Carmody and the Electric Dragon

Archimedes Tower, Pan City

Jericho-Two stood on the balcony of the penthouse suite a kilometre above the brightly lit city, his arms spread wide, hair tousled by the gusting wind. When he closed his eyes it felt like he was flying, far above the strife and intrigue of this vast metropolis.

His thoughts drifted like a bird to the Infiltration Suit tests he had been overseeing. Or more specifically, the test pilot Sofia Abrams and how she had looked in the tight fitting suit

“Pardon my interruption sir” said Wang Lee, his personal assistant from somewhere behind him. Jericho-Two shook his head to clear the unsettling thoughts and looked at the assistant.

“No matter, what is the situation?” he replied and stepped into the shelter of the large suite, the door closing automatically behind Lee as he followed him in.

Jericho-Two was using the penthouse suite located at the very top of Archimedes Tower. It was not his preferred location to conduct his business, but he had earlier attended a meeting of the Board of Governors in the middle levels so it was convenient.

“A report has come in from one of the Storage Bunkers in District Eight. It appears there has been an intrusion that occurred some time in the last 48 hours”

“District Eight?” pondered Jericho and checked his internal memory files. “We stored a Brigade of Sentinels there, ready for deployment after the previous attacks”

“That is correct sir” Lee replied. “After the other Storage Bunkers had been breached this one was checked by an inspection team. The data files had been compromised so they had to count the numbers by hand. They found ten Sentinels were missing, all of them armed including a Support Unit fitted with a Rail Gun”

“No clues as to who was involved?” Jericho asked.

“None sir. We are following up possible links to weapons dealers, underground fighting arenas and smugglers. However, nothing definite has come to light”

“Thank you Lee, you may continue with the investigations”

His assistant left him and Jericho stood silently in the empty suite, thinking hard. With this latest report, they had lost a confirmed twenty-three Sentinels, all armed with assault rifles and a single Rail Gun. For anyone, that represented a small and powerful army.

It could be the criminal underworld at work, such as Wang Lee was investigating. Yet after the report from Eric and the AURA Project, he had a strong feeling this was related. Someone or something was building an army of robots down in the tunnels.

That someone was likely the Emissary, or some surviving fragment of the original.

Jericho-Two sent a message via the Quantum network to his young creation, Eric Hargreaves. His brother answered immediately.

“Good evening, Two. I hope you are aware how late it is to be calling me. I have school in the morning” said Eric to his older brother and guardian.

“My apologies Eric, I had assumed that like the other Avatars you only needed a few hours sleep each night”

“That is true. I was joking with you, brother” laughed Eric. “I am currently in my study, completing reports for the AURA Project. What can I do for you?”

“There have been more reports of drones and robots going missing from the service tunnels. I have now received confirmation that a further ten Sentinels have been taken from a storage bunker. It appears highly likely these thefts and disappearances are linked to what your team encountered on their training mission”

“If it is the Emissary behind this, then it is trying a different tactic. It must be building its own army of mechanicals. What could be its target?”

Jericho-Two paused, considering whether to tell his young brother what he suspected. It went against his nature to reveal any knowledge to others, he was so used to being secretive all the time. Yet something had been changing in him since he had created Eric, something he was not sure he understood.

“I think your team are the target” Two said.

“I agree, Two” answered Eric. “That seems the most obvious fit to the clues we have so far and matches my own deductions” He paused too, and Two thought for a moment he had ended the call.

“Thank you for trusting me, brother” Eric said.

=====

Lucas Private Estate, Outer Walls, Pan City

Tonight, Antonio Lucas was angry, very angry. He had planned the raid last night on his rival’s penthouse perfectly, yet still it had failed. The cost had been exorbitant for a team of Freelance soldiers, a VTOL and pilot as well as the Net Divers to lock out the communications for the whole building.

The kidnapping of the Brackenridge brat should have gone off without a hitch. Seriously, the kid had been protected by just a single butler and some visiting school friend. How could a team of professional killers been defeated by two kids and a servant?

Antonio paced his spacious living room angrily, looking out occasionally through the armoured glass windows at his private security guards patrolling the estate. He nodded to his Security Chief Willis, taking a smoke break against one of the palm trees in the lush garden. The man nodded back and Antonio felt a small measure of relief.

The word on the streets was that his team of Freelancers had been taken alive, spilling their guts to the Guard. If that was the case, he had no doubt the influential Brackenridge family would find out it was his company that had ordered the kidnapping. Which would mean that the most ruthless and dangerous smuggling family in the Zone would come after him personally.

He was not worried. They were still overseas with most of their security team, which was why he had made the attempt. If it had succeeded, his rivals in the smuggling underworld would have done anything he asked, given him anything he wanted. Now he would have to hire more armed guards and try and keep them from taking revenge.

Antonio paused, flicking his latest cigarette idly onto the floor where a cleaning robot dashed out and scooped it up. It scuttled away as its master went and peered out of the windows once more. Willis was still leaning against the palm tree, his own lit cigarette dangling carelessly from his fingers.

“Hmm, getting a bit sloppy there Willis” Antonio muttered to himself and rapped on the thick glass to get his Security Chief’s attention. The man did not stir and as Antonio watched the cigarette fell unheeded to the grass. With a sense of unease, Antonio looked out at his partially lit gardens, trying to the spot rest of his security guards.

“They were there a minute ago” he said, his eyes darting from one shadowy section of the lush gardens to another. “Where is everybody?”

Antonio turned to grab his phone from the table he had left it on. As he surveyed his luxuriously appointed room, the one thing that was missing was his phone. He ran to a special cabinet he had in the room, the one that contained a gun and ammunition. There were others like it all through the large house for exactly this kind of situation.

He got to the cabinet and wrenched the doors open. To be honest, he had half expected the gun to be missing, yet there it was! Antonio snatched it up, slammed in a fresh magazine of bullets and turned around.

Giles Hammerton, the Brackenridge family butler, stood right there waiting for him. He was dressed head to toe in a dark patterned body suit, only his fierce eyes visible as he looked down the long barrel of a shotgun at Antonio.

Antonio gasped and pulled the trigger frantically on his pistol, time and time again, yet nothing happened.

“You left the safety on” said Hammerton in his cold voice. Antonio was not easily scared, he was the head of a major underworld company after all. Yet that voice and those eyes made the blood freeze in his veins.

“Look, I know you are angry right now” Antonio stuttered, “But you have my word, I won’t threaten the Brackenridge family again!”

There was a single loud boom as the shotgun fired.

“I know you won’t” said the butler and walked from the room.