When Buzz and Flash showed up in the conference room at Danger Patrol's Mercury HQ, they were slightly surprised to find Johnny and Doctor Cagliostro absent.

"No, this briefing is just for you two," said Inskipp, the bureau chief (well, the bureau chief local to Mercury, anyway). "Cagliostro and Gonsalvez have been reassigned on something else. But we would like you two to work together on something else again... something related to the Flame Witch-- who hasn't woken up yet, by the way. It-- Well, first, shall I presume you're willing to work as partners...?" Inskipp smiles tight little smile-- he expects them both to say yes, so he feels he's simply being cute, acting as if they have much choice in the matter-- he's asking permission post-ironically.

"As long as he's not trying to pilot, I'm perfectly happy to let him handle the apprehensions."

Flash shot Buzz a mischievous smirk, "Of course I'll be letting you do the piloting, Corey", he said with an overly dramatic eye roll, "You obviously need as much practise as you can get.

Did you see the mess she made of that SPORT out in the open surface terrain, sir?" he commented to Inskipp.
"And sure, I can take the cadet under my wing for a a while longer.  She's still a bit green", he said, smirking at his pun, "but she'll learn with some experience, and expert advice".

Slumping into a chair, and swinging his feet up onto the table, Flash threw Corey a wink, "Take a seat, rookie"

Inskipp rolls his eyes heavenward briefly. "Glad to hear you're willing to do your jobs as assigned," he says. "I want you to fly to Neptune. You two don't have clearance to hear all the reasons why we think this, but we not only very extremely certain that the Flame Witch was being funded by some outside source, we have reason to believe that the source of that funding might be... the Stygian Adepts.

Wow, that's not good. As every Danger Patrol agent knows, the Stygian Adepts are an evil cult from the 5th Dimension who worship entropy. They’re the hooded dudes (made out of living shadow?) with wicked curved daggers—- they practice dreadful sacrifices and creepy dark magic and it's widely believed their base is somewhere on Pluto, though no one knows for sure.

"Reports from a Danger Patrol operative on Neptune suggest that the Stygian Adepts are up to something there. We want you to go check it out-- find out what's going on, foil and/or thwart whatever it is that you find out is going on, and then report back to us. In particular, try to find out if the Stygian Adepts had a connection to what the Flame Witch was doing, and what it was, and why, and... you get the idea. Some of the Danger Patrol top brass on Mars suspect that there's some much bigger, much worse plot going on that the Flame Witch was just the tiniest hint of." He sighs. "Of course, certain other members of the top brass suspect that it's not the Stygian Adepts at all, but that it's all some kind of conspiracy of the Crimson Republic... but you know those kind of people-- they see Grand Commander Zukov behind every pillar and post."

Inskipp had been pacing around, but now he stops. "Any questions? Have I lost you? Need anything explained?"

"Can I requisition my own vehicles this time?  I need more flexibility.  At least one drop shuttle.  At least one surface roller.  I appreciate an adaptable ship, but only as part of a larger fleet.  Maybe something the SPORT can dock inside?  That'd be a good start."

"Mmm... I'm not sure that's unreasonable... Send me a private requisition form, and I'll see what I can do," says Inskipp. "Other questions, Agent Corey? Agent Bang?"

"I could do with a one of those spanky new rocket packs, sir.
I'll send a request through for it, along with some ham and salad sandwiches", Flash replied, "on rye, please, with honey mustard.  But not to thick, you know, just a smooth slide of the stuff ... on the top slice of bread too, cos otherwise it dough's up the bottom of the sandwich".

Buzz leans forward, grabs two pieces of paper off Inskipp's desk, leans back, leans in again to grab two pens, hands a pen and paper to Flash, and starts scribbling her own list.  She pauses to give a brief thumbs up to Inskipp.

Writing again, she mutters, "Sandwiches.  Good catch."

Inskipp frowns slightly. "...Of course you want a replacement rocketpack... It might take a little time, though... since you're being reassigned so far out in the system... Well, maybe they'll have a rocketpack there that no one's using..."

He does a little shrug. "Well, anything else, agents...?"

Flash was inclined to dance on his superior's last nerve a little longer with some other inane comment ... but his player thought better of it, so:

"Not for me, sir.
Ready to Rock and Roll whenever Buzz is ready to buzz"

Buzz scribbled out the last of her wish list, dried Venusian mango strips to go with the sandwiches, dropped her list on the desk and stood up. "Thanks, boss.  Ping me when it's in the hanger.  I'm going to head down to the target range for some practice."

A Danger Patrol ship is soon made ready for the two agents, and they take off for Neptune.

(For +1 forward, tell how each of you spend your time on the trip.)

While the ship is in auto-pilot on the long stretches between the orbits, Buzz busies herself with maintenance checks.  She goes through all the ship's system and combs through the diagnostic reports.  She inspects the interior and exterior of the SPORT in the shuttle bay.  She reads the manual on the Planetary Utility Transport Zipper (PUTZ), a speedy little contraption that could only seat two.  If Buzz and Flash made any arrests, they'd have to radio for the Danger Patrol prisoner transports.

In moments of downtime, she slurps up protein paste while screaming at her favorite Titanian wrestlers beating the snot out of each other.  "C'mon ref!  That wasn't a foul!  Why'd you break up the fight?!  It was just getting good!"

Flash didn’t get so productive.
He was also watching the Titanian Wrestling, as he casually pruned the slow-growing scales from his elbows and armpits with a small pair of trezzers he lifted from Doc C’s infirmary when nobody was watching.
He knew, was even friends with, several of the wrestlers ... though none fighting in this broadcast.

As he aimlessly flicked peeled scales into the trash compactor, he chortled at the way Buzz got so personally involved.

When he got bored with that, he took a nap

Following orders, Buzz and Flash arrive at Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, where they are met by a mustachioed fellow representing the Danger Patrol's interests there named Tarrant.

"Glad to see you, what?" says Tarrant. "Shall we get right down to business? Agent Corey, I'm eager to show you some of the craft you requested..."