Play 2 Wage: Linked

“Great.” I said, pointing at the newcomers. “You four, get down on your knees. Ali, could you open the door again, that sounds important.”

Ali frowned, but stepped back to the lever and activated it, causing the door to spring open again. On the other side was a pair of armored Shepherds, these wearing the shiny and chrome lower profile power-armor suits that I had only ever seen on my brief visit to Director Howard’s office.

The two soldiers pushed into the room, sweeping their alien pistols over everything, one of them settling their aim on Tevin, while the other trained his on the kneeling group just inside the door.

Katie stepped into the room after a moment and surveyed the scene. Her hair was mussed, she had a sooty streak across her face and matching dark speckles patterned across her normally pristine skirt-suit, yet her smile was as flawless and shining as ever.

“Consul, we must move quickly. I have a VTOL waiting for us on the roof.” She looked down at the huddled group of kids just inside the door. I knew they were roughly my age, but I struggled to think of them as anything but kids. The tower dwellers seemed sheltered, untouched by the reality of the grinding labor it took to maintain a life just above the Transient rank.

“Who are your guests?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow as she met my eyes.

“They’re, uh, friends. Is there room for them to come with?” I asked, glancing over the group and noticing that they were all now watching Katie with a mix of fear and anger.

Katie tapped her teeth with a manicured fingernail as she thought for a moment, the fact that the four young people were being held at gunpoint on their knees was not lost upon her. “You are all tower residents? Important to someone, I imagine, if you are here.” She hummed and ground a pointed heel into the ground for a moment. “I suppose, we can dump some weight if we must. There is no time to argue, we must move.”

With her decree made, she twirled back towards the door and walked out, passing a second pair of chrome plated soldiers who had waited in the hall. Our group all exchanged looks for a moment, before everyone stood and started towards the door. Rin hurried to go first, clutching one of his folded laptops, followed by the group of young people, then Tevin. Ali refused to go next and waved me ahead of her, then stepped through right on my heels, placing her hand on my shoulder and staying uncomfortably close.

I glanced over my shoulder at her as we quick-stepped towards the stairs that led up to the top floor. “Do you have to be that close? I’m not going to try to run away from you.” I attempted to joke.

“Yes sir, I do.” She said, not a shred of humor in her voice.

My apartment was basically at the end of the hall, so it took no time at all to reach the stairwell at the end. The entrance had been left open allowing us to quickly climb the few flights of stairs and move through the open heavy blast door into the penthouse. I caught a whiff of smoke as I took a second to look around the space, noticing the place was outfitted as another fancy apartment and just as minimally decorated as my own.

The open area was mostly dark, like the rest of the building, but one of the armored windows had been blasted inwards and was letting light and smoke into the building through a huge gaping hole. We crossed the tiled floor in silence, moving towards a free standing spiral staircase near the middle of the open plan suite.

We had made it halfway up the stairs, and the two chrome troopers at the front of the group were just starting to open up the hatch-like door that must have led up to the roof, when a screaming sonic boom rattled the windows. An even larger explosion immediately followed the first and briefly lit the room and slammed the hatch shut, throwing everyone not wearing power armor off of their feet.

I crashed back into Ali and we both tumbled down the few steps we had managed to climb. As we lay in a heap, the ceiling above us creaked and settled by about a foot, a few of the metal plates that lined the roof fell free and crashed to the floor, a shower of dust and broken concrete rained down afterwards.

Ali made it back onto her feet first, followed shortly by myself, and we cleared the way for the screaming and crying group of kids to untangle themselves from the lower section of the stairs with Tevins help.

“Silence!” Shouted Katie as one of the surviving soldiers set her onto her feet about halfway up the groaning staircase. “Everyone, back out! Quickly, and no more screaming!”

The hatch at the top of the stairs had bent inwards, crushing the helmet and killing the armored soldier who had been opening the door, and the whole staircase now looked a little bowed, as if it were straining to hold the weight of the ceiling above.

Everyone hurried to extricate themselves from the slowly buckling stairs and we reversed order before heading for the door we had just come through. I noticed Rin managed to slip past one of the mirror armored troopers and start quietly talking to Katie as we beat feet out of the room.

Tevin and I exchanged looks as he passed, his face still showing strain and worry behind his flipped up visor, but his eyes remained hard and alert as he herded the group of tower kids ahead of him.

I glanced over at Ali as we followed at the rear of the column, who was still following a single step behind me with a hand on my shoulder. “You alright?” I asked her.

“I’m fine, sir.” She said as she kept her eyes moving from side to side, looking for anything that might threaten us.

I grimaced, but at the same time was grateful to have her by my side. I hadn’t known her for long, or even really gotten to know her at all on a personal level, but I was now used to her presence in my life and she was the one person other than Rin and Tevin who I felt I could trust.

As we quick marched down the hallway, the building rattled again, causing everyone to stop for a moment and my still tingling legs to nearly slip out from under me.

“Wow! This is wild, I’m pretty sure that was a hypersonic missile! Whatever this is, it’s well funded and organized. I still have no idea how they’re communicating either, I haven’t detected anything I can break into or even see wirelessly. My guess is they have some real good imported tech, or are using mobile Links to coordinate through the Hub.” Max chimed in as we passed the elevator and started down one of the public staircases that ran down the middle of the building.

I grunted in reply to the AI and focused on not falling down the stairs as we hurried down them. We caught up to an exhausted looking Rin, who was clinging to the handrail as the middle of the pack moved past him, we caught eyes and he started moving alongside me.

“There's a hardened checkpoint on 60,” He stopped to pant a little, his face pale from the exertion after a life of sitting at a desk. “I couldn’t get a straight answer out of Katie.” He heaved in another ragged breath, and I couldn’t help but notice his use of contractions, I’d have to congratulate him for it later.

“They have more aircraft there, my bet is that is the plan. No clue where they will take us.” He finished as we continued down the stairs.

I somehow managed a smile despite everything, and my mouth got away from me. “Great, looks like we’re moving out of here. I kinda liked the new place, too. I hope you packed your extra batteries and special coffee mug.”

He shot me a glare, and Ali let out a snort of laughter from behind me. I turned and raised an eyebrow at her as we rounded a landing and passed a door with a sign for the 62nd floor. “Was that a laugh?” I asked, full on grinning now.

“Nothing quite like the prospect of combat to loosen one up a little, sir.” She replied, answering me with a slight grin of her own.

I was about to say something else, but another explosion rocked the building causing me to stumble. Everyone seemed more prepared this time, we all managed to stay on our feet and after a short pause we kept moving.

As we rounded the last set of stairs, we came across an unexpected scene. The staircase ended at a nondescript and windowless steel door, and there was a small crowd of people that were beating uselessly against it. Maybe a dozen men, nine women, and a handful of children with a couple of teenagers. They all looked terrified, and some of them looked like they were still in their pajamas.

“Open the door!” One of the men yelled as he banged his fist against the unyielding steel. “I’m a board member of the GDSC! We have children out here dammit!”

“Out of the way, people.” Katies clear voice rang out.

The shouting man turned around, his face red with anger until he saw our group and who had spoken. “Executive, it’s about time someone with some authority showed up. The elevators are down and they won’t let us through!”

Katie made a spiraling upwards gesture with her hand, and two of her guards didn’t even pause as they continued forwards and began pushing the small crowd to either side. Ali tried to pull me back away for a second, but when I didn’t budge or turn to look at her she stepped in front of me, her short rifle at the ready.

“You should all return to your rooms, the elevators are closed for a reason.” She said without explanation.

“Bullshit! The Links are fried, I was lucky to be on a break when it happened!” The red faced man yelled back, one of the women in the group started to shed silent tears as she wrapped her arms around her teenage daughter and younger son. “We have to get out of here, and I know there are dropships on this floor.”

“The checkpoint is locked down,” Katie paused for a moment, her eyes darting around before she continued. “No one goes through in either direction, and unless a general evacuation order is given, David Cotter, residents are to remain in their rooms.”

“Then what are you doing, and who are they?” He pointed at Kaylee and her group, and then at me, before turning back to Katie.

“Yeah, who are they?” One of the other women yelled in a shrill voice as a guard pushed her back. The whole group then began to yell and push back against the troopers.

Katie tried to yell over the noise, but whatever she said was lost to the sudden outburst of the panicking crowd. The third trooper who remained at Katie’s side stepped in front of her and raised their rifle, but kept it pointed at the group's feet.

Katie raised her hands and stepped to the side of the trooper, still yelling. “Quiet!”, was all I really managed to hear, other than something about disobeying and lawful orders.

I heard one of the men's shouts rise above the shouting, “The tablet! It’s how she controls the doors!” and I saw as the group seemed to go from panicked to angry. Everyone started pushing past the two soldiers trying to clear the way. A gunshot rang out, and I saw the third guard still standing next to Katie raise his rifle and his finger move to the trigger.

“Wait, stop!” I shouted, my voice drowning out everything in the cramped stairwell and shaking a light sprinkling of dust from the ceiling. Most of the crowd winced away from me, including Katie who took a step to the side and grabbed at her ear.

“You have a terrible memory, I tapped into your Megaphone engram. You should remember your boots next time the ground quakes too. You’re welcome.”

I blinked at Max’s reminder, but didn’t have time to deal with him. I stepped forward around Ali, who was holding both of her ears and glaring at me, and pushed down on the troopers rifle. I forced the barrel back down to the floor while everyone stared at me.

“Everyone is scared, but we shouldn't fight each other!” I eyed the soldiers, who I knew could and would tear this group apart in a second if the crowd continued their aggression. “Let us through, and if we can get you out of here, I promise I’ll do what I can to make that happen.”

Katie had recovered by the time I finished talking, and flashed me a scowl as one of the other men raised his voice. “Who the hell are you?”

“Consul Spenser.” I answered, hoping my title would carry some weight even if they didn’t recognize me or my name.

“A diplomat? Why would we take your word for it, snake?” The original angry and red faced man shouted back, stepping to the front of the crowd and causing Ali’s rifle to snap up to aim at him. I looked him over and noticed he was holding a pistol in his hand.

I glanced over at Katie, who immediately holstered her scowl and replaced it with a neutral expression and answered. “Because I’ll have each of you stripped of your licenses and your patences revoked if you don’t. Clear the way, now!”

This time I reached into my pocket and squeezed the little gray Megaphone engram myself as I added to her words. “Now!” The walls practically shook with my voice and everyone but the power-armored soldiers flinched away from me again, even Ali.

The added shock of my amplified shout cowed the crowd enough to comply, and they parted as the two mirrored soldiers herded them to either side. Katie stepped forward and swept through the door, while the third soldier held it open and allowed our little group to pass through. Once we had made it inside, all three of the guards followed us in.

We were met on the far side of the door by five light blue armored troopers, similar to the color that I had seen on the roof of the Travellers station. They all had their rifles at the ready and their faceplates down, and one of them gave a nod at Katie as we passed through the room and another door that opened as we approached.

On the far side of that was a vast room more than 10 meters tall, and crowded with tall rows of industrial shelves and cat-walks that ran around the upper edge of the warehouse-like interior. Two unarmored men in dark blue jumpsuits ran out from around one of the shelves and stopped in front of Katie, one of whom spoke up.

“We’re ready for you Ma’am, DCG-S7 and S6 are fueled and on standby. Please, follow us.” Midway through his statement he gave a confused look over at myself and the rest of our mismatched group, and I was glad that the extra group of Tevin’s friends had been smart enough to keep quiet through the whole exchange.

“Good, lead the way, ADH Gosmer.” She replied.

The two men snapped a sharp salute before turning around and leading us into the maze of storage. Ali only then stepped to the side and resumed her post right behind me on the right, her hand on my shoulder once again. As we moved along, I suddenly found myself walking next to Katie, who started speaking quietly as our footsteps echoed through the large reverberant room.

“You should learn to not make promises you cannot keep, Consul.” She said quietly enough that Ali was probably the only other person to hear it.

I grimaced at her words, “Are things really that bad? I thought this whole thing was under control.” I shot back, my patience and temper finally running too short to hold back. Things had come awfully close to a slaughter back there, and I was feeling especially unimpressed with her.

She gave me a long look from the corner of her eye as we broke from the rows of shelves and found ourselves in a huge aircraft hanger sized open space that took up most of the whole footprint of the floor.

“Today's events have transpired rapidly, Nick.” She said coldly as she turned her head to make direct eye contact. “Some subordinates have the unfortunate habit of only reporting what they think their superiors want to hear.”

I glared back for a moment, ready to say something I’d probably regret, but was interrupted by the roar of engines being started and whirring to life. Ahead were two of the angular Goshawk drop-craft hooked into a rail system embedded into steelclad floor, one of which had its doors open while both had their engines spooling up for takeoff.

Without pause, the two men continued to lead us up the ramp and into the interior of the craft, before showing us to a row of bench seats and helping us all strap in. This time Katie was the one who disappeared into the front cabin with two of her mirror armored guards, while the last of them strapped himself into a hanging harness near the doorway and braced himself with a handle set into the wall.

I ended up against the wall near the front, with Ali ever present at my side. I got my own five point seat belt clicked into place quickly enough to have a second to look over our group before takeoff. I expected to see a mix of fear, maybe some anger, but was surprised when the only one who looked scared was Raschel. The dark skinned and striking girl who seemed like the quietest of the bunch looked like she was about to burst into tears, while the other three's faces were set in grim determination. Andy and Kaylee exchange looks from either side of Tevin as he hooked his power armor into a dropdown harness nearby.

“Where are they taking us?” Raschel spoke up, her voice high and scared.

“No clue.” Rin replied, his own voice strained as he raised it above the roar of the engines.

“Away from here, anywhere is good.” Tevin added right before the doors closed and cut out most of the noise.

“Of course they wouldn’t tell us.” Scoffed Bree, before all of us were slammed back in our seats by a burst of sudden acceleration. The doors to the hanger were explosively blasted open ahead of us in perfect timing with the magnetic rail system that launched us out over the burning city like a projectile from a massive coil gun.