Chrome Symphony - Chapter 2

Shell and Duncan went back up to the alley and made sure no one else is around.

"Okay, Mr. Sorenson, let's test the responsiveness of our new gear."

Shell rushed toward Duncan and threw a flying kick toward his right shoulder. He blocked the kick. Shell's foot caught his hand, which allowed her to perform an accelerated jump into the air over him.

Duncan then moved out of the way underneath her and, as she landed, did a sweeping kick to the back of her knees. Shell did a back flip, avoiding being tripped by the attack.

"Not bad," she commented to Duncan. "Now let's try something else!" Shell rushed toward Duncan again. This time, she started to throw a punch to his face but, while he moved his left arm up to block it, she rushed around to his back and performed a judo move that sent him tumbling over her. Duncan corrected his orientation to avoid landing on his back.

"Alright," Duncan said, starting to run out of breath. "That's good enough. We're not military grade but I believe we are... as Miss Price puts it... combat ready."

Shell nodded. "As much as we'll ever be, Mr. Sorenson."

At that moment, the others emerged from the door of the street doctor's office stairway.

"Just testing out our gear," Shell said to Jess.

Walking up the stairs with Jess and the others, Atlas could hear the cyborgs Duncan and Shell sparring in the alley way outside.

"Sounds like they're doing some impromptu combat training," he commented, laughing a bit. "Neither one of them are built for combat but I guess they're really committed to earning their keep."

As they exited through the door, they met up with Duncan and Shell, who were both a little exhausted from their sparring. "You two should save your energy for when we run into some real action," Atlas told them.

Atlas was feeling much stronger after his meal back at the bar. He had regained quite a bit of stamina although the stress of having to find a new place to live was in the back of his mind. I have to find the time to move my things out and get them into storage, he thought.

"Renk," he asked, "I need to put my belongings into storage by tomorrow." Renk replied, "From what I could see back there this morning, it looks like you don't have a lot of stuff. There's a storage facility on the other side of town that I've been using to keep some things. You're welcome to stash your things there temporarily."

Atlas looked at Duncan. "You suggested we do a group dive into cyberspace. Do you mind if I meet you at the dive lab, wherever that might be, whenever you're ready? I have to move some things out of my old place."

Duncan nodded. "Sure. I was going to suggest we all gather at my place since I have quite a bit of dive gear there," he replied. "Depending on what everyone else wants to do, you could meet us there in a couple of hours."

Atlas replied, "That would work out fine for me. I sent you my contact information so just send me the location."

Atlas quickly started leaving the alley way, followed by Renk.

"Atlas! I'll help you."

Atlas shook his head. "You don't need to do that."

"What do you mean? I'll help. Besides, I have to show you where the storage unit is and let you in," Renk replied.

Renk and Atlas ran over to the transport tube and headed back to Atlas' apartment. In a few minutes, they were back there. Atlas gathered up some boxes full of items including his now deflated air mattress along with some old military uniforms, books, dishes, and mementos.

Both of them carrying several boxes to the nearby transport tube, they headed to the other side of town and entered the storage facility.

"Atlas, I've been meaning to ask you, have you been okay since the incident?" Renk asked.

Before Jess could say anything, Renk and Atlas had left.

"If they don't report back in a couple of hours, I swear I will hunt them down," she muttered to herself. Jess looked over at Elise. "How do you like that," she said, "they just take the money and run."

Responding to Duncan, Jess said, "Normally I would insist on using a public dive facility but given the nature of this investigation, maybe using your gear with some anonymity settings in place wouldn't be too bad of an idea. I just hope your place is... um, suitable."

Jess looked out toward the street from the alley. "Raymond and Atlas had better get back in contact with me soon," she said. "Just because I paid everyone in advance, don't the rest of you get any funny ideas."

She kicked a can next to a dumpster. "Well..."

Jess looked back at Duncan. "If we're going to do this dive, maybe we'd better go get ready for that, unless anyone has something else they need to do first."

Renk helped Atlas carry the last couple of boxes into the storage unit.

He sat down on an empty crate and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I wish I could help you with your housing situation but the only place I have to stay is in the barracks back on base, which I guess I won't be seeing until I hear back from my superiors... so, I guess I'm in the same boat as you are."

Renk could tell that Atlas was displeased at the mention of "the incident".

Renk shook his head. "Listen... that incident was ruled an accident. No one blames your squadron for what happened except those lunatic terrorists. Their opinion is nothing in the eyes of decent folks."

Atlas stood up. "Thanks for your help, Renk. Maybe the official story doesn't place blame on us but I have to live with the memory every day."

Renk stood up as well and walked over to the gate and swiped his key card as it closed behind them. "I was in the area. If another few minutes had gone by, it would have been my squadron involved, too."

Atlas was silent for a few minutes as they walked away from the storage facility. Renk sighed. "Well, I think we should meet the others."

"If you all feel up to it, please follow me. My quarters are located in a reasonably good area of town and I try to keep them fairly presentable."

Duncan started to walk with Jess toward the street and he pointed toward one of the public transport tubes. "That will get us there in about five minutes," he said. "I'll go ahead and send Atlas the address, too."

[OOC: I don't know if anyone else has other plans so I'm not writing the other characters to automatically follow.]