Plant Chapter, Enter Stillman

Raiden walked out onto the BC connecting bridge. The section that connected the Shell One Core was completely demolished with no way to traverse the gap in the bridge. Raiden disregarded this, as he didn't need to use that part of the bridge currently. Instead, he ran across the empty catwalk and entered Strut C.

In front of Raiden upon entering Strut C was a long planter full of ferns. Beyond this was a hallway, with a restroom on either side of it. Raiden moved around the planter and made his way down the hallway. He came to a door on his left, but continued on. The corridor turned to the right, and another door was on Raiden's left. As he walked past it, he heard something drop from the other side of the door. Raiden decided to investigate it, and moved toward the door. It opened, and Raiden peeked into the room. It was a kitchen, with a mess hall on the southwestern side. He saw a black man with a jacket on crouched in front of an oven. Raiden rushed into the room with his pistol drawn.

"Freeze!" Raiden said, with his SOCOM aimed at the crouched man. A cane was leaning against the counter to the right of the man.

"Don't shoot!" bellowed the man. His voice was that of an old man's. He was easily in his fifties. He raised his hands into the air to show that he wasn't armed, and placed his hands on the counter above his head.

"You a cop?" Raiden asked, referring to the words on the back of his jacket that read 'NYPD POLICE BOMB SQUAD'.

"I'm not NYPD. I came in with the Bravo team. Who are you with? And what happened to SEAL Team 10?" asked the crouched man.

"They're all dead," Raiden replied.

"All of them?" the black man said as he furrowed his brow. "That's bad." He began to stand, pushing himself up with his arms.

"Did I tell you you could move?" Raiden said as he adjusted his aim.

"It's all right," came a familiar voice from Raiden's left. Raiden swung around with his weapon in front of him to meet the owner of the voice. "He's not one of the bad guys." Pliskin walked in from the mess hall area and approached the Raiden and the stranger. "Don't go pointing that thing everywhere, kid." Pliskin spoke of Raiden's pistol. Raiden put away the gun. "What's your name?" Pliskin asked the man in the NYPD jacket.

"My name is Peter. Peter Stillman.," he said as he leaned up against the counter and grabbed his cane with his right hand.

"Lecturer at NAVSCOLEOD Indian Head and also a consultant for the NYPD bomb squad," Pliskin obviously had heard the name before.

"A poor old man who got dragged along for this picnic," Stillman said as he hobbled over to a table.

"I thought you'd retired," Pliskin said.

"I did. Can't keep up with everybody, as you can see," Stillman motioned to his right leg, which was very stiff. A prosthetic. "A famous church got wiped off the map thanks to me. With too many lives inside. All I lost was this leg."

"So, you're the bomb disposal guy?" Raiden said to Peter.

"Kid, this is THE bomb disposal guy," Pliskin began explaining. "Open any explosives disposal textbook and you'll see his name."

"Heh, just ancient history now," Stillman said.

"Why did they bring you out of retirement then?" Raiden asked.

"Because the terrorist group here includes one of my former students," Stillman stated. "The Emperor of Explosives – Fatman. He built an atomic bomb when he was only ten. I created him, in a sense."

"And that's why you're here –" Pliskin got cut off.

"I'm pretty rusty. I was supposed to supervise the bomb disposal. Looks like ti was taken care of before I had my turn," Stillman said.

"I wouldn't say that. There are at least two people here who can claim to be experts at bomb disposal."

"Are you two with SEAL Team 10?" Stillman inquired. "I didn't see you at the mission briefing."

"Oh, we're, uh, with another squad," Pliskin said. "My name is Pliskin, Lieutenant Junior Grade. Honored to meet you, sir." Pliskin extended his hand to Stillman.

"Mr. Pliskin," Stillman said, ignoring Pliskin's hand, "do you have any experience with explosives disposal?"

"Don't worry about me. And he looks young, but he can do it," Pliskin said, motioning to Raiden. "But we need more manpower."

"I, uhh –" Raiden interrupted.

"What's your name?" Stillman asked Raiden.

"Raiden."

"That's an odd name," Stillman turned away from the two soldiers.

"Any other survivors?" Raiden asked.

"There was an engineer with me."

"An engineer?"

"A skinny guy with glasses. He went in with us."

"Where is he?"

"I haven't seen him since that skirmish."

"Was he killed?"

"I don't think so. I didn't find his body."

"I see," said Pliskin.

"They told me he was the security systems architect for the Big Shell."

"Why would they take a civilian along?" Asked Raiden.

"Everything in this structure is computer-controlled. He was supposed to get us past all the security measures."

"I never heard anything about that."

"He had official orders with him."

"We'll leave that for later. Right now, we need to figure out how to deal with all the bombs," Pliskin said.

"But there's no one left from the SEAL's Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad," Raiden said.

"Yep. So we have to do it ourselves."

"But I've never defused a bomb before." Raiden's Codec rang. "Hang on a sec."

"Off to confer with the CO again?" Pliskin asked.

"Glad to hear Stillman is safe. Assist him in any way possible to clear the C4 from the structure," Colonel Campbell said.

"Colonel, you know I've never been trained in bomb disposal."

"It's all right. The man you're working with is the best in the field. All you have to do is follow his directions. You will, of course, keep your identity and mission objectives to yourself."

"Is it true that an engineer came in with Sillman?"
"I wasn't informed of that. It's probably something the SEALs decided on their own. There are more important issues at hand, Raiden. The enemy may retaliate for the failed assault. Get those C4s neutralized now."

"Colonel, I'm not qualified for bomb disposal."

"Jack, it's me." Rose Interrupted.

"Rose?" Jack said.

"You can do this. Trust me."

"You haven't had bomb disposal training per se in VR, but you're more than capable of handling C4," Campbell said.

"This is a little different from using C4!" Raiden exclaimed.

"You're up for this. You know that," Rose said.

"How about it, kid?" Raiden heard Pliskin talk to him. "Are the results in yet?"

Raiden cut the Codec connection and agreed to help neutralize the bombs. Pliskin and Raiden moved to the table Stillman was at for a lesson in bomb disposal.

"There's no need to think about this so much," Stillman said to Raiden and Pliskin. "You won't actually be dismantling the bomb; that's not for amateurs. What we'll try here instead is a temporary freezing measure. Here, look at this." Stillman set a sample C4 charge down on the table. "This is a C4 bomb." He pressed a button on the bomb, and a small green light began to blink. "It's live. You can see it pulsing." Peter then picked up what resembled a handheld fire extinguisher. "Now, you spray this on the sucker, and…" Stillman shook the can and sprayed some of its contents onto the C4 for a few seconds. The green light stopped blinking. "There we go. Simple, huh? This spray freezes the detonator instantly." Stillman then handed Raiden and Pliskin their own coolant sprays.

"How long does the effect last?" Raiden asked.

"There's no way the thing can detonate in this condition. Even if you leave it alone, it'll stay out of commission for at least twenty-four hours."

"That's enough time," Pliskin said.
"If we had the manpower, I'd recommend complete disposal, but this will have to do. The spray can be used from several yards away. Check the floor, ceiling, walls, under a table – everywhere. Try to imagine the locations the bomber would choose."

"That won't be easy. We don't know a thing about Fatman," Pliskin said.

"Is there anything that'll help us locate the bombs?" Raiden asked.

"Here, take this with you." Stillman handed Raiden and Pliskin each a small remote control-like object. "It's what they call an Ion Mobility Spectrometer. It can recognize ionized gas emitted by C4s."

"The what?" Raiden was obviously confused.

"In other words, that little gadget sniffs out C4's scent," Pliskin paraphrased.

"That's right. There's a small screen on the sensor that represents the cloud of gas relative to your location," Stillman explained.

"What if he's using some other, odorless substance?" Raiden asked.

"I know Fatman well. I know how into his own aesthetics he is," Peter said.

"Signatures?" Pliskin said.

"Yes. On every bomb he builds, he always leaves a trace of the cologne he uses. The sensr also picks up that particular scent spectrum," Stillman stated.

"Is that something he picked up from you?"

"No, it was his own quirk. He wouldn't work by any rules except his own, and he followed them like a religion. And common sense wasn't one of his strong points. I thought I taught him everything I knew. I have no children of my own, and I thought I found a son in him. He had the right stuff, you know. There's something very unusual about an ability like that. Even at Indian Head, he got special treatment. I remember some people called him one of the 'fat cats'. Maybe that's what started all this. I didn't teach him the most important thing I had to tell him. There are some things you have to pass on. The trick is to know which ones. Right…all I taught him were skills. And now I have to stop him from using it to destroy us all."

"Let's see how well that sensor works," Pliskin said to change the subject.

"All right. Fatman would have allotted some C4s here in Strut C as well," Stillman said.

"Here?" Raiden said.

"I'm activating the sensors. Watch." Raiden and Pliskin both looked at the small LCD screens on their sensors as they were turned on. A green area appeared on the screen south of their position.

"You see the green stuff on the screen? That's a visual representation of the C4 scent detected by the sensor," Stillman explained.

"It's a pretty big area, isn't it?" Raiden stated.

"Don't complain. It's better than nothing," Pliskin said.

"Just activate the sensors and search the area, okay?" Stillman pleaded.

"All right," Raiden said.

"I know the structure of this facility." Peter said, "And if he wants to take out the Big Shell, where he would target."

"You know this for sure?" Pliskin asked.

"Of course. I taught him the techniques he uses. His ideas are based on my theories. Demolition is a kind of ideology; it makes no exceptions for time or place." Stillman confirmed. "The Big Shell consists of two hexagons joined end-on-end, north to south. There should be packets of C4s on each of the vertices, or struts in this case. You need at least that to take a building of this integrity out."

"Six on Shell One, another six Shell Two – a total of twelve bombs, minimum?" Pliskin examined.

"Considering the Shell's architecture and composition from an engineering standpoint, that's my conclusion. And it's exactly what Fatman would have decided as well."

"Kid, this place is all yours. I'll take care of Shell Two," Pliskin said to Raiden.

"Take this," Stillman said as he gave Raiden and Pliskin each a credit card-sized passcard.

"What are these?" Raiden asked.

"Security cards issued to Big Shell personnel. The Big Shell's security layout includes varying levels of clearance. The clearance level is identified by the numbers printed on the doors all over the structure. Raiden, your card key can open doors with security clearance level one. Pliskin, your card can get you into level three areas. You'll need it to get to Shell Two."

"How did you get these?" Raiden asked again.

"That engineer I told you about gave it to me. He was supposed to program a set of all-access cards once we were on-site. Unfortunately, these cards won't get you into every area of the structure." Stillman said.

"We'll have to deal with the remaining security lockouts as they come up. Let's get going." Peter began to walk with Pliskin and Raiden outside, but Pliskin stopped him. "You stay here."

"No, I'm going," Stillman insisted.

"The two of us can handle it, don't worry."

"But –"

"You'll just slow us down with that leg of yours. There's a war going on here. I don't have time to babysit anymore."

"Why don't you let us do the grunt work? You can tell us what to do over the radio, like in the original mission plan," Raiden compromised.

"All right," Stillman said as he entered a large walk-in pantry. "I'll give you instructions from here. I may also need to prepare a backup plan just in case."

"In case of what?" Raiden asked.

"Good luck to both of you," Stillman ignored Raiden's inquiry. "This is a dangerous one."

"Who dares, wins," Pliskin said.

"If anything comes up, let me know. My frequency is 140.25," Stillman informed the two soldiers.

"Good luck, kid. I'll see you later." Pliskin headed for the door, but before he left, he said, "Semper fi."

"That man's no SEAL. I don't even think he's a Navy man," Stillman said after the door closed behind Pliskin,

"What?" Raiden asked.

"'Semper fi' is.Marine Corps talk. Normally, SEAL team leaders stay in the Command Post and give orders with those headphones. And as far as I know, SEALs keep their officers away from the field. And 'Who dares, wins' is the motto of the British Special Air Service."

"Is he one of the terrorists, then?"

"No, somehow I don't think so. If there's someone to suspect, I'd put my money on you."

"I'm –" Raiden began to say something, but was cut off by Peter's laughter.

"Just take care of those bombs for now," Stillman directed Raiden.

"What about you? Those guards could be back in this area soon."

"I'll hide out in this pantry for a while. If I lock the door, it should be all right. Plenty of food in here, too, so you won't need to worry about me. I'll give you instructions by Codec from here. Good luck, kid. Bomb disposal is a face-off with your own mortality. Don't let the fear get to you. When you give in to the fear, the darkness comes." Peter shut and locked the pantry door, leaving Raiden to disarm the C4 bombs.