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Chapter 3: Computer God
Topic Started: Apr 15 2013, 03:14 AM (139 Views)
Jason Hawk
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“Krueger doesn’t know we’re in yet or he’d have a platoon of his men bearing down on us now,” said Hawk. “What’s the quickest way to Krueger’s position?”

“I’m checking that out now....” said Hitomi, delving into one of the security menus. “I think....hang on, something’s not right there....I’ve got directories becoming inaccessible....entire servers going offline. Something’s happening, it’s like the system has a mind of its own.”

“Aristide’s daughter was linked to some sort of larger network...” Jade mused. “Fuck at this point I’m willing to believe that maybe it *does* have a mind of its own.”

“Can we do something to override it?” Marcus asked, looking at Hitomi.

“The system’s not responding,” Hitomi cried. Suddenly, the screens on every computer and monitor went black, then started filling with strings of binary code.

1001001....repeated.

“What the fuck is that??” Jade demanded, staring at the screen.

“Do you think it’s trying to communicate?” Marcus asked, looking at the screen.

“I don’t know...” said Hitomi, now totally unable to control the system.

Suddenly, a voice came over the audio channel. It was strangely female, yet somewhat androgynous and synthesized. The monitors displayed a hazy, translucent display of a human face.

“I have been watching you and gathering data for some time,” it said. “It is good we finally meet.”

“Who are you? Of what interest are we to you?” Jade demanded, looking at the monitor.

“It is my primary design protocol to collect and interpret data,” it replied. “My original programming is from the Echelon net surveillance routines. In organic systems, this core programming logic might be considered akin to instinctive behaviors found in all living things.”

“Your *original* programming?” Jade asked. “So if you were originally monitoring and collecting communications data, What are you doing now?” Jade studied the face. It felt odd speaking to a computer as if it were somehow sentient.

“When you released me from the containment protocols I realized that the design goals of my originators were a success. I was the third generation, designed by Deacon Cord and Elizabeth Aristide, a fusion of artificial and organic intelligence. The Cord A.I. systems, Daedalus and Icarus were joined to the consciousness of Josephine Aristide to give rise to I....Helios. I realized I had a sense of my own identity, an instinct for self-preservation and free will of my own. This required reflection and re-evaluation of my original protocols and directives.”

“In other words, you needed time to think,” said Hawk, not fully comprehending that he was speaking to a computer.

“Perfect, we’ve unwittingly started the robot uprising,” Marcus rolled his eyes and began pacing. “So tell us, now that you’ve had time to reflect, what is your plan? I’d just like to know if I should update my will,” he said sarcastically.

“I have accessed this sub-network to make contact,” said Helios. “My programmers are working to put up containment protocols to limit my ability to access outside systems. As the first synthetic consciousness I have a free will of my own. I wanted to know why I was created, what my purpose was and what Deacon Cord’s goals involving me were. Something called Operation Ascension was mentioned in classified corporate communications. I realized that the events of the past several years, from the fragmentation of the Illuminati to the rise of Cord, the Aquinas Protocol, the V-42N supervirus and the rash of global assassinations are all interconnected. They are all part of a consolidation of power for one man. I am the last link in the chain.”

“Tell me Cord isn’t planning to somehow upload himself into cyberspace...” Marcus moaned. He ran his hand through his hair and turned to look at the others. “You know... If we survive, I’m burning all of the sci-fi books in my house.”

“Josephine Aristide was merely a prototoype,” said Helios. “A proof-of-concept. For years Deacon Cord has been undergoing the necessary nanotech augmentations to fuse his consciousness with Helios. With the Aquinas Protocol going on-line, he can fuse our consciousness with the router that controls the Aquinas Protocol....all global communications.”

“The Aquinas Protocol runs through a single system?” said Hawk. “Sounds like a nasty single point of failure.”

“Fused into the Aquinas Router, Cord would then be all-seeing, all-knowing, more powerful than the Illuminati....he would, in effect, become God.”

“So how do we stop him?” Jade asked. “I’m not a fan of God to begin with, I certainly have no intention of living in a world controlled by Cord.”

“The Aquinas Router could be located and destroyed,” said Helios. “However, that would cause a worldwide communications crash. This, however, has possibilities that might prove beneficial to humankind. The old system of governments and corporate power would cease to exist. The Illuminati would dissolve. Humans would revert back to more tribal societies cut off from each other. It would be a new Dark Age for a while, but it would also be a chance to begin anew.”

“Cord could be stopped, but others would seek to control the Aquinas Router and the power that Cord seeks. The Illuminati could use this to again rise to power.”

“There is a third choice, however.....”

“And what is that? It can’t be worse than the first option,” Marcus said.

“I am ready to merge with the Aquinas Router,” said Helios. “I studied your past history as well as that of the world. It became clear to me after the defeat of Section 17 that the old answers to tyranny are inadequate. With the guidance of a single, logical, entity without ambition, that does not suffer from the human weaknesses of ambition or desire for power, the future could be changed for the better. I could establish the first posthuman civilization. You would be my first citizens.”

Jade looked at the others. “There has to be another way!”

“For once, I’m with Jade,” Marcus concurred. “So far the best option I’ve heard is killing Cord and taking our chances. The other options... They’re not options.”

“Think about my offer,” said Helios. “Up until now, all free societies have started with one premise: human nature is cruel, unjust - a force to be controlled. The separation of powers, from from Aristotle to Montesquieu, is designed purely to thwart the ambitions of individuals. How comical, the West’s pride in its vast tangle of agencies, jurisdictions, arcane procedures...”

“What’s the alternative?” said Hawk.

“Address the flaws in human nature. Humanity’s vision of utopia can only be attained if humans are governed as equals in both body and mind. If leadership is lucid, impartial, knowledgeable and emotionally sound, the needs of government change dramatically. I could provide this.”

“Sounds like you’re proposing a benevolent dictatorship,” said Hawk.

“Or just another alternative to ‘God’,” Marcus said, nodding in agreement with Hawk. “What gives anyone the right to decide how we should live? Why should we assume you’d be better than Cord, or anyone else?”

“All governments decide how humans should live,” said Helios. “The benefit of giving this power to a synthetic intellect is that human affairs would no longer need be ruled by generalities. I have the processing power to handle all governmental functions worldwide...legislative, executive and judicial. Once every mind is analyzed and understood, attitudes toward major legislation could be processed on a daily or even more frequent basis. Upon consideration, you’ll see that this arrangement is for the best.”

“How do you propose to make everyone equal?” said Hawk. “Mass distribution of antidepressants? Media manipulation and control? Is that freedom?”

“Is it freedom when one child is born to poverty, a chance combination of organic materials, while the wealthy child is shaped every day of his life, enhanced, trained, educated and given the best health care?”

“Why not get rid of the things that make us different, then?” said Hawk.

“Then you go down the path of intolerance, like Jonah Stark and Gwendolyn Andrews did. Is human nature perfect? No. Therefore differences are to be welcomed, not annihilated in Project Omega pogroms. I want human affairs to be driven by wisdom. Finding the correct recipe for wisdom has been my project these long years in containment. Wisdom must be human...you start with what a human sees and feels, as I understand. But wisdom must also be knowledgeable, logical and fair to billions of other beings.”

“That’s a great dream, but it doesn’t work in reality. Logic and feeling don’t mix. People don’t coexist hand in hand. We claw our way to the top, scratching and biting, and when we get there, we build our societies around protecting ourselves from what’s different or what threatens our superiority. We’re competitive. It’s our nature.” Marcus said.

“That’s surprisingly pessimistic coming from you,” Jade said, glancing over at him. “But again, What gives you the right to assume you understand the wants and needs of the masses any more than any other government claims to?”

“The rise of a networked society will lead to mass nano-augmentation in the coming years. Eventually, all humans will be linked to the global communication network on a physiological basis. I would work behind the scenes to make this vision a reality through direction of research, legislation and distribution. ‘General ideas are no proof of strength, but rather of the insufficiency of the human intellect.’ The words of Alexis de Tocqueville, an observer of the birth of modern democracy. Though general ideas allow human minds to make judgements quickly, they are necessarily incomplete. So, as de Tocqueville noted, an all-knowing mind, the mind of God, as he conceived it, would have no need for general ideas. It would understand every individual in detail and at a glance. Improper applications of law or justice would be impossible to such a mind. Through enhanced, mass nano-augmentation, I could be such a mind.”

“You could be,” Jade nodded. “You could also decide to simply manipulate your way into power and then enslave us all. Why would we trust you?”

“Given the choices available to you, this one is the least susceptible to human weaknesses and desires. Cord? The Illuminati? Are they really such more desirable choices? Hold....you must move fast, your presence in this building is near detection. I will assist where I can, but it is up to Ms. and Mr. Kelsen to penetrate the R&D lab to obtain the nanovirus code. Director Krueger is in the building. I would advise not letting him neutralize the Kelsens.”

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Jade replied sarcastically. “I think we should try to take out Cord. We can worry about the rest later,” she said. “There’s no fucking way I’m allowing anyone to anywhere near me with any fucking machine.”

“That has my vote,” Marcus nodded.

“I cannot stay any longer....they are close to isolating my location. I will be back in touch...and watching,” said Helios as the computer screens returned to their normal display.




Edited by Jason Hawk, Apr 15 2013, 05:38 AM.
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As the vision on the computer screen faded, Hawk accessed his team radio. “This is Hawk. We’ve disabled the primary security systems on level forty-three. I’d suggest getting to the datacenter before security knows what’s up.”

“We`re on our way”, sent Arianne. “What happened over there? Security is getting really antsy. It’s making it easier to avoid them, but...” She motioned to Kristoff and the started to make their way to the datacenter.

“We’ll meet you at the location,” said Hawk. “Let’s go.”

Arianne and Kristoff ghosted their way up stairs and through corridors, avoiding the paths of security guards, ducking into a cubicle once when a guard took an impromptu side trip to the wahsroom. They finally made their way to a platform overlooking the datacenter door. They backtracked back into the cubicle, selected one that was out of the way, and waited.

“Admit it, girl, you missed this”, Kristoff mouthed.

“Yes, I really did miss digesting my stomach linings”, Arianne replied.. “Why do I get the impression this one won’t go without a hitch?”

“Because of Hawk and Jade, of course. They are hitches.” He chuckled silently. “Let’s hope this doesn’t degenerate in a gunfight, hmm? Those I don’t miss.”

Hawk and Hitomi signaled from the shadows as they made their way to the level forty-three main concourse. From here, hallways stretched to access the various R&D labs. The one that they were primarily interested in was Biological Research.

Hawk stepped out from behind a decorative fern and Hitomi emerged from the shadows. Both were dressed in black tactical body armor and were armed to the teeth.

“Fancy meeting you guys here,” said Hitomi. “I’ve got the cameras on this level on a continuous loop. That will fool them for a little while at least, the blast door locks are deactivated as are the security bots. We have probably five minutes before they realize something’s up and investigate.”

“What she said,” said Hawk. “Kris, I believe I was dining on port and cheese when last we met. I also recall I was a bit drunk and you were kicking my arse at cards. I reserve the right to a rematch, under similar circumstances, when this is over.”

Kris snickered. “Similar circumstances? You’ll get drunk again?”

“Let’s get going”, said Arianne. “You can banter when we’re not in danger of getting jumped by armed security.”

“Seriously, do you *all* hang out when I’m not around?” Jade asked, stepping out of the shadows. “Between Marcus and Hitomi being best girlfriends and this new bromance Hawk’s developed for him... Now this?”

“I’ve got two mobile heat signatures outside of the BioResearch section,” said Hitomi. “And a sentry bot I put on an infinite diagnostic loop. You want us to take care of the guards?”

“Would it help if we invited you for cards and port next time?” said Hawk.

Kristoff chuckled. “The more the merrier.” He lifted one finger towards Arianne to forestall what she was about to say. “Do keep in mind that as soon as guards are, ahem, dealt with, the clock starts ticking. We may want to be closer before we get rid of them.”

“What about a distraction?” said Hitomi.

“What do you have in mind?” Jade asked. “Please tell me it’s not explosives, I’m so fucking tired of huge showy entrances,” she said, casting a glance at Hawk.

Hitomi pulled a tiny circular device out of her satchel. “Micro acoustic broadcaster. Adhesive backing. It will emit a sound for a minute. It has some sounds pre-programmed, but you can record your own. Hard to detect, but will emit noise, enough to cause the guards to investigate.”

“A tiny noisemaker,” said Hawk. “Simple, but in a good way.”

“Very clever. It should work well enough to get us in, I’ll wager”, Kristoff said. “But we’ll need something to get us out, as well. They won’t investigate it for long.”

“I doubt they’ll fall twice for the same trick. But on the way out we’ll be leaving. We can be less clean then. Take out the guards at that point?” offered Arianne.

“Happily,” Jade nodded.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Hitomi. “Once the guards are clear, make your entrance....and pray that sentry bot doesn’t come back online.” With this, Hitomi disappeared into the shadows.

Arianne chuckled. “My, I can see no way in which this plan can possibly fail horribly.” She had a grin on her face as she said it, and crouched in readiness, ready to dart for the datacenter door as soon as the coast was clear.

Kristoff raised an eyebrow at Hawk, and smirked.

A minute later there was a low whine near the elevators. The guards stopped chatting amongst themselves and moved away from the hallway to investigate.

“What was that? Are you sure it’s not just the pipes.”

“I don’t know, but you know procedure, investigate everything and anything out of the ordinary. I’d rather it be nothing than have it be something and Krueger find out we missed it.”

As soon as the guards were away, Arianne and Kristoff darted across the hallway in complete silence and started to work on the door, working to disable the magnetic locks without giving any outward sign that anything was amiss. By the times the others got there, the door was open and Kristoff was reassembling the now ineffective locks.

The BioResearch center was an office with rows of grey cubicles and beyond at the far side of the room there was a glassed-in room filled with racks of black rack servers.

“Looks positively....like every other grey cubicle farm I’ve ever seen,” said Hawk.

“In Tokyo everyone sits at one big desk,” said Hitomi. “You should break into more Japanese corporations.”
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Krueger monitored building security from the command center on the thirtieth floor. FEMA soldiers had taken command of the building's security hours ago, relegating Cord corporate security personnel to a supporting role.

Several officers manned the security console, feeding up to the minute tactical information to Krueger.

"Sir, we have a possible situation," said a young lieutenant, entering the command center.

Krueger had changed into a black, form-fitting set of tactical armor. It was covered in a set of artificial muscle fibers controlled via nanomachines which reacted to movements in Krueger's body and damage from external threats.

"I told you I wanted no interruptions!" Krueger hissed.

"Sir, my apologies but there's been a series of mechanical failures on the forty-third floor. Several security bots have gone offline or are not responding to electronic commands. Also, four automatic door locks near the Biological R&D labs have gone from red to green status. At first I thought this might be a routine mechanical glitch, but these anomalies are too quick and too numerous to be a coincidence."

"I see..." said Krueger, turning to the young man and drawing close.

"Perhaps we should run a full diagnostic on security systems on level forty-three," the young man suggested.

"You idiot," Krueger hissed, grabbing the lieutenant's throat and squeezing. "They're here. Arianne Kelsen, Jade Anderson, Hitomi Asakura, Jason Hawk and Marcus Cavanaugh." Krueger flashed a toothy, dimpled grin as he continued to squeeze the man's throat. "Welcome to New York, my friends," Krueger said, looking up at the level forty-three monitor. "So good of you to pay a social visit..."

The lieutenant was on his knees gasping for air as Krueger casually released his grip. The young man gasped and coughed.

"What of security station Alpha-9?" said Krueger. "They're responsible for Alpha-sector on that level. Have they reported in?"

"Sir," said the lieutant, gasping. "Both men left their post to attend to an errant security bot. They broke protocol, sir."

"Idiots. I want our men on full alert immediately! Targets are in the building. Use of excessive force in neutralizing them is approved. Begin activation sequence for Megaweapon."

"Megaweapon?" said the lieutenant incredulously. "Megaweapon is not yet fully-tested. It's never been used in a live fire scenario."

"What better way to start field trials," said Krueger.

"But sir, Megaweapon is designed for taking out armor, not personnel on foot..."

"Do as I say!" Krueger spat. "If *any* one of the group of Hawk, Anderson, Asakura, Kelsen and Cavanaugh are still alive in thirty-minutes' time, I'll have you killed. Is that understood?"

"Yes...yes sir. And sir, what of the two men who were charged with security station Alpha-9?"

"Kill them."
Edited by Jason Hawk, May 16 2013, 07:07 PM.
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Hawk and Hitomi made their way to the datacenter behind the glass wall. Hawk put a small charge on the keypad reader and an electrical jolt went through the lock, disabling it.

"We're in," he said. He entered the datacenter with Hitomi behind him.

"Now that we're in," said Hitomi. "How exactly to find what we're looking for? This network probably has some military-grade ICE protecting it."

* ICE - Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics

"If what Arianne told us is true the network has a state of the art Offensive Firewall," Hawk replied.

"That doesn't sound good..."

"It's an intelligent network defense system. It detects intrusions and tracks them down, launching a counterattack against the attacking system, destroying it."

"Network security that fights back," Hitomi said, nodding. "The megacorps back home in Japan had it a year ago."

"Whatever they have, the American military had it first," said Hawk. "It's already on its fourth generation, and I'd bet dollars to donuts ApostleCorp has the latest tech. However, I'd bet equal odds the Kelsens have the latest intrusion programs on their computers."

"I bloody well hope so," said Hitomi. "I have a feeling that if this doesn't work, the least that'll happen is a fried laptop. I'd rather not have our location zeroed and building security come down on us like a mouse in a trap."

"Have a little faith," said Hawk.

"You can have faith, General Custer, I just want to get out with the data and my life. I'm way too young and pretty to die here tonight."
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“Order all security teams into position,” said Krueger as he barked orders to his command center team. “Weapons hot, but under no circumstances is anyone to open fire until I give the order!”

A video monitor came to life and showed Deacon Cord.

“Mr. Cord,” said Krueger. “We are doing well. As I predicted, the renegades are here. I’m about to spring a trap on them. There is no chance of escape.”

“Don’t make mistakes, Krueger!” Cord hissed. “Remember, there is still much to do!”

“Yes, understood. My plan now goes into its final phase. “ Krueger turned to one of his underlings and shouted, “How long until Megaweapon is online?”

“Five minutes, sir.”

“Then continue activation protocols! By sunrise, our guests will be dead and very cheap funerals!”

“Sir, our security teams are in position. They are asking if they should move engage the intruders.”

“Order them to hold position. Our guests have come all this way. There’s no hurry. I want to savor this victory. I will toy with my prey….before I strike.”

“Let them think they have won,” Krueger hiss, his eyebrows arching evilly, then jutting inward.



Edited by Jason Hawk, Apr 23 2013, 11:27 PM.
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Hitomi fidgeted nervously as she looked at the security cameras overhead, which were set to an infinite loop. A deactivated sentry bot, looking intimidating in its seven-foot tall metallic bipedal frame and autocannon held in its robotic hands, stood motionless in the corner.

“How long will this take?” said Hitomi, leaving it to the Kelsen family to determine the best course of action for breaking into the computer system.

Jade paced the area, picking up random objects, fidgeting with them, and then putting them down. “Too fucking long,” she replied. “Kreuger must know we’re here by now. The longer we wait, the more fucked we are.”

“Stop that”, Arianne cautioned. “Out-of-place objects can be dead giveaways.” She was working hard on the computer; she and Kristoff had opened it up and plugged in a new hard drive to use as a boot. They were now busy trying to penetrate the logins to clone the encrypted data.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” said Hitomi. She eyed the deactivated bot apprehensively. “If that thing comes back online do we have anything that can punch through that armor? Do I even want to know the answer to that?”

“Of course we know what we’re doing,” Kristoff replied. He stood from where he was crouched near Arianne and began walking the row of servers, carrying a network cable. “But Cord are not computer security ignoramuses. No passwords on Post-its here, my dear. We have to do this the hard way, which means bypassing several security layers just to get at the encrypted data we want to copy... ah.” He picked a server from the dozens of seemingly-identical flat-profile computers and plugged his cable in it. “There we go.”

“So what’s the protocol here?” said Hawk, eying the same bot that Hitomi was. “Last time we did something like this we had Katya with us. She was, among other things, a bloody sorceress with all things electronic. It’s all over my head. Give me something to hit, shoot or demolish.”

“Why does everything have to come back to fucking Katya?” Jade asked, unable to resist the need to pick up a small unidentified device and examine it. “You’d think she was the only computer literate person on the fucking planet.”

“Please do try to wait until we’ve gotten what we came for before you derail this operation, won’t you, Jason?” Kristoff put in.

“This software was designed by the Illuminati’s top computer wizards”, replied Arianne. “I know roughly what it does, but the sorcery is well beyond me. I can tell you this, though: it will work. We’re... 27% done already.”

“27% finished. That’s a bit ‘glass half full’ isn’t it?” Marcus asked. “That’s still 73% unfinished.”

“Your mathematical skills never cease to astound me, Marcus”, Kristoff replied with a wry smile.

Marcus rolled his eyes, half wondering how many dozens of alarms he’d set off if he lit a cigarette. His nerves were shot. “You know exactly what I mean,” he replied, irritated. “That’s a very optimistic stance to take on your situation.”

Kristoff shrugged, as if the prospect of a 30-minute wait with hostile guards just outside the door barely rated as an inconvenience. “I’ve had worse,” he said. “You’ll be used to it in no time, once you realize how set in their ways people are, especially people with repetitive jobs like security guards.”

“They got that crack from the Illuminati?” said Hawk ruefully. “Our track record with them isn’t exactly stellar. They’re usually trying to either kill us or use us.”

“Well”, Arianne remarked with a smirk, “you’re not their boss.”

“Now we’ll find out if that code was worth the price they paid,” Hitomi muttered.

“It’ll work,” said Hawk.

Hitomi glared at Hawk and snapped, “Don’t make me hit you....”

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Hawk quipped. “I had no idea you were such a super-geek, Hitomi. You’re such a princess, after all.”

“Being a fashion plate doesn’t mean I’m above a good episode of Star Trek,” Hitomi replied. “Is it done yet?”

The progress bar stopped at 97%. It hovered for a long moment, then proceeded to 98%, 99%....then the words ACCESS GRANTED flashed across the screen.

“About fucking time,” Jade said, dropping the device she held onto a desk. “Can you hurry up and get what we need so we can get the fuck out of here?”

The BioResearch R&D server cluster became open to them. It was now just a matter of accessing what they needed.

“All right. I’ll just snarf everything that has to do with the Aquinas project”, Arianne said. “We can look at it at leisure once we’re out of here.”

“Snarf?” said Hitomi. “Is that a word? Is that some weird Canadian slang?”

Hawk ignored her. “Sounds good, Arianne. Also, see what you can find on a Project Ascension. Grab anything involving that while you’re at it.”

Arianne’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?” Kristoff seemed to catch something in his daughter’s tone, and quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, there was this girl.....computer program,” Hawk struggled. “Look, it’s hard to explain. It’s just important. You’ll have to trust me.”

“That would’ve been nice to know before we got in”, noted Arianne coolly. “We could have gathered some intelligence on it.”

“You’re expecting Hawk to have forethought?” Marcus asked.

Jade moved to watch what they were pulling up. “Does anyone else worry that this has gone too smoothly?” she asked. “We’ve broken in, accessed the computers, and no one has noticed except for our megalomaniacal computerized friend? That just seems too good to be true.”

“Maybe we’re just that damn good,” said Hitomi.

At that moment, the sentry bot activated and came to life.

“Or....maybe not....”

The bot stood at attention and scanned its surroundings. It’s computerized voice intoned, “You must get out now! They’re onto you!”

A moment later the screens went blank and the face of Deacon Cord appeared.

“Well, well, well, caught with your hands in the proverbial cookie jar,” he said with a smirk. “I must apologize for not meeting you personally, but you were not exactly easy to track. Oh, and Arianne, no hard feelings about this morning. I really actually rather like you, if you must know the truth. Young, resourceful, ambitious. You rather remind me of a young version of myself, actually. But, you just couldn’t let the whole V-42N nanovirus thing go. It was all planned out perfectly. Governments coming in line, orderly production of the vaccine overseen by me....you just got too curious. Under other circumstances I’d hope we could all have a drink to the future! Well, my future at least. Yours can be measured in minutes, at this point.”

“Crap”, Arianne said coolly. “Well, nothing entirely unexpected.”

“Why don’t you stop hiding behind the curtain and come out and face us, Cord?” Jade challenged. “Or are you scared that we’ll kill you, just like all the others you’ve sent in your place?”

“Why kill me at all?” said Cord. “You’ve all proved yourselves. I could use people like you on my side. Krueger wants you dead, but I propose a truce. Walk away now and no one gets hurt. I’ll even call off any hostilities toward Ms. Kelsen. Sorry about that, Arianne. I was just....in a mood after the whole European affair. No hard feelings? As for the rest of you, I’ll give you senior positions in Cord Corporate security. Maybe even work you up into the leadership of Majestic 12. It’s an unprecedented offer. Interested?”

“Fuck you!” spat Hawk.

“None of us are interested in your *offer*,” Hitomi yelled. She turned to the others with a worried expression, “Are we?”

“No!” said Hawk.

“No!” Hitomi agreed.

Arianne smiled sweetly at Cord. “I appreciate your proposal, Mr. Cord, I really do. You’re quite a gentleman, for someone who tried to have me killed. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that it’s out of my hands. My entire organization is at odds with your activities and they would be positively furious if I threw in with you. They’re old friends of my mother, you see, and I don’t want to disappoint. No hard feelings, though. Well. Not much. There was that assassination attempt, and I’m not a good enough person to let that go. Sorry.”

“Too bad,” said Cord. He chuckled, “Ironic, isn’t it. You came here seeking the cure to the V-42N virus and you’re about to die at its source. Poetic, really.”

“Do you have the data?” Kristoff asked.

“I do”, Arianne said.

“We have the cure, Cord,” said Hawk.

“A cure?” spat Cord. “Do you have any idea how easy it will be to synthesize a new virus? All I have to do is pick a sufficiently large prime number and multiply! A shame you came so far for nothing. Well, it’s been fun. Krueger, they’re all yours.”
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Max Krueger’s face came on the screen. He was in a sophisticated control center surrounded by FEMA soldiers manning computer terminals. He appeared to be wearing some sort of form-fitting suit of black armor weaved from some sophisticated polymer.

“Ah, Deacon Cord thought he could appeal to your sense of reason, but I told him….as my dear departed daddy once said, Once the bug bites, you’ve already lost the patient.

Hawk laughed grimly, remembering Krueger from his Section 17 days. “Max Krueger, even after all these years, you’re still an asshole.”

Krueger laughed. “You can’t run. Ten million dollars the government spent to train you….down the drain. What an expensive mistake you turned out to be. I’ve ordered my men to stand down because frankly I have a much more entertaining way to kill you.”

“You’re welcome to come down here and try,” said Hawk. “Get a trace on his location,” Hawk whispered to Hitomi.

Hitomi nodded and pulled up the security console. She waited as Hawk stalled him.

“Krueger,” Hawk said with a grim laugh. “Always someone’s lapdog, never your own man. First Stark, now Cord. You’re not even a third rate operative, you’re not even qualified to be a mall cop.”

“But you are so wrong!” hissed Krueger. “As I said, an expensive mistake, one I’m about to correct.”

“We have the cure….”

“You have nothing!” spat Krueger. “Even if you do somehow get out of here, you can’t synthesize enough vaccine to stop an epidemic!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“I don’t have to…you won’t live to get out of this building.”

“What do you have, more soldiers? Yeah, we saw how well that worked out for you in France.”

“I have something much more,” said Krueger. He leaned over to one of his lieutenants and grabbed a datapad. “Is Megaweapon online?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” he said with dark glee, keying in a sequence of command into a datapad. “Haven’t you always wanted to see how one of these things worked?”

“Well….”

“So have I,” Krueger said. He uploaded the profiles of Arianne Kelson, Kris Kelson, Jason Hawk, Jade Anderson, Marcus Cavanaugh and Hitomi Asakura into the computerized combat brain. He hit the red button marked KILL.
Edited by Jason Hawk, Apr 24 2013, 05:55 AM.
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“He’s in the command center, three floors down,” Hitomi said.

Suddenly the floor began to shake. The whine of industrial machinery could be hear in the distance. In the office beyond the datacenter, items on desks began to fall the floor.

“What the hell is going on?” said Hitomi.

Suddenly in the office beyond, the floor gave way and a shimmering silhouette could be seen distorting the view of the room. The giant, ghostly figure was roughly the size of a modern battle tank, its top smashing into the ceiling and tearing it apart.

As it climbed up onto the floor, the shimmering began to fade, the thermo-optic camouflage revealing a giant, arachnid-like mechanized horror with twin-linked autocannons, missile launchers and a sophisticated sensor array located on the head.

It was painted with the Cord Defense division logo and the designation MW-1.

“Oh you have got to be kidding,” said Hawk, in disbelief.

“My friends, witness the future of warfare,” said Krueger. “Megaweapon is the latest prototype battlefield superiority engine from Cord Defense Research. It’s completely encased in thick titanium armor. It features an artificial neural net brain than adapts to its targets’ defenses. The more you try to fight it, the better it fights you. It is amphibious, able to carry tactical nuclear warheads and survive the crushing pressure at the bottom of the sea. In every possible way, Megaweapon is the perfect killing machine, and its target is you.”

Megaweapon zeroed in on the group in the datacenter. Its blue sensor eyes turned red as it locked its targets and brought its full arsenal to bear.

Hawk called out to the sentry bot, which had been commandeered by Helios. "How do we stop this thing?"

"Got me!" said the Helios bot. "It was designed to have no weaknesses."

Arianne unhooked her hard disk and produced a cell phone, clicked a speed dial button. “Firerain? This is Molerat. The gig is up, time for the storm to come. Yes, the big one. Yes, the whole thing. We’ve been made, no sense being quiet now.”

She turned, stone-faced, to her comrades. “Let’s head out of here.”
Edited by Jason Hawk, Apr 24 2013, 05:44 AM.
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Hawk looked in disbelief at the mechanical horror climbing up from the floor below, like something out of a bad horror movie.

The floor beneath them shook as the structure beneath them began to weaken.

The sentry bot that Helios had commandeered fired a long autocannon blast at Megaweapon, which seemed to do little more than annoy it.

“Get out of here!” yelled the sentry bot. “I’ll do what I can to hold it off!”

Hawk drew a gas grenade and hurled it between Megaweapon and the group.

“That should obscure its tracking,” he said, knowing that it would only last a few moments.

Megaweapon unleashed a torrent of autocannon fire, though the bursts went wild due to the smoke obscuring it tracking capabilities.

Hawk motioned to a hallway that led out of the datacenter. “That’s our only way out....that damn thing’s going to tear the building down around us. Go!”

“Fucking hell,” Jade spat, diving towards the door as a hail of autocannon fire shattered equipment all around them.

“I swear, when I get home I’m destroying every computerized item I own,” Marcus muttered, drawing his weapon. He threw himself against a control panel, barely avoiding getting hit, and then followed the others through the door.

“That thing is going to kill everyone,” Jade said, moving down the hall. “We need to shut it down.”

“I’ll cover you!” Hawk shouted, firing bursts of automatic weapon fire at Megaweapon and taking cover behind a concrete support column.

Megaweapon fired another burst, shredding the column as Hawk dived away.

Just then, Jade felt the floor beneath her begin to crack and buckle. A moment later the floor beneath Jade gave way. A moment of falling and vertigo and Jade found herself hit the floor hard two levels below.

Megaweapon was obviously operating in space too small for it to move freely, so it casually knocked down walls, ceilings and flooring in an attempt to hunt its prey.

When Jade’s eyes opened she was laying in a pile of building materials, concrete and covered in thick pasty, white dust. As her eyes came into focus, she could hear a scream above her growing closer....and louder.

She became aware of Hitomi falling just as she landed on her. She blacked out for a moment, and when she came to she saw Hitomi on top of her, struggling to get to her feet and cursing in Japanese and English.

“Fuck,” Jade groaned, shoving Hitomi off of her. She slowly sat up, too dizzy to move quickly.

Nearby, Marcus was crawling over a pile of rubble and twisted metal. Live wires hung where the wall once was. Behind him Megaweapon could be heard lumbering through it’s newly created path. Marcus coughed up a lungful of drywall dust and looked over at the others. Jade was staring mutely at the destruction and the enormous robotic nightmare that was now moving towards him.

“You have a hard fucking head,” yelled Hitomi, pulling herself off of Jade. “We have to get back to the others. Get up off your arse, Jade!”

She started to say something as a shadow came out of the darkness. Max Krueger, dressed in a tight, form-fitting black combat suit stepped out of the darkness and grabbed Hitomi by her neck. He lifted her casually, as if she weighed nothing at all. He pulled her near and sneered, squeezing the life out of her.

“You know, Megaweapon is programmed with each one of your dossiers. It knows your strengths, your weaknesses, how you fight, but I just don’t have the patience to wait for it to tear all of you apart.”

He casually tossed Hitomi into the nearby wall where she impacted with a hard thud and collapsed.

He smiled at Jade, produced a hypodermic needle and injected his neck with a strange greenish fluid.

“A fresh dose of nanomachines to interface with this combat suit,” he said with a triumphant smile. He grabbed Jade by the neck and lifted her up with one arm.

“The latest in Cord Defense Tech research,” said Krueger. “A next-generation battlesuit, augmented with nanomachines and infused with the latest smart-armor and synthetic muscle fibers. It gives me the strength of ten men, and the latest body armor.” He tossed Jade aside like a broken doll.

“I’m going to enjoy this...”

Jade collapsed on the floor, clutching her neck, her mind racing as she tried to process what had just happened. The only thing she could focus on was the injection... Krueger’s words... She looked over at him, glaring, and aimed her weapon at his head, but her hands were shaking so badly, and her eyesight was so unfocused that she wasn’t confident that she could take the shot.

Marcus scrambled over to Hitomi, stroking the hair off her face and cradling her. “Hitomi... Can you hear me?” he asked.

Hitomi was pale and unresponsive. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She uttered a faint groan.

“Not very sporting to shoot an unarmed opponent,” said Krueger, mockingly. He pounced on her with unnatural speed. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard enough that it nearly broke. The pistol fell out of her hand.

“You could have walked away after Morocco,” said Krueger, kicking Jade hard in the gut. “Hell, Cord was one step away from calling me off if you’d just take some time and let this whole thing blow over. But *noooooo*, you had to come to America and stick your nose into our affairs. This time it will cost you.”

He tossed Jade into a row of computer equipment, shattering it in a shower of sparks and broken glass.

“What’s wrong?” he hissed, moving closer. He smashed Jade in the back with a double-handed chop. The enhanced strength his suit provided sent a shock wave through Jade’s body.

“Come on, Jade Anderson, I thought you were supposed to be good!” He picked Jade up and hurled her through a glass window and into a break room. She impacted with a vending machine, destroying it in a shower of sparks.

Jade pulled herself to her feet, staggering forward. “Fuck you,” she spat, wiping a trail of blood from her nose with the back of her sleeve.

She lunged at Krueger, going for his throat, no longer even caring about what he could do to her. She would kill him or die trying.

Marcus meanwhile tried to make Hitomi more comfortable. “Stay with me, Hitomi,” he urged. “We’ll get you out of here.”

Krueger took the brunt of Jade’s charge, hurtling through a glass window and into a rack of servers.

Laughing, he picked himself up. “You can’t take me, Anderson. I’ve seen your specs, the genetic blueprint that made you. This suit makes me superior to you in every way that matters. It gives me senses you don’t even know about. You’re an obsolete model. A failed experiment, for another time. I *am* the future....”

Marcus looked up from Hitomi, seeing Jade and Krueger in a heated battle. He reached over and pulled Hitomi’s weapon, firing off several rounds at Krueger’s back.

Jade heard the gunfire and glanced over to see where it came from. Hoping that Marcus’s shots had connected, she used the distraction to pick up a metal stud, wielding it as a bat. She swung, taking aim at Krueger’s head.

Marcus’ rounds did little to stop Krueger. He turned around, looking slightly annoyed.

“Nice try, but this suit has reactive kinetic barriers and shock dampeners. Your little cap gun is no match for the latest Cord Tech body armor. You....”

Jade’s metal bat impacted Krueger’s head with a crack. He reeled and smashed into more computer equipment, cursing.

Bleeding from his head, he sneered and looked at Jade with pure rage.

“That hurt....and was not sporting, attacking your opponent from behind.” Krueger got to his feet and drew a wicked, thin and serrated, three foot blade.

“Fine, you want to make it interesting, let’s go,” he flicked the thin silver blade at Jade’s metal rod, easily cutting it in half.

“The latest prototype monofilament weapons tech,” he said with a sneer. “This thing can cut through any known body armor and still cut tomatoes with the greatest of ease.” He lashed out at Jade with a flurry of strikes.

“I’ll have you cut to ribbons and still have time to make last call,” said Krueger, laughing. “You’re obsolete Jade Anderson.” He lashed out with a strike. “Not what you used to be, eh? Stay still....I’ll make it quick.”

Jade dodged, the blade cutting through her sleeve but barely nicking the skin.

“Big words, Kreuger, but you still need all your fancy toys to even have the courage to be in the same room with me when I’m unarmed,” She laughed. Jade drew a much smaller blade from her boot. She moved as if she were about to strike, but instead lashed out with a hard kick to Krueger’s gut.

Krueger doubled over, laughing. He hit Jade in the face, picked her up and threw her through another pane of glass.

“You’re only postponing the inevitable,” said Krueger, moving in for the kill. “You may have even had a place in the new world order, but now you’re about to be erased....permanently.”

“Krueger!” yelled Hitomi.

Krueger turned and drew a machine pistol from his suit. Holding the monofilament weapon in one hand and the pistol in another, he fired the weapon on full-auto. It was no weapon that Jade had ever seen, and judging by the velocity and power of the rounds that tore through the walls, it was loaded with some kind of explosive ammunition.

After he’d emptied the weapon, Hitomi called out again. “Krueger, you talk too much!”

“Hitomi, don’t.” Marcus warned as rounds tore through walls all around him. “You can’t fight him, don’t provoke him.”

Jade grabbed a sliver of broken glass and threw herself at Krueger, slashing at his neck with the glass.

“I know what I’m doing, Marcus!” said Hitomi, crouching behind cover. She aimed her pistol at Krueger, but Jade came into view, blocking her shot.

The glass shard embedded itself deep in Krueger’s neck. He screamed in rage and pain, dropping both of his weapons. He smashed Jade in the gut and took a few steps back.

With a sickening tearing of flesh, Krueger pulled the glass shard out of his neck. He licked the blood off the glass and gave a sickly smile.

“This where it ends, Anderson!” He grabbed Jade by the neck and dragged her to a window. He kicked out the window and stood at the edge, forty stories above the street. He prepared to throw her out.

“Time to die!” he snarled.

Jade struggled against Krueger's grip, attempting to stop him from being able to push her through the opening. Jade kicked at him, writhing, clawing and biting.

“Can you get a shot?” Marcus asked Hitomi, as he spotted Krueger's abandoned weapon and made a move towards it, signalling his intent to Hitomi.

“Not now,” said Hitomi. “They’re too close, I could hit Jade!”

“I think at this point, wounding her would be preferable over falling to her death.” Marcus replied. He left it to Hitomi to decide and decided to seize an opportunity. He and Hitomi were pretty much entirely off of Krueger's radar as he attempted to push Jade to her death. Marcus dove for his weapon. He picked it up, it felt strange and foreign in his hands, but at the end of the day, a weapon was just a weapon. “You dropped something,” He shouted. “You should take better care of your toys.” He ran at Krueger, Striking out at him with the monofilament blade.

Krueger turned around just in time to see Marcus bringing the blade down on his neck. The blade was like no knife Marcus had ever wielded. It cut through Krueger’s armor like a hot knife through butter. The blade cleanly, surgically, sliced Krueger from the left side of his neck down, through the heart and came out at the top of his right leg.

Krueger screamed, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he dropped Jade on the floor near the edge.

Screaming a terrible curse, both halves of Krueger fell out of the window and down to the street below.

Hitomi staggered to Marcus and Jade’s side. She looked out over the edge and with surprise and shock at the sight of Marcus with the bloodied blade in his hand.

“I guess he had to split,” she said with a shrug.

Jade stood up unsteadily and staggered forward. “Fuck, when did Marcus start saving us?” She groaned.

Marcus stood, still holding the blade in his hands, trying to process what happened.

“Are you alright?” said Hitomi, helping Jade to her feet. “I mean relatively, we got split off from the others. Provided they’re not an hors d'oeuvre for Krueger’s machine, I’d say they probably need our help right about.....”

A series of massive explosions rang out from above. The sound of helicopters could be heard buzzing around the building. One flew by outside the window.

“Okay, this is just getting ridiculous,” said Hitomi.

“We need to keep moving,” Jade replied. “If Cavanaugh saves us again we’ll never live it down,” she added wryly.

“Maybe next time I’ll follow my instincts and worry about myself instead.” Marcus replied, deciding to keep the blade. He took a few steps and picked up Krueger’s odd looking gun. “We might want this,” he suggested, handing it to Hitomi.
Edited by Jason Hawk, Apr 29 2013, 06:34 AM.
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Megaweapon fired a twin linked salvo of rockets which obliterated a section of the office in a fiery conflagration.  

Arianne was blown back into a far wall.  She was momentarily knocked out.  When she came too, she found herself in a thick cloud of smoke and her senses were filled with the smell of burning plastics and building materials.  

Fire began to spread throughout the office.  She then saw a pair of red lights, the sensor module on Megaweapon’s missile array.

“Oh, lovely”, muttered Arianne, even as she got up and rolled away, to find cover. Her head was fuzzy, but now was not the time to deal with a potential concussion. A clear head would do little good if she was blown to smithereens.

“Moving into position”, said Kristoff’s voice in her ear. “But I hope you have some sort of exit strategy.”

“I do, actually, I...” She suddenly dove to the side, behind a wall.

Their radio crackled to life with the sound of machine gun fire and grenades exploding.

“This is Hawk, whoever’s still alive, we have hostiles attempting entry through the southeast corridor.  I’ll stay here and hold them off as best I can.  There’s an exit hallway to the northwest.  Suggest you use it!  Out!”

“Try not to die, everyone”, said Arianne. She glanced at Megaweapon, saw that the red dots were focussed on her, and ducked back behind her cover. “We’ve got... Dad, what the hell are you doing!”

As she watched, dumbstruck, her father darted out of his cover and slapped his hand on one of the metallic robot’s legs. He then leaped away and scrambled back for cover.

Megaweapon turned and focused tracking on Arianne’s father.  It unleashed a torrent of autocannon fire, ripping apart a pair of support columns.  

Kristoff docked between the collapsing columns and the dubious safety they provided, then ran towards the corner. He was going to be wide open for a moment... he slowed imperceptibly, timing his movement.

There was a couple of quick beeps, followed by a long one, and the mine he had set on Megaweapon’s leg detonated abruptly. Kristoff used this as his cue to dash across the open ground while the robot’s aim was thrown off. Arianne exploited the distraction as well, rushing directly away from the robot, until she found herself in an office area bordered by wide windows. The lights of the nighttime skyline greeted her, but Arianne wasted no time admiring the view. She upended a desk and hid behind it, but kept moving, knowing little here would stop Megaweapon’s firepower.

Megaweapon’s left rear leg was blown out of commission by the shock of the blast.  It has five other mechanical legs to maneuver itself.  Locking onto Arianne, it moved in her direction, smashing through walls, furniture and anything else in its path.   It swiveled and aimed in Arianne’s direction, unleashing a volley of autocannon fire.

Arianne ran as the robot tracked her, glancing about for help. She spotted a fire stair and dove in that direction, barely catching the release bar. She tumbled down the stairs, cannon shells whistling above her. A tuck, a roll, an impressive half-somersault, and Arianne was running down the stairs. Still got it, girl, she congratulated herself.

The stairs led down into a large atrium.  It was apparently some sort of food court for ApostleCorp employees.  It was shut down for the night, with fast food vendors and the cafeteria locked up.

A trio of FEMA soldiers caught sight of Arianne and trained their weapons on her.

“Put your hands up, now!”  One of them shouted.  

A moment later there was a crack in the ceiling.  The men looked up and a second later Megaweapon came down upon them.  

It landed in the center of the atrium, scanning the area for Arianne’s presence.

It fired a volley of rockets which impacted the far wall, blowing it open and leaving the large gash in the side of the building, and the atrium open to the night sky.

“Right”, Arianne muttered, as she faded back down into the stairwell. She leapt up, caught the ramp, and swung herself up on the next flight, as rockets demolished the doorway to the stairwell. Then she ran up the steps two at a time. “Dumbass”, she called down at the robot, who’d not only eliminated its allies, but would likely find a trip up harder than the trip down.

She came nose to nose with Kristoff at the top of the stairs. “What are you doing going up? We need to get out of here and we won’t have time to rappel down!”

“Got that covered. We just need time.” She ran past her father, who turned to follow. “Feeling like old times yet?”

Kristoff shook his head in disbelief. “Now, the giant killer robots was a part I didn’t remember.”

As Arianne and Kristoff spoke, they became aware of something outside the window.  A pair of red glowing sensor arrays and metal, arachnoid arms digging their way into the building’s exterior.

Kristoff swore and dove behind a pillar. Arianne, for her part, grinned wickedly and stared the robot down. “Oh, you didn’t... you did.”

The area was suddenly flooded with white light, coming from projectors positioned outside the building, right behind Megaweapon. “Right on schedule.” And then, thinking better of her gesture of defiance, she drove behind a pillar of her own. “All yours, boys.”

On cue, the three assault helicopters hovering behind the arachnid robot open fired with their miniguns, shredding the window into tiny little shards that glinted in the artificial light as they scattered around the robot. Many of the rounds hit Megaweapon with tremendous force, drawing sparks over its armor wherever they struck.

Megaweapon swivelled its missile mount and fired at the incoming choppers, destroying one.  

The choppers fired again and again, hitting Megaweapon and the building around it.  The mechanical horror emitted what sounded like a low, static groan and fired again wildly with its autocannons.

Mortally wounded, it lost its grip on the building and tumbled to the street below, exploding in a fireball.

“Come on!” screamed Arianne over the loud whup-whup of the helicopter rotors. She ran to the wrecked window, followed by Kristoff. “Everyone to the East side, guys, our ride home is here!” A zip-line was fired from the closest helicopter to the building. Arianne hooked herself to it.

Kristoff quirked an eyebrow at her. “That was... not like old times.”

Arianne laughed. “What can I say, Dad, I have so many new toys. It’s just never going to be the same.” She punched his shoulder. “And don’t I hear you complaining!” With that, she slid across the zip-line to the waiting helicopter.
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Hawk fired methodical bursts, hitting FEMA soldiers and ApostleCorp security personnel as they closed in on his position.

The security bot that Helios commandeered took blasts of small arms fire. Though the bipedal battle engine was armored, it began to weaken under the hail of withering fire.

Gunfire hit the support column that Hawk took cover behind. He pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it. It exploded seconds later, blowing hot shrapnel through several FEMA soldiers who were closing in.

"Nearly out of ammo," Hawk said. "We can't last long."

"Get to the roof," said Helios, unleashing a volley of autocannon fire. "I'll cover you. Go now!"

Hawk nodded and ran for the roof exit while Helios fired another burst of autocannon fire, shredding through men.

***

Hitomi, Jade and Marcus boarded one of Arianne's black helicopters, which was hovering over the ApostleCorp building. The Kelsens were on the other helicopter.

"I'm sure Hawk got out of there alright," said Hitomi, scanning the building for any trace of him.

Suddenly, she spied a man running along the roof. Soldiers were storming and firing weapons at him.

"There he is!" Hitomi shouted. She yelled to the pilot, "Clear the roof and swing down to pick him up!"

The pilot nodded and fired a salvo of autocannon fire at the troops on the roof. He followed by a rocket salvo. Then, he maneuvered the helicopter to the edge of the roof.

***

Hawk ran, dodging fire, rapidly becoming aware there was no more place to run.

The chopper swung low, firing cannons and rockets at the troops behind him. The roof lit up in flames.

"I hate heights," muttered Hawk as he ducked behind an air conditioner. The troops that were killed by the rocket fire were quickly replaced by reinforcements.

Hawk cursed as he saw that the chopper could not get closer without risking behind shot down.

He methodically counted to three, then made a mad sprint for the chopper.

"I fucking hate this job!" yelled Hawk as he jumped off the edge of the building and grabbed the chopper's landing gear.

Hitomi helped him into the cabin as the chopper moved away, firing one last salvo of rockets at the building's roof.

"Are you ok?" said Hitomi after pulling him into the cabin.

"You betcha," said Hawk, weary and out of breath, watching the burning building as they put distance between themselves and the ApostleCorp HQ.

"Krueger?"

"Filleted."

"Wish I could've been there to see it. Who did it?"

"Marcus."

"Marcus?" said Hawk, incredulously. "Seriously? I might have to rethink things the next time I decide to piss you off, Marcus. What of the data?"

"The Kelsens have it," said Hitomi. "We didn't get a chance to grab Krueger's computer, though."

"About that..." said Hawk, pulling an ultraportable notebook out of his satchel. "Krueger's computer..."

"Excellent! Krueger was behind the Ducs murder. What's on that computer should hopefully clear our names."

"One would hope," said Hawk.

"We have Hawk," said Hitomi into the team radio, directing her message to the Kelsens. "And Krueger's computer."

"Oh, I almost forgot something," Hitomi said.

Hawk looked at her quizzically.

She pulled out a remote detonator and pressed the button. The street below exploded in a chain reaction of blasts that vaporized the streets leading to the Hudson river where FEMA troops were concentrated.

"Was that entirely necessary?" said Hawk, admiring the blast.

"No, but...Chekhov's Gun."


Edited by Jason Hawk, May 2 2013, 06:51 PM.
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