Dragoncat, here! Sorry it took so long, but the wait is finally over. And
now...
Chapter Two
It's been a week now since his 'release' from custody, but Titus Sweete understands all too well the importance of his situation. Now that he's made the NSA's Top 10 Most Wanted, he must maintain an even lower profile than before. To do otherwise would be suicidal.
As he shaves off the stubble he acquired while staying with the NSA, he thinks back to Operation: Sinking Ship. The instructions were simple enough: locate the 'Floating Fortress' and destroy it. Getting the equipment needed was no problem. He had enough funding at our disposal thanks to the 'donations' forwarded by his old buddy, Eugene Dolan. (That pencil-pusher had no idea where the money was really going. Thank God for dummy corporations. I've always said that the only thing better than having what you need, is having the money to pay for it.)
The hard part, of course, was finding the target. It sickens him to think that somewhere out at sea was a factory making robot technology that would eventually wipe humanity off the face of the earth. (What were those fools thinking?) Fortunately, he was able to grab hold of Dr. Edmunds, a hologram expert. With a little persuasion, he was willing to cooperate. He impersonated Dr. Selig, and gave us the location of that Floating Fortress. But then, he and Curtis made a run for it in an escape pod. Sweete will never understand why Curtis bailed out on him like that. Out of all the people he worked with, he trusted Curtis the most.
But Sweete didn't let this one act of betrayal stop him from the task at hand. Despite getting captured, he was able to set off the bombs and shoot down that wacko scientist, Dr. Selig. (Let's see him make any more synthoids now.)
Synthoids. As Sweete puts on a fresh set of clothes, he can't help but think back to being interrogated by that stuck-up Agent Bennet.
^Where's Zeta?^
^Who?^
^The synthoid! Your puppet!^
^I don't do synthoids.^
Sweete's train of thought is broken by a knocking on the door. "Sweete, are you ready? It's time to go."
Sweete opens the door. It's one of the underlings who helped him escape. His arrival means only one thing: It's time to report to the boss.
About an hour later, Sweete's winding ride through the city arrives at a building near the warehouse district. Once the car enters through the garage parking, Sweete leaves the car and heads straight for the elevator. Using a key the underling gave him, he unlocks a latch below the elevator buttons, revealing a blue button for making the elevator descend ten feet underground to a hidden base. As the doors open, Sweete can't help but smile. (It's good to be back)
As he walks down the hallways, he pretends not to notice the staring eyes from fellow agents as they walk past him. Titus Sweete is something of a legend in the Brother's Day organization. He led the team that destroyed the Floating Fortress, blowing it to smithereens. Even though he was captured, he completed his mission. He even managed to shoot down Dr. Selig, the scientist behind all those robots. He's the kind of stuff that top agents are made of, a shining example to the organization. It's no wonder that the Commander decided to organize his escape. An agent like Titus Sweete is worth the effort.
Further down the hall and down a flight of stairs, Sweete is escorted into a dark room. He's been in this room before. This room determines the fate of every agent in the organization. This room is where an agent can either receive orders, or have his fate sealed. Sweete was never told what the Commander has in store for him since the escape. But now, in this very room, he is about to find out.
Wearing his best poker face, he says, "Agent Sweete reporting, sir."
Suddenly, a single spotlight shines down on him as a voice from the darkness replies, "Welcome back, Agent Sweete. Have a seat. We have much to discuss."
A second spotlight shines on a chair about three feet in front of him. He sits down as ordered. Sweete knows it's not polite to refuse anything from the Commander.
The Commander continues, "First I wish to congratulate you on your success with Operation: Sinking Ship. Of course, with each assignment, there's always the risk of being captured, but nevertheless, you did what you were ordered. The Floating Fortress is destroyed. Good work."
Sweete slightly bows his head. "Thank you, sir. Although I must admit there was an act of treason during the mission. It seems Agent Curtis decided to make a run for it with Dr. Edmunds at the last minute. I still find it hard to believe that he'd pull a stunt like that."
"He didn't."
Sweete raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, sir?"
"Agent Curtis reported to us, claiming that when he went to retrieve Dr. Edmunds at his apartment, he saw two Edmunds before getting knocked unconscious. Since Edmunds is an expert on holograms, he found someone to fill in for himself and Agent Curtis while he made his escape. When Curtis regained consciousness, you had already left. Therefore, he did not betray you."
"Then who...?"
"Tell me, Sweete. During your stay with the NSA, did anyone ask you questions about a synthoid?"
"Yeah. Bennet kept asking me about a synthoid. I think he called it 'Zeta'."
"Yes. Infiltration Unit Zeta."
Another spotlight shines to Sweete's left. He can now see a table with a file on it. Sweete fetches the file and returns to his seat. He opens the file and sees a wanted poster with two faces on it. One is a robot, the other a human.
"This," the Commander says, "is Infiltration Unit Zeta. According to our sources, this robot was sent to infiltrate our organization over two years ago. During that time, it stopped obeying orders and went on the run. The NSA has been hunting it down, thinking we had reprogrammed it."
"And they think I knew something about it?"
"Apparently, they had good reason to think so."
Sweete raises an eyebrow again as the Commander continues, "One of our sources in the NSA managed to obtain access to Commander Lemac's office. There he discovered a disc containing a large amount of data. He managed to make a copy, which I have looked over and discovered images of you talking face-to-face... Don't worry, Sweete. Let me finish. These images are memories of the synthoid known as Zeta. At the time, he was disguised as Eugene Dolan."
(Dolan?! The pencil-pusher?!) Sweete's moment of shock almost makes him drop the file.
The Commander carries on. "I had our hacker team do some research on Dolan. It turns out he was away during some of your meetings with him. The NSA suspected Dolan of being an accomplice of ours, but he overheard you say that Dolan was innocent. That interfered with his prime objective to 'mimic and destroy targeted individuals'. Zeta did not want to kill an innocent man. That was when he went on the run."
Sweete flipped a page to find another wanted poster. This one was of a young girl.
"This is Rosalie Rowen. Zeta met her in Spring City, and according to the data, she's been something of a guardian angel to him. Would you believe she's been teaching him to behave like a human?"
Sweete begins to hate the girl already. (Is she crazy or something?)
"And the data also shows she's the one who impersonated Curtis on the sub. Dr. Edmunds gave her a holographic device to use while Zeta posed as Edmunds. They needed a ride to the Floating Fortress to find Dr. Selig. You just happened to have been heading there yourself."
"So that explains them bailing out when they did," Sweete says, relieved to know it wasn't really Curtis. But this information fuels his hatred for robots even more. "So that robot was trying to find his master?"
"Yes. Apparently, since the NSA was convinced that Zeta had been reprogrammed by us, they wanted to reprogram him back into a killer robot again. Zeta and his friend thought that by talking to Selig, he could prove that Zeta was not a killer anymore. Surprisingly, they were right. Selig had secretly implanted an extra module in Zeta to act as a conscience so he wouldn't kill. But before Zeta could properly introduce himself, you blew up the fortress and shot down Selig's escape pod. His greatest creation was right in front of him, and he never knew it. "
Sweete can't help but smirk. "So now he can't clear his name. The NSA will be chasing him from here to Calcutta."
"No," the Commander replies, "they won't. The girl convinced Zeta to make copies of his memories into the disc that our agent had copied from. Those wanted posters have been removed from the Federal Warrant List. It seems they've allowed Zeta to stay with the girl. They're free to walk the streets."
The thought of a robot free to walk the streets, pretending to be a human being infuriated Sweete to the boiling point. "Sir, with all due respect, we can't allow this. This is just the type of thing we've been trying to avoid."
"I couldn't agree more, Sweete. That's why we're working on a plan to destroy Zeta before they start making more like him. And this is why I had you released. I want you to lead the mission once we've formulated a plan. For now, you are to report to your desk. Use this time to compose yourself. I found this information to be quite shocking, myself."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Sweete leaves the room and heads for his office.
At the end of the dark room facing the chair is a surveillance camera. This camera is wired to a computer screen in a spacious office where the Commander conducts his business. As the head of Brother's Day, he keeps his identity a secret, except to a chosen few. Now that the room is empty, he turns off the camera and ponders over the disc in his hand.
(Yes, quite shocking indeed. The very idea of a robot falling in love is preposterous. What was that fool Selig thinking? And this Rowen girl must be insane. Why would she want to get involved with a robot? Can't she find herself a boyfriend or something?)
The Commander's thoughts are interrupted by his phone ringing. "Commander, speaking... Really...? Good work. Continue surveillance for now." He hangs up the phone. (Okay, that's one part going accordingly.)
The phone rings again. "Commander, speaking... He's conscious? Ah, excellent news, indeed. I'll be right over." He hangs up again and grabs his coat. (I'll have a plan for Sweete in due time, but first things first.)
Okay, that's it for now. I promise to have Chapter Three ready ASAP. See you later!
Chapter Two
It's been a week now since his 'release' from custody, but Titus Sweete understands all too well the importance of his situation. Now that he's made the NSA's Top 10 Most Wanted, he must maintain an even lower profile than before. To do otherwise would be suicidal.
As he shaves off the stubble he acquired while staying with the NSA, he thinks back to Operation: Sinking Ship. The instructions were simple enough: locate the 'Floating Fortress' and destroy it. Getting the equipment needed was no problem. He had enough funding at our disposal thanks to the 'donations' forwarded by his old buddy, Eugene Dolan. (That pencil-pusher had no idea where the money was really going. Thank God for dummy corporations. I've always said that the only thing better than having what you need, is having the money to pay for it.)
The hard part, of course, was finding the target. It sickens him to think that somewhere out at sea was a factory making robot technology that would eventually wipe humanity off the face of the earth. (What were those fools thinking?) Fortunately, he was able to grab hold of Dr. Edmunds, a hologram expert. With a little persuasion, he was willing to cooperate. He impersonated Dr. Selig, and gave us the location of that Floating Fortress. But then, he and Curtis made a run for it in an escape pod. Sweete will never understand why Curtis bailed out on him like that. Out of all the people he worked with, he trusted Curtis the most.
But Sweete didn't let this one act of betrayal stop him from the task at hand. Despite getting captured, he was able to set off the bombs and shoot down that wacko scientist, Dr. Selig. (Let's see him make any more synthoids now.)
Synthoids. As Sweete puts on a fresh set of clothes, he can't help but think back to being interrogated by that stuck-up Agent Bennet.
^Where's Zeta?^
^Who?^
^The synthoid! Your puppet!^
^I don't do synthoids.^
Sweete's train of thought is broken by a knocking on the door. "Sweete, are you ready? It's time to go."
Sweete opens the door. It's one of the underlings who helped him escape. His arrival means only one thing: It's time to report to the boss.
About an hour later, Sweete's winding ride through the city arrives at a building near the warehouse district. Once the car enters through the garage parking, Sweete leaves the car and heads straight for the elevator. Using a key the underling gave him, he unlocks a latch below the elevator buttons, revealing a blue button for making the elevator descend ten feet underground to a hidden base. As the doors open, Sweete can't help but smile. (It's good to be back)
As he walks down the hallways, he pretends not to notice the staring eyes from fellow agents as they walk past him. Titus Sweete is something of a legend in the Brother's Day organization. He led the team that destroyed the Floating Fortress, blowing it to smithereens. Even though he was captured, he completed his mission. He even managed to shoot down Dr. Selig, the scientist behind all those robots. He's the kind of stuff that top agents are made of, a shining example to the organization. It's no wonder that the Commander decided to organize his escape. An agent like Titus Sweete is worth the effort.
Further down the hall and down a flight of stairs, Sweete is escorted into a dark room. He's been in this room before. This room determines the fate of every agent in the organization. This room is where an agent can either receive orders, or have his fate sealed. Sweete was never told what the Commander has in store for him since the escape. But now, in this very room, he is about to find out.
Wearing his best poker face, he says, "Agent Sweete reporting, sir."
Suddenly, a single spotlight shines down on him as a voice from the darkness replies, "Welcome back, Agent Sweete. Have a seat. We have much to discuss."
A second spotlight shines on a chair about three feet in front of him. He sits down as ordered. Sweete knows it's not polite to refuse anything from the Commander.
The Commander continues, "First I wish to congratulate you on your success with Operation: Sinking Ship. Of course, with each assignment, there's always the risk of being captured, but nevertheless, you did what you were ordered. The Floating Fortress is destroyed. Good work."
Sweete slightly bows his head. "Thank you, sir. Although I must admit there was an act of treason during the mission. It seems Agent Curtis decided to make a run for it with Dr. Edmunds at the last minute. I still find it hard to believe that he'd pull a stunt like that."
"He didn't."
Sweete raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, sir?"
"Agent Curtis reported to us, claiming that when he went to retrieve Dr. Edmunds at his apartment, he saw two Edmunds before getting knocked unconscious. Since Edmunds is an expert on holograms, he found someone to fill in for himself and Agent Curtis while he made his escape. When Curtis regained consciousness, you had already left. Therefore, he did not betray you."
"Then who...?"
"Tell me, Sweete. During your stay with the NSA, did anyone ask you questions about a synthoid?"
"Yeah. Bennet kept asking me about a synthoid. I think he called it 'Zeta'."
"Yes. Infiltration Unit Zeta."
Another spotlight shines to Sweete's left. He can now see a table with a file on it. Sweete fetches the file and returns to his seat. He opens the file and sees a wanted poster with two faces on it. One is a robot, the other a human.
"This," the Commander says, "is Infiltration Unit Zeta. According to our sources, this robot was sent to infiltrate our organization over two years ago. During that time, it stopped obeying orders and went on the run. The NSA has been hunting it down, thinking we had reprogrammed it."
"And they think I knew something about it?"
"Apparently, they had good reason to think so."
Sweete raises an eyebrow again as the Commander continues, "One of our sources in the NSA managed to obtain access to Commander Lemac's office. There he discovered a disc containing a large amount of data. He managed to make a copy, which I have looked over and discovered images of you talking face-to-face... Don't worry, Sweete. Let me finish. These images are memories of the synthoid known as Zeta. At the time, he was disguised as Eugene Dolan."
(Dolan?! The pencil-pusher?!) Sweete's moment of shock almost makes him drop the file.
The Commander carries on. "I had our hacker team do some research on Dolan. It turns out he was away during some of your meetings with him. The NSA suspected Dolan of being an accomplice of ours, but he overheard you say that Dolan was innocent. That interfered with his prime objective to 'mimic and destroy targeted individuals'. Zeta did not want to kill an innocent man. That was when he went on the run."
Sweete flipped a page to find another wanted poster. This one was of a young girl.
"This is Rosalie Rowen. Zeta met her in Spring City, and according to the data, she's been something of a guardian angel to him. Would you believe she's been teaching him to behave like a human?"
Sweete begins to hate the girl already. (Is she crazy or something?)
"And the data also shows she's the one who impersonated Curtis on the sub. Dr. Edmunds gave her a holographic device to use while Zeta posed as Edmunds. They needed a ride to the Floating Fortress to find Dr. Selig. You just happened to have been heading there yourself."
"So that explains them bailing out when they did," Sweete says, relieved to know it wasn't really Curtis. But this information fuels his hatred for robots even more. "So that robot was trying to find his master?"
"Yes. Apparently, since the NSA was convinced that Zeta had been reprogrammed by us, they wanted to reprogram him back into a killer robot again. Zeta and his friend thought that by talking to Selig, he could prove that Zeta was not a killer anymore. Surprisingly, they were right. Selig had secretly implanted an extra module in Zeta to act as a conscience so he wouldn't kill. But before Zeta could properly introduce himself, you blew up the fortress and shot down Selig's escape pod. His greatest creation was right in front of him, and he never knew it. "
Sweete can't help but smirk. "So now he can't clear his name. The NSA will be chasing him from here to Calcutta."
"No," the Commander replies, "they won't. The girl convinced Zeta to make copies of his memories into the disc that our agent had copied from. Those wanted posters have been removed from the Federal Warrant List. It seems they've allowed Zeta to stay with the girl. They're free to walk the streets."
The thought of a robot free to walk the streets, pretending to be a human being infuriated Sweete to the boiling point. "Sir, with all due respect, we can't allow this. This is just the type of thing we've been trying to avoid."
"I couldn't agree more, Sweete. That's why we're working on a plan to destroy Zeta before they start making more like him. And this is why I had you released. I want you to lead the mission once we've formulated a plan. For now, you are to report to your desk. Use this time to compose yourself. I found this information to be quite shocking, myself."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Sweete leaves the room and heads for his office.
At the end of the dark room facing the chair is a surveillance camera. This camera is wired to a computer screen in a spacious office where the Commander conducts his business. As the head of Brother's Day, he keeps his identity a secret, except to a chosen few. Now that the room is empty, he turns off the camera and ponders over the disc in his hand.
(Yes, quite shocking indeed. The very idea of a robot falling in love is preposterous. What was that fool Selig thinking? And this Rowen girl must be insane. Why would she want to get involved with a robot? Can't she find herself a boyfriend or something?)
The Commander's thoughts are interrupted by his phone ringing. "Commander, speaking... Really...? Good work. Continue surveillance for now." He hangs up the phone. (Okay, that's one part going accordingly.)
The phone rings again. "Commander, speaking... He's conscious? Ah, excellent news, indeed. I'll be right over." He hangs up again and grabs his coat. (I'll have a plan for Sweete in due time, but first things first.)
Okay, that's it for now. I promise to have Chapter Three ready ASAP. See you later!