Retaliation
When aiming a gun, you have a better chance of hitting the target if you aim for the chest and not the head. This was a mistake that many first time gun users make, thinking that the second they hold a gun, they immediately transformed into some expert marksman.
Michael kept this point firmly in his mind as he aimed at the two suits leaving a room and fired at their chests. Neither of them reacted as the bullets penetrated their vital organs and they fell to the ground. He quickly went towards them, taking their guns and looked into the room they came from.
"Damn it", he hissed upon seeing that it was just another bunker. There was no telling how long he had been here and he needed to locate the room where they were holding Monika. The longer he spent running around like a moron, the more damage they could do to her.
Michael rounded a corner then stopped and waited to see if anyone was there. Once he confirmed he was alone, he slowly crept forward hugging the wall and making as little noise as possible.
"Where are they keeping her?" he muttered angrily to himself, wondering what they could have done to her in the time he was unconscious.
As he passed one door, it opened and an agent stepped out. The two turned around at the same time and for a moment, neither of them did anything.
Then Michael shot him in the foot and came forward, ramming the man into the wall.
"Listen buddy this can end in two ways", he said pressing the gun against his temple "You tell me where they're keeping her and I'll just pistol whip you or you make a noise and I put a bullet through your skull. Ball's in your court".
"The pistol whip, the pistol whip", shouted the man "I don't want to die. Head straight take the first left, third right and on the fourth left door you'll find the AI".
"If this ends with me being shredded", wared Michael "I'm going to haunt you"
He raised the pistol about to ram it into the guy's head then asked "You have a cellphone?"
"Huh?'
"A cellphone?"
"Yeah", he said and reached into his pocket to take out his phone.
Michael thanked the man and subsequently knocked him out. Michael did as told and came upon a wooden door. His first thought was kicking the door open but if it did indeed have a dozen armed guards on the other side, he'd be swiss cheese before he could say shit.
So he slowly and cautiously opened the door, glad to see a bunch of people in lab coats running around while a few were furiously hammering away at their keyboards. Michael fully opened the door and made his presence known by shooting the nearest scientist in the foot.
"Where's the A.I?" he declared and the scientists all stared at him in silence…. Before taking their guns out.
Michael leapt back outside, barely avoiding the haze of bullets that came behind him then stood up and hugged the wall. He hissed considering how troubling the situation he was in. He had to be very careful about where he was shooting or he might hurt Monika in the process. He stood against the wall then waited for the fire to die down before hearing the sound of footsteps coming towards him.
Based on the noise and how close it got, he moved to the door and before the scientist in-front of him could react, he shot him in the arm, causing him to drop his gun then grabbed him and used him as a shield as the others in the room riddled their comrade with bullets.
While this kept going on, Michael drew slightly forward and shot the scientist on his right twice in the chest. He threw the bullet riddled body straight ahead into the trio standing in-front of him then ran behind some consoles before standing up and shooting another scientist in the chest.
He took a moment to pause, catch his breath, eject the empty case in the gun and reload it before vaulting over the console he was hiding behind and fire a couple of rounds into the first scientist he saw. He pulled a nearby chair towards him then kicked it towards a pair of scientists, causing them to move aside or risk being hit. In that moment, Michael riddled the one on the left with bullets but in doing so the other scientist shot him in the foot.
In pain but not ignoring the problem at hand, Michael fired a few times at the scientist who now hid behind a console. Almost immediately after that, the scientist shot up and pressed the trigger a couple of times, only to realize that he was out of bullets. Not one to waste a change, Michael shot him in the head then turned to one of the computers they were all working on.
"Monika", he said looking at one computer then moved to another "Monika are you there? Say something".
His answer came from one computer which typed the text "I'm here". On seeing this, he was instantly relieved and at the same time incredibly worried because of the obvious reasons. He looked around and found an external hard drive which he connected to the computer then typed "Download yourself onto the drive".
He assumed that she nodded in agreement because a second later he saw a progress bar showing the transfer in progress.
Michael took a moment to sigh in relief only to have a bullet whiz past him and hit the wall.
"Oh mother-" his words were cut off by the sound of more gunfire coming from the agents who were at the door and had him boxed in.
Michael hid behind the consoles while struggling to figure out how he was going to get out of this mess.
"Alert, alert", said a voice from the speakers followed by an alarm blaring "Hostile force detected outside, eliminate the threat".
Michael noticed that the gunfire had stopped and poked his head out. He was surprised to see no one was there, prompting him to wonder if they headed outside to deal with the more immediate threat. He then looked at one of the monitors which showed a camera outside the bunker and swore out loud.
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Though he was known for being patient, the fear that something might happen to Michael while he did nothing was too much, prompting Barry to steal one of the trucks outside the motel he was in and drive to the last known location where Michael was. When he got there, he saw a man and a woman (whom he assumed were travelers because of their backpacks) so he stopped the car and went out to speak to them.
"Excuse me", he said out loud to the pair "I need help finding this location".
The man came forward and looked at the co-ordinates displayed on Barry's phone then said "You're right here bud".
"Really," said the hacker looking confused as he looked around and found nothing that pointed to a bunker entrance.
"Hey what are you trying to find here?" he asked and Barry paused.
Not wanting to run the risk of sounding like a total whackjob, he lied and said "Treasure".
"Treasure?"
"Yeah, I heard this old story about Bonnie and Clyde hid some of their stash here so I wanted to check it out", he replied
"Well I don't think there's any deposits here", said the man "Sorry you came out this way for nothing".
"Still I think it's best if I check around", he said holding up his shovel.
"You sure?" asked the man with the slightest hint of irritation in his voice "My wife and I have been coming the area for days now, haven't found anything".
"Your wife?" he said looking curiously at the lady who smiled at waved at him then back to the man "If she's your wife where's your ring?"
In the time that it took for the man to react, they both heard a shot being fired and turned to see the lady falling face first into the ground while behind her marched a bloodied Michael pointing his gun at the man.
Rather than killing him, Barry went for the pacifistic approach by whacking him on the back of the head with a shovel.
"What the hell are you doing here?' exclaimed Michel "I told you to find a motel and wait for me".
"'Oh gee thanks Barry for saving my skinny ass, I wouldn't have survived if not for you being here. Yeah don't worry about it dude, it's what friends do".
Michael looked like he was about to say something when he heard the hatch behind him pair turned around to see one agent slowly rise up only to get sent back down thanks to a shot in the neck. Michael then bent down and examined the unconscious man's body before standing back up, holding a grenade in his hand along with a fiendish smile
Barry turned around and bolted to the car just as Michael lobbed the weapon into the hatch. He got into the vehicle and the two drove away.
"Here", he said handing Barry a bloodied hard drive.
"What's on this?"
"Monika, now take it because I don't want my damn blood to damage the circuitry or anything inside", he urged.
Considering that all their equipment back at the house was now ash, this was all that's left of Monika. With this in mind, he tucked the drive into his pocket then turned around and exclaimed at how badly injured Michael was.
"Let's just get out of here and we can focus on that stuff later", said Michael and Barry hesitantly agreed to it. Michael raised himself up and looked at the back window before saying "Aw damn it".
"What?"
"They're following us", he replied followed by him kicking out the back window and firing at one of the three black S.U.V's following. The pursuers also replied by shooting out the window while Barry swerved left and right to keep them from being hit.
"Hey Barry, quick question".
"Really not the time for that", shouted Barry as a bullet whizzed past him and shattered the glass window
"This car, where'd you steal it from?"
"Found it in the motel parking lot", he replied "Would you believe this was my first time hotwiring a car? Have to admit it was pretty fun…. Wait why are you asking?"
"The car's loaded"
"Huh, he asked and turned around to see Michael holding an assault rifle in both hands with one having a grenade launcher equipped at the base. The two looked at each other for a moment before Michael turned around and started shooting once again while Barry continued to drive.
Thanks to the new weapons, he was able to take out the foremost car by shooting it in the tyres, causing it to T-Bone into one of the trees. Another S.U.V now came close and was side by side to the car they were in.
"Hit 'em, hit 'em, hit 'em, hit 'em," repeated Michael and all Barry did in response was yell out loud as he pressed the brakes, for a moment then accelerating. This caused the car to stop just enough that when it accelerated again, it would hit the right back tire with enough force that the S.U.V swerved to the side before flipping a couple of times in the air.
Michael then rose up only to get shot in the shoulder by one of the shooters in the last remaining vehicle.
"Michael", shouted Barry worriedly.
"Focus on the road", he barked and rose back up. Michael looked down the sights of the rifle, while the bullets flew past him. He took a deep breath, pressing the trigger and firing a steady barrage of bullets that hit the front two tires. The S.U.V skidded to the side before coming to a halt. The two agents got outside and tired shooting at the car but it was too late, they were long gone.
When they both got back to the motel, Michael sat on one of the chairs while Barry, took out the hard drive and connected it to the laptop he brought.
"Is that backdoor to the internet still open?" asked Michael
"Yeah, made sure to add an anonymity algorithm just in case anyone comes snooping".
"Good, upload her there right now", he said and Barry started the upload.
"While that's going on can you head to the town and get me some painkillers along with four bottles of vodka?"
"I really don't think now's the time for drinking".
"It's not for consuming, its for sterilizing", he said taking off the bloodied shirt and revealing the many cuts and bruises on his body.
"Right now they're bound to be looking for us. If you buy too many painkillers it's bound to attract some attention which is the last thing we need right now. The vodka makes it look like you're just getting ready for a party".
"Alright", he said getting up.
"By the way, I need a towel too", added Michael and Barry understood why.
When Barry got back, Michael used the vodka do disinfect his wounds while biting down on the towel to keep his shouting from being heard. Once that process was done, he slowly and carefully stitched up his wounds before having a bath and changing into some clothes that Barry got at the gift shop.
"How bad is it?" asked Michael after the two had dinner and were well rested.
"Bad news is ninety percent of her secondary features are gone", said Barry with a sigh of defeat "Things like her life model, voice and costumes are all gone now".
"Worse news.."
"There's worse news?"
"Yes, the worse news is they managed to corrupt at least thirty percent of her core functions".
"Damn it", said Michael clenching his fists "Is there anything you can do?"
"I can help her with the additional features. Working together the two of us should take at least a week to make it happen but the core functions are just beyond me".
"How?'
"Monika is the result of an ongoing experiment that not even the smartest scientists in the world have been able to accomplish", replied Barry "Her code is like nothing I've ever seen before and to even get a grasp of this stuff would take me years."
"Which means all we can do now is wait till she makes a full recovery", he stated as a fast and looked up at the ceiling.
"We're not waiting", said Michael
"Huh?"
"Remember what you said about the three of us getting into google being a big deal?"
"Yeah…."
"What we did was a stroke of luck, not something that we can rely on in the later stages. If we want to move forward then we have to address the issue of manpower right now. So while Monika is recovering, we're going to build up our forces for the next phase".
"Sounds like a good idea, but what about Essex?"
"Make no mistake", he said staring right at Barry with a combination of determination and anger in his voice "They declared war on us and caught us off guard. Next time, they won't be so lucky"
End of Act 1