Chapter One: The Return
Torri started awake to the urgent beeping of the implant in her ear, sitting bolt upright in her rack. She reached up automatically and activated the two-way communication function of the device. Each of them was implanted with the device when they were just a few years old, taught how to use them by four, it was an integral part of being Manticore. The implant was small, just a little larger than a grain of rice, placed under the skin near the auditory canal. It transmitted the auditory vibrations to be understood as a conversation to the person receiving it. She wondered sometimes if the Norm's thought them possessed when they began talking to no one. As she understood it there was a tracking device also integral to the unit allowing Lydecker, the committee or anyone with access to their codes and keep tabs on their where a bouts. She had wondered silently why they had not contacted or tracked Kito after he escaped from them. It would have been a logical thing to do, considering that Kito might in fact want to come back, or they could retrieve him easily by tracking him down with the device. If that was the case why did Kenai get deployed to track Kito down?
"X-8-222," She said sleepily even as she checked the time, midnight, she had just gotten to bed.
"Ma'am," the young male voice on the other end said, "The perimeter alarms have sounded, we have intruders," She listened a moment her eyes widening as the voice on the other end explained the situation.
"I'll be ready momentarily," She said and pushed on the implant to shut it off. She pushed out of bed and was dressed and ready within five minutes already headed for her predisposed post. It was a situation they had feared, and had planned for. It was as if Lydecker knew this was going to happen.
Torri was at her post in less than fifteen minutes and from there it became a waiting game. She stood at the lead of her troops every bit the picture of patience and confidence. Inside she was seething, bored beyond tears at the assignment she had been given. Her unit was assigned inside building 241, well away from the center of the action at the moment. They were one of two units assigned to either side of a corridor set up to be a trap. She and Tempest had been chosen because of their expertise set to close the gate on the five insurgents that first contact had reported inside the base.
Kito and Tima were both in the group according to the reports as well as two that had been recognized from Lydecker's files as X-5's from the twelve that had escaped in 2009. The fifth was a man that no one seemed to know a mystery man. By early reports he seemed to possess the same capabilities as those he was with. She felt her jaw clench slightly, wondering who he was and who he belonged to. She didn't like unknown circumstances, or people thrown into an already volatile mix.
Torri felt that slight shudder in the ground, checking off the step in her mind of the game being played out in the tunnels below this building. They had set up several sections of tunnels with "collapses", mounds of dirt built up with very narrow passages between. Once the party had gone through it a small detonation would occur bringing the rest of the carefully stored debris falling into the opening and trapping the intruding party, forcing them to surrender or fight. The first fifty soldiers would then take them into custody and bring them before Lydecker. There were multiple groups in various places both in the underground tunnels and the building itself set to deter, annoy and generally slow the group down. She honestly doubted that they would stop this group, five Transgenics was not a group to trifle with even when the odds were ten to one. They were here to rescue one of their own. That was what Lydecker had feared. He had detained an X-5, one X-5-452, one of the most defiant one of the twelve escapees from 2009 that he had somehow recovered about four years before. Another tidbit of information that he had not trusted her to have until recently. It was last week as a matter of fact and while she wondered why the woman had not been terminated she was sure that Lydecker had good reason to keep her alive. He had mentioned that she was special… but he did not say just why. There was another interesting note for her to add to her mental encyclopedia, this group was after a Transgenic that Lydecker had been holding here for research. and somehow, Kito had found her, escaped, and then brought a group back here to free her. She quickly became angry, angry at herself for allowing Kito to continue in his duties when she knew he was under duress, angry at him for betraying them all to a group of strangers.
She sighed trying to refocus on the task at hand, and hoping to get the chance to see some of the action she was hearing echoing faintly through the halls and vibrating through the floor. She and her team were here to make sure that if the group did make it to their objective that they would be surrounded and their retreat cut off. Even Blade had gotten a more active assignment than she had! So much for R.H.I.P. She adjusted her assault rifle slightly getting circulation back into her arm as she watched the hall before her and listened to the echoes of action coming closer as the time dragged on.
Her heart beat a little faster the louder the sound became until she could almost hear the hushed voices of the insurgents just down the hall and around the corner from where she was. She was breathing fast in anticipation of the order to move in. There was a small moment of silence which was broken by some low talking and then a male voice saying, "What the…. Logan!" Then loud pounding on the door they were in front of.
That was followed closely by the descending beeps in her ear that told her that it was time to move in, "Let's go" she ordered in a low carrying voice to her troops. They responded quickly quietly and without question to her order.
They moved swiftly, covering ground quickly and Torri was proud to see Tempest exactly matching her progress from the opposite side of the hall. She was even more satisfied to see the surprise on the faces of the four standing trapped outside the door. They froze as the halls filled with Torri and Tempest's teams.
"Surrender your weapons and put your hands in the air!" Torri ordered looking down the barrel of her gun at the group.
There was a stunningly handsome dishwater blond who seemed to be in charge and he nodded to the rest who began to lay their weapons aside. She glared at Kito as he protested, but the blond man convinced him of the futility of trying to fight free. Well he at least had a head on his shoulders.
She pressed the implant in her ear saying, "Sir"
She heard Lydecker himself reply to her both in her ear and echoed in the radios around her, "What is it Torri?"
"They're in custody, sir."
"Good, keep them there and await further orders," Lydecker said sounding pleased about something.
"Yes sir," She replied pressing the implant again to shut it off. She relaxed her aim knowing those in her company would keep the group in line allowing her gaze to move over each individual. She looked more closely at whom she had already assessed to be the leader. He had a wide stern face with sharply defined cheekbones. He glared at her with brilliant blue eyes defiance etched into ever feature. He was just over average height but well muscled. Beside the blond leader of this group was a woman of Asian descent with sharply slanting brown eyes and a flat-featured face. Her pitch-black hair was long even in the braid that she currently had it in coming to mid thigh. She was tall and lithe, sinuously graceful with slightly browned skin. She was measuring them Torri could see, but her face held no expression as she regarded her captors.
In front of her was a girl that had to be Tima, the Girl that had somehow convinced Kito that Manticore had done him a disservice in their treatment of him. She was also of Asian descent but was shorter, leaning toward a more Japanese background. Her hair was gathered into a doubled up ponytail the ends sticking up above her crown in stiff spikes. She had desecrated her body by piercing her ear and her nose, gaudily adorned in hoops and studs, and most blasphemous was the dual chains that ran from the rings in her nose to the first two in her left ear. Her emerald green eyes held hatred, and Torri wondered inwardly what exactly had happened to her to sour her mind about Manticore. There had been reports that she had wanted to return to rejoin the group, and Lydecker had tried to kill her for it. Somewhere deep down, a small part of Torri sympathized with the young girl, but rules were rules, and Lydecker could not make exceptions, even for someone willing to return to the fold.
Torri's gaze finally settled onto Kito, and she drew a breath involuntarily at the sight of him. She could hardly recognize him, his face was swollen so badly that she could hardly see his dark eyes. His lip was bleeding steadily as was his arm. He was dusty and looked as if the weight of the world rested upon his shoulders. As she watched she could see that he was fighting to remain conscious. This was Blade's work she could tell, and the boy had worked Kito over pretty good.
"Kito," She thought suddenly a pang twisting her gut, "Where did we go wrong? Why did you have to leave us?" She shook her head not saying it and with the action erased the thought from her mind. It did not matter anyway, he was out of the fold and now was expendable. She resumed her position at the front of her unit and awaited further orders as she had been instructed.
Her gaze moved to the door wondering just what was going on inside the room where the X-5 was being held. That one of the infiltrating group was missing was clearly evident to her. That it was the man that she had questions about was also evident. That made her wonder all the more about the events taking place inside the soundproof walls.
Torri watched angrily as the group moved steadily away from the gate toward freedom, with their hostage in tow. She was shaking hard, livid that Lydecker had been captured, even more so that they were using him as a living "get out of jail free card". No one dared move against the group now, Lydecker's safety was of utmost concern. She looked around her watching the faces of the other soldiers around her seeing her own thoughts reflected on many of the faces.
Several breaks in rank had happened as a result, some of the less disciplined had attempted to either free Lydecker directly or try to snipe his captors. Direct attempts failed miserable, the wanna-be hero finding himself outnumbered and thoroughly outmatched by the group. As far as the sniper scenario, there seemed to be some kind of preternatural sense in one of the group, because about the time that a shot was clear, Lydecker seemed to find himself in the line of fire and the shot had to be aborted.
Torri found that she wanted to break rank herself, wanted to give her own shot at getting their leader freed, but alas she was both too smart to attempt it and too entrenched in her training to go against her orders, especially when it came from Lydecker himself. She found herself snapping at the attempts releasing her own frustration at the situation on her subordinates.
Lydecker did not struggle as they became harder and harder to pick out moving down the road. She took another deep breath feeling angry and helpless all at the same time.
She turned to her troops, "Fall out report back to your posts, echo, foxtrot, zulu," She said smartly letting none of her frustration bleed into her voice. Her unit saluted her smartly and then most turned to leave. Several stood staring at the point where Lydecker and the renegades had gone, she stepped quickly up to the closest, "I said Fall out!"
The girls eyes were wide as she replied, "Y… Yes ma'am!" The others took the hint, not wanting to be subject to Torri's wrath and dispersed returning to business.
Torri sighed as she turned around and looked out at the road leading away from base, her jaw clenched tight. Slowly at first, but then with more urgency she followed after the renegades. She knew she wasn't going to catch up with them, not when they were now in their vehicle and headed away. She had faintly heard that, the van tearing up gravel on one of the side roads. Right now she was not sure just what she was going to do, only that she had to do something. It did not take her long to find the junction where the van had joined the main road. She paused a moment staring at the tire tracks feeling her anger rise again at the events she had witnessed.
She hadn't wanted to respond to the code thirty-two… they had won! They had the intruders pinned and Lydecker had been taking care of whoever the man was inside the room. The plan that their leader had formulated had been a smashing success. Yet Lydecker himself had ordered them to fall back to starting point. Then she had been forced to watch helplessly as they dragged her immediate superior out like a piece of garbage.
Torri found herself standing there in the middle of the road muscles taught and jaw clenched vowing to herself that Kito was going to pay from bringing this upon them. He had forsaken his training, and now he had made her and every other Manticore on station into potential deserters in the eyes of Lydecker… in the eyes of the committee. She had been through that before, the phsyc analysis, days on end of observation by doctors and shrinks, looking for some possible sign of instability. She had hated it, every minute she was poked and prodded and questioned endlessly on scenarios, testing her loyalty. Never would they take her word that she was Manticore's now until such time as she was either killed or died naturally.
A sound cut through the haze of anger that had enveloped Torri, a groan, her head came up and darted down the side road that the Van had come from. She turned down the road stepping up her pace, sure that she was right. She stopped short as she came upon Lydecker, sitting in the middle of the road nursing his left arm. She started to smile but checked it and more slowly approached her boss. She tilted her head to one side saying, "Sir?"
His head came up sharply as his eyes met hers, then he sagged visibly, "Torri," he breathed as she kneeled down next to him, "What are you doing out here?" He asked sounding angry that she had disobeyed his orders at the same time he sounded relieved that she had.
Torri assisted him to his feet saying, "Orders sir? Shall we go after them?"
"No," He said sharply, "Leave it. The matter is done."
"Sir!" She replied incredulously.
He looked at her again looking weary, "For now, Torri, for now."