Project: MI
Chapter 2

Richard Steiner sat down in his easy chair and took another sip of coffee from his steaming cup. Replacing it on the stand next to him, he returned his attention to the images of the five men and three women on his computer screen, all of them watching him expectantly.

“My apologies for the interruption,” he said, smiling at them as he waited for the caffeine to do its job. “If we may return to the topic at hand…” He paused and lifted up a data pad. “Romana Pax’s latest shipment of Paxia and Companion Modules will hit the markets tomorrow. Congratulations people.” His smile broadened. “The CHC approved of the change in the chemical ingredients for Paxia as well as the latest round of AI upgrades. We’ll be releasing the latest patch tomorrow…” He paused and then chuckled as he checked the time. It showed 12:10 in the morning. “Sorry…today. It is rather late.”

“For you,” said a brown-haired, bespectacled woman from the computer screen, indicating the sunshine directly behind her, a scene that was shared by the majority of her fellow screen holders.

“Of course, Madam Elizabeth.” Richard Steiner inclined his head to her respectfully. “Well, I’ll be sure to have Mr. Beck push out the updates today.”

“And what about his main project?” asked a balding man with quivering jowls. Richard had to bite his cheek to keep himself from laughing at the sight. He had only known the man for two years since ascending to the head of his corporation, Romana Pax, and yet he could not for the life of him not find some amusement at his physical appearance. There was a theory among some of his subordinates that Gordon Avis stuffed his cheeks daily with jelly.

“It remains on the waiting list of the CHC.” He sighed, and Gordon nodded, the name saying it all. The Center of Heroi Control was at its core a bureaucracy. Nothing was fluid when it came to bureaucratic institutions.

“How badly will this effect things for us?” asked Elizabeth.

“Not much I believe,” Richard replied. “All research points that the transition between the Ages is occurring faster than it should be. The senate cannot just ignore that, so we should expect an answer from them on the matter sometime soon.”

Especially if the city reappears, he added mentally, but he didn’t need to say it out loud. That would be on everyone’s minds, from the high to the low.

“Very well,” Elizabeth nodded. “In that case, we should move on to our next topic. Alfred. What is the status on Thor Industries’ manufacturing of Ascension? Will it…?”

And so the conversation went. Richard sat back and took another sip, allowing everyone to have their say and make their reports. He took them all in, balancing them against what he knew. So far, the sun appeared to be rising for Romana Pax—continuing to do so that is. As his father said when he took control of the company from him: “A day ends whenever a leader steps down, and a day begins when someone takes his place. Days last as long as that leader does.”

Will I last a long time? he wondered. He resisted the urge to run a hand through his mop of curly, light red hair—a bad habit from college. He liked to think so, but as things stood he risked enough for his day to be a short one indeed. All it took was for one slipup and everything he was working for would come crashing down.

“Richard!”

He jerked in his chair and at the screen. Elizabeth was frowning slightly at him, leaning a little toward the screen, attempting to inspect him.

“Uh…” He coughed politely. He realized that she asked him a question and he missed it completely “…yes?”

Elizabeth continued to frown at him a moment longer before sighing. “Never mind. It’s late and you should get some rest. I’m sure you have business to attend to tomorrow, correct?”

Gordon chuckled, a sound that was met by a hearty following. “You sound like his mother.”

“I’m sure she would have been a good one,” said one of the other women, a blond-haired beauty with dark pools in her eyes. “We’ll reconvene later this week unless things change. My secretary will provide you all with appropriate dates and we’ll go from there.”

“Very well,” Richard conceded. “Until then everyone, and thank you Madam Elizabeth.”

Smiling briefly at the woman, he logged off and shut down his computer. He sat there for a moment before stretching, feeling a slight pleasure worm its way through his muscles. Caffeine or not, he was tired.

Beck says that I work much too hard, he mused before barking a laugh. That’s rich, coming from him. Pushing himself out of his chair, he wandered off in the direction of the bathroom, wondering what he was going to do while he waited for the coffee to work its way out of his system and allow him some actual rest.

The buzzing of his cell phone on his desk behind him caught his attention like a godsend. Returning to it, berating himself for leaving it behind, he picked it up and flipped it open.

Security, he thought, raising an eyebrow. An alarm bell went off in his mind.

It struck him that this may be the very moment that the sun would start to set on him.

The office building stood in the cloak of night, dark save for the odd light within and the illumination of its neighbors from without. Across from it stood a small, lithe figure wearing dark khakis, a dark-blue long-sleeved shirt, and a similarly colored mask covering her face. In the dim light, blue eyes flashed as the figure, feminine in appearance, took a step back and jumped. She flew the distance across the divide between the buildings and came down on the rooftop hard. Chips of stone and mortar scrabbled across as she hit the surface and fell into a roll. Quickly getting to her feet, she glanced around quickly before relaxing her stance. She pressed a finger to her ear.

“All clear,” she said to the quiet of the night.

“Okay,” replied a voice, male and deep, on the other end. “Your target is on the eighth floor in the director’s office.”

“Roger.” The girl felt her lips tug upwards under the mask, as if at a joke known only to her.

“Be careful,” warned the voice on the other end. “Security is heaviest in his office. You have to keep your Q-Field as low as possible…”

“I know the routine,” the girl replied, her smile vanishing almost as soon as it appeared. She quickly zeroed in on the building’s rooftop entrance and made her way to it. Stopping in front of it, she checked the door—more out of curiosity than anything else—and turned the handle. As she expected, it didn’t budge so much as an inch.

She furrowed her brow and reached for the belt wrapped around her waist. Withdrawing a circular device from one of the belt’s pouches, she pressed it against the door and hit the small, red button in its center. A green light lit up and at once the door popped open with a beep. Removing the device hastily, the girl entered the door and after pulling out a flashlight and clicking it on, she carefully began to make her way down the stairwell.

Thirteenth floor, she thought with dry amusement, seeing the number on the wall as he passed one of the doors leading to the top inhabited section of the building. The designer certainly wasn’t superstitious.

She paused for a moment, briefly curious to see what lay on the other side, but remembering her job she quickly passed it up and continued her journey downward.

Five floors later, she found herself at her destination. Checking the door handle as she did earlier she again withdrew the circular device and pressed it against its surface. She waited for a moment before raising her free hand to her ear.

“Are you still with me?” she asked under her breath.

“Yeah,” the voice replied. “Sorry. The security on this one is a bit tighter. Just a nano.”

The girl nodded, waiting. Her patience was soon rewarded by the click of the locking mechanism and she pulled quickly. Retrieving her device she slipped inside and flashed the light around her, quickly taking in her surroundings.

“Seven Guardians,” she whispered, hand back at her ear again as she swung her light around once more, making note of everything she saw. Imbedded in the ceiling were seven black orbs evenly spaced out. Swallowing, the girl closed her eyes and concentrated. “Looks like they’re pretty serious.”

“According to my sources, there should be eight. The last one is located at the end of the hallway, so…”

“…be careful, and don’t use my Q-Field,” the girl interrupted. “Got it.” Her eyes narrowed a little as she traced the hallway. I have to make myself as undetectable as possible. Can’t let all this be for nothing.

In her mind’s eye she envisioned a ball of blue light, flickering within darkness. Focusing on that light, she took a deep breath. Envisioning the light dimming, she felt an energy within her lessen. Taking a couple more calming breaths, she reopened her eyes and stepped beneath the spheres, her muscles fighting the urge to tighten beneath them every step of the way. After what felt like an eternity of nerve-grinding tension, she cleared the last one and proceeded onward.

I should be coming up on it soon, she thought, counting off the numbers on the office doors as she went. Let’s see… Which one…? Ah. An invisible grin crossed her features as she came to a stop. There it is.

“Okay,” she said to her companion, one hand back to her ear. “I’m at the office and I’m about to crack it.”

“All right. Let’s take this one step at a time. Given that this is the Director’s office he’s undoubtedly got an extra layer of security. If we’re not careful, we could end up running into the eighth sphere or even a Hall Monitor…”

“I can handle them,” the girl growled slightly under her voice. No sooner were the words out of her mouth did she hear the wine of machinery powering up and a red light instantly flooded the hallway. Spinning, her eyes widened just in time to see three black spheres drop from the ceiling above her, angry red lasers swinging, searching for a target.

“Shit!” she swore as the lasers zeroed in on her. “They’ve caught me!”

“Get out of the…!”

The girl didn’t wait to hear the rest of his sentence. In her mind’s eye, the light she had been keeping down flooded her senses and she spun once more, right fist crashing into the door and shattering it to pieces. Leaping inside and narrowly avoiding deadly bolts of crimson light as they scorched the spot she had just been, she rushed over to the desk at the center of the room.

I am not leaving here without something! she shouted in her mind, spying the computer desktop on the desk. She ripped out cords and connectors, her ears straining for the slightest sound behind her.

A twitch in her muscles at the sound of a warbling sound and she hurled the desktop’s screen at the first of the spheres as it came through the door. Both exploded with a flash of fire and shrapnel.

At least it wasn’t built into the hard drive, she reflected, snatching up the remnants of the computer. Blue light formed around one gloved hand and pulled together in the center of her palm, a glowing star in the dark room. Gritting her teeth behind her mask, she pointed it at the window.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” demanded the voice of her partner-in-crime, panicking.

“No sense hiding it now!” she exclaimed, letting loose a volley of searing azure. It hit the window, causing the glass to shatter. Taking off at a run, she leapt into the air; light similar to her attack enveloping itself around her body.

A sphere entered the room and zeroed its targeting scanners on the girl’s back.

“Adjusting weapon frequency to match target’s Q-Field,” it intoned before firing. The red light burst forth, briefly connecting the mechanical orb to the girl. The two lights flared upon contact, blue lashing against red as the girl flew across the cities artificial canyon. Biting back a curse in realization, the girl spun and chucked another ball of blue light at her attacker. The sphere’s light brightened briefly as it cut off its attack—an act that the girl equated with a widening of eyes in shock—before her attack impacted its body, shattering it and sending its shards flying across the room. What happened after, the girl did not get a chance to see, as her back impacted the ledge of the building she was aiming for. Pain shot through her and she bit back a cry. The light around her flickered feebly for a moment, her distraction nearly cutting it off and causing gravity to assert control over her. Through sheer force of will she clamped down on it, forcing the light to awaken and burn inside her. The light flared back to life around her and she glared at the building she had just vacated.

Adjusting her grip on the computer in her arms, she glared down at it. “You’re not getting away from me that easily.

The sound of her companion’s voice brought her attention away from her prize and she touched her ear.

“Calm down. I got the hard drive, but I had to scram out of there fast.”

“I know! Reports are already going out! You’ve got to…” A pause. “CHC is mobilizing. You’ve got to get out of there!”

The girl rolled her eyes.

“You know who you’re talking to, right?” she said with a touch of annoyance and haughtiness. Not bothering to wait for her companion’s answer, she dropped her hand from her ear and with a tap of one foot on thin air, she flew off, putting in as much speed as she possibly could.

It may not have gone according to plan, but for one Kira Baker, she couldn’t help but feel pleased with the results.

Teruo Kato liked to fiddle. He was, what his guardian—John Smith—liked to call a Richard Feynman, who was noted for a curiosity that led him to fiddling from everything to nuclear physics. There was a difference between Teruo and the esteemed Feynman however. Where Feynman would work with nuclear secrets in his adult years, Teruo at the age of nine knew more than enough to build a nuclear reactor—a working one—with nothing more than spare parts and utter confidence.

Teruo liked to fiddle.

His breath coming out in a visible puff in the night air, he wiped a hand across his brow before returning to the task at hand. Presently he was digging around in the titanium skull of a broken down robot using a small, tubular device—nicknamed affectionately as ‘The Doctor’—that shot out a red beam of light. The two copper wires that were lit up by the light sent out small curls of smoke. The Doctor buzzed in Teruo’s hand and he clicked it off. Shifting the metal head, he raised the flashlight that had been in his lap and he peered inside, squinting his eyes to see past the shadows.

Think I’m almost done, he thought. Hopefully this will work…

Pulling out his cell phone he checked the time. It registered as one in the morning. He bit back a curse.

I’m really pushing the clock on this one, he grumbled, cramming his hand into the skull in the hopes of retrieving the prize he worked so hard on. A second later a vocal curse escaped his lips and he jammed a finger into his mouth to quench the sizzling of its tip.

It’s hot, stupid… he scolded himself. Plucking the finger from his mouth, he scowled at the innards of the robot’s cranium before bringing his device back to it. Yeah… It’s in there pretty good and… Teruo suddenly yawned. …aaand it’s way past my bedtime. Ugh. And I’ve got tests tomorrow.

Sparks flew as the Doctor cut through the side of the robot head, causing Teruo to jump in his seat, or rather the large chunk of jagged metal that made up his seat.

“Jeez…” he breathed, catching himself before he jabbed himself in the side. “Wha… Oh…man!” He peered inside, hoping beyond hope that nothing important got damaged by his carelessness. After just a brief moment of inspection, he banged his head against the robot, groaning miserably. “It took weeks to find this thing…” he muttered under his breath. “…and this is what I get?!”

With a roar of indignation Teruo surged to his feet and kicked the mechanoid. He quickly regretted it as splintering pain shot through his foot. Hopping up and down, stars exploding across his vision, he reached out to steady himself on a random tire and waited for the twin fireworks to finish before massaging his toes.

“Note to self: do not kick the giant, titanium-steel monster robot. You will risk breaking of bones.”

His foot throbbed in agreement.

While he waited for the pain to subside he looked skyward. Spotting Mars, he tracked its course across the dark night. He found the pace worrisome. Astronomers had already pointed out that the observed speed of the planetary orbits from the ground was most…unnatural. Conspiracy theorists were already counting down the days to Ragnarök.

He gave a heavy sigh and leaned back against the bot. As he did so, he caught sight of a golden comet flying down out of the sky, plummeting in the direction of the junkyard. There was a bright flash as it flew especially close, illuminating the spot where he stood.

“Bu-wha…?!” he started, jumping away from the mechanoid that served as his backrest as though it shocked him, his eyes following the golden glow as it disappeared behind a nearby mountain of crumpled vehicles. Teruo threw himself to the ground, waiting for the explosion that was sure to follow. Only…there was no thump. No sound of impact of any kind. Only silence. Teruo blinked before curiosity took hold of his feet and started him off the ground and in the direction that the ‘comet’ fell, much against his better judgment. All thoughts of his labors—and the need to return home in a timely manner—were behind him.

I didn’t hear the sound of air burning, he thought, rounding the pile of vehicles just in time to see a glowing aura die down, revealing a lithe, humanoid figure wearing dark clothing. No thunderclap either. Common sense finally took hold of him and he ducked back a pace behind the metal mountain. He massaged his chin ponderously. A heroi?

The plainly obvious evidence of the light show aside, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. After all, he himself was one and the junkyard had its fair share of visitors, from kids to would-be-conquerors. There was no shortage of people who wanted something from this place. Still…the questioned burned within him. What was another heroi doing here?

He peeked around the metal mountain carefully. Yes, it was definitely a human, a girl if he wasn’t mistaken by the lack of light. She wore dark fatigues and a mask that covered her face. She was also carrying something. He frowned, angling his head for a better view. Is that a computer she’s got?

As he watched, a pile of metal creaked next to her and he clenched his teeth together so tight that he thought they would crack under the pressure. He needn’t have feared discovery though, as a pile of garbage swung open like a door and light fell upon the junkyard’s visitor. Blue eyes, feminine in appearance, sparkled in the light and she quickly disappeared through the doorway, which rapidly closed shut behind her.

Teruo was left alone in the darkness, waiting for his eyes to readjust before stepping away from his hiding place.

That…was different, he thought. I didn’t think anyone would be living here. He massaged his chin ponderously again. He wondered if this meant that whoever was here knew that he saw everything.

He swallowed anxiously, his eyes furtively darting around him for signs of cameras. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, he rapidly turned around and hastily beat a retreat.

Kira dropped down in the Clark City junkyard mere minutes after bolting from Romana Pax, the light from her Q-Field winking out of existence before she even touched the ground. Hefting the computer in her hands, she glanced around her out of habit, not really expecting to find anyone. She tapped her ear.

“All right,” she said. “I’m here. The Maker is the key.”

“Nice to have you back,” came the voice of her partner-in-crime. “Satellite surveillance shows the skies clear around here.”

“Thanks for covering me on that,” she smiled beneath her mask. “Now are you going to let me in before that changes?”

In front of her, a pile of scrap metal shifted and parted, showering her with light, causing her to squint her eyes at the change of illumination.

“C’mon into my parlor,” the voice jested. “Flies have no reason to fear my web.”

“I’m not a fly,” Kira frowned, passing through the entranceway. The door of scrap closed shut behind her and the floor beneath her jerked, beginning its descent.

“You fly though,” joked the voice with a bit of a laugh. “What else would you call yourself?”

Kira thought about it in the few seconds it took for the elevator to come to a jerking halt.

“A praying mantis,” she said finally, the doors sliding open. She stepped out into the tunnel and headed toward the light at its end.

“I never thought of you as the type to eat your own kids,” her partner replied, sounding almost disturbed by her answer. Kira raised an eyebrow.

“I’m too young to have kids. Besides, Mantises are fighters.”

“Yet if they fight carts, they squish easily.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you another time,” came the man’s voice, echoing out of the tunnel’s exit, so close now that he no longer needed to use their radio to communicate. Upon exiting the tunnel, Kira found herself in a laboratory that she had come to be familiar with. Although ‘laboratory’ was perhaps being a little too generous as it appeared less a lab and more a hodge-podge of mismatched electrical parts, bubbling chemical tubes, and computer screens. Or to simplify, Kira felt she was in the den of a mad scientist.

As if to give credence to the idea, a chair spun around, revealing a dark-haired man wearing a pair of welders goggles. He grinned manically at her and raised them.

“All right,” he said, getting up from his seat and pointing over to a nearby set of cables. “Just set it down there and I’ll hook things up.”

Doing as he requested, she gently placed the drive on the ground and stepped away to let the man do his work. Getting down on his knees he immediately set about to connecting the cables to it and then fired it up.

“Now we shall see what we shall see,” he grinned, looking up at her. “This is going to take some time. You might want to get going. The CHC is going to be locking down the skies shortly. I’ve…” He plugged in the last cable and got up. Heading over to a nearby screen he hit a button and brought up a map of Clark City. “…put together the safest route for you to take based on current Guardian movements.” He glanced at her. “Do you got this?”

Kira furrowed her brow. “Yeah,” she said. “You’ll let me know when you’ve got something, right, Mal?”

“It’s a promise,” he replied, crossing his heart. Kira rolled her eyes at the childish gesture. Malcolm Maher—as she knew him—could be such a kid at times.

Kira stepped back out into the coolness of the night, barely noticing the entranceway to Malcolm’s base closing behind her. She kicked at the ground—lightly, so as to not damage any sensitive equipment beneath it—and turned her gaze up toward the sky. She curled her hands into fists, her nails, unclipped, digging into her skin. She didn’t feel anything from them though. With few exceptions, she rarely felt any physical pain anymore even from her own enormous strength. The only thing that hurt now, were things that she couldn’t flat out destroy with her powers. She narrowed her eyes as her Q-Field flared around her.

“I’m getting tired of waiting,” she said, her eyes flicking back to the entrance behind her. “This time you’d better have something.”

With that, she knelt down and then shot skyward.

Malcolm smiled as he saw a clod of dirt fall in front of his face, signaling that Kira just left the premises. Tapping a button on his keyboard, he rolled in his chair over to a separate screen separate areas of the junkyard, including a sky view. He watched her retreat for a moment before pulling up the satellite map displaying the locations of all CHC activity.

“Looks good,” he mused aloud. She’s following the flight path and everyone else is happy. Well, except for Romana Pax.” He grinned and looked back at the camera screen. Tapping a few more buttons, he flicked back and forth between separate camera angles until he saw a young boy approaching a fence. “Romana Pax and you. Sorry for interrupting you, Teruo.”

Leaning back in his chair, he tapped his chin thoughtfully, wondering briefly if he should stop him. Closing his eyes, he sighed despondently. He wracked his brains, wondering if keeping him from leaving would be the right thing. After a moment he shook his head and reopened his eyes. Teruo was gone.

Lost my chance. He bit his tongue, feeling a bit relieved. Oh well. At least there’s always next time.

The thought didn’t leave him at ease, but he knew Teruo would return. He had a habit of coming here to retrieve materials.

Besides, the odds of him telling anyone are virtually nil. He doesn’t want to be discovered here any more than I do.

Rolling on his chair’s wheels, he returned to the evening’s prize. As far industrial espionage went, he was certain that it was worthless. Richard Steiner’s business computer, in all likelihood, only contained emails and basic information. Nothing that would be of use on the technical side of things, but that was fine. Malcolm wasn’t interested in Romana Pax’s technology. Only their goal.

He smiled. If he knew his man, Richard Steiner guarded his correspondences rather poorly.

His equipment did their job and within short order Malcolm had access to Steiner’s emails and transcripts.

Time to get to work, he thought in amusement. Cracking his knuckles, he began his task.

He stood in front of the door, sweat crawling down his face. His heart thumped in his chest. The knob, an old, venial twisting of metallic plants on a dull, metal surface, beckoned him. “Turn me,” it seemed to say to him, a vine turned up into a teasing smile. He quickly glanced away from it and focused on the drawing of a white rabbit taped to the door, childishly colored, its whiteness broken by pink and blue scrawling and stained by age at the corners.

“Are you in there?” he found himself asking aloud. He took hold of the doorknob and turned, only to encounter the hard resistance of a turned lock. “Hey! Open up!” He banged on the door for emphasis and glared at the rabbit drawing as though it would answer him.

There followed a faint scratching from the other side of the door. Leaning forward, he pressed his ear against the door and listened.

“C’mon,” he pleaded in a bit of a whiny tone. “Let’s go already. Open up.”

Another scratch, and this time a pair of shadows—feet—appeared at the bottom crack of the door. Their owner spoke in a low, scratchy voice, “…no…bro…”

Jamie awoke to darkness with a startled gasp. Looking around him, at first confused by where he was, he fell back onto his bed, bringing an arm over his eyes.

Just a dream, he thought with relief before he felt a warm tongue brush up against his elbow. Shifting it a little, he spied the two large heads belonging to his purple-furred Cerberus, Monster, eyeing him worriedly. He smiled comfortingly and brought a hand over to him, splaying his fingers so as to scratch both chins.

“I’m okay, boy,” he soothed. Dual tongues emerged from Monster’s mouth and licked at his fingers before settling his heads back down on the boy’s leg. Leaving his hand on one of the two heads he looked up at his bedroom ceiling for one long moment before closing his eyes.

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