Chapter 2:
"Bugger off! I'm busy!"
Six pushed through the door to Kyntak's office ignoring his brother's warning.
Kyntak was balancing himself on a swivel chair, precariously reaching up to his picture frame of neatly packed dirt. Kyntak carefully removed a box he had squeezed under his left arm and swiftly emptied the contents into the picture frame.
Six watched as several earthworms began to dig themselves into the dirt.
Kyntak pushed off the wall and landed in the now spinning chair. He grabbed the desk, the chair coming to a sudden stop.
"I always wanted a pet." Kyntak stated dreamily as he looked at the rapidly disappearing earthworms.
"Where did you get those?" Six inquired.
"Shuuushhhh!" Kyntak brought a finger to his lips.
Six gave up.
"Have you had any recent intel spikes on Gear?"
Kyntak propped his chin up with his fist.
"Not that I can think of. Why, you got something?"
Six shook his head.
"Just an informant who has a few concerns about their recent activities. But there's no concrete evidence or really any substantial information."
"Ah well, let bygones be bygones." Kyntak sung, spinning himself in his chair again.
"I don't think you used that quote correctly-"
"Hey!", Kyntak interrupted excitedly. "You want to see a magic trick?"
"Not particul-"
Kyntak thrust a deck of cards into Six's hands.
"Pick a card, any card!"
Fine, Six thought. I'll humour him. Then I can leave him to his earthworm fascination and get back to work.
Six efficiently shuffled the deck and drew the top card.
It was the Six of Hearts.
Six stared at it blankly.
"Now," Kyntak said. "Shuffle the cards again and give the deck back to me."
Six complied and handed the deck back to Kyntak. Kyntak took it and begun shuffling it himself, his eyes closed as he spun himself in a slow circle.
He stopped the chair in front of Six. He pulled a card out from the deck, holding it between his middle and index finger.
His eyes opened as he turned it to face Six.
"It this your card?"
Six found himself starring at the Six of Hearts again.
What? Six thought. How? There's no way he could have kept track of the card I drew.
Six suddenly lashed out and grabbed the deck of cards from Kyntak's hand.
"Hey! Wait a minute!"
Six quickly turned the deck over and spread the cards out in a fan.
All the cards were the Six of Hearts. All of them.
Six slammed the cards back down on the desk.
"I have work to do."
He left Kyntak choking on his laughter. The earthworms can look after Kyntak, Six thought.
Six walked down the corridor towards the King of Hearts office. He touched the handle on the door and stood back allowing his identity to be confirmed by the digicams recessed into the wall. He heard the whirling of the locks disarming and the door opened.
"Ah, well if it isn't the Deck's most profitable agent."
Six paused not two steps over the threshold.
"Queen of Spades, you look well." Six responded coolly.
Why is a black suit here? Six thought. Let alone the Queen of Spades.
"Six." King was looking directly at him. "What can I do for you?"
The QS smiled at him icily.
"I have minor intel from an informant regarding the potential manufacture of soldier bots."
"Minor intel?" The QS drawled. "Surely an email to King of Hearts would suffice."
"I was passing by" Six stated.
"As am I." The QS moved towards the door. She turned back, locking eyes with King.
"I trust you can work collaboratively." It was a statement, not a question.
King held her gaze and nodded. The QS left, the door closing behind her.
Six waited a moment before speaking.
"What was that about?"
King sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"The QS believes we may have a red suit who is going rouge and wants me to monitor and report on it."
"Who?" Six asked.
"Nine of Diamonds." King replied. "Soren Byre."
Soren Byre was a physicist employed by the Deck. She was mainly involved in the design and manufacture of equipment field agents used as well as communications technology and data hacking.
"Don't worry about it." King said. "The QS is probably just being overcautious. Again."
Six wasn't so sure.
"Tell me about your informant."
"He didn't have much to say. Just that he has kept in contact with some of the other hostages we rescued from Earle Shuji a few months ago. He said that Gear has approached a number of them offering employment. According to my informant, the work they are being asked to do is not your ordinary coding for Gear androids."
"Hmmm. It's not unusual for a company to start to develop new ideas and change its product model." King said. "That might be all it is, someone has found a better or more profitable way to conduct business, so that is the route they are taking now."
"You're probably right." Six got up to leave.
"Six." He looked over his shoulder at King.
"Stay away from the Queen of Spades as much as you can. That's an order."
Six nodded and walked out of the office.
"I have been studying more of your practice routines. Your fighting style draws from many different disciplines and is ingeniously adaptive."
"I'm glad you were able to occupy yourself while I was gone." Six said, hanging his coat up. Harry unnerved Six from time to time. The bot was incredibly intelligent, and its literalism seemed to make everything it said far more intense.
"I would like to do some sparring with you this evening. In non-lethal mode, of-course."
"I can only use non-lethal mode against you, Agent Six of Hearts. I am unable to harm my owner unless circumstances dictate it is necessary to prevent further harm. This is a portion of my programming that can not be altered or overridden."
"Does that mean you cannot harm Shuji either?"
"Correct."
Six pondered this new information. It made sense that Shuji would install a failsafe in case her prototype bot was hacked. Six imagined it also provided comfort to potential buyers who feared the same thing.
"That's good to know." Six said. "Alright, let's go Harry."
Harry launched himself straight at Six, jet pack engaged. Six raced towards Harry, sliding to his knees at the last moment, rolling himself under the soldier bot. Six felt his hair flutter as a mechanical leg kicked out. He ran towards the wall and planted his right foot halfway up. He kicked off and landed his left on the ceiling. Bringing both feet together, Six pushed, propelling himself, fists ready, towards Harry.
A cold mechanical hand wrapped around his forearm. It gripped and pulled him from the air towards the floor. Six felt his neck snap back at the sudden change in direction. Six curled himself around the arm as he was pulled from the air. Landing on his shoulder, Six rolled and used the momentum to throw Harry into the wall.
A loud crash rang out through the training room.
"You are unpredictable." Harry said as Six brought himself to his feet.
Harry kicked off the wall, left arm extended towards Six. A blinding flash suddenly caught Six off guard. His pupils contracted, rapidly adjusting to the intense light. Six jumped high into the air. He felt the air being displaced as Harry grabbed for his throat and a brief pressure at the back of his neck.
As Six landed he realised what Harry had done. Harry had turned on the flashlight mounted to his left arm, momentarily blinding Six.
Clever move. Six thought.
"Who is Sender J Lawson?"
Six froze. In Harry's mechanical hand were a pair of dog tags.
Silvery eyes met his and Six felt his throat go dry.
"You are not Sender J Lawson. Why are you wearing these?"
"I think that's enough training for this evening."
"That is not an appropriate response to my question."
Six almost felt reprimanded by Harry's response then remembered, to Harry, his response was not logical.
"No more questions this evening, Harry."
Six held out his hand for the dog tags. Harry dropped them into Six's hand.
Six made to leave the training room.
"You should not wear jewellery in a combat situation."
Six supposed that was a statement rather than a question.