Rise in Revolution (Chapter Ten)
Apr. 5th, 2016 04:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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saladloveI quite enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you guys like it as well. ^^
Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Ten
Connection Lost
Black Market, Sector IAL. January 13, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Tuesday evening, the members of the Black Market met once more, waiting expectantly for Kyir to show. He had told them the day before that the cage was done, and he had spent part of the day getting it over to the warehouse and rigging the drop.
Emma drummed her fingers against the table nervously. This is it. She had been chosen as one of the lookouts at one of the entrances of the warehouse, and if anyone started to come in she’d have to run, run back across the rafter and warn Kyir without making it obvious she was up there.
It wasn’t an easy job, and with her clumsiness, she wasn’t sure she could manage it. Zahnra, Hawk, and Gali were the other runners, and they had posted her at the door that was the least likely to be used. She mentally visualized the warehouse once more, taking a deep breath. Tanadin caught her eye and flashed her a reassuring smile.
The door opened and Kyir walked down the hallway, face tight with stress as he approached them. Cap, who had been watching the door, followed behind him, leaning on the wall as Kyir crossed his arms and started to speak.
“Okay. One more time, going over the plan. The warehouse has four main entrances. Emma will cover south, Hawk will take east, Zahnra north, and Gali west. Tanadin and Clash will go after 7007 and get his attention, shooting fire at him and making it appear as if they’re actually attacking him. They’ll dodge a few attacks and act as if they’re losing, then bolt for the warehouse, splitting up if necessary. 7007 will likely be led in through the west or north doors, but depending on whether or not he calls backup and if he manages to split them up, he might come in through another door. As soon as any runners see someone coming in through the door, you run the fuck back and let me know, where I’m sitting by the cage.
“Tanadin or Clash will lure him under the cage and Shawn, who’s going to be sitting up there with me, will fire off the kartzal, hopefully stunning the fucker. Then I drop the cage on him, presumably making him stop responding entirely, then drop down there and shut off his vital systems, effectively killing him. Any questions?”
Emma raised her hand slightly. “What if he sees the cage and doesn’t stand under it?”
Kyir shook his head. “I doubt it’ll register as much of anything until we drop it, and at that point he’ll be too freaked out by his systems overreacting to the karzal to notice.”
Emma nodded, not confident but not knowing enough about cyborgs to protest.
“So…” Shawn hesitated. “I’m holding the rock shotgun.”
“Yes. You know how to shoot a shotgun, I presume?”
Shawn looked almost offended. “Of course I do.”
“Good.” Kyir pulled the gun from where it had been secured to his back and thrust it into Shawn’s hands. “You’ve only got one shot so don’t get trigger happy with that thing.”
“One shot? Seriously?”
Kyir glared at him. “Do you really want to try to reload while there’s a pissy cyborg after you?”
“Do you really want to have to not have ammo when there’s a pissy cyborg after you?”
“Do you want to find the right sized and shaped pieces to shove in there in the next two minutes?”
Shawn sighed and shrugged. “Fine, fine.”
Kyir cast his gaze around. “Any other questions?”
“When do we leave?” Tanadin asked.
“Now.” Kyir motioned and the members of the team stood. “Let’s get this over with, hm?”
~~~
Emma focused on her breathing as she perched on the cold metal rafter, eyes trained on the door below her. Her arms shook slightly in anticipation, and her fingers gripped the opposite arm so hard she could practically feel the skin bruising.
Whatever. It’s better than shaking myself off this rafter.
She waited there for a tense five, ten, fifteen minutes, until she heard quick footsteps on metal and turned to the source of the sound. Her eyes locked on Zahnra as she ran at full speed across her rafter, not quite reaching Kyir by the time the north door slammed open. Emma’s eyes widened and she scurried along the rafter towards Kyir as well as she watched Tanadin race in through the north door, looking over her shoulder as Clash flew beside her.
Not far behind ran the cyborg, eyes narrowed in frustration. He raised his left arm and fired a shot at Clash but missed. The phoenix sped up and zipped around a support as Tanadin raced past it, glancing upwards at where Kyir was perched, wearing an expression that was difficult to read in the flames but nonetheless appeared frightened.
The sound of the shotgun rang through the warehouse, shattering what quiet remained. Chunks of kartzal sprayed outwards, most of them flying through the air around the cyborg and a few bouncing harmlessly off of his left side.
7007 froze instantly, eyes widening as his sensors were suddenly overloaded with danger signs. Emma tensed, hoping against hope that Kyir’s plan would continue to go off without a hitch.
Before the cyborg could recover, Kyir flipped the lever, dropping the faraday cage. It hit the ground with a loud, furious clang, sending a cacophony of metallic echoes through the warehouse. 7007 straightened up, arms at his sides, and seemed to completely stop responding.
As the last echo faded, the warehouse was blanketed once more in silence until Kyir whooped and leaped down from the rafter.
“It worked! Holy fucking shit, I did not expect it to go off that flawlessly!” A laugh tore itself from his throat as everyone slowly came down from the rafters and crowded around the trapped cyborg. “Look at that! We’ve got ourselves one captive, pristine fucking cyborg!” He clapped his hands together. “This is the greatest day since before the damned ships came. Excellent timing with that shotgun, Shawn. Gali, where’s my toolbox? It’s time to shut this guy down for good.”
He waited until Gali handed him the black metal box before carefully opening the gate to the cage, quickly scampering in before shutting it again. The cyborg twitched but stopped moving once the door was closed again.
“Okay, let’s take a look at you.” Kyir circled him a few times and looked him over. Emma watched him curiously, shooting a look at Tanadin, who had switched back into her human form.
“He’s having a field day.” Tanadin remarked softly. “This is the best day ever for him.”
“Yep.” Kyir agreed, struggling to take the trenchcoat off the cyborg. “I’d bet quite a bit of money that he’s got some kind of access panel on his back. That’s where I’d put it, anyway.”
“So you’re just tearing his clothes off?” Emma asked, amused.
“Oh, calm down. It’s not like I’m exposing any private bits of him.”
“He’s not a person anyway.” Zahnra said, voice cold. “It wouldn’t matter.”
“Hey, he was once.” Emma told her, frowning. “There’s no need to act like that.”
Zahnra grunted.
Kyir poked and prodded the cyborg’s back before nodding and glancing at the onlookers. “There’s a panel back here. Just have to reveal it. C’mon, work with me, buddy.” He struggled to get the shirt off of the unresponsive cyborg, who didn’t do anything more than blink occasionally. He blinked only with his right eye, Emma noted, making it look like he was winking. She struggled not to giggle at that, especially considering Kyir’s frustrated attempts to get the cyborg’s arms to work with him- the left one wouldn’t even move at all.
Finally he succeeded, throwing 7007’s shirt on the floor next to his trenchcoat with a disgusted noise. He circled around to 7007’s back and set about opening up the control panel.
Emma, however, wasn’t looking at his back.
Tanadin swatted her shoulder. “Quit checking him out!” She hissed.
“What? I’m...not doing that!”
“You totally are.”
Kyir overheard them and glanced around to the cyborg’s front. He shrugged a bit and went back to work. He opened the panel without too much difficulty, quickly setting about digging through the various wires and panels within, mumbling to himself.
He worked for about ten minutes, Emma forcing her eyes onto the mechanic instead of the cyborg. Woops.
“Here!” Kyir pointed triumphantly. “Here should be the primary flow of energy that keeps his vital systems online. Cut that, and he’s gone.” He picked up a pair of wire cutters from his toolbox.
“Wait!” Kyir looked up, confused, as Emma spoke. “Is there a way to just...disconnect him from the Mainframe?”
Kyir looked at the wires. “Yeah, I think so. There’s this blue one leading to the wireless communication. I should probably cut that too, just in case.”
“No, I meant…” Emma hesitated. She shot Tanadin a look before plowing on. “Only cut that. Keep him alive.”
Kyir looked up at her like she was insane. “What for?”
Tanadin seemed to catch on. “We could have a cyborg on our side.” Her eyes widened. “Without his connection to the Mainframe, the human in him might take over and he could help us. You’ve seen how capable he is! Imagine that, but on our side!”
Immediately chatter started. Most people were curious to see if it would work and thought that the addition of a cyborg on their side would be an excellent tool against the Mainframe, but Zahnra violently opposed it.
“No! Absolutely not. He’s a danger and he could easily go back to the Mainframe. We don’t know if it would work and he could get us all killed.”
“We have to try.” Emma insisted.
Kyir looked at Tanadin until she caught his eye. “It’s your call.”
She hesitated. “How likely is it to work?”
Kyir barked with a quick, humorless laugh. “I have no fucking clue. It’s worth a try, in my opinion, but…”
Tanadin looked around at those assembled before looking back at Kyir, nodding in a quick, decisive motion.
“Do it.”
Kyir tugged gently on the blue wire, double checking that it was indeed the one hooked up to the wireless connection. He took a deep breath, setting the wire cutter in place, and carefully snipped the wire.
Emma jumped when 7007’s left elbow suddenly jerked backwards, slamming into Kyir’s face and throwing him off balance. Kyir swore aggressively as the cyborg took a defensive stance, the blade in his arm extending. He slashed at the mesh of the cage, cutting through a decent portion of it. Before he could swing a second time, however, he paused, blinking a few times in confusion and looking around.
“...What.”
Kyir continued to swear, getting the cyborg’s attention. He turned to the cursing man, still wary of the others surrounding him.
“You dick! What the fuck!”
“You were in my control panel.” 7007 told him, twisting his head to look at his back, where the panel was still open. He frowned slightly. “I’m very confused.”
“We freed you.” Emma tensed as Tanadin spoke and the cyborg’s head whipped around to look at them, robotic eye’s iris equivalent spinning and adjusting to get a good look at them. “We cut your connection to the Mainframe.”
“The...what now?”
Zahnra sighed in frustration. “He doesn’t even know what that is. I can’t believe this.”
“I...oh!” 7007 blinked a few times. “Oh, right. Sorry. I’m not entirely awake at the moment.”
“Where is Scott?” The cyborg looked over at Clash, his expression of confusion not changing.
“Who?”
“Scott. You imprisoned him.”
“I have no idea who that is.” 7007 held his head in one of his hands. “Everything is...kinda fuzzy.”
“It’ll be okay. I’m willing to bet your memory was wiped by the Mainfra-”
“Wait. What’s my name?” 7007 interrupted, looking up at Tanadin.
Emma exchanged a glance with Tanadin.
“The Mainframe labeled you as unit 7007-α, but that’s kind of difficult to say.” Emma told him.
“You’re the seventh- well, eighth, as computers count from zero up- in the 7000 class of cyborgs, in the alpha series. That means you’re literally the eighth of that class of cyborgs.” Kyir explained. Seven seemed less confused by this, as if this was the first understandable thing he had heard all day. “Now hold the fuck still so I can close your back. With you turning around you might hit someone- namely, me,- with that damned open panel.”
The cyborg didn’t really react but stopped moving in order to allow Kyir to shut the panel on his back. “You’re damn lucky I don’t hit you back for elbowing me in the face.” Kyir mumbled.
“He was understandably startled.” Tanadin protested. “What if you woke up shirtless, surrounded by strangers, and some random guy had a hand in your back? You’d elbow him pretty damn fast.”
Kyir conceded the point.
“So, 700- that’s really long and frankly ridiculous, can we shorten that to something?” Emma asked.
“You could just shorten it to a number. That would be easier.” Tanadin suggested.
“Seven.” The cyborg said immediately. “There. Done.”
“Well, that was easy.” Tanadin rolled her eyes. “So...we have a cyborg. That’s great. Welcome to the team, Seven. Assuming you’re wanting to stick with us.”
“Um... Okay? Sure.”
Emma moved closer to the gate of the cage as Kyir opened it, stepping out. She raised an eyebrow as Seven started to follow him.
“Uh, Seven?”
“Hm?”
“Clothes?”
“Oh. Right.” He mumbled something about nearly walking off without his armor as he scooped up his shirt and trenchcoat, putting them on before finally leaving the cage.
“Great! I love it when we recruit new people. Let’s go show him off.” Tanadin grinned at the group and led the way out.
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Date: 2016-04-06 09:30 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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