Civilization (I'll Stay Right Here)
By Kachimoochi
Chapter VII
I Just Want To Save What I Can
The two Turians, crouched on their knees, crept past the registration lady, who was shouting a barrage of insults and curses in Mandarin at the illogical questions asked by Soham in Mandarin.
The patients waiting in the waiting room tried their best to ignore the lady, as was Chinese custom, though they did happen to notice the blemishing purple color her face contorted in extreme anger, the two Turians didn't even want to know how Soham was torturing her.
It was a straight shot to the end of the corridor, only passing vacant doctor's offices, their doors open wide to display their vacancy. The corridors were rather lifeless, as most hospital clinics are. They contained little decoration save for the occasional portrait of a flower, and the towering portrait of Mao Zedong embroidered in golden fabric, in the center of the hallway.
After venturing through a smoggy, filthy slum where aliens congregated, the stark white color of the walls burned their eyes, forcing Anaximander to turn away his exes momentarily, Hakon's mask protected his eyes, among other things.
The pair stopped at the intersection where the closet entrance awaited on the right, peeking their heads around the corner to assure one another that the coast was clear, Anaximander's head serving as a pillow for Hakon's.
"Alright, well done Soham. I haven't seen a woman turn purple like that since Zachariah Lombard tried to convince that Italian cocktail waitress that the house wine was grape juice, I learned 5 new Italian curse words that day." Anaximander spoke relieved, thanking god that Soham hadn't pranked them, also not wishing to tempt fate.
"It isn't a hard technique to master, women seem rather irritable these days, I can't imagine why" Soham spoke sarcastically.
Hakon uttered a small chuckle at the double entendre, curious of what new worldly information awaited him once they went to Civilization.
"Anyhow…Hmmm…The coast is clear, the rest of the medical staff is attending to the registrator, I think I may have argued her into a stroke…Just enter the closet, find the keycard reader, and let me handle the rest" Soham spoke, perhaps feeling a twinge of guilt, though it faded quickly.
The pair continued to creep along the wall, until they happened upon the brown door, an old fashioned door with a knob leading to the closet. Hakon stated at the golden sphere wondering what its purpose could be. Anaximander feigned ignorance of the contraption, wishing to pull a prank on his new compatriot, stepping back and allowing Hakon to operate the door for 3 minutes.
"Eh…I think I understand now" Hakon spoke as he approached the sphere, turning the slanted protusion to the right.
"Please open the closet door…Please open the closet door" Hakon whispered without any response.
"Ah…It's so old, it must not recognize translators…would you please?" he spoke to Anaximander, who continued to play along.
"Well…if you say so" he crouched to the knob and whispered the phrase, whilst discreetly turning the contraption, thus releasing the lock and opening the door.
"You know Hakon…I doubted you, but it turns out you truly can serve a purpose" he spoke unsarcastically, though patronizing to the unseen audience.
"Us Quarians aim to impress" Hakon soflty whispered, now noticing that he again hadn't been stuttering for quite a while.
The pair entered the dark room, not bothering to activate the light; Anaximander activated his Pip-Boy light, illuminating the room in a pale blue aura. Anaximander then educated on the proper human victory ritual of a high five, and after three attempts they succeeded. They then began to scour the seams of the 7 by 7 foot room, looking for anything symbolizing a keycard reader.
After 15 minutes of tossing and turning every object as silently as they could, Hakon discovered a mechanical slit on a side table underneath a potted plant.
"Huh…it's always in the first place you look…wonder why it was the last place we looked?" the very situation puzzled Anaximander regardless.
"Well it's about time, I thought you got killed and eaten, you didn't say a word for 18 minutes" Soham exclaimed, turning his vid player on pause.
"Forgive us your highness, us lowly serfs are only trying to save our race from complete subjugation, sorry we couldn't sprint to the closet like you wanted" Anaximander exclaimed, equally silently.
"What do you mean? The Turians aren't being subjugated by anyone" Soham feigned confusion, snickering as he pulled his face away from the voice modulator.
"Very funny…we found the card reader, what do we do now?" Anaximander said.
"Point your Pip-Boy towards the reader; I'll take care of everything"
Anaximander pointed the virtual screen of his wrist mounted computer towards the reader, and witnessed a blue beam of energy whirring into the card slit, from red it soon turned green.
Welcome Dr. Chan the formula is 7 hours away from completion, I hope you enjoyed your vacation- the electronic greeter spoke in Chinese.
"Right-o new pals, just press the down button on your console and you'll go down to the drug plant…but uh…you still might want to be careful, these scientists don't have an issue subjugating men, just imagine what they'll do to a Turian" Soham warned sincerely.
Taking one more moment to view their own appearances, they agreed and promised their discursion.
Though many of the elevators in the new century were painfully slow, this one was rather swift, travelling 400 ft below ground in 30 seconds comfortably, a product of human ingenuity Hakon assumed.
What seemed like a sinister and dastardly secret lair was in reality only a single laboratory, centralized in a sewer-like environment with guards posted on regular routines throughout the circular-shaped basement.
Fortunately, the elevator was within a thin corridor out of view from any of the guards and workers, adding to their stealthy luck, albeit knowing that the toughest part of their adventure lied just a hundred feet ahead of them.
Anaximander reached into his navy blue trench coat through his active camouflage, brandishing his Mauser pistol, and a silencer in the same hand.
Noticing Hakon staring at him, Anaximander sighed and reached into his opposite pocket to pull something else out, his avian hand passing through his thin waist like magic.
"Alright listen closely, the plan is still to do this stealthily so no matter what stay out of sight and don't preemptively strike, no matter how advantageous. But if worst comes to worst, take this; it's the only thing I brought with me that can fit your hands." Anaximander spoke brandishing a wooden stick.
Anaximander pulled out the stick's inner center and transformed the miniature twig into a lever-action shotgun; he reached it out to Hakon before immediately pulling back, placing a custom silencer on it, and returning it to the gobsmacked Quarian-Turian.
Hakon's temporary glove gave him written instructions on his face screen on how to operate the foreign weapon, though Anaximander ordered him to sheath it until it was absolutely necessary.
The laboratory was a small single room facility containing around 5 scientists, all male, and various elixirs and potions associated with scientists. The guards that made laps around the lab were all male also, Anaximander hoped that their compensation was worth the betrayal of the human race, and if need be, Anaximander would harbor no remorse in killing them, silently of course.
The sewer in which the lab was located was connected by 4 makeshift plastic bridges, with any one leading to one of the 4 entrances to the lab, the scientists were sat around a table mixing chemicals or modifying formulas on the electronic consoles.
Anaximander had Soham hack into the body cams of the patrolling soldiers, and to warn him and Hakon if they were about to be detected, now he only needed to decide what to do to destroy the formula, and in necessary the laboratory.
"Alright, the floor is blends with our camouflage, but it's metallic so we have to move slowly or we will be heard" Anaximander told Hakon.
"What are we even doing? Do you have any idea how to dest-dest-destroy the formula?" Hakon began to silently panic, the high from the espionage thrill waning speedily.
"Right…" Anaximander thought, sitting with Hakon behind an air conditioner turbine in the corner of the facility.
"I've got it: Step 1. Stelthily stalk past the guards in the right pattern to avoid detection. Step 2. Enter the lab and sabotage the chemicals. And finally Step 3. Do not get detected, and make a hasty retreat, we will ask Soham to make another distraction once we take the elevator up. Sound Good?" Anaximander listed with his eyes closed, imagining as many possible outcomes as possible.
"That's a horrib-horrib-horrible plan, there are 5 guards only 10 feet from one another, the lab is made of glass, is completely translucent, and the scientists are way too close together. Even if we make it inside, they'll detect us instantaneously, they'll deactivate the elevator, we'll be cap-cap-captured or killed, and Civilization will be implicated!" Hakon silently screamed, taking a full minute to catch his breath after his tirade.
"Ah Jesus…then we have no other option…we'll have to kill at least the guards, I think we can manage to scare the scientists into submission. Have you ever killed before?" Anaximander asked, after accepting the horrible reality and desperation of their situation.
"Well no! I mean I've killed Pyjacks on a hunting trip with my father but never people. I'm s-s-scared; I don't want to do this!" Hakon sat shivering, regretting the past half hour of work only to conclude with such a terrible decision.
"Don't panic…I won't lie to you…this will change you…I can't even say it's for the better, I cannot even expect you to appreciate the gravity of the situation, I'm sure to you I'm just a crazy, sexist human wanting to dismantle what may be Earth's only chance at salvation, but I am more than that." Anaximander whispered, as a guard passed them by, not noticing the two camouflaged agents.
"When I was young I was told that my life was better than anyone else's, better clothes, better house, better skin, better gender you name it. Eventually I started to believe it; I believed I had to all but give up everything I owned to the less fortunate genders, races, and colors; until I met Altair Joseph." Anaximander was well aware that this wasn't anywhere the appropriate time to tell Hakon his life story, but he only hoped it would inspire him to fight alongside him.
"I met him in a bowling alley; I had seen him before at my school and hadn't paid much attention to him before. He was wearing a winter jacket with a pin attached to the front, you wouldn't know the name, but it was one synonymous with the so-called superiority complex of human males, I felt that he was insulting, and like an idiot I approached him and demanded that he remove the pin." Anaximander paused, staring into space, as if trying to figure out if it was even reality which led him to this position.
"And?" Hakon asked
"He did to me what I did to you…he invited me into the food stand next to the lanes, bought me a pretzel, and we discussed our views on life…just like you and I did. And like you, as I spoke to him my life began to unravel before my very eyes, it was like I was waking up from a horrible nightmare. For the first time in my life I didn't feel ashamed to be who I was, I was proud, and I wanted to make others as proud as I felt." Anaximander finally made eye contact with the Turian's eyes.
"And over the years I vowed to help him wake as many human males up to the reality before they're all destroyed. Whether the Batarians kill us, the Asari destroy the Earth to make room for a space highway, or even if the sun explodes overnight…humanity is done for, I just want to save what I can." Anaximander settled his eyes to the ground, wanting this conversation to be more melodramatic; it turned into a pep-talk to convince an innocent alien to become a murderer, Anaximander felt ashamed.
"Alright" Hakon said, his Turian face remaining still, as his mask prevented the camouflage from moving with his mouth.
"What?" Anaximander looked back at Hakon
"That's exactly how I felt when I met you, like I wo-wo-woke up from a horrible nightmare, I always thought I was selfish to think things like that, but if you're offering me an opportunity to live my life for myself for the first time ever, I'll do anything to get it. Besides…it's not like they're the good guys or anything right?" Hakon spoke from his heart, as if a colossal weight had been lifted from his back, he felt as if his stutter had disappeared forever, if only.
"Well…if you are sure…your glove gives you a temporary shield, and you have a silencer on your shotgun, just get close, and fire. I wish I could tell you that it will be worth it in the end, but only you can answer that…but for what it's worth…thank you" Anaximander spoke, exposing a smile on his face, knowing that from this moment he and Hakon'Lorric Vas Lorcraff would be a friend for life.
The two Turians split up, flanking the five guards on either side of the lab. In one fell motion Anaximander rose up, his tall and slender appearance stunning the Chinese guards before he shot them quickly with his pistol, momentarily drawing the attention of the guards on the opposite side. It didn't matter, Hakon had sneaked behind a distracted guard, and before he could reach his comm link, Hakon shot him point plank with the shotgun. The gory details would stain Hakon's memory for the rest of his life, though he didn't have time to encapsulate his emotions at the time. He immediately swung the gun to his right, and fired upon the final guard, who had a frightened expression scarred upon his face, or rather the parts that remained.
The silent weapons had gained the two Turians a massive advantage, or perhaps the scientists were too focused on their sinister tasks to mind their protectors, none of them raised their heads from their important work, all but ensuring their defeat.
The two Turians burst into the lab room, Anaximander busting the door with his camouflaged leg; they both aimed their weapons at the scientists.
"LISTEN NOW! WHERE IS THE FORMULA" Hakon roared, surprising Anaximander with his sudden, powerful action
The scientists immediately cowered on the ground, blubbering in Chinese, though they were completely incomprehensible, their language was indeed foreign. Anaximander concluded that the Chinese government implanted them with language barriers to avoid their betrayal to foreign countries or races, clever move.
Anaximander told Hakon to keep his shotgun trained on the scientists, which he had corralled into a corner, while he made a comm call to Soham.
"Eh…Soham…We got a problem" he said.
"Don't you ever call to say hi?" Soham said sarcastically
"Hi" Anaximander spoke in an impationet, annoyed voice. "The scientists are implanted with a language barrier, we can't understand them"
"Scientists? But what about the guards?" Soham asked.
"Dead" was Anaximander's only response.
"You mean…?" Soham began, slowly recognizing the implications of the actions.
"They didn't feel a thing, or notice us, we need you to translate instrugtions on how to destroy the formula" Anaximander interrupted, growing more stressful with each passing second.
Hakon grabbed a scientist and forced his face into the invisible Pip-Boy, this may have destroyed their camouflage if the scientists weren't already quaking in fear. Anaximander was initially put off by Hakon's brutality, for he had never imagined that a Quarian could possess such fortitude, he decided he was releasing the inner rage he kept all his life.
Soham spoke to the scientist in Mandarin, convincing him to cooperate in exchange for his and his fellow researcher's lives, while implying that he worked for a Turian supremacist group, which the scientist swallowed without a second thought.
"Okay…Hmmm…he's taking out the original formula for you to destroy, I've already hacked into his Omni-Tool and delegated all of the copies of the formula, just destroy the paper trail and the samples, and get the hell out of there!" Soham finalized to the two Turians.
Hakon directed the scientists to crush the vials of samples, and pour the vats of chemicals into the sewer below, losing his violent personality somewhere in between. Anaximander threw the original formula into a trash can and burned it with a dispensed thermal clip from his Mauser, which he then proceeded to reload with tranquilizer ammunition. He had the scientists face away from them and sit down, and proceeded to shoot tranquilizer darts into their backs, ensuring that they couldn't deactivate the elevator as they made their retreat.
"Hakon…we did it" Anaximander exclaimed, adding more practice to their high five regiment.
"Not jus-jus-just yet, we still need to escape, and now we don't have a distraction to make it back to the loading dock" Hakon reminded him.
Deciding that there was no alternative, they reboarded the elevator which Soham once again hacked and rode their way to the top. The two men sheathed their weapons, and crouched down once again, in preparation for a speedy retreat, if worst came to worst, they could just blame one of the dock workers.
They made their way down the corridor after exiting the elevator, only to find that the entire clinic was empty, as it seemed that the seizing receptionists required an emergency room visit, which the intrigued patients followed to learn the aftermath, leaving the entrance to the loading dock free and clear, to which the two Turians spared not a second.
They re-entered the loading dock without attracting attention from the workers and make their way back to the alley where they first planned their assault, a noticeable spring in both their steps.
They both deactivated their camouflages, with the glove on Hakon's hand disintegrating after its one time use, though the two were only relieved to have their Human and Quarian forms back.
"Aww, I was just start-start-starting to get a feeling for that, it felt good in my hand" Hakon complained, as he watched the ashes of his liberations fall from the fabric of his tattered Quarian garb.
"Fear not Mon Frer, I'll get you one a thousand times better, you're going to the show kid!" Anaximander exclaimed in pride, as if Hakon was his own son. "Just need to call the chauffer first" he spoke activating his comm.
"Kaisar…MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Pick me up at these coordinates, and make room for one more passenger, I'll explain on the way back to Civilization.
The Lincoln Futura soon came into view of the resting duo, the stark red cherry color being the only appealing color in the entire city of Hong Kong. It was at this moment that Anaximander realized he'd made a horrible miscalculation.
The Futura parked next to the duo and opened its doors.
"New friend Sir?" Kaisar asked eyeing the Quarian
The Quarian's answer was a shotgun pointed at the Geth's head.