Chapter 6

Richmond, Virginia

The blonde haired soldier wore full grey body armor with a white "W" inside a circle on the chest. He shoved a handcuffed Scott up to the front of the police station. Two guards with the same gear stood at the doors. "What is this?" one of them asked.

"Name's Scott Bonne." The soldier said. "He flagged me down, over by the stadium. Says he wants to turn himself in, but he'll only speak to Detective Shroud."

The guard scoffed, "And why the hell do you think that you're so important? Detective Shroud is a busy man, and people don't just demand his presence."

Scott stared him down, "You tell him my name. Tell him I want to give him a deal, in exchange for the safety of me, my sister, and my fiance. He'll come."

The guard commed someone, in private, then turned to the soldier, "Take him inside, Shroud is on the way." He said, as the doors opened.

The soldier opened the door to the Interrogation Room, shoving Scott into the metal chair. Scott glared up at him, "You rough me up one more time, I'm gonna break your fucking nose." He told him.

The soldier grinned, "Don't make me shock you one."

Scott shook his head, as the door opened. Shroud walked in and scoffed. "Okay, Mr. Bonne, I'll humor you." He said, sitting down. "I imagine that your first demand will be for me to have your cuffs removed?" He nodded to the soldier, who obliged. "So, what is it this man before me wants?" He asked himself, more-so than Scott.

"I have information, but I want guaranteed protection, for me and my family." Scott said.

"Yes, I gathered that, friend. You see the part I'm interested in, is the first thing. The information. Why just come in so willingly, after killing so many of my men, months ago. I take it, that's what this is about, correct?" The detective stated.

Scott scratched his nose, brushing back his light brown hair, "I was part of a small tactical unit, called the Black Wraiths." He started, "Those are the ones who killed your men, back in Williamsburg. We escaped with them, joined their ranks again, and hid out for a while."

Shroud was listening intently, "So why stab them in the back, Mr. Bonne? I assume you're going to offer me their location as an exchange."

Scott nodded, "A few days ago, you personally executed friends of theirs, on national holovision. You can imagine that didn't go over well. They're going to start hitting your teams hard, and hitting them often. And the kicker is this, you can be the most intelligent man on Earth, but you will not get your hands on them, not without me." Scott fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket, as he continued. "I told them that they were going to get innocent people hurt, that they weren't thinking rationally, blah blah blah, they didn't want to hear it. So I grabbed up my sister and Danica, in the middle of the night, and here I am."

Shroud looked at him, closely, "You have something specific in mind, spit it out, then I'll let you know what we can do."

"There's a Technology Center in Boston, ran by Preston Light, Wily's old partner. We heard they were accepting engineers to live in their building, be kept safe without crossing the King. When I tell you about the Wraiths, they will come for me. I need you and your men to get us to Light Tower safely." Scott replied.

The detective sat back, gazing at him. "That's a nifty proposal, Scott, really. But there's more isn't there? You're no doubt a secretive man, so let's get it out of the way. What are you not telling me?"

Scott looked at the table and scoffed, "Secretive, huh? Like faking your death, secretive?" He leaned forward, "You tell me detective, why fake your death to help Wily? What the missing piece there, you could have pulled this off just as easy."

Shroud looked down, laughing quietly, "There it is. But I'm not answering that, Mr. Bonne."

"Maybe I forgot where the Wraiths are, Detective Dobbs." He responded.

"This was fun, we should do it again, sometime. But your information is irrelevant, and I'm not answering your inquiry." He said.

"Why not? What harm would it do? And why is my information irrelevant?" Scott pried.

Shroud leaned forward and spoke quietly, "Your information is irrelevant, because you have no intention of giving it to me. Your story was well thought out, but I'm not answering your question, because as soon as I do, the invisible fella behind me is gonna cut my head clean off."

The blonde soldier's eyes went wide, as Shroud jumped up, flipping the table over onto Scott, and spinning, blocking an invisible horizontal blade swipe. He drove his elbow into Vapor's head, causing his cloaking device to short out for a second. Scott drew his gun as he stood up, but Shroud had turned and lunged at him, breaking the two of them through the two-way glass.

The soldier stood, to see the detective get up, and bolt out the door. A second later, a guard came in and drew his pistol on the downed intruder. The soldier raised his assault rifle and leveled the man. He ran over to Vapor, "Hey get up, he didn't hit you that hard."

Vapor stood up, "Kiss my ass, man. That guy is fucking stronger than he looks."

Shroud walked out into the hall and headed for the Evidence Room. "Lock down the building, now!" He shouted to the man by the desk. "Nobody in or out!"

The alarms began to blare, as Vapor and the soldier helped Scott to his feet. "Well I guess the jig is up." The blonde said, as he touched a key under his sleeve. His body flickered and blinked away, leaving Helix standing in his place. "Did anyone by chance, come up with a Plan B?"

"Yeah." Break said, pulling his pistol. "Aggressive retreat."

The first wave of guards bashed though the door, and were greeted by automatic fire, dropping them to the floor. The air wavered as Vapor moved ahead. The men in the hall were preparing to frag the room, when "wooshing" sounds were the only thing they heard as they were systematically dismembered. "All clear." Vapor informed them.

Break and Helix walked into the hallway, "Which way did Shroud go?" Break asked.

"How the hell should I know? I was laid out, same as you." Vapor replied.

"Shit, okay you wanna cover our exit, while we look for him?" He said.

"On it." The invisible man responded, and was presumably gone.

The two men made their way toward the Locker Room area, when a group of guards emerged from the end of the hall, then from behind them. "Why does this shit always happen, when we hang out?" Helix said.

The two stood back to back, as the enemy drew closer. And in the blink of an eye, they began to unload on Shrouds men. The group fired back at them as they spun and maneuvered, absorbing the shots with their jackets, while moving toward the Surveillance Room. They ducked inside, slamming the door. "Did we seriously just survive that?!" Break asked.

"Not yet." Replied Helix, tossing down the scorched assault rifle. "Your sister deserves a fucking award, man. The shots hurt like hell, but we're still alive, for now." He said as the guards beat at the steel door. "You ready?"

Break nodded, pressing against the wall, next to the door. Helix posted up on the other side, and pulled the door open. The fusion bolts shredded the small room, then stopped as the first guard entered. Break snatched him over, snapping his neck, as the next man was shot in the back of the head. The two backed up and picked off the enemy through the small opening. The last guard rushed Break with a baton strike, but his foe dodged every attack and grabbed his wrist. "Oh, you done messed up, man." Helix said, as Break snapped his wrist, then his forearm, then his elbow. He spun the guard back, kicking the side of his knee, dropping him. The man screamed in pain, then ceased to, when Break shot him through the eye.

"You've got issues, dude." Helix said, laughing. The two walked out into the hall, when the building shook. "Almost time to go." He added.

"We gotta find Shroud." Break said, simply.

"Hey man, I'm all for that, but we ain't dying in the process, ya know." He replied.

Outside, Ripple walked around to the back of the building, casually smashing the spines of two unsuspecting guards. He found Shrouds vehicle and placed two palms on the side of it. A shock wave shot through it, breaking out the windows and crumpling frame. He walked over to the rear entrance, placing his hands on the steel garage door, and shaking the brickwork loose around it. Ripple stepped back as the large door fell to the cement. "You're up guys." He said, over comms.

The cloaked transport drove up, revealing itself, as Glitch and Tron hopped out. "Ah'right kiddo, ya know what ya doin'?"

Tron smirked, in her new black exosuit, with a green combat vest. "Are you kidding? I was hacking in grade school." She replied.

Glitch pulled out a large duffel bag, and gave her a short salute, "Hop to it then, be back in ten." He said, sending her on her way. He walked into the garage, heading down the stairs with Ripple.

Tron sneaked through the hallways, silently, making her way to the Security Server Room. All of the guards were rushing toward the other end of the building. She ducked into a closet until the last one passed, then hacked the keypad, entering her destination.

Tron identified the main terminal and pulled a holochip from her vest pocket. She laid it across the identification scanner and uploaded an image of Detective Shroud. Using her keypad she decrypted his password and gained access. Once inside, she plugged up her transfer chip and began moving the files. It felt like forever and she was getting antsy. Then her heart dropped, when she heard a voice. "Hands in the air, girl!" He said, pointing a sidearm at her.

She turned around slowly, putting her palms up. He lowered his weapon and walked toward her, when she pulled a pistol from her leg holster. "Whoa whoa!" The guard said, as Helix emerged. "Geez, Tron you've gotten fast at that!"

She put the weapon away, and huffed, "That's not funny. I could have killed you." She said.

"Hey, it was your brother's idea. He wanted to see how your reactive training was going." He responded, as Break walked in.

The upload finished, and she packed her things. "Did you get the Detective?" She asked.

Scott shook his head, "He slipped away again. How long we got?"

She looked at her watch, "Two minutes. Wanna play cards or something?"

The men laughed, "You're definitely a Bonne." Break said, as they walked out.

As they were riding away, Glitch passed a device to the back, "Who wants ta do the honors?" He asked.

"Tron made them, let her do it." Scott said, passing it to her. "Hey, you guys wanna see something cool?" He asked, as she pressed the key. Sending the Police Station into a cloud of dust and smoke, and then nonexistence.