Part 6 - Infected

Chapter 115 - Hostage

"We have to rescue him!" Null roared at the INTF council.

None of them spoke so he turned on his heels and left, slamming the door as hard as he could. Instead of being able to storm straight to wherever he was going, Miles blocked his path. The spider looked a mess: the bandages were gone, but he had stitches up his cheek and forehead. His right eye looked completely messed up. Null glared at him, wondering if he wanted to be strangled. The spider raised his hands.

"I get why you're angry at me. Now we're equal: I hate you for screwing up my life, you hate me for leaving Michael. But we both want revenge on Liam. I say we do something to get your friend back before he's killed."

"The council won't do jack shit."

"I don't care what the council says. Let's do this off the books."

Null lightened up a little.

"Right. Off the books it is."

Null led Miles to a room. The latter recognised it as the room he had woken up in after being drugged. The former pulled a laptop out from a drawer and opened it up, hammered in a password then set about typing in code.

"What you doing?" Miles asked.

"Making a computer virus. Wherever Michael is, there'll be security everywhere and his version of Corbo will be in charge."

"So the virus will take it down?"

"Hopefully. That depends on all sorts of things, mostly error handling."

"What can you do about it?"

"Nothing. I just have to hope I can cause Corbo to throw an error it can't catch meaning it crashes and Liam can't do anything about it. Of course, if he's used 'catch (Exception)' in his error handling, it's screwed. Hopefully he'll have it set up to catch specific ones."

"I don't know what that means."

"Obviously. Well, try that age old movie quote: 'a gigabyte of RAM should do it'."

"What?"

"Never mind. Clearly that never became a joke in your narrative."

"Nope."

It took Null nearly an hour, but eventually he pulled out a USB stick.

"One .NET core console app that throws every error under the Sun. You're doing the dirty work, so take this to where Michael is being held and plug it into a computer running CorbOS; it'll look a bit like Linux. Open the drive's folder and run the executable file. With any hope, hundreds of error messages will pop up."

"Cool. Where's he being held?"

"I'm not sure. He'll be somewhere in LA so Liam can keep an eye out. But you've got your spidey sense; let that show you the way."

"It doesn't work like that."

"Worked like that for Gwen however many years ago you met."

"Sure, but that was lucky I guess."

"So lucky you got a girlfriend out of it. Now take this and go."

Miles took the USB stick and slid it into a small pocket in his suit. He turned to leave, but the way was blocked by Zero.

"What're you two up to? And how's the eye?"

"We're getting Michael back." Null replied.

"My eye hurts and I can't see anything out of it." Miles responded.

"You don't have anymore bandages so I'm guessing it's better than it was. Good luck; you'll need it."

"That's not worrying at all."

"You know better than me what you're up against."

With a flash and a bang, Miles was in Los Angeles, Minus One. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. There was a map which he looked at and discovered he was only a couple of blocks away from the studio. It would make sense if Michael was there: stick him in a storage cupboard out of sight until something could be done with him. He fired a web up and swung the short distance to the studio. As soon as he spotted it, as he was coming round a corner, he turned himself invisible. Liam may still be able to see him, but it made him feel a little less vulnerable. He landed in the car park outside and followed his spidey sense's directions into the building Liam would usually emerge from. On the floor above he could hear voices, and thought he heard Max but figured it was probably a voice actor with his voice. Miles pressed on and came to the stairs. A woman had just emerged from a room off to the side and he narrowly avoided running into her. She made her way up the stairs and Miles did the same, being careful not to get too close. Suddenly, his spidey sense told him he was being watched. He looked up and spotted a camera staring directly at him. He looked down to make sure he was still invisible, then kept going but noticed it followed him. The woman went into a room to the left from which Miles could hear people chatting happily. Sadly, that was also the way his spidey sense told him to go. He slipped in behind her, narrowly avoiding catching the door with his foot. Seeing who was there, he froze: Liam glanced over and narrowed his eyes. The woman raised her eyebrows.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"No." Liam replied bluntly.

"Oh thank god. I was getting scared with…"

"Yeah. Shut up and let's keep going."

"You alright, Liam?" Asked one of the other people.

Miles was confused when he heard his own voice, but figured it out easily enough.

"I'm fine. Just…dandy."

Most of the people entered a room beyond the current one, visible through a glass window. A couple of them sat down at a desk, in the current one, where there was a sound board.

"Let's take it from 'for two-and-a-half thousand years'."

"Where's that?" Asked one of the voice actors.

"Conall telling the directors off."

"Got it. Top of page ninety-eight."

"Recording in three…two…one…"

A light above the door went red. Miles looked around, searching for a computer. Hopefully Null's program would cause something to break with the recording equipment. It would mean people might leave the studio and he could slip inside to the cupboard directly behind Liam. He spotted a computer whirring away on a desk beside the sound board, so he crept up to it. The operating system didn't look like any he had seen before. It would make sense if Microsoft had fallen victim and Liam's 'Corbo Intelligence' had taken over its market shares. Miles glanced over at the people at the desk, hoping they wouldn't notice this. He slipped the USB stick out of his suit and plugged it into the computer, glad it didn't make the usual jingle. Instead of letting go of it, he kept a hold; that way it would remain invisible. He opened the file explorer, clicked the USB drive and ran the executable file like Null had said to. A black window opened up and was suddenly filled with white text detailing all manner of things. However, every line said the same thing at the start: 'error caught'. Liam sighed from the other side of the glass.

"Hold up, cut, whatever. Really, Morales? You can tell your buddy Null to just use 'catch (Exception)' in the future. It saves a lot of time, unless you want to catch a specific error in which case stick it on the end. It's three or four extra lines of code, but it's very good when spiders start crawling around where they shouldn't."

Miles turned visible, knowing he was busted. Liam was staring right at him, as well as talking. The other people were giving him funny looks.

"Kill me then, Liam."

"So eager to die?"

He slid off his chair and exited the recording studio, but held the door open.

"In you go. Grab Michael and bugger off. I'm trying to achieve my dream, here."

"You're hurting people to achieve it."

"Are they really hurt if I heal them and make them forget afterwards?"

"Yes. You act like I go looking for a fight."

"You did with Gwen."

"Ask her again: she hit first."

It was true, from what he heard. He stopped for a moment and looked Liam in the eyes. Instead of a madman, he saw someone getting impatient.

"Liam, what is it you want out of all of this?"

"A better world. In its last few years, of course. I'll turn into a floating white blob and blow up eventually. And hi, reader; how are you? We haven't spoken for a while. Where was the last author's note?"

Miles began to wonder: was Liam really that evil? Sure, he'd killed Teresa, and he'd stabbed Gwen, but that could be viewed as self-defence. Liam sighed, seeming to read the spider's thoughts.

"I don't claim to be the good guy. I just want everything better for everyone. I put an end to world hunger a couple of hours ago."

"Is Michael in that cupboard?"

"Yes. Get him out and go home. And don't send anymore spies. Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by the people closest to you?"

"Yes."

"So get out of here and let me achieve a dream of mine."

Miles decided he could rethink his life choices another time; Michael was his target right now. He warily passed Liam and opened the cupboard door. Michael was sitting on a make-shift seat, ropes tied round his hands and legs. The spider tore the knots apart and helped him to his feet. Liam tapped the doorframe impatiently.

"Hurry up before I put you in there as well."

Miles dragged Michael out of the recording studio, letting Liam get back to achieving his dream.

When the spider and spy were outside, Michael rubbed his wrists to get the blood flowing again.

"Poor guy." He muttered.

"What do you mean?" Miles asked.

"I mean he looks more like a victim. He's Null's attempt at self-insertion, so he's had Null's past. He didn't want 3812; he's just making the most of it. Then Null exploited his power by using it to send up all manner of things."

"I'm starting to see it too. So why'd you agree to shoot him?"

"Orders are orders. I signed a piece of paper that says I'll obey them to the letter, so that's what I do."

"Why'd he back out of all the deals and promises he made?"

"That's the question. If we know that question's answer we know who the real bad guys are."

"We probably shouldn't discuss this in the narrative below. The council or someone will find out."

"True. You got a watch to send me home?"

Miles handed him one.

"Thanks."

Gwen was working with a Stanley, desperately trying to figure out the riddle from the Empire State Building.

"The word 'fort' is capitalised, and I doubt it's coincidence." Said the scientist.

"Is there a place call William's Fort, anywhere?" Gwen asked.

"Not really. There's also this engraving below the text. It looks like a mountain."

"Which mountain?"

"I'm not sure. It has an X in it as well."

"A flag?"

"Could be, but there are a lot of flags with Xs in them."

"Any with a mountain like this, and a place called William's Fort?"

"In Scotland, there's a town called Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis; the tallest mountain in the UK."

"Scotland's flag is a blue and white cross, isn't it?"

"The Saltire, yes."

"Then that's it. The next hint is at the top of Ben Nevis."

"There's a lot of copies of Ben Nevis in Bastria."

"How many overlook this Fort William?"

"One."

"Sorted."

Gwen sighed as she disembarked from the helicopter that had landed her on the peak of the United Kingdom's tallest mountain. She had been hoping Max would be here, but it was just another pillar. On it, however, was a slightly less cryptic hint: 'Charlotte's favourite place'. That one could be worked out easily enough; she just had to persuade Charlotte to tell her mother where her favourite place was.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation

And my somewhat shabby knowledge of programming in C#!