And all this running around
Searching for something that was found
Is it any wonder why you came
Trying to tear my family’s name
“There’s too many… J’s… on this team,” grunts Alex, through the exertion of running.
Jason grunts. “Opsec. No real names.” He too is running, but he’s better at managing his breathing and pace than the more sedentary hacker.
SNOWMAN is behind them. For him, breathing is merely a formality. “Jason doesn’t have a code name. Jenny Byrne is a code name. That’s still two J’s.”
“We are about to die and this is how you’re spending your time,” Firebrand complains loudly.
Behind them, the first of the TALOS units starts smashing its way down the elevator shaft. It can’t physically fit, but that isn’t stopping it from trying.
“More speed,” Jenny suggests. Although she can master any skill, those skills don’t come with the attendant physical fitness. She’s in good shape, but not equal to Jason.
They emerge into an open chamber, at the crossroads of several hallways similar to the one they just ran through. There are people here, and they raise their weapons. SNOWMAN peels open and engulfs Comrade X in a moment, protecting them from a sudden hail of gunfire. Jason and Jenny dodge instantly, thanks to their tuned-up reflexes. Firebrand’s pyrokinesis snaps on hard, liquefying bullets that come her way.
“Left! This way!” Jason points at another door, after the briefest of glances at the Cyrillic writing above it. Firebrand extends her shield to cover Jason and Jenny, and the team rush through it.
Another hallway, with an L shape, made of the same lifeless gray concrete bricks as the rest of the base. As the team rounds the bend, flakes of concrete explode off the wall as the hail of gunfire follows them.
Another room, but only one person - a man in a Russian military uniform. Firebrand grabs one of her guns and hits the guy with a knockout shot.
Jason holds up the mobile device he grabbed from the overseer above. “Do what you can!” he shouts to Comrade X, currently riding around inside SNOWMAN. The android disgorges his passenger, and Jason tosses the device over.
Behind them, the sound of gunfire resumes. Jason picks another door and sprints. Firebrand leads the way, with her pyrokinetic barrier at the ready, with SNOWMAN at the rear, blocking any shots with his invulnerable robot body. Between them, Comrade X is furiously thumbing through the device’s menus.
“Freight elevator,” calls Jenny, pointing, but Jason shakes his head. “TALOS can come down those. The narrow rooms are safer for us.”
“That may not be an option.” Comrade X has spotted an emergency exit map on another wall. Everybody but Emma can read the label on the biggest, widest space on the map - “central command”.
The team fight their way through room after room. SNOWMAN uses his grapples to pull furniture and appliances - mostly metal filing cabinets, wooden desks, and old iron chairs with decaying springs - into the hallways, and Emma pushes her pyrokinesis to flash-weld the mass together as a barrier. But Jason can tell the effort is wearying her.
“Why aren’t you using your nanobots?” Jenny asks as they run.
Jason gestures around him. “The TALOS. I’m worried about their magnetism knocking the bots out.”
His worries are justified, as the team emerges into the “central command” room - a hemisphere of concrete, one or more football fields in diameter. It seems to have many purposes, as there are corridors big enough to accommodate a truck leading away from it, as well as a podium and chairs for giving presentations. A booth is affixed to the ceiling and dominates the view of the room - no doubt where the masters of the Winter Cradle reside.
Half a dozen TALOS units, several squads of armed soldiers, plus a number of people in civilian garb - presumably Antibodies, the cloned infiltrators the city serves - are all here.
“Hold your fire,” comes an imperious male voice from a PA system - presumably from someone up in the booth. Jason can see shadows and silhouettes moving behind the glass windows.
The troopers and TALOS units stand down. The Antibodies, on the other hand, seem ready for a fight. Jason can see them adopting fighting stances - as their Poppet Systems come online, he realizes.
He counts twenty-two such people. Twenty-two opponents whose reflexes are as good as Jenny Byrne’s - and she gave him a challenge.
“I hope you’ve got some innovative way to threaten us,” Jason quips aloud. “I’ve heard an awful lot of threats, and it would be pleasant to hear something original.”
The voice continues in English. “There is no need of such things, Mr. Quill. I am General Andrey Kovačević. I am the master of this facility. Inasmuch as I have your party surrounded and outgunned, threats would be superfluous. Instead, we shall talk about what you shall do for us.”
“You could clean the assholes of a Texas Chili judges’ panel with your tongue,” Emma suggests loudly.
“Americans,” sighs the General’s voice. “Mr. Quill, where is Alycia Chin and the other member of your party?”
“They’re at your house fucking your–” Emma begins, but Jason holds up a hand to halt the rest of the vulgarity.
“Are you in charge of the Grasscutters?” he calls.
“The mercenary group that is misusing the Poppet System? No, Mr. Quill. They are independent of us. In fact, I should like them disposed of. But that will come in time.”
Jason smiles. “Well. Just as you can’t account for the Grasscutters, I can’t account for the location of anyone you don’t see here with me. But you know, the people you’re looking for are pretty slippery.”
“Chin has been found before. She will be found again. And dealt with. As for you, I am not Sidorov. You will find me harder to escape.”
Jason looks around him, at the gleaming bronze robots. “You don’t seem reluctant to use his creations.”
“It is how one uses a tool that distinguishes a good strategist from a fool, Mr. Quill.”
Jason spots Alex, hands behind back, fidgeting. But what they’re fidgeting with - the overseer’s communication device - interests him. A fact comes to him, from the original encounter with the TALOS.
“Kovačević, how did you wrest control of the TALOS from Sidorov anyway? My understanding was that they were voice controlled.”
“They are, Mr. Quill. They are simply controlled by my voice.”
Jason, gratified, sees Alex’s eyes light up.
They’re onto something. I just need to buy them some time.
He continues aloud. “Interesting. And are you interested in my nanotechnology, like Sidorov was?”
“No, Mr. Quill. I am more interested in your genetics. Specifically, in our capacity to clone you, and Ms. Chin.”
A cold chill runs through Jason, as he remembers what Pyrrhus had said, almost offhand, about having clones of the two of them - “True, true, I do. Good luck handling that!” - in the Antarctic base.
Thoughts flow through his head, and he begins speaking out loud to try and process them. “You don’t have our DNA. You needed it. You sent Jenny Byrne to lure one or both of us here, on Pyrrhus’ orders. The way Pyrrhus lured us in.”
He turns to look at Jenny. “Did you arrange the data leak? Or did you just take advantage of it?”
Jenny’s face undergoes a transformation, from worried companion to gently smiling turncoat. “I’m afraid I arranged it.”
Jason tries to hide his disappointment, and knows he’s failing. “Then you are leading the Grasscutters after all.”
Jenny makes the gentlest of shrugs. “Every Poppet System comes with contingencies and back-doors, including the ability to awaken an implanted personality when triggering conditions are met.”
She pats her abdomen gently, touching the place where the Poppet System is implanted. “Even mine.”
Jason suddenly remembers. “The first time I met Pyrrhus, you were there,” he tells her. “You stiffened up for some reason, like you had been taken over. I was too busy to parse it at the time. But that was Pyrrhus, taking you over. Why? If you were working for him, you’d have helped him without the need for such a thing.”
He squints at the redhead. “Whose side are you really on?”
Jenny lowers her eyes, unable to meet Jason’s gaze.
Alex speaks up. “Hey, uh, sorry, General, I’m gonna totally mangle your name if I try it. I’m terrible with Slavic surnames.”
“Kovačević. I apologize that I do not know your name, child.”
“No, it’s all good,” Alex smiles. “I’m uh, kind of an intelligence analyst, staying anonymous is what I do. But I’d like to introduce you to a pal of mine.”
They gesture at John. “This is SNOWMAN. SNOWMAN, meet, uh, Ko-va-che-vich. While Mr. Quill is debating giving you his DNA, I wanna just say that he’s got some pretty neat robot tech of his own. Maybe even stuff that could replace the what - TELOS system?”
“TALOS,” Kovačević corrects, sounding progressively wearier. “I will of course be interrogating all members of your party in due course. If you follow instructions and comply with commands, your remaining days may be pleasant.”
Alex nods along. “Marvelous. Hey, my friend will be upset if you don’t say his name.”
“SNOWMAN, was it?” Kovačević says at last. “Yes. We will speak in due course about your potential for advancing our robotics research. Now, Mr. Quill, will you please–”
Alex cuts him off by shouting. “Kovačević! Hey! One more important thing!”
“What is it, child?” the general asks in an increasingly impatient voice.
“I figured out the walkie talkie function on your gizmos,” Alex says with a grin, holding up the overseer’s mobile device. “And I made a sound board.”
As events unfold in the next few seconds, Jason realizes just what happened. The hacker has been recording the sound of Kovačević’s voice, using the Russian-made device in their hand. Now, the device is used for one of its functions - broadcasting through the PA system. What comes out is a spliced-up mess of sounds clipped from the General’s statements.
“TALOS - Kovačević - commands - follow - SNOWMAN”
The TALOS units mobilize. SNOWMAN blinks.
“Fly you fool!” Alex yells at him, in their best Gandalf impersonation. Comprehension dawns on the robot’s face, along with a big shark-like grin, and he runs for one of the truck-sized corridors. The TALOS units thunder along behind him.
The General’s voice is furious, and he speaks rapidly. “TALOS - countermand previous order!”
The units halt.
Alex pushes a button on the device.
“TALOS - Kovačević - commands - follow - SNOWMAN”
The TALOS units begin running.
The Antibodies realize first that the situation is becoming unstable, and a few of them raise their weapons. The soldiers around them are slower on the uptake, but do the same.
Jason, however, is ready. His nanobots are online and ready, and they deploy a barrier against the sudden barrage of gunfire. With the TALOS units and their magnetic barriers temporarily distracted by the ping-ponging of conflicting commands, he has no worries about them suddenly failing on him.
“Tactical retreat,” he advises the group, and they begin withdrawing toward the tunnel. He notices to his surprise and consternation that Jenny is hiding behind his barrier, and retreating with the team.
“Dudes back there are still back there,” Emma points out, with her own pyrokinetic shield ready for any attacks from the hallway.
“Better than the dudes up here.”
The Antibodies have given up on using their guns. They’re spreading out in a wide circle, charging at Jason’s shield from all sides. They’re letting the soldiers’ fire keep Jason occupied, and from the look of it they plan to swarm the rest of the group while he’s occupied.
Alex is distracted, keeping the TALOS units distracted. Emma is focused on the hallway, and the sound of booted feet running toward their position. Jason reaches down, grabs Emma’s guns off her hips, and begins firing at the onrushing Antibodies.
They’re nimble, with the same ability to dodge bullets he has. But they’re predictable. It’s the same set of movements, copied from the same sources. It’s like enemies in a video game, Jason realizes. Once you know the pattern, you can spot it.
Shoot - to force one of them to dodge - shoot again, knowing where they’ll dodge to.
The chemical stun rounds are effective. But Jason simply doesn’t have time to get them all before they’re on top of the group.
He’s keeping Jenny in his field of view. She isn’t taking action - not yet.
Kovačević can get DNA from a corpse, Jason thinks mirthlessly. But at least I’m going out surrounded by friends.