Technical Difficulties
The sun was setting as we all waited within the cave. We planned to head to the compound to meet up with Darius. However the tension within the cave was so thick, you could cut it was a heated knife. I'm sitting by myself as I lean back against the cave wall, looking out into the jungle. Kenji and Brooklynn are with Ben, checking Mae's injuries and Sammy is with Yaz who hasn't spoken to more since the conversation with Darius. I need to talk to her but I'm afraid that by reasoning with her that I'll push her away more. And sitting here, doing nothing seems to be doing the exact same thing. I lean my head back in mental exhaustion and defeat. I hear footsteps and crack one eye open and see Yaz standing there. "Can we talk?" She ask with an underlying tone of anger but also...hope. "Sure." I say as I move over so she can sit. "I-I just want to know why you would want Darius to stay behind?" She asks the question that I'm most afraid for. "I'm not going to lie or bullshit around the question...it was the most logical thing to do." I answer and she's pissed. She gets up and turns to me. "How can you say that? How can you sit there and say that leaving Darius with that guy was logical?" She asks and I sigh.
"Because Kash would have been on Darius's ass if he suddenly left. Darius had been with Kash for a few hours, that man proved that he has no qualms about killing when it came to Mae so Darius has obviously said something that has put him on Kash's good graces. If Darius left, we're back to square one, only with Kash looking for Darius and by extension...us." I say as I stand, looking her in the eye while I talk. Yaz huffs and turns around, I've noticed that everyone else is watching and listening. "Yaz...I wish that Darius was here instead of there. Darius offered to stay behind so he could learn what he can while we operated out here. I don't like the fact that he is with that pyscho but it's the lesser of the two evils. You may hate me know for making that decision or argeeing with Darius but it doesn't change the fact that we all would have been at even more risk than we already are." I say as I notice Yaz loosen and sag her shoulders. She looks over her shoulder to me. "Would you have done it, if you were in his place?" She asks and I think about it for a second. "So you guys would be better protected...yes, without a shadow of doubt." I say quietly as she turns to me. I approaches me and wraps her arms around. I return her embrace as I rest my head on hers. "We'll get him back...I promise." I swear to her. "Thank you." She quietly whispers to me.
We break and look into each other's eyes. She's my rock, the one thing that will always keep me going. We might argue and disagrees but we always come back together. We hear a sniffle and look over to see Kenji wiping his eye. "So beautiful." He says as we both glare at him. I clench my fist but Yaz covers it with hers. "We'll get him back as well." She says as she nods her head in Kenji's direction as Brooklynn pulls him outside. I notice Ben and Mae giving a thumbs up and Sammy looking like she's about to squeal. Yaz had laughed and went to Sammy while I gazed at the setting sun. "Soon, Darius, very soon.
It was close to midnight when we set out to the compound. We arrive only to find that the raptors are not here and that Darius isn't here either. It's a waiting game now. About 20 minutes pass our meet time had gone and Ben was getting anxious. "He's late." Sammy gets a worried look on her face. "What if something happened to him? What if Kash has found out about us?" She says but Yaz reassures her. "Nothing has happened to him." She says but I notice a scared look on her face. "Uh, what if something did?" She says. We hear a door opening and see Darius running towards us. We smile in relief but quickly drops as we notice something off to the side. A small projectile is shot and creates a small explosion behind Darius as he goes flying. We look and see a robot but dramatically different compared to the ones we know. This one stands on its forelegs with a sharp angelar face with sharp teeth and a full black colour, all over.
We see Kash come out with a golf club in hand. " I see that you found your new babysitter. Or, in fact, it found you. It's part of my new fleet of upgraded models. I call it...BRAD-X. After you disappeared, it seemed like the perfect time to take it out for a spin." Kash says arrogantly which grits my teeth. I so want to break your teeth in. "BT-dubs, what are you doing out here?" Kash says as he turns to Darius. "Honestly? I've been stuck inside all day and I'm bored. Can't I go for a walk at least?" Darius says as Kash smiles. "Of course you can...with your new babysitter. And in case you get any ideas..." Kash says as he starts screaming and hammering away at the towering robot. We all are unnerved at the brutality and anger issues that need addressing. Kash finishes and drops his club which is all banged up and bent. "This new model is practically indestructible." He says as he walks back into the compound. We watch as Darius walks back in the compound as the BRAD-X follows behind him, Darius turns and holds up six fingers before the doors close.
"Six...?" Ben questions. "What does that mean?" Kenji follows up as Brooklynn answers. "No idea. Let's head back to the cave and figure out another plan." She says as we turn and run back. This just got a whole lot harder. I arrive back at the cave and hear a very angry voice. "That fucking coward!" Oh oh...Mae's mad. "He set a robot loose on a child?" She says as I come up. She tries to move but her wounds are still too great. "That thing was no joke. Kash went to town on it and didn't even leave a scartch." Kenji says as I nod. "Agreed. Unless, someone has a 50. Caliber rifle and bullet, than we're fucked." I say sarcastically. That robot has to made out of titanium or some other really strong alloy to suffer no damage, not even a scartch. "Just because it's tough on the outside, doesn't mean it's tough on the inside." Sammy says as we all turn in her direction. "I mean, it's still a robot. Maybe we can shut it down or reprogram to do good instead." Sammy says which does have reason but only one problem. "Anyone here know how to hack a high tech killer robot?" I ask sarcastically as everyone starts to look in Brooklynns direction. Brooklynn realises what everyone is thinking. "Um, I'm not sure if-." She goes to say but Ben interrupts. "We finally have a way to communicate with Darius." Mae turns surprised. "Whoa, Brooklynn. Is there anything you can't do?" She asks as Brooklynn blushes under the praise.
"Uh, jump-starting cars, fixing sonar, reprogramming killer robots, nope." Kenji says dramatically which I roll my eyes. "NBD." Yaz says which gets me to raise an eyebrow. What? "No big deal." I hear Ben whisper to Mae who was in the same boat as me. "Um, it's kind of BD..." Brooklynn says as Ben whispers again. "Big deal." Me and Mae just give an unamused glare. We are not that stupid, you imbecile. "Pssh! We've seen your videos. You got mad skills. Like that time when you were in Silicon Valley, 'AI, is it our future or our destruction'?" Sammy says, praising Brooklynn. "Or that time you unboxed Cape Canaveral and built and coded your own rocket." Kenji follows up. "Or when you unboxed Detroit and built your own model electric car." Yaz says which I do a double take at. Excuse me. "Personally, I'm a little surprised. Not that you built an electric car but the fact that Yaz knew about it." Ben says as we turn to Yaz who realises her mistake. I laugh at her. "He's got you there, luv." I say to her as she glares at me. "Ok, maybe I've seen one or two of your videos." She say, completely embarrassed at the situation. "Never mind that, you did all that cool stuff, crushing this robot should be a walk in the park." I laugh silently at the irony. "Let's go hack a BRAD!" Sammy says exictedly.
We find a good spot for our trap. After a few minutes of heaving this massive log up, we wait for Brooklynns signal for a BRAD-X. We see one coming and Brooklynn throws a rock at its head as it sharply turns and scans the surrounding jungle. It walks up to he pile of scrap BRAD that we placed. Brooklynn pulls her arm down as we drop the heavy log on the machine. Sparkles crack out as its red eyes go dim. We cheer and celebrate until we hear creaking and see the robot lift the log like it's nothing. "This fucking thing has it be fucking titanium to withstand that impact." I whipser to the others as the BRAD-X picks up the scarp pieces and heads off. Brooklynn goes to follow it as we trail after her.
We catch up to Brooklynn as she watches the BRAD-X enter a warehouse of some kind. "Something tells me that we shouldn't go in there." Sammy says which Kenji sarcastically replies. "Which means we're obviously going in there." I shake my head and walk forward, everyone follows after me. We open the doors and lean our heads over to check corners. We found some boxes nearby that we cover behind before spotting the BRAD-X dumping the scraps before heading back out the door. Sammy bumps into something that nearly makes me jump out of my skin. Ben quickly points out another BRAD, this one was an older model as we hide behind the crates. We follow it, making sure that the robot doesn't spot us. Brooklynn looks over the crates and gasps at what she sees. "What is it?" Ben asks. "It's a BRAD-making workshop!" She whisper yells as a welding sound can be heard.
We watch as the older BRAD tinkers with the newer model. It's eyes shine blue as the BRAD-X powers on. "Great. A robot that builds other robots." Kenji whispers sarcastically to us. Sammy points out a BRAD-X that was approaching. We his behind the crates as the robot move on to the door. Brooklynn had got up and grabbed a tool box while we moved further away from the BRADs. "Yaz and I will keep watch outside." Kenji says as Ben follows up. "I'll go check on Darius." And we that, all three went as any and Brooklynn moved to one of the BRAD-X's. I had spotted some crates towards the back of the room and madey way over.
I had spotted some wording on one's of the crates, 'FOR the HIRES'. What that means, I have no idea. I notice a crowbar and softly pop the crate, as I look around, hoping that the BRAD didn't notice. I move the lid and widen when I look inside. "An AR-15?" I say in disbelief as I lift the rifle. It's a customised weapon, for sure, but still keeping to its tactical look. I perk up in realisation as I connect the dots between the rifle and the crates wording. "Mercenaries." I whisper under my breath as I attach to strap and swing the rifle over my soldier before grabbing an ammo pouch and bag and tie it to my pants belt.
I walk back to the other two as I hear Brooklynn say something. "How's it going?" I ask as I unintentionally scare the shit out of them. "Jesus, Ryan. Don't do that." Sammy says to me as her eyes widen as she sees the rifle. "Where did you find that?" Brooklynn asks tensly as I point out the boxes in the back. "Those boxes. Turns out Mantah Corp is looking to supply some people with weapons. By my guess, probably mercenaries. For what reason, I have no idea." I say as their eyes widen at the implications of possible mercenaries coming. Brooklynn turns back to the BRAD-X that has some wires exposed. She attempts to change the wiring but she fumbles it and the wiring explodes in a fritz. Brooklynn hangs her head low as I place my hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, let's try again." I say as she nods and walks off to another robot.
Myself and Sammy are watching as Brooklynn works on another BRAD. She seems to be doing better with this one as she carefully puts two wires together. The BRAD-X comes online as Sammy praises her. "You did it!" She says as I notice the robot going haywire, its body parts moving erratically and its head spinning, shooting off those shocking thingies. "Run, go!" I shout as we dodge the shocking things as we cover behind a corner. The BRAD continues to fire as I
BANG!
The bullet travels at high velocity and pierces the machine which seems to shut it down completely. I lower the rifle before slowly rolling my arm over. Wasn't expecting the recoil to be that strong, damn, that hurt. "I thought I had it that time." Brooklynn says dejectedly. "Hate to pile on more bad news. Kash is forcing Darius to inject his new control chip in the Spinosaurus." Ben says fearfully as Yaz and Kenji return. My eyes widen. The dinosaur will tear anything apart, Darius has no chance. "That thing will killl him!" Yaz says. "And if he doesn't do it, the BRAD-X has orders to..." Ben finishes as he drags his finger across his neck. The implication has made the situation that much worse. Everything that this Kash does or says seems to make me want to put a bullet between his eyes. He is seriously pushing himself on my shit list.
"B, we got to switch it out like right now. How close are you?" Kenji asks and I see that Brooklynn is really unsure. "Actually-." Sammy interrupts before Brooklynn can even say anything. "She's really close, right Brooklynn?" Sammy asks. "We'll,I-." This time Ben interrupts. "Of course she does. If she can program an Air, she can do this." I notice that Brooklynn is holding in a lot of shit. A huge weight on her shoulders. "Brooklynn..." I say as she looks at me. "Tell me honestly...can you do this?" I only asked because I've had an underlying doubt that she could. Brooklynn has skills, no doubt but the level of skill to hack into a high tech robot on a super secret island facility, weeeellll. Brooklynn sighs and moves away to sit down. "No Ryan...I can't." She says as she hugs her legs close.
"This isn't one of my videos. This is real." She says with deep sadness as we all slowly approach her. "Your videos were real." Sammy says which makes me roll my eyes. "Sammy..." I say in warning as she looks back at me. "Yeah, eventually. After hours of mistakes. That AI programming was waaaay over my head. The rocket kept blowing up and that electric car? I redid the transmission 17 times!" Brooklynn vents as everyone watches. That pressure of praise from everyone had really got to her. She didn't want to let anyone down and in consequence had made her believe she could when she knew she couldn't. "Darius needs us now and we don't have time for any of my mess ups." She says sadly as she hangs her head in defeat. Kenji approaches her and kneels down.
"No. We're sorry, for putting so much pressure on you. We shouldn't have done that." Kenji says as Sammy follows up. "And for thinking that hacking a robot would be easy." Ben folds his arms and shrugs. "I'm not. I thought that's why we made Brooklynn do it." Yaz nudges him while glaring and I full on, burn a hole. Is that really necessary. "I don't know what else to do. Every BRAD-X will have the same system, I can't go through them all." Brooklynn says as I hear a digital trilling in the back. We turn and see the worker BRAD. "Maybe we don't have to. Maybe we need just that one." I say as I point out the older model. I look back at Brooklynn and she has a cocky smile on her face.
Kenji and Yaz sneak up behind the older BRAD as they tug at its legs. Myself and Ben cover the front half as Yaz jumps up and covers the head. The strong bot is trying to lift but we are too much weight for it. "Hurry!" Yaz say as Brooklynn runs up and cuts the machines power. "Hypotheortically, the older model should be easier to hack. And we know it can send commands so..." Brooklynn says ass he hangs her sentence. "We can use this one to send commands to Darius's BRAD-X." Kenji says as he catches on. "Let's hope that Darius can hd on for a little bit longer." I say as I hold the rifle at the ready. We don't know if the bot sent an emergency signal down its communication line so better be safe than sorry.
Brooklynn works furiously on the BRAD. She had sent Ben to the back room for a tablet to connect to it and he came back...fairly quick, what do Mantah Corp just leave high tech laying around. Sloppy. I heard a beep and a shout of glee. "I got it!" We all gathered around her as the tablet showed a diagnostic page of the BRAD-X and a camera that shows Darius holding a gun of some kind at the head of the knocked out Spino. "Stop." Brooklynn says as Darius turns. "You don't have to do it." She says as Darius's face goes really confused. I laugh on the inside at what he must be thinking right about now. "It's Brooklynn." She says as Darius's eyes light up. "Long story short, I hacked a BRAD." She says which gets a chuckle from me. "Very short." I say jokingly which she playfully glares at me. "Tell him we miss him." "And to be careful." Sammy and Ben say respectively. "Sammy says that we miss you and Ben wants you to be careful. Also, destroy the chip and I'll have this guy tell Kash that you chipped the Spino. He'll never know." Brooklynn says as Darius fires into the ground and steps on the chip, destroying it. "Brooklynn I-. Thank you." He says as we all smile. "I can't control it's weapons or anything but you are so not alone, dude." Brooklynn states as I imagine what that would sound like coming from the BRAD-X. Creepy and weirdly funny at the same time.
"Oh. I know what Kash is up to. He is working on a big demonstration for Mantah Corp investors. It's going down in six days." Darius's says as I recall the six figure that he showed to us before. Now that makes sense. The dino fights, why Kash is the only one here. Biomes that are still being worked on. It's a testing facility and the fights are experiments to make big bucks. Now everything is coming full circle now. "If we can figure out a way to mess it up." Darius says as Brooklynn finishes it off. "We can finally take down Kash and Mantah Corp for good." She say as the giyys being cheering but I hold reserve. The fights not over yet. We have a plan, now just have to exceute it. I break from my thoughts as I notice Kenji acting and talking very weirdly as he gets up from where Brooklynn is sitting and walks off... awkwardly. Brooklynn is wide eyed and very confused. I look between them both as I realised what just happened. Kenji must have let his mouth talk before his brain stopped processing what he said. I notice Yaz and she has the same knowing look as I do and we glance at each other as we smile. This ga are about to get a lot more interesting now.
It was later that we were watching the camera from the BRADa point of view. I slightly noticed that Brooklynn is slowly scooching away from Kenji who was kneeling beside her. Darius places the gun down beside Kash's desk as he turns. An impressed look in adorned on his face. "Got to admit, I'm impressed. Putting a chip in a Spino's noggin is not easy." He says arrogantly as I narrow my eyes. If I ever get my hands on that bastard, I gonna to break his jaw so he would stop talking. "Guess I got lucky." Darius says confidently as Kash turns and mashes keyboard buttons. An alarm goes off and Kash jumps to feet. "Than why isn't it working. What really happened out there?" He says as he turns his attention to the BRAD. "Mission completed as directed." Brooklynn says flawlessly through the BRAD. Kash sits down in pout. For real...a pout. You're a grown ass man, grow up for fucks sake.
Kash turns back around to the computer as two more alarms show. "Seems it didn't work on the other two test subjects either." I sigh in relief at that. If Darius one was the only one that didn't work than we would have been in a heap of shit. "All the dinos we chipped today are adults, so...their fully formed pre-frontal cortexes are probably rejecting the control so..." Kash says as he turns back and an image of a baby Brach comes on the screen. Our eyes widen at Kash's intentions. "I'll have to chip more...impressionable subjects. The chips may be a bit too much, fry their little brains. But hey...so is the price of genius." Kash says as I clench my fist rely tightly. That's it, if I ever see that guy, I'm gonna to hurt him...really...really bad. "He wouldn't?" Sammy says as I turn my attention to her. "This is Kash, remember." I say as we realise what we have to do. We need to inflitrate that compound and get whatever baby dinos out. No one deserve what Kash is planning...no one.
A.N: The rifle is like the one that Deadshot uses in the Suicide Squad movie, only that it's a tactical black colour with a some lighter shades of grey.
