Deus Ex: The Conspiracy
Chapter Thirty Six: The Gas Station.
Savage stared blankly at the monitor as the events unfolded before him. Paul looked over his shoulder, a queer look on his face as an avatar with a nametag in Roman lettering revealed itself.
"Ye-e-e-e-e-e-e-esss..."
It was called Helios.
JC vaulted over the railing of the upper floor, and nearly ran right into Vixen.
"Sorry," He mumbled blankly.
"Did you see what happened?" She instantly asked.
"Yeah, let's go."
"The AI's seem to be merging!" Everett practically screamed over the infolink."
A long drawn out chuckling also erupted from the infolink.
"You forgot about the Aquinas Protocal, Everett." It was Bob Page...
"No, Page you-" Everett began.
"Hahaha! I was listening to Daedalus all along...waiting."
"Page you son of a-" Everett snapped with untold anger.
"And I have another surprise, Denton. Find Savage in the control room, I have an announcment to make."
He cut out. JC had difficulty believing what had just happened.
"JC, something went wrong, I'm looking into it." Everett said with a sigh.
There was nothing left to do but see Page's announcment in the control room.
JC ran down into the control room just as Paul and Savage had arrived at the holo-deck. Page's light composed form was already standing there on the communicator, surveying the scene with a smug look on his face. Paul stared up at him, anger in his eyes. Page responded with a mocking grin.
As soon as V and JC had arrived, Page spoke, "Excellent! We're all here."
"You aren't in a position to make any demands, Page."Savage said.
"On the contrary, my mission may have failed, but so did yours." He grined again, "I captured your daughter an hour ago." He let the words slide by gracelessly, smug contempt filling them.
Savages eyes grew wide, "Tiffany..."
Page continuned unabating, "She's been quite forthcoming, actually. So you were trying to find the containment unit in the Pasedena ocean lab..."
"You-...I demand to see my daughter immediatly!"
Page dusted himself off, "Well, like you, we're missing certain components for a Universal Constructor; The reaction modules you stole from Area 51 to go into business for yourself."
Savage began to speak when JC cut him off, "Don't negotiate." He said.
Page turned over to JC. He looked him up and down, his grin disappearing. "Denton. There's a reason I wanted you here."
"I suppose it's not a for a happy reunion." JC said, smiling. Pauls eyes dialated.
"So you've finally found out, then..." Page said.
"Yup." JC said neutrally.
"You interfere in anyway...Denton...and I will kill that young woman. I mean it."
He turned back to Savage, "I want those components Savage! You will bring them to the abandoned gas station west of Vandenberg in exactly one hour!"
"You hurt my daughter and I swear to god-"
"Bring me the reactions modules!" Page snapped. He gave the room one last look, winked at V patronizingly, and he disappeared.
There was a long silence as everyone shifted about uncomfortably. Paul was still staring at JC, wide eyed.
"I..."Savage began. He looked like he was about to collapse in tears, "I don't think we have much of a choice. Oh...god. I never should have let her go..."
"Page will resume production of the Plague if he gets to components to build a UC." Paul stated. "We can't let that happen, under no circumstances."
"He's right." JC said quietly.
Decker and Sandra burst into the room, huffing and puffing. Around their arms, was Tracer Tong. Savage turned instantly and hit the EMP button again.
"He...lp."Decker struggled.
Two of Savages aides moved forward to help them carry the scientist over to a chair in the control room. Tracer coughed violently, and said a meek hello to JC.
Savage was about to go over, but Paul grabbed his arm, "Stay focused, Gary."
"Right...right." He turned to JC and his brother, "You're right...both of you. But...I can't let them kill her."
JC sighed. Any sort of approach to this other than bringing the components was plain and simple suicide. For him, and Tiffany.
"Tell you what, "Vixen said, speaking for the first time to ten minutes, "Tell them you're sending someone over with the components. Me and JC'll head to the station and try to rescue your daughter."
"That's suicide." Paul said. He stared at V for a moment, "Don't I know you?"
"Probably," she dismissed, "That's the only way to do it, in my eyes. We can't negotiate. It's either this, or millions more die."
"It's...it's too risky!" Gary protested.
"I agree with her," JC said, "There's no other way."
Savage sighed dismally, and leaned back into a chair nearby, planting his face in his hands, "Please be careful. I don't want anything to happen to her."
"Thank you." JC said. He turned to leave, but then looked back, "Did you see what happened?"
"Yes...the AI's...what happened?" Gary said, putting his daughter out of his mind for now.
"They merged. It was a trap layed by Page."
"Yes, I noticed. It was called Helios." Savage explained.
"What happened?"
"Your Everett was a fool, that's what. You can't use the internet without a machine at Area 51 not knowing."
"Page foresaw this happening, then..." Paul said.
No matter what, it always seemed like Page was ontop of his game.
Savage turned, and went back to his monitoring. Paul joined him, and they both confered quietly.
Meanwhile, Sandra came up behind JC.
"Hey JC." She smiled. It was odd. Ever since he had taken her into so many life threatening situations, she seemed happier than she'd ever been in her life. Was it that she was making a difference, or because of Decker? Their blatant interest with each other didn't exactly escape everyone elses notice. And they were spending more time in the helicopter...
Whoa. Stop thinking about that...jeez...
"You alright?" She asked.
"I'm a bit disoreintied..."
"What happened?"
"It's a long story." JC sighed, smiling.
Sandra laughed slightly, "Uh, Tong wanted to see you. JC..."
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say, I'm glad I came with you."
He nodded. She smiled broadly at him, she turned, and walked back over to Decker.
JC walked over to the infected scientist, and stood silently over his heaving form.
Tracer shooed away the two aides that were examining him, and he looked over to JC.
"JC...Hello." He said weakly.
"You're gonna be alright." JC assured.
"He flew into San Joses to get here." Decker explained from behind.
"Don't worry about me, JC. I'm not a high order term in the equation anymore." Tong said sadly.
"You're not dead yet." JC stated.
"True," The man smiled, "But I am here for selfish reasons. To have access to the cure."
"Let's hope Savage can manufacture it, then."
"Just go, leave me be. I've said what I wanted to say."
The scientist groaned, and was silent.
Twenty minutes later, JC and Vixen got out of Tony Mares' jeep, and ran over to Jocks helicopter. Paul had elected to stay behind with Savage, although JC would have given his right arm for his brothers support in battle.
There was no question about it, as Vixen had said. He had to go rescue her, and complete her mission. It was, tactically, the worst thing he could do. People like Manderley and Simons would have wanted him to head straight to the Ocean Lab. And he would have listened, too. He had been taught that way. Pursue the most tactically sound solution. Morals were left in the dust.
But he wouldn't allow himself to be a monster anymore, or at least, anyone elses monster.
They climbed inside, and were alone with Jock.
"Is Tracer alright?" The pilot asked.
"He got here ok, not sure how long he'll last, though." JC said.
As soon as they had entered, the helicopter climbed up into the air.
"Savage filled me in," Jock said, "He's arranged for a black van to be placed a mile away from the station. Flying this bird in too close would be too risky."
They cleared X-51 airspace, and the flickers of light from the base dwindled.
"Do we have a map of the grounds?" JC asked.
"Er, Ava did a high flying mission over there. She's got some photographs."
Jock handed some photos back to JC and Vixen, and the two of them consulted with each other.
It was clearly abandonded, although several groups of bums appeared to be living around there. A bridge that would have normally led into the station was destroyed, most likely by MJ-12. Given the terrain, the station seemed very difficult to reach on foot. You would need a helicopter to even get there. Exactly what Page wanted. A predictable approach into his domain.
There was, however, a sewer drain leading out into the road below the station, and that led up to the gas station grounds. It was labeled on the map, in computer typing, not a quick scribbling that any other pilot would have done. Ava was proving to be a very peculiar case...
Also labeled on the map were little specks on the ground. They were identified as MJ-12 soldiers. After consulting the series of photographs, JC was able to map out their patrol patterns around the base, and at which point in time that they would return.
The gas station was divided into two parts. The design was clearly early mellenial. It consisted of a gorcery section, and a car garage. Tiffany was likely to be held in either one.
"You got a plan, JC?" Vixen asked.
"Yeah. We go in with stealth."
She rolled her eyes, "That it?"
He handed the photos to her, "Those detail the terrain and patrol routes of the soldiers. We'll go in through the sewers on the road underneath the station, and try to avoid patrols. I'll take the supply shop, you take the garage."
She studied the maps for a brief period, "Sounds good. Though shoddy, at best."
JC grimaced, "Gee, thanks."
Vixen grinned.
"So...how long have you been here for?" Said the black suited girl, trying conversation again.
"Four days," said the former hotel owner. He sighed, and went back to counting the tiles on the floor. The girl had just been thrown in, and clearly the loneliness and boredom hadn't gotten to her yet. The troops had called her a "special" package.
"What'd you do to get in here?"
"I was speaking out against the government on the Net. Some of those black suited thugs came in and took me here, saying that I would be transferred to some detention thinga-ma-bob in a few days. Took me from my daughter."
The girl stared at the wall, "Interesting. Our family members roles have been reversed."
"Huh?" Gilbert asked.
"I have a father who must be worried sick about me by now." She smiled a bit, "It's a long story."
"I don't wanna hear it." Gilbert sighed.
"Hey, shut up in there!" Called a gruff voice from outside the small room they were in.
"Do you know who these clowns are?" Gilbert asked in a low whisper.
The girl shrugged, "Para-military for the group that controls the world. Majestic Twelve."
Gilbert smiled, "Ah, I see now."
"I'm not joking." She said, her voice stone cold.
"Oh..." Gilbert said. His eyes focused on the ground, his head aching now.
The woman looked around the room. There was a panel on the ceiling, but Gilbert could never reach it-
On his own.
"Hey, hey!" He whispered.
"Yeah?"
"There's a panel up there. Maybe we can open it, if I give you a boost up there."
She smiled grimly, "It's a good escape plan, but it's not gonna get us out of the garage. They've got four troops in here, and an MIB. Unless you can pull a laser gun with infinite ammo outta your ass, we're not leaving here."
Gilbert Rentons hopes sunk that much deeper.
"They use this place as a station for storing prisoners before transfering them to detention centers all across America." She explained. She sighed, "I'm not being transfered, though. I'm being negotiated over, they say."
"You think they could get me out?" Gilbert asked. It was such a dumb question.
"I'm sorry...I don't think so."
"I miss her so much..."Gilbert agonized.
The girl stayed quiet.
JC parked the black van at the orange, decrepit gate, and the two of them climbed out. Vixen went inside the token booth, pushed a skeleton away, and pressed the button that would open the gate. It failed to respond.
"Good, they've probably got cameras on this place." JC said, his eyes lurking about.
"If they do, she's already dead." V pointed out.
"True." Although it was a prospect JC dreaded.
They climbed over the gate, and landed on a small road, broken cars all around. The gas station was about two hundred yards away. JC could see the broken bridge in the distance, landmarking the location.
"Maybe we should have broken through the gate with the car..." Vixen said.
"Jock told me to stop right there." He explained.
"There a reason?"
"Yes, there's a security check point further down. Lotta troops."
"So what do we do?" Vixen asked.
"Well, first thing, you've got any silencers?" JC said.
She pulled one out, and handed it to JC. He screwed it onto his assault gun. Vixen brandished her MP7.
"Second, we go right up to them, and say we've got the reaction modules. They're probably either gonna call in backup to make sure we can't run away, or search us right off the bat."
"And?" Vixen asked.
"I'm personally hoping for the first option, so we can gun em' down when they're distracted."
"I'd feel more comfortable taking them out unaware." V frowned.
"That'll give them enough time to raise the alarm. Tiffany would die."
She looked like she was about argue, but sighed, and nodded, "Fine."
With that, they walked out into the darkness weaving their way past cars and rubble, eventually hearing the sounds of activity further ahead. They both crouched down low, and moved slowly through the tall grass and rocks, eventually coming upon the MJ-12 checkpoint. JC counted five troopers, and a single MIB.
"I count five..." He whispered.
"Hey, HEY!" Called a voice from behind.
The troopers all looked over, annoyance filling their eyes. Two bums were shambling over.
"What is it now?" Called a trooper.
"Jush wantda' see how yous' was doin'."
"We're just fine. Leave us alone." said another soldier.
"Tha', an' we wantda' let ya know we's was gonna file a fermal complaint to tha city authority. See how ya like it when ya get kicked outta da gas stashun you stole."
"In case you hadn't noticed, there is no city authority anymore, not since the Sol Cal disaster, ya idiots."
"Oh...ah..."
"Now shut up before we-"
JC darted out of the rubble, Vixen in back of him. Silent bullets riddled the gathered troopers, and they all quickly fell to the ground, dead.
The MIB wasted no time getting to the radio. JC fired twice, and it exploded in the mechs hands.
The MIB stared at what was left of his right hand, and the melted machinery that was in his arm now. He looked back at the two agents, Red, augmented eyes gleaming. JC and V double tapped his head at the same time. It blew apart messily, and the body fell to the floor, the explosion mechanism disabled.
"Hey, pretta' dam good!" Hooted the bums behind them.
"Wow...that was..." JC began.
"Pretty easy." V finished.
The bums marched forth eagerly, seizing the fallen weapons in their greedy hands. When the munitions had been claimed, those who had been left out of the plundering began to argue, and the bums raised their weapons clumsily.
"Shut up." JC said tonelessly. The bums stared at him, and slowly slinked back into the darkness.
JC and V went past the barricade, and looked around for anything the bums hadn't layed their hands on. One of them was still around, eagerly shaking an MJ-12 trooper out of his bloody uniform. They found a datacube on the MIB's corpse.
Prisoner list, Station 7-A. Cali.
TSavage zz-x9-a
GRenton as7-aa4
SSak sx43-rf (TRANSFERED)
Prisoners of note.
"Well, at least we know she's still here." JC said. But what he was really interested in was Gilbert Rentons name. It was...a shocking coincidence, to say the least.
"I found a key on him." Vixen reported, "It's marked 'sewer.'"
"Great, that's probably it." JC muttered. Sandras father was here. He couldn't believe it. She would be thrilled, obviously.
They walked away from the barricade, and the bums started coming back out, probably to claim uniforms for themselves.
Further along, they found the sewer drainage, and the key was able to unlock it. Above, they heard the sounds activity.
JC's infolink buzzed in, "You gotta hurry up, JC. We've got fifteen minutes left before they execute her." Jock said, reminding him of the time table they had.
"Roger." He said. He turned to V, "Fifteen minutes left."
She nodded silently, and they walked into the sewer drain.
From here, it was a quick ladder climb up to top. Vixen got up there first, and then JC. They appeared to be in a shack. There was no roof, however, which led V to believe it was used for garbage, or something like that.
JC peaked out of the shack, pushing forward a loose board. V looked at him nervously as he inspected the area. Slowly, he came back out.
"A few guards are patroling, but there's a slope to the right. If we run to it, it should give us enough leverage to jump onto the roofs." He whispered.
"I'll follow your lead." She said.
Slowly, quietly, they came out of the shack through the loose board, and they jogged slowly over to the slope, climbing up it. They paused for a moment, to look around. No one had seen them. Most of the guards were confined to the shaded area underneath the gas rig. V felt the slight urge to shoot one of the canisters.
"Ok, I'll take the grocery part, you jump onto that, and then onto the garage roof. There are panels on both that lead into the buildings." JC explained the plan again.
"Right."
They both leapt onto the store roof. From here, JC lowered himself into the open panel.
"Good luck." V told him.
JC nodded, and wished her the same. He disappeared.
Vixen turned, and jumped over to the garage roof. She stayed silent for a moment, praying that no one had heard her landing, and looked around the area surrounding the station.
There were a few stacked vehicles, and a repair pen off to the side. She counted about four guards, and two commandos, most of them lounging underneath the gas rig. There were also a few guard dogs prowling about.
Most of them were crowding around the supply shop.
Crap. She thought. JC had to hurry. She lowered herself down through the panel...
...and into the sights of every trooper in the building. One of them being an MIB.
"Alarm, alarm!" Cried a trooper.
V felt a surge of horror as one of the troops rushed over to a red and white alarm panel. In slow motion, it seemed, she pulled her gun to bear, and fired wildly at the panel. It sputtered, and sparked wildly, shocking the trooper who touched it at that very moment. Vixen filled his chest with holes, and leaped off of the raised section of the room she was on, and to the floor below. She rushed to her feet.
This is it. I'm going to die. I can take the troops, but not an MIB.
Familiar thoughts, it seemed.
She strafed quickly to the left, and killed another trooper with a surge of bullets. The other two remaining troopers, and the MIB, took cover where she couldn't see them. Outside, she heard the sounds of battle, and a gigantic explosion. A trooper peered over from behind the corner, to see her, and promptly crashed to the ground as his head exploded.
Vixen reloaded, the adrenalline rush empowering her. She grabbed a piece of equipment, and tossed it over to where the troopers were. Bullets crashed into the thing at the precise moment it appeared. Vixen used this moment to lean over to where they were. The lone trooper, and the MIB were still looking at the object, and she used this opprutunity to kill the trooper. The MIB, sensing that he was cornered, rushed out into the open, firing with his assault shotgun. He found his target, and fired. Vixen felt a strange sensation in her gut, but she ignored it, and fired steadily. The stream of bullets knocked the gun from the mechs grasp. He stared at her, fire consuming his eyes as round after round punched into his stomach. He jerked back violently, and finally settled against the blood splattered wall. Two seconds later, his body erupted in a cacophony of noise and sound.
It was over. She had survived without any help.
But not without a price. She thought, looking down at her stomach. A single bullet had found a way into her gut. She registered the pain it was supposed to produce, and she screamed, loudly. For a full three seconds.
Then, breathing hard, she injected a healing stim from her medkit into the wound, groaning as it began to reseal itself.
She walked over to bodies, and looked around the room, grimacing in pain. There was a door. She sighed, and pushed it open.
Inside, were two thoroughly bewildered prisoners.
JC reloaded his weapon silently, the smoking ruins of the gas rig behind him. He had wasted only a single clip in killing all of his opposition, two commandos included. In no small part due to the gas rig, and a well-placed bullet.
He sighed. He was getting better. Better at killing. And all the while he had been promising himself to do his best to end it.
He could feel himself delving into another self-lecture. He pushed it out, and walked forward into the garage. The supply shop hadn't any prisoners in it. Maybe...Page had been lying. Maybe Tiffany was already dead, killed in cold blood an hour before they had even got here, a hundred miles away from this very location, perhaps.
He came into the garage, noting the obvious struggle that had taken place here, and heard voices coming from further inside. He walked over to them, and his previous anxieties were instantly lifted. Vixen led Tiffany Savage and Gilbert Renton out into the main garage area. Vixen gave JC a shaky thumbs up, and she smiled.
"Well, this was surprising, to say the least." Tiffany said, observing the corpses.
"Mr. Denton! I could have sworn it was you!" Gilbert said. His clothes were ruffled, and his eyes slightly bloodshot.
"I'm glad you're alright, Mr. Renton. We'll get you to Sandra soon enough."
"She's ok, w-where is she?" He exclaimed.
"With us, in the safe hands of Tiffany's father."
"I'm not even gonna ask, thank you, Eric." He said, relieved. He sighed hapilly, and leaned against the wall.
"I take it that my father sent you?" Tiffany asked.
"Yeah, he did."
"I was caught trying to steal a mini-sub at the submarine base in Pasedena."
They left the garage, Jocks helicopter flying lazily around the area.
"Do you really think there's a containment unit in the Ocean Lab?" JC asked.
"All we need is a schematic," Tiffany explained, "As long as the main computer isn't water logged..."
"What do you mean?" JC asked.
"There was a serious accident there, some guy named Ridley. Half of the people there are probably dead." Tiffany said.
"That's news..." JC sighed, shaking his head. It always had to be something. Jocks helicopter landed on the broken bridge, nearby. They ran over to it.
"I'm not going back, Denton." Tiffany said. She handed him a wrapped up paper, "It's a map that shows the way into the submarine bays."
"We'll drop you and Mr. Renton off along the way, I'll go myself."
They all climbed into Jocks helicopter. The wizzened pilot turned to JC and Vixen, and grinned broadly, "You guys are amazing, you know that?"
"Yes." JC and V said at the exact same time.
He turned back to the controls, and brought the helicopter into the air.
"I'll drop em' off along the way. You two rest." He said.
"Ehh...I hate flying." Gilbert said from behind.
JC layed back against his seat, and smiled with his eyes closed.
Until his infolink buzzed in again.
"Yes, you will go to the Ocean Lab...yes. You will help me acquire a Universal Constructor."
Helios' voice was an ugly sign of things to come.
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Authors Note: Subarine Base coming next.