Chapter 8
United States Of America
Columbus, Indiana
18:39:54
"Okay, so the raid went pretty well," Mike commented.
"What do you mean, raid? We didn't do anything!" Will complained.
"Yeah, but we will be doing something tomorrow night," Bond said.
They had gotten back to Kira's base of operations in Columbus, and were supposed to be planning for their next operation, which was designed specifically to gain Quantum's attention.
"Okay, so what do we do next, Jonathan?" Kira asked.
"I get my payment," Jenni said.
"Slut," Brittney responded.
"I think we should have a pinball tournament!" Matteo said, already pulling out a pinball table.
"Everybody, we need to stop playing around and get to work. Tomorrow we will raid the other large Quantum operation that we found here in the U.S. This time it will be an actual raid, so Will, you will get a firefight. Matteo, I need you to get out guns and ammunition." Matteo started to pull a M1 Abrams tank out of his coat, but Bond and Will quickly stopped him. "Furthermore, this time we won't be finding blueprints of the building, because our objective is to create chaos and wreak havoc. Will, since you are a former Navy Seal, I will leave the strategic and tactical planning to you. Finally, we will need to plant a bomb in the building to blow up when we are done. Any questions?" 008 asked.
"Does anybody here even know how to set up a bomb?" Brittney asked, ever practical.
"I do," Matteo responded for 008.
"All right, it's settled. Matteo will give us whatever equipment we need, and Will can handle all the planning. Everyone, let's get ready to work!" 008 concluded. "Oh, Matteo, we might want the Scorpion tank just in case."
"You mean Sheila*?" Matteo asked.
"Yes, Matteo, Sheila."
Everybody else just exchanged questioning glances.
The next day, they headed out.
America
A Plane Somewhere over the U.S.
12:08:34
"We will be landing in Fort Myers, Florida, in approximately 30 minutes," the flight attendant's voice said over the intercom."We ask that you now fasten your safety belts for landing. The temperature in Fort Meyers is now…"
It had been a relatively long flight, because they had had to change planes in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, but they were finally arriving at their destination.
Bond didn't know whether to be relieved or tense. After all, Matteo had made it through the Airport security fine at both airports, but he didn't know if all of a sudden something would pop out of his coat.
008 sat next to Kira, and the two were talking almost nonstop. Bond guessed that they were catching up on all that had transpired since they had last seen each other. He also surmised that 008 was trying to convince her to move to England. From some of her remarks, however, she was putting up an equally worthy argument for why he should move back to America.
Once they had landed, they all got off the plane and rented a van to go to the target building so that they could scope it out. The building itself didn't look like it was very high-security on the outside, but if you looked closely, you could make out where the guards' posts were situated and where they could poke a gun out and shoot you unimpeded. "Well, at least we'll have some opposition," Bond thought.
After scouting out the building, they went to their hotel and started planning the strike. Each of them had their own ideas, but the one that eventually won was presented by Will.
"Okay, so first things first, we take out their power lines. That puts them in the dark until they can get their backup generators, if they have any, started up. Having done that, we will then go into the building, wearing Infrared goggles. We will not be wearing the kind that merely amplifies the existing light, because then we'll be blinded when they get their lights back up. Instead it will actually display the body heat of the surrounding area. Once inside, we will get as far as we can by just sneaking around, using non-lethal means on as many guards as possible. We will only use silenced pistols. When we reach a room that is as close to the center as possible, we will set up the bomb. When the bomb has been set, we will run like hell to get out. We won't bother setting up an information spike. Any questions?" Will summarized.
"Yes. How long will the timer be set for?" Kira asked.
"I don't know yet. We'll have to decide that based on how long we think that it will take for us to get out without them having time to defuse the bomb."
"If Matteo is in the room with us, we can set it to be as short as we want to, because he can just teleport us out of there," 008 commented.
"There's just one problem with that, and that's that my teleporter can only accommodate a maximum of three people other than me. Without damaging it and guaranteeing that we end up where we want to be, that is," Matteo corrected.
"The other thing is that this is based on the assumption that Matteo is with us. If he isn't, we'll have to set it to go off in a reasonable amount of time, or we can wire the bomb for a remote detonator and detonate it when we get to a safe distance from the building. The other advantage of this plan is that it is harder to disable a remote detonation device than a timer," Bond added.
"All right, then it will be detonated remotely. Otherwise, are there any questions?" Will asked.
"Why does Matteo have to come along?" Jenni asked nervously.
Everybody just ignored her.
America
Fort Myers, Florida
23:57:34
They were waiting outside of the building, waiting for the right time to attack the building, and Matteo, in his boredom, had begun reassembling the Miata that he had taken apart earlier.
"All right, there's less than three minutes left until they switch the guards. They won't be expecting an attack when there are practically twice the number of guards available for defense of the building. When they switch, Matteo will create a large diversion with some fireworks–" Matteo pulled some fireworks out of his coat. "–and we will sneak inside the building. Hopefully we will be inside the building by the time the guards' attention is back on what they are supposed to be doing," Will said, going over the plan one last time. "Matteo will then drive into the building, literally, in a tank, creating a very large disturbance. Matteo will draw the attention of almost all the guards, allowing us to go further into the building undisturbed, and we will plant the bomb. We will then high-tail it out of there and detonate the bomb remotely as soon as Matteo gets clear too. Any questions?"
"Should we leave the tank there?" 008 questioned. "It will keep the guards' attention away from the building."
"An admirable idea, 008."
"But I don't want to leave Sheila behind," Matteo complained.
"Nobody ever said you had to use Sheila."
"I know, but I like Sheila.
They saw the next shift of guards coming in to take over.
"It's time! Go!" Will exclaimed.
Getting in the building was relatively, no, make that insanely easy. With Matteo running distractions with fireworks and also some grenades, rocket launchers, and gunfire (courtesy of basic robots that he pulled out of his coat), the guards were actually pulling other guards out of the building to help defend the location.
Once inside the building, they fanned out and took three different routes to the designated location, to make sure that they would have at least one clear path out.
Will, Mike, and Jenni went straight up the center. They were soon halted by a patrolling guard. Without pausing, Will loosed three rounds from his Heckler and Koch P7 into the man's chest. Otherwise, they proceeded without any problems. Bond and Brittney had a little more trouble, running into a patrol of four guards, but they, too dispatched of them quickly and efficiently.
It was 008 and Kira that found themselves in a firefight. Surrounded by a squad of sixteen guards, they had no choice but to fight, else they risk being caught.
"Drop your weapons! Surrender now and we won't harm you," one of the guards ordered.
"I'm afraid we can't do that," Kira said as she drew a second Desert Eagle and shot two of the guards in front of her. 008 acted in a similar fashion, except he pulled out his kodachi instead of a second pistol and started a kind of dance where he would get in close to one guard and slash with the kodachi and then shoot one of the other guards almost simultaneously. They worked well as a team, dispatching all 16 with ease.
"Well, considering the amount of time since we last practiced that kind of routine, I'd say we did pretty well together," Kira commented, and then kissed 008 on the cheek.
In five minutes' time, they had all gathered in the room and were setting up the bomb. Once that operation had finished, they proceeded back out of the building the way that Will and Jenni had come, since they had encountered the least guards.
That turned out to be a bad idea, because they soon ran into three squads of sixteen guards each, with a fourth that came up behind them.
"Stop! We have you surrounded. Lay down your arms and surrender peacefully, or we will be forced to shoot!" an officer shouted at them.
"Can't you guys learn to say anything other than the same B.S. as every other guard?" Jenni asked.
She let that insult sink in for a moment before she drew her Makarov PM and shot the officer right between the eyes. The only problem with the action that she performed was the location. Being in the middle of an intersection, they were open to crossfire, but that is why the guards hesitated. They didn't want to risk hurting their teammates on the other side of the invaders.
Will took advantage of the pause to draw his custom-made Kalashnikov that he had gotten off a Russian corpse while he was still in the Seals. Without pausing to aim, he started firing into the squad directly in front of him. Bond and Brittney performed similar actions with their PPKs, but they bothered to aim first. Mike drew out a radio and contacted Matteo, asking him to drive the tank straight into the hallway they needed to get out through, before drawing out his Beretta 92SB. 008 just sighed, drew two kodachi and started hacking all the guards he could see to bits.
With perfect timing, Matteo burst through the front entrance in an M1 Abrams tank, with PROXY (disguised as Caboose from Red Vs. Blue) manning the machine gun turret. The guards began to run away, screaming. All the others quickly made a break for it and ran towards the cover of the tank. Matteo, popping up through a hatch, yelled, "Everybody, get in!" over the din of crumbling walls and the tank's engine.
It was cramped, but they got everybody inside. "I'm amazed that we can fit nine people in this tiny tank cockpit!" PROXY/Caboose said. Jenni started complaining, so 008 threatened to stuff her into one of Matteo's coat pockets. It's amazing how quickly she shut up after that.
Once they had driven the tank outside of the building, the few forces that remained got into Humvees and started pursuit of the tank.* Matteo had PROXY/Caboose swing around the turret of the tank and start to fire on the Humvees with the machine gun while Bond and Will operated the main cannon, with 008 and Mike taking spent shells and handing them new ones.
For a pursuit with 20 Humvees chasing just one tank, it was remarkably long. It took them almost ten minutes to catch up, with Will and Bond destroying one (it took a couple of shots to get used to aiming the cannon). Unfortunately, by this time, the lead Humvees had almost caught up, and using the main cannon against them at this range was like using a fifty-cal on a chocolate bar. Yeah, you'll hit it, but the shrapnel is kind of annoying when it hits a vital part of the tank (like the fuel tanks).
"Don't shoot them at this range!" Will yelled at Bond after shrapnel from the nearest Humvee almost obliterated PROXY/Caboose's head.
"Sorry!" Bond yelled back. "We'll have to use less powerful means now!"
"Really?" 008 asked sarcastically. "I was wondering when you'd finally get around to saying that." He then pulled out his Walther P99, aimed, and shot the back left tire of the next Humvee.
The result was better than 008 could have planned. The Humvee careened into the side of the one next to it, totaling both vehicles. He pointed PROXY/Caboose in the right direction to start shooting, and due to their combined effort, they were able to take out another five.
By this time, there were only three Humvees left. Seeing that their comrades had all been practically obliterated, they decided to turn back. Will started to aim the turret at one of them.
"No, Will, let them go," 008 commanded. "We need witnesses if we want a major message to triangulate from."
Once they couldn't see the building or the vehicles anymore, Matteo stopped the tank and they all got out.
Then they remembered that they hadn't detonated the bomb.
Will pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
Nothing happened.
"Perhaps we're out of range," Brittney said.
"No way. This thing has a one mile range."
"Will, try stepping one foot to your left and pressing it," Matteo suggested.
He looked at 008, who nodded, and did as Matteo said.
The explosion was spectacular. Not only did the entire twenty pound pack of C4 decimate the entire building, but it also sent huge chunks of it flying into the night sky, as well as a huge fireball.
"Well, I'd say a job well done," 008 said, his face illuminated by the light from the explosion. "Let's head back to the hotel."
"Not yet. I want to watch the pretty fire die down," Brittney said, her eyes glassy.
Matteo started packing everything back into his coat, then paused and said, "I agree with Brittney. Let it die down a bit first, and then we'll go back to the hotel." Then he resumed packing.
Mike and Will also decided to watch the fire, and then Jenni. "Well, majority vote wins," 008 said, shrugging.
While all the rest watched the fire, Bond went to clean his gun, since it had gotten a lot more use than he had expected. PROXY had disappeared into Matteo's coat. 008 and Kira decided to take some more time to catch up on recent events.
The next morning, they headed back to Kira's base of operations.
America
Columbus, Indiana
14:16:17
It had been only half a day since the raid, but already an organization-wide call had been made to Quantum bases around the world, telling them to double security and watch out for a large group of people (about 150 was their estimate, but they couldn't be sure since they hadn't actually seen most of Matteo's droid "army").
Those who were good with the triangulation equipment were trying to figure out where the call originated from, but it's signal seemed to be coming from multiple stations, which suggested a relay system to the different bases.
"Well, all we really have to do is tag some of the relay stations and attack another target, right?" Mike said.
"Mike, it isn't that easy. We still don't have a complete list of the relay stations, and we'll need that to choose our targets carefully. We also don't want to end up in the same cities as before, so we'll need to pick targets that are relatively remote compared to our first targets," Brittney explained.
"You guys didn't look at the complete list of relay stations that we got from the Quantum guy's house, did you?" Matteo asked, grinning evilly.
"Hand that to me now!" 008 demanded. "You've been holding this from us, haven't you?"
"Well, it was actually PROXY's idea," Matteo lied.
"Who is PROXY?" everyone but Matteo, Kira, Bond, and 008 asked almost simultaneously.
"Great, Matteo, now we'll have to tell them who PROXY is, and he's one of your greatest secrets," 008 scolded.
"Withholding more information from me?" Jenni asked, grinning. "Now I'll have to–"
"Jenni, before you continue, it was on Matteo's request, so take it up with him."
"Oh," Jenni said.
"PROXY is a protocol droid with an AI so advanced that he can mimic almost perfectly any person in his databanks. Voice, clothing, attitude, personality, psychology, and gestures. He has complete histories on each of the people in his databanks, but he also has a protocol that requires him to kill his master, so he tries on an almost daily basis to kill both Matteo and myself, when we're around. Otherwise, he's a great help," 008 said.
"He…tries…to kill you?" Jenni said, aghast.
"Yes. Obviously, though, he has never succeeded."
"You didn't tell me that," Bond said, his eyes narrowing.
"That's because I deemed it irrelevant at the time. Anyways, he wouldn't have tried to kill you, because you're not one of his masters."
"That's cool!" Mike exclaimed.
Everyone stared at Mike. Matteo reached into his coat and pulled PROXY out. PROXY was disguised as Darth Vader.
"Wait. So, in the square in Moscow, that was PROXY?" Brittney asked.
"Yes, it was me," PROXY said in his normal voice, transforming back into himself.
"Wait. Can I ask you to transform into something for entertainment purposes?" Mike asked.
"Yes," was the droid's reply.
"I want you to transform into a zombie infected by the T-Virus, like in the Resident Evil games."
008 looked at Mike, horrified. "You want him to transform into that?"
"Just to see if he can," Mike replied.
"Certainly, Master. Of course I can," PROXY said, transforming into a T-virus infected zombie.
At first, he just kind of stood there. Everybody but Jenni, since she didn't know what the Resident Evil games were like (having grown up in Russia), started backing away. Then, suddenly, he attacked Jenni, biting at her neck, until 008 took out his P99 and shot PROXY in the head.
Since PROXY was only doing a holographic simulation of what would have happened, as soon as he was shot, he fell down and the illusion went away. Jenni stood there, white as a ghost. "Be glad it was PROXY, and the T-virus doesn't exist, because if it had really been a T-virus infected zombie, I would have had to shoot you in the head, too, because you would have been infected with the T-virus and would have become a zombie yourself," 008 said.
Jenni then fainted.
"As for you, Mike, no more asking PROXY who or what he can transform into."
"Aww," Mike complained.
PROXY then got up, saying, "But master, if it had been you that I had attacked, then maybe I would have been able to finally kill you and fulfill half my programming."
"Yeah, well, keep trying. You'll eventually get me."
Everyone laughed, and Mike and Will dragged Jenni to a bed, since she was unconscious.
A/N Red Vs. Blue reference.
A/N For anyone who's seen Goldeneye, you should know that this is a bad idea, since compared to Humvees, a tank is indestructible.