"Joanna Dark, meet Raymond Weldon."
They shook hands. "Nice to meet you."
"Call me Ray. The pleasure is all mine."
"Yes, it is. Carrington, who is this man?"
"He is an ex-dataDyne agent, an expert hacker. He will be aiding you in your next mission."
"Mission?"
"Yes. You are to infiltrate the new dataDyne headquarters and hack into Mr. Faww's computer."
"And why can't I use the Data Uplink?"
"Because," Ray cut in, "I can get in where the Uplink can't. It doesn't know the passwords I do. Besides, if I can hack into your computer, I could easily get into one of my old ones-" he held up a paper with her picture on it "-Miss Joanna Marie Dark."
"Give that back!" She let out a cry and chased him out of the room.
Carrington sighed and closed the door. "Well, they're getting along fine."
- - - - -
Joanna and Ray walked through the door. A secretary was sitting at a desk just inside. "Hello, how can I help you?"
"Is William Faww here?" Joanna asked.
"Do you have an appoint-" she looked up. "You!" She pointed at Ray. "I'm calling security." She pressed a button, and five guards came running in.
"I was hoping it wouldn't happen like this." Joanna knocked out the secretary. Ray pulled out a CMP-150 and wasted the guards. Joanna gave him a skeptical look. "You think I turned in my gun when I quit?" Ray asked.
"Forget it; let's just get to Faww's office." She looked on the secretary's computer as Ray quickly typed. "It's on the top floor. Figures."
"Hey! You!" A guard saw them and started to run away.
"He's going for backup!" Joanna chased after him, but stopped when she rounded the corner. Five more guards, guns drawn, advanced toward her. She ducked under the bullets and rolled to the other side of the corner. She grabbed a CMP from one of the dead guards, just as the group rounded the corner. Joanna and Ray returned fire, using desks as shields. The guards fell quickly.
They cautiously got up. "Somebody must have heard that gunfire. We'd better hurry to the elevator."
"Jo, wait a second." Ray ran up to her. "dataDyne's standard floor plan includes a security room on the bottom floor. Anyone can easily use the computers and call for reinforcements, either from inside the building or out. We need to find the room so I can jam the signals."
Joanna nodded, and turned the corner, gun going first. There was no one, so she continued down the hallway. At the end was a door, and the hallway continued to the right. Joanna opened the door to see three guards and two technicians, all armed.
She muttered a curse as she and Ray ran out of the way. The guards ran out, but didn't have enough time to see that the hall in front of them was empty. They entered the room to find the two technicians, each with a Falcon 2 in their hand. They were easily overpowered.
"This is definitely the room." Ray went to each computer, hacking into it or using an ECM mine. "Hm. I'm pulling up some interesting information, especially about the satellite. It seems like a lot of work has gone into it. It's been redone so that people can live on it, with gravity and oxygen flowing through a ventilation system. From these plans, it looks like it's used as another base: sleeping quarters, training grounds, the works.
"There's more as well. They use fusion generators to power the satellite, but it also adds power to the beam of light." Ray shook his head. "I was never told why he wanted that thing. I can't figure out what it is, but I doubt it's simply space exploration."
"Well, maybe there will be more information on his personal computer. We should get going." Ray nodded, and they continued.
The hallway ended with elevators at the side. Joanna walked over and pressed the button, calling the elevator down. They waited, not noticing the camera above them. An alarm within the building started to ring.
"Shit!" Joanna shot out the camera. The alarm eventually stopped as the elevator door opened. They ran in, reloading, as the elevator door started up. "I hope the rest of this trip goes smoother."
Just as she finished, the elevator stopped. "You just had to open your mouth." He checked the screen above the buttons. "We're still two floors away from the top. A technician must have stopped the elevator between floors. We have to get the door open." Ray threw down his gun, and tried to slide the doors open. "…It…won't…budge." He stopped to take a breath. Joanna went over to the buttons and pressed the "open door" button. The door slid open. "There are easier ways to get things done." Laughing at him, she threw him his gun and stuck her head out of the elevator.
"There is the door a few feet away." Gripping the top of the elevator, she swung from the front onto the top of it. "There, just swing up. Pretend you are a gymnast." He instead pushed open the door at the top, jumped, and then pulled himself up with her. "There are easier ways to get things done." He said mockingly.
"Cute. Do you have something to open the door?"
A guard opened the door and began firing. He hit Joanna in the arm. "Never mind." She shot back, and hit him in the leg. Stumbling, he fell into the shaft, screaming out. "Now what?" Ray asked.
"Now, we jump." She got a running start and leaped over the couple of feet. Grabbing onto the ledge with her uninjured arm, she pulled herself up and motioned for Ray to follow. He jumped, grabbed onto the ledge, but his body slammed into the wall hard, making him scream in pain. Joanna laughed as he pulled himself up.
"Maybe I should have told you to wear a cup."
"Alright, alright, shut up. Let's just get up to the top floor."
- - - - -
Joanna kicked open the door. The office was casual, and surprisingly empty. It only had a lone desk and chair, with a computer sitting on top of it. "Here, take the gun for right now." Ray ran over, sat in the chair, turned the computer on, and began typing furiously, while Joanna guarded the door.
"Almost got it! Joanna, come see this!"
She ran over. "What is it?"
Before he could show her, William Faww stepped in to the room with a Magsec 4 in his hand. "Enough games. Get away from my computer, spies!" he shouted. Joanna pointed her CMP-150 at Faww, but two guards began firing their Magnums. She jumped out of the way, and fired back. Meanwhile, as Ray stood up, Faww fired, hitting him in the arm and chest. He reloaded, and pointed his gun at his body.
"Hold it!" Joanna had her gun point-blank range at his head, while three bodies lay on the ground.
"Aw, too bad. I missed the heart." He began to laugh.
"Shut up!" Before she could pull the trigger, there was an explosion, and more guards appeared. Joanna began to fire, while Faww slipped away behind the guards. She continued firing, taking out as many as she could before she was hit. Soon, she realized they weren't aiming at her. The computer behind her cracked as the bullets hit it.
"Damnit!" She killed the last guard and ran over to Ray. "Faww's gone now. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I've had worse," he grunted as he sat up.
"Are you sure? You're bleeding badly."
"All this compassion is coming from the woman who laughed at me earlier." He forced a smile and struggled to get up. "Come on, let's go."