A/N Well here's Chapter 4. You may notice some differences in the background story and that's because I'm planning a full rewrite of Chapter 1. Too short and too many plot holes. Not to mention just not a very good premise. Anyway we finally get to see Jack's house and the full extent of the kind of tech he's developed. I did warn that it was going to get pretty high tech later on so… yeah fun times. Oh and if you're ever bored check out my tumblr fremen1992 I post regular updates on how the story is progressing.
Chapter 4: Settling In
The tension being released into the air was evident amongst all of them as they all stepped through the gates. As soon as the heavy iron bars thudded back into place Jack let out a sigh of relief. It had taken longer than he would have liked for him and his companions to unload the truck full of gear they had brought. Food, personal kit, and tents were heavy especially after they were already worked down to the bone, going through this dystopian hell.
With the truck stripped of everything they needed and loaded up into the second, still barely running Milcot everyone piled in anyplace they could. There was absolutely no room in the bed. It was piled to the rafters with weapons and everything they had hauled out of Jack's vehicle. With the shocks already bottomed out the vehicle seemed to give off a groan when two extra people piled in. Mark perched hunched over on the radio mount in the backseat, and Jess climbed onto Drew's lap giving a giggle at how red his face got even though he tried to hide it. Even Jack had to hold back a chuckle when she suddenly shot up straight and looked back at him as his face got even redder as he muttered an apology.
For himself, Jack walked alongside the vehicle. His helmet was hanging buckled off the back of his vest and his identity concealing scarf looped loosely around his neck. He needed neither now that they were inside the compound. Granted, there was still a chance of somebody climbing the wall before they got there however they would have needed a ladder to do it. They were moving at a crawl for two reasons, one was that Jack would be hopping on board in a minute or two and the other was that they weren't sure if the truck would survive going any faster, in this fragile state.
After another minute of walking up the paved driveway with the cover of heavy forested surroundings, they came across a small brick utility building. Jack broke off from the vehicle after signalling for them to wait. Walking up to the door he keyed in a short four-digit passcode. The lock gave off a beep followed by a click of the lock disengaging. Pulling open the door he turned on the lights and walked over to the two things he was searching for. One was a large industrial breaker switch, more of a lever really, and the other was a red valve wheel attached to a length of water pipes coming out of the wall. He flipped the breaker and heard the hum of the transformers behind him as he connected the main power supply to the house. Turning to the valve he braced himself and slowly began turning the valve that was connected to the water main. The rushing of water and a light turning from red to green told him he had accomplished his task. He had no worry of losing utilities as he had his own wells dug for water and power was supplied through a combination of solar panels and wind turbines. Even with the higher than normal power draw the house caused he was often selling the excess electricity to BC Hydro.
With the job done, he walked back outside and secured the door behind him. He walked back over to the truck and climbed up onto the hood, moving his helmet out of the way and leaning back against the passenger side of the windshield. Once he was in a comfortable and secure position, he waved Craig forwards and the truck continued its slow lumber up the hill.
Five minutes later they rounded the last tree covered corner and the cabin finally came into view. Calling it a cabin was a bit like calling an aircraft carrier a row boat. It was a massive sprawling two story mansion. It had about as much armour as an aircraft carrier too. Foot thick, steel reinforced concrete walls that could withstand a direct hit from a 105mm anti tank round. Most of the front of the house was taken up by massive floor to ceiling windows made from a composite bullet proof glass that Jack had designed himself. In the event of an attack three-inch-thick steel shutters could be lowered over the windows. None of this heavy armour was apparent to the casual observer however. The entire building was sided with darkly stained British Columbia Pine, cut from the property. It gave the house the look of a modernized hunting lodge. The main area of the house had an A-frame which looked like a giant windowed triangle. On each side there were more traditionally rectangular wings. Overall it looked like a triangle sticking up through a rectangle. The whole front end of the triangles was made up of windows giving a clear view into the house/cabin. Across the entire second floor stretched a large deck with access from the sitting room and each bedroom. The left side of the house when facing it was almost entirely made up of a massive two car garage and workshop on the lower floor. The upper floor was a complete in-law suite. It even had a separate full bathroom and laundry. The other side of the house was all bedrooms both upper and lower floors. Even the basement looked more like a dormitory hall with ten rooms in it than a house. All in all, the house was gorgeous and it had been far too long since Jack had been here.
Placed off to the side of the main building was a smaller more utilitarian looking single floor building. That was the private clinic that Jack had had built on a whim. It was as completely stocked as a hospital emergency room, even including a small operating theater. He had been glad when they came across Tricia, as he was sure she would feel right at home when she saw it.
As they pulled up in front of the main house Jack jumped down from the hood of the truck and walked over to the double front doors. The security at the front door was even more intense requiring a 16 key password and a retinal scan before it would open for him.
"It's only because I've been away" He explained. "When I leave I set it to an unoccupied lockdown. A full security lockdown is much worse." As the door opened, he walked in and couldn't help but smile. He really did love this place and didn't get out here nearly as much as he wanted to. Directly in front of the doorway was a large hardwood staircase leading up to the main floor. They all abandoned the truck as they followed him inside, and up the stairs. The main floor was just as gorgeous as the rest of the house. To the left down a short hallway was a door that Jack explained led to the in law suite above the garage. To the right was the main sitting room and the kitchen. The sitting room was large and full of comfortable looking couches and recliners, all oriented towards the massive angled windows and the big fireplace centered in front of it. The rafters were all exposed and made out of bare logs. The kitchen was any cook's wet dream. The first thing to be noticed was a large granite topped island, lined with stools that extended from one wall to over halfway onto the other side. It doubled as an informal dining area and prep station. Along the adjacent wall were all the stoves. First, a gas powered spider top next to a large restaurant sized flat top grill. Next to that, was a more conventional barbecue-style grill and a single basket deep fryer. Bringing up the end up against the wall, were a set of double stacked convection ovens. Jack was not ashamed to admit that he held a deep passion for cooking. The back wall was taken up by dish and prep sinks, as well as a commercial dishwasher. Along the wall across from the stoves was storage. Fridge, freezers, dry pantry, and utensils made it so that there was absolutely no wall left unoccupied.
Past the kitchen and sitting room, was another wide hallway that led to the main bathroom on one side and Jack's bedroom on the other. At the end of the hall was Jack's destination. He led the group down there, grinning to himself as their excited comments filled the recently silent and dead home, when they took in his private retreat. The door at the end of the hallway didn't fit in at all with the décor of the rest of the house. While everything else was warm colours and bare wood, this door was made of solid brushed steel. Mounted above the door in stainless steel lettering was the name "Wonderland", mounted below the door handle, was yet another keypad and card scanner combo. While not as demanding as the front door, this room still required an eight-digit code before it let him in with the now characteristic beep and click of the lock disengaging.
"Krista, I think you'll find this particular room to be your favourite." Jack addressed to the blonde woman as he led the way inside. The rest of his companions (minus the doctor who had branched off earlier towards the clinic), exchanged looks with each other at the slurring in his speech. When they crossed the threshold into the air conditioned room, Jack once again smiled to himself when he heard Krista gasp. The room they entered was the smallest one yet. It was closer to the size of the utility shack they had passed on the way in. Completely dark with no windows, the only light came from the LED indicators on the two large mainframe towers up against the far wall. Against the wall to their left was a large glass topped desk that stretched from wall to wall. Hanging above it and angled downwards were three massive monitors that took up the remaining space on the wall. Cables ran from under the desk to the mainframes like snakes. In front of the desk, placed off to the left of the two comfortable looking computer chairs, was a waist high cylindrical podium about as big around as an oxygen tank and completely smooth. Across from the desk, was a plain door that looked very similar to all the other bedroom doors in the house.
Jack hobbled over to the desk and pulled off his right glove. He had to pause to wipe the blood off of his hand. Where had the blood come from? He couldn't remember anything very well. He knew he had been shot earlier and was probably losing a lot of blood even with the bandaging the doctor had done. That didn't explain why there was blood on his hand. Why did his shoulder hurt? Wow the blood really made his handprint stand out more. It was actually quite fascinating. Right… focus.
Once his hand was free of his own gore he placed his palm flat on the desk. It lit up with a green outline of his hand and beeped, the outline flashing three times before he heard the cooling fans on the mainframe spool up. The pedestal to his left began to give off a hum as well as lights recessed around the inner rim on top came to life. The three monitors above him lit up as well and a text cursor began blinking against the black screen. Struggling to keep from swaying he danced his fingers across the desk and a keyboard lit up in green on it's surface. It was difficult to remember the start up command. He couldn't recall ever being this tired before in his life. Finally, and with great difficulty he typed in the command he was looking for.
"start_program ANNI"
As the Mainframe hum got even louder and the lights on the pedestal flared briefly he finally succumbed to the exhaustion that was clawing at him and hit the ground with a thud. The last thing he saw before blackness consumed him was a woman's figure spring into being on top of the pedestal.
When Jack woke, it felt like he was suffering the world's worst hangover. The beeping coming from next to him needed to stop NOW. His head felt heavy as he looked around for the source of the beep. Looking next to him, he saw that he was hooked up to an ECG machine monitoring his heart rate. Apparently, he discovered when he tried to sit up, he was hooked up to an IV as well. Also, it would appear that he was naked underneath the scratchy hospital sheets. Wait, Hospital? Panicking, Jack looked around frantically worried that he had been taken to the hospital in the city. They had just gotten through there, why would they take him back?
The increased rate of beeps coming from the ECG were what drew Tricia to him from the small office in the other room. She had been pleasantly surprised to see how well stocked the small clinic had been. She had seen hospitals in her native England with less equipment. There was even a small X-Ray machine and an MRI tucked away in the back. She directed her attention to the currently struggling man on the bed. She owed her life to this man and would do anything he ever asked of her. However, she had had to put two litres of blood in him after stitching him up, and if he undid her work with his thrashing she would cheerfully kill him herself.
"Jack Hawkins, it took me two hours to remove the bullets from your thigh and shoulder and repair the damage. I had to replace two litres of lost blood, and you almost died twice on the table. If you do anything to hurt yourself because you're thrashing about like a Nancy, I swear I will beat you to death with a bedpan. I will find a bedpan, and I will beat you to death with it." She gave him her glare that had made the unruliest of patients and nurses back down. He went still immediately. She had to fight back a smile. Always trust the glare, it never fails.
"Very well, now that you've calmed down. You're safe and you're in the clinic near your house, which I must say is very impressive. You have been out for nearly two days which has been enough time for everyone to come and check on you at least twice. You're quite lucky to be alive you know. However, with my expert care you should be able to move into the house in another three or four days."
This last part was enough to cause Jack to bolt upright. Or at least, he tried to. He winced as he pulled at his stitches which caused Tricia to leap to the bed.
"You bloody idiot! Didn't I just finish telling you to hold still?" She checked on his bandages to make sure he hadn't torn a stitch. Finding nothing wrong she cuffed him upside the head for the trouble.
"Ow!" the man in the bed complained, "You have the bedside manner of a gang of angry gorillas high on meth, you know that Doc?" He paused for a second and continued in what she was sure was supposed to be a reasonable tone. "Listen I can't stay here, ok? I have things to check on with the house. I need to make sure the security system is operational, and I have to open up access to the garage and armoury. Not to mention the supplies."
She had to bite back a smile at the imagery. "Wonderful bedside manner aside, you are not going anywhere until I say you can. I have the proper drugs in here to put you into a coma for a week, if that is what I choose. We've been safe so far. Krista managed to get the computer working and managed to hack into a rather well known companies mapping satellite from what I hear. She claims she had help, but refuses to say who from, little brat. She's been monitoring the property remotely. As for the garage and armoury, you brought out enough weapons with you to outfit a small army. Nobody has any interest in going anywhere, anytime soon so we have no need of vehicles. And as horrible as they are, those rations you brought with you have been keeping us happily fed for some time now. We have survived and will continue to survive until I say you are well enough to leave this bed." She threw in the glare again for good measure and was pleased to see all the fight go out of him.
"Fine! Horrible Nazi doctor…. You win. Three days…. I'll stay here for three days. But could you at least bring me some food Trish? I'm hungry as hell. Once I'm out of here, I'll bust out the fresh food." He said this as he leaned back into the pillows and tried to get comfy without aggravating his stitches.
She was happy with calling this a victory. He really only needed two. The third was just her being careful. When she was sure he wasn't going to try and sneak out as soon as she left the room, she began the short walk over to the main house to get him something to eat. It was nice getting to feel like a doctor again.
Krista was in her element. Her fingers danced over the touch screen keyboard/desk/scanner. The amount of resources she could control from this "Wonderland" was astounding. Like any good computer science major, she was also a skilled hacker and with Jack's secure internet access that bypassed the web blackout, she was currently flipping her way through any media coverage and government files she could get her digital hands on. Anything that related to the evacuation, or "The Purge" as it was being called. What she was finding was both ludicrous and terrifying. She knew things now that horrified her beyond belief.
The outbreak was fake.
All the people that supposedly had been killed by smallpox were engineered to look that way by an American private military corporation known as the Last Man Battalion. These contractors had been hired by the Canadian government to go into these towns and slaughter everyone using chemical weapons. The only medical personnel allowed in had been carefully selected and paid by the government to claim that it was a mutated strain of smallpox.
The general population had no idea what was happening here. Oh they had a vague idea sure, but they didn't know the true horrors of what was being allowed to happen. For one thing, they had no idea that there were people still here. As far as the world knew, there had been a viral outbreak of some strain of smallpox. There were even professional pictures of quarantine facilities, onboard cargo ships off the coast that was screening evacuees. Plenty of LMB soldiers were on site too, disguised as Canadian Forces to "maintain order" or so they said. Every now and then, some poor sap was given a positive result and was dragged off by the contractors. Supposedly they were all killed by the virus before their families could be contacted. Krista felt for these people. They had been told that there was a viral outbreak and that they needed to leave. They were just doing what they had thought best for their families. There was even talk of a monument on parliament hill to honour the victims who lost their lives in the evacuation. Convenient way to cover up the people who would actually be missed, she supposed "Oh your brother never left the island? Well it says here that he was killed by the virus, so sorry. Here's a cash settlement, take it and shut the fuck up"
All of it paled in comparison to the other thing Krista read in the government files. This whole thing had been planned with the American government. Canada would provide a lawless environment, free of interference and in exchange the United States would start transporting all their death row inmates and those serving life sentences. For a fee, of course. Apparently, twenty thousand a head was very appealing to our new Prime minister and his cabinet. Krista had to admit, it was a brilliant, albeit draconian solution. It was effective population control while making millions- if not billions off of the United States' overcrowded prisons. The prisoners would be offered a choice, stay and serve out your sentence, or live what life you could in Canada's new penal colony. It was the same offer that had been extended in the prisons in Canada. From what she could see, many – too many had accepted.
"I can hardly believe the horse shite I'm readin" came the heavily accented voice from over Krista's shoulder. She was ashamed to admit that she jumped in her seat. She had completely forgotten that her new Irish companion was even there. She supposed that calling her Irish was a bit of a misnomer given that the "girl" for all intents and purposes had never actually left this room. That was the personality she chose so Krista was willing to go with it.
The Irish girl in question was named A.N.N.I., the Advanced Neural Networked Intelligence. Everyone just called her Anni. The doctor was the only one who hadn't met her yet, not having been in the room when Jack collapsed. Apparently designing and writing the software for her had been one of his best achievements. Creating her and selling off her dumbed down copies to the American intelligence organizations had made him a billionaire practically over night. Anni was the genuine article however. Jack, at the age of 22 had created true artificial intelligence because he was bored with creating new armour technologies. He was smart enough to know however from the moment she first said "Hey boss" and decided on her own image on the holographic pedestal behind her that he could never allow anyone else to unlock AI's. Not yet at any rate. So he kept her here, safe with the internet to play with. Krista was sympathetic towards Anni when she first heard that, but the computer assured her that she preferred it that way. He had tried to program in a version of Asimov's three laws but she had merely laughed at them. She liked humans, as she put it, and would never hurt anyone without them first giving her a reason.
Krista had to admit she was a fan of Anni's sense of style. She was slim and probably would have stood at about 5'4" if she was full sized as opposed to a foot tall. Ripped skinny jeans, Chuck Taylor's, a sleeveless Ramones t-shirt, and short blue hair with the sides and back shaved gave her a punk look.
Currently the Irish AI was looking over Krista's shoulder with a disgusted look on her face.
"I don't know what's worse. The fact that they think they can get away with this, or the fact that they are."
Krista glanced at her over her shoulder before looking back at the screens and replying "Well I'd go with the fact that not only are they getting away with it, but people are actually buying the cover story, which tells me that they've paid off a lot of people to keep this quiet."
"Well can't you just send a couple emails? Tell people what's really going on?" Anni was now sitting cross legged on her podium, watching Krista work.
"To what end? The world is too busy being caught up in this smallpox scare. Nobody is willing to come here and see for themselves, they think anybody left here is dead. No, what I need is a way to put together a package and send it everywhere. Make it so that everyone sees it and it is impossible to ignore. If the first thing people talk about isn't the Canadian smallpox scare but what the Canadian government did to the people here, eventually they will have no choice but to allow investigators." She paused and chuckled ruefully. "Not to mention a way to hide that fact that it came from here. How long do you think it would be after sending it before the house gets hit with a Harpoon missile? Two days? One day? A couple of hours? No I need to be careful about this and that means that this is going to take time."
While Krista got back to work sifting through the government files Anni brought up the Satellite feeds of the city and watched as the chaos settled into a routine of death. She knew she wasn't able to cry, but she wanted to.
The three days passed with Jack getting more and more restless. He would have tried sneaking out long before but Tricia had this way of glaring at him that absolutely terrified him. It was ridiculous, he knew that after everything he had already been through but there it was. He would decide that finally, this was the time, he was going now and nothing the short doctor said would stop him this time. But every time he came to the decision it was like she knew. She wouldn't even get up anymore. She would just lean out the doorway in her chair and arch an eyebrow. How did she know? Jack was convinced she was secretly the Kwisatz Haderach and spent her time in the office of doom eating spice. How else could she always know?
While he had been stuck here Krista had come to visit him. She told him what she had discovered while digging through the government files. Jack had needed a bucket to throw up into when he heard. After he managed to get his heaving stomach under control he told Krista to keep digging until she found something they could use to expose them.
Finally, on the third day after changing his bandages and checking his stitches, Tricia pronounced him well enough to move into the house.
"Well as long as you take it easy you should heal up nicely. I'm warning you though if you tear these stitches, I'll have your ass"
Jack stood up, doing his best not to show how unsteady he was and began pulling on the t shirt, sweat pants, and running shoes left for him. After he finished dressing he turned to her and said. "Thanks Doc. I'll be sure to be careful." As he turned he muttered under his breath I'm onto you, you bene gesserit witch. You and your weirding ways.
"What was that last bit?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all" even though he told himself she didn't scare him, he still quickened his pace out of the clinic.
Being out of that hospital bed and back outside in the light rain was one of the best feelings in the world, he decided. Breathing clean air and ignoring the odd sound of gunfire made him happier than he could ever remember. The sun was on its way down, as he slowly made his way inside The Cabin. However, the stairs presented another problem. It took him three minutes of trying to struggle up them before Jessica poked her head around the corner at the top and rushed down to help him up.
"Easy, boss" she said, as she took his good arm over his shoulder and helped him up the last few stairs. "I think Trish might actually murder you, if you tear out your stitches."
"You let me worry about madam Muad'Dib" he groaned out once they reached the top.
"Madam what?" Jess looked confused as hell, which made Jack realize that he had said that last part out loud.
"Hmm? Oh nothing, c'mon let's get over to Wonderland. Is Anni up and running?" They began walking down the hallway towards Wonderland with Jack limping, and Jess hovering. Craig, Drew, and Mark were in the sitting room playing what looked like a game of poker. When they saw him they all made to walk over and see if he was alright. Jack waived them off saying "You guys know there's a massive TV downstairs right? With an Xbox?" Their surprised looks told him that they had not in fact known that. "Anyway, someone go and get the doctor and everyone meet me at the bottom of the stairs in five minutes. I've got some toys to show you guys." With that they cleaned up their game and Drew headed out towards the clinic.
Once they reached the door to Wonderland, Jack had to key in his code again. One of his many tasks in here was to program key cards for everyone. When the door beeped and clicked he swung it open and limped in. Immediately he was greeted with a "Hey, Jack" thrown over Krista's shoulder and a cheerful "Hey, Boss" from Anni. Sighing, he sank into the second chair in front of the massive monitors.
"Anni, can you establish contact with TAC-6? I want a supply drop within two days." One of the many ways his company had of giving back was a complete air wing of cargo planes that could drop any supplies he wanted to send for disaster relief. Because they were for disaster relief they should have no problem getting through the restricted airspace that the government had set up soon after the "outbreak". Can't have people scattering across the globe to spread the fake smallpox. He knew that some people would call using those planes for himself to be misappropriation of company resources, but it was ok. He knew the owner.
"Just the standard food and clothing order, four males and three females. Make sure there's eggs, coffee, and cigarettes"
"Sure thing, Boss. I assume you want this off the public books, and kept quiet within the company?"
"That would be correct, thanks Anni." Jack didn't want anyone knowing he was on the Island. Not until he had more information. It shouldn't be too hard, he kept out of the public eye as a general rule.
Next on his list, was activating the perimeter security.
"Alright Anni next up, I want perimeter security brought online, with alerts of anyone who approaches too close to the wall and gates. Initiate a sensor scan of the property as well." When she gave the affirmative, he was able to finally relax. All along the walls, sentry guns were popping up out of hidden recesses. He had to keep them hidden when not in use, because it was highly illegal. They could be set to auto target and would shoot anything that moved within a hundred metres of the wall. They could also be controlled manually by both Anni, or an operator. Once he had confirmation that they were online with negative targets, he passed off control to Anni and told her to request permission from him before engaging a target. The sensor scan told him that there was nobody hiding somewhere on the property sneaking up to the house. These scans would be performed once during the day and every hour at night.
Once he was positive the grounds were secure he grabbed seven RFID cards and began programming them to each of them. Some people were given more permissions than others. For instance, Krista was the only one given access to Wonderland. There were several laptops around the house for personal use. The doctor was the only one with access to the clinic's pharmacy, and Mark had access to the armoury. Jack of course had access to everything. Once he found out where everyone was sleeping he would program their cards to their personal door locks. With these tasks done, he regretfully pushed himself up and out of the chair and began making his way back to the door.
"Krista you need to come out here for this. Anni can handle security now, she'll let us know if there's a problem." He continued out the door as she got up to follow him, pulling her knit sweater closer around her.
Everyone was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs as he arrived there. With some help from the doctor, he managed to get back down without much of a problem. Did her eyes flash blue for a second? Shaking it off as his imagination, he passed out the cards he had just made up to everyone and went over to the garage door set off to the right of the stairs.
"Welcome to my playground everyone. I can't even begin to tell you how many of my products were born within this door." Scanning his card, he led them through and turned on the lights. Just like the kitchen was a cook's wet dream, the garage was the same to anyone mechanically inclined. Tool boxes lined every wall. To their immediate right in the corner, was a metal working area with everything from welding gear and grinders, to a belt sander and a full sized forge and anvil. Clamps, hammers, and files hung from the racks above the workbench, next to a row of black smith tools. Off in the far back corner was a caged in area that served as an armoury and secure storage. Between the cage and the metal shop was a door that led to his parts room. He needed those parts too because sitting in front of the garage doors, each on their own lift were two vehicles. One was literally taken straight from one of his favourite video games when he was younger. HALO's M12 Force Application Vehicle, more commonly known as the Warthog, had been built in real life before. His, however, was much better than the version rented by movie companies. His was armoured where it could be given the vehicle's lack of roof and doors, but most important was the engine. He had built it for a reason. He had finally cracked the hydrogen electrolysis a year ago. People had tried in the past, but he was the first that he knew of to make it work. The vehicle in front of him had been constructed as a marketing gimmick meant to display the capabilities of a hydrogen injected engine. Simply pour water into the gas tank, and then it is converted into hydrogen and oxygen, and then ignited.
These were the reasons he gave people anyway. The truth of the matter as to why he built it was much simpler. Deep down he was a giant nerd, with way too much money and brains. Plus, he hated doing anything halfway so he built it as accurate to the game version as was physically possible. The second vehicle was a much more practical application of his engines. It was an American military Humvee built to specs and up-armoured, with the only difference being his engine under the hood. It didn't get quite as much power as the standard diesel engine but the difference was negligible. He had built the Humvee as a show piece to the Canadian and American governments. Neither had been willing to purchase it for his asking price so he had been doing up plans to show it to the UK and then the private sector before the evacuation happened.
Now they might serve a very different purpose. He would use these vehicles for what they were designed for. Or at least what the Warthog was written to be designed for. They both had weapon mounts. He could put a fifty on top of the Humvee, he had one laying around the armoury somewhere he was sure of it. The warthog had something special. Sitting in a crate inside the cage was the GAU-19b, a triple barrel fifty caliber Gatling gun that he had purchased off of another company. It was completely overkill, unless you wanted to reduce a small building into nothing but fist sized rocks, but it fit with the vehicle. He had had to custom design the mount and swivel for the vehicle as, in the game the entire platform rotated when you turned the gun allowing you 360-degree coverage.
"Jesus fuck, Jack! Is that a fucking Warthog?" this eloquent exclamation came from Drew behind him.
"Yes it is, Drew but that's not what I brought you here for. Would you and Craig come over here, please? Every one else, gather around." He led them over to the cage and scanned them in. Gesturing to a stack of large long crates in the back corner, he said "Bring one of those out here. Careful, they're very heavy"
He knew how heavy they were. It had taken him half a day to stack them up there.
As they carried the large crate over to the middle of the floor, bitching the whole way, Jack started to speak.
"What I am going to show you next, is something that no one outside my company has ever seen. I haven't even shown the prototypes to anyone. This right here, is what is going to keep us alive if- when we eventually go back out there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the TITAN II Powered Exo Suit"
With his grand speech over, he reached down and flipped open the catches on the storage crate. Inside was the next generation of combat armour.
It was sleek, it was black, and it cost more than a Bugatti. It was a full suit of head to toe body armour, made out of the same material as the plates on his vest. Each plate overlapped each other to make it look like the torso was made out of a snake's underbelly. It came apart into sections, to make it easy to put on and store. Head, torso and neck, groin, thighs, shins and boots were all separate, as well as the upper and lower arms. The lower arms and hands were connected, to create a large gauntlet. When fully assembled and worn it was a complete unit with the only vulnerabilities being under the arms and behind the knees. The helmet looked like a cross between a drastically slimmed down motorcycle helmet and a paintball mask that had clips along the cheek area to loosen it off, and allow it to be put on and removed. Internally however, was where all the magic happened. The whole suit was powered with actuators that took away its weight. It felt like you were wearing normal clothing. It also drastically increased the wearer's strength. You wouldn't be tossing cars around, but you could pick the end of one up… briefly. It was however, super fun to punch concrete walls and leave impact craters. It was temperature controlled, and had a full heads up display that could be connected to a central network like the one in Wonderland. Built in radios took away the need for bulky equipment and a fun little wrist blade about a foot long popped out if you flexed your right fist the right way.
Looking down at the armour as he explained all these thing to the group gathered around him it occurred to him just how much the HALO games had influenced some of his work. Artificial Intelligence, Warthogs, Power armour minus the shields (Unfortunately), All pulled almost directly from Halo. He certainly hoped no one sued him for it.
Laughing to himself at the absurd idea of being worried about a lawsuit at a time like this, he went back to the people around him.
"Listen, the things in this house…. They present an opportunity. They can keep us safe, it's true but more than that, they can keep everyone else safe. You've all seen what's out there. You've seen what people are doing to each other. Many of them seem happy with the new situation, but many others are not. People are fighting and dying just trying to stay alive. We have the ability to help those people. Now if you want, I can arrange to have you quietly extracted back to the mainland, to anywhere you want to go, really. My planes have authorization to enter the no-fly zone in order to drop supplies. I'd be doing it for anyone we pulled out, so I can do it for you too. But I hope you won't. I know it's not fair of me to ask you to stay in all of this but I want to save as many people as I can from this hell hole. And if I'm being honest… I want to kill as many of those monsters out there as I can. We have the ability to help these people. To me, that means we have a responsibility, as well. Now, I'll do it alone if I have to, but I'd really rather not." He paused after making his big speech trying to gauge the reactions of the people around him.
After what felt like a lifetime, Jess was the first to speak up "I've been by your side since the beginning of this. You're one of the best friends I have here. You've kept me safe the entire time, whether I asked for it, or not. Whether I needed it or not you've kept me safe, you've kept all of us safe. Now I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm not going anywhere. Besides" She added almost as an afterthought "Chris is still out there somewhere. I can't leave yet." Jess' speech was like a catalyst. One by one each of them made their intentions to stay clear. He had never been more proud to call a group of people his friends.
"Alright, let's show you degenerates how to put this on."
The days flew by and before anyone knew it three months had passed. After showing them how to wear the armour, he gave them all their own set with the moisture wicking under suit that came with it. Even the Doctor and Krista got one though theirs was more worst case scenario, than it was likely they'd ever actually need to wear it. The first order of business after seeing to the immediate necessities was taking care of Joe's body. It had spent the last three days on an examination table in the clinic. They held a proper funeral for him underneath one of the towering pines on the property in a spot that overlooked the harbour. It was hard to say goodbye to a friend.
Jack healed fairly quickly given that anytime Tricia so much as looked at him he found himself saying the Bene Gesserit Litany of fear in his head "I must not fear. Fear is the Mind Killer…" He had started helping bring in the supply drops after about a month. His hip still ached from time to time but for the most part he was back to 100%. Mark had taken to the job of Armourer like a fish to water. Nobody removed anything from that armoury unless he knew about it.
They had all watched from Wonderland when the first wave of American prisoners were dropped off right there in Nanaimo. It hadn't taken long before they had organized into several distinct gangs and started carving out territory. After the first week, the fighting had died down. There were still skirmishes along territory borders, but nothing like the chaos of the first week. The remaining population of Nanaimo had been separated into two categories: non- combatants, and fighters. The fighters had all either joined one of the gangs, or were killed whenever they were caught in gang territory without displaying their colours. The Non-coms had all disappeared. Either dead or gone underground, hiding wherever they could, and making runs out, scavenging after nightfall. Jack watched them sometimes on the satellites. Little blips on the thermal camera, running from building to building, trying to find food. There were regular supply drops but they were always seized immediately by one gang or another. A supply drop always meant inter gang fighting.
Jack wanted to help the Non-combatants so badly it hurt. He knew that they weren't ready. They had all the gear they needed, but his people had been on the breaking point when they arrived. They were slowly getting their stride back, and he could see some of them getting restless. The gym in one of the back rooms on the lower floor saw regular use. Within the first two weeks, he had installed the turret on the back of the warthog and mounted the swivel mount and fifty cal on the Humvee. They had all drilled on quickly donning their armour to the point were they could have it on and powered up in under three minutes. Everyone had customized it to their liking with holsters and mag pouches all suiting each individual's style. They settled into a routine. They were comfortable, if a little restless.
Then came the day they finally got to leave the compound.
Jack woke early as the sun was shining in through his window. The days had started to get longer, and while it still rained more days than not, every once in a while like today they got a day of clear skies.
He dressed in simple sweat pants and a t-shirt, and walked down the hallway to start breakfast for everybody. He didn't mind doing the cooking most mornings. Jess had turned out to be an abysmal cook and Mark couldn't do much beyond the outdoor barbeque. Tricia was a decent cook but her food tended towards the too spicy to consume. Craig had been the biggest surprise by being a phenomenal baker. They had fresh bread most days more often than not. After starting the coffee, he knew from experience he had about ten minutes before people started wandering in from around the house. Krista stayed in the bedroom adjacent to Wonderland. It was a room almost as good as Jack's with massive windows capable of auto tinting for privacy on a command. With an attached bathroom and soaker tub it was a wonder she ever left. Jess had commandeered one of the suite bedrooms as soon as she laid eyes on it and Tricia stayed with her in the other one. Craig, Mark, and Drew had all chosen rooms on the ground floor. They said they preferred it down there. Jack didn't blame them. The downstairs had what was closer to a cross between a family living room and a man cave. Huge TV with hundreds of channels plus Netflix, four different gaming consoles, a full wet bar, pool table, and a gym, it was the perfect guy's haven.
Jack continued getting the ingredients he needed for the breakfast wraps he was making. Eggs, green and red peppers, onion, flour tortillas, milk, marble cheese, chorizo sausage, mayonnaise, and certain hot sauce with a rooster on the bottle. The peppers, onions, and chorizo, all got chopped into small pieces and dropped on the grill before he squirted some hot sauce into a small bowl of mayo whipping it together until it was a uniform pale red. Once that was done he stopped for a minute and poured himself a cup of coffee. The smell of the brown life giving liquid had by now permeated the upper floor of the house and as such people were beginning to stir. First came Krista, stumbling out of wonderland with a look on her face of someone who had spent way too long pouring over a monitor the night before. She collapsed into a stool against the island and poured herself a cup of coffee as Jack started laying out the flour tortilla wraps. He spread a liberal amount of the spicy mayo sauce onto each of the wraps and sprinkled cheese along after. Once all the prep was done he whisked the eggs and milk together and poured them over the peppers and sausage. He mixed it all together as it cooked and watched as everybody else started to file in and take a seat along the Island. He filled each of the wraps and put them back on the grill to melt the cheese.
It was when everyone was halfway through their meals when Anni's voice came through a speaker on the wall.
"Jack, you'd better come and see this." Her accented voice was lifelike enough that Jack could detect the trace of alarm in her tone. This in itself had him on high alert, as he tossed down his food and raced to the consoles in Wonderland. Krista wasn't far behind him. As he entered Anni simply pointed at the centre screen.
There, displayed on the massive monitors was a satellite feed of a five-man section getting their ass kicked by one of the larger prisoner gangs downtown. It was obvious to Jack that they were military trained, if not currently serving. Subtle things like how they covered each other while reloading, and the way they moved when running from building to building. Currently they had taken cover inside an empty fountain in the middle of a traffic circle, and were clearly trying to make a stand. These men were not going to last much longer without some help. Jack had spent the last three months watching people die, often in horrible ways, while he sat safe and comfortable inside this air conditioned room, protected by his personal fortress on top of a heavily defended mountain. He was done with it. He was going to help these men, or be killed in the attempt.
Keying the house intercom, he announced loudly "All combat personnel gear up, and meet by the vehicles. Briefing in five" With that said, he ran back the ten paces back to his room and stripped off all of his clothing and pulled on the skin tight under suit for the armour. Once that was done he sprinted for the stairs leading down to the garage. The rubberized soles on the moisture wicking suit meant he was able to keep his grip on the slick hardwood floors. He almost collided with Jess as she came out of the hallway in her own suit.
"Tricia is heading to the clinic to get it ready and Krista will be joining Anni in Wonderland to act as control." She said as they sprinted down the stairs together. Jack was glad to hear it. They had drilled relentlessly for this moment for the past three months and finally they were coming together as a well oiled machine. They arrived at the door behind the other three men. Without a word to each other they each went to their own gear lockers and began donning the armour. The TITAN II was designed to be put on and taken off easily and almost without any help. It could be done alone but it was a pain in the ass. First to be pulled on was the codpiece covering the groin and pelvis. This was followed by the torso and both upper thighs. Once those pieces were on and hooked in together the codpiece was cinched down using clips similar to the type used on roller skates. It locked into place fitting like a second skin, having been formed to Jacks body. Next came the lower leg and boot combos The next step usually required a partner to assist because of where Jack had needed to put the hookups for the arm actuators. After sliding the upper arms into place he turned around to allow Jess to secure it into place at the back of his shoulders. Once the latches and actuators were connected he tightened down the torso. The gauntlets up to the elbow finished it off and once everything was latched down, he initiated the start up sequence. The low high pitched whine of the armour powering up was answered by whines from around the room as everyone completed their own start ups. The armour didn't actually need to be complete for the actuators to take effect. It would be severely weakened true, but as long as someone was wearing the torso, any of the limbs would be powered. The torso it's self had been designed so that it could be worn alone as a frag vest, albeit a heavy one. Jack grabbed his helmet and made his way over to the weapons rack.
He had upgraded from the C8 he had been using to his own personal favourite, the SCAR-H. Technically speaking it wasn't actually an assault rifle. With a medium length barrel and a capacity of twenty rounds of 7.62x51mm it fell squarely into the battle rifle category. While it was true that he wouldn't have as much ammo as before, the massive amount of power behind the round meant that he didn't need to double tap to drop someone. Fitting the large mags into the pouches he grabbed the Glock 22 he had taken from the car when they picked up Krista and slid it into the SERPA holster attached to his hip plates. He like the 1911 he really did but it only held 7 rounds with another in the chamber while the Glock held 15 rounds of .40 S&W and he needed the extra capacity.
Once he was geared up he turned to the other people doing final checks on their gear. "Ok here's the deal. There's a five-man section pinned down in the downtown core. They wandered into gang territory and are holed up in an empty fountain in the middle of a traffic circle. We're going to get them out of there. These guys are military people. Infantry unless I miss my guess. I don't need to say how useful that can be. Let's go save some soldiers."
With that said, they put on their helmets and all moved towards their vehicles. Craig jumped up into the turret on the Warthog giggling like a little girl as he did. Jack climbed behind the wheel of the hog as Mark, Drew, and Jess got into the Humvee with Mark driving and Drew on the fifty. Without another word the garage door opened courtesy of Anni, and they peeled out towards the city.
It was creepy. That was the best description for the city at present. Creepy. All around them were signs of destruction. There were crashed vehicles they had to navigate through, small bits of rubble from explosives and grenades people had found, and bodies everywhere. Everywhere they looked amid dirt and rubble and small fires still burning were bodies in various states of decay. Some had been piled and burned, but most just lay where they had died. What was creepy about it however, was the silence. Based on the carnage around them, and from what Jack had seen on the satellite feeds, they should be waist deep in contacts right now. He knew it wasn't because they were all dead, he had watched as every month like clockwork another few thousand inmates were dropped off, yet as they drove through the city, they didn't see a single living soul. The throaty roar of the Warthog's engine increased in pitch as Jack accelerated through the city.
Five minutes later they were finally able to hear the sound of gunfire filtered in through their helmets microphones. The helmets audio system combined a radio, audio voice output, and ear defenders with microphones that would cut off any sound above 85 decibels. It let Jack hear in surround sound as they drew closer to the battle. At that moment his radio sparked to life.
"Uh Jack we've got a problem." Krista was in Wonderland, keeping an eye on both the battle ahead of them and their progress through the city using both the satellite images and Jacks helmet cam. "One of the men is down. Looks like he's dead, but the real problem is that all access to the square by vehicle is cut off. They've set up roadblocks. Tires, cars, furniture, that sort of thing."
"Well is there a route in, or not?" That had Jack concerned. They were a rolling arsenal but if they couldn't get in to help then it was all useless.
"Not that I can see. Looks like you're going to have to go in on foot." Bless Krista for having their backs, but that was not happening. Those men wouldn't survive extraction unless it was done very fast, and preferably behind a comfortable amount of armour.
Just as Jack was about to lose hope of saving these men he saw an opportunity. Up ahead, directly between them and the square was a parking garage. He accelerated into the garage as he keyed his helmet comms and said
"Craig, make us a door."
Sgt Chris Dunley knew they were fucked. They had taken cover inside this empty fountain when they walked into the ambush and had been slowly burning through ammo, trying to stay alive. It seemed like they had been holding them off, but whoever was shooting at them was content to keep picking away at them until they ran out of ammo. Then Travis caught a round in the neck. He had bled out before they could even get to him. The LT had simply taken over on the C6 and they had continued fighting.
He had known they were fucked from the day that Zero stopped responding on the radio. They had been part of the crews helping to keep order during the evacuation and had been out in Nanoose Bay when it became clear to them that they had been abandoned. Originally there had been a full Company of them. Now after three months, countless firefights and at least one successful hijacking that left them on foot, the five of them were all that were left. Four, actually now that Travis was down. Chris, 2nd Lieutenant John Shepard, Warrant Officer Sean Flaherty, and Corporal Benjamin Chang were all that was left of B Company, Canadian Scottish Regiment, Princess Mary's. Chris knew his wife Jessica had been with 32 Service Battalion on the island helping with the evacuation. All he could hope for was that she had gotten off safely before shit really hit the fan. It had become obvious fairly quickly as they pressed on that the line about smallpox had been a load of bullshit to cover up something else. What that was however he had no idea, and frankly right now he didn't give a shit.
"Reinforcements coming in from the east side!" This came from Chang to his left.
"Copy East Side!" came the answer from 2LT Shepard. "Dunley shift fire left!"
Chris adjusted his aim to account for the hostiles pouring out of the building. Yep, definitely fucked. They weren't even bothering to hide behind cover anymore as they advanced on their position. This was it, he was going to die here.
He closed his eyes and said "Jess baby, I'm so sorry. I love you"
Then, a pure fucking miracle happened. Three of the enemies advancing on them disappeared in a fountain of blood, as the wall of the parking garage to their left disintegrated into a large opening, blown apart by thousands of rounds hitting it almost at once. What came out of that opening told Chris that he had gone insane. It was a Warthog, straight out of Halo, blowing through what little wall was left in a shower of concrete and dust, flying through the air as it left the elevated garage with two heavily armoured figures on board. The Warthog touched down and bounced on its heavy suspension as the massive gun on the back roared at the enemies all around them. Chris could swear he heard maniacal laughter from the gunner as he kept up a steady stream of fire, shifting from target to target cutting people and buildings in half as the turret traversed. It did a full circuit around them as the C Scott's stopped and stared. Three seconds after the avenging angel from a video game made its abrupt entrance, a US Army Humvee came through the same hole the Warthog had. As soon as it was clear the gunner opened up with his fifty and added to what the Warthog was doing. As the Warthog kept circling around them, convincing their attackers to keep their heads down, the Humvee pulled to a stop in front of them and the passenger door flew open.
"Get in!" Came the filtered voice through the full head helmet. The voice was female and Chris could swear it sounded familiar.
Either way nobody needed to be told twice. Chang and the LT each grabbed one of Travis' arms and began dragging his corpse over to the Humvee while Chris and the Warrant covered them. Once they were in the vehicle with Chang riding with the body in the back, the Warthog pulled up next to them. At the drivers signal, Chris ran and hopped into the passenger seat. Initially he sat just like they do in the game, ass planted on the headrest with his foot braced against the dash, so he could fire over the windshield, but an armoured gauntlet reached up and yanked him down hard by the vest until he landed in the seat with a thump.
"You're not wearing armour and Jess would murder me if you got hit doing something stupid."
Wait did he say Jess? Any further thought was cut off by the sound of a loud click as the Hog's gun ran out of ammo.
"FUCK! RELOADING!" yelled the gunner above them, as he kicked the massive ammo can next to him off the back of the vehicle. It sailed through the air to strike someone in the chest. He pulled another one off of a rack behind Chris' head but the gangs had taken advantage of the lull in fire and started shooting back.
"Time to go! Mark stay close behind me and cover us until Craig's reloaded." The Hog's driver suited action to words as he spun the recce vehicle around and ripped out towards the hole in the wall. They sailed back out of the square, just the way they had come in and like that, they were safe.
Nobody really said anything as the driver wound them through the city. The gangs had taken a blow today, and it would be a while before they were willing to take them on. As the buildings grew less and less dense and the trees were becoming thicker he wondered about their mysterious benefactors. Whoever they were clearly had access to some serious tech. Not only was he sitting in a fucking Warthog with a working chain gun, but the armour they were wearing was unlike anything he had ever seen. They were shrugging off bullets like they weren't even there. Nothing that Chris knew of was capable of that. He would have to see about getting a set.
The vehicles rolled through a heavy iron gate that swung open for them as they approached and continued up a long narrow driveway for about three minutes before stopping in front of a large glass fronted A frame house. A woman in doctor's scrubs ran out and began checking on the wounded as Chris climbed down from the purring war cat. He was just about to thank the mysterious driver when he was interrupted by a shrieked "Chris!" and the sound of someone running towards him.
When he turned around he couldn't believe what he saw. It was Jess, in full armour minus the helmet running towards him as fast as she could. It was actually pretty fucking fast; the armour must be some kind of awesome powered exoskeleton. Before she could reach him the driver stepped around and intercepted her with a hand on her chest. The impact was like the sound of a forklift dropping a heavy load. Chris was pretty sure it echoed faintly. The driver leaned in and said something quietly to her and she blushed and came forward much more slowly. He could tell it was almost painful for her to take that long and Chris imagined that the driver had probably told her to slow down or she might accidentally kill him. When he finally had her in his arms it was a weird feeling. The armour added considerably to her diminutive height until she could actually look him in the eyes and the bulk of the plates kept him from being able to feel her. Her hair however, in its pony tail still smelled like her and that was enough for him. She was safe, and she was home.
Behind her he saw the driver undo the clips on either side of his helmet and pull it off. The face underneath made him take a step back.
"Jack? What the fuck are you doing here?" Jack smiled as he looked over at the two of them and said simply.
"I live here"
"Huh… well fuck me."
A/N well there it is, Chapter 4. Like I said it's going to be a while before I start on chapter 5 because I want to fix the first one. Thanks to my wonderful sister for doing all the editing check out her tumblr account at thescottishmcrdragon it's not horrible!