Cloak And Dagger
"Like hell I'll give you my clothes," Major Shaw snarls. I swallow hard, realising that my cloak is stopping everyone from seeing me. That's why no-one has reacted to my outburst. Because Shaw is now focussed on the Terminator that's appeared. And that Metal isn't perceiving me. And it should be detecting everything. Including me in a black cloak next to it.
Guess that means that my make-shift enchantment works.
Oh. it's worked. It's really worked. The end of the alleyway. There's someone in a deep crimson cloak at the end of the alley with the entrance. Which means that I was being watched at the church, and they followed me back here. Which means they didn't anticipate me being here, because it's an accident. The Cathedral took us back too soon. Which is good luck for me. I'm scanning the watcher with everything I've got, whist at the same time getting my Sonic Screwdriver out. Because I'm going to have to get into a fight, and I'm hoping the stetting I'm thinking of will give me an advantage.
The Metal is getting closer to Shaw.
Okay, it's time for me to move...
"Hi," I say, moving between the angry, machine hating soldier, and the naked killing machine just arrived from the future. In a fluid movement, I flip down my hood, and smile cheerfully at the Metal. It looks at me, assessing my body. It's seeing if my clothes will fit it.
"I was hoping you could help me," I say, looking at the entrance. Interesting. I can still see the cloaked watcher. Must mean that either I've grown more powerful, or they've stopped hiding themselves from me. Either way, I'm scanning them with everything I have. Enhanced vision, thermal, UV, IR... the full array.
"Your clothes. Give them to me."
"Yes... but could you tell me the way to the Citadel? I've been trying to find it for hours, but I'm unfamiliar to the geography of Gallifrey, and my Sat Nav isn't working. Do you know where it is?" I ask, as casual as I can manage. It tilts its head to the left slightly.
"This is Gallifrey?" The eyes look down, telling me it's processing the information. Which is what I want. To completely confuse the Metal. I glance at the entrance, seeing the figure still there. It looks back up at me.
"I don't know of a Gallifrey. There isn't a city called Gallifrey in the United States of America." I sigh heavily at the news.
"Sorry... what's an 'United States?' I don't recall that on the map," I say, keeping in line with my act of confused tourist. I think it's working. It's thinking again. "Maybe it's close to the Dark Tower in the Death Zone? I know where that is," I carry on. It's processing everything I'm saying.
"I have no knowledge of the locations you have mentioned. Give me your clothes."
"Oh... but what about this? Am I meant to give this to you?" I ask, holding up my Sonic Screwdriver. It looks at it, trying to work out what it is. I point it at it's face, and activate it, using the setting point blank range.
It staggers back, unable to see. Then again, I made sure that the torch setting was at maximum. To make sure it would suffer over exposure to it's vision for a few seconds. I shove the machine, sending it into a wall. I pocket my Sonic, and grab the machine, hurling it to the floor. I launch myself on top of it, getting out a flip knife.
"That bar! Give it to me!" I shout at Shaw, indicating the discarded bar on the floor with my head. She does it immediately, and I'm glad for the swift response. The lack of hesitation. Then again, she's used situations where a second could mean life or death. I snatch the bar, and wrap it around it's head. The augmented strength of the cybernetics in my arms bend the bar with ease, something that until now I've not really thought about. What an advantage it is. The Coltan structure I possess makes me so much more resilient. And that makes me thankful. Because, as I slice into the scalp, I know that if we'd been both human, both myself and Major Shaw, then this machine would have slaughtered us, and taken our clothes.
And what else? I take it this one is out to kill the soldier, but what else? I pop off the access port, and toss aside the knife. With experienced fingers, I twist and extract the CPU, feeling satisfaction and pleasure as it loses the spark that animates it. What the... I don't understand...
The chip is burning up or something. It's going to be impossible to use it in any way. This doesn't make sense.
"What's going on? Did you damage it or something?" Shaw is crouching down next to me, picking up the port cover and examining it. My lips thin out into a humourless smile.
"Something... I don't get this. The chip has a... suicide option or something." I shake my head slightly, confused by this. I get up, and carefully put the remains into the the bag with my dress. I want to try and get it as intact as possible back to the Cathedral. Maybe the advanced technology at our disposal can help figure out what its mission was. I look at the body. Looks like I'll have to carry that thing to the Cathedral... Calculating journey... about fifteen blocks from here. Wait... if I use my cloak, the perception shift should avoid attention. We could then get a taxi, which would make things an awful lot simpler. I doubt Major Shaw can make the full distance, particularly with her wound.
Is- yes... the cloaked watcher is still there, watching. My cloak fit the body easily, further whispered enchanting to further the perception shift. I look up again, and see that all I can detect is the presence again. For some reason, none of my different visual scans are showing anything. I give the mystery watcher a big smile, and a a big wave. I want it to believe I can see it more readily than I actually can. Might put it on edge.
Might not. But I'm tired of being watched and stalked over different centuries by this thing. I want answers.
"Who are you waving at?" Shaw asks, looking down the alleyway. Oh. There's an old guy in a green coat, hat, and a long white beard staring at us slumped against a wall. He looks like he's been drinking too much. I walk up to him, and smile. I remember reading from Jane's Blue-Green Book of Shadows that it's possible to push thoughts and impressions onto other people. She felt it was morally dubious at best. I feel it's important to make sure that our tracks are covered. I crouch down in front of him, focussing and concentrating on an impression. I let it build up, waiting for the right moment.
"Drinking so much is making you see strange things," I say. I need to time this right... He harrumphs.
"Got that right," he grumbles. "Never buying that beer again." I just nod to that.
"Good idea," I agree. It's all I can do. That and reduce the charge back down to nothing. I don't need to try to Fascinate him. In the Book, it was called Fascination. I need to put down as much as I can remember into my own book. I need to have my own.
I give the guy a few of the notes in my pocket, stand up and walk to the cloaked body. I look to Shaw.
"We need to go," I say to her as I pick up the body and place it over my shoulder. The Major picks up my bags, and we walk to the entrance. Once we get back to the main street, I step into the road, and raise a hand.
"Taxi!" I bellow. One stops in front of us. I open the door, and make sure that the body isn't going to arouse suspicion. As soon as I'm seated, I give the driver a friendly smile. Once Major Shaw is in the cab, I tell him where we need to go, and I feel the momentum of the car dig me into the seat as we accelerate. Silence hits us all as we travel back to the street corner the Cathedral is sitting at. I want to dump the body and the bags, and go out again. I've realised that I was meant to go to the Roof today. The explosion disrupted my normal routine. Luckily, I've a second chance.
I feel relief when I see the familiar blue box when we start to pull up. I just shove a number of bills at the driver.
"This is-"
"Can you wait for me? I'm just dropping my friend and her stuff off." He nod, clearly eager to keep happy a big tipper. Must have given him a lot extra.
Shaw gets out of the car, and I start to shift the body, making sure the cloak is still covering the body. The driver is very interested, but I'm not going to say or do anything to arouse further suspicion. If I can help it.
Shaw pushes through the door, closely followed by me. As soon as we get to the top of the ramp, I drop the body to the floor, a heavy thud clanging. I turn to go out.
"Where you going?" Shaw asks. I turn to look at her.
"The explosion stopped me from checking up on something. Skynet related. I need to do it tonight, or important information might be lost." She looks at me warily.
"If you're hungry, get something from the Kitchen. If Jack and Derek don't start a reconstruction analysis on the chip remains," I say, noticing they've fallen asleep whilst watching the game, "Then I'll do it when I get back." I get to the door.
"You'd better not be playing us," she snarls. I look back at her harshly.
"If you want to come, do so. I've nothing to hide," I say. She looks down at the Metal lazily splayed on the floor. The door makes a click as I shut it, use my key to lock it, and get back into the cab. He's looking at me, completely bewildered.
"How... it's just a box!" he stutters out. I look at him blankly, as if he's gone and said something weird.
"She's on a low income. It's the only place she can afford. The rents are quite high in this city."
My deadpan explanation has him even more shocked.