CH 6
One great thing about living on an island was that teaching Abby and Lucy how to set, then detonate charges could be done any time day or night. Jack found that Lucy was a good shot with the M-16. No means a sniper, but at any reasonable range, she could hit what she was aiming at with open sights. He let her try the bolt action rifle that had a scope on it. He explained how the reticules worked and how to hold the rifle and how to get the most accurate shot. She shot coconuts out of palm trees at 300 yards. Not bad at all. She didn't do bad at wiring up explosives either. Lucy did pretty good at figuring where to put charges where they'd do the most damage too.
Abby was a 'sprayer' when it came to guns. She could point and pepper an area with rounds, but as for hitting a specific target, she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. Her best bet was sticking with the M-14 to tear up an area. Abby was good at creating chaos. Abby could also put a charge any place Jack told her to, but she wasn't good at picking where to place the explosives herself.
Jack also showed Lucy how to use the climbing gear and the personal hoist. Taking Lucy to one of the cliffs that bracketed the entrance to the lagoon, he pointed to the other cliff and said. "Today, we need to get to that other side."
Lucy looked at the land and said, "It's going to be a long walk."
"No, we are going straight over," Jack said. Pointing to the gear he brought, he added, "Using that, we will get over there to that cliff."
Lucy snorted at him and said, "Fine, Jack, show me."
"Pick up the crossbow and the arrow with the pulley on the end," Jack instructed.
Following Jack's instruction, Lucy loaded the crossbow with the arrow, then attached the thin wire to the arrow. She made sure the wire was in a loose coil so as not to stop the arrow mid flight. Aiming high, she shot the arrow to arc over and hit the ground on the other cliff. Lucy didn't think it would work, but it did. She attached the cable to the wire, and pulled the wire back, and the cable over. Using the pulleys to sling themselves under the cable, they pulled themselves along the cable from one cliff to the other.
Lucy also learned she needed physical training as well. Jack had a course around his half of the island. It was far from a running track. Nothing was trimmed nor smoothed. Lucy followed him through brush, up a sharp rocky slope, through the stream, up inclines and down. She found it was hard on her entire body to pull herself along, not trip and fall, and to complete even one lap of the island torture course. Thankfully, Lucy did get a break from training.
Jack made a trip to the government run island to get photos and infrared images. First, he went pleasure boating by the island, pretending to be a family out for a fun day on the water. Lucy and Abby in bikinis lounging on the main deck in straw hats and sunglasses while he took photos until a coast guard vessel warned them away. He went back at night got his infrared images.
Studying the photos on the way back to his island, Jack noted there still was not much exterior security. Cameras, a fence where one could beach a boat and walk onto the island, and a few roaming guards. The infrared images showed where their power source was, and where the entrances were. He already knew how to get in, but when he went there again, it was not going to be to just swipe a few things. The only new thing at all was the coast guard ship lurking about.
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At the maple Inn, Kouta sat listening to his music box and holding the sea shell Nyu had gotten him after she'd broke Kanae's. The box would wind down, and he wound it back up, thinking about the girl that was gone now. Nyu, Lucy, and when they were kids, her name was Kaede. Who was she really?
Jack had said she had brain damage, that was why she shifted from one personality to another. From killer to sweet and innocent. Instead of trying to help her, the government had locked her away and did cruel experiments on them. What a horrible life that had to be. Kouta wanted her to stay so she could live here and have a family. He wanted her here. Safe from abuse and cruelty. Here to be with him. It was such a tragedy that Lucy would never have a home. Never have peace.
Kouta knew he should be studying, but for some reason, he really didn't want to. He just wanted her back.
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Down in the boat house, Jack shut the garage door after Abby idled the boat inside. The doors shut, Abby turned the engines off and came out to stand on the deck. "Wow, Jack, there's not much room once the boat is inside."
"Nope, the garage is 65 feet long, the boat is 57. It's suppose to be a close fit," he told her. Going into a side door that extended into a shed, he came back out with paint cans and brushes. He then went in to bring out a large roll of what looked like black matting.
"Abby, go to the bow," he instructed. "We're going to cover the boat with this black anti-radar covering."
"We're going to fight radar too?" Abby asked, not knowing what that was.
"We are. Radar is what other boats and places use to detect things far away. We don't want people to know we're coming," he explained.
With Abby's help, They covered the entire fore end of the boat down to the waterline, then wrapped the wheelhouse, even the roof. Lucy came with a basket of food so they could all have lunch together.
Sitting in the seats near the back behind the wheelhouse, Lucy asked, "You already made the boat black, why the black paint?"
Jack nodded to the floor and said, "Next, we're taking out these seats, the railings and painting everything else black."
"Why do that?" Abby asked. "We'll have nothing to sit on."
"Under the seats here are the mounts for the rocket launchers. The black is so we'll be visually hard to see at night. When we go back to that island, we will be ready to give them a real bad day," Jack explained.
After they ate, they took the seats out, the carpet, the cooler, and cup holders, then pulled the small table out. Most of the bare floor was already black. Jack removed the silver safety railing as Abby used her hands to repaint the back black. All the stuff from the boat went into a storage room. Jack opened another storage room to bring out black metal scissor like frames that he bolted in where the seats were. The upper sides of these frames were a set of rails. Jack put four in line, two on each side with enough room to move in between the two sets of two. He plugged the frames into outlets not visible when the seats were in.
Going into the wheelhouse, Jack said "Stand clear, girls." One by one, the frames rose up angled high, then low, and turned 20 degrees to one side, then the other. Satisfied one frame was working, Jack did the next one.
"What goes on those?" Abby asked as she watch Jack test the frames.
"Multi purpose rockets and missiles. I can put anything from a six inch ground to ground rocket, to a Sea Sparrow or Sidewinder anti-aircraft missile on them." Jack explained. "Later on, we're loading up the six inch rockets. We're going to let those on that island know we're there rather loudly." Looking at Abby, he said, "You know your navigation, I'll give you the rocket speeds, and you can plot them a path to hit some buildings as we come close."
"Like they were boats?"
"Yes, but much faster."
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Jack firmed up his plans and made sure Abby and Lucy each knew what their job was. Jake picked the date by the moon's phase and the extended weather forecast. With the moon just a sliver in the sky, and the forecast of overcast skies and possible rain, They should get very close before anyone knew they were there.
Lucy found herself becoming excited at what they were going to do. She no longer had vectors, which made her vulnerable to human bullets. That didn't deter her though. She wanted to get rid of that place so other girls like Abby and Nana would not be tortured to death. Jack tailored her an armored jacket and pants for the raid. Lucy proved she could shoot the sniper rifle. Jack figured she was good for maybe 300-400 yards. On a small island, that was plenty of distance.
There was a rocky outcropping outside the fence the helipad was visible from. Lucy's job was to let no one on or off the island. Jack showed her where to hit helicopters engines and the pilots to make sure the machines went down. With a silencer and dark clothes, It would be quite a while before anyone knew where the shots were coming from.
Once they hit the island, Jack was going to head for the chambers where any diclonius girls were being kept. Abby was to shoot into buildings any anyone besides Jack or Lucy that she saw to create chaos. Bounce around and hit as many people in as many different places as possible. If no windows were seen, shoot through the walls. Keep moving in random directions and shooting until all her ammo was gone. Abby was going with twenty, 30 round banana clips. Once she was out, she was to go down the ducts Jack was going to use, and find him to help recover any girls they could find.
Jack was taking thirty pounds of high explosive with him. Once he freed every Diclonius girl he was able to find, he was going to set charges to blow the place up.
The boat was ready to go. all their gear was packed onto the black boat and four long rockets were loaded onto the launchers. Over the rockets were light covers painted to look like seats. Light covered canvas was over the top of the boat to make it look like a normal boat. Jack opened up the boathouse door. He backed out and left the lagoon.
.
Unlike their previous excursions Jack drove and Abby kept her clothes on. Jack moved farther south, and timed their approach to the island so the sun was down when they closed within visual range. He looked but didn't see the coast guard ship. "Abby, Lucy, we're taking the covers off."
Lucy got the covers on the launchers rolled up while Abby and Jack rolled up the one covering the wheelhouse. the covers were packed inside on the beds, the only place left where there was room. Instead of turning lights on as normal, the only lighting was strip floor lights in the cabin, and the control indicator lights in the wheelhouse, that gave off a low red glow. The engines were idling, pushing them along at a slow 4 knots.
Keeping a close eye out with infrared binoculars, Jack searched for the coast guard ship.
"Jack, maybe that ship went back to the dock," Abby offered.
"Maybe, or maybe it's docked at the north end of the island," he said in a musing tone as he looked out over the ocean. Out on patrol would be better. If it was docked, then blowing it up was going to draw much more attention.
Slowly closing on the island a couple miles east of it, Jack did see the coast guard boat tied up not far from where he wanted Lucy to snipe from.
"First change of plans," he said. "We need to take over that ship. Abby, We're going to have to go kill whoever's on it quietly. As little blood as possible."
"OK. Are we going to use it?" Abby asked.
"Lucy is, for a sniper platform. The bridge is nice and high, and will give her better protection" Jack explained. "I'm going to make a big half circle and come in from the north."
.
A light rain came up as Jack slowly idled into the shielded harbor. Abby stood ready on the deck. As they slid up beside the ship, Abby jumped over and took off looking for people to kill. Jack got stopped and used grapples on the ship railing to tie up to. The main deck wasn't much higher than the wheelhouse roof, so he and Lucy climbed up onto the ship from there. Jack was first, he took Lucy's sniper rifle, then helped her up and on. They headed for the bridge.
Abby only came across a few people. She broke necks and stuffed the bodies here and there to hide them. A few crew women were playing cards in the galley when Abby stepped in. They looked at her. One asked in an authoritative voice, "Who are you and why are you on our ship?"
"I'm Abby Normal, and I'm here to kill you!" Abby announced, then used her vectors to snap their necks before they could move. She moved on to look for anyone else. She moved quickly, searching every room so she could get done and get back to Jack.
Going down another set of stairs, Abby noted the walls down here were curved in. Seeing a pipe coming out of the wall, she thought maybe this was an odd shaped room. Seeing no door, Abby punched a hole in the wall. Water shot out in a solid stream.
"Uh oh," Abby said, and went quickly back up the stairs.
On the bridge, Jack stepped over a corpse and looked out at the island. "That outcropping has a better view of the landing pad," he noted.
Lucy saw what he was looking at, then looked at the rock just past the harbor area. "It does. I also have a better chance of escape when we leave."
"OK, Let's go untie this thing. That's easier than blowing it up."
Abby met them as they were untying the last ropes. "Ahh, Jack?" Abby said, tapping her index fingers together nervously. "Abby accidentally made a hole in the boat."
"A hole?" he asked.
Abby nodded and said, "Abby punched a rounded wall and now water is filling that room up."
Jack chuckled. "That's fine. That works too. Everyone back to the boat."
They got back on the boat and Jack had Abby punch a few more holes in the ship below the waterline. He then backed out of the harbor. So far, no one alive knew they were here yet. Once he passed out the entrance, he went over to the outcropping and let Lucy off.
Lucy climbed to the top of the outcropping and laid her rifle over the tip. At night, and behind th highest point, anyone on the island would have a hard time seeing her.
Driving over to the southern end of the island, Jack said, "Launching the fireworks."
Abby had the rockets aimed. they fired all four in a ripple launch, one after the other. Jack then pushed the throttle and they raced around the island as the rockets impacted buildings, making big explosions that blew apart walls and floors to leave gaping holes in the structures. Jack went around to the east side cliffs and tied up very close to where he was when he'd gotten Abby.
Abby jumped up the side of the cliff holding her gun and a long length of rope. She tied the rope off on the base of a safety railing and threw it back down to Jack. Jack had his pack on and climbed.
.
Arakawa had worked late. She was getting out of the shower when the first rocket landed, making the building shudder violently. Falling down, she lost her towel. Bits of ceiling came down on her. She screamed as the second rocket hit. There were two more shudders, making more dust come down on her, but nothing as powerful as the first explosion. Fire alarms went off, then died as did the lights.
Scared and confused, she felt all the debris on her. In fear and anguish she cried, "I just got out of the shower!"
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The Captain of the Coast Guard ship was talking to one of the cute techs here in a lounge when the first rocket hit the building. One wall blew out, hitting him with debris and knocking him out of his chair. In the following blasts, he was dazed on the floor, in pain from being hit by flying shrapnel. He gasped and tried to reach for the woman's hand to see how she was. She was limp, staring sightlessly at nothing. All around him, he heard moans and screams of pain.
He had to get back to his ship! He was wounded on the side and his right arm. Struggling, he stumbled up to stand. "Crew! To the ship!" he cried out.
Only a few were able to comply. Gathering only six men and a woman, The Captain limped with them for the door, some holding each other up with a few of the staff who were able to stand. The outside door burst open. Before them was a horned girl with a gun. The Captain only had time to notice the odd sight, and she opened up on them in full auto. The bullets went though the ones in front to hit the ones behind them. Abby ran on as they fell to the floor as cries of anguish sounded from the two badly wounded survivors.
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Kakuzawa was at his desk when the rocket attack happened. The room shuddered. He saw no damage, but heard the crackling of structure right after. He ran for the door, then the floor gave way. His office tumbled, coming apart as it fell into the ocean.
All over the complex, confusion reigned as those able to, responded to the attacks. The admin building had two huge holes in it and was on fire. The lab building also bore two large holes that were pouring out smoke from fires within. Outside, Abby ran along, shooting people who tried to escape the burning buildings. Some close enough, she just splattered with her Arms. If a door was shut, she punched it to smash it open. Seeing anyone, she shot before she ran on. Coming to a place that had a balcony, she jumped up on the balcony to see scared people filling a room. Abby pulled the trigger.
Click
"Darn!" Abby whined. She got the used clip out, then put in a new one and racked the bolt back as people noticed her. A guard pulled his pistol and shot. Abby stopped that bullet, then three more from the wide-eyed guard. He gaped at her.
"My turn!" Abby announced, and opened up on them. She used the whole clip, but everyone in the room was down. She put in another clip and bounced away as moans of pain filled the air.
Landing on the ground, Abby heard a shot behind her. A small groups of people saw her and tried to run away. A short burst into them and most fell. One woman in a towel ran around the corner screaming her lungs out as she lost her towel.
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Lucy waited, her sights on the helocopter pad. There was no helicopter there, but people were collecting together. She took aim to look at them through her scope. A couple wore white coats. She zeroed in on a man who looked like he was giving orders. Calm, stop breathing to maximize accuracy, final aim, shoot. She hit him center back, just below his neck. Blood blasted out his front, he collapsed. The people around him screamed, a couple bent down to check him. Lucy picked a woman who was looking down on the scene. Again, Lucy went through the routine and shot. The woman's mid back blew out a spray of blood. She fell. A man who'd been behind the woman's also recoiled back, his head burst in a splash of blood. An exodus of people ran back inside the smoking building.
Searching for more targets, Lucy found a naked woman leaning against a wall, panting. Cross hairs in her center back, Lucy shot.
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Arakawa was scared and tired, and she was outside naked! Trying to calm down and figure out what to do, she leaned against the wall. Something hit her hard from behind. concrete chips flew up from the wall as she collapsed. The ground here was sloped. She rolled over on her back. A dizziness came over her. She wanted to cry out, but nothing came out of her open mouth. The world faded from view. Lying naked and spread eagle, her last thought was how embarrassing it was to die this way.
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Jack ran in through one of the exit doors after a frightened man ran out. Using his night vision goggles, he found the stairway down. There were shouts here and there, men trying to find out what happened, and trying to get help organized. Someone yelled that there was an attack from outside, and the guards were going out to meet it.
While they clamored to get out to face the threat, Jack went down to the levels where the diclonius were kept. Coming out at the bottom of the stairwell, he saw a group of white coated men gathered. One man was talking.
" ... while the guards are holding off the invaders, we must kill the remaining diclonius.." He stopped talking when Jack shot him in the head.
Leveling his pistol on the group, Jack asked, "Where are the diclonius?"
"We will never tell you!" a man stated firmly. Jack shot him. "One more time, WHERE are the Diclonius?" he asked the three remaining men.
"Why?" another man asked. Jack shot him. He aimed at the other two. "Where are they?"
"You'll never find them by yourself."
Bang. One man left.
"Tell me or die with them," Jack said firmly.
"Down this way," the last man said.
"Lead the way," Jack told him.
The man walked down the hallway. "I don't know what you're doing, these things kill anyone they can," he said nervously.
"So do I. Do as I say and you just might live."
While they walked along, Jack noted this place was built to last. The walls were concrete interrupted by thick pillars. Destroying the lower levels here was not possible with what he brought. The buildings above were a different story. If he couldn't blow this place up, at least he could bury it. In his headphones, he heard Abby's voice.
"Jack, where are you?"
"Basement. Go to the second rocket hole in the large building, there is a stairway down inside. Go all the way down the stairs, turn right. I'm in that hallway."
"Jack, don't go much farther! There are Diclonius down there, they are agitated, they want to get out and can feel me. Let me come down there before you approach them."
"OK, sweetie," Jack replied, then told the man, "Stop. Someone's coming to help out."
The man stopped and eyed him. "If you're here to kill them, be my guest, if you can."
Jack shook his head. "I'm not here to kill them. I'm here to get them off this island, then call the press and let them have an interview. The world is going to find out about them, and what you people have been doing here."
"You're committing suicide," the man stated. "If those things get loose, they will kill us, and whoever is coming down to help you."
"Think so?" Jack asked.
"I know so."
A door banged open back the way he'd come from. "Jack?" Abby yelled.
"Down here, Abby."
In the low emergency lighting Abby ran to him, sporting a new clip in her gun. "Jack, I need to go in first," Abby said as she got close.
"You gave a diclonius a gun!" the man wailed. "Are you insane?"
Abby looked at him then Jack, then back to the man. "Jack's not insane. That's Lucy. She is getting better," Abby explained.
"Lucy's alive?" the man asked in a gasp.
"She is! She's got the sniper rifle to make sure no one can leave," Abby told him.
The man sagged in place. "Just shoot me," he said in a groan. Abby leveled her gun on him. Rifle fire thundered through the underground hallway as she shot.
The short burst threw his body away, jerking as blood flew beyond. He landed on the floor limp and bleeding heavily.
Jack laughed and said, "Abby! I don't think he meant that literally."
"oh."
They walked to the door on the end. It was thick steel. Jack found the controls and opened the door. It moved slowly and stopped half way open. Abby used her arms and threw it the rest of the way open. They walked in to see several girls chained naked to the wall. The control room was to one side. Jack kicked the door down.
"No one home. Abby, get them down and out of here," Jack said. He went into the control room.
The diclonius who bore pink, red and one with white hair eyed Abby eagerly. "You came to save us?" the red head asked.
"Abby and Jack did! We'll get you away from these mean people," Abby agreed and freed them using her Arms. "Just follow us out, we got a boat to get away on."
While Abby freed the diclonius, Jack took a whole computer this time along with every file he found, including charts for the girls bound up here.
A pink haired girl looked in and pointed at Jack. "He's human, shouldn't we kill him?" she asked.
"No!" Abby cried, "That's Jack. Jack saved Abby, and now we came back to save you. You don't kill someone who's helping you!" she scolded.
"Strange," the red head said.
"Do you have any food?" the white haired girl asked.
"We do on the boat, Abby even knows how to cook now!" Abby beamed. She then asked, "Are there any others of us down here?"
"We don't sense any others." The red head said.
Jack came out, a computer tucked under his arm, and a box full of the papers he'd grabbed. "Hey girls, can I get you to carry some of this stuff? There's something I have to do before I go back to the boat with you."
Abby came over and grabbed the computer. "Someone else please grab that box, then we'll go to the boat."
"And we can eat there?" the white haired girl asked excitedly.
"We can! Come on," Abby said eagerly and ran out. All the girls followed her.
Jack's earpiece spoke again.
"Jack, It's Lucy. A pack tried to run for the docks, I got six of them, They others are hugging the ground. No one else is showing themselves."
"Keep them at bay for a while longer. We're almost done here," Jack told her.
"Hurry up, I'm down to my last clip."
"Be as quick as I can," he promised. "How's the coast guard ship?"
"Leaning away from the dock. It drifted out a bit. I don't think anyone can use it."
"Good. We got four more Diclonius out. They say that's all that's left here. See you in a few."
Jack went back to the stairs. On the way, he noticed a room warning of hazardous gasses inside. He battered the door open. Inside the wall was lined with chorine on one side, and hydrogen on the other. There were also a few bottles of Oxygen and acetylene. Jack smiled and got out the length of det cord. He planted it along the middle of the gas bottles. Hydrogen and Oxygen first. Hen put a couple five pound charges between the acetylene tanks. This was going to be a big bang. He set the timer for fifteen minutes.
Going up the stairs, Jack went back up to the first floor and put shaped charges against building columns, then planted charges against the concrete walls.
When the fireball from below got up here, it would set these explosives off also. Seeing flashlight coming his way, Jack pulled his pistol and aimed. He shot a few rounds at the lights. Two lights dropped, the other disappeared into a side room.
This was no time to get into a fight. The explosives were set, he had to get out of here. He ran out and climbed over to the rail and slid down the rope.
As Jack suspected, all the girls were below in the cabin, chowing down on the MRE packets Abby was making for them. He called in, "Abby, we're leaving, get me one of those MRE's after the girls are all fed."
"OK Jack!" Abby called up.
Jack drove to the outcropping Lucy was at. She jumped down and said, "Weren't you going to blow this place up?"
Jack looked at his watch and said, "In another three and a half minutes." He then headed out to sea as all the diclonius filled their bellies.
Jack kept track of the time as he fled the area. Looking back when the time ran out, he saw the island as a dark outline on the water. The center of the island seemed to lift and flash a bright orange. Then looking like a nuclear bomb, debris shot skyward with a huge fireball. The concussion wave hit the boat from the powerful explosion as the fireball turned dark and rose into the sky to form a mushroom cloud.
Jack let out a snort. "Didn't think it would be that big," he said to himself. Beside him, a white haired diclonius asked, "Did that kill everyone there?"
"Most likely," Jack told her. "Hard to live through something like that." On the horizon now was a soft orange glow of multiple many fires burning on that island.
"Good," the girl said. She then looked at Jack and asked, "Why did you save us?"
"Same reason I saved Abby. Those were bad people doing bad things to innocent girls. You girls didn't deserve to die with them, so I got you out of there with Abby and Lucy's help."
"That Lucy feels like one of us, but she doesn't have any horns," the girl stated.
"They got shot off by the bad men," Jack told her. "Lucy escaped, but even then, they came after her." He pointed back at the island and said, "They aren't going after anyone else, any more."
The girl eyed him for a moment, then said, "Abby thinks much of you. I guess for a human, you aren't that bad."
"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied.
"What are your plans for us?" she asked.
"Plans?" he asked. "The only plan I have is getting you to safety before I get back to work. This was just a side trip to teach some assholes a lesson."
Seeing her casting him a quizzical look, he added, "That means I showed bad people what happens when they get me angry."
The white haired girl turned and went back down into the cabin.
Jack set course for his island and put the boat on auto pilot. He could hear Abby instructing the girls on how to use the bathroom. She then had them move things around and had Jack put the covers over the rocket launchers so they could use the beds. It looked like she was having fun. Seeing Abby had a handle on things down here, Jack went back up to the wheelhouse and settled down at the helm.
With the boat still in 'blackout', only the red indicators showing on the control panel and the constant thrum of the engines, Jack found he was getting drowsy. A dark form bearing horns came up and crawled into his lap. He held her and stroked her back, as he knew Abby liked. She left out a soft sigh and leaned into him. Jack stroked her up and down her back and side, then petted her thigh.
"Abby is right, this feels good," the girl said with a sigh.
Jack stopped petting and woke up more. It wasn't Abby in his lap. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Twenty Seven. Do that some more, I was almost asleep," she told him.
What the hell, Jack thought, and continued stroking her and rubbed her shoulders. He heard her light snore. He was feeling pretty tired too. Forcing himself to focus, he noted their position, they were right on course. He nodded off, holding another girl who needed a real name.