AN: Wow, I actually updated all my stories in one month. Impressive.
"We're getting some boots on the ground in fifteen minutes," Kuji told Dedan and Swindle as he came back in. "Until they get here, should we explore the first area and establish a foothold down there?"
"Probably a good idea. Best to do a little bit of scouting to make sure out first steps down there are safe and not going to end in an impossible to pass chokepoint that we would have to flank," Dedan agreed to the situation, pulling out a laser pistol, as Kuji took a ballistic one out as well, while Swindle just looked around, unable to use something.
"Uh, guys, I don't have a gun," Swindle told them.
"The reinforcement will bring assault weapons with them. Until then, stay here and we'll take a look downstairs. If we say it's clear, come on down," Dedan told him and went down the steps with Kuji right behind him, leaving Swindle to huff and take a seat on a crate follow by leaning back against the wall, hoping to take a brief nap. The two descended down the metal steps to the corner of a small room which had a metal shelf next to them and a desk with a computer at the other end with a door in the center of the wall opposite of the stairs and a generator next to it that was powering the well-lit lights in the room.
"Looks like that generator gives power to the warehouse," Kuji said as he stepped forward to examine. It was a large one embedded into the wall with various buttons grouped together and a screen to input commands in.
"You think the other warehouses have these generators?" Dedan asked as he walked over to the desk and checked it.
"I'm unsure. They might. They might not. Unable to know for sure until we get the plans or search the other warehouses or ask Swindle to search around when he has another spastic attack," he answered Dedan question, taking a jab at Swindle at the end there.
"Might be a good idea," Dedan chuckled.
"I heard that!" Swindle yelled from above.
"Wow, those are some good ears," Kuji muttered.
"No kidding," Dedan agreed as he opened the desk cabinet. "Hey, they didn't slash this computer's down here."
"Really?" Kuji yelled as he quickly sprinted on over and pushed him aside to look at it, causing Dedan to glare at him in an annoyed matter.
"Learn to ask me to get out of the way or I'll hand your ass to you," Dedan growled at him.
"Don't care. Just glad to find some working technology here," he said as he turned the computer on and began sifting through it. The computer was a primitive one, using a damn physical keyboard and mouse, something that's been outmodel for quite a while now.
"How the hell does something this dated stick around?" Dedan asked behind him, looking at it.
"My guess is because it's so dated, it won't be seen on out network. Pretty smart," Kuji said as he clicked around. "Alright, I found something that might be of use to us. It's a map of the sewers," he said, showing it off.
"Huh, so that means they're traveling through the sewers… what are these dots?" he asked, pointing out white dots shown inside the map.
"I don't know. Might be places to find these computers or groups of terrorist cells," Kuji told him as he downloaded the map and proceeded to check the rest of the computer for information.
"We'll have to send squads of soldiers to each of those areas to take control of those spots, with this harbor as a temporary bases," Dedan said.
"You really want to use this place a temporary base?" Kuji asked, turning to him.
"I see no reason not to. Since this place is set up for foreclosure, we can take control of this place and make use of it. We'll just send a takeover notice to the city's administrators. We'll give it back when we're done with it," he explained to him.
"Okay, if you say so, but we'll have to ship up the defenses here and send some troops to maintain it," Kuji told him.
"Don't worry, we got the manpower to spare, as long as we don't have any more traitors in our midst," he answered.
"If you said so," he muttered as he turned back to the computer and clicked on a couple of things. "Hey, found something," he said as he clicked on it.
"What would that be?" Dedan asked.
"A message exchange between this computer and another, talking about… the bombing," he muttered.
"Is it, now," Dedan said, looking over him to look at what he found. "And what is it about?"
"Schematics of the bomb. Specific dimensions and where they get it from," Kuji told him.
"Any information about how they got it on board?"
"None that I can see," he muttered as he examined it closely. "It's a small one made from a hyper-explosive."
"Hyper-explosive? Now where in the hell did they get that?" Dedan asked, confused. "Those should only be at military research facilities."
"It doesn't say. They could've gotten it illegally, although I have no idea how. We'll have to find a trail to lead us to where they get that," he told him.
"Erg, we already have so much to do and now we have to track where they got this hyper-explosive from. Just perfect," Dedan muttered.
"Relax, that'll be easier. Hyper-explosives are so unique that there shouldn't be many places they get it from and I can figure it out from there," Kuji assured him as he looked around for anything else.
"I don't know, but if you can, figure it out. We need to know if they have any more of this hyper-explosives ready to go," he said, worried.
"Hey, I can handle it, don't worry," he said as he finished with the computer and got up. "I didn't find anything else on it, so I'm done with that. According to the map, there's a small room before reaching the sewage tunnels. Want to check it out?" he asked Dedan.
"Might as well. Guns up," he told him as he aimed his gun at the door with Kuji doing the same. They approached the door and took cover next to each wall next to the door. Dedan pressed the button, causing the door to slide open and both of them aimed their guns inside an empty room where a few bunk beds were set up with footlockers set up at the ends of them and weapons lockers at the end. There was a simple table in the middle and a door leading to the sewer tunnels ahead of them. "Huh, no assholes here, but this was where some of them slept," Dedan said as he holster his weapon and looked around, with Kuji doing the same.
"The sewers are a good place to hide. Not many people get down here and it's easy to avoid the workers if you know their patrol patterns," Kuji told him as he opened a footlocker and looked inside. "Nothing."
"Same," Dedan agreed as he opened a weapons locker and shut it. "Must've left not long before Aeolus's squad got here."
"A good assumption," Kuji agreed as e shut the footlocker and the two regroup in the center. "So, we can basically confirm that Novus was here and were here for the long haul of they had these bunk beds here."
"Yes, but that really doesn't help us. We guessed that they were already hear and we know they were here for a while. The only important thing was that super-explosive info we found. I sincerely hope you don't fuck that up and figure out how they got that," Dedan told him.
"Relax, I'm good at this sort of thing. I'm a detective, remember?" he asked him.
"I know, but I learn that smart people have a tendency to get arrogant and screw it up for everyone," Dedan told him, leaning down in front of his helmet. "If I see you get a little too arrogant for my liking, I'll make sure it gets popped a few times."
"Right… understood," Kuji said nervously, a sight hitch in his voice. "I assure you that I'll find out how these terrorists got those hyper-explosives."
"Good…," Dedan hissed as he pulled back. "Let's head back up. I'm sure reinforcement is about to be here."
Swindle felt hazy as he leaned against the wall. He didn't know why he felt so tired, considering it's only been a few hours since he recharged. More than likely, it was probably the shock of it all and the fact that he didn't really recharged much at all. The whole thing was tiring for him and he needed a brief nap to recharge his sensors. Before long, he felt his optics start to shutter and turn off, leaving him in the dark.
"Hey, pay attention," a voice commanded and Swindle came out of a trance and looked to his right to see a mech who was about a head taller with a very smooth, streamline look to him, very different from his stocky, broad self. His color-scheme was red covering most of his body with purple and blue lines running across his body and limbs. He was scowling at him at the moment and Swindle knew he deserved it.
"Sorry, my creator," he muttered.
"Don't remind me," he told him, looking him over. "Alright, we can't fix that face of yours, so I guess this is the best you're going to be." He sighed and stood next to Swindle in front of the mirror. Even though they were creator and creation, they didn't look very much alike, the only thing that Swindle actually took from him was his wide blue optics, but even that was gone and replaced with a luminous purple and his face which one might be able to make a case was partially based on his was heavily scarred. It began with one going down the top-right corner of his head on down to above the right optic and it started spiraling out, one going straight down his optic on down to his cheek, one going down to past his mouth, one going under his left opric and one going to the his forehead before going up to the top of his head. One would be highly justified in saying that they shared no CNA at all. "Hmph, guess this is as best you're going to be from now on."
"Couldn't we just get a surgeon to fix it? I heard there's one by the name of Knock Out who specializes in it," Swindle asked him.
"That leaves a trail and people will want to know and people who are too curious will eventually find out what the meeting was about. Once that's done, they'll asked, 'why wasn't he arrested and sent to jail.' So, no, you're not getting surgery. We can't risk you getting arrested and ruining my reputation," he told him as he head for the door and opened it. "Come on, we have a gala to attend."
"Won't people wonder why my head is all messed up?" Swindle asked him as he exited the door and his creator closed it behind him.
"You're lucky. We had a minor explosion in the requisition office where you work and no one was around. A news report about you being caught in the explosion and bravely surviving it made it to the news on the front page. They won't be asking too many questions unless a surgeon gets a close up look at you face and wonder why none of it looks like it came from an explosion," he told him as the two exited the room and headed for the elevator.
"Erg," Swindle growled.
"Would you quit acting so petulant? Instead of a criminal, you're going down as a brave survivor of a freak accident. You have to wear those scars as a badge of honor in public," he told him.
"Yeah, sure, if people don't just run away, scared that the scarred mech was coming for them," he angrily told him as he pushed the button to take the elevator down.
"I'm not saying it's perfect, but you have to work with it. I still expect you to be my successor when all is said and done," he told him as the elevator opened and they entered it. He pressed a button to head to the bottom floor and the elevator closed, taking them down.
"You still want me to be the one to head up your senatorial spot?" Swindle asked, shocked.
"You don't see any other creations around, do you?" he asked him.
"No, I don't see any others," he agreed, nodding.
"It might be a bit difficult. The other senators know about your crimes, as well as Zeta Prime and a few key personnel, so don't expect their support without a lot of smooth-talking and deals, but the public don't know about it yet, and you are a survivor of a terrible explosion. You got that going for you and you need to utilize that when I retire and leave my position open," he told him.
"…Alright," Swindle muttered. "So, what's this gala about?"
"It's a fundraiser for workers who are injured on the job. Fitting, considering what recently happened to you," he told him with a little smirk.
"That doesn't sound like a very high-class event," Swindle muttered.
"That's because it isn't, but it's a good way to get to know the people are supporting us and drum up support for you. I'm not going to retire for a while, but it's about time to set up a fixture within the populace mind with your name. We already got a foothold with the 'explosion,' so we're going to strike while the iron's hot and have you deliver a speech about your experience," he told him.
"What?!" Swindle asked, turning to him.
"Yes, that's correct," he told him as he brought out a datapad and handed it to him. "The details of your survival in the news and your medical chart from the hospital."
"You just want me to make a improve speech while we on out way there?" he asked him.
"If there's anything I know for certain, you're at your most genuine when you don't have much time to prepare. Speaking is your thing Swindle. Do it," he told him as the elevator doot opened to the lobby where a couple of lavishly decorated people were waiting to get in and a receptionist nearby. The two got out of the elevator and the couple entered and the elevator closed as they clicked a button and the two made their way out.
"This is insane," Swindle muttered as they walked out to the limo and his creator opened it and let themselves inside, the two sitting across from each other, and started driving to the gala.
"Swindle, trust me, you can do it, now be quiet and start crafting your speech for them," he told him. Swindle glared at him and started reading the documents related to his 'accident.' The newspaper article was an overly-saccharine story about him being caught in the explosion and using his strong will to stay alive throughout the whole process. The medical process of his surgery was graphically detailed, explaining how so many shrapnel got in Swindle's head and they had to basically cut his entire face open to get inside and remove all the pieces out one by one in a six hour procedure. Despite the fact that it was all fake and not real at all, he couldn't help but feel disturbed by what he read. He would have to do a really good job selling it to the people attending the gala.
"Hey," he heard his creator speak and he turned up to him.
"Yeah?" Swindle asked.
"Wake up."
"Woah!" Swindle jumped as he woke up to see Dedan shaking him ruthlessly.
"Finally," Dedan growled, releasing his grip on him. "Come on, we found new relevant information and I can hear helicopters outside with reinforcement.
"Oh, uh… sorry," Swindle said, rubbing the back of his neck before standing up.
"Why were you so hard to wake up?" he asked, crossing his arm.
"Just remembering things," he told him as the two headed outside.
"Humph, I didn't think robots could dream," he told him.
"We do. Just not often," he told him.
"I hate my dreams. Always end up being nightmares," Dedan told him. "I always take medication to make sure I don't have any."
"You never have good dreams?" Swindle asked.
"No, I don't. They're always piss-poor, now quit asking more questions and concentrate on what's going on right now," Dedan told him. "The past of long ago can't affect you now."
"Yeah… I hope."