Hiro can tell that Y.T. got a real kick out of seeing his reaction to the "surprise" she told him about. But because it was indeed a nice surprise – well, that's an understatement, really – he's willing to forgive her amusement at his expense. Even if her not warning him about it made things a little more awkward than they could have been otherwise.
But they've managed to get some of the awkwardness out of the way by now, and they're eating lunch at the conference room table. Hiro finds it hard to believe that this is actually happening – he's always wanted to meet Jack, ever since he first heard about him, but he never imagined that he actually would. He has all these questions he wants to ask, but he can hardly work up the nerve to say more than a few words to the man.
As for Jack, he talks to Juanita easily enough, and he seems to be getting more comfortable with Y.T. (she takes a little getting used to), but he's still in a state of mild shock as far as Hiro is concerned. Or maybe he just doesn't know how to talk to him. Or a combination of both. For some time, neither man can bring himself to engage the other in conversation.
Jack eventually breaks the ice. "Hiro-san…I am curious about something," he begins.
Hiro feels somewhat amused that Jack would address him with the honorific, especially since he's not using it with the women, but he's not very comfortable with it. "Go ahead and ask – but please, just call me Hiro."
Jack blinks at him a few times, then nods. "My apologies. But I wish to know, where did you acquire your swords? I have not seen many others like mine since I came here."
"I wish I could say that I inherited them but…" Hiro shrugs. "A friend of mine made them for me several years ago."
"Out of adamantium alloy," Y.T. supplies, "And sharpened with lasers. Real cutting-edge technology," she remarks with a perfectly straight face. Juanita chuckles softly. Hiro just pretends he didn't hear it.
From the look Jack gives him, Hiro knows what he's thinking – Do you know how to use them? But that would be an incredibly insulting question to ask, so he doesn't. "I see," is all he says. He seems a little disappointed, but he can't be blamed for that. Hiro feels somewhat sorry for him.
"I'd like to see you have a duel or something," Y.T. suggests. "That would be really…"
She is interrupted by a shrill, repetitive beeping noise that startles everyone at the table. Hiro recognizes the sound – someone is sending them an emergency communication. Juanita presses the appropriate button on the table's control panel. "Yes?"
Gurudo's voice comes in over the intercom. "Boss, we have a…" There is a loud, unpleasant noise – and the connection goes dead. Hiro's stomach twists itself into a knot as he and Juanita exchange glances. Y.T. is already getting to her feet. Hiro and Jack stand as well (the latter with his hand on his sword hilt), but Juanita presses some buttons on the control panel first to start the fire alarm; that will have the dual effect of confusing the PAB and warning everyone else in the club to get to a safe place, fast. A klaxon begins to sound, and a calm female voice repeats the mantra "Please make your way to the nearest emergency exit" every few seconds.
Y.T. gets her hoverboard from the corner of the room where she had put it down earlier, while Juanita pushes aside the large hanging scroll on the wall behind the head of the table. She taps the section of wall in a complicated sequence and steps back as the foot-thick secret door swings open. They follow her through it, then she uses the handle on the inside to swing it closed again.
This room is about the same size as the conference room, but completely different in appearance. The walls, floor and ceiling are plain undecorated black. Blue-white fluorescent lights shine down on a collection of refrigerator-sized computer modules, each one displaying a set of small blinking lights. On the wall to the right of the door is a keyboard, mouse and console setup that serves as the control center for all this circuitry, which contains nearly a terabyte worth of contraband data. The alarm isn't sounding in here, which Hiro finds to be a great relief.
Juanita heads to this control center as soon as the door is closed. "That'll hold them for a few minutes," she says, "As long as they don't use explosives, which I don't think they will." Then she sighs. "I was hoping that we'd never have to do this." She sits in the chair before the console and gets to work, executing the emergency programs that will send the electronic contents of the computer modules to other members of the resistance, then provide cover for the tracks of said transmissions.
Jack looks at her with a confounded expression. "But why in here? There is no way out!"
"Sure there is," Y.T. says, pointing at the floor beneath Jack's feet. "You're standing on it."
He looks down at a section of floor that seems no different from any of the others, then takes a few hasty steps backwards. "You are certainly well-prepared," he says.
Y.T. shrugs. "We kind of have to be." She looks at Jack's bare feet, then back up at his face with a sympathetic expression. "You really should have left your shoes on."
Jack narrows his eyes at her just a bit, then sighs. "I shall have to do without for the time being, then."
"Y.T.," Juanita says from her workstation, catching everyone's attention. She turns in the chair to face them, then holds up the disc in one hand. "You know where to take this. Even if something happens to the rest of us…well, this has to get to the right people. We're all counting on you." She extends her arm – Y.T. goes up to her and takes the disc, then puts it under her arm with her board while she opens a mid-sized pocket on her belt. She puts the disc in there, closes the satchel, then goes to the section of floor that Jack was standing on earlier. She taps the floor in a certain pattern, and a trapdoor opens up.
"See you guys later," she says as she climbs into the opening. As if nothing were out of the ordinary.
"Good luck," Hiro says. Jack makes a small bow in her direction. She waves at both of them, before descending into the floor.
"There," Juanita says as she gets up from the chair. "The files are sent and the memory is…"
There is a loud boom that shakes the door. The PAB have found the secret room and are trying to break their way in.
"We'd better get out of here," Juanita suggests, as the door is hit again.
Hiro shakes his head. "No, I'm not going. Not yet, anyway – I'll hold them off, to buy you and Y.T. some extra time. You'll need all you can get." He looks at Jack. "And you?"
Jack answers the question by drawing his sword and taking up a position beside the door. Hiro smiles at him, and is gratified to have the smile returned.
Juanita taps him on the shoulder. He turns to face her. "Don't die, or I'll kill you," she warns him in a serious tone.
"Yes ma'am," he says with a grin. She smiles and kisses him, for a little longer than is really decent considering that they're not alone (though he doesn't really mind), then steps back and, with a final wave to each of them, heads down the trapdoor passage and closes it behind her. Hiro draws his katana and sets up on the other side of the door, so that he and Jack are flanking it like matching statues, the tips of their swords nearly touching at floor level, feet shoulder width apart, one in front and one in back.
Some of Hiro's initial anxiety following Gurudo's intercom message faded away during the past few minutes, but now it's back in full force. He doesn't try to suppress it – instead, he distances himself from it, detaching his consciousness from his emotions, which is what he does when he gets nervous. As he watches a shower of sparks appears in the lower left corner of the door, and the smell of scorched metal fills the air. He and Jack look at each other.
"I will take the first one," Jack says quietly, as the cloud of sparks works its way up the edge of the doorframe. Hiro nods in agreement.
They wait out the terrible minute and a half while the cluster of sparks works its way around the door. It reaches the lower right corner, stays there for a few seconds, then goes out. As one, Hiro and Jack lift their swords above their heads, ready to bring the blades down on whatever might come through.
There is a short eternity of silence, during which Hiro can feel the sweat beading on his forehead: then the door is blasted out of the frame, followed by a hail of automatic gunfire. Both Jack and Hiro shift backward a bit as the bullets make Swiss cheese out of the computer banks across from the doorway. The shooting ceases, and the sound of the fire alarm assaults his ears again.
A semiautomatic rifle barrel pokes through the door, followed shortly thereafter by the humanoid PAB enforcer robot that is holding it. Jack snaps the blade of his katana downwards and slices its body in twain down to its mechanical hips. He jerks his sword back up as the robot falls to the floor and another burst of gunfire, shorter than the last, erupts through the door in response.
Then, a voice from the room outside: "We know you're in there," the voice shouts. "There's no way out. Surrender your weapons and come out with your hands up." Obviously a PAB officer.
By now, Hiro's gotten to the point where he's too worked up to be scared. "Sorry to disappoint you," he shouts back, "But if you want to get us, you'll have to do it the hard way."
"Fine with me," the officer calls out in return. For a few seconds, nothing happens – then a fist-sized black-and-red object comes flying through the door at about chest height.
Hiro's instincts come into play before his conscious mind can gear up. He whips his katana down and around, hitting the small object in midair with the flat of the blade. He hears the clink of metal hitting metal as he sends the little thing heading back in the direction from whence it came. He raises his sword again as he hears the object bouncing across the conference room floor.
Hiro hears the officer in the room beyond excalim "Oh shi…" just before the grenade detonates, sending a loud boom and a wave of light and heat through the doorway – Hiro is thankful for the secret room's sturdy walls. He and Jack both shuffle backward a little as the explosion subsides. Once it's over with, Hiro can barely make out the drill of the alarm and the crackling of flames in the room beyond for the pounding of his blood in his ears.
After waiting for a few seconds, he cautiously leans around the edge of the doorframe. The conference room has been wrecked beyond recognition by the blast (he's sad about that for a moment, but at least, he reflects, he's not wrecked beyond recognition), and there are small fires and red-hot bits of metal scattered all around. There are also bits of the PAB officer – Hiro turns away with a queasy stomach as he catches sight of one of them. He can handle blood and guts, but this is up near the limit of his capacity.
"That was quite impressive." Jack's voice startles him, and Hiro whips his gaze around to face the other man. He's not quite sure how to interpret the expression on the samurai's face.
"What?"
Jack looks slightly amused. "The way you deflected the grenade," he explains.
Hiro blinks as he processes this statement. "Oh…that…right…" He manages to collect himself just enough to add "Thank you."
Jack, with his sword at the ready, steps out through the door and into the conference room. "I left my shoes in the hall," he explains, sounding a little embarrassed. "I must retrieve them, if they are still there." Hiro nods and follows him out of the room. The two men step carefully over the debris created by the explosion and go out into the corridor. Jack's shoes are still there, and he puts them on while Hiro checks around the corner at the far end of the corridor. No sign of any more PABs or other threats.
He jumps at a loud crashing noise behind him and whirls about to see a cloud of dust rising from the door of the conference room. Once it clears, Hiro can see that the ceiling inside has collapsed and blocked the door. Now there's no way back to the hidden exit.
~***~
Jack is at first glad that they were not in the room when the ceiling came down, but his relief is quickly replaced by a sense of shame – had it not been for him, they would not now be separated from the trapdoor and a safe escape. He turns to Hiro, who is looking understandably distressed, and makes a deep bow of apology. "I am sorry…"
Hiro shakes his head. "No time to be sorry. C'mon, we can take another way out." He heads for one of the other doors off the corridor, and Jack follows him. The two of them enter a large, dark storage room filled with stacked boxes and crates. Although there is no obvious sign of any danger here, Hiro advances through the room cautiously, brandishing his sword. Jack closes the door quietly behind them and follows the other man with his own sword ready, watching every shadow in case it should contain some threat.
They reach the other end of the room, where there is a door with a push-bar and an "EXIT" sign over it. Hiro pushes the bar with his left hand while holding his sword in his right. A cool breeze wafts through the opening, bringing with it smells and sounds from the city outside. Hiro sticks his head out the door and looks back and forth, checking for threats. When he has satisfied himself that there are none, he beckons to Jack with his free hand and steps out the door. The two of them step into a lot behind the club. The door swings shut behind them, cutting off the noise of the fire alarm within. After having gotten so used to it, Jack finds the absence of the sound to be very strange.
"There," Hiro says, pointing at a black motorcycle sitting nearby. He starts jogging for it, and Jack follows him. "We'll have to ride double, but it's better than going on…"
There is an ominous whistling noise. Jack grabs Hiro's shoulder with his left hand and pulls him back quickly as a small rocket streaks through the air and hits the motorcycle, turning it into a pile of scrap metal. He jerks Hiro into a small side alley as the PAB patrol car that fired the missile starts shooting at them with its mounted machine guns.
Hiro's face is twisted into a snarl of rage. "K'sou!" He spits the curse so viciously that Jack actually flinches at the sound of it. "That was my bike, you bastards!" He moves to charge out of the alley – Jack decides that, though the man is obviously a formidable fighter, his self-control leaves something to be desired. Jack grabs Hiro by the shirt to keep him from doing something foolish.
"That would not be advisable," he warns between gritted teeth. Jack draws back his hand as Hiro turns around and glares at him. But the glare fades after a few moments as the other man regains his calm. Hiro sighs and nods, opens his mouth to say something; then they hear the sound of the PAB car's engine approaching. Both of them take cover behind a nearby dumpster, crouching and pressing their backs to the wall, as the car hovers at the mouth of the alley and sweeps a spotlight over it to search for them. Luckily, the alley is too narrow for the patrol car to enter. After a few tense moments the spotlight is shut off, and the engine sound fades into the distance. Jack peers around the edge of the dumpster to verify that the car is indeed gone.
"He'll probably call reinforcements," Hiro says as he gets to his feet. Jack does the same. Both of them sheathe their swords – no point in keeping them out, now. They make their way towards the far end of the alley, keeping to the shadows just in case. Moving unseen once they get to the street beyond is going to be a problem.
Jack sighs as he resigns himself to the prospect of making yet another harrowing escape. He just hopes that this will be the last one for a while to come.