Act Two: Partners

Ethan searched around HQ like a lost puppy. Other COG's were wondering what he was looking for and they all came to the same conclusion: the mission briefing room.

Many passers-by gasped in disbelief at his severed arm. Never had they seen such a horrific wound. When Ethan finally found Colonel Hoffman in his office, he sat down in the chair.

"What do you want?" sneered Hoffman. "I'm not taking appointments.

"I want to know why the hell you tried to kill me!" Ethan raised his voice, something that should not be done when consulting Hoffman. After hearing this, the colonel pounced out of his chair and approached Ethan, gun in hand.

"If you weren't so important, I'd shoot you right now," Hoffman claimed.

"I don't take orders from a pig. You cost me my arm!"

"I thought you were dead, and anyway, it wasn't me that ordered that bomb to be set off.

"Then who?" asked Ethan with an extremely curious face.

"Chairman Prescott, my commanding executive officer."

"Where is this Prescott guy?"

"I'm not saying if you're gonna get me fired, son," but Ethan strode away, intent on finding the chairman and giving him a mouthful. He started to persuade some of the other COGs to tell him where Prescott was. However, all of them stood on the spot with fear and would hesitate to answer, exclaiming that Prescott had a very short temper.

Eventually, he found the pilot that had previously brought him back to HQ, sitting in the cafeteria.

"Hey, how's the injury, dude," the pilot greeted him.

"I'll live. By the way, I don't believe I caught your name."

"It's Keith, but my friends call me K."

"OK, Keith. Do you know where I could find the chairman."

Keith spat out the lemonade in his mouth that he had just gulped down with a can and said "You are aware how high profiled that man is, right? Nobody goes to see the chairman except for Hoffman."

"I really don't give a shit, Keith," noted Ethan.

"Well, I'll only tell you if it's important."

"It is important. Hoffman just explained that the Lightmass bomb was sent because they thought I was dead, and now my arms gone, I need some benefit claims."

"What?! You think Prescott is gonna offer you life insurance or something," Keith chuckled. However, his laughter soon came to an abrupt end when Ethan gave him a scowl.

"Just tell me, now!" he bellowed.

"OK, calm down. I'll tell you. It's on the eight floor; second door to the left, third room. Got it, mate."

Ethan didn't return an answer and stormed out the room in a terrible mood. He barged past many people on the way up to see the chairman, and when he finally reached the eighth floor, he was gasping for breath since he ran most of the way.

Right as Keith described, Chairman Prescott's room was the second to the left. Instead or politely knocking, Ethan swung the door open violently. There were five meeting rooms inside, each with a carefully polished label on each door. And once again, Keith's information was correct. The third room had CHAIRMAN inscribed on it's label. Ethan reached for the handle and pushed it down,and then entered.

Chairman Prescott was a very obese man. He had a distinctive moustache, accompanied by a mole growing near his upper lip. As far as what clothes he had on, a thrash ball league shirt for the Dakar Drones was hardly accustomed to a man of his stature.

Many medals and trophies covered the walls in the dozens of cabinets Prescott owned. His desk was hidden behind a barrage of paper-work and a couple of thrash ball memorabilia figures. Ethan recognized one of them as Augustus Cole. Clearly, Prescott was a big fan.

"Excuse me, Mr Prescott," Ethan said anxiously.

"What it is, Hoffman?" the chairman questioned, oblivious to the fact that it was not Colonel Hoffman for a change.

"I'm not Hoffman, I'm Private Ethan Magnet."

"A private? In my room? How absurd!"

"I need to talk to you about the Lightmass bomb you recently ordered to decimate the town of Huntley."

"No, Private Magnet. That discussion is out of the question. Only Hoffman and some Sergeants can talk to me about that bomb deployment."

"Listen sir," Ethan said. "Your idiotic plan cost me my arm."

"That is a terrible shame. How about you go see the mechanics and they can patch you up with a robotic arm."

Ethan leaned over the desk and stared at the chairman for a minute, and then asked "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No, Private Magnet, this is not a joke. That pilot of yours, Keith, informed Hoffman when you came back, that you arm was gone. Hoffman then came to see me and I was reluctant at first, but then I gave the go ahead for the production building and testing of a new robotic arm. They've already completed the first prototype. These guys work day and night, so they are all experts. Go the the second floor. The construction room is there. Good luck, Ethan."

"Thanks, sir," and with that, Ethan left the room, went downstairs and headed for the construction department. When he managed to find it, the engineers instantly recognized him by the fact he had one arm.

After about half an hour, the engineers had successfully transplanted the new bionic arm to Ethan. They informed him that it would take some getting used to. As he was leaving the compound, Hoffman saw him and told him to come and meet his new 'partners'.

"Meet you new squad, Magnet," the colonel boasted proudly as if he had just won an Olympic event. Ethan however, was not impressed. One of the men was blond like him and wore blue goggles although they weren't actually over his eyes. He also had more blue to him, in the form of his armour.

"I'm Private Damon Baird," the guy with the goggles said.

"Indeed he is," Hoffman noted. "Baird has much battle experience along with much intelligence. Heck, he could the smartest COG soldier we have." Hoffman's words were accompanied by the smug look on Baird's face. "Now, continuing the tour, we have Private Rory Amped."

Rory Amped was wearing a red bandanna, seemingly to cover his hair, which was in a scruffy state. He also had a goatee beard along with a faint 'tache. His COG armour was grey.

"Last and certainly least," Hoffman sniggered "is Sergeant Billy Luthheart."

"Hey, I'm a good soldier," Luthheart groaned. Ethan would've liked to know more about him but Luthheart's face was concealed behind a traditional COG helmet, worn by most soldiers.

"OK, Magnet, by the way, fancy arm," said Hoffman. "Now that you've all met each other, let's talk about your new mission."