Chapter 2 – Echo
PROTACORP TOWER – NYC 02:31 / 2046
The four agents shivered silently on opposing corners of the rooftop, shifting towards their pre-assigned positions. This was hardly an unusual hour for a callout but Conrad's body still protested to the abrupt awakening by his neurolink system. At 36 he was the most senior of the team, a fact the others brought up often to his chagrin. He wasn't old by any stretch as a civilian world but the dangers of such extensive augmentation as his increased exponentially with age. It was rare for complex procedures to be carried out on anyone over 30 and indeed the majority of Conrad's augs pre-dated all of his comrades. Even given his time with them he doubted he would ever fully be accustomed to being jolted awake to his Captain yelling orders.
The call had come simultaneously to all the members of IronEcho, transmitted wirelessly through mechanical implants situated inside the ear canal. One of the more discreet but most intrusive of their extensive array of body augmentations. Looking through the night to the opposite corner of the rooftop Conrad could just make out the lithe outline of his second in command, Chinese-American MIT graduate Laura Yang. Closest to her, standing beyond a large intake vent stood the considerably larger bulk of Branson Hoyle. Branson has served with Conrad for most of his career and was known as the bull for his extensive upper body augmentations. Conrad could clearly make out the unnaturally large silhouette of his deltoid implants, adding to his imposing presence. The last and newest member of the team was James Lombard. At only 24 he was the youngest Aug-op agent to be promoted into an Ironhead taskforce thanks to his athleticism and agility. Conrad had temporarily lost sight of James but was confident he was making his way to his own entry point.
Conrad sighed as he opened up a commlink to Bull. "what ya reckon big guy, hardly an ideal situation" he whispered. "I thought it about even" replied bull sarcastically. "Is everyone in position, where's the punk, I can't see him". Conrad found the small protrusion on his lower larynx and pushed gently. A small tick signalled his comms were now open to all channels. "Report status" he whispered. "In position, standing by" came the prompt reply from Yang. Several seconds passed before the hiss of static was replaced by Lombards reply, "all set boss" he chirped. Conrad stood in a hunch and carefully moved the remaining few pace to his own entry point, a large angled window facing in to the reception area of a corporate sweet.
Towering over the skyline of lower manhattan, Protatech's Head office tower had become the new hub for the corporate elite of New York. Standing tall and thin it was a nightmare insertion by anyone's measure. According to the Captain unknown intruders had gained access to the building 40 minutes earlier, the likely target being the top tier information held on the upper floors. The intruders inside had undoubtedly heard their approach by chopper and were expecting visitors. Conrad at least had the peace of mind that SWAT was clearing the building from the bottom up. But at 86 floors up it would all be over before they made it even halfway up the monolithic structure. The Captain had been clear in the mission briefing, terminate with extreme prejudice. That suited Conrad just fine, his augmentations weren't suited for the subtleties of hostage rescue or stealth operations. That was Lombard and Lang's field. No, a bag and tag was what he was after. It did strike him as odd that the Captain had been so explicit in his desire for all the intruders to be eliminated before the SWAT team reached them but he didn't dwell on it. It was time to go to work.
Conrad clicked open his comm.-link, "Bull, James, stand by, Yang drop the bangbot". "Roger that sir". James had coined the term bangbot on their last operation with the new toy. A remote operated stealth flash-bang device it released a deafening blast and blinding light to everyone in the vicinity. Yang had become especially proficient at using it due to her complex neural augmentations, allowing her to interface directly with the machine. Meanwhile Conrad searched the darkness through the window, his enhanced vision picking out shapes and colours, while a dim green readout on his visor measured the distance to the ground. He guessed he was far enough up to be indistinguishable to the un-augmented eyes of the terrorists in the room below.
Yang's voice cut through the pensive silence, "Bot in position, ready grapple lines". Conrad lifted an arm in front of him, the moonlight dimly reflecting from the matt black components that made up this lower forearm. After losing his hand and a leg in the early 30's in Korea Conrad had been 'selected' as a volunteer for the first wave of army augmentation projects. With bulky mechanical prosthetics success was limited but Conrad's continued service showed the potential of soldier augmentation. Later after joining Ironhead Conrad had his entire forearm replaced with an alloy microfibre system, which mimicked the function of human muscle and bone but endowed the recipient with superior strength and durability. Conrad rotated a plate on the top of his wrist to expose the sharp barb of the high tensile grappling line.
Conrad eased his body regulators and let the adrenaline infuse him. Sometimes nature just does it better he thought ironically. "Everybody dim vision", he commanded. "Entry in 3…2….
The ethereal shriek of detonation hurt Conrad's ears even through his muted aural receivers. He watched as a new sun was birthed in the top floor of Protacorp. The inferno of blazing incandescence tearing through the complex. Removing his visual and aural buffers Conrad levelled his arm horizontally against the window and fired the grappling barb with a whistling pop. Glass shattered into the room below as lengths of wire whipped from their coils, the barbs puncturing their teeth into the target on the opposing overhang.
Pitching himself from the ledge Conrad pulled the large automatic pistol from his holster with his free hand and fired at the prone body of an enemy caught incapacitated by the explosion. The piercing bark of his unsuppressed weapon sowing fear in the dazed intruders. As his swing came to the bottom of the arc, he turned to see Laura hit the ground beside him and disconnect from her line. With computational precision she pivoted her twin small calibre pistols and fired into the darkness. An audible yelp was followed by three further shots from yang as she moved to the cover of a thick pillar. Conrad had moved to the adjacent wall and checked his previous target, the expanding blood patches the only sign he had hit his mark. Yang made her along the wall towards him. "We need to keep moving, success probability drops significantly beyond two minutes". A ring around Conrad's iris rotated slowly as a film moved across his pupil, enabling his thermal vision. He quickly scanned the room, the two fresh corpses leaving ember trails across his vision, obstructing his view. "Yang, 2 o'clock, 30 metres". Yang hefted a tiny silver marble in to her palm. Even with an unaugmented arm Conrad knew that her mind more then compensated for judging the distance and angle. With a flick the ball drifted silently before the cracking whip of a small explosive flared in the corner where Conrad had spotted the man crouching. "Nice one" he smirked.
Allowing himself a second to attune to his surroundings he noticed the quiet in the adjoining suite. James and Bull had entered through the corporate suite next door and were supposed to sweep the room before rendezvousing in the downstairs computer lab. James was no stranger to stealth but It wasn't like Bull to make a quiet entrance. Before he had completed the thought a blast exploded through the wall facing Conrad, smouldering chunks of plaster falling in to fill the gap where company awards had hung proudly moments before. He recognised the familiar smell of a frag grenade as he charged towards the new entrance to the room, Laura's pistols spitting past his ears as she followed him through.
Conrad's visor chimed an alert in his ear, a green boxes marked Hoyle was overlayed onto his vision. Distance calculations put him somewhere near the far corner of the room but Conrad had no clear line of sight. Two ornamental dividing walls separated the two halves of the expansive sweet, with a row of pillars flanking the wall closest to Conrad, and several rows of computers in the opposite corner. Muzzle flare lit the room as shards of blue marble shattered overheads. Conrad and Laura both dived for the safety of a nearby pillar. "Bull, what's going on, where's the noise", Conrad muted the sound of gunfire and listened for Bull's reply. "Sorry boy took a nick coming in, weapons mods aren't responding. Thought I'd have a sit down until you got here", "Where's James then?" asked Conrad. "I don't know, the punk took off as soon as we dropped" Bull said, sounding irritated.
Conrad called across to Laura at the next pillar, "Yang what's the situation?". Laura reached her index finger around the pillar, activating the microscopic camera located in the tip. "Six Tangos I can see" she said. "Four along the far wall covering behind some desks, two along the balcony entrance." Taking the risk Conrad passed his pistol into his augmented right arm and sprinted from his pillar. Bullets hissed at his ankles as he slid to cover behind one of the dividing walls, returning fire into the dark. With a scream the bullets overhead changed direction and began firing randomly into the wall furthest from Conrad. Confused but wanting to take advantage of the distraction Conrad left his cover and ran for the corner where Bull was hiding. Obviously reaching the same conclusion about the strange enemy behaviour he could see Yang bolting from wall to wall, inching closer to the source of the fire. Yang's voice cackled in his ear, "Sir it's James, he's in the wall indent above the tango's.
Conrad put a hand on Bull's shoulder plate and peered slowly over the covering office equipment. Activating his thermal vision he peered through the white flashes of muzzle looking for James' subdued thermal readout. Following repeated requests James' charcoal body suit had been fitted with thermal, and optical regulators, which along with making him appear as a faint blob in infrared, closely mimics the surrounding room environment. Conrad looked to the corner that Yang had described and saw four of the intruders firing with abandon upwards in to the room. It was obvious they didn't have a bead on James but even so, Conrad was worried that a stray bullet would catch him.
Conrad knelt back down behind the cover and turned to inspect Bull. It was immediately clear where he had been struck. The bullet had torn a large gouge of metal laterally across the chest plate and buried itself in the mechanics of the shoulder separator, narrowly missing the protective curved plate. "What's the damage" Conrad said, flinching as a deflected bullet took at hole out of his covering wall. "Movement's fine, aug weapons are down though" he sighed. Bull whacked his left arm against the wall, shaking it a few times to show his point. "Ok hang tight big guy." Conrad said, offering a sympathetic smile to his old friend. Opening up his comms channel his spoke sharply to his other team mates. "James I know you cant speak but buffer your sight and sound. Yang flash 'em big". "Roger that sir, flash and clear". Only moments later white enveloped the room as Yang's remaining two bombs detonated with blinding efficiency. Yang and Conrad charged into the corner, Bull thudding closely behind.
Yang reached them first, vaulting onto the desk and shoulder charging a blinded enemy from his feet. Pumping his sprawled body with a double tap of her pistol as her momentum carried her on. Conrad reached the wall next crouching in firing position next to the desk and training his sights on two mean scrambling for their dropped rifles. Conrad's muzzle flared angrily, digging blood red chunks from the marble wall behind. Both the men dropped, heads cracking on the hard ground. Conrad moved his sights to the right but the other man was faster. He dove for Laura's midsection, attempting a crude tackle. Falling backwards Laura responded intuitively, wrapping her arms around the shoulders of her attacker and used her falling momentum to do a complete roll, ending up sitting on his chest. With feline speed she unsheathed the knife from her ankle and forced it upwards, sinking the blade at an angle into the man's neck. The evident surprise in the man's face was brief, replaced by a gaunt pallor. Laura leapt to her feet and reclaimed her fallen pistols, moving to cover Conrad.
Expecting Bull to follow them Conrad turned to see him thundering towards the two men on the balcony. Worried, he gave chase but Bull had made too much ground. He collided with the first of the men, driving his plated shoulder into his central mass. The man lifted with a thump and hit the balcony rail, slumping cross-legged to the ground. Conrad was sure he was dead. The second man had regained some of his senses and swung his snub nosed SMG up to some semblance of a firing position. With surprising speed Bull stepped outside the man's arm, grabbing his wrist. The man struggled to bring his weapon to bear but there was no arm wrestling control from Bull. He drove a knee deep into the man's solar plexus dropping him to the ground and sending his weapon skittering. He stood to catch his breath while Yang walked over and silenced the writhing man. Bull walked over to retrieve the fallen firearm and cocked the receiver. He levelled the gun one handed and fired a round into the slumped body of the Man he'd charged. The body twitched but stayed contorted in its grotesque pose on the office floor.
"Nice show boys" came James' voice from corner behind them "where's the popcorn". Yang's lips tweaked at the corners, an unusual expression of amusement. "That's a nice job for you boy" grinned Bull. "I'll suggest to the captain you be our distraction more often". James smile dropped from his face, His one natural eye twitching in annoyance. "Hey that's enough" Conrad interrupted, "Yang where's SWAT". Two floors down sir, be here any moment". "Nice of them to turn up" James griped. "Harden up Lombard you didn't get scratched" Bull chided. "Cool it guys" Conrad said facing Bull. "we've got work to do".