Chapter Four

The Ranger Project

Over the next several days, the Cage brothers set to work. Every day, they would be locked in their lab with whatever tools they needed, with two guards standing on opposite sides of the room at all times. James would use the blueprints and his own knowledge of the project to put the suit together, while Joshua helped out with most of the heavy lifting and grunt work.

"Find as many of these metal pieces as you can," James told Joshua on their first day. "Follow the pattern on page two on the blueprints. They should form a rudimentary frame."

"Got it," Joshua replied.

Working side by side, the brothers started putting together the harness that would protect and brace the muscles against serious damage while inside the suit. James could tell Joshua had a lot of questions, but he wasn't asking them just yet. With their guards watching them closely and the Golden Mask likely on the opposite end of those cameras, they had to watch their steps for now.

At the end of each day, the brothers were pulled up from their table, dropping whatever they were doing, and would be taken in separate directions to be locked up in tiny cells with no windows, a small cot to sleep on, and a bucket in the corner. Conditions were pretty miserable. The cells were small and cramped, and the bucket stank. They were only fed twice a day, and both meals tended to be dismal at best. They didn't get much sleep either. They would be locked up in their cells for only eight hours at a time and had to work constantly the rest of the time.

Tired, hungry, and running on fumes, the brothers pressed on, refusing to give in. They worked hard, bringing the suit together. They found that their guards tended to be lenient when it came to conversation so long as they didn't discuss anything even sounding like an escape attempt. This was probably because they hoped the brothers might leak sensitive information by mistake.

One day, they were working on assembling what the Ranger Project had dubbed Birdie Rockets. While James was busy writing the programing for the rockets, he couldn't help but notice his brother staring at the tiny devices with an increasingly doubtful expression. "These things are really supposed to make you fly?" he finally asked.

"Yep," James said. He smiled for the first time in what felt like ages. He was used to this question.

"And they're attached at the belt level?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wouldn't that make the flier top-heavy?"

There it was. "Not exactly," he said. He pointed to some of the harness's connectors. "See how it's attached there? The harness redistributes the weight to keep you balanced."

"Uh-huh," Joshua said. He was clearly not convinced, but he decided to drop it. He glanced at the guards and the cameras and leaned forward. "So, this Ranger Project the fuhrer was talking about? This whole super suit thing we're building?"

James looked up at his brother. He scratched the back of his head, not sure what to say. He supposed there wasn't much point to hiding anything from Joshua now. The Black Cross apparently already knew almost everything important.

"Alright," he said. He gathered his thoughts, trying to find the right words to say. "The Ranger Project is a secret project started by EAGLE about two years ago. The goal was to create a super suit that would enhance the wearer's abilities tenfold. Ten times the strength, ten times the speed, so on. I was one of the top scientists working on the project."

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "You've been working on this for two years?"

"Not exactly. I was brought on to the project six months ago."

Joshua did the math in his head. "Six months," he said. "When we both started at Silver City base."

"That's right," James said. "The project team brought me in because they'd hit a stumbling block and wanted fresh eyes for the project. With my record, I was a prime candidate."

Joshua snorted. "You don't need to tell me that one, Egghead," he said. He winked at his brother. James smiled back. "So this was your big top-secret assignment you couldn't tell me about," he said.

"Pretty much."

"All those six months, all those times we had lunch together, you were working on this?"

"That's correct," James said.

Joshua messed a bit with the birdie, fiddling with the connectors. "Did you know about the project beforehand?"

James finished up with his next line of code and smirked. "Technically, not much," he said.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, rumors and gossip tend to run rampant in the EAGLE science community. We had heard rumors about a super soldier project, but those rumors were mixed in with other rumors about fifty-foot human-shaped robots and the government using alien technology. We never really took any of them too seriously."

Joshua started attaching parts of the Birdie Rocket to the harness where Joshua had shown him. "If these things work the way you guys plan them to," he said. "That's a really powerful army you'd have on your hands. A bit too powerful if you ask me."

James nodded. "We know," he said. "We had discussed the danger several times. That's why we decided to put a limit on the number of suits. We planned to keep each line of suits to a team of five max. A tight-knit group of approved and reliable soldiers with impeccable backgrounds that EAGLE could keep a close eye on. Each candidate had to have their name submitted to and evaluated by a committee before being brought in, and once selected, they would have to go through rigorous training. We were just about to finish up the first suit when—"

"When the Black Cross attacked."

"That's right."

Joshua was quiet for a while. He looked over the piece he was working on attaching and reattaching the pieces he knew how to work with.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," James said. "I wanted to, every single day."

Joshua shrugged. "I get it," he said. "This was a big secret."

James nodded. "It was."

"A secret we definitely wouldn't want the Black Cross to get their hands on." He rolled his eyes in the guards' general direction.

James gave him a dry smile. "Yep, we definitely wouldn't want that."

Their guards didn't react.

James leaned in. "You should know, though," he said. This was pushing the edge of what the Black Cross already knew, but he felt he should say it anyway. "About three weeks ago, I approached my commanding officer and submitted your name for consideration. He agreed and we put in a request to the committee for evaluation.."

Joshua looked up at him in surprise. "Really?"

James nodded. "You were my only choice."

Joshua didn't say anything for a minute. He looked over the pieces in front of him with a new appreciation. "Three weeks ago, you said?" he asked.

"Yeah," James said. "We were just waiting on a response. We expected it to come back any day. And then—," he trailed off. He didn't have to finish.

James fell silent, looking over the fragments of the suit before him. "It should have worked," he said. He picked up a piece and turned it over in his hands.

"It sounds like it was quite the project," Joshua said.

James smiled sadly. "It was," he said.

Joshua scowled at their guards. He fiddled with the piece in his hands and put it down. "We need to get out of here," he said.

At those words, the guards tighten their grips on their weapons.

"Shush," James said.

"I'm serious," Joshua said. "We can't let them have this suit." He gestured to the birdie rockets he had just installed. "Look at this. You know what it can do. If we let them get their hands on it, we are basically handing the world a death sentence."

"I know," James said. The guard's fingers were starting to itch toward their triggers. Joshua had said too much. "You're right," he said. " But there's nothing we can do about it. It would be pointless to even try, so don't even talk about it."

Joshua opened his mouth to argue, but James looked him dead in the eye. Closing his mouth, he nodded slowly. "Right," he scowled. "Sorry. It was a stupid thing to say."

"Let's just keep working," James said

"Yeah."

The brothers worked in silence. Their next task was to hook up the harness and the birdies to the computer so that James could apply his programming. While he worked, he considered their predicament. If they wanted to escape, they would need a code of some kind. He had an idea.

"Okay, I'm going to need your help," he said. He leaned forward and pointed to a series of lights on the harness that would be lighting up while he coded. "Pay attention to these lights here. Specifically, one, three, five, and seven. Got it?"

Joshua searched James's face, trying to pick up on what he was trying to tell him.

"One, three, five, and seven," James repeated. "Keep watching those lights. Okay?"

Joshua nodded slowly.

"Let's just not talk about escape," he said. "Don't get in to trouble. Just watch these while I code."

Hidden in those words were James's coded message. "Let's . . . talk . . . in . . . code." One word in, then three more words, then five after, then seven more.

He watched Joshua's face for any sign he had picked up on the code. Joshua stared back at him, confused at first. Then he subtly nodded. "What ever," he said. "This is our life now. Make your stupid suit and stick to their plan."

James did the math in his head. "What . . . is . . . your . . . plan?"

He'd got it.

"First," James said carefully, showing Joshua the appropriate cord. "I must test the system connection. If the lights don't flash, it's a bad code."

"First . . . test . . . the . . . code."

Joshua nodded, thinking. He got down low, squinting at the lights to track their movement.

"Let's see," he said. He rubbed his head and groaned. "I'd kill for a soda. Ask the guards if we can have some. Guards!" He turned to look at the guards.

The guards didn't respond to his coded threat. "No drinks," they said. "Keep working."

Joshua did so. He stared at the lights for a minute. "Change your code," he said. "The lights aren't flashing; your code is faulty. Write a better one tomorrow."

James nodded. "Change . . . the . . . code . . . tomorrow." That was a good plan. "I'll do that," he said. "Figure out what's wrong with it on your end. I'll work it out from here."

While they worked, on the other side of the cameras watching them, the Golden Mask sat in a small control booth surrounded by Black Cross soldiers. He leaned forward, gripping his scythe. Something was off about their conversation. It sounded stilted. They had to be talking in code, but he wasn't picking up on it.

"Play back the recording," he ordered one of his soldiers.