The Hatchling- Part 5
I sat clearing out my locker with a cloud of anxiety and depression hanging over me. I wonder if this is how everyone feels when they get fired. I really hope I'm not alone in this too. Anyway, as I predicted my job status was promptly terminated after that little stunt I pulled in the restaurant the other day. It would probably have come sooner, but Ness had spent the night in an Avalon lockup for resisting arrest and contributing to the degeneration of a minor. A sleepless night and a stiff fine later, Ness phoned the supervisor at the shop and demanded he have my ass thrown out of there immediately. So now, two months after arriving in Avalon, I was jobless and soon to be homeless once again. If I couldn't get a job as a waitress or something soon, I'd have to give up my "spacious" studio flat too. Whatever force that controls my fate and governs my actions seems to have a twisted sense of humor, because it always leads me down the dead end paths.
It was when I had all my stuff packed and I was ready to leave the shop for good that the sound of automatic fire ripped through the entire shop. Had one of the mechanics accidentally switched one of the robots into Combat Mode, or was it intentional? I feared the worst as I peeked out the locker room window onto the floor below. Standing amongst smoldering repair equipment and the panic-stricken employees were two very large and very evil looking AC's. One of them was heavy humanoid base, and had enough defense and firepower between them to decimate the entire shop. They seemed to be rounding up all the workers, at gunpoint, into a far corner, but I couldn't figure out what their plans were. I did know that one, they didn't know that I was up here; and two, I could contact the cops from Ness's office without them noticing. I had to get there fast though, before these pricks did something to harm the workers. I considered grabbing a small surveillance unit to keep an eye on the hostiles, but figured they had already been smart enough to shoot out the cameras already.
I dashed out just as one of the punks unloaded a grenade round into the locker room, destroying it completely, but I was still thrown back by the tremendous force of the blast. I picked myself up, pulling small shards of glass and metal out of my side. It stung like all hell, but I had no time to cry out in pain. It was obvious these assholes would kill without batting an eye. I pressed on to the foreman's office as fast as could, extremely grateful that the door had been left unlocked. Meanwhile outside, the thugs were listing their demands.
"Listen up you pathetic little rats! Do what we say, and just maybe you'll leave this place in something a little more roomier than a body bag. Failure to comply."
He cocked his weapon, a very deadly right-arm-mounted grenade launcher, and pointed it at the center of the crowd. So this was the asshole that was shooting the place up. Had to be, the other one was decked out with everything missile based. Typical coward design if you ask, long- range projectiles combined with some of the speedier reverse-joint legs, you're obviously doing everything to keep from coming face to face with opponent. But this other one. he was just made to decimate, sporting a grenade launcher on his right arm, heavy blade on his left, and toting a chain gun and heavy- missile launcher on his shoulders. Even if I did get the cops here, there's no guarantee that they could get these guys under control. Still, I had to try, for the sake of those workers being held hostage downstairs. I tried to snag a connection to the police network by forcing a signal through a bunch of other contacts. After about a minute I attracted the attention of some officer probably wondering why I was bumping a bunch of people offline. I could have kissed the videophone monitor when the cop's face came into focus and he demanded to know what I was trying to do.
"Listen to me! You have to get over here to the AC garage in. damnit which sector is this?!"
"We read your broadcast out of Sector I-23. State your name and why you're hacking through the security network!"
"Forget that, I have a huge problem here! Two AC's have stormed the shop and taken the workers hostage. One of them is this close to blasting everyone to hell with a grenade launcher, and the other-"
"Just hold on a minute! First tell me who you are and then we can try and figure out what's going on."
"Are you deaf or something?! Didn't I just tell you that the shop is being ripped off?! People are gonna die and all you beurocratic assholes are concerned about is getting my personal information!"
"Now listen you little brat, I'm beginning to think that you're just yanking my chain over here, phoning in fake distress calls!"
If I could thrust my hands into that monitor and wrap my hands around this idiot's throat, I would. How dare he call me a liar! I shuddered for a second, frustrated out of my mind and just wanting this guy to here me out. I guess he needed some proof...
"You think I'm lying, huh prick? I'll show you-"
I picked up the whole phone setup and brought it to the window so that this genius could see I was being straight with him.
"See-"
Just as I too looked out to survey the lower level, I could already see the ten or so missiles streaking towards me. I dropped the phone and ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of the office, hopping clean over Ness's desk to get out the door and into the safer hallway. I was trying to get the door closed and contain the blast when the missiles connected. The accumulated blasts tore the office to pieces and sent me soaring backwards, along with the door. I tried sitting up, only to have something come flying at my face and slice me across the eye. I was flung back onto the floor, clutching my face and shrieking in pain, pent up tears mixing with the streaming blood from my wound. Those bastards! They were going to pay for doing this to me. Ignorant asshole cops! It seemed that, like every other aspect of me life, if I needed something done, I'd have to do it myself. How though, can I take care of those two myself when I can't even get a call out to the police? It was then, that the terrorists provided me with the means to take them out. Maybe if they had learned to privately broadcast communications amongst themselves they would probably still be alive today. Brings to mind an old Chinese proverb.
Greed will consume us all.
"Well Javelin, whatever you picked up on your bio-sensor has to be dead meat now."
"Hang on a sec Crash. Still picking up a faint signal-"
"Probably a smoldering corpse, come on! Stick to the plan!"
"Right, right. Trash U-Weapon and blow this joint."
"Literally."
The missile-based one, Javelin, started toward the storage houses, while the other one, Crash, stayed behind to watch the hostages, both of them laughing over their PA systems. So that was it? All this incessant destruction just to get at somebody's AC? Now these guys were really gonna get it. I knew that there was only one AC in storage pending return to the owner. It was fully stocked and reloaded according to the completion reports posted on the shop level. If I could get there before they did, I could probably be able to take them both out. The blood stopped flowing that much, so I got up and again was on the run, but this time to the furthest storage house and salvation. I tore off a sleeve of my shirt and tried to wipe some of the blood away, biding the sting from the dirty fabric making contact from my open wound. I had to get the end of the storage houses before this other one finished his search.
I started off so fast that I almost ran past the hover-bike that was parked in the hallway. Ness's hover-bike. This was a first, something good happening to me without any strings attached. Of course the keys were missing, but I really didn't need them. Touch this wire to that, twist it together and I'm off. Now if piloting this thing out on an AC dominated street wasn't hazardous enough, imagine trying to maneuver this thing in a cramped passageway with random boxes and parts lying all over the place. One wrong move and that would have been the end of my story. No, not just yet. still had a lot of things to do before I went down. I managed to arrive a few hundred yards ahead of the other AC, still stupid enough to be searching every house one at a time. I jumped off, letting Ness's bike slam into the wall with a resounding and very satisfying crunch. It took a short eternity for me to remember the right pass code to the storage house. Damn these ever changing security codes! Finally finding the right one, I stormed onto the catwalk above the robot. The fact that it was pitch-black inside the storage house deter me from running to find the lift, despite the obvious danger of falling hundreds of feet down to the floor below.
I found the lift rather easily in the dark, and punching the cockpit level button I leaned against the side of the lift, exhausted and still in pain from my injuries. This was one of the biggest long shots in history, but hey, what have I got to lose? I mean, I was homeless, unemployed, I had no family waiting for me. After that last thought, visions of my father's final flight flashed through my mind. I had been able to repress those images for a while now, but now they came flooding back in a torrent of misery and anguish. Then I realized why. this was the same scenario my father had put himself into before he died. The need to help his fellow man, the inexperience and recklessness that led him to his untimely demise. Was this going to be a repeat of what happened seven years ago? No, it can't be. I won't allow it! Where my dad fell, I will soar. Those people aren't going to die, and neither am I. The lift has stopped. In front of me will either be the gate heart of my savior, or the path way to certain death. I had already made my decision. I'm going to step into that AC and fly.
One way or another.
(END CHAPTER FIVE)
Whew, that one took me a while ^ ^;. Sorry to leave you in suspense, but I want to try to keep the chapters short and numerous. Anyway, the cliffhanger ending is my way to make sure you keep coming back to read. And don't forget to review!
I sat clearing out my locker with a cloud of anxiety and depression hanging over me. I wonder if this is how everyone feels when they get fired. I really hope I'm not alone in this too. Anyway, as I predicted my job status was promptly terminated after that little stunt I pulled in the restaurant the other day. It would probably have come sooner, but Ness had spent the night in an Avalon lockup for resisting arrest and contributing to the degeneration of a minor. A sleepless night and a stiff fine later, Ness phoned the supervisor at the shop and demanded he have my ass thrown out of there immediately. So now, two months after arriving in Avalon, I was jobless and soon to be homeless once again. If I couldn't get a job as a waitress or something soon, I'd have to give up my "spacious" studio flat too. Whatever force that controls my fate and governs my actions seems to have a twisted sense of humor, because it always leads me down the dead end paths.
It was when I had all my stuff packed and I was ready to leave the shop for good that the sound of automatic fire ripped through the entire shop. Had one of the mechanics accidentally switched one of the robots into Combat Mode, or was it intentional? I feared the worst as I peeked out the locker room window onto the floor below. Standing amongst smoldering repair equipment and the panic-stricken employees were two very large and very evil looking AC's. One of them was heavy humanoid base, and had enough defense and firepower between them to decimate the entire shop. They seemed to be rounding up all the workers, at gunpoint, into a far corner, but I couldn't figure out what their plans were. I did know that one, they didn't know that I was up here; and two, I could contact the cops from Ness's office without them noticing. I had to get there fast though, before these pricks did something to harm the workers. I considered grabbing a small surveillance unit to keep an eye on the hostiles, but figured they had already been smart enough to shoot out the cameras already.
I dashed out just as one of the punks unloaded a grenade round into the locker room, destroying it completely, but I was still thrown back by the tremendous force of the blast. I picked myself up, pulling small shards of glass and metal out of my side. It stung like all hell, but I had no time to cry out in pain. It was obvious these assholes would kill without batting an eye. I pressed on to the foreman's office as fast as could, extremely grateful that the door had been left unlocked. Meanwhile outside, the thugs were listing their demands.
"Listen up you pathetic little rats! Do what we say, and just maybe you'll leave this place in something a little more roomier than a body bag. Failure to comply."
He cocked his weapon, a very deadly right-arm-mounted grenade launcher, and pointed it at the center of the crowd. So this was the asshole that was shooting the place up. Had to be, the other one was decked out with everything missile based. Typical coward design if you ask, long- range projectiles combined with some of the speedier reverse-joint legs, you're obviously doing everything to keep from coming face to face with opponent. But this other one. he was just made to decimate, sporting a grenade launcher on his right arm, heavy blade on his left, and toting a chain gun and heavy- missile launcher on his shoulders. Even if I did get the cops here, there's no guarantee that they could get these guys under control. Still, I had to try, for the sake of those workers being held hostage downstairs. I tried to snag a connection to the police network by forcing a signal through a bunch of other contacts. After about a minute I attracted the attention of some officer probably wondering why I was bumping a bunch of people offline. I could have kissed the videophone monitor when the cop's face came into focus and he demanded to know what I was trying to do.
"Listen to me! You have to get over here to the AC garage in. damnit which sector is this?!"
"We read your broadcast out of Sector I-23. State your name and why you're hacking through the security network!"
"Forget that, I have a huge problem here! Two AC's have stormed the shop and taken the workers hostage. One of them is this close to blasting everyone to hell with a grenade launcher, and the other-"
"Just hold on a minute! First tell me who you are and then we can try and figure out what's going on."
"Are you deaf or something?! Didn't I just tell you that the shop is being ripped off?! People are gonna die and all you beurocratic assholes are concerned about is getting my personal information!"
"Now listen you little brat, I'm beginning to think that you're just yanking my chain over here, phoning in fake distress calls!"
If I could thrust my hands into that monitor and wrap my hands around this idiot's throat, I would. How dare he call me a liar! I shuddered for a second, frustrated out of my mind and just wanting this guy to here me out. I guess he needed some proof...
"You think I'm lying, huh prick? I'll show you-"
I picked up the whole phone setup and brought it to the window so that this genius could see I was being straight with him.
"See-"
Just as I too looked out to survey the lower level, I could already see the ten or so missiles streaking towards me. I dropped the phone and ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of the office, hopping clean over Ness's desk to get out the door and into the safer hallway. I was trying to get the door closed and contain the blast when the missiles connected. The accumulated blasts tore the office to pieces and sent me soaring backwards, along with the door. I tried sitting up, only to have something come flying at my face and slice me across the eye. I was flung back onto the floor, clutching my face and shrieking in pain, pent up tears mixing with the streaming blood from my wound. Those bastards! They were going to pay for doing this to me. Ignorant asshole cops! It seemed that, like every other aspect of me life, if I needed something done, I'd have to do it myself. How though, can I take care of those two myself when I can't even get a call out to the police? It was then, that the terrorists provided me with the means to take them out. Maybe if they had learned to privately broadcast communications amongst themselves they would probably still be alive today. Brings to mind an old Chinese proverb.
Greed will consume us all.
"Well Javelin, whatever you picked up on your bio-sensor has to be dead meat now."
"Hang on a sec Crash. Still picking up a faint signal-"
"Probably a smoldering corpse, come on! Stick to the plan!"
"Right, right. Trash U-Weapon and blow this joint."
"Literally."
The missile-based one, Javelin, started toward the storage houses, while the other one, Crash, stayed behind to watch the hostages, both of them laughing over their PA systems. So that was it? All this incessant destruction just to get at somebody's AC? Now these guys were really gonna get it. I knew that there was only one AC in storage pending return to the owner. It was fully stocked and reloaded according to the completion reports posted on the shop level. If I could get there before they did, I could probably be able to take them both out. The blood stopped flowing that much, so I got up and again was on the run, but this time to the furthest storage house and salvation. I tore off a sleeve of my shirt and tried to wipe some of the blood away, biding the sting from the dirty fabric making contact from my open wound. I had to get the end of the storage houses before this other one finished his search.
I started off so fast that I almost ran past the hover-bike that was parked in the hallway. Ness's hover-bike. This was a first, something good happening to me without any strings attached. Of course the keys were missing, but I really didn't need them. Touch this wire to that, twist it together and I'm off. Now if piloting this thing out on an AC dominated street wasn't hazardous enough, imagine trying to maneuver this thing in a cramped passageway with random boxes and parts lying all over the place. One wrong move and that would have been the end of my story. No, not just yet. still had a lot of things to do before I went down. I managed to arrive a few hundred yards ahead of the other AC, still stupid enough to be searching every house one at a time. I jumped off, letting Ness's bike slam into the wall with a resounding and very satisfying crunch. It took a short eternity for me to remember the right pass code to the storage house. Damn these ever changing security codes! Finally finding the right one, I stormed onto the catwalk above the robot. The fact that it was pitch-black inside the storage house deter me from running to find the lift, despite the obvious danger of falling hundreds of feet down to the floor below.
I found the lift rather easily in the dark, and punching the cockpit level button I leaned against the side of the lift, exhausted and still in pain from my injuries. This was one of the biggest long shots in history, but hey, what have I got to lose? I mean, I was homeless, unemployed, I had no family waiting for me. After that last thought, visions of my father's final flight flashed through my mind. I had been able to repress those images for a while now, but now they came flooding back in a torrent of misery and anguish. Then I realized why. this was the same scenario my father had put himself into before he died. The need to help his fellow man, the inexperience and recklessness that led him to his untimely demise. Was this going to be a repeat of what happened seven years ago? No, it can't be. I won't allow it! Where my dad fell, I will soar. Those people aren't going to die, and neither am I. The lift has stopped. In front of me will either be the gate heart of my savior, or the path way to certain death. I had already made my decision. I'm going to step into that AC and fly.
One way or another.
(END CHAPTER FIVE)
Whew, that one took me a while ^ ^;. Sorry to leave you in suspense, but I want to try to keep the chapters short and numerous. Anyway, the cliffhanger ending is my way to make sure you keep coming back to read. And don't forget to review!
