NOVEL NEXT Chapter Fourteen: When Four Means Death
As Le Mond’s car pulls into the employee parking lot, I leave my hiding spot and walk towards his car. As he opens the door, I hold it open for him.
“Sir, we have a big problem,” I say. “please look at this.”
I show him a tablet I borrowed from the office. Several news and gossip sites are open on it. They all show different versions of the same story. The executive of New Hope Corp is doing shady deals with Meline Tec staff. What will they sell? Will this stop the rise of New Hope?
“What the hell is this?” He asks
“I think that is you. Or at least someone that looks like you.”
As we planned, Sam comes running into the garage.
“Big problem, some of the news outlets have started to cover the story as well,” Sam says when she is in whining earshot.
“What are they saying?” Le Mond says while turning to Sam and getting more nervous.
I take this as an opportunity to throw my bot inside the car through the still-open door. I activate it so I can hide it inside the car's frame, and then I close the door behind him.
“They are saying you are selling trade secrets to Meline tec. We have to do something.”
He looks between the two of us before speaking.
“Well, you two are the best hackers in the company. Get this all taken down, but not from the company network. Go home today. You earned some rest. Take this with you. It should have all the intel you need,” he says while giving me some kind of hard drive that he retrieved from his bag.
“Yes, sir,” we both say.
Sam and I make it out of the building quickly after that.
“Well, that was easy,” Sam says.
“What did you expect? That man has an ego bigger than a model 14. He just thinks that as his good little slaves, we do everything for him. “
“Was that a Samurai reference?”
“I thought I would try using those for a change. What do you think?”
“I think you should stick to coding. But how did you know he was going to send us home?”
“Ooh, simple, because half of the rumours I sent out were true. So he wants us to work on it where no one sees us. Now he can shift the blame to us if it does not work out for him.”
“How would he do that?”
“There are probably a bunch of trackers and trojans in this hard drive that will make it look like we orchestrated it or at least were heavily involved.”
“Ooh, I see, and since we have an advanced alien AI, we can just disable those, right?”
“Correct, but I would also recommend you send an anonymous message to HR to cover your tracks and such.”
“Right, so what now, then?”
“We go home, get some sleep, and leave the spread of information and the removal of the website to Lyssa, which will make it look like we are actually doing something. Then tomorrow, we grab his car and make him disappear.”
“So, my job is basically done then.”
“Yeah, happy weekend.”
We make it back to our apartments. Being employees of the same company means we live in the same building. We say good night to each other and head back inside. I connect the hard drive to my PC for Lyssa to have some fun with. Then I take off my shoes, jump in my bed, and fall asleep before realizing it.
I am awoken from my slumber by a loud crashing noise. I jump up, my heart beating in my throat. The harsh white light from the hallway is blocking my vision. Once the distortion clears, I see a man. He is tall and handsome, with dark skin, and has some kind of metal arm or, wait, is that a tail? At least there is a gun attached to the end.
He rushes over to me, grabs me by the neck, and lifts me from my bed, choking the air out of me. My friend, you just won the worst wakeup method of this week.
“Where is my family?” he shouts at me.
I can’t say much because he is currently choking me. With my last will of effort, I send every hack and program I have at him, trying to gain access to his arms. I get a foothold, but something is blocking me. I keep trying while at the same time attempting to pry his fingers open with my hand. I fully use my new spine, bending it all the way forward and wrapping my legs over his arms, then try to straighten myself again, trying to break free with the leverage. Lyssa jumps in and is bullying whatever protection that this guy has away. At some point, I gain excess to a few of the motors and make them release my throat. I fall on the ground and roll away from him.
“Lyssa, weapon now!” I yell out.
New Purchase: Shard Breaker Javelin
Points reduced to... 180
A black steel javelin with a purple accent appears in my right hand. I activated the Fulgurite Laucher. Electricity sparks off my hand into the javelin, and I feel the pull of it wanting to fly out.
“Any last word, fucker?”
“Wait, I am a Samurai, too!“ he says while raising his hands. “I was just looking for my family. They have been kidnapped.”
“And how is choking the life out of me going to help with that issue?”
“I don’t know. the data said they should be here.” He slumps down. I even detect tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Here? This room can barely fit two people. How the fuck is a whole family supposed to fit?”
He slumps down, becoming smaller, which is kind of impressive considering his massive size. I also see the problem: this guy is just a kid, probably younger than Bubbles. He is unprepared for this and is just grasping at straws.
“Okay, fuck, calm down. I find them for you, okay? If we work together, we can solve this issue.”
“You can?”
“Well, I just need to figure out why you came here and track it back. One just has to look for the correct signals. Also, I have the Samurai extortion manual on my desk. I think chapter 20 or 21 was about kidnapping families. In the meantime, you should get a rope and tie me up.”
“What? Why do you want that?” he says in confusion. “And a Samurai extortion manual? Who are you?”
“It’s a book I got when my company wanted to use a Samurai for their benefits. I think her name was Night Ranger or something. The book is kind of interesting; everything is photocopied to ensure there is no digital footprint. It has everything from kidnapping, blackmail, to simple extortion. You can have it if you want.” I explain.
“Why would I want such a thing?”
“Well, if you know how they might act, you can prepare yourself better.”
He looks a bit uncomfortable, but he grabs the book and looks through it for a bit.
“Have you ever used this to hurt other Samurai?”
“Yeah, I did, not something horrible or anything. I also never went after any of their families, if that helps. I mostly just ripped them off, making them pay more than I should have.”
“Okay, I believe you for now.”
“Good, now tie me up. We need to make sure they think that I am just some techie being tortured for information instead of helping you.”
He looks unsure, but gets to work anyway, with a rope he purchased. Meanwhile, I am looking through the data. I have a good clue as to where his family is. So, I look for recent property purchases and then compare camera footage. It only takes me a bit to narrow down the building after that, so I make a group chat with Bubbles and Deatnite.
(Maniac)
11:36[S.O.S. all units in battle positions!!]
11:36[people got kidnapped. I need you guys to rescue them]
11:37[plan_Blueprint_1a.png]
11:37[Bubbles, I need you to go to this vent and pour in some chemicals that will put people to sleep]
11:37[Plan_Blueprint_1b.png]
11:37[Deatnite, I need you to wait here for people to fall asleep and then go to these rooms and rescue the kidnapped victims]
(Liquid Catalyst)
[and what will you be doing in the meantime?]11:38
11:38[I will be the distraction, so you should be fine, but stealth is still key]
(Deatnite)
[Roger that, I want a full explanation when we are done okay]11:39
[Be safe]11:39
I close my messages and look up at the guy. He has finished tying me up. It is a shoddy job, but it will do for now.
“Okay, now grab my mask from my bag, and you can carry me to your car.”
He looks at me, confused for a second, then goes through my bag until he finds the maniac's mask. He looks at it, then back at me, and then at the mask again.
“This is yours?” he asked, a bit of uncertainty in his voice.
“Yes, now pick me up. We need to get going. We don’t want your family to wait forever.”
After that, he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. This is actually my first time being carried like this. I can’t say that I really enjoyed the experience very much, but I have had worse, I guess.
He walks us to one of the parking garages in the building and puts me into some kind of silver muscle car. I admit I am not much of a car person. It's big and bulky, okay? I'm pretty sure if you hit a wall with it, the car would be fine. Well, maybe not; the exposed engine does not look protected.
“So, can you see into these windows from the outside?” I ask the cyborg.
“Uhm, ah, no, they are tinted.”
“Cool, can you unbind me then? And what is your name? I can’t call you cyborg man forever?”
“Yeah, uhm, they call me Silver Scorpion,” he says while untying me.
After I am freed, I take Maniac’s mask and put it on. I can’t even describe how good it feels to be back. It's like when your body has been in the wrong position the whole day, and you finally move, and all your joints finally pop.
“Finally back,” I say.
Silver jumps up from me, speaking, “Fuck, I thought the crazy allegations were fake, but that voice is not helping”
“What are you talking about?”
Lyssa would like to explain. Since your mask covers your entire face, Lyssa made it send out a modulated voice so that others identify you.
“Well, that is something. So, my voice is weird because of my mask.”
He looks at me, unsure. “Well, where do we go now?”
“Take a right out of here and then go left at the 3rd crossing.”
We drive around in silence for a while, only occasionally interrupted by me giving directions. We slowly but surely snake our way around the city towards the main headquarters of Meline Tec.
Their security is alright. I guess at least they are prepared for our visit. Several turrets are aimed at us. Out of their main door walks some kind of automated war bot, and there are even some security guards barking at us.
“Both of you stand down and raise your hands above your head.”
“I did not wake up early for this type of bullshit.” I say while raising my hands, and Silver follows my lead.
“Sorry for the hostility, but having two Samurai show up out of nowhere is usually not a good sign,” the security guy says.
“Aah, well, I am here to speak to your manager. I found some cooling paste in my ram and find that unacceptable.”
“That is understandable, ma'am,” he says in a neutral tone. “But sadly, our manager is not in today. He should be back in the office on Monday.”
“Ooh, that is weird. Who is the man sitting behind his desk then?”
The man in question instantly jumps and looks around. Sadly, this office has only one camera, so the angles are not great. For security reasons, I decided to lock all the doors in the building that have an electronic lock, and since it is 2051, that means that almost all of them. Lucky me.
The guards around us have become more suspicious. So, I sent a quick message to Scorpion to prepare for the worst.
‘Lyssa, I will need a second stick,’ I subvocalize to my brains roommate.
New Purchase: Shard Breaker Javelin
Points reduced to... 175
As soon as the javelin pops into my hand, I activate my arm and throw, aiming at the war bot. I hit it. Where exactly is a mystery as my lighting-propelled toothpick ripped the entire thing to shreds. It also puts a sizeable hole through the wall behind it. I grab the second javelin from my back.
“If you drop your weapons now, you get to live. How about it?” I say, looking at the security.
The guards drop their guns and run away. Sadly, the turrets have other ideas about that, and a spray of lead besieges us. I throw my stick at closest one, creating another mess over there before I jump behind Scorpion's car. I hear several gunshots fire, and then it all goes quiet.
“All clear,” I hear Silver say. “So why are we coming in guns blazing?”
“I'd like to point out that I don’t have a gun; as for why we are going in like this, we don’t want to give them enough time to prepare for us.”
“That makes sense. So what is next?”
“We head in and go to their boss,” I say, walking toward the front door.
When I make it through the front door, I get a message from Deatnite. He said that he was ready and in position for the upcoming operation and that they were waiting for my signal. I send them the go-ahead.
"Well lets go raise some hell."