Chapter 9: The Truth
AN: I only own locations, weapons and characters.
The smell of food was the first thing that came to Joanna. She awoke to find the other two seated by the fire she started with pieces of a long since dead tree fed into it. "She's awake." Fearing noticed. Nathan went to her side. "Jo, are you all right?" He asked. "Yes." She replied. "You'll never believe what happened to me on the way down." She told them of the ski chase with the hovercopter and how she dealt with the problems as they came up. "Well, you were pretty lucky to get out of that one." Fearing said. "Didn't know you could ski." "I don't." Joanna said, truthfully. "I just managed to stay upright." Fearing stood. "Well, we're out side the radiuses of the border patrols. Now it's your turn." "If you say so." Joanna stood and smoked him in the face. Fearing toppled back into the snow, a red spot at his lip. "Are you crazy!?" Nathan ran to Fearing's side. "He didn't need our help getting here." Joanna said. "Where'd he get the convenient equipment? And don't tell me the flares are standard prison issue. It's a beacon to let them know where we are. Ask him what he's getting in return." "A full pardon." Fearing said as he wiped his lip. "Which doesn't cover this." "An accident wasn't good enough." Joanna replied. "Good enough for one." Fearing sneered. "Two woulda looked suspicious." As he talked, a field surrounded him, similar to that of a cloaking device, or the technology that the Skedar used for their appearances as Mr. Blonde. In Fearing's place, stood a dead on replica of Joanna. "Killed while attempting escape." Fearing/Joanna continued. "Now that's convincing for both." Nathan peered at him/her. "Surprise!" Fearing/Joanna said and punched Nathan out. S/he stood. "You're friends are late." Joanna replied. "They'll be along." Fearing/Joanna said. "But I can't believe I kissed you." "Must've been your lifelong ambition!" Joanna retorted. The remark gave her a sharp punch and they fell to the ground, fighting and rolling. "Isn't it about time you became something else?" Joanna panted. "I like it here!" Fearing/Joanna said just as they came face to face with a snarling dog. "Well, well, well." Said a voice Joanna never thought she'd hear again. General Ekinnj same forth, a Mauler in his hands. "What took you so long?" Joanna said. Ekinnj charged his Mauler in reply. "Kill her." Fearing/ Joanna pointed. "She's the one." Ekinnj's aim shifted. "Not me, you idiot!" Joanna said. "Him!" Ekinnj aimed and fire, sending Fearing/Joanna back with a bullet mark in his/her head. "No witnesses." Ekinnj said. "Killed while attempting escape." Joanna said. "Damned clever if you ask me." Nathan said as he struggled up. "It's a classic." Joanna replied, helping him up. "That's what we wanted." Ekinnj said. "Who's we?" Joanna asked. "Since you're going to die anyway, why not tell you?" Ekinnj touched a part on his thigh and a tall, striking, dark haired man took his place with cold gray eyes, a faint scar on his right cheek and signs of plastic surgery on his left hand. Of course! This was Skedar technology, only reversed! "My name is Jason Connor. I lead the faction against the Skedar peace treaty. All questions will have to be saved for later." He nodded to two of the guards, who came and hit both Joanna and Nathan on the backs of their heads.
"Why didn't you tell us!!!" Velvet yelled as they made their way to the situation room. "Why didn't you tell us we could have extracted Joanna!" "You would have gone and taken her back." Carrington said. "That would have been enough to break this emerging peace. But now, she'd out of the jurisdiction and you can go get her." He spoke in the situation room to the new computer that could respond to verbal commands. "Scan Antarctica. Locate Joanna Dark." After several minutes of tense scanning, the computer replied. "Joanna Dark is no longer in Antarctica." Velvet closed her eyes. She'd lost Joanna. They had no leads and it would take them too long to locate her, even if she was alive. She'd lost her sister.
Joanna awoke to the sound of a generator. She opened her eyes to the interior of a dataDyne hovercopter. She looked out the window to see the sun set under a large suspension bridge, which was a beautiful sight. They were in San Francisco! Joanna had always wanted to visit here, but she never got round to it. They landed on a large building where Joanna and the limp body of Nathan were carried out through the very nice building and placed in a room, and bound. After a while, Nathan came to. Joanna managed to get over to him. "Are you ok?" She asked. "I think so." Nathan said. "You?" "Fine." Joanna said. "But I'll feel better when we can escape." "Fat chance of that happening." Connor said as he came in with a DY357 Magnum. He sat at a small desk. "Jason Connor," Joanna quoted "In accordance with general law..." "I must now consider myself under arrest." Connor finished for her. "On counts of terrorism, murder, illegal holding, etcetera, etcetera. Those were the first word that your duty required you to say. You're covered, both of you. Now, suppose we move onto the next subject?" "Which is why?" Joanna said. "Good." Connor replied. "Direct, succinct. Answer. The Skedar's only religion is war. They believe the weak should only be eradicated. They destroy everything in their path. Who say we stand a chance against these fiends? Didn't you wish Krinnji dead? Let them die, you said. Did I misinterpret you? And you were right. They aren't trustworthy. They conspired with us to assassinate their own chancellor." "What?" Joanna said, aghast. "The person who fired those missiles was one of my men, outside the Institute doors." Connor said. "And another of my man boarded the ship and shot the chancellor. And one of my men entered the Institute, stole your new weapon and convinced your beloved hacker Grimshaw to cough up your log entry." "Humans and Skedar conspiring together..." Joanna said. "Well, we couldn't come up with that improved cloaking device by ourselves." Connor said. "They've been most cooperative. As well as the human members against the treaty. I might as well tell you since you're not going to live to use the information. They are Trent Easton, my faction, obviously and the Mexican ambassador, Ramirez. Now, to the business at hand." He signaled for the guards to come. They unbound them and led them out into a hall. At the end, a light came from an office as well as a voice that was probably coming from a phone. They entered the office to find a plump, balding man at a desk surrounded by papers. "Hey, what the hell..." He began. "Mr. Connor!" "Call the police, Mr. Howe." Connor said. "Tell them that there's been a break-in. Ask them to get here as soon as possible." "You're being used, Mr. Howe." Nathan said. "Do it." Connor insisted. Howe took his phone and dialed 9-1-1. "Hello, we've had a break- in. City hall, office 306. Come at once." He hung up. "What have they done?" "You discharged her friend, huh?" Connor said, slowly as he was making it up as he went. "So she and her lover came to kill you. Then, they set fire to the office to conceal the crime, but they were trapped in the elevator and perished in the flames." He took out a standard Falcon 2. Joanna's eyes widened as she recognized the serial number as her own. "But that means..." Howe said. "I'd have to be..." "Dead." A small detail that Connor soon took care of. Joanna closed her eyes as Howe fell back into his chair. "That's rather neat, don't you think?" Connor said. "Brilliant." Joanna replied grimly. "I'm almost speechless with admiration." "Intuitive improvisation is the secret of genius." Connor replied. With this type of thinking, he had to be psychotic. He beckoned them out into an old style elevator as he left Joanna's Falcon 2 on the table. This was an older elevator with no glass siding, no hover technology. Only old style cables and gears. Connor shut the doors on them and let them travel down to the fifth floor. Then, one of his men cut the power on the elevator. Connor then took a bottle of Bacardi. It had a white piece of paper in the neck of the bottle, turning into a high explosive, or a Molotov cocktail, as it was known. He dropped in onto the roof of the halted elevator where the incendiary bomb exploded. Nathan quickly pushed the top plate out as Connor and his men left the building. He took Joanna's hand and pulled her onto the girders as the elevator gave way and fell to the bottom. "Don't go away," He said and climbed to the top. "Nathan, where are you going?" Joanna cried. "Don't leave me!" "I'll be right with you!" Nathan called back down and forced open the doors. He ran to a nearby fire hose and pulled it out. He dropped it down the shaft for Joanna to catch. She caught it and Nathan hauled her up. Joanna had passed out from smoke inhalation by the time she reached the top. Nathan put her over his shoulders and took the stairs out to the roof.
End of Chapter. Well, this was new! The Skedar aren't the enemy! Well, please review whilst I answer questions to the reviews I got last time!
Peachrocks: All work in this fic is original in terms of plot and dialogue. Any similarity to any movie or book is purely coincidence. Now that you ask, where do you think the scene in question is from?
Christalina: Remember in the closing scene of dataDyne Central: Extraction? Joanna purely remarks "Sorry. Gotta shoot." Before leaping into the jumpship and killing 2 of Cassandra's guards. This is simlar to a witticism our mutual friend Mr. Bond would make no? By the way, what does "LOL" mean? Modern slang has never been one of my strong suits.
AN: I only own locations, weapons and characters.
The smell of food was the first thing that came to Joanna. She awoke to find the other two seated by the fire she started with pieces of a long since dead tree fed into it. "She's awake." Fearing noticed. Nathan went to her side. "Jo, are you all right?" He asked. "Yes." She replied. "You'll never believe what happened to me on the way down." She told them of the ski chase with the hovercopter and how she dealt with the problems as they came up. "Well, you were pretty lucky to get out of that one." Fearing said. "Didn't know you could ski." "I don't." Joanna said, truthfully. "I just managed to stay upright." Fearing stood. "Well, we're out side the radiuses of the border patrols. Now it's your turn." "If you say so." Joanna stood and smoked him in the face. Fearing toppled back into the snow, a red spot at his lip. "Are you crazy!?" Nathan ran to Fearing's side. "He didn't need our help getting here." Joanna said. "Where'd he get the convenient equipment? And don't tell me the flares are standard prison issue. It's a beacon to let them know where we are. Ask him what he's getting in return." "A full pardon." Fearing said as he wiped his lip. "Which doesn't cover this." "An accident wasn't good enough." Joanna replied. "Good enough for one." Fearing sneered. "Two woulda looked suspicious." As he talked, a field surrounded him, similar to that of a cloaking device, or the technology that the Skedar used for their appearances as Mr. Blonde. In Fearing's place, stood a dead on replica of Joanna. "Killed while attempting escape." Fearing/Joanna continued. "Now that's convincing for both." Nathan peered at him/her. "Surprise!" Fearing/Joanna said and punched Nathan out. S/he stood. "You're friends are late." Joanna replied. "They'll be along." Fearing/Joanna said. "But I can't believe I kissed you." "Must've been your lifelong ambition!" Joanna retorted. The remark gave her a sharp punch and they fell to the ground, fighting and rolling. "Isn't it about time you became something else?" Joanna panted. "I like it here!" Fearing/Joanna said just as they came face to face with a snarling dog. "Well, well, well." Said a voice Joanna never thought she'd hear again. General Ekinnj same forth, a Mauler in his hands. "What took you so long?" Joanna said. Ekinnj charged his Mauler in reply. "Kill her." Fearing/ Joanna pointed. "She's the one." Ekinnj's aim shifted. "Not me, you idiot!" Joanna said. "Him!" Ekinnj aimed and fire, sending Fearing/Joanna back with a bullet mark in his/her head. "No witnesses." Ekinnj said. "Killed while attempting escape." Joanna said. "Damned clever if you ask me." Nathan said as he struggled up. "It's a classic." Joanna replied, helping him up. "That's what we wanted." Ekinnj said. "Who's we?" Joanna asked. "Since you're going to die anyway, why not tell you?" Ekinnj touched a part on his thigh and a tall, striking, dark haired man took his place with cold gray eyes, a faint scar on his right cheek and signs of plastic surgery on his left hand. Of course! This was Skedar technology, only reversed! "My name is Jason Connor. I lead the faction against the Skedar peace treaty. All questions will have to be saved for later." He nodded to two of the guards, who came and hit both Joanna and Nathan on the backs of their heads.
"Why didn't you tell us!!!" Velvet yelled as they made their way to the situation room. "Why didn't you tell us we could have extracted Joanna!" "You would have gone and taken her back." Carrington said. "That would have been enough to break this emerging peace. But now, she'd out of the jurisdiction and you can go get her." He spoke in the situation room to the new computer that could respond to verbal commands. "Scan Antarctica. Locate Joanna Dark." After several minutes of tense scanning, the computer replied. "Joanna Dark is no longer in Antarctica." Velvet closed her eyes. She'd lost Joanna. They had no leads and it would take them too long to locate her, even if she was alive. She'd lost her sister.
Joanna awoke to the sound of a generator. She opened her eyes to the interior of a dataDyne hovercopter. She looked out the window to see the sun set under a large suspension bridge, which was a beautiful sight. They were in San Francisco! Joanna had always wanted to visit here, but she never got round to it. They landed on a large building where Joanna and the limp body of Nathan were carried out through the very nice building and placed in a room, and bound. After a while, Nathan came to. Joanna managed to get over to him. "Are you ok?" She asked. "I think so." Nathan said. "You?" "Fine." Joanna said. "But I'll feel better when we can escape." "Fat chance of that happening." Connor said as he came in with a DY357 Magnum. He sat at a small desk. "Jason Connor," Joanna quoted "In accordance with general law..." "I must now consider myself under arrest." Connor finished for her. "On counts of terrorism, murder, illegal holding, etcetera, etcetera. Those were the first word that your duty required you to say. You're covered, both of you. Now, suppose we move onto the next subject?" "Which is why?" Joanna said. "Good." Connor replied. "Direct, succinct. Answer. The Skedar's only religion is war. They believe the weak should only be eradicated. They destroy everything in their path. Who say we stand a chance against these fiends? Didn't you wish Krinnji dead? Let them die, you said. Did I misinterpret you? And you were right. They aren't trustworthy. They conspired with us to assassinate their own chancellor." "What?" Joanna said, aghast. "The person who fired those missiles was one of my men, outside the Institute doors." Connor said. "And another of my man boarded the ship and shot the chancellor. And one of my men entered the Institute, stole your new weapon and convinced your beloved hacker Grimshaw to cough up your log entry." "Humans and Skedar conspiring together..." Joanna said. "Well, we couldn't come up with that improved cloaking device by ourselves." Connor said. "They've been most cooperative. As well as the human members against the treaty. I might as well tell you since you're not going to live to use the information. They are Trent Easton, my faction, obviously and the Mexican ambassador, Ramirez. Now, to the business at hand." He signaled for the guards to come. They unbound them and led them out into a hall. At the end, a light came from an office as well as a voice that was probably coming from a phone. They entered the office to find a plump, balding man at a desk surrounded by papers. "Hey, what the hell..." He began. "Mr. Connor!" "Call the police, Mr. Howe." Connor said. "Tell them that there's been a break-in. Ask them to get here as soon as possible." "You're being used, Mr. Howe." Nathan said. "Do it." Connor insisted. Howe took his phone and dialed 9-1-1. "Hello, we've had a break- in. City hall, office 306. Come at once." He hung up. "What have they done?" "You discharged her friend, huh?" Connor said, slowly as he was making it up as he went. "So she and her lover came to kill you. Then, they set fire to the office to conceal the crime, but they were trapped in the elevator and perished in the flames." He took out a standard Falcon 2. Joanna's eyes widened as she recognized the serial number as her own. "But that means..." Howe said. "I'd have to be..." "Dead." A small detail that Connor soon took care of. Joanna closed her eyes as Howe fell back into his chair. "That's rather neat, don't you think?" Connor said. "Brilliant." Joanna replied grimly. "I'm almost speechless with admiration." "Intuitive improvisation is the secret of genius." Connor replied. With this type of thinking, he had to be psychotic. He beckoned them out into an old style elevator as he left Joanna's Falcon 2 on the table. This was an older elevator with no glass siding, no hover technology. Only old style cables and gears. Connor shut the doors on them and let them travel down to the fifth floor. Then, one of his men cut the power on the elevator. Connor then took a bottle of Bacardi. It had a white piece of paper in the neck of the bottle, turning into a high explosive, or a Molotov cocktail, as it was known. He dropped in onto the roof of the halted elevator where the incendiary bomb exploded. Nathan quickly pushed the top plate out as Connor and his men left the building. He took Joanna's hand and pulled her onto the girders as the elevator gave way and fell to the bottom. "Don't go away," He said and climbed to the top. "Nathan, where are you going?" Joanna cried. "Don't leave me!" "I'll be right with you!" Nathan called back down and forced open the doors. He ran to a nearby fire hose and pulled it out. He dropped it down the shaft for Joanna to catch. She caught it and Nathan hauled her up. Joanna had passed out from smoke inhalation by the time she reached the top. Nathan put her over his shoulders and took the stairs out to the roof.
End of Chapter. Well, this was new! The Skedar aren't the enemy! Well, please review whilst I answer questions to the reviews I got last time!
Peachrocks: All work in this fic is original in terms of plot and dialogue. Any similarity to any movie or book is purely coincidence. Now that you ask, where do you think the scene in question is from?
Christalina: Remember in the closing scene of dataDyne Central: Extraction? Joanna purely remarks "Sorry. Gotta shoot." Before leaping into the jumpship and killing 2 of Cassandra's guards. This is simlar to a witticism our mutual friend Mr. Bond would make no? By the way, what does "LOL" mean? Modern slang has never been one of my strong suits.