Chrome Symphony - Chapter 3

[OOC: I'll just throw this bit in to explain Renk's future prolonged absence]

Renk had arrived at the temporary base just outside of the city. Security was tight, as expected. Once Renk's credentials had been reviewed, he was allowed into the camp.

Once inside, he met with one of the generals and some members of another squadron who had been on standby the previous day.

"We are sorry to hear about what has happened to your squadron, Lt. Renk," one of the generals told him. "I'm General Mulhauser. At ease."

Renk, who had been saluting, lowered his arm to his side. "Sir," Renk replied, "Were there any other surviving members of my squadron?"

General Mulhauser shook his head. "I'm afraid to inform you that you are the only survivor from the EMA HQ incident, at least to the best of our current knowledge. How did you manage to escape? Our last position data from you was in the basement just seconds before the demolition charges detonated."

Not wanting to implicate the cyborgs, Renk replied, "I was able to find a quick exit once the blasts started. All other paths to other areas of the building were blocked once the charges went off, so I was able to escape through a storm drain access hatch, sir."

"I see..." said the general. "You were damn lucky, soldier. You were in an optimal spot to escape once the blasts started."

The general walked across the room, which was inside a mobile personnel carrier. He reviewed some data on his touch screen and then turned back around, facing Renk.

"Tell me..." said the general, with a tone of scrutiny, "how did you know the building was about to self destruct? Your position and timing are... quite interesting."

Renk began to sweat. "Sir," he replied, with a hint of nervousness, "I had no knowledge of the self-destruct sequence until the moment it had begun."

Renk knew that his signs of nervousness did not help him appear to be honest, despite the fact that he was telling the truth with the omission of the cyborgs' presence being the sole exception. They suspect me somehow, he thought. This is not good!

"Lt. Renk... we are going to hold you for further questioning."

Dammit. I KNEW it.

Duncan woke up in his usual seat, surrounded by his screens and donut boxes in his office. He managed to get a good night's rest after the dive session the previous night and fell asleep soon after everyone had left.

He checked his messages. Dark Spider had left him a new message:

If you have time, meet me in a dive room at address #761806409.

DARK SPIDER

Duncan entered dive mode and entered the room in virtual space, which was under heavy encryption. His identity was anonymized.

A man appeared across the table from Duncan within the false room. His face was pixelated, as expected.

"Glad to see you made it," the man said. "I am Dark Spider."

Duncan's avatar looked at him. "I figured as much."

Dark Spider looked around the room. "Venturing into the Herei Mob Army's territory last night was a very dangerous move. I know because I've done it many times before."

"You were watching us?" asked Duncan.

Dark Spider smiled. "Of course. You should have expected that, Mr. Sorenson."

Duncan was a little startled that Dark Spider knew his identity but quickly realized that he should have expected that. "Why did you call me here," asked Duncan.

Dark Spider continued, "I am not with Herei. Let me be very clear on that. I am like you - I infiltrated them in search of information. I know about the daughter of Mr. Price, the head of the Crest Corporation. She has hired you to assist her in a rescue mission. Do you trust her?"

Duncan's avatar paused for a moment and shrugged. "She hired me. I trust her as far as I would trust any random employer. Surely you know I do this kind of thing fairly often as a freelancer."

Dark Spider responded, "Indeed. The quintessential decker-for-hire, even if you are a relic from a simpler time."

Duncan began to get frustrated. "How about we get to the point, good sir?"

Dark Spider laughed. "Ha ha! Of course, Mr. Sorenson. This man by the name of Benton Mulhauser... you have been led to believe that he and I are one in the same. We are not. In fact, General Mulhauser has recently risen in the ranks of the military. No one seems to have noticed his ties to an attempted military coup several years back."

Duncan was confused. "What, exactly, does this General have to do with all of this?"

Dark Spider responded, "Mulhauser has been pulling some major strings for some time now. Let's just say he's another spider in my web and an unwelcome one at that. Your recent acquaintance from the military appears to have become caught in his corner of the web, by the way."

"What do you mean," asked Duncan. "I assume you speak of Lt. Renk?"

"Yes. He has become suspected of ties to the Herei Mob Army. He is about to become a p*** in a scheme to deflect suspicion away from General Mulhauser."

"Then... I need to warn him immediately," replied Duncan.

Wasting no time, Duncan exited the dive and opened a secure link to Renk's communicator.

"Renk?" shouted Duncan. "Come in. You are being targeted as a suspect!"

There was a long pause. No answer. Duncan began to become more worried. Suddenly, a response from an unfamiliar voice came back over the line.

"Identify yourself," replied the voice.

Duncan quickly closed the connection. Not good, he thought. I have to warn Atlas.

Shell awoke around 10 am to find a message from Duncan.

Shell, I had a conversation with Dark Spider.  I'm not sure we can trust him or
believe a word he says but, according to him, Renk may have fallen into trouble
and our activities have likely been closely monitored.

Benton Mulhauser is apparently a general in command of Renk's outfit and Renk was
taken into custody.  Whether or not Hombre Raymie is Benton isn't clear.  I could
not find any additional information on that.

Shell looked at her messages again. She had received another message.

We met in cyberspace outside of the Herei Mob Army's rooms.  I am the scientist
A.I. system based in the colony at L1.  We had previously requested your assistance
with an extraction at an EMA facility planet side.

I was going to ask you and your companions to meet at the Velvet Room today.  For some
reason, we were unable to make contact with the daughter of the missing head of Crest 
corporation.  Please head over to her residence and contact her in person immediately.

Thank you,

Camay Thameh

Shell wasted no time heading for the door and hit the streets. She boarded the nearest transport and headed toward the outskirts near where Jess's mansion was located. Camay asked for our assistance and Jess tentatively agreed, Shell thought as the train arrived at the station outside of town. Shell ran out of the train, trying to make contact with Jess via her communicator - to no avail.

Shell arrived at the gate of the mansion and greeted the guards.

"I have urgent business with Miss Jess Price. I'm a former EMA corporation employee..."

Shell stopped herself. She had some idea that Jess didn't want her investigative exploits made known to her family. "Do you think there's any chance I can speak to her," she asked.

The guard shook his head. "No, ma'am, we're under heightened security due to Mr. Price's disappearance and recent terrorist activity. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

Shell nodded and walked away. As soon as the guards weren't looking, she darted behind the hedges and stealthily jumped over the fence and ran up to the back of the mansion. She noticed two sets of fresh footprints in the grass leading up to the back door, which were likely from earlier that morning. Shell darted inside the back door only to be caught by Jess... and Atlas, who were in the middle of sneaking out the same door.

"Shell...?!!" gasped Jess.

"ATLAS?!" shrieked Shell. "What are you doing here?!"

Jess put her hands on her hips. "I could ask you the same question! What's with you people and sneaking into my house?!"

"I'll explain," whispered Shell, trying not to attract attention from anyone else within earshot. "Right now, we have to meet up with the others. Things are getting... much more complicated."

"Miss Price, what is the meaning of this?" shouted a familiar voice behind Jess. She turned around to find the head butler and her personal guardian, Randall.

Randal was accompanied by three security staff. Turning back around to look at Atlas and Shell, she noticed two more guards outside the back door, blocking their way out.

"Who are these people? You know we're on lock down! No unauthorized guests allowed on the premises," barked Randall. The guards moved in closer to Atlas and Shell, preventing them from going anywhere.

Jess was startled that she had been caught sneaking out. "Just... just wait a moment, Randall," she stuttered.

Randall took a step closer, reaching for Jess' arm. "Miss Price, whatever you're trying to do, just let the police handle things. You're still but a child, don't try to run around playing vigilante."

Jess was furious. "A CHILD?! Don't you realize that the police and military are compromised? How do you know they haven't been bought and paid for by EMA, or, worse, those Herei Mob b******s?"

Randall grabbed Jess and pulled her away from Atlas and Shell. "Come, now, spouting such conspiratorial nonsense is unbecoming the heir of Crest Corporation. Besides, if something happens to you while you're out playing special ops with your... friends... there will be no heir to the company! Think about the future, Miss Price, and stop this foolishness!"

Jess forcefully jerked away from Randall. "I DO care about the future of Crest but I WILL save my father above all else," screamed Jess.

"Guards, arrest these two intruders," said Randall, in a nonchalant tone.

The guards grabbed Shell by her arms and started to lead her away. Atlas quickly jumped back, evading the other guards who were approaching him. Shell kicked the knees of the guards, freeing herself, and ran out of the door into the backyard. Atlas assumed a fighting stance.

"Not this again..." muttered Atlas. Jess pulled at one of the guards. "I order you to cease this and let these two go!" Jess yelled.

Another guard grabbed Jess but she quickly pulled away. Atlas pushed away from the guard and joined Shell just outside of the door. He could see two more guards rushing at them from around the outside of the mansion.

Jess unsheathed her sword. "Okay. I'm leaving. If you won't accept my orders to let us go, I'll have no choice but to fight you."

Randall looked surprised. "Miss Price, what has gotten into you? Drawing your weapon against your own keepers? You're headed to reform school, young lady!"

"I don't care if you throw my ass in prison when this is all over," snarked Jess. "I am going to save my father or die trying."

Jess tightened her grip on her sword.

"NOW. STEP. ASIDE."

Randall gave a gesture to the guards and they backed away from Atlas, Shell, and Jess. Jess made a desperate run toward the back gate and motioned to Shell and Atlas, who were following her.

The three of them ran through the woods until they came upon a small creek. Running through the creek for about a half mile, Jess ran inside a large drainage tunnel. "Come on," she yelled, trying to catch her breath. "This culvert will take us to a nice little short cut I found when I was a little kid."

The drainage tunnel was long and dark. The concrete pipe itself was about ten feet in diameter, with some offshoot tunnels around eight feet or so. Atlas pulled a flashlight out of his backpack, in which he had been keeping some essentials since moving out of his apartment.

"So where are we headed," asked Atlas.

"We'll hang a right at the next intersection. There's an old pipe leading to an abandoned subway tunnel that leads back into the city," Jess replied.

Shell and Atlas looked around, trying to figure out where they were going.

"Stay close and don't get separated," Jess whispered. "You never know who else might be lurking down here."

Atlas carefully examined the graffiti on the tunnel walls with his flashlight.

"Listen... I think we might be near the hideout of some really nasty underground elements. The faster we get top side, the better," he said to Jess and Shell.

Shell leaded toward Atlas and whispered, "I got word from Duncan that Renk's likely been detained under suspicion of working with the Herei Mob Army."

Atlas stopped in his tracks. "What?" he replied, trying to control the volume of his voice. Jess noticed him and turned around.

"What's going on?" asked Jess.

"Apparently Renk's in trouble," Atlas replied. "I need to reach the forward operations base in the city as soon as possible."

Jess shook her head. "We're supposed to get to the EMA facility before we miss our window of opportunity," Jess said, becoming impatient. "We already have one detour on our way to NEA726, Atlas!"

Atlas responded, "It's on the way. I just need to figure out where they're holding him and help him get out. We'll all be free and clear after we secure our ride to space."

Jess sighed. "Look, I understand you military guys have each others' backs but we're in an urgent situation! There just isn't any time!"

Atlas clenched his fist. "Maybe your butler was right... you are beginning to act like a spoiled child."

"Keep your voices down!" whispered Shell, nervously.

Jess began to reach for her sword but paused, then lowered her arm. "Ugh. Did you forget that you work for me right now? You're on MY time, Atlas!"

Atlas began to run down the tunnel. "Like that matters right now. I'll get Renk out and then regroup with you at the EMA..."

Atlas came to a dead stop. "Uh, folks, we have company."

Suddenly a group of gang members surrounded Atlas, Jess, and Shell. Atlas took out his pistol and Jess drew her sword. The three huddled together back to back, surrounded by thugs.

"Time to test your new gear," Atlas muttered to Shell.