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And so it continues...
"Okay, so Artie – this guy – this Max Killner, where is he now? What has he done with this artefact?" Myka questioned Artie from the back of the SUV as they sped along the highway. Artie turned round in his seat at the front.
"He's, well I think, he's taken over a shoe factory in Spencer City-"
"What? Why?" Myka cut him off.
"I'm guessing he wants to impose some power over people, to feel like he's gained something in his pathetic life"
"Artie, if he's taken over the place, what about the workmen? Won't they be a little bit of a problem to us? If this artefact has made them under Killner's control then won't they – I don't know – retaliate, when they see us barge in there, Tesla's blazing?" Steve asked.
"It's a possibility..." Artie said, almost under his breath, in deep thought.
"We need a plan, we don't know what could be waiting for us once we're there" Pete added, his eyes on the road.
"I'll call Claudia, she should be at the Warehouse about now, she can hack into the security camera feed and give us a perimeter check and possibly give us an idea of what it looks like inside the place" Artie said.
"Good call" Pete nodded. Artie retrieved his Farnsworth from his bag and called Claudia. She answered quickly.
"Hey Artie" Her voice was heard throughout the car as they continued speeding along.
"Claudia, are you at the Warehouse yet?" Artie asked
"Sat at the desk right now, been here ten minutes already, had time to beat my last high score on fruit ninja"
"Alright, you may be on R and R but you are still able to type so get typing, please. I need you to hack into the Spencer City security camera feed at the Armstrong Shoes Limited factory and give me a perimeter check on the premises and get into the security feed inside the factory"
"Easy like Sunday morning. Halla back in five" She shut the Farnsworth and Artie placed his own Farnsworth back in his bag.
They continued down the busy road in silence. Each one of them having their own individual thought processes. Five minutes of silence later, Claudia buzzed Artie's Farnsworth just as she said she would. Artie answered swiftly.
"What you got?"
"Well I tapped the feed and did a perimeter check – it looks like there are several other operating camera's that you'll want to avoid if you want to get inside without detection however there is one camera that's down, it's round the back of the factory in loading bay C. You can easily access it via the rear entrance so make sure you take the right turn when you're on the approach"
"Nice work. Did you get a look at the interior?"
"Just searching it now...there are three floors, one and two look like they're for production. They're just full of machinery and well - shoes"
"Manned machinery? Or Automatic?" Myka asked over Artie's shoulder.
"Bit of both, there is less workers on the second floor than the first from what I can tell. No guarantees on that though, I can see through the cameras but I can't adjust them"
"And the third floor?" Chimed in Steve.
"...It's just management, all the camera's show is corridors" Claudia replied slowly as she found the images for the third floor. "If Max is in this factory" she slated his name "my best guess is he's there" "Also I can see a staircase on the east and west wing that goes through all the floors – that'll be the easiest way of reaching the top floor"
"Alright thanks Claud" Artie said. "Are you staying off your feet?" he added quickly.
"Yes, Artie" Claudia sighed. "Leena's gone all Hawkeye on me, won't let me out of her sight"
"Good" Artie said with satisfaction.
"And Artie –" she paused "be careful, yeah?"
"Don't worry kiddo" He smiled and they both shut their Farnsworth's.
They continued driving for another hour and a half, reaching the industrial area after a further ten minutes. They drove down the correct road to avoid detection from the security camera and parked up in one of the empty lorry spaces. The building was large and very dull; it had grey walls that looked miserable, rubbish and disregarded bits of fabric littered the car park and the area around the loading bay. Pete got out of the car first and went to the boot to get three of the Maximum charge Tesla's; one for Myka, one for Steve and one for himself. Not one for Artie, Pete knew he was feeling a little reckless at this point and giving him one of the big guns would probably be a bad idea. Who knew what he might do? Probably nothing, he know's what he's doing thought Pete, But just to be on the safe side...He slammed the boot door down just as the others began exiting the vehicle, leaving the fourth Tesla inside the car.
"Do you think we should find those stairs?" asked Steve as Pete handed him one of the more powerful Tesla's.
"We're not close enough to either the east wing or west. I say we go through the loading bay and follow the same path all the produce takes so that we can reach the manufacturing floor. From there we hide behind machinery until we get an opportunity to move out towards the stairs" He finished as Myka gave him an impressed nod.
"Artie? Sounds like a good plan, yes?" Myka asked his back as he stared up at the large factory that towered over them. Pete passed her her weapon.
"Yes? Oh oh, yes. Sounds good" She had clearly interrupted a deep thought, she could see it getting smaller in his eyes.
"Let's go" Steve said, getting a firmer hold on his weapon as he lead the way inside, through the loading bay.
It was dark and quiet; the footsteps of the four agents could be heard as they marched across the cold concrete floor, in the distance the low hum of the machines could be heard, the brainwashed workers still running them like normal. Around them were several pieces of discarded machinery that were slowly gathering dust and pipes dripped and hung, broken, from the ceiling. The walls were plane old cinderblock without the hope of a single lick of paint. Ahead of them was a red door – or it may have been red once upon a time, that lead to the production area. They headed towards it, the sounds of the machines beyond getting louder and louder.
"Artie" Myka whispered, though there wasn't much point as the clattering of machines covered any other sound. "Artie, how do we get in without them seeing us?"
"I'm not sure...maybe there is another door round here somewhere..." he trailed off, his eyes scanning the large area for another door. "Over there" he said, pointing towards a grey door that blended in with the walls, it had a small and very dirty rectangular shaped window in it. They walked forwards and once there, Pete began etching away some of the grime with his thumb so as to see through the door discretely.
"What do you see?" Myka asked
"Urmm, well beyond this big random hulk of metal, I can see little heads bobbing around but besides that – not much"
"There's a big random hulk of metal?" Steve asked.
"I like the sound of a big random hulk of metal" Myka nodded "This is our vantage point, right?"
"Right" echoed Artie.
Pete opened the door slowly and with a smallest gap as possible. He snaked his way through and crouched behind the un-identifiable piece of metal. Steve and Myka followed then came Artie, needing to open the door slightly further than the others because of his extra insulation.
They all crouched together keeping quiet.
"Artie" whispering was necessary now; if they were detected at this point it would be game over. Myka spoke "Can you get a look at these guys? See if they show any specific signs that would tell us what artefact this is?"
"I'll try" As he was on the end of the miniature huddle they had going on, it was easiest for him to quickly peek round. Steve was on the other end and he did the same, he saw a lot of workmen busying themselves with their machines.
"They look pretty normal to me" Steve whispered
"No, No, No, look at the way they're moving, it's like a march of some kind...military?" He questioned to himself as his vocalised thought process went back inside his head. Steve took out his Farnsworth and called Claudia, she answered quickly again.
"Jinksy! Hey du-"
"Ssssshhhhhh" Steve hurriedly told her to shush. She did so.
"What is it?" She spoke quietly
"We need to you to research into artefacts that control people – large amounts of people" He added. "Particularly ones that have a marching effect on people, maybe military related or something"
"Gotcha, I'll call you back in a sec"
"No, no, don't" Pete butted in with a worried whisper "The noise of the Farnsworth might draw unwanted attention. We'll call you, ok?"
"Ok dude, I get it, we're keeping it quiet, jeez" Claudia replied. The conversation ended and Steve looked around again, searching for an exit to the stairs. He could see the door but it would be impossible to reach it without being seen.
"What you got on your end?" Steve whispered to Artie, who peeked round to take a look.
"I see the door but they'd see us if we moved toward it"
"Same"
"Are we gonna have to fight our way out of this? Through all of them?" Myka asked.
"Anyone else got another plan? This is really as far as my one goes" Pete said, raising his hands to show he was out of ideas.
"We fight?" Steve asked the three of them.
"We fight" Myka and Pete replied simultaneously and Artie nodded.
"Let me just call Claudia back before we go once more unto the breech" Steve said as he took out his Farnsworth again. She answered and went straight to the point in a fast whisper.
"OK so I did some digging and found the most likely artefact that isn't already in the warehouse is Joan of Arc's armour, specifically the wrist guard. It was stolen from the full set in 1905 and hasn't been seen since"
"And Joan of Arc was...?" Pete asked
"She is one of the patron saints of France, lived in the 15th century and was a leader of the French army during the hundred years war. Her army were willing to do anything for her and did everything she told them to do, sound familiar? If he's got an artefact that makes people become his to control, the only explanation I've found is her wrist armour"
"Thanks Claud, do you know if there are any effects on the user of the artefact?" Myka leaned over Pete to ask.
"It says that Joan of Arc had many victories, maybe one too many and her men believed they could succeed in everything they did, as did she. There is a chance that he may be feeling over confident about all of his actions which could lead to an advantage to you guys" She finished.
"Steve, would you pass me the Farnsworth please?" Artie asked him. Steve handed the little box to him.
"Hey Artie" she whispered to him
"Hey kiddo, listen we're going to have to fight the workers in our current location in the factory. I want you to disable the security camera network for the entire building, you got that?" he asked, leaning into the screen slightly.
"Yeah I got it but Artie, if I disable them, I won't know where you guys are or if there is trouble ahead of you"
"I know but we need to move from our vantage point and the only way to do that is to fight our way out to reach the stairs and if they see us wreaking havoc on their screens up in security, then we're toast" He replied.
"Alright" she said, not completely happy with his decision, she wanted to keep track of their movements to make sure they were ok but she did as he asked anyway. It was easy really, after a small amount of clicking and typing it was done. "Ok, done. All camera's down"
"Thanks Claudia, we'll call you again at some point" Artie added
"Good luck you guys" She said, before closing her Farnsworth.
"Alright, this is it" Steve said, checking both of his Tesla's were ready for action.
Myka did the same as she said "Judging by the size of the room here, we should take on a quarter each and try and help each other out when we need it. I also think we should split up when we're done. Pete, you take the east wing stairs with me, and Artie, you take the west with Steve, okay?"
"OK" Artie said, pulling out his smaller Tesla. "We should really start taking Claudia's Tesla grenades out with us, it would make moments like this" he gestured his head towards the room "a whole lot easier"
They were all ready.
"On three?" Pete suggested.
"On three" the other three agents replied and with that, they got up and ran; Pete and Myka to the left of the hunk of metal and Artie and Steve to the right.
TBC
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