Deus Ex: The Conspiracy
Authors Note: We'll get to Hong Kong this chapter...I promise!
Chapter Eleven: UNATCO Escape, Part Two and MJ-12 Helicopter Base
"Guilty." Anna Navarre said in a loud triumphant voice. She stared into his covered eyes as her finger put pressure onto the trigger. There was...no fear in them. Strangely, she felt disapointed by this. No...not strange at all actually. This man was a traitor, and as a traitor there was only one way of dealing with them. Execution. She pressed down hard on the trigger, and there was a sudden loud click.
Empty! No-
JC quickly took advantage of this and grabbed the weapon. She pulled hard on it to keep it within her grasp, a plan already formulating within her mind. They struggled with the weapon breifly, both of them barely making even a sound. It would have probably seemed almost humorous if neither of their lives were on the line. Anna waited for the pricise time, and JC did exactly as she wanted. He put all his weight into taking the gun from her, and hunched back. She quickly released her hold on the weapon, turning JC's plan against him. Taken by surprise, he fell backward and hit his head hard against the corner of Manderley's guest table. Anna's left hand went for her knife and had it up to bear within seconds. She flicked the weapon to her right hand, and lunged onto the dazed agent as he was getting back up. She had him back on the ground within seconds and had the knife at his throat in even less.
"You were lucky that time, but now your luck has ran out." she whispered before thrusting the knife at his throat. He bowed his head slightly to take the blow, and instead she chiped part of his chin off. JC screamed in pain and kicked her off of him. She was taken aback by the sudden burst of strength, but quickly settled on the explanation of him activating one of his "miracle augs". She did like wise, and clicked her left foot to the right, activating combat strength, which would give her arms a superior edge in meele combat. Because of her composition, augmentations were typically called upon by certain bodily movements, such as pounding the chest, or clicked her head sharply to the left.
JC was up before she had a chance to bear down on him again, his chin bleeding horribly. She noticed the muscles in his arms bulging outward, almost grotesque in appearence. His legs also showed signs of enlargement behind the jumpsuit. Anna feinted to the left with her knife, and lunged at his right side. JC anticipated this, and quickly had a firm grasp on her arm. She felt nothing there of course, her nervous system was modified to reroute pain, but she could see that he was putting heavy pressure upon it, and she began to feel a little dazed as the circulation in her arm was cut off. JC kneed her in the gut, and she knew suddenly that it was over.
But it wasn't. Two UNATCO troopers barged in, looking mean and determined, but this quickly dissapeared as they took in the scene around them. Their cheif was dead, and two augmented agents were duking it out in the middle of a destroyed room.
"Don't just stand there, shoot!" Anna shouted quickly.
JC attempted to put her in between him and the oncoming bullets, but she resisted, so he released his hold on her, and quickly dived behind Manderley's desk as the troopers opened up. She heard JC take out a pistol, and click the safty off. Just perfect. JC rose from the desk and aimed at her head. She quickly took a UNATCO trooper and made him take the bullet, getting him in the chest. She felt him spasm in pain, and started to cough up blood. She seized his assault gun and tossed the grunt to the floor. She aimed it at JC, and let a few rounds fly before he ducked again. The second trooper was staring at his now dead companion and looked up at her. It occured to her that he was about to change sides, so she quickly let off a few rounds into his face. They were alone again, and now she was armed at least.
She aimed the assault gun at the desk and noticed something. JC had taken the computer off of the desk, and she heard him frantically clicking the mouse. She smiled and pressed the trigger, and held it there until the clip ran dry. When the smoke cleared, there were dozens of bullet holes in the desk, but no JC. He was off to the corner of the room already, aiming a magnum at her head. She pounded her chest, and her cloak activated as JC fired. The bullet missed the side of her head by a hair, and now she couldn't be seen. JC stopped, and observed the room, on look out for suspicious movements. She quietly tip toed out of the room, and put a new clip into her assault gun. When she came back in with the gun raised, JC wasn't even there. She saw the computer cord lead into the now closed bathroom. She smiled.
He's a fool if he thinks he can hide. But why is he so obsessed with the computer? she thought. It didn't matter, she didn't care. She had intended this to be quick and smooth, but she had made the mistake of not checking to she if her damn gun even had ammo. She had been too hasty, and it had almost cost her her life, but now she could make up for it. She'd felt strange all evening, and parts of yesterday. After her...moment with Gunther. She wanted more moments like that, she decided, and the only way to ensure that was to make sure the traitor was dead. Yes...he would be proud. He always was.
She kicked the door open, still thinking of Gunther and saw JC standing calmly at the end of the room, the computer glowing on the bathroom floor. He didn't even have his gun drawn.
"You are a fool to lower your defenses." she announced. She raised the weapon, and her finger began to press downward into the trigger.
"Take your best shot. Flatlander woman."
She spasmed, as if someone had grated their fingernails unto a blackboard. She felt herself drop the gun, and she fell to her knees.
"Self Detonation Sequence protocal confirmed, five seconds to completion." The voice in every mech's head that they feared. She felt her modified body parts disengage, felt her augmented compartments spring apart, felt the metal apparatus in her spinal cord fold up painfully, felt her reinforced bones crumble to dust, and finnaly felt the joints in her brain that rerouted pain dissentagrate. And then the eye socket enforcers gave way, and all the moisture in her now destroyed eyes spilt from them. She was crying now, for the first time ever since her intergration as a mechanized agent. The emotions that had not been allowed to surface came tumbling through. She stared at JC Denton, this man who had brought her death, and felt nothing. She only thought about Gunther. The fact that they had only known each other as comrades in arms was her only regret now. And disbelif. She had been so powerful, no one could touch her, and the utterings of two single words were enough to kill her. She felt anger for this, and felt the need to address one last thing before dying.
"How did you know?" she asked, knowing she would be dead before receiving an answer.
Then, her body let out a sickening moan, and shattered, finnaly giving her salvation.
JC held up an arm to his face as Anna Navarre exploded. She deserved it. She had killed countless suspects mercilessly, hidden evidence from him in killing Lebedev, and nearly killed him. She had been more than just a tool, like the UNATCO troopers, she had been a sadist, and combative. Yes, she deserved to die, but he still felt something nagging at him. Was it the fact that he'd killed someone who was on the same level as he? He told himself that more important matters were at hand, and quickly left the office, leaving three bodies, and the remains of one alone. When Anna had retreated, he quickly took the computer from the floor, and brought it into the bathroom. There he learned the last part of the killphrase three seconds before Anna barged in.
He vaguely wondered how Gunther would react, and quickly told himself to stop thinking about the matter. He looked over to the reception desk. Janice Reed was still knocked out cold. His infolink buzzed in at that moment.
"You gave her EXACTLY what she deserved, I've watched her kill dozens of suspects." Alex said, "C'mon down and get the key."
"Roger." JC replyed.
He made his way back downstairs, observing the area. It had once been all very neat, and modern, but now bullet holes were everywhere, as well as blood. The females restroom was totaled, and the prison block looked like a war zone. It would take thousands to repair. If it took more money out of the conspirators hands, he was content. The adrenaline had all but vanished from his system, and he suddenly realized that he had killed just about every soldier on the premises, and all of them had been his friends, even fellow graduates from the academy. He looked at the face of one of them on the floor, and recognized him to be the man he'd stood with at the academy photo. All people dying for the wrong reasons. It was the conspirators who puppet mastered their deaths, he was simply the grim reaper. It occured to him that Corporal Collins was still alive, and he considered just taking him out while he was unconscious. He let the thought go. He had killed enough for one evening, but he knew the trail of death was far from over. He walked into Alexs office, and saw him...getting out from the floor.
"Whoa, hold on there." JC said, "Where were you?"
"Oh, this is the janitors secret stash, where he keeps his cigarettes, keys, and all kinds of junk." he said, as if it were common knowledge. It probably was.
"Someones been stealing from it though." Alex mumbled.
"Anything of use in there?" JC asked.
Alex looked inside, and brought up a credit chit. He examined the dash number on the chit, and threw it to JC. "Six hundred credits, should be good enough in Hong Kong."
Get me through...damnit! It suddenly came back to him that Hong Kong was still the biggest captialist venture in the Asian continent. He'd need alot of money to get the right information, or just about anything there. He brought out his credit chit card as Alex pulled himself out of the secret compartment. He had about...two thousand credits on hand. Somehow he knew it would not be enough for the kind of information he'd be needing.
"You okay, JC? You seem a bit spaced out." Alex said as he approached him. JC pulled himself away from his future "business" in Hong Kong, and focused on the present. He still had to break out of HQ. "Here's the key to the door." Alex said, handing him an orange key, emblazoned with the UNATCO star on it.
"Stay here until Decker comes for you. I'll send for him soon." JC said, turning to leave.
"Why can't you just take us all with you?"
"I've got my own reasons." he didn't want to start contemplating Daedalus' motives, and had no time for questions. "Besides, the helicopter only has enough room for two people, and Decker is the only one I'd consider taking, but he's staying with you guys. Trust me, we'll meet in Hong Kong, but you'll have to get there yourself." This was assuming of course that Jock was even outside. For all he knew he was being interogated by MIBs...That was another thing to worry about later. They said their goodbyes, and JC left the office, and went back up to Level Two.
Shanon Dohery looked over as Private Newman stared at her with the same dopey grin that he ALWAYS wore. She made a show of smiling back. Now wasn't really the time for distractions, and JC Denton was probably gonna come barging in at any moment. While all the other privates went out to hunt for the rogue agent, Newman had elected to stay with Shanon in the rec room. If she actually liked him, this would have flattered her.
Fortunately, she did NOT like this man, and instead stayed focused on her true agenda. UNFORTUNATELY however, he would not take his eyes off of her, and she was finding it difficult to...go to work while he stared at her all day.
"Well, Robert, why don't you...guard the door."
Newman acted as if he were coming out a trance, jumped, and blushed crimson.
"Uhh, yeah, sure." he said.
She smiled again, and quickly went into her purse.
Let's see, I've got the key to the front door, my big escape, and we've got our lil' hacking device to do all the work for me. Oh...I'll be SO rich after this. She thought elatedly. All of this interning, all of this sucking up to Manderley and all the others was finnaly gonna pay off. Her biggest heist, stealing 600,000 credits from the UNATCO security bank. It took months of stealing items from the armory, the secret compartment in Alex's office, and from Manderley to afford the hacking device, but it would all be worth it. The only snag now was JC Denton becoming a turn coat, potentially putting her little plan in peril, IF he opted for slaughtering all the employees in his way, which would spell a VERY sudden, and VERY useless death for her.
She also had a small pistol in her purse, for this very occasion. He never struck her as the senseless murdering type, but she had to assume he was just like all the other mech's. She stole another glance at Newman, and pressed the hacking device onto the side of the bank terminal. Then, it would bypass all the defenses Alex Jacobson had in place, and siphon all the money in UNATCO's treasury to her account. She was gidy with excitement. NOW she could live like a queen.
She remembered the other life she'd led...a petty theif on the streets of Hells Kitchen. Not anymore. Now she would buy the rights to one of the big apartments on the New York City skyline, looking over the helpless bums on the street, hundreds of feet below. She would start a business with this money, perhaps a flying car dealership. Those things were a big hit now, a luxary to those who could afford them, which were usually the ones living the good life, while all the other citizens were stuck with tracked vehicles. Yes, it would all go as planned.
She checked the status on the hacking device. Only two more minutes till it could start the transfer. She felt like dancing with joy. A gunshot interupted her numreous fantasies, and she quickly looked back and saw Newman running out of the rec room, pursuing someone. She suddenly heard a crack, like bones being broken. Newman let out a soft groan, and then there was the noises of someone crumpling to the floor.
Oh no, please no! Shanon thought as she hid in the kitchen. JC Denton appeared in the kitchen, and looked over to her. He had no gun out, and was first surprised, then just amused.
"Carry on with your banking, Shanon." he said.
Shanon sighed in relief. She was safe. Then, he started for the bank terminal.
Shit! she thought.
He saw the hacking device, and looked over to her curiously. "What were you doing?"
"My...uh, banking." she said dumbly.
He looked back, and examined the device. He observed the flashing numbers for a moment, and realized what was going on. "You're stealing from UNATCO, aren't you."
The jig was up. She burried her face in her hands and weeped loudly. "Yes! Yes, the floor in Alex's office, the stolen equipment it was all me, I did it, YES!" she sobbed. "Please don't tell, please don't."
JC seemed surprised by her reaction, then amused again. "Calm down, I'm the last one whoes gonna bust you for stealing!"
She sniffed, "You mean it? Hush hush?"
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, hush hush."
She stopped the dramatics, and quickly composed herself. She wasn't even acting there, she was sure that he was gonna bust her, and she would be sent to jail. It wasn't enough she realized, she had to solidify the deal. "How about some scrambler grenades?" she asked.
"What, you're gonna bribe me now? I already said I wouldn't bust..."he suddenly stopped, and looked at the hacking device, examining it, "You know, there is SOMETHING you can do that would keep me from telling..."
"Yes, yes, what is it?" she asked, pulling out her credit chit card.
"Give me this contraption. If it can bypass Alexs security, then it must be good." he said.
He had to be joking, she NEEDED this thing."Oh...well, I really-"she began.
"It's a trip to Manderleys office for you then." JC declared.
"Fine! Take it, but just wait while it empties UNATCO's pockets." she said.
"Good choice." JC said. He looked back to it."You're gonna be one rich lady."
"I've waited three years for this moment, actually." she admitted. "I used to be a theif in Hells Kitchen, but I had a knack for winning over bureaucrat's. Pretty big deception, right?"
"I can think of bigger ones, believe me." JC mumbled. "There. 600,000 credits."
"Great, take it." she said, containing her sudden excitement. JC removed the device, and stuck it in one of his coat pockets. Shanon quickly logged into her account, checked her status, and litteraly squeeled in joy.
"Glad you're happy." JC said. "Now, about those scrambler grenades..."
"Take them." She said. She handed the grenades to him, and suddenly thought about Newman. "Did you kill him?"
"No, but I broke his arm." JC said. "You should leave, they're gonna be even more pissed when they realize they no longer have the money to pay off all the damage."
"Yeah, yeah." She couldn't stop marveling over the numbers. 600,000 credits! It almost saddened her to close the screen. "Can you take me to Hells Kitchen? Liberty Island is under lockdown."
JC thought it over. "I don't see why not. Do me a favor, get as far away from UNATCO as possible, don't let them find that money."
"Yeah, yeah." she said. In just a few days, she would be living the good life...
Though the entire situation seemed ackward, even silly at first, letting Shanon steal that money was more vital then JC had originally thought. Now they wouldn't be able to activly pursue him to Hong Kong, because they wouldn't be able to afford any more helicopters. They wouldn't be able to pay off the damages to HQ, they would lack neccesary munitions to fight terrorists becuase JC had raided the armory, and wouldn't be able to buy them back now. They'd also not be able to receive equipment from other bases, due to shipping taxes. In the long run, this would have more impact then he'd thought.
Of course, FEMA would send money to them, through Walton Simons, but it would be a slow process, and no organization would be able to give away 600,000 credits right off the bat without losing signifigant funds from their own acounts. Funding issues aside, JC and Shanon continued up the stairs and in two minutes they were out of HQ. Along the way Shanon made small talk.
"How many did you kill?" she asked quietly.
"Almost all of them, excluding Collins, Newman, Alex, Jaime, and Carter." JC admited.
"...You killed Manderley AND a dozen soldiers?" she asked incredulously.
"Agent Navarre as well." JC corrected.
"My god...you're...a killing machine." she said honestly. JC could not agree more.
Two minutes passed, and they were outside of HQ, leaving the reception office behind. JC was surprised to see that the Jocks helicopter was waiting near the helipad. At that moment his infolink buzzed in. He had two messengers. The first one had higher clearence, so Gunther Hermann came in. It sounded as if he was having difficulty breathing. "No, I will not forgive. NO! Not for the killing of Manderley, not for the deaths of all those troopers, and...and not for the killing of Agent Navarre! I WILL find you Denton! I will get you if it's the last thing I do!"
JC shuddered involuntarily before the second message came in. It was Decker. He also sounded distressed, like he'd just been crying.
"JC, when should we go?" he said in a monotone voice.
He motioned for Shanon to get inside the chopper, and he knelt down. "Now is good, make sure Alex disables the gates outside...is something wrong?"
"Yeah, something's wrong. Paul managed to get out...but he and the others were ambushed by MJ-12 Commandos before getting out. Three of them. Young got-...he-...he got killed during the fight...Erin is pretty out of it right now, and he...he was-"sobbing after that.
JC found that he wasn't all that bothered by the news...and that frightened him. He felt for Decker though, it had been rough night for the man, and he struck him as emotional. He wondered what caused him to become a terrorist. He felt more concerned about Gunther. "You should get out of there quickly." he said.
"Yeah." Decker said, regaining composure. "Over and out."
JC sighed and climbed onto the helicopter, in deep thought. He wondered if Paul felt the same as he did...uncaring.
Shanon looked angry, staring over at Jock. "Something wrong?" JC asked.
"Oh, we were just introducing ourselves!" Jock said with a grin. He whispered to JC as he climbed up to the co-pilots seat, "What's her name?"
"She needs to get to Hells Kitchen, can you fly her there?" JC asked.
"Sure, sure, anything for that rack." Jock said loudly with a roaring laugh.
JC sighed, and wondered how someone could be that blunt. Shanon let out a small gasp, and stared angrily out the window. The helicopter rose up, and began to it's flight towards the city. JC moved closer and whispered, "How'd you know where to meet me?"
Jock looked over to him nervously, bitting his lip. "Daedalus...he called himself Daedalus."
"A friend of yours?" he asked. He had to know who Daedalus was...and why he wanted him out of UNATCO's grasp.
"No. I came because I owed your brother a few favors, and having HER here is enough!" he laughed again, and looked back out. Two minutes later they were flying over Battery Park.
"Hey babe, this place good enough?" Jock called to her.
"My name is SHANON, and this place is fine." she sighed.
Jock smiled and slowed the helicopter. With a flip of a switch he activated the landing gear, and the chopper touched down. Several bums outside looked up curiously. Shanon got out, and looked over to JC. "Um...thanks, JC."
"Make sure you're not caught." was all JC had to say. Jock looked over and yelled, "Call me!", and laughed again. The chopper rose up again, and sped off. JC could already see sunlight coming. It had been a LONG night. He went into the back, and settled there.
"You oughta get some shut eye, this is gonna take awhile." Jock said. He fliped a few switchs, and settled back into his own seat, taking the manual control. "Well, time to see if this thing is worth all the fuss. MJ-12's got a base in Hong Kong, and they'll be watching for us."
So even Jock knows about them. JC had been through a rough night, and had barely any time to collect his thoughts, but now he was safe. It was this time that the full realization hit him. It had been with him all night, but he had put it off, like a small inconveniance he would take care of later, but now was the time to face the facts. The United Nations was under the control of a cabal of leaders called Majestic Twelve. Ok. But how was that? Had the UN always been under their leash, or had it been something like a hostile take over? The second idea made little sense, because if someone had randomly seized power, then surely word of their control would have gotten out by now. It had to be the first one, that they had always been in control. And even more disturbing, their power probably extended to long before the United Nations. If so, then how much power did they have? Was it limited to the countries that were part of the United Nations, or did they control the politics of every government on the planet? Either option spelled limitless funds for the conspirators, and terrifying powers and influence. But what JC really wanted to know was this: How many people were aware of the conspirators existance? How many people were blissfully unaware that higher powers were the puppet masters of their every day lives? How many declared that they would die for their country, when instead they would simply die in the act of furthuring their secret masters agenda? And how many government officals knew they were working toward more sinister things then they disclosed, and did so willingly? The Conspirators most terrifying weapon was that no one believed in their existance. How could he possibly do anything to them?
JC shifted uncomfortably. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost immeadiatly.
"Now then, we'll begin the process..."said the voice. He knew this voice, and it always made him excited to hear it. It meant he was about to play a new game. It was the man with the brown hair. The man with brown hair liked him very much, he could tell from the way he talked to him. Of course, they were usually alone when they played, but today was different. The man with the scary red eyes was here, talking to the other one about "procedures" and "future training."
He fancied himself as a fast learner, so he was able to realize that he held a great deal of importance in the eyes of these people. The blonde woman kept on telling him that big things were going to happen with him, in a soft soothing voice. It made him feel happy, when she was around.
The brown haired man went over to a computer terminal, as the red eyed man stared at him. He looked away, feeling uncomfortable. This made the man laugh, and he turned to the brown haired one.
"Show's impeccable signs of awareness...You've out done yourself, Robert." he said in awe. He couldn't stop staring at him.
"All in a days work, or in this case, two years." he laughed. The red eyed man made a show of smiling, but it was obvious that he was hardly paying attention.
At that moment, the tube he was in drained completely, and he stood naked on the cold cemented floor. He could see clearly now, but like all other times it took some getting used to. He wavered a bit, but quickly restored his balance.
The red eyed man looked back excitedly to the brown haired man. "Is he capable of speech yet?"
"He has the body of a ten year old, it'll take a year before he learns." he mumbled as he pressed several keys.
"Make it sooner...my pet project is finnaly coming full circle. After this test he'll be ready for training...won't he?"
"...Yes."
Red eyes shot a glare at the brown haired man. "Are you having doubts, perhaps?"
"No, Page. He'll be ready for training after this test. I...promise you."
"Good. Begin the diagnostic."
He was confused. What in the world were these men talking about now? From the way they talked, this game would be signifigantly different from the other ones. The games he played with the brown haired man and the blonde woman usually involved athletics, like jumping, running, all sorts of things like that. There were also things like logic, sometimes mazes, or cubes with multi colored lines on them. He conquered them all of course, and they kept on saying how special he was afterward. The blonde one especially.
At that moment, two men in tuxedos came in. He saw these men alot. They were weird, having purple hair and the strange symbols on the backs of their necks. They were leading several men in. These men also weren't wearing anything, but he could tell that they weren't at all happy about their surrondings.
"Alright you bitch! I get taken off the streets, kept here for WEEKS, and striped naked for what!" one of them said.
The other men seemed to agree, but the man with red eyes just looked amused. The men with tuxedos pushed them nearer to him, and he began to grow apprehensive. These men didn't look like they wanted to play, they stared at him, in disbelif, rage, or confusion. They were acting as if they wanted to hurt him.
The man with red eyes went up to one of men with tuxedos and whispered something in his ear. The man nodded, motioned to the other one, and both left. The man with the red eyes, and the man with brown hair stepped far way from where they were. It suddenly occured to him that he, and the other remaining men were standing inside a long grey square. As soon as he recognized this, walls closed up all around them, but the wall was transperent. Red eyes took out a microphone, and spoke loudly to them.
"Alright men...we took you off the streets from your crimes and hookers, did we not?"
The men roared their agreement.
"Striped you down naked, left you comepletely belittled and without dignity...am I right so far?"
The men repeated their last action.
"And led you here! Left you in a CAGE with the only company of this, this little boy!"
"YEAH!" they screamed.
"Do you want to leave this place!"
"YEAH!"
"KILL HIM, AND YOU WILL LEAVE THIS PLACE!"
The man with the brown hairs eyes widdened, and he turned to the man with the red eyes, who was now patting himself off with a handkercheif.
"That wasn't the original diagnostic!"
"It is now." he said.
"He'll die!"
"If he does, he didn't deserve his power in the first place."
But he wasn't listening to their argument now. The men on the other side of the cage did not even question the red eyed mans authority. They looked toward him, with eyes full of rage and hatred, and charged. What did "kill" mean? Was it like hurting?
The closest man laughed as he charged him. He stood in place, unsure of what he was supposed to do. The others acting as if they knew perfectly what he was supposed to do, but of course did not say it, and instead they laughed at him. The first man reached him, and grabbed him by the neck. He felt something. It was pain. He knew what he was supposed to do now. He grabbed the mans arms, and attempted to pry them off, but to no avail. Seeing no other alternative, he delivered a swift kick to the mans exposed crotch. The man released his hold on him, and sank to the floor, groaning in pain. He took the mans head in his arms, and squeezed very, very hard. The man wraped his arms around him, as if he were hugging him, but he squeezed as well, but it was no where near the power he had. The mans face turned from rage, to a mask of pain. The color went from red to blue. His tounge extended from his mouth, and grew to an impossible length. He sputtered for a breath, but of course found no oxygen. He felt the mans inner neck collapse, and the man suddenly fell limp. He could hear clapping from the other side of the wall.
The two remaining men skidded to a halt, now wary of their opponent, while displaying a show of thorough disbelif. They whispered to each other, and both nodded. They took different directions, and ran to his sides, their arms flailing in punchs. He took a swift one to the face, and another to the left, and he dreaded the fact that he must hurt these men as well.He took one of their arms in his hands, and swung the man into the other one, their heads smacking into each other with a sickening crack. They both fell to the ground, and both scrambled to get up. He choose his target, and tackled the closest one. He punched the man in the face, many, many times before the other one ripped him off. He responded by kicking this mans legs out from under him, sending him to the ground. He dropped his elbow into the face of this man, causing blood to erupt from his mouth and eyes. He screamed in pain as he smashed his foot into this face, disfiguring it greatly. He raised his foot again, and brought it down into his face even harder. The mans head burst like a watermelon, and his only reward was more clapping, and his foot was covered in gore.
The remaining man let out a yell and tackled into him. He easily forced this man up, and jumped back up himself. They circled each other, the man with his fists raised, and him with his hands to his side. The man threw a punch at him, which he easily avoided, and brought his elbow up into his back. The man stumbled and fell to the floor, flailing his legs at him. He used both of his feet to halt this, and picked the man up. He threw him to the ground, and waited for him to get back up. The man did so, and used his last ounce of fight to charge blindly at him. He spun to the side, seized the man in his run, and placed both of his hands firmly at the sides of the mans chin. With powerful force, he turned the mans entire head completely round, with a long drawn out snap.
The man fell to the floor, and he quickly sat down, waiting for more. The walls retracted, and he saw that the man with the brown hair was sobbing hysterically in the corner, and the man with the red eyes came up to him...and hugged him, ignoring the blood that stained his lab coat.
"Our finest hopes, our aspirations for power...YOU my boy, will be my prototype." he whispered, as if sharing a dark secret. He laughed out loud, and continued to embrace him in his throes of inane joy. He stared out into the distance of the room...to see the woman with blonde hair. She wasn't looking at her husband, nor the blood all around him. She was staring at him, and he could only see sadness.
Twelve Hours Later...
JC woke up with a start in the cabin of the helicopter, and slowly sank back down into the leather seat. Another one of his notorious nightmares. He couldn't remember any of it, but he knew it was the same as the others. It gave him the same freaked out vibe. He looked out the window. Water stretched out far and wide.
"Where are we?" he asked with a yawn. Sleeping for all thoses hours did so much good for him it wasn't even funny. All he needed now was an actual bed, and he'd be set.
He heard Jock jump a few inches out of his seat. "Whoa, scared me there. We're on the coast of China, we should be within the city limits of Hong Kong soon."
"How long was I asleep for?"
"Twelve hours, damn boring time, but I spent most of it sleeping myself."
JC had to marvel at his skills as a pilot. He settled back down into the seat and closed his eyes again, still tired from his sleep. He could feel the drone of helicopter blades overhead, surprisingly quiet. Then, JC mentally smacked himself. This was a stealth chopper, in every way, shape, and form.
As if on cue, a small beeping came up on one of the navigation panels on the control board. Jock checked it, and cursed loudly. JC rose, and looked over sleepily.
"What's wrong?" he mumbled.
"Damn thing is crapping out on me. Hold on, let me do a more thorough check..." he examined the moniter, and pulled up an in-flight conputer screen. "There's a new destination...I can't control the old bird anymore." The realization slowly dawned on both of them. "Aw shit, MJ-12's got a lock on us." Jock said. "They're pulling the bird up to...The VersaLife building in the Wan Chi district. You'd better lock and load, JC; they'll be waiting for us."
JC removed his trench coat, and opened it up completely, looking over his equipment. A sniper rifle laid along the back, his magnum on a strap along the left side, the top left pocket filled with grenades of every type, and an assault rifle laid on a long strap on the right. An ultra high carbon knife lay in a protective sheath in the bottom left pocket, along with a riot prod, and finnaly all other pockets were filled with ammunition for every gun he went over.
"It checks out." JC said, putting the coat back on, and pulling out his magnum.
The chopper was well within the actual city now, filling JC's vision with flying cars, hundreds of floating adds in Chinese, elevated sidewalks, and neon lights of every color. Still a capatilist paradise, despite the countries hundred year old communistic government.
"We're entering the Wan Chi district now..." Jock said, making him sound almost like a tour guide. Not a bad assumption, seeing as how he'd flown his brother there so much. "They've locked the weapons on this bird too, so I can't use the chain gun or missiles to get us out of any fixes. He saw Jock take out a sawed off shotgun. JC looked out again to see the VersaLife logo on one of the buildings up ahead, getting closer by the second.
"Keep your fingers crossed; they might have concealed rocket launchers on the top of the building, lots of buildings in this city have em'."
The chopper came over the top of the building, and a helipad below opened up. The copter' slowly sank into the building, revealing a large maitenance bay. No MJ-12 troops were in sight.
"Strange," JC said, "I thought they'd be waiting for us."
"It's gotta be a trap." Jock mumbled.
JC had the same thought as the chopper touched down. Jock quickly opened his door, and let the hatch open for JC. Both of them stepped out, keeping their guns trained on the small exit at the far left side of the room.
"We'd better hide, we can catch them off guard." Jock said. JC nodded, and both of them advanced over to the exit, and stayed to the sides. JC shot a glance into the corridor with his magnum trained, but saw nothing. He motioned for Jock to follow.
"I saw a control room up there as we came in, we'd better get there if we want to get out of this mess." Jock said.
JC wasn't listening. He heard movement downstairs.
"I'll go alone, cover the stairs." JC said. Jock nodded, and looked up the other flight of stairs nervously. JC slowly advanced down the stairs, and came up to a window looking into what looked like a a barracks. Several MJ-12 soldiers sat beyond the wall, listening to what sounded like a breifing. JC crouched, and hid underneath the window. A gun metal stair case led up to several beds, and the locker room lay at the far side of the barracks. He could hear the spray of showers inside. He went over to the entrance to the room towards the right, and peaked over. Two soldiers in casual clothes were hunched over a third, playing what looked like a computer game.
This doesn't make sense...why aren't they scrambling a team to go after us? JC thought. They were obviously picked up, and brought here, so why wasn't MJ-12 taking the intiative? Were these men not informed yet? JC dropped the subject, and concentrated on getting through the room without being spotted. The three soldiers on the computer weren't armed, but any of them could easily sound an alarm, and the ones listening to the breifing had assault guns slinged around their necks.
He had to think of some sort of distraction...alternativly he could simply toss a lam into the room and call it clear. But then a lockdown of the facility would most likely be initiated, troops would storm the helibase, and he had a feeling he'd have to waste even more lams. No...he had to settle on stealth.
But how? The room wasn't exactly closely guarded, but it would be two easy for one of the soldiers to casually look over and see him. He backed up out of view, and slowly attached a silencer to the magnum, and loaded 10MM rounds. All just precautions, of course. He advanced outside again, and took a slow look around the room. The soldiers seemed pretty bored with the breifing, they constantly yawned, bit their nails, or looked around casually. JC was most worried about the latter. He realized it wasn't going to work, and backed out again. As he snuck out, something on the wall caught his eye. A light switch.
So obvious...why didn't I think of it before? JC thought. He'd always had an annoying habit of thinking too much. Paul once said it was going to get him killed one day. He slowly went up to the switch, and clicked the lever towards off. The lights in the room instantly went out, rewarding him with shouts and cries of confusion. Walking on the balls of his feet, JC quickly ascended the stair case, and looked around. Decidedly...suggestive posters and bunk beds were all that were up here. The lights came back on, and JC quickly ducked and rolled under a bunkbed.
"What the hell happened?" a voice asked.
"Must of been a temporary power failure..." said another.
"Yeah, since when where power failures so easily fixed? It's foul play, search the area." said a loud and commanding voice.
"Sir, yes sir!" came a collective cry. There was a shuffle of feet. JC stayed put until he knew the entire room was empty. He worried vaguely about Jock, but figured he'd know how to handle himself. He rolled back out, and hurried down the steps. The computer was still on, pretend soldiers firing at each other on the screen. JC frowned, and exited the game. He had to know if they had tracked him here.
His infolink buzzed in, it was Daedalus. "Please go to "Important Documents."
JC obeyed without a second thought, vaguely wondering why he was suddenly listening so elatedly to his mysterious...benefactor.
"Next, go to 'File Section C-12'. There you will be asked for a password. MJ12 is the login, password is Inquisitor. You will see only one file. Download immeadiatly."
JC followed his instructions, and waited for the file to download. A small beeping emited from the moniter, signaling the completion of the download.
"Objective complete. Please exit the facility to the Wan Chi district."
JC shook himself out of the trance he'd been in and knealed to the floor, "What objective? What was in that file?"
"I brought you to the helibase for that reason, you have no more purpose in being there." Daedalus said, in a tone that sounded as if it was all supposed to be rather obvious. Daedalus was playing him like some kind of god figure, an entity that controled fate. How did this man know exactly what was going on the whole time?
"That's it? How does this file help you?" JC asked.
"It was encoded to Seraphic/8X personal only, such files are rarely left unguarded like that. If you are intrested in a sort of reward, please go to the roof of the compound, there you will find a stasis canister with experimentl language perception nanites. They will help you in your search for Tracer Tong...I am also unlocking the doors to the control tower. Please exit as soon as possible. I will guide you through the rest of this facility."
Now he was offering rewards? He didn't strike JC as the type who did that, unless it helped further his own goals. JC turned from the computer and started for the exit.
"Stop right there." Daedalus said. "Bypassing security measures...Your presence has been alerted from a security camera in the room. Accessing security network...two guards approach from the exit you are standing in front of, seek cover immeadiatly."
JC nodded to no one in particular and took cover at the far end of the room. Five seconds later, two black suited soldiers entered, sweeping their assault guns. The closest soldier signaled for the other to wait, and advanced. JC shot the waiting soldier in the head with a silenced round, and caught the body before it could reach the ground. He let it settle to the floor slowly, and poped a round in the back of the remaining soldiers neck. Blood sprayed out for a moment before he collapsed the floor.
"Advance down the corridor. Brian Flanegian has returned to the SH-7 Stealth Chopper, and waits for your arivial. I am now removing the weapons lock on the SH-7."
It suddenly dawned on JC that Daedalus had led them here intentionally for his own purposes. He wasn't sure of whether or not he could call him an extradonairly clever man, or a notorious hacker. Yet...even from the infolink, he could tell that Daedalus weilded alot of power...something not common to your average net terrorist.
He advanced down the corridor and up the stairwell. A door opened to his left.
"Rooftop access is this way, proceed."
JC went down the hall, and came up to a ladder. As he climbed, Daedalus came over the link again. "Helicopters are enroute to the facility. You have only thirty seconds to retrieve the canister before they arrive to investigate."
JC reached the top and scanned the area briefly. He saw what looked like a postage box, and ran over to it. A safe lay inside, with a combination lock. He took out a multitool, and attached it to the lock. It worked for a few seconds, as JC heard the droning of helicopter blades grow closer. It finished the work, and JC was rewarded with a small vial of blue liquid.
"Administer the nanites now, it only takes a standard needle insertion."
JC tapped a button on the right side of the vial, causing a needle to pop out. He inserted said needle into his arm, and tossed the spent vial off the rooftop. He was climbing down the ladder when the helicopters arrived to drop off troops.
"I will leave off from here. Your mission is to locate Tracer Tong."
JC ran down another flight of stairs and was back in the hanger. Jock saw him and lifted the chopper into the air.
"Stand back, missles comin' through!" he said on a loud speaker. Two missles ejected from seperate tubes on the sides of the wings, both impacting a large black door on the far side of the hanger, revealing an elevator. Jock lifted the chopper higher, and was outside now. He could hear the sudden clanking of chain gun rounds, and wild whoops of laughter from Jock.
JC ran through the destroyed door, and into the elevator as MJ-12 soldiers filled the hanger from above. He hit the "down" button, and dodged to the right as several rounds tore into the elevator. The doors shut, dulling the pinging noises the bullets made. He felt the elevator descend, and collapsed on the far side of the elevator, wondering if this was the worst to come.
Authors Note: Long Chapter, eh? I'm glad it's done. Wan Chi Market is next.