odds. “Wizard?”
The bespectacled rabbit produced a small computer from seemingly out of nowhere, and typed something on the keypad. After a few seconds, he looked up. “He’s on the move, going north at a steady pace, just east of Kamarg City. Pretty fast for a turtle.”
“Then what are we waiting for? If he’s still on the surface, we’ve got a better chance of taking him out than after he leaves the planet.”
“Possibly because he’s not on the surface. He’s in the air. I just did a further scan of his area, and the readings say that he’s flying in a giant airship.”
“Armed?”
“Most likely.”
“Well, we have a solution for that,” Jack said, standing up. “Follow me.”
As they left the room, Jazz glanced at Headcheese’s chair, and saw the hidden object still lying on the seat.
It was a mallet.

Jazz followed Jack and the others into the elevator, holding the small mallet behind his back. He made sure to discreetly hand the mallet back to Headcheese, who hugged it like it was a lost friend.
Jack saw his sister’s affectionate display towards the little thing, and smiled. He leaned over to Jazz, and said, “Where’d you find that?”
“It was on her chair.”
“In the conference room?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, thanks for finding it. She probably would have gone bonkers if she found out she didn’t have it on her.”
“Why?”
“She loves the thing. I haven’t a clue why.”
“Oh. Okay.”
The elevator stopped again, and the doors opened. The only light on the entire floor was supplied by the elevator, and even then, it did not reveal much. Only a section of uncovered cement floor was illuminated by the elevator’s light. It was only when Blaze stepped out of the elevator and flipped a switch that they could see what was on that floor.
The basement was apparently a supply floor; doors with labels on them branched off of the main hall. Most of the labels were legible, but one or two appeared to be in some sort of symbol code. Blaze led them down the hall a short way, then stopped in front of a door marked “Airboards.” He opened the door, and they went inside.
Jazz, Spaz, and Lori looked around the room. There were airboards of virtually every size, colour, and power rating imaginable. Jack selected a bright blue one, and said, “Go ahead, take your pick. There’s enough airboards here to supply the entire planet.” He grinned again.
Jazz picked out a purple airboard, Lori decided on a navy blue airboard with yellow trim, and Spaz chose a red and blue one with four boosters instead of three. Splat, Blaze and Headcheese settled on an airboard each. Firefox took a while before he found one that he liked, and hopped onto it, hovering in the air.
Lori noticed that Wizard was still standing by the doorway, watching them each select a different airboard. “Aren’t you getting an airboard for yourself, Wizard?”
“Nah. I’m going to stay here and monitor operations… y’know, keep you posted.”
“You’re not coming with us?”
“Nope.”
“‘K, if you say so.”
At this point, Spaz was beginning to fly faster and faster around the room, holding on for dear life to the edge of his airboard, which itself was flying unmanned, so they decided, finally, to head out. Jazz grabbed Spaz by the leg as he flew by, and as the airboard zipped out from his hand, Lori caught it easily with one hand. Jack watched this perfectly coordinated act with great interest. These three must be even closer than I thought they were, he thought to himself. I wish I had a brother or si… well, there’s Headcheese, but she’s a nutcase.
He stopped, and grinned to himself. One would be able to make the same statement on behalf of Spaz. Go figure.
They left the airboard room, and Blaze led them farther up the long hall, towards a pair of doors set at the end of it. The black rabbit opened the door, and suddenly they were staring into the bright blue sky above. The doors led straight from the basement to the surface of Carrotus. Jack went outside, and hopped onto his airboard. Hovering in the air, he said to the others, “Well, we know where Tank is right now. What’s to stop us from going after him and teaching him never to mess with Carrotus ever again?”
“Wait a sec,” Wizard replied, reaching into a small green backpack. “You might need these.”
And with that, he rapidly tossed a small headset-intercom to each of the rabbits in succession. “This is how we’re going to stay in touch. I’ll keep you informed on Tank’s status, and notify you of events back here. All good?”
“All good.” Firefox quickly donned his headset, and bounded onto his own airboard. Blaze, Headcheese, Splat, and the Jackrabbits quickly followed suit.
“And now, without further ado,” Jack proclaimed, putting on his headset in a swift movement, “we take down Tank!”
With a roar of agreement, they took off, dust kicking up from the spot where their jet boosters had propelled them from. Wizard flipped out his pocket computer, and watched as eight dots moved together away from the center of the screen. After a few seconds, he looked back up, but the eight figures which the dots signified were nowhere in sight. Wizard of Odds sighed, flipped his computer back into his hand, and went back into the R.O.A.R. Outpost.