'Jaune… What's going on?' Pyrrha asked, looking at the Gears with a mix of confusion and fear.
'These people are intruders. We have orders to take them into custody,' Jaune replied sternly, 'Head back inside and I'll be back once they're taken care of.'
'Bu-'
Jaune cut her off, 'Don't get involved. Trust me this is for the best.'
Pyrrha withdrew back into the cabin with a strained look on her face. That left Emerald, Mercury, Watts and Penny surrounded by Jaune and the security team. Watts held up his hands.
'So is this the part where you offer to us the easy way or the hard way?' He asked with a smirk.
'No this is dead or alive,' Jaune replied, 'Resist and we'll use all force needed to subdue you.'
He gave a signal and four of the Gears lowered their Lancers taking out what looked like armbands and stepped closer. Watts gave a slight wave of his hand to signal Mercury, Emerald and Penny not to fight back. They let the Gears fit the armbands which beeped before sending a massive shock through them all.
Their auras flashed and broke before a lower jolt made them all lock up. The Gears grabbed their hands and cuffed them, taking Watts' revolver,Thief's Respite from Emerald and both of the boots that made up Talaria from Mercury. Penny had something pressed against her finger which made her yell out, her tone shifting to something electronic before dying away as she slumped over.
'What hell did you do to her!' Watts snarled as he was pinned down in the dirt.
'She's just a kid! Lay off!' Emerald grunted.
'Yeah what gives!' Mercury shouted.
'She's just disabled not dead,' Jaune replied, 'Get them up and out of here. And where is that teleport beacon?!'
'Coming sir,' One of the Gears replied as a new pair arrived and ran into the Bullhead.
'Good the sooner we're out of here the better,' Jaune said as the prisoners were picked up and dragged out, he touched his ear speaking into a radio bud, 'Control, this is Ranger 1. Confirming beacon in place. Request window for transport through the denial area… CoPyrrha that Control.'
A flash of light behind them made Watts, Mercury and Emerald look back. The Bullhead was gone, like it had just vanished. So they were in the right place afterall.
They were dragged over to some sort of hatch and taken into a cart station. Inside they were searched which resulted in a pile of personal items consisting of several scrolls courtesy of Watts, a variety of ammo and other items from them all bar Penny and one piece of gum which had been chewed and put back in the wrapper that Mercury insisted was still good.
'Hey don't give me that look. Not like we were stopping much to stock up,' He snapped as the others gave him looks.
'Get those off of him,' Jaune ordered.
'Get what of- Hey! Let go! Ahh!' Mercury shouted as they restrained him and pulled up his trouser legs.
Without aura he wasn't able to match the Gears strength as they found the connections for his prosthetics and detached them. The two lower legs were then placed with the weapons that had been taken. Mercury himself was stuck on a cart seat now unable to walk.
'Fuck all of you. No really fuck each one of you,' Mercury said with venom.
'We know they have weapons inside. Don't act innocent,' Jaune said, overseeing it all.
'So take out the bullets, I can't shoot with nothing loaded. You don't need to treat me like this. Assholes.'
Penny was dropped onto the seat facing him. Her eyes dark and her body limp as they stuck a seatbelt around her. Gone was the cheery sort of kooky girl, in her place was a doll with the same face.
'Penny… Hey…. Penny?' Mercury asked, trying to get her attention.
'She can't respond. The system lock won't allow her to,' Jaune said as their belongings were sent ahead of them on one cart.
'System lock? She's a person no matter how much of her is like my legs,' Mercury snapped.
'She's all machine, unlike like your legs she's never been flesh and blood,' Jaune said without looking over.
'What kind of crap is that? Watts is her uncle or something,' Mercury said looking over to the doctor.
Watts sighed, 'Not by blood… But the question remains, how did you know that?' He asked, looking at Jaune.
'It's hard to keep a secret like that from the COG when you're walking around a place fitted with security systems. Walls have ears and all that,' Jaune replied before calling for them to leave.
They'd had to use a small train of carts to carry them all. Two prisoners and four guards in each with Jaune's team in the rear most one. The passage was clearly old, what purpose it served was something only Watts might have been able to guess.
But he was busy studying everything around them. Trying to piece together where they were, what sort of security was present, anything to plot their escape. It also meant he didn't need to look over at Penny in her current state, whom Mercury was trying to talk to the whole trip.
Emerald seemed on edge, her own mind racing as she thought back to their encounter with Pyrrha . She'd watched a few of the supposed champion's fights before, mostly by standing and watching displays. Never had she used two swords before, why would she suddenly change weapons?
Despite trying to figure it out Emerald wasn't even sure why the image of those wooden swords was stuck in her head. The only person she knew who used stuff like that was… Cinder… Her mind clicked, this place was where Merlot had taken Cinder, had they done something to her?
The carts came to a stop by a station built into a side room, a set of COG androids were waiting with a wheelchair for Mercury and a gurney for Penny. Like the rest of the place it was built from the same dark stone now with COG tech worked into it. Cables and pipes were fixed to the walls or wormed their way through holes bored into the material.
They were taken from the carts and moved through one of the converted hallways. Standing at the end was something that made those who could shiver. A Merlot android was guarding the doors.
'Fisher said that Merlot might want some of them,' Jaune said, nodding to his prisoners as they approached.
It didn't reply, just stepped aside as the doors opened. Jaune led them in. It was clearly Merlot's new lab, if it wasn't clear enough from the instruments and lab benches the doctor himself was proof of that.
'Ahh I'd thought you might survive,' Merlot said, clapping his hands together.
'Seems you're doing well for yourself,' Watts remarked looking at the space.
'Oh yes. As I said, Salem bought me a great deal of support.'
'Where's Cinder!' Emerald shouted, the Gear behind her hitting the back of her knee making her drop down.
'Please there's no need to be rough,' Merlot said waving the Gear off, 'She's welcome to see her master. I'm quite proud of her new accommodation.'
The Gear pulled Emerald to her feet and marched her over to what they'd thought was a plastic partition but now realised was the front of a cell. Inside was a cylinder with mist running off it. Its occupant was obscured by the ice on the glass front but must have been Cinder.
'What did you do to her?' Emerald hissed.
'Sustained cryostasis. It's quite remarkable really. Miss Fall is currently preserved and can be kept this way indefinitely. I would have preferred to simply use the Swarm neurotoxin to keep her from being able to act but her condition is unique,' Merlot said with a grin.
'So what is Salem on ice too?' Mercury asked.
'Yes,' Watts remarked looking around the chamber, 'It seems Hazel and Trryan are also in your custody. But not Salem herself.'
Merlot cocked his head, 'Oh I only bring her up when I want to run tests. Otherwise she's down below in a dedicated chamber. It's quite interesting being able to monitor her in a sensory deprivation cha-'
'Doctor,' Jaune cut in, 'I must remind you not to disclose critical information to prisoners.'
'Ah yes. My mistake,' Merlot said with a shrug, 'I was just getting excited being able to explain my work.'
'Be that as it may we're only here for you to check if you wanted any of these three,' Jaune said, nodding to Emerald, Mercury and Watts.
'What about the android?' Merlot asked, looking at Penny.
'She's already spoken for I'm afraid. I have my orders and she's to be taken to the robotics workshop for assessment,' Jaune replied.
'Ah. Please ask that I be kept apprised of their findings, I'm quite interested in seeing if we can learn about how she projects aura. It would be a great breakthrough in our proxy program,' Merlot said leaning over.
'I'll make sure your request is passed on. If you don't want the others I'm to take them to general holding,' Jaune said with a nod to the door.
'Hmm. Please do. I don't have any more space here and I'd only want to draw on Watts once we perfect the transfer process. Such a keen mind would be a great asset to draw on,' Merlot said with a dismissive wave.
'Very well, take those with you to robotics,' Jaune said pointing to Mercury's legs.
The Gear holding them nodded and put them beside Penny before rolling the trolly away. Meanwhile the rest of them were marched through a series of hallways and chambers till they arrived at their own destination. A large set of double doors made of the COG's signature bluish alloy blocked the way.
On each side of it was a heavy COG android, their heads tracking the group as they approached. Without any words being needed the doors slid open to reveal a group of the normal sized androids. Two for each of the prisoners.
They were split up into smaller rooms where prison overalls had been prepared and directed to get changed, Mercury was provided assistance at his objection. Now without anything of their own on their persons they were marched, or pushed in Mercury's case, out and into a vast underground chamber. Rows of cells stacked two high stretched out to the far side.
Each was a small box of the same material that had made the doors of the cells in Merlot's lab. Their single occupants looked out at them but said nothing, in fact no one made any movements greater than watching them be taken to their own cells. They were put inside and the doors sealed before the androids withdrew leaving only the prisoners in their cells.
'This place stucks,' Mercury grumbled looking around at the staring faces looking at them, 'What? Never seen a guy without his legs before? Get lost! Ah!'
He jolted in his wheelchair clutching his arm. There was a click from overhead as speakers came on. A robotic voice spoke from around them.
'Prisoners are reminded not to exceed forty decibels or corrective action will be infraction has been noted.'
'Son of a-'Mercury started.
'Don't, swearing is an infraction too,' Someone whispered from the cell beside him.
'Great… Just great.'
'So… Any ideas?,' Emerald asked Watts.
'I'd imagine they're recording anything we say. So no…' He replied looking around the place, 'This seems to be an old cistern, likely for the city we saw. Seems it's been repurposed as a detention area. '
'How does that help us?'
'Patience please, I don't want to act rashly,' Watts replied, measuring his words.
There was a system in place. One that was setup to trigger the shocks, likely to correct their behaviour. Raising your voice and using vulgar language were two, so what else might there be?
Emerald had openly spoken of him coming up with a plan, but without saying the word. That might have gotten around the rules that were setup. He'd need to figure this out and fast, the longer they were here the more likely Merlot would be finished with his experiments. And Watts had no desire to find out what this "Transfer Process" was.
'Do you think Penny is alright?' Mercury whispered, the question was odd coming from him.
'I'm not sure,' Watts admitted.
'We owe her,' Emerald added.
'I know,' Watts said without elaborating.
'On a brighter note at least I'm still with her in a way,' Mercury said tapping his chair.
'Oh for the Gods sak- Ah!' Emerald hissed as the announcement chastised her.
Penny wasn't doing very well. Her external functions were restricted down to inputs only, she wasn't even able to move her eyes, leaving her staring ahead. However she didn't plan to give up.
The thing trapping her was attached to the connector on her finger. They'd forced it open then stuck the device on. The instant it had it disabled her ability to act, the software seizing control from her.
She guessed it was based on a sort of safety measure intended to lock down COG Robots that were malfunctioning. But she wasn't fully COG, so it hadn't shut down her senses fully nor shut her down totally. Which was odd, someone had clearly had the program made but so many gaps in the process raised questions around the quality of their coding, if anything it was like they wanted her to be aware.
She dismissed the notion, it had far too many bad outcomes, better to think this was down to a rushed job. Even now she was trying to figure out how to disable the program. Part of the problem was it seemed to be one of the COG Semi-Sentient programs.
Each time she tried to figure out the encryption it would start changing or cap her processor and make her awareness slow down. But there had to be a way to beat it. The others might be counting on her to get free.
The feeling of the wheels jolting as the surface under them drew her attention back to the world outside. She'd been having a sub-process record and map out the trip here. It seemed they'd taken her to a rather cramped but functional workshop, at least going by what she could see.
Her head was facing straight up limiting her awareness to the upper parts of the room. A series of rails were set above the place. Some had COG androids hanging from them, others were being used to hold up storage containers of parts.
Penny was moved over to a table across the room and lifted onto it. One of the technicians was talking to the Gear in hushed tones. Much to her delight she was able to turn up the sensitivity on her ears.
'-oing here?' The Technician said.
'Relax, she's an android,' The Gear said, waving a hand.
'Huh… Real good work on the design. But even so we don't service non-COG units,' The Technician said with a shrug.
'Orders. They want her and those legs kept here. I think they're worried the Doctor might be getting too important,' The Gear replied.
'Huh ain't that the truth. He keeps going on about how great his stuff is,' The Technician replied.
'He still wants to bring those Lambent Grimm to the island. I'm glad the boss said no way to those and made him take them away,' The Gear said, 'I tell you when those things popped out of the teleporter I nearly primed a frag grenade and mined the tanks.'
'Hey I'd have done the same,' The Technician said, 'I'll keep her underwraps. The legs too, as weird a thing as that is to say.'
Penny was somewhat pleased at that last part. Hopefully she would be able to escape and take Mercury's legs back to him. He'd been a bit uneasy at first around her, but he'd also seemed rather nice.
For now at least she turned her thoughts inwards trying to figure out how to get past the lock. Uncle Watts was smart, she had no doubt he'd help the others escape, but that was no reason not to give it her best. She'd get out of here and help them, no matter how hard it was.
Jaune had returned to the Palace after handing over the prisoners. Fisher wanted a report, in person of course. Though as he headed through the checkpoint into his office it seemed he was on edge.
'Sir, you wanted to see me,' Jaune said as he came to a stop at attention.
'Ah yes. Good work getting those four under wraps so quickly. That was one of our nightmares sorted,' Fisher said, running his fingers through his hair.
'One sir?'
Fishier took a long breath, 'Yes one. Seems Evangelina is becoming a pain in the ass. I'd hoped she'd be as pliant as she was back on Sera. But now she's calling me back.'
'Do you think we're compromised?' Jaune asked, his eyes narrowing.
'I don't know yet. Hopefully this is just a case of her wanting to wave her authority around. We've been getting her undermined so perhaps I can use it to push her further off balance.'
'I see. Sir… What if Clarke is there? From what I know she was getting closer to you before the attempt to silence her,' Jaune noted.
'I'm thinking about that as well… Damn it, we can't just take out the meeting, that much instability isn't something we could channel. The acting First Minister and senior staff dead during this crisis and so soon after the First Minister's death,' Fisher muttered, 'We'd need more things in place before trying that.
'You'd better stay on your guard, if they're suspecting you they might try and make you slip up.'
'Hmm, didn't take you for a political animal, Arc,' Fisher said with an interested look.
'It's how things are now. I've been trying to learn fast for how the new world will be,' Jaune said with a nod.
'Good man. Good man. Day will be with me. You'll have command whilst I'm gone, keep things ticking over and I'll be back before you know it,' Fisher said.
'You'll take the command key with you?' Jaune asked with a nod.
'Oh yes, good point reminding me. This should be a short trip a working day at most, I'll set the timer at eight hours just in case' Fisher said, tapping on his terminal before unplugging a small stick, 'To think. All the power of those Hammers tied to this little thing.'
'It is quite impressive,' Jaune said with a nod.
Jaune watched him put it into a housing that made it seem like a regular portable data storage device. Whoever held that key had total control of the Hammer Of Dawn system over Remnant. And Fisher had just set a timer for how long the satellites were expecting to be out of contact with the firing controller.
If they didn't get a reply before the timer was up… Well… All Jaune had needed to know was the system would assume they'd been defeated and commence a preset firing pattern. One that would burn the world rather than let it slip from Fisher's grasp.
'Have a safe trip sir,' Jaune said giving a salute, 'I hope you don't hit any delays.'