| 13: Section 51 "Hey Badger-we have a visitor." Everyone looked up to see a heavyset man with short dark hair shoved roughly into the cell. He wore civilian clothes. "Hey, man, the name's Bex." He offered his hand to the new visitor. The new guy took it. "I'm Felipe William, and by the look of it you folks are comrades in the cause." "Yep, I'm Scott leMode, 116th Airborne," Scott greeted. "What about you?" "I can't say." The three cellmates traded looks. "You... can't say." "No. The cells are tapped, you know." "We know, but they already KNOW who you're with." "No... they don't." The three traded looks once more. Finally, a look of realization dawned upon Badger's face, and he leaned over and whispered something in Felipe's ear. Felipe nodded. "I thought so." "What is it? Tell us," pestered Bex. "No, I don't think so," Badger decided. "C'mon!" Scott turned to Bex and glared at him. The two hadn't been the most comfortable of cellmates, so this inspired fear in Bex. "Bex, if they won't tell us, they must have a reason." Mystified, Bex sat on his bed, pondering. *** "Where is this place?" asked a woman with long brown hair. "This is Earthbound," replied another, this one with carrot-red hair and a '6' on her left hand. "Earthbound Penitentiary, most Fourforsaken hole in the world. What's your name?" "I'm Meriwether Albiona, but you can call me Meri," she introduced. "You?" "Huh... my name's Albiona too. Everyone just calls me 'Al', though. Who were you with?" "Huh?" "Like I was with the 94th Irregular, you know, the guys wiped out in the factory raid in Pilliwrest," Al explained. "Who were you with?" "Er, I, uh, was a civilian..." offered Meri, somewhat unconvincingly. Al nodded slowly, and whispered in her ear "Section 51?". Meri nodded. "Gotcha." "You know about..." "We worked with them once, doing an assault on a flak tower. They gave us access codes." "Ah." The two just sat there in the cell for a while, nervously smiling at one another. "So..." "Yeah..." "So tell me what happened, Meri." "Hmmm... let's see what I can say. There was a mission, my partner and I were supposed to accomplish it, and we got caught." "I see." Al shrugged inwardly, having already deduced something that obvious. Oh well, she reasoned, that's part of the work of Section 51-total secrecy. *** "Where are those access codes?" demanded an obviously irate Vanana, fuming in her makeshift "office" in the old teachers' lounge of Musiforme High. "I want answers! We're gonna have to send word to Task Force Nine to return to base if we don't get those codes!" Chic diMagenta, the new Director of Section 51, was fidgeting in his chair. "Well... I sent my two best agents to get the access codes. I know how vital this mission is, after all..." "You have no clue!" Vanana shouted. "If we don't stop the Stellemort project, it's over for the Air Force! Why, Chronos is out there leading this, and..." Her voice trailed off pensively. "You're worried about losing another member of the inner circle," Chic realized. "Gah, you dare!" she scoffed. "You dare address me so familiarly! Chronos is an expedient political ally who will be arrested for his crimes against the state after the theocracy is restored! And Colonel David is merely missing, he may yet be alive!" Chic nodded. "And that's why he has my old job. I know, Your Ladyship... you have my sympathies. But I have two missing agents of my own." Not entirely sure what his sympathies meant, Vanana watched him walk out of the office. She turned and looked out the window to the south, in the direction of the vast city of Columnia. "Chronos... Four keep you safe." *** The open road beckoned to the black-clad figure as he cruised along on his motorcycle, his long wavy brown hair being thrown back by the wind and gleaming in the moonlight. Holding onto his waist was a thin blond biker chick with a leather jacket that read "Rock's Angels". Accompanying them were thirteen other bikers, all wearing Rock's Angels jackets. Somewhat innocently named the 333rd Roadborne, the Rock's Angels Battalion were a gang of biker thugs before the advent of the Corruptor. With the formation of the Underground Army of Columnia, they joined up and were integrated as a mobile strike force and land convoy service. The girl on his back, Chronos had learned, was Valerian Wester. She had risen to the leadership of the Rock's Angels by being the daughter of the former leader (who was killed by a rival gang). Though young, she had managed to out-bully and out-fight even the strongest challenger to her reign. Currently, they were conveying Chronos of Augusta and a secretive team known only as Task Force Nine. Their mission was top-secret, but they were to proceed directly to Von Helsing Air Force Base, the only air base in the hands of the Formican Empire. They were to pick them up in five days at the opposite end of town, at Chestira Ward. Failing that, they were to return to base in Musiforme and await further orders. "This is different than the normal hit-and-run type stuff," noted a biker. Val agreed, shouting "Yeah!" back at him. Chronos just said nothing, inwardly hoping for the codes to arrive and that he wouldn't be too late to prevent the launching of the Stellemort. |