Crimson
By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG for
language.
Shaine bit her lip, hard, as she began to think about just how much she had underestimated him. Guess he didn't get to the top by kissing ass after all... Sitting in a restaurant downtown with her new wardrobe in shopping bags surrounding her feet, she decided to concentrate on something else.
This meeting of Saki's, then. She'd told Shaine to find her down in the park that night, around six, and given her an envelope. Shaine opened the envelope to find a check for ten thousand dollars - her first month's pay in advance, plus a bonus. She quickly put it back; no one seemed to notice.
The check was made out to the name on one of her false IDs; she cashed it and left most of the money and clothing in her new basement apartment. It was in the low-rent district, rather passable in spite of the owner's apparent shiftiness, and the neighbors weren't likely to point her out to the ADP.
Or Genom.
///
"Get me into that account or I will have your head."
The assistant network manager gulped nervously. "I'm...not sure that's possible. You were put under a special administrative lockout; it looks to be designed for users suspected of theft or fraud. Only certain accounts are able to initiate the lockout - we think - and then only the issuing account can lift it. Until then, the offending account can't be altered or deleted...everything is perfectly preserved in order to fry the person involved. It can be isolated into its own taskgroup with no rights and then re-opened by the issuing accountholder, but that's all."
"Who is the issuing accountholder?"
The man gulped again. "You, sir."
"So you're saying that I can't get into my account until the lock is removed, but I can't remove the lock until I get into my account?"
'Essentially...yes."
"Go away before I do something impulsive," he snapped, then buried his head in his hands once the administrator was safely gone. "Carter is going to have a field day..."
Evon, who had been leaning against another desk and enjoying the entire show, smiled.
///
Wearing a new Sailor Mars t-shirt and jeans, Shaine arrived at the meeting place with time to spare. Saki was already there, sitting on the hood of a sleek red car of indeterminate make. "Have any trouble finding me?"
"No."
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"So. What are you in the mood for?"
"I don't care. Just...no chocolate. Mind and stomach returned to that disastrous luncheon just two days earlier. And no breakfast food!"
Saki looked at her strangely. "Sure. Not a problem."
///
There was a huge hot-dog-shaped sign in front of the restaurant, but it didn't have any writing on it. Inside, the commingling scents of several things cooking, none of which could be identified offhand, actually managed to renew Shaine's appetite.
"Hey, Saki! How's the boss, ah?"
"He's just fine, Al. Just fine!"
Al? As in Al's Diner, slow foods our specialty? Shaine tried very hard not to laugh. Well, at least he says more than Whuuuut?
"Al, this is Shaine. Shaine, Al."
"Hi."
"I'll just have the same as always. You, Shaine?"
Better take it easy for now. 'Got any Jell-o?"
"For you, sure, kiddo!"
Saki pointed to a booth. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll bring the food." Carved into the wood in the corner of the booth was Omar & Deis forever and a rough sketch of a small bird.
Soon Saki returned with a huge roast beef sandwich, chili cheese fries, and a large bowl and green and red Jell-o.
"Pfeh. I'm going to the commissary to drown my sorrows in Jell-o!" Shaine quoted. She started eating slowly.
"Al makes the best beef in Chicago."
"Um-huh." The Jell-o was rather good...but, then, it was Jell-o.
"So. Do you have any questions I might be able to answer?"
"I'm still wondering how I'm going to get to work every morning without getting nailed. He knows I was talking to you. The police probably know too, by now."
"That would be a problem...but by the time Monday comes, they will have something else to work on."
"Really." Shaine's voice had suddenly gone cold. "I'm afraid I don't have much positive experience with making things come up just to save my ass."
Saki raised an eyebrow. "You're not alone in that. But the quiet times are very rare, and there are limitations to how long they can stall the case. They have their men, and all of the stolen items were returned to you. They have the notion that they can pin it on some sort of giant birds..."
"Vogelmann," Shaine whispered bitterly.
"Yes, that's as fitting a name as any...though somehow they got the moniker 'Steel Ravens.' "
Shaine played with her food and thought of her friend Crash's rendition of the Jell-o jingle.
"What do you think your uncle will do?"
"I don't know yet. Certainly try to trap me again..."
"How dangerous is he? Abusive?"
"I've never seen him do anything violent."
"Hm." She took a huge bite of the sandwich.
"But I totalled his login at Genom just before I left. He's not going to forget that."
"Really! When?"
"Just this morning." Saki stopped, sandwich midway between her mouth and the plate, and a catlike smile crept across her face. "It's fucked up good."
"You must be quite good; their system is formidable."
"No, I just know his passwords. And they're using a release of NetNova that I coauthored."
She took another bite. "He may be very angry at you."
"No shit." She stopped, the remaining Jell-o turned into a muddy mess at the bottom of the bowl. "We've disagreed before, he's even stopped talking to me...but I never did anything like that, and he's never threatened me that I couldn't get away."
"I wonder what will happen when he finds out his pet project just went up in smoke this morning, as well...."
"Oh?"
"We...outbid him on a contract. Came in lower and with a better item. As of 11am, we had the whole thing wrapped up and ready to go..."
She mostly just made small talk, then, and Shaine listened. Eventually she looked at her watch. "We'd better be going now."
///
Saki glanced through the park. "Take that path over there; it'll bring you to him."
Him who? Shaine thought, but didn't say a word. The path was covered over by a thin layer of grass and various creeping things she couldn't identify, with shade trees ahead and bushes to either side. Further down there was a park bench, upon which sat a man in a leather trenchcoat. A beret and sunglasses obscured and drew attention away from his face.
"Hello. I'm glad you could meet me here. What do you think so far?"
"I think I'm far better off here than elsewhere."
"I suppose you're right. How much do you know? And how much do you want to know?"
"I want to know whatever will bring Genom down."
"That would take a lot. Are you willing to spend the rest of your life bringing down one man?"
"It's either that or spend the rest of my life hiding!"
"You won't need to hide. There's a limit to how much more your uncle can do. He's due in court for what has happened."
"What exactly is that?"
"He and Carter are being brought up on charges for the latest satellite strikes. But that's another matter."
"I assure you...the rest of my life would not be too long to spend on this."
"You want to know about the Ravens." He was cut off by the cawing of a black shadow flying low under the trees. The man held out his arm and a bird landed on it.
"Report," he said, and a bit of light glowed out of the bird's eyes. It was a tiny film of the park. The raven shouted, then flew off again.
He turned back to Shaine. "What would you like to know about us?"
"I just told you - whatever I need to know."
"We are not the monster that Genom and the underworld would have people believe. We are real, and we do what we do in order to keep the city and its people safe. What you need to know is that Genom wants to rule the world and they have stopped at nothing to get this far. They will use anything and anyone to get what they want."
"I could have told you that much."
"But no one would believe either of us, and we are in a small minority." He paused. "What do you know of us?"
"Almost nothing. I saw the ADP files and I assume you're like the Knight Sabers...if not in league with them."
He smiled. "In league with them...you make that sound like a bad thing."
Shaine looked at him and almost smiled.
"As for the ADP files, that leaves you with nothing. I've seen them myself, and they're not good for much more than a child's bedtime story. What you need to know is that once you're in, there is no getting back out. Are you sure you want to go down the rabbit hole?"
"I'm sure."
"Then welcome aboard...Alice..." The path was suddenly flooded by light, a hovering aircraft of some kind at its end... "Time is short. Come with me!"
He took her hand and led her up the ramp.
///
A person - man? woman? - in the Ravens' armor walked up to the man in the trenchcoat. "Crimson! Everything has been taken care of."
Crimson turned back toward Shaine and told her to sit down. "This will take us back to our base, where we can see just what you can do for us." He sat down beside her.
"My name is Crimson. Outside of this, he gestured toward their surroundings, I am not real.
"Some of our members have lives still; some do not. This is the choice of each member individually, and how they want to live.
"We live by a code, and it is up to every member to uphold that code:
"You will not divulge any information concerning the Steel Ravens.
"You will never act upon a personal grudge.
"You will never act without the mutual consent of all Ravens.
"You will not attempt to secede from this organization.
"You are responsible for damage to the organization's equipment while it is in your possession or use, unless that damage was unavoidable.
"You will never divulge information regarding any of our clients.
"You will not attempt to gather intelligence on your own. This task will be divided among all members as seen fit.
"You will keep in regular contact with other members.
"The penalty for violating any of the rules is death.
"Do you understand that this is the price of destroying Genom?"
"Yes."
The doors to the back of the jet opened. "Then welcome to the Steel Ravens, Shaine Kohl. Come with me."
///
"This floor is our training center. It is also where we will fit you for a hardsuit. The locker room is down the hall; Belladonna will meet you there. Change into a measuring suit, then come back to this room."
Shaine went down the hall, coming to two double doors: womens' locker room. A teenage girl sat on one of the benches inside, dressed in a black and white skintight suit. Her hair was five different colors, all of them garishly bright.
"Hi. What's your name?"
"I'm Shaine."
"Belladonna. What size do you wear?"
"Mmm...three or five."
Belladonna smiled and stretched. "Hm. Three might fit." She pulled a suit like her own out of a large locker.
"Here you go. Be careful not to hit the hard points on the floors or walls." She pointed to a metal triangle at the jumpsuit's arm. "Crim has a fit at how often we have to replace them."
"So, what's your specialty?"
"Computer software."
"Really? Hacking or building?"
"Both."
"I used to be the group's hacker, but then I went into combat. More action, plus I toasted some implants doing the Vulcan mind meld."
"Mind meld?"
"Yeah. Freejacked into a Boomer's mind, tried to override the junk that Genom calls programming...didn't work..." She pointed to a set of metal ports on the side of her head.
"Never tried that. But remind me to show you a trick with NetNova 5 sometime."
"Cool! Uh...but I only have version 4..."
"I can hook you up."
"Cool beans! But we better get going, boss man hates to be kept waiting..."
"All right," Shaine was rather self-conscious about the way the suit fit her body, but she followed diligently. Makes me look even flatter than I already am, damn it... But why do you care? Going to go after Birdman Crimson with a can opener?
Belladonna led her back through another door, passing through the room where she had left Crimson, and into a circular room. In the center was a device in the rough shape of a human.
"Okay, I'm going to hook you up to the simulator. It may feel uncomfortable at first, so don't try to fight it." She led Shaine up to the device, flipping open the manacle-like restraints on its sides. "Step right up!"
Shaine fought an attack of claustrophobia as Belladonna slapped the device closed, hooked up some leads to the hard points on her suit, and locked her in.
Belladonna stepped back. "She's ready to go..."
Crimson's voice came over the intercomm. "This will simulate a fight in a hardsuit. However, it is only a facsimile and nothing like wearing one. Just let the machine do the work."
The room went black. Shaine saw through the simulator's screen that she was on top of the Sears Tower. On the side of the tower was a Boomer, climbing up...
She was suddenly pulled down into a wild flight down one side of the tower, toward the Boomer. A ball of fire issued from its mouth, but she easily dodged it. The Boomer swung its arm at her, but missed again. Voices streamed over her hardsuit's radio... "Go for the core!" one yelled.
She jumped off the side of the tower and launched something at the Boomer, then swung into a glass window. The Boomer followed her in, firing its weapons. She dodged, but then was caught up in its arms. It squeezed...
Shaine somehow managed to pry her way out of its hands and kick at the side of its face. There was an explosion, and the monster reared back. She fired again, sending two glowing rods into the Boomer's chest and causing another explosion.
She reached into the chest and drew out something that looked like a human heart. As she closed her fist around it, it exploded.
The simulation ended.
///
"Did you get that, Boss! Whew!"
"Yes, not bad..."
"You okay, Shaine?"
"Yeah, I think so." It was far from the truth, but she hardly wanted to look weak in front of the others.
"Y'know, it's not fair. Most people spill a gut and you just walk away."
"Yeah, I'm funny like that."
Belladonna led her into the weight room. "Okay. This time we want to see how much you can lift, bench, and hold. Try your hardest, but don't overdo it."
Small and tired, but possessed of the stereotypical German physique, Shaine easily passed. She then did repetitions and ran on a treadmill...nothing as strenuous as the previous room's test. Finally Belladonna took her into another round room, this one with a recessed area in the center of the floor.
"This is where we see how well you handle hand-to-hand combat." The recessed area came alive with a purple glow and music began to play:
I love you...you love me...we're a great big family...
In the middle of the room was a round purple ball with a smiling face. Belladonna just sat there and smiled.
"Go ahead. Go fight it."
God, I wish this was The Matrix ...
I love you...you love me...
Shaine stepped down toward the Barneyball, then took a breath and steeled herself. "I know kung-fu."
"Yeah, me too, but that comes later."
Shaine had no time to tell her that it was only a quote. A spike shot out from Barney's head. She pulled back away from the spike, dropping down and kicking upward at it. Two more spikes came at her, and she rolled away.
She came at it again, jumping over the two long, low spikes it sent out to sweep her, and landed a good blow to its side. The ball spun, and lanced out with a holographic slab which hit her in the waist. It followed up with four more spikes, two of which hit.
"You're my special friend!" Shaine charged, evading another long spike and getting in another solid hit. The hologram faded.
"Not bad! But next time use the Teletubby one; it's more disturbing."
"Sure, pick on me and go easy on the newbies..." Belladonna muttered. "Come on, we have a few more to go."
They were mostly problem solving and hand/eye coordination. Too easy.
The last room was a lounge of sorts, with several couches and a low table. Crimson was sitting there with a pile of papers next to him.
"So how do you feel?"
"Like shit." She gave up the macho routine and fell down onto one of the couches, holding her head in her hands.
"Impressive! Most don't make it to the couches. The hall, sure...a few feet from Barney, mostly." He shot a look at Belladonna. "Get her something to drink, please."
"No Coke!" Shaine gasped. Her stomach cramped. On top of all that other shit, now I've got an aversion to one of the most popular soft drinks in the world...thank you, Erik...
"Okaaaay...how's Gatorade sound?"
"Fine." Belladonna left.
"Well, you're a little light on the combat side," Crimson said, leafing through the papers, "But you have great hand-to-hand, and hand/eye, which is very useful. Do you know how to use any weapons?"
"Yeah. I used to have a little Miyako, like Gwen in The Cat Who Walks through Walls, but that's back in Michigan."
"We'll have to take you down to the shooting range, then. Anything else? Swords, knives?"
"No." She frowned. "Well, fencing, but that doesn't really count."
"It counts. It's useful."
"Oh, sure. Even...he...could whip my ass at it."
"It's not about whipping anyone's ass. It's about putting down a Boomer as fast as you can."
"A fencing foil against a Boomer. Right."
"Sometimes you have to use imaginative methods." He smiled. "We balance the teams out with personal suits so that each person's weaknesses are even. For you, it will be some heavy weaponry as well as support and communications equipment. You will handle what goes in and out of a battle site. That includes any records - audio, video, any physical evidence that we were there. Except for the Boomer. Those we leave for Genom." There was a sparkle in his eye. "Your suit will be ready in about four days. Then you will have a week to try it out before you are expected to go on dry runs. After that, you will be cleared for missions. And until then, I'll have a standard suit rigged for you. Left-handed, correct?"
"Yes."
"If you want, you can try it out today. But until then...the boring part. You have to sign these papers."
It was standard health and life insurance coverage, separate from that which she had as a Starbright employee. She got through the forms with minimal stress.
"Okay...time to see the suits." Crimson took her down to another floor. The walls of one room were lined with black Birdman suits.
"These are our hardsuits. Each one is tailored to a specific person. You have one backup..." He pressed a button on the wall, and a second suit popped out. "That one is a standard operation suit, one anyone can wear. It has two settings, personalized and universal."
He pushed another button and a long door opened. "These are the cloaks we wear over the suit. It is worn over either suit, no matter what. And, no matter what, when a suit goes down the cloak is burned. It must not ever be allowed to fall into anyone else's hands. Understood?"
"Yes."
He closed the door and opened another. "These are our external weapons. Our backups. There were huge handguns and clips, scaled to the suits' hands. They fire 12mm shells, mostly anti-Boomer, for when we are in deep trouble. The clips hide in the cloak, the gun at your thigh in a special holster."
He picked up what Shaine could only describe as a Big Fucking Gun. "The rifle is optional, and rarely used. It fires three shell types as well as grenades. This is for the big ones. The guns are stored in all of our transports"
Inside the next room were cages filled with huge ravens. "These are the birds. They are hybrid robots, responding to a wrist communicator hidden inside a fake watch. Most of the time they will simply follow you, and if you are in danger they will let you know. If you need help, you can send it to get us. They have no weapons...but can peck an eye out pretty fast. Each member gets three, but more than likely you will only end up using one. Do you know how to handle a bird?"
"No."
"It won't take long to learn." He gave her a handful of seed. "Go ahead; pick one. They love the attention."
She began to walk toward one of the birds. It called out and hopped over to the front of the cage, eating greedily from her hand. The one in the next cage, which had a silver streak over its eye, cawed angrily and tried to grab some of the seed.
Crimson handed her a watch. "This will call any of them, or you can pick which one you want. It will also show you when and where there is one near you."
A raven with dyed pink feathers flew in, opened one of the cages. It grasped the door with its beak and shut it behind itself.
"Some of them tend to pick up bad habits from their humans."
Next was the motorpool. There were Ravens' Wings, miniature jets like the one that had brought her there, and and the Motoslaves, which could transform over a hardsuit or operate as a robot in battle. The room was connected to the city's monorail system, and along one wall were large tubes with huge doors.
"This is an RDC. We use it when we have to get someplace fast. There are some in the complex, some here, and one just inside the hardsuit room. Nightly patrols use it to check the city. The chamber charges with ions, then shoots you out overhead. Then you can use your jet verniers to go anywhere in the city."
He turned toward her. "Would you like to try it?"
"All right."
"Go get into a hardsuit, then, and we'll have a test drive."
///
Saki was sitting in the hardsuit room when Shaine arrived. As Saki helped her get into one of the generic suits, Shaine muttered...
"From now on, you'll dress only in attire sanctioned by MIB Special Services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you, get approval for any expenditure over a hundred dollars. You will have no identifying marks of any kind. You will not stand out in any way. Your entire image is carefully crafted to leave no lasting memory whatsoever with anyone you encounter..."
"Okay, lean back."
"You're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu, and dismissed just as quickly. You don't exist; you were never born."
Saki sent her back down the hall.
"Anonymity is your name, silence your native tongue. You are no longer part of the system. We're above the system, over it. Beyond it. We are Them. We're They..."
She arrived at the motorpool. "We are the Men in Black.
"Here I am in the last suit I'll ever wear."
///
"Okay, just step in and hang on. The first few minutes will be nerve-wracking. Wait until the charge is done...then go. Crimson put his helmet on. Can you still hear me?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go."
///
The door closed and the tube turned. Shaine heard a loud locking sound, and the tube began to glow bright blue. Blue-white bolts shot across the tube as she was lifted up off of its floor. There was a flash and she shot out of the tube, rising to a height of about two miles above the city.
"You still with us?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"Good. You'll start descending soon. When you want to steer, hit the vernier in your back. Once you go to land, hit your jump jets. That'll slow you down so that you can jump again."
Her heads-up display showed her location, the suit's status, her blood pressure and heart rate...
"See that building over there, the brownstone?"
"Yeah."
"Try to land there."
Shaine aimed and easily made it to the building's roof, then realized that there was something going on in the street below. She could see two men beating another.
"Small crimes like this are fine to handle, and if you can make it looks like it happens on accident, even better."
Crimson held out his arm, and two charges shot out from his hand. "Gas pellets. Give the man a chance to run, then we can wrap up the thugs. Make sure your cloak is on!"
They jumped off of the roof, the cloaks helping to blend the hardsuits into their background. Crimson landed close to the two men, and made sure they were out cold. "The next thing we do is make sure they get picked up..."
He called the police, then said, "Let's go; they'll be here all too soon." The pair returned to the roof, where a hardsuit with blue markings was waiting.
Crimson turned toward the Genom Tower. "You used to be able to see the lake from here. I hope one day we can have the view back."
"O-kay, Crim, quit waxing poetic. The ADP is fighting a rogue Boomer."
"What do you know about it?"
"It's a C-class waitress. BUE35."
Crimson looked at Shaine.
"BUE35...that's a cheap model."
"Yeah, a lot of small restaurants went in on them big-time," Belladonna replied.
"Waitress Boomers are all the same. It's just a matter of how smart they are."
"Weak spots?" Crimson asked.
Shaine shrugged. "I'm not used to thinking of Boomers in those terms."
"Okay, Bell, frontal assault. Shaine on comm jam and backup. Right arm rail guns, left arm sword. Let's go show them whose town this is."
Three jumps later, they found the Boomer. It had two humans trapped in the restaurant, and the ADP were still outside. It didn't look like a BUE35 to Shaine: its synthskin was grotesquely distorted and it was far bigger.
"Can you find out if there's any sort of external signal?"
"None."
"Good. Most likely the owner just overworked it. Bell, dance with it. Shaine, I need a five-block comm blackout."
"Done."
Belladonna went into the restaurant and was backhanded by the Boomer. She held her ground, lashing at it with what appeared to be some sort of cable. Crimson circled around and fired his rail gun.
"Shaine, see if you can find a way to scramble its hardware."
"Working on it...got it!"
The Boomer reared up and began shooting at her. Its red eyes glowed, and it charged...
Shaine began firing her rail gun. Once it was close enough, she brought up the sword and cleanly sliced off a cable that the Boomer lashed at her. The Boomer charged again, allowing her to land a few more shots. Someone - she thought it was Crimson - landed on its head and ripped something out. The Boomer died.
Crimson tossed it to her...it looked like a human heart. "Do the honors."
Shaine crushed the Boomer's core as Belladonna used her laser to burn a raven symbol into the dead Boomer's hide.
"Good job. Now let's go."
He walked over to the humans huddled in the corner of the restaurant. "They're out cold. Must've fainted."
"Come on, Crim, let the ADP play overpriced paramedics...it's all they're good for, anyway."
///
"Shaine, can you find out that Boomer's repair history? See how many times it was in the shop, and how often it broke down?"
"Working on it... It was brand new, and never taken in for repairs."
"What do we have on the owner of the restaurant?"
Belladonna consulted her records. "Not much. He only began using Boomers this year...it was cheaper than hiring humans."
"I'm getting something. Genom was tracking this one. Brand new, and with a special batch number..."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know."
"Hmmm. Carter must be up to something. See if there's anything more."
"It was made in Japan. That's all."
"Strange...it would have cost more, then. They must be up to something. Who do we have on the inside, Bell?"
"No one. Willy was found dead yesterday, no one else is on the payroll, and Genom has shut down all of their normal doors. Unless you just want me to ask Carter...to let me peek?"
"Shaine, do you have any way into Genom's system?"
"We have to come up with a code name for you..." Belladonna mused.
Shaine sighed. "Depends. I killed his login this morning and it's questionable whether I could get in without it. Undoubtedly they've tightened security since finding out about my loophole...though I may be able to use it again if they haven't figured out exactly where it is."
"How long will it take to find out?"
"Ahhhh...looks like they haven't! Hah!"
"Good. See what you can find without letting them know you're there."
"It looks like they were getting some messages from Mason over in the Tokyo office. Seems to regard a new shipment of Boomers. Most of it is in his mailbox. Which even I can't get at."
"Can you get us the shipping info?"
"Yeah, let me copy it over. ...10:30pm tomorrow. Fifty of them coming in at O'Hare. Maximum security, and I'm sure you can guess who will be there."
"What type of Boomers?"
"Doberman."
"What?" Belladonna went pale.
"What status?"
"Active."
"Shit. See if you can get the shutdown code."
Shaine leaned back in the chair. "There is no shutdown code."
"Damn. This is going to be a hard fight."
"Like Genom would play fair!"
"We've got a code red. Bell, call everyone and get Saki in a suit as well. I'll call Tokyo and see if we can get this thing grounded".
"Do you want me to wake Jade, Crim?"
"No. Standby only. Rika as well."
"Shaine, do you have a tracking number for them?"
"Yeah... S/N 29-0987-0924-2AIX ERIK KOHL I've got it. It's going to him."
"I want both wings in the air, and...going to who?"
Shaine's face was ashen. "What 'him' do you think I'm talking about? You know who they're going to!"
"Oh."
She swore enthusiatically. "Gee, do you think he could use something smaller to look for you?" Belladonna asked. Shaine glared at her, and Bell smiled back.
"Okay, knock it off, Bell. Get to work. Shaine, I'm sorry."
There was nothing but silence.
"Would you mind sleeping here tonight?" Crimson asked gently.
"No."
"Good. Let me show you to your room, then; we'll need to get some sleep tonight."