Stage Three
Chapter 35
"Bastards," Reiko Asagi muttered, the older, slightly grey haired woman drinking in a stylish bar in Megatokyo.
Reiko had been a long time Genom employee, before that witch, Sylia Stingray, had fired her. For no good reason!
(This, of course, was ignoring the many years of embezzlement she had committed. But it was all nickle and dime stuff, not worth mentioning in her opinion. And her being a 'cougar' and seducing several male staffers was, again, minor stuff. Everyone in the industry did it! But nooooo Ms Stingray had to fire her ass.)
"Damn it," Reiko cursed.
Even more annoying, SOMEONE at Genom had leaked details of her sexual activities to her husband.
(Meanwhile, at her computer, Nene sneezed.
"Someone talking about you?" her assistant teased.
"Yeah, yeah, back to work," Nene ordered, unaware of the executive hating her.)
A husband, it turned out, was not at all happy that she had cheated on him. He was divorcing her, AND had sent his lawyers after her. And as they had a per-nuptual agreement, he was probably getting a huge payout.
"Another drink?" a woman's voice asked.
Reiko looked over to see an unfamiliar looking lady standing beside her corner table, smiling politely. "Have we met?" she asked a bit warily.
"I may have a business offer for you," the woman admitted as she sat, "For any insider information on Genom."
"I was a mid level manager," Reiko had to point out as she finished her drink, "I can't say how useful anything I know would be."
"We would, at the very least, pay you for your time," she offered, waving down a waiter and ordering another for her.
"So, who am I talking to?" Reiko asked, sipping her refill.
"I'd rather not say my employer," she answered, "but my name is Madigan."
Reiko studied her a moment. She was out of work, her savings were under legal watch, and she had no love for Genom...
"Well?" Madigan asked archly.
"I'll do it," Reiko decided.
"Good," Madigan smiled, "I have a office, we can meet there." She passed over a business card, "See you tomorrow, six PM?"
"Works for me," Reiko agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Wait, don't...," the woman named Keiko gasped out as the Boomer assistant 'Mio' grabbed her suddenly.
"Get clear!" Linna barked as Dustine McCormick scrambled aside.
"Ack!" Keiko yelped as Linna fired, exploding the Boomer's head and splattering the other woman with it's internal fluids. She looked dazed as her co-worker fell over and muttered, "I thought we were friends..."
"Where is security?!" Dustine yelped as the women hurried down the hall.
Things had been going well. Sylia gave them the data, she discussed the procedure Dr Yuri developed to fix the issue, and the hostility was fairly low.
Then the emergency alarms went off, and several secretary Boomers burst in trying to KILL them!
"How much of your security is Boomers?" Priss asked as she shot another one.
"Shit," Keiko cursed as they followed.
"Communications is down too," Dustine added grimly, trying her phone and getting no signal.
"Nene is still in contact," Linna said. "She's contacted ADP."
"How are your comms working...?" Keiko asked plaintively.
"Trade secret," Priss said. She looked at Dustine, "Do we head up or down?"
"Huh?" Dustine wondered.
"Are there more Boomers downstairs vs up top? And can we fight our way through them?" Linna clarified.
"The security office with those type off Boomers is downstairs," Dustine admitted, "upper floors are mostly secretary and custodial models."
"Probably safer to wait it out upstairs," Sylia agreed.
"How soon will the ADP get here?" Keiko asked nervously.
Dustine saw Sylia check a earpiece, realizing it was probably a radio link. "Normally less than ten minutes, but there's a emergency west of here. Blocked traffic badly. Estimate is about half a hour," she reported.
"Guess we hold out until then," Dustine sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Jeena Malso cursed as she lead a ADP team to the office tower.
"Do you think the 'accident; was deliberate?" Lisa Valente asked, the cyber security employee riding along with her.
"You think they staged it, to target Ms Stingray?" Jeena wondered, the older woman weaving them through the cars. WHY didn't people pull over and let them through?!
Lisa held on to the dashboard as they weaved by another gawking driver. "Well, whoever keeps going after Ms Stingray has pulled some impressive hacking," she said, "I reviewed Ms Romanova's logs on it..."
Jeena made a mental note to ask to see those logs.. she knew Stingray had been targeted, but not all the details.
"We're nearly at the building with Gulf and Bradley," Lisa noted as they saw police lights up ahead of them.
"When we go in, let my officers take the lead," Jeena ordered as they and the ADP transport pulled in, "I do NOT want you hurt on my watch."
"I didn't know you cared," Lisa teased.
"Nah, the paperwork is murder," Jeena replied dryly.
"Ha!" Lisa chuckled as she got out.
"Ladies," Leon McNicol nodded as they strode up. He had the police keeping the public away, but hadn't gone in.
"McNicol," Jeena nodded, "What's the situation?"
"Multiple fatalities, at least from scouting the first floor," Leon scowled, "my guys retreated when the coffee boomer attacked 'em."
"Any contact with the people inside?" Lisa asked worriedly.
"Cellphones are jammed, including our police communications," Leon said, muttering, "which shouldn't be possible..."
"But?" Jeena prompted.
"Land lines are still go. The survivors are on a upper floor, holed up in a meeting room," Leon said briskly.
"Well, let's go rescue them," Jeena nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
BOOM
The Boomer staggered backwards, a hole in it's chest, then toppled over.
"How are we for ammo?" Priss asked, warily watching up the hall for more Boomers.
"Getting low," Linna admitted. "Dustine?"
"Nearly out," Dustine admitted, hefting Priss' backup pistol.
They had reached a corner meeting room, there was food and water in a nearby kitchen, and it was only accessable via one hallway. Well, unless the Boomers climbed the outside wall, anyway. Sadly the one door wasn't lockable, so they had to guard constantly.
"Why doesn't the door lock?" Priss demanded.
Dustine chuckled tiredly, "A midlevel accounts exec liked to shag his girlfriend up here. We took the lock off after my sister walked in on him."
"Ick," Sylia winced.
"Exactly," Keiko agreed, bringing in more water for everyone.
The phone rang and Linna, who was nearest, answered it, "Yes?" She listened, "Uh huh. Right. Thanks."
"Are we getting rescued?" Sylia demanded. They had heard the cops arrive earlier, who then just surrounded the building and waited. Mind you she KNEW they weren't equipped for killing Boomers, but still...
"ADP is here, they're sending a squad in," Linna reported tiredly.
"About time," Dustine sighed.
They heard weapons going off down stairs, then increasing as they went up to where they were. Not long after Jeena strode up the hall, a shocked look on her face as she took in all the boomers Linna, Priss and Dustine had fragged.
"Everyone all right?" Jeena asked. "We have medics standing by."
"Just get us the hell out of here," Keiko sighed, visibly drooping.
To be continued...