"Math Tapes: Linton Worm" 1/2 (crossover: Numb3rs/Lost Tapes)
Crossover of Lost Tapes with Numb3rs. Since the Lost Tapes focuses on the idea that a cryptid is real, I'm going to use the Numb3rs universe unchanged (except for that cryptid). Wish me luck.
Title: Math Tapes: Linton Worm
Author: Rodlox.
Characters/Pairings: Ian, Nikki, OFC Andrea Parks; mention of Charlie and Don.
Rating: Mature.
Challenge: November - Gun Oil
Summary: Catching the lone outlying member of an illegal smuggling ring is harder when one of the smuggled animals starts to hunt them, including Nikki and Ian.
Spoilers: ?
Author's Notes: I occassionally do write hurt/comfort, and this is one of those times - its in part 2.
Disclaimer: Yes, I secretly own Numb3rs and everything associated with it, I just haven't told you. (seriously, though, I only own the creature and bad guy - and I'm willing to share them)
Reference: http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/crocs/tguide/tgcrocs.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE SUBJECT OF HIDDEN CREATURES IS THE SUBJECT OF CONTINUED DEBATE.
THE FOLLOWING STORY IS INSPIRED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR EXISTENCE.
*
There are creatures science refuses to recognize.
But new technology makes us question what is real.
If our eyes see it, if our cameras capture it, does it exist?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on, Ugly," Juan James Jr said softly to the little monster that was going to make hiim a very rich man. He said it as he unlocked the steel bars-and-glass cage; only Ugly had armor-plated glass as part of its cage - everything else was just bars. "Come and..." and reflexively backed up as he saw Ugly spiralling around and jaws opening for a yawn.
He didn't get away in time - the fumes paralyzed him.
And Ugly finished the job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Linton worm is said to have come from a tributary of the River Tweed in 12th Century Scotland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Chino Hills, Los Angeles.
Time: 7:30 PM (1930 Hours)
"Got it," Nikki said into her cell phone before flicking it shut. To Ian Edgerton sitting in the driver's seat, she said, "Don says the rest of the gang's out in Pomona like Charlie said they'd be."
"Charlie also said they'd be here," Ian said. And we chased one of them here, to their main supply depot. A depot where the gang was using to store their illegally-smuggled animals and plants, as well as more gun oil than they seemed to need - the amount had baffled even Charlie.
"Yeah. Anyway, local PD's on their way, but there's not going to be anybody here besides Ms. Parks." Parks was the suspect they'd pursued to this point.
"There's no windows," Ian said. "No way to fire in from outside."
"Deliberate, I bet," Nikki said. "Want to go in?" Take advantage of the fact Parks left the front door ajar.
"Thought you'd never ask."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time: 7:32 PM
Having found no other doors, emergency exits, or hidden entrances, Ian slid through the space afforded by the slightly-open door, sidearm ready to fire. "Clear," he whispered to Nikki, who came in holding his rifle. "Door's attached to a security system," Ian said and said door closed after Nikki came inside.
"I barely touched it," Nikki said, quietly but very defensively as the security system automatically locked the door with a beep. "Anyway, Parks isn't high enough in the gang to know the codes."
Ian nodded, seeing approvingly where she was going with this. "We're stuck in here til backup arrives, but so is she."
They made their way down the main corridor, between the rows of things stacked halfway to the ceiling: Refrigerators packed with bear claws and vital organs. Cages full of hushed monkeys. A mud-and-loam-filled crate labeled Giant Australian Earthworm. A four-square-foot box marked Evidence.
Some of the cages they passed, though, were locked tight and empty. "You could put an elephant in there," Nikki said as they passed one.
"And you can barely fit a teddy in this one," Ian said, momentarily pointing his rifle at the cage beside the elephant-sized one. This was the end of the corridor, the aisle's end. By silent agreement, they headed to the right, where they quickly saw - Blood, Ian recognized, pooling in the next cage. "Smell that?" he asked Nikki in hushed tones.
"Unfortunately," Nikki said. Like stale air and rotten meat.
Turning the corner quickly, guns drawn and ready, they found themselves looking at a Latino youth lying half-in and half-out of the cage - he was the source of the blood - and standing over him, hands on her slowly-shaking head, was the redhead they'd chased here.
"Andrea Parks," Nikki said, "you're under arrest."
"Oh goody," Parks said. "Can we go, then?"
"Hold on," Ian said, crouched beside the body. "This isn't how a shoulder looks when you yank the arm out."
Nikki didn't know what to say to that.
"It was twisted out," Parks said.
Ian nodded.
"Mind sharing with the class just how you knew that?" Nikki asked her, giving a slight nudge to the arm behind Park's back.
Andrea winced. "Because that's how it eats. I watch it eat to make sure it stays healthy." Same as with all the other specimens. "When it comes across something bigger than its head, it grabs on and starts a death roll."
"What was in here?" Ian asked, standing up.
"Get me out of here, and I'll tell you anything you want."
"Your gang?" Nikki asked.
"Sure, them too."
"Was he part of this? Or was he somebody you came across and decided, 'what the hell, I'll feed him to my pet'?"
"Juan was my assistant. He helped me catch the damned thing."
"Then why's he dead? You make a move and he turn you down?"
Parks snorted. "He probably got a better offer than we were paying him - God knows there've been a lot of zeros in the prices we get offered." Seeing Ian's face, "What we do here is sell to private collectors, personal zoos, apothacaries."
"Then who was Juan here trying to get whatever was in here to?" Ian asked, referring to the open cage.
Andrea shrugged.
"Who?" Ian demanded of her.
"How the hell should I know?" Parks replied. "The Tongs, maybe, or the Real IRA. The Armenian mob or the Crips. We don't have time for me to give you the list."
"Want to bet?" Ian asked in that quiet voice of his that held the dagger of a threat wrapped in the silk of his tone.
"Right now? No, not particularly. As I told you not five minutes ago, I'll tell you anything outside," emphazising the word this time. "What, you afraid? Pft, you've got the guns and everything else. Hell, you're both probably SEALS."
Oh yeah, just call me Colbie, Nikki thought to herself. "So what's got you so rattled? Answer that first."
Parks sighed tiredly. "Even the bubble boy understood the concept of outdoors."
Ian raised his rifle. "I can fire in such a way as to pass through you, avoid the Federal Agent holding you secure, and the bullet will embed itself in the wall. Want to see?"
"Not particularly. At all, actually."
"Then answer her question."
Grumbling, Parks gave an answer: "The cage held our only Linton worm. There, can we go now? I'd rather be in prison than in here."
"What's so bad about a worm?"
Rolling her eyes, Andrea said, "Try not to step in the answer to that question."
"Worms don't do death rolls." Crocodiles do.
"Yes, that's right," Andrea said slowly. "And what Scottish beasts do?"
Ian looked at Nikki who nodded. "Come on," as the three of them headed back towards the door. The longest cage they passed held grey and red wolves, all of which were cowering at the back of their pen. "What's got them so spooked? Your worm?" Ian asked.
Yes, Andrea thought to herself. "Nothing you'd care to meet," Andrea said. "Trust me on that."
"Yeah well, the thing is, I don't trust you anyway. So what was in that ca-" interupted by a small tremor, the earthquake passing in seconds, rattling the cages.
As the cages began to stop making noise, Nikki could hear something that hadn't quit: a low rumbling that sounded almost like a landslide.
"Shit!" Parks whispered, her face blanched.
"From the cage?" Nikki asked.
She nodded.
As the three of them picked up the pace, Nikki asked, "How does a worm make those sounds?"
If I say 'same way anything else does,' you'll shoot my leg and leave me here for its snack. Parks said nothing.
Once they arrived at the door, "I don't suppose you happen to know the password, do you?"
"Not the one for when there's been an escape, which is what's happened here," nodding her head at how three LED lights were lit on the security box. "And if you're thinking of shooting the box, that'll only make the place start burning from the inside out."
The rumbling had by now been replaced by a growling.
"Where's it vulnerable?" Ian asked, readying his rifle, looking left, right, and center at the aisles.
"Inside the mouth," Andrea said. "That's how the Scots killed it."
"If they killed it, how's it here?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again or speak to him like he was a child. Not that it was easy to resist right now. "One Scot killed the one on the Linton lands. The species survived."
And the growling was gone. The depot had gone deathly quiet.
"Hold her," Nikki said, passing Parks to Ian. Flipping open her cell phone, Nikki dialed Charlie, figuring that, even if Don and the others were in a firefight, she could at least let Charlie know that they needed help getting out of here. "Charlie, it's Nikki, I need - Charlie, you're breaking up. Backup, understand? We need backup. We're locked in, locked in, okay?" and clicked it shut again with an angry look. "Something you forgot to mention?"
"I admit it," Parks said. "The jamming equipment in here isn't top of the line."
"Not the time for jokes," Ian said, tightening his grip on her arm.
"Wasn't joking."
"This 'burn from the inside out' you mentioned," Ian asked. "Does it use gun oil?" Locked door with an unknown hostile with unknown weapons at its disposal - and that's the case whether this whole Linton Worm thing is a cover for something else.
"I suppose. I know they need a lot of it."
Ian and Nikki shared a look of bingo.
"I'll guard the door," Nikki said. "Two of you, find out where the oil is," just in case.
I love how you give commands, Ian thought to himself. "Lead on, MacDuff," Ian told Parks.
"Piece of advice," Parks told Nikki.
"Yeah?" Nikki asked.
"If you start to smell anything, run. Don't shoot or stare - just run. What we smelled at the cage was how Linton worms smell after most of the stink's dispersed."
"Skunks are roses in comparison?" Nikki asked, skeptical. To Ian, "Watch yourself."
Rather watch you, Ian thought to himself as he and Parks headed towards the gun oil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tbc.
Coming up: a historical description of the Linton Worm, and Ian and Nikki's fight against it....on Math Tapes
Title: Math Tapes: Linton Worm
Author: Rodlox.
Characters/Pairings: Ian, Nikki, OFC Andrea Parks; mention of Charlie and Don.
Rating: Mature.
Challenge: November - Gun Oil
Summary: Catching the lone outlying member of an illegal smuggling ring is harder when one of the smuggled animals starts to hunt them, including Nikki and Ian.
Spoilers: ?
Author's Notes: I occassionally do write hurt/comfort, and this is one of those times - its in part 2.
Disclaimer: Yes, I secretly own Numb3rs and everything associated with it, I just haven't told you. (seriously, though, I only own the creature and bad guy - and I'm willing to share them)
Reference: http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/crocs/tguide/tgcrocs.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE SUBJECT OF HIDDEN CREATURES IS THE SUBJECT OF CONTINUED DEBATE.
THE FOLLOWING STORY IS INSPIRED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR EXISTENCE.
*
There are creatures science refuses to recognize.
But new technology makes us question what is real.
If our eyes see it, if our cameras capture it, does it exist?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on, Ugly," Juan James Jr said softly to the little monster that was going to make hiim a very rich man. He said it as he unlocked the steel bars-and-glass cage; only Ugly had armor-plated glass as part of its cage - everything else was just bars. "Come and..." and reflexively backed up as he saw Ugly spiralling around and jaws opening for a yawn.
He didn't get away in time - the fumes paralyzed him.
And Ugly finished the job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Linton worm is said to have come from a tributary of the River Tweed in 12th Century Scotland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Chino Hills, Los Angeles.
Time: 7:30 PM (1930 Hours)
"Got it," Nikki said into her cell phone before flicking it shut. To Ian Edgerton sitting in the driver's seat, she said, "Don says the rest of the gang's out in Pomona like Charlie said they'd be."
"Charlie also said they'd be here," Ian said. And we chased one of them here, to their main supply depot. A depot where the gang was using to store their illegally-smuggled animals and plants, as well as more gun oil than they seemed to need - the amount had baffled even Charlie.
"Yeah. Anyway, local PD's on their way, but there's not going to be anybody here besides Ms. Parks." Parks was the suspect they'd pursued to this point.
"There's no windows," Ian said. "No way to fire in from outside."
"Deliberate, I bet," Nikki said. "Want to go in?" Take advantage of the fact Parks left the front door ajar.
"Thought you'd never ask."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time: 7:32 PM
Having found no other doors, emergency exits, or hidden entrances, Ian slid through the space afforded by the slightly-open door, sidearm ready to fire. "Clear," he whispered to Nikki, who came in holding his rifle. "Door's attached to a security system," Ian said and said door closed after Nikki came inside.
"I barely touched it," Nikki said, quietly but very defensively as the security system automatically locked the door with a beep. "Anyway, Parks isn't high enough in the gang to know the codes."
Ian nodded, seeing approvingly where she was going with this. "We're stuck in here til backup arrives, but so is she."
They made their way down the main corridor, between the rows of things stacked halfway to the ceiling: Refrigerators packed with bear claws and vital organs. Cages full of hushed monkeys. A mud-and-loam-filled crate labeled Giant Australian Earthworm. A four-square-foot box marked Evidence.
Some of the cages they passed, though, were locked tight and empty. "You could put an elephant in there," Nikki said as they passed one.
"And you can barely fit a teddy in this one," Ian said, momentarily pointing his rifle at the cage beside the elephant-sized one. This was the end of the corridor, the aisle's end. By silent agreement, they headed to the right, where they quickly saw - Blood, Ian recognized, pooling in the next cage. "Smell that?" he asked Nikki in hushed tones.
"Unfortunately," Nikki said. Like stale air and rotten meat.
Turning the corner quickly, guns drawn and ready, they found themselves looking at a Latino youth lying half-in and half-out of the cage - he was the source of the blood - and standing over him, hands on her slowly-shaking head, was the redhead they'd chased here.
"Andrea Parks," Nikki said, "you're under arrest."
"Oh goody," Parks said. "Can we go, then?"
"Hold on," Ian said, crouched beside the body. "This isn't how a shoulder looks when you yank the arm out."
Nikki didn't know what to say to that.
"It was twisted out," Parks said.
Ian nodded.
"Mind sharing with the class just how you knew that?" Nikki asked her, giving a slight nudge to the arm behind Park's back.
Andrea winced. "Because that's how it eats. I watch it eat to make sure it stays healthy." Same as with all the other specimens. "When it comes across something bigger than its head, it grabs on and starts a death roll."
"What was in here?" Ian asked, standing up.
"Get me out of here, and I'll tell you anything you want."
"Your gang?" Nikki asked.
"Sure, them too."
"Was he part of this? Or was he somebody you came across and decided, 'what the hell, I'll feed him to my pet'?"
"Juan was my assistant. He helped me catch the damned thing."
"Then why's he dead? You make a move and he turn you down?"
Parks snorted. "He probably got a better offer than we were paying him - God knows there've been a lot of zeros in the prices we get offered." Seeing Ian's face, "What we do here is sell to private collectors, personal zoos, apothacaries."
"Then who was Juan here trying to get whatever was in here to?" Ian asked, referring to the open cage.
Andrea shrugged.
"Who?" Ian demanded of her.
"How the hell should I know?" Parks replied. "The Tongs, maybe, or the Real IRA. The Armenian mob or the Crips. We don't have time for me to give you the list."
"Want to bet?" Ian asked in that quiet voice of his that held the dagger of a threat wrapped in the silk of his tone.
"Right now? No, not particularly. As I told you not five minutes ago, I'll tell you anything outside," emphazising the word this time. "What, you afraid? Pft, you've got the guns and everything else. Hell, you're both probably SEALS."
Oh yeah, just call me Colbie, Nikki thought to herself. "So what's got you so rattled? Answer that first."
Parks sighed tiredly. "Even the bubble boy understood the concept of outdoors."
Ian raised his rifle. "I can fire in such a way as to pass through you, avoid the Federal Agent holding you secure, and the bullet will embed itself in the wall. Want to see?"
"Not particularly. At all, actually."
"Then answer her question."
Grumbling, Parks gave an answer: "The cage held our only Linton worm. There, can we go now? I'd rather be in prison than in here."
"What's so bad about a worm?"
Rolling her eyes, Andrea said, "Try not to step in the answer to that question."
"Worms don't do death rolls." Crocodiles do.
"Yes, that's right," Andrea said slowly. "And what Scottish beasts do?"
Ian looked at Nikki who nodded. "Come on," as the three of them headed back towards the door. The longest cage they passed held grey and red wolves, all of which were cowering at the back of their pen. "What's got them so spooked? Your worm?" Ian asked.
Yes, Andrea thought to herself. "Nothing you'd care to meet," Andrea said. "Trust me on that."
"Yeah well, the thing is, I don't trust you anyway. So what was in that ca-" interupted by a small tremor, the earthquake passing in seconds, rattling the cages.
As the cages began to stop making noise, Nikki could hear something that hadn't quit: a low rumbling that sounded almost like a landslide.
"Shit!" Parks whispered, her face blanched.
"From the cage?" Nikki asked.
She nodded.
As the three of them picked up the pace, Nikki asked, "How does a worm make those sounds?"
If I say 'same way anything else does,' you'll shoot my leg and leave me here for its snack. Parks said nothing.
Once they arrived at the door, "I don't suppose you happen to know the password, do you?"
"Not the one for when there's been an escape, which is what's happened here," nodding her head at how three LED lights were lit on the security box. "And if you're thinking of shooting the box, that'll only make the place start burning from the inside out."
The rumbling had by now been replaced by a growling.
"Where's it vulnerable?" Ian asked, readying his rifle, looking left, right, and center at the aisles.
"Inside the mouth," Andrea said. "That's how the Scots killed it."
"If they killed it, how's it here?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again or speak to him like he was a child. Not that it was easy to resist right now. "One Scot killed the one on the Linton lands. The species survived."
And the growling was gone. The depot had gone deathly quiet.
"Hold her," Nikki said, passing Parks to Ian. Flipping open her cell phone, Nikki dialed Charlie, figuring that, even if Don and the others were in a firefight, she could at least let Charlie know that they needed help getting out of here. "Charlie, it's Nikki, I need - Charlie, you're breaking up. Backup, understand? We need backup. We're locked in, locked in, okay?" and clicked it shut again with an angry look. "Something you forgot to mention?"
"I admit it," Parks said. "The jamming equipment in here isn't top of the line."
"Not the time for jokes," Ian said, tightening his grip on her arm.
"Wasn't joking."
"This 'burn from the inside out' you mentioned," Ian asked. "Does it use gun oil?" Locked door with an unknown hostile with unknown weapons at its disposal - and that's the case whether this whole Linton Worm thing is a cover for something else.
"I suppose. I know they need a lot of it."
Ian and Nikki shared a look of bingo.
"I'll guard the door," Nikki said. "Two of you, find out where the oil is," just in case.
I love how you give commands, Ian thought to himself. "Lead on, MacDuff," Ian told Parks.
"Piece of advice," Parks told Nikki.
"Yeah?" Nikki asked.
"If you start to smell anything, run. Don't shoot or stare - just run. What we smelled at the cage was how Linton worms smell after most of the stink's dispersed."
"Skunks are roses in comparison?" Nikki asked, skeptical. To Ian, "Watch yourself."
Rather watch you, Ian thought to himself as he and Parks headed towards the gun oil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tbc.
Coming up: a historical description of the Linton Worm, and Ian and Nikki's fight against it....on Math Tapes