Chapter 18:
The door blew inward on the old sheet-metal shop, admitting dozens of heavily armed BATFE agents. The Federal SWAT team advanced into the factory by the numbers, using bounding overwatch. Screams of terror and cries of joy rang out as the Feds worked their way through. The gangsters, knowing their fates, variously stood their ground and died, or surrendered on the spot.
Mike Stack sat in the operations truck, listening as the raid went down. His face was a study in worry as the raid went down. Lucy had been in there for days, hiding in plain sight as the frogs pushed to deliver their next big shipment. "She'll be ok," murmured Shar. The Revonnahgander's voice was calm and soothing–exactly the way a cop should be at a moment like this. Mike was having a little trouble with that because the love of his life was in that factory somewhere, and he knew there wasn't enough counseling in the world to save him if he lost her.
Inside, the Feds traded shots with the hardcore men who'd done murder in the name of Vanos Mydral. The sounds of gunfire in the confined space sent people scurrying for cover, creating a targeting problem as the thugs kept on shooting in spite of the fleeing hostages. "Stay down," shouted the lead Fed! "Stay down!" It was a hard job for some angry young men who'd been treated to a diet of abuse the last few months. Some grabbed weapons for themselves and opened fire on their tormentors. Others grabbed onto the men who'd betrayed them and began to beat them mercilessly. In the chaos and confusion, a lone woman slipped away.
She was tall and pretty, with deep ebony skin, sparkling brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. She'd been there several days, and a couple of the more notorious guards had been giving her the eye. She'd been very careful never to be caught alone with any of them. Now, as bedlam reigned in the old factory, the beautiful woman took a pistol from a negligent guard, choking him out until he went unconscious.
She'd seen something very interesting in the old factory. An Asian man had been in the building, snooping around and getting a guided tour from the bad men who ran the place. That was very dangerous, and the lady wanted to make sure the gentleman knew it. She knew the ins and outs of the building. She'd made sure to spend a fair bit of time learning her way around. The careless guards only concern was that nobody get out the doors or windows. They did very little to stop the people from wandering when their shifts were done. In point of fact, none of the terrified 'workers' really wanted to.
Now the young woman exploited those late night travels to make her way swiftly and silently up through the factory and out to the former administrative wing. The place had been picked clean long ago, emptied of most of the functional furniture and cleaned out of all the technology the old machine-shop used to churn out axle-parts. Now the only thing inside was dust-bunnies, fallen light fixtures and ceiling tiles, and the quarters of the man who ran this place for the frogs.
The place was empty of men when Lucille Mann came creeping in. The rats had quickly abandoned the sinking ship upon hearing the gunfire. Now she moved much more quickly, following the trail of the rats through the filth that had caked up in the building. She trailed them all the way down the back stairs that let out near the river. Voices alerted her as she got closer. They were running scared. There was a patrol boat on the river, courtesy of the NYPD.
"They won't shoot," offered one voice! "We go out without guns, they won't shoot!" "They're gonna' know we're with the frogs, man," retorted another voice! "They shoot cop-killers...!" And these men were cop-killers by association. What mercy were they going to get? A third voice, calmer, growled, "shut the fuck up, both of you! I need to think!" Three, thought the Plumber. She could take three, but she wondered where her Asian was.
They were getting desperate. Desperation could work in her favor. Stepping around the corner, Lucy announced, "police! Freeze!" She'd always wanted to say that! She found herself dealing with six men. One Hispanic, three blacks, and two Asians. One of the men's eyes got big as he recognized the pretty woman he'd been hassling. "Fuckin', bitch," he growled! "Shoulda' known!" Lucy gave him a sweet smile. As the four men watched, she dropped her disguise, saying, "you're in a great deal of trouble. Save me the effort, and drop 'em..." "Rubber-face," rumbled the lead gangster. Lucy smiled. Guy-check hadn't worked this time.
The twitching of the man on the right alerted her. The two Asians didn't want to go down like this, and she wasn't sure it was a good idea to shoot the two of them. As the younger of the two attacked, she shot the Hispanic and one of the black men. And then she was disarmed, as the Asian man hit her in the wrist hard enough to numb her fingers. Here come more bruises, thought Lucy. She'd been thinking of having a nice reunion with Mike tonight and having some fun between the sheets afterwards. The blows to the ribs and thigh she received put paid to that ambition.
Then she was in the fight of her life as the Asian tried to slap a mean hurt on her, leveling crippling blows with his fists and feet. He was rather surprised that she didn't go down. A human would have been finished in seconds. The other men ran like hell, taking the chance to shed themselves of weapons and anything else incriminating. Hand-to-hand combat wasn't really her thing, but Lucy had advantages on her side. Forming her hands into bone-blades, she slashed her foe's arms to ribbons, sending him back-pedaling. "You're not going to get away," said Lucy. "I don't know why you're here or what you're doing, but we'll have your faces posted at every point of entry within an hour."
The older man seemed to consider that. As his companion assessed his wounds, he came to a decision. Reaching into a pocket–Lucy came close to cutting his throat when he did that–he drew out his wallet and flipped it open. Chinese diplomat, groaned Lucy. Great. "Alright," growled the Plumber. "Start marching. Don't give me any trouble, and you'll be out of here in an hour."
She marched the two back to the main factory building, where she found the SWAT-team had things in hand. Shocked faces greeted her arrival. She understood it because she felt it. "Chinese Diplomat," muttered Lucy. "I'm thinking I'll hand him over to you..." The leader of the Fed SWAT-team nodded, his face a study in shock. This was getting much worse. They needed to shut Rillec down and fast.
Turning away from the head Fed, Lucy found her fiancé standing there waiting on her. The handsome man strode up, snatched Lucy off her feet, and hugged her tight. He was about to kiss her when she yelped in pain. "You alright, baby," asked Mike? His heart was in his eyes. Tears were in Lucy's. "Fucking guy kicked me in the ribs," muttered Lucy. "And my leg." "Let's get you looked at," said Mike. Lucy replied, "two guys made it out the back near the river." "We got them," said Shar. "Go to the medic, already." She was picking up a New-York accent. Nodding, Lucy went limping across the room, with Mike helping her along.
"What happened," asked her lover? "His bodyguard tried to kick my ass," muttered Lucy. They knew what was at stake. Neither of them wanted to be caught in this place. It was perfectly clear what they were up to. Just as clearly, the Plumbers and NYPD would both have to let them skate. "I had to shoot two of the perps. They're dead." It was her or them, and Mike was delighted she'd chosen 'her'. Knowing that her race did have vulnerabilities, Mike had admonished her never to play that game–not that Lucy was really interested in being shot up.
Mike walked her over to the Plumber's van that he'd arrived in and got her seated in the doorway. As he blocked the view, Lucy got out of her shirt. Mike pulled her arm up over her head. "Not bad right now," said he. Reaching past her, he got the medical kit out and drew the scanner. Running it along her ribs, he said, "nothing broken, but lots of bruising. Again." Lucy sighed, and her eyes told him just what she was thinking. Squatting down in front of her, he drew her face to his and kissed those sweet lips. "I love you, baby," said he. "We ain't gonna' be in this town doing this forever..." "I'm fucking frustrated," grumbled Lucy! "You haven't touched me in three weeks!" She went on a tear, ranting and raving about what she would have done to Rillec and Vanos both. Mike let her vent a while. Then, putting the scanner away, he helped her get her shirt back on.
"How did we make out," she asked, nodding at the string of ambulances. "Mostly the dummies who wouldn't surrender," said Mike. A couple of the men who'd thought to help had gotten perforated too, but they had managed not to kill any of the civilians in spite of all the flying lead. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. That was better than she'd dared hope. "Shar's going over the machines," said Mike. He'd had to promise the BATFE an opportunity to watch the gun parts be destroyed to get their help. He couldn't let them take them, in spite of what they wanted, but they were satisfied. Once the scene was clear, Shar would use a small EMP device to scramble all the milling machines, guaranteeing that nobody would be getting anything out of them.
"How're the others making out," asked Lucy? They had a lot going on. There were raids going on at twelve different locations across the boroughs of New York, on Long Island, on Staten Island, and even across the Hudson in Jersey City. They had SWAT-teams from the NYPD, New York State Police, BATFE, DEA, and the New Jersey State Police all hitting targets at once. Molly had half her team riding along with the take-down teams. The other half was in reserve, just in case Rillec and his boys came out to play.
"Fergi's gizmo worked like a champ," said Mike. They had been able to verify the absence of frogs at all of the locations before sending in the teams. Things had gone off without a hitch. They hadn't even had any gunfire until they hit this factory. Figures this place would be pretty heavily guarded, though, thought Mike. This was the core of Vanos's scheme. Everything was focused on this place. Without this factory, the whole business came to a screeching halt.
Cheering from the entry got Mike's attention. He turned to find the first of the victims coming out. They would have to debrief these people, which might take days. There had been over three-hundred people in that place being held against their will and forced to work seventeen hour days. Some were sick. Some were starving. All were just happy to be alive. One woman was heard to opine that she hadn't really known what slavery was until now.
Striding forward, Mike caught up with the BATFE officers escorting them. "We need to take them and debrief them," said he. Lucy added, "and we're going to want to have some of them looked at. They were smelting toxic metals in there without adequate ventilation. Some of these people may have heavy-metal poisoning."
The pre-dawn raids took just over an hour to wrap up. All the paperwork and other business took far longer. Mike, Lucy, and their team found themselves still in the stationhouse as the clock on the wall clicked over to ten o'clock. Since they were all stuck, Mike sent out for pizza, and the entire crew sat around working their way through a couple dozen pies, while they filed their reports, bullshitted, and got work done. "Hey," said Nick, who was feeling boisterous, "let's put the news on!" He wanted to hear about himself, but nobody could really blame him. Molly did the honors, tuning the TV to CNN where the topic of the day was them. It was all about them. "Shit," laughed Tim! "Never thought I'd make CNN!" Not in a good way anyway.
The news was mostly positive. Williams and the Mayor had nothing but good things to say about them. Both were delighted at the outcome. After that, they had a statement from the governor's office. He too had praise for both local law enforcement and the Plumbers. He also had a message for Magister Tennyson. He wanted the Plumbers to take steps to insure that this never happened again. Shar was a little nervous to see herself on the primitive entertainment device. It was technically against regulations for a Plumber to appear on a broadcast here on Earth. "Better get used to it, Shar," said Mike. "I don't think the old man can hide in the basement anymore." The Revonnahgander nodded grimly.
After the segment ended, there were a stream of pundits, putting their own spin on the whole business with some being rather insistent that this meant the world governments now had to bow to the UN to have a hope of saving the planet and others just as insistent that the US go it alone. Somewhere in the middle there was a segment on the Incurseans. Mike and Lucy were both astonished to realize that Attea and Ben had both been in town without them even knowing it. Attea had met with the UN Security Council, the US Secretary of State, and the Governor of New York. She'd even addressed the UN.
Attea had come rocking a formal Incursean gown, and she wore her hair up in a formal style that looked surprisingly attractive in spite of being almost militaristic. "She doesn't look half bad," admitted Joe. Nodding, Tim opined, "I'd hit that." Nick's thoughts were on her words. Apparently the President of the US had just signed a treaty with the Incursean Empire agreeing to provide large amounts of food to the Empire. In exchange, the Incursean Empire had expanded the existing non-aggression treaty to formal relations. Nick wasn't sure he liked that. They had spent the last three weeks making sure they didn't let Vanos pull them into the Incursean Civil War. Now they had signed a treaty with the other side. The stakes were scary-high from Nick's perspective.
"Penny for your thoughts...," murmured Helen. Nick glanced up to find her smiling face there in front of him. It was grey lipstick today, glossy and slick, and it made her lips look sooo kissable. She'd disappeared into the women's locker-room for a while, and now she sported grey mascara, giving her that sexy 'smoky-eye' look. Face gone hot, Nick replied, "not sure it was good for the President to sign us up with these guys..." Helen nodded. It was dangerous. She hadn't really given it much thought. She wasn't nearly as invested in the US as a home–not like Lucy. She didn't have family here to worry about. She could see the risks though.
Taking his hand, she gave it a squeeze, saying, "it'll be ok, Nick. Magister Tennyson sat through the Cold War, watching the US and Russia come close to wrecking the world. Humanity isn't as dumb as we like to think it is." Nick smiled back at her. The touch of those rough fingers did things to him. Do it, Lucy silently urged. The two of them looked like they were ready to kiss. C'mon, you lummox, thought Lucy. Ask her out! The moment passed, though. Helen drew back her hand, and the two returned to watching the broadcast.
"So that's Ben Ten," said Reese. "Yeah," said Lucy. "That's my cousin." "You're related to him," asked Joe?! Nodding, Lucy said, "by marriage. My cousin's married to his cousin. Met him at her wedding." Grinning at Mike, she admitted, "had a thing for him once upon a time. If he hadn't met Attea, I might have gotten my mitts on him." She was happy with what she had, though. Mike leaned over and kissed her cheek. He had nothing to fear from Ben.
Across town, their adversaries were also watching the broadcast. "Nasty bitch," growled Rillec, as he stared at the primitive video machine. He had come to a hatred of Attea Myrdral, not least because it was her regime that had taken his freedom. He didn't think much of her interbreeding with the vermin on this planet, and he despised the direction she was taking the Empire. He had hoped to get himself back into the army under Vanos–to once again hold the status of warrior instead of being a mere enforcer dealing with the dregs of society.
It had been a delight for the former soldier to use the skills he'd learned enforcing the Empire's laws to thwart the laws of this primitive world. He had delighted in sowing death amongst the creatures he so despised. The fact that he was undermining Attea Myrdral's rule was just sweet-slime for his snails. They had been making fabulous progress, shipping ten-thousand kits to be built up into weapons in just six cycles for only a very little coin. The operation had been built on a shoe-string and born tremendous fruit.
Unfortunately now the operation was in tremendous jeopardy. They had lost nearly everything. The city enforcers had targeted the sale-houses and arrested all of the slaves. That had let the Plumbers lay hands on his factory. Production was now shut down. He didn't even have the milling machines anymore. It was millions in local currency straight down the drain. Worse, with the Federal Enforcers involved, he couldn't simply slip away to one of the other big cities to set up a similar operation. They would be looking for him. Turning to his executive officer, Rillec asked, "what is the state of our efforts in Montreal?"
Bobik replied, "our scout is on the ground, and he's made some contacts. There is a significant population of displaced and disaffected that we can exploit as well. In addition, much of the territory of Canada is wilderness with only tribal savages for population and a history of superstition that can be exploited." Insistently, Darga, the tech, demanded, "their technology? We need more of those milling machines..." Bobik replied, "equal to the United States. More to the point, they have no real military and an underequipped enforcement arm. They are unlikely to be suspicious of the metals shipment. If we can avoid attracting attention, we can operate for years."
Rillec turned to Darga and asked, "how did we make out with the nano-particle delivery system?" Darga replied, "I got sufficient data before the researchers were arrested. We can proceed." Rillec smiled. They were still in this. Their nano-robots, coupled with the enhanced drug delivery scheme would give them a way to build an army of slaves to work in their weapon factories. Eventually, as the nanites and the craving were passed on, mother to child, it would let them enslave the entire human race!