- Plan -
- Side street, 2200 hours -
They parked their van a safe distance away from the property where the warehouse is located. Amy, Bobby, and Scud are all inside, going over the plans and the equipment needed.
Scud rubs his temples, his voice bleak and worrisome. "A Level-3 Shock Field?"
"Yes," Bobby replies, "State of the art. It's not like the usual repel fields you normally see. A pen laser won't even scratch it. At full force, it will char your body into an overcooked slab of roast in about 90 seconds."
Scud gulps while staring stunned at Bobby.
Amy looks intently at the floor plans and the security. "There are not that many guards posted."
"They believe that since no one knows she's alive, the field is enough as primary defense." Bobby explains, "But don't be fooled. If there's a field disruption, a Code Red perimeter alarm will be triggered, which will send a signal to the Pentagon. After which, you'll only have about a few dozen military helicopters and a few hundred or so ground troops and SWAT members to deal with within 10 minutes."
Scud continues to rub his temples. "Yes, just the way I like to spend my evenings."
Amy nods towards the large metal box sitting at the corner of the van. "Is that enough to bypass the field?"
Bobby glances at the box. "Maybe. Does it have the upgrades I asked for?"
Scud answers, "Yes, but I don't know if it'll reach the 60 percent boost in power you wanted. With this kind of overcapacity, we have one shot at it, and then it's toast. And we were only able to obtain one of these things, so I couldn't even test it. The arch isolator seems to work though."
Bobby's face shows a tinge of concern. "That'll have to do. The field is designed so that no currently available device can neutralize it. We need to get the charge ratio down to below 5 percent for us to safely cross it."
Amy pushes on, "Alright, what's next?"
"Once we pass the field, things get a bit more involved." Bobby points to the schematics of the warehouse. "We get in by a side door, which is secured a simple card reader. We knock out the guards posted here, and here. First thing we'll need to do is get to the control room, here. It'll be manned, so be careful. Then we shut down the repel field around Lucy's cell and the motion sensors around it from the control room. Then, we go down the elevator to floor 2B, take out these guards, then Lucy's cell is in the next room."
"Then we're home free?" Amy asks with hope in her voice.
"Not quite," Bobby replies, "We can't go back the same way, since we have no way of breaking the charge field again. We'll need to leave through the main doorway on the second floor next to the hill, where there's a section of the charge field that can be shut down remotely from the inside controls for staff to enter and leave. Once it's shut down, we have 5 seconds to run 45 feet to the exit before the field reforms."
"Piece of cake." Scud says with a less-than enthusiastic shrug. Then his face stiffens as he remembers something important. He bellows out, "OH!..."
Both Bobby and Amy dart their heads over at him due to his outburst. This causes him to quickly cover his mouth with his hands in apology. He then removes his hands slowly, then continue at the regular volume again. "Don't forget, communication! We can use these ear-sets I got in case we get separated."
Scud turns around and pulls out a box. After opening it, he pulls out these plastic bracket-like devices. "These go around your ear like a wireless hands-free phone adaptor. There's a microphone, radio receiver and transmitter, and each have unique transmission frequencies. I decided against a watch visual communicator because frankly, the reception sucks. There's a small turn dial here, preset to our frequencies. First click is Amy, second click is for me, and third click is Bobby. Then press the dial down to call the person its set to. We can talk to each other with these." He then hands one to each of them.
As Bobby and Scud adjusts their ear-sets for comfort, Amy looks out the crack between the curtains towards the windshield, the warehouse in distant view. As she gazes on, her face is serious and determined. She promises silently to herself, "If you're in there, Lucy, I'm getting you out... whatever it takes."
- D.E.B.S. -
- Warehouse Meeting Room -
"Oh my Gosh, Dominique, is that my sweater you're wearing?" Janet asks accusingly at her French squad team member, who's sitting casually on one of the chairs.
Dominique sits with her legs propped up on a table, cigarette in hand as usual. She turned to face her perky DEBS teammate, showing only a deadpan expression at the question. She exhales a charred lungful of smoke at Janet's direction.
"Oh wait, no, the sweater I'm thinking of has a different collar. Sorry!" Janet says apologetically after examining the clothing more closely, her hand trying to wave away the smoke migrating towards her.
The door opens suddenly, and Max walks commandingly into the room. She still has that confident swagger in the way she walked that made it clear to everyone who's the leader of her team.
"Alright. Our orders are to secure the premises for any hostiles." Max explains. "Under no circumstances can we allow them to reach the prisoner."
Janet looks annoyed. "I still don't get why Ms. Petrie asked us to do this job. We're spies, not security guards." Her face knotted in, looking like a confused sorority member.
"I don't know the full story, Janet." Max answered with slight impatience. "All I know is that somewhere underground, they're holding a dangerous convict, and that they suspect someone might be plotting to take him or kill him. Apparently, they discovered an unauthorized file transfer at Homeland Security regarding the details of this top-secret installation. They think it might be an inside job, so they don't want to notify any of their own personnel. So, they've asked us to help out." Max then raises her head up in pride. "And they asked for the best... Us."
Janet still doesn't look entirely convinced. Dominique couldn't give a rat's ass.
Max continues. "Because of the size of the building, we can't all stay at the same place. They have their usual guards in the hallways, but there are 3 key locations we need to position ourselves in. Dom, you watch the main lobby. The entrance is the only part of the security field that can be manually opened. Janet, you cover the hall that leads to the control room. Whoever is coming in would need to get in there to shut down the electronics. I'll cover the main floor administration hall. They'll need to get in there to reach the elevators to go down to reach the prisoner. Any questions?"
Janet sheepishly raises a single finger. Max nods over at Janet to let her ask.
"Who is this dangerous convict we're protecting?"
"I don't know." Max replies with a shrug.
"You didn't ask or they wouldn't tell you?" Janet presses on.
"They said it was classified information." Max says, trying to hide the small bit of resentment she feels at whoever's keeping secrets from them.
Janet couldn't say anything further. She just looked apprehensively at Max.
"Let's get into position." Max ordered, and the three DEBS agents quickly march out of the room.
- Infiltration -
- Outer Perimeter of Warehouse -
Bobby, Amy, and Scud silently creep in the shadows until they reach the fencing that surrounds the perimeter of the Warehouse. They find a place that the rotating security cameras couldn't see due to stacked wooden crates blocking the view. It only took them a minute to cut through the metal wires of the fence. As with most government facilities nowadays, a metal fence is only decoration over the real security barricade. In this case, said barricade happens to be the most formidable invisible electrical barrier known to man.
Scud opens his scanner, and the screen displays the exact location of the field. They all approach it within a few feet, before quietly dropping all their equipment onto the ground. Amy opens up the large metal box that encloses the upgraded counter-pulse device, and flicks on the power switch.
Once activated, the small LCD screen lights up and displays its power capacity as well as the current status of the charge ratio in its proximity, currently at 0 and 98 percent, respectively. She pulls out the cylindrical-shaped pulse emitter, corded to the main machine, and places it carefully into the charge field. The emitter is designed to be able to withstand the effects of the charge field for a few minutes, and has been upgraded with an arch isolator, which creates an artificial boundary within the charge field that isolates a given area for them to disrupt, without creating a disturbance to the rest of the field.
"Here goes nothing..." Amy says without tremendous confidence. She activates the pulse.
Immediately, they see a half-circular section of the charge field flicker intermittently as a result of the pulses emitting through it, canceling out the electricity flowing through the field. Amy exhales in encouragement of the immediate results as the display shows the charge ratio down to 80 percent and still dropping.
Bobby and Scud continue their lookout of the surrounding area to check for suspicious activity, as Amy focuses on the machine. As the ratio drops, the device's power capacity moves up. Amy begins to feel a slight feeling of dread as she realizes the power capacity is moving faster than the charge ratio is dropping. If her suspicion is correct, the machine would max out its power capacity before the charge ratio drops below the required 5 percent. The device has now gone into the overcapacity range that Scud has upgraded it for, but the charge ratio is still at 30 percent.
"Bobby, Scud..." Amy calls out quietly. Both men look down at the display in horror as they see the power capacity at 153 percent and the charge ratio still at 21 percent. Amy looks up at both of them, the tension in her eyes evident. Bobby grinds his teeth in anger at the possibility that they will fail their mission in their very first stage.
Bobby stares at the display, as if in deep contemplation. Finally, he makes a choice.
"Scud, change of plans..." Bobby speaks in a serious tone. Amy and Scud look at him perplexed.
"There's a way to drop the charge further... Amy, it looks like you're going to have to go in there alone."
"Bobby?" Amy asks with concern.
"If a large body were to get in there and absorb some of the charge, that would leave one chance for you to jump in." Bobby continues, "Once you do, the pulse will overload and stop working with both bodies in the field at the same time, and then the charge field will recover instantaneously. There's no time for somebody else to jump in before the field comes back. So we only have one shot at this."
"Bobby..." Amy calls at him with tremendous worry in her voice.
"No time to discuss it. Jump in as soon as it drops below 5. Then remember the plan once you're inside." Right after he finishes speaking, Bobby lunges forward, and his body freezes in position as the shock grabs him immediately. His face is completely clenched, his teeth completely shut tight. The pain is absolutely excruciating, but he uses his full strength to prevent himself from screaming. Instead, a low grumble from his throat is the only sound he makes.
Amy stares at Bobby, completely astounded at his actions. She gasps as she notices that the charge is tearing him apart, even at one-fifth the usual intensity. Smoke begins to emit from his body, as bloody blisters start to form on his skin, which looks like it is shredding in the process. As some of the blisters rip open, gushes of blood start to flood all over his exposed skin, as well as beginning to drench his clothes from the inside. Suddenly, Amy catches herself, and returns her attention back at the screen. Relief shows on her face as she sees the charge ratio at 12 percent and dropping. However, the screen begins to flicker as the power capacity reaches 162 percent.
Scud's voice cuts in and warns, "Amy, you can't go in there by yourself. It's you against an entire security team. It's too dangerous."
Amy hears him, but stays silent. As the ratio drops to 9 percent, she gathers her weapons and a small duffle bag of equipment, and takes one last look at the floor plan. She returns her eyes to the display, and it falls to 6... then to 5. She lurches over, jumping through the charge field in a quick dispersing field spread. The pulse device nearly explodes as the electronics inside burn out completely, causing the screen to shut off and sparks to fly out from the fried internal circuits. Bobby, now released from the field, falls forward, and his body slams hard onto the ground, splattering a massive volume of blood over the concrete. The disrupted section of the charge field quickly returns to its normal state, trapping Amy and a now completely collapsed Bobby inside the field, and Scud, helplessly, outside it.
Amy holsters her weapons and drops the bag in quick motions. She then bends down, and grabs onto Bobby. She pulls him to safety behind one of the wooden crates, and rests his back onto one of them.
"Bobby? ...Bobby!" Amy calls at him, shaking his arms in the process. There was no response.
"Bobby!" Amy calls again, trying to keep her voice low to avoid attention. Again, there was no movement from the bloodied face and closed eyes. She reaches to feel the pulse in his neck, but felt nothing. Amy drops her head and closes her eyes as tears begin to fall on her face.
"...Bobby." Amy's voice weakens into a whisper as she calls his name.
Amy raises her hand and cups his cheek. She opens her eyes and looks at his wretched body with tremendous hurt and sadness. This is the man she once detested with a passion. Now, the thought of him dying is too much to bear.
Suddenly, she feels a slight twitch in the hand over his cheek. Amy looks up, and feels a newfound rush of excitement as Bobby coughs tenuously in succession. A huge smile forms on Amy's face as she quickly leans in to hug him tightly.
"Ow, ow!" Bobby cries through clenched eyes as he awakens to a painful grip on his sore body.
Amy pulls back immediately, showing apology on her face, but still with a smile. "Oh, oh! Sorry! Are you alright?"
A short cough is expelled again though Bobby's mouth, clearing the blood from his airways. His body starts to tremble noticeably, and his breaths are shallow. "...I need a vacation. Maui sounds pretty good about now."
Amy reaches into one of her pockets, and pulls out a handkerchief. She begins to wipe his face of the bloody spills; careful not to touch the tender areas where there were blisters and torn skin. Stray tears still linger on Amy's face, but are now tears of relief. "I thought you were a goner, my friend."
Bobby chuckled quietly. "Takes more than that to kill me, babe. But it's a good thing you gave my body some practice time with that contraption of yours."
Amy smiles embarrassingly at the memory of yesterday's events when she had him prisoner, locked in the electrified stretcher.
"They'll find you here, you know? They'll realize you helped me." Concern emanates through Amy's voice.
"Don't worry about me." Bobby assures in a coarse voice. "My dad will make some calls, it'll be fine."
Amy smiles warmly. "I'll find you some help. You need treatment."
"Absolutely not. Not until you've found her. Go! Get her back. And I know this is no consolation, but tell her... I'm sorry." Bobby whispers, using more strength than he had, as his body continues to shiver. "Go! I'll be fine."
Amy takes a final wipe with the cloth. Bobby's face now clean and dry as much as it can be at this point. Then she leans in, and gives him a gentle kiss on the forehead. Bobby smiles in appreciation.
Amy gets up, grabs the pack and slips the strap over her shoulder, and turns to look at Scud. Surprisingly, she finds Scud standing there, with puffy red eyes and quivering lips. When he realizes Amy saw him, he immediately tries to wipe his eyes dry and sniffle the awkward expression away. Amy was speechless. It was quite surprising to see Scud in such an emotional state. This was a sensitive side in him she never expected to see.
"Scud, take all the stuff and get it back to the van. Then get into position and wait for us to come out. I'll try to communicate with you whenever I can." Amy says as she points to the device hooked around her ear.
Scud nods, then speaks after clearing his throat, "Go get her back, Amy. Good luck."
Right before Amy turns to scan for a clean path to the door, she says simply, and confidently, "I will."
- to be continued -