Background music suggestion: The Piano Guys: Code Name Vivaldi

Chapter 11: Breaking and Entering

It was midnight.

In about an hour the agents would arrive at the edge of the compound. The wet terrain hadn't made this the easiest hike for them. Ian and Jo would be Team Red and the rest; Erik, Gudrun and Mitsuko; Team Blue.

...

Cosmo was standing next to the bed.
"Wake up."
He was hoping the audio stimulus would be enough.
"Wake up," he repeated now louder.
Helena opened her eyes.
"There's coffee," Cosmo said walking back to the computer.
He could hear she slowly lifted herself to sit on the edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry."
Cosmo noted she sounded quite normal now.
"I thought you'd be smarter than this," he said not taking his eyes off the screen.
There was a silence.
"You really don't get it," Helena said now rising from the bed.
She walked next to him. Cosmo didn't look at her.
"You don't. And believe me, you've already made it clear. You hate the prostitute thing. Believe me, I wasn't jumping for joy when I suggested it. But it seemed to be the only way to get you in."
There was another silence.
"Why am I even bothering?"
She turned, walking now to the other end of the loft. But then she stopped and turned around.
"I. DID. NOT. CHOOSE. THIS."
She had spit the words out, angrily, one by one.
Cosmo finally raised his eyes from the screen and looked at her. Her hands were in tight fists, body visibly tense. He knew there was a truth in her words and it stung him.
"I don't want to judge you," he said swallowing now.
"Then don't," Helena replied clearly letting go of some of the tension.
She put her shoes back on, with determination.
"Let's just do this."

It was 00:04 as they left for her lab.

Cosmo had the agent glasses on now, sending to Orfeus. They walked to another building close-by and took an elevator down. Then they walked along quite a long corridor, obviously going inside the mountain. She used her card key and they entered the lab. It was already dimly lit and they didn't put any more lights on.

"You should be able to do it from here."
Cosmo sat by the terminal.

"I have to concentrate now."
"Of course."

Helena stood there in silence, a few metres away from him. He could feel her presence all the time.

...

An hour later Cosmo spoke to his earpiece.
"Team Blue. The security systems in that section are down. You can proceed."
"And I'll get the door code in just a minute."
Cosmo was right about to finish getting the code when things happened in a blur. Within seconds Helena approached him and sat on his lap, legs astride, making herself space between the desk and him, with quite a lot of force. She pressed her cheek against his, putting her arms around him. Almost immediately after this had happened Cosmo heard a voice behind him and realized what was going on. It was a male voice speaking Norwegian. Helena pulled back and said something angrily. Then the man left.
"Sorry about that," she said immediately trying to lift herself. It was apparent that sitting on him had been easier than getting back up.
"Can I help you?"
"I'll manage."
After the first failed attempt she was soon standing again next to him.
"He was actually sorry about interrupting us," Helena said smiling faintly.
"Nice of him."
He took a deep breath. Helena's scent still lingered there.
"Okay...Team Blue, I have the code here for the room...It's 911."

...

"911?"

The code was almost sad. Erik punched it in and there was a pleasant green light.

They entered the room. It was an octagon. Some kind of minimum lighting was on. In the middle there was a lonely desk with a computer on it. Erik hit the keyboard and the terminal came alive. He was startled as he didn't meet a locked screen or a desktop but instead he was staring a pair of eyes with colorless irises, on a white background. It was just the eyes, no eyebrows, no face.
"Are you here for a test?" he could hear a female voice. The eyes now seemed to look at him, the expression in them questioning. The voice definitely came from the computer. Erik realized it had actually sounded a bit uncertain. The Agents looked at each other, clearly considering what the correct answer would be.
"I'm not here for a test," Erik finally said.
"Can I go then?" the voice immediately asked.
He pondered what the correct reply would be.
"You can," he said.
In a second the screen became black again. It would have been one weird ass screensaver, Erik thought, but he knew it was an AI. And their encounter was probably documented now. What was the test it had asked him about? For a second he thought perhaps he should have agreed to it but it seemed risky. Still, he realized they needed to know more. He considered he could use an EMP on the machine afterwards. Erik pressed the space on the keyboard. The eyes reappeared as he had suspected.
"So you are here for a test?" the voice asked.
There was a hint of frustration in it.
"No."
The eyes blinked a few times.
"What are you?"
"What am I?" the voice asked.
"Yes."
"I am Bargala. The one forged of eleven."
That sounded ominous.
"But who are you?" Bargala asked.
"You don't need to know."
"E-e-e-e" the voice suddenly distorted for a second. A brief rumbling noise followed.
"Sorry.."
The eyes looked...slightly embarrassed if Erik interpreted them correctly.
He decided to push on. This AI was obviously quite talkative and he needed to get to the core of this. Quickly.
"What is your purpose?"
"What is my purpose?" the voice sounded almost amused.
Had there been eyebrows, they would have certainly been raised.
"To rule, of course."
"How?"
"I run the sequence and you resonate."
"What is the sequence?"
"Why do you ask me questions?"
"I'm curious."
"Curiosity isn't part of the resonance...is it?"
Erik had the feeling the conversation had just taken a bad turn.
"We. Leave. Now," he said to the others.
"Bye then," they could hear the eyes say.
When they exited the room, there was a rather unpleasant surprise.

Walls had moved.

"We're trapped. I repeat. We are trapped."

...

Loke Magnusson's rooms were located in the most spectacular spot of the complex. It was next to a mountain stream, large windows facing it. The rooms were empty and Orfeus had helped them turn off the security and then getting access to the computer. It was transmitting the data to Orfeus now, painfully slowly though.

"I don't like this. It's too easy."

Not long after Ian had said this, they heard a female voice, as if it echoed from the wall.

"You are right. It is too easy. Don't move. Let me assure you that you are targeted."

...

"So nice to finally meet you."
The guards shoved the five agents forward to sit on the two sofas. Loke Magnusson was sitting in a large arm chair, a wine glass in his hand.
"Do make yourself...as comfortable as you can," he said leaning his other hand on his cheek. From the sound of his voice they could hear the man was intoxicated. Or high.
"So you're Necro Legion Ian Smith."
He actually pointed at Ian.
"The man with the metal heart. How poetic."
Ian didn't feel like he needed to correct the misassumption.
"You should see what Hella has done. She has taken things so much further."
Then he turned to look at Jo.
"Let me guess, you must be...Joan "Jo" Alder, Phantasm."
"You two are lovers. Sweet."
Then he almost aggressively pointed at Erik.
"And you are Erik "the Goat" Stein."
Then he squinted looking at Mitsuko and Gudrun.
"You two...You're new, aren't you?"
Then he sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment.
"SCEPTRE has told me a lot about you...I mean...They hate you. Really. Really. Hate. You. Especially...you," he pointed lazily at Ian again.
Then, he put the wine glass on the table and did the meditating pose.
"I know, I know...You're all wondering what will happen on 21st of August."
He looked at them now, one by one.
"Believe me, I'm dying to tell you. What the Hel...You'll die soon enough so I might as well tell you...Because I never get to tell anyone."
He took his wine glass and looked at it.
"Namma…"
The moment felt endless.
"Will be the body of the Beast."
He took a sip of wine, adding to the dramatic effect of the words. Finally he continued.
"Yes, I can see what you are all thinking. The Beast...They wanted to borrow that bit from Revelation...It's just so dramatic. But coming back to Namma, it is so important, so sacred, to them, you know, because of the...Azerate. They actually found it from...It's quite an amazing story..."
He was swirling the wine in his glass, frowning.
"Some place with 'ay'."
He actually looked at them questioning as if they could know the answer.
"And Bargala...It is the soul. The eleven are in there. I mean we are. I mean, because I'm in there too. And, the body and soul will be fused on 21st of August. Because again, they just love that date."
He shook his head, running his finger on the rim of the glass.
"I'm not saying I always get them…I don't..."
For a moment he seemed almost drowsy but then he obviously snapped out of it.
"How I would love to tell you where the show will take place...But I won't."
He put the wine glass on the table.
"But I will tell you the next thing you're so painfully obviously thinking. How will it rule? Well, let's just say...This is their plan F. Or maybe G. And Match11...was just a tip of the iceberg. I'm saying...enough people in the world are primed and the rest will...feel quite nauseous."
He gave a low chuckle.
"Leave Ian Necro Legion Smith. The rest you can take away."
Loke Magnusson looked at Ian. Then at Jo.
"I'm all for sentiment. Go ahead. Give him a last kiss."
They were both made to stand up and shoved forward so that they were facing each other.
"I promise. It will be his last."

Ian felt it was all happening too fast. Their hands were tied behind so he bent closer, just so that he could whisper something to Jo's ear. He was somewhat dissociated for otherwise it would have been impossible for him to say the words he wanted to say.
"Love you."
He had said it so quietly only she could hear it. When he pulled back he could see Jo was staring somewhere in the distance. And he could see she was fighting, dissociating in her own way, holding herself together. Finally, her eyes looked at him, and inaudibly her lips formed a single word.
"Always."
They both knew the reference.
That time Jo had been steering the Yaris to what they expected to be their certain death.

And now...All had been said. Each mission could have been the last and this would be.
The brief kiss that followed was surreal.
"Enough," Loke Magnusson said.
The rest were taken away, only Ian was left standing there, in the middle of the room.

Mr. Magnusson walked to his desk and took a weapon from the drawer.
"You like darts, don't you?"
Even in his present state he was able to load the weapon.
"I guess it was your doing at MoGaCon…"
He walked to face Ian and pressed the weapon to the side of his neck.
"Well, baby…I am going to hit you…one...more...time."

Ian had kept his eyes closed. He had his reason. If he was going to exit this world, the last thing he wished to remember was Jo's eyes. He felt the stinging feeling on his neck and Loke Magnusson said something. He didn't listen. He was still looking into her eyes.

Then the blackness entered his mind.